Chapter Text
the wind was howling and thrashing ruthlessly against rui’s back, amplifying his immense regret for travelling so far from home. as he shoved his gloved hands into his coat pockets, he buried his face into the depths of his homemade scarf, followed by raising his shoulders slightly against his ears in a vain attempt to block out some of the cold. he lengthened his stride, quickening his pace in his avidity to reach shelter as soon as possible.
it was the third day in a row he’d been going home late, for whatever reason their head archaeologist had decided, to go to heaps of new sites to travel to that were hours away from the village they were in. although the findings were just as worth the time, it was times like these that rui simply wished to be teleported home instead of walking.
rui nestled deeper into his scarf until only his eyes and goggles were visible, squinting to minimize the damage as his head began to throb.
maybe he shouldn’t have spent so long excavating under the sun without drinking water. it wasn’t his fault really, he knew better than to stand under unforgiving sunlight for hours, but once he got started on a task it was so hard not to see it all the way through to completion. there were just so many sites to explore and not nearly enough time.
archaeology for rui has been a full time job in and of itself, and that was just barely scratching the surface of all the work that he had to complete. decades of fossils and structures to comb through, and it was all scattered throughout nearly infinite sources, to discover what had been witnessed and done from decades ago, where every ridge held meaning.
rui had never imagined he’d spend his nights swiping away at dirt and dust, but he was truly fascinated in his area of work. he refused to leave his work unfinished before leaving the site, but it was taking its toll on him.
he was exhausted and he’d been trying to just push that fact down, mind over matter. he had been doing a decent job, his findings, transcribed to paper had been turned in on time, his notes were mostly legible.
that was, until his roommate caught him awake at an ungodly hour on the way to the bathroom, hunched over his desk on an empty stomach. funnily enough, he found himself lucky to be sharing a cottage with his best friend, one who got up earlier to work at his own restaurant as the head chef, while he left to go embark on his next set of fossils to research on. him and tsukasa worked well as friends and roommates alike.
however, on that night, tsukasa had walked by, saw his atrocious posture, took a double take, then frowned like a disapproving parent. all while sleepily rubbing his eyes, telling him how unhealthy he found rui’s behavior and demanding he at least have the dinner he made for him.
“where will you find the energy to do work if you don’t eat or sleep?” he had mumbled so pitifully rui couldn’t help but listen to whatever he had said without much thought. clambering behind tsukasa as they headed towards the kitchen for leftovers.
but tsukasa had a point, and it was embarrassing enough to have his own roommate tell him his work habits were unhealthy. it was often that he found himself on the receiving end of tsukasa’s motherly tirades, but when he did, there was usually an air of truth behind it that he couldn’t refute.
thus, after that incident, rui’s every meal was overlooked by the star chef of the town, tenma tsukasa himself.
rui could’ve sobbed with relief when he finally caught sight of the door to their cottage. every step had his shoulders feeling heavier, his boots weighing him down like anchors, and he was starting to wonder if he should’ve just skipped lunch altogether. sneaking in a power nap instead sounded more and more appealing by the minute, albeit risking the wrath of tsukasa when he came home with an untouched lunchbox. however, the door was left slightly ajar for him, in which he smiled at.
he pushed the door open, immediately getting a wave and cheerful greeting “you’re home!” from tsukasa where he stood at the stove, with the apron he embroidered stars onto, arms folded with a long handled ladle clutched in one of his hands like he was prepared to use it to taste-test soup out of
a frantic few seconds passed while rui’s sleep-deprived mind tried to come up with the correct greeting that wouldn’t get tsukasa panicked and scattered worrying over him, ultimately settling on a low, respectful bow.
the chef studied him intensely for a long moment before the tension in his shoulders loosened, hopefully satisfied with whatever his five-second analysis had told him. tsukasa nodded towards the pair of chairs set up right at the dining table where he had plates, bowls and utensils lined up, then went right back to sample his cooking.
by the time he’d taken his seat and looked back up, tsukasa had gone right back to preparing ingredients. he bustled about the kitchen with practiced ease in his apron, head nodding to the music he had been playing softly as he worked.
the chef bounced back and forth between his work surface and the stove, chopping, grating and chattering pleasantly in rui’s direction about his recent trip to the farmer’s market for everything he’d needed, something solid and comforting settling in rui’s chest at how normal it felt. the average night when he came back home after a long day, where tsukasa would rui in on how his day had been going while he coaxed him into taking a break. a home-cooked dinner, and rui’s stressors would airily unravel away as he ate and listened like string from thread.
“are you preparing a new broth?” he straightened in his seat at the new smell he hadn’t recognised, shaking his head to dissipate some of the mental fog closing in so he could make an attempt at conversation.
tsukasa grins at his cutting board. “indeed! i’m trying to add new dishes to the restaurant menu for the colder weather,” he proudly exclaims before busying himself with whisking whatever he had in his bowl. “and i remembered not to add that many vegetables for this batch specifically.”
“you didn’t..?” he didn’t think he’d ever made a point to make his hatred for vegetables that clear, let alone that tsukasa would consider it something notable enough to remember — not when half the time he couldn’t even remember to close his own satchel before racing to his next location, leaving a trail of sketches to flutter behind in his wake.
“i know you pick out the vegetables in your lunchbox,” tsukasa’s eyes flicked back to his, eyes narrowing at his pickiness. “i found it strange that emu had to eat your carrots for you.”
rui laughed to ease the tension, embarrassed though he had never felt like he had to be for disliking vegetables. “i didn’t want to let your meal go to waste.”
when did tsukasa even find time to find emu to ask about him? and of all possible topics for friends to chat about, they’d discussed not only him, but his meal preferences?
come to think of it, he too, found himself spending an awful lot of time talking about tsukasa with others.
by the time rui had worked through the implications of tsukasa apparently talking about him to others, tsukasa had made use of the silence to change the subject completely, rambling about how cabbage prices have gone up.
rui couldn’t help but smile softly to himself as he listened.
it was too easy to lose himself in the joyful rises and falls of tsukasa’s voice. entering a welcoming home from of the clutches of the cold had already been a relief, but the kitchen was getting steadily warmer as the stove gave off a constant source of heat, the scent of the chicken broth tsukasa had steaming filling the air and smelling like home, and rui’s eyes were sliding shut against his will, wrapped up tightly in the blanketing comfort of it all.
rui had dreamt of a life with tsukasa more than he’d ever confess to anyone, and it would be just like this. rui would stumble home after a long day, tired and already planning how he’d write up his excavation report, only to open the door and to reveal the scent of tsukasa’s fantastic cooking. the air would be thick with the aroma of tsukasa’s array of carefully selected spices, and the smile he would greet rui with would melt any bad day away.
indeed, it was the life he would come home to. rui would wrap him up in the tightest of hugs from behind him, and then he would kiss the chef on the cheek, soft and gently, pouring his appreciation and adoration into the motions without it ever quite being enough.
“missed you,” rui mumbled against tsukasa’s cheek, then slumps his own on his shoulder, overcome with the serenity that being with tsukasa brought him and so happy to be home.
“..huh?”
rui’s eyes fluttered open as he sought out the source of the sound, finding tsukasa looking quizzically over the pot of stew, pausing as he stirred. it took a long moment for rui to make sense of the sudden closeness between them.
he blinked slowly while he processed the fact that he was standing on the kitchen tile floors. had he been sleepwalking? he must’ve been more exhausted than he’d realised.
“ah,” rui stepped back, rubbing some strength into his eyelids. “i apologise, i must’ve spoken in my sleep for a moment there.”
“don’t apologise! i talk in my sleep sometimes too,” tsukasa smiled after a long moment, going right back to adding more chicken into the broth.
..talk?
staring at the platypus socks on his feet, it was now that rui registered that he had stood up, walked over, and said something. what had he actually said to tsukasa? thinking back rationally, or rather trying to while his heart rate picked up, it couldn’t have been anything too out of the ordinary, otherwise tsukasa wouldn’t have returned back to cooking so easily. he stumbles back to his seat in a daze.
hopefully, he concludes after making the treacherous walk back to his seat, it was just sleep-garbled nonsense. anything else and he would’ve rather ran back out into the bitter cold outside than face the consequences.
he needed to get a grip and keep himself awake, perhaps brew tea after dinner, but his head was already drooping and his thoughts kept fading out before they were completed. rui propped his elbow on the dining table, resting his chin in his hand to hold his head upright. he could stay focused enough for another hour, before he could take a shower, not to slip back into his dreams. all he had to do was indulge in a hot dinner while semi-conscious, maybe finish up that report..
—hold on, what was he thinking about again?
rui almost fell out of his chair as tsukasa suddenly appeared before him, placing two bowls down, one in front of rui, and the other at the empty chair, and then left to return with another two bowls of rice.
he strikes a pose. “dinner is served!”
humming as the flavors hit his tongue, the broth tasted even better than it smelled, carrying with it the ability to warm up from the inside in the way that only hot food could on a cold winter’s day. each spice was perfectly balanced with all of the care that tsukasa had poured into the dish solely for him.
before he even realised, rui had emptied his bowl, warm and content, somehow even more in love with tsukasa than when he’d gotten here, and wishing that this feeling never had to disappear.
wishing to be able to do this again, and again, eventually forming into a cycle until it was a routine part of his days, something to expect and look forward to. enjoying the other’s company and rui could see it all with so much clarity it was transforming from less of a small daydream to yearning for it dearly.
“thank you, tsukasa-kun. this was perfect,” rui hums, already feeling the dizziness from exhaustion hit as he stood up, trying to make words form. he gathered his belongings absently, leaning forward to press his lips to tsukasa’s cheek, lingering in the warmth there and smiling a little at the squeak it drew from him. having done his duty, rui rose to his feet and clumsily pushed in his chair.
“i shall wash the dishes,” he slurred more than he spoke, heading off to the kitchen sink.
he trudged his way back to the sink on auto-pilot, too preoccupied with the sound of tsukasa’s little squeak ringing through his head to pay much mind to anything else. only to turn on the tap to be immediately blasted in the face with cold water.
the shock had it hitting him all at once as his sleep-muddled mind registered that the adorable sound he’d been so caught up on had been one of surprise. rui fully awakened at the sensation, his consciousness slamming back into his body like he’d been abruptly shaken from a nightmare. as he reached over to turn down the water’s intensity, the fog around the memory cleared and he understood the full gravity of what he’d just done, his hair drenched in freezing tap water.
without any warning, or buildup, rui had not only managed to pull tsukasa into a hug before dinner, plant a kiss on him after, and then left him sitting there without any sort of explanation, all in one night.
the sound of rushing water started to fade. forget mumbling in his sleep, he stared down at the sink, he had majorly messed up his relationship with tsukasa. how was he supposed to face him now?