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When Toya opens the door to Akito’s room and sees his partner shirtless, his first instinct is to slam the door shut.
“S-Sorry, Akito! Sorry, sorry, I forgot to, um…”
“What, knock?” Akito smiles at him, amusement bubbling in his chest as he leans out from the doorway. “C’mon, dude. You’ve seen me shirtless, like, a million times.”
Toya sighs, clearly embarrassed, but takes his partner’s hand as they step into the room. “That doesn’t mean I’m always allowed to see you. I’m just being respectful.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Akito laughs, giving Toya’s hair an affectionate ruffle before pulling back. “Sorry, lost track of time.”
Toya tilts his head in that cute, curious way he always does. “What were you doing, anyway?”
“Eh, just thinkin’.” He chuckles. “Maybe I should eat less pancakes…”
“Hm?” Toya’s head tilts further, hair falling over his eyes; he looks a little sad. “Why would you say that? You love pancakes.”
Akito sighs shortly. He feels his smile grow shaky, but keeps up nonchalance as best he can. “Eh. Got a bit of a tummy, don't want it to get worse, y’know?” He pinches a little of the flesh on his stomach, feeling it squish between his fingers, soft, sending a tiny prick of pain under his skin as he squeezes it.
A moment passes in quiet.
Akito looks towards his partner, expecting indifference; instead, he sees…
Actual anger.
And before he can react, Toya is barreling him into a fierce kiss, cheeks held firmly in his hands as they stride back towards the bed. Akito’s hands fly up to grip his partner’s wrists, squeaking an “Ah– Toya!” into the kiss; he doesn’t get a response, though, falling to sit on the bed when he’s pushed against it, his partner settling in his lap.
Toya is outright glaring at him when he pulls away, gaze a mixture of sadness, anger, and frustration. His hands fall to Akito’s shoulders. “Why are you saying that?”
“Wh– Toya, it’s not–” he’s suddenly very aware of the fact that Toya is sitting in his lap while he’s shirtless– “It’s not… a big deal? Just a thought, I wasn’t–”
“Tell me,” Toya insists, pressing down on his collarbones, “why you feel that way about yourself.” His gaze softens. “Please.”
Akito sighs. “It’s not… not anything big,” he mumbles, rubbing the side of his head before dropping his hands to Toya’s waist. “Just… I was looking at workout stuff and started thinking about it.”
“Thinking about what, Akito?”
He exhales a little huff. “Just… people in photos always have really obvious abs, but I have a whole squishy layer over it. It’s probably ‘cause of how many sweets I eat, so maybe I should cut down. Or train more, I…”
“Akito…”
A pout forms on Toya’s lips, clearly frustrated. “Akito, you know how much those kinds of photos are edited. You complain about it all the time.” Logically, he’s right; Akito is well aware of how most bodies on social media barely exist in real life, his own sister being a prime example. “You’re perfect just as you are, you shouldn’t compare yourself like that.”
“But–”
“Those people you’re looking at are adults and models and professionals, Akito.” Toya shifts, leaning past Akito a little and grabbing something off the bed. “You are perfectly healthy. It’s actually better to have fat covering, it’s important. How it looks isn’t the point.” He furrows his brows. “Expecting those kinds of results will do you no good. You already do more than enough.”
Just then, Akito catches sight of what his partner had grabbed; Toya is sliding Akito's phone into his back pocket. “Wh– Toya?!”
“I am confiscating this until you prove that you can be responsible and not put bad thoughts in your head,” Toya scolds. His tone is serious, but there’s the slightest hint of smugness in his expression.
Akito huffs again. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”
Toya smiles a little at that, exhaling shortly and bringing a hand up to Akito’s cheek. “Don’t be sorry,” he murmurs, “I just don’t want you falling into any bad habits. There really isn’t any problem.” He places a gentle kiss on Akito’s nose. “I’m sorry I made you feel that you had to apologise, though.”
“No, no, ‘s fine.” He sighs, then looks up at Toya. “…You mean it?”
“Mean what?”
“You said I’m…” he swallows thickly, “you said I’m perfect. You really think that?”
A sweet smile spreads across Toya’s face, exhaling a little chuckle as his eyes sparkle. “Of course I do, Akito. You’re so perfect to me.” Gentle hands slide downwards, over his shoulders and chest to his waist. “I love everything about you. Including your tummy.” He hesitates. “…That’s why I got upset. I don’t like it when you say bad things about what I love.”
“Wh– Toya…”
Akito feels his entire body flush at the declaration. He knew Toya loves him, but to love all of him? All the parts that stick out and look wrong and feel weird? That’s…
“Don’t look like it’s so unbelievable, love,” Toya chuckles, hands gently shifting to push Akito down onto the mattress. He presses soft kisses to Akito’s cheeks and freckles, along his jaw and neck, slides down, down, until…
Until he’s pressing kiss after kiss after kiss onto the softness of Akito’s stomach.
Akito makes some sound, somewhere between a laugh and a yelp, unsure of what exactly to do or how to react to the sudden move. The familiar coolness of Toya’s hands squeezing his sides is soothing against his too-hot skin; his lips and face are warmer, much warmer, breaths brushing against him.
“Ah, Toya, you–” he chokes on a breath, flustered beyond belief, “Toya–”
“Mm?” He can feel the smug little smile against his skin.
“You– ah, what are you—!”
He cuts off sharply as Toya’s teeth graze his stomach– not biting, just a soft tease, lip catching against the skin before he pulls back. “I’m appreciating you,” he explains simply. Akito huffs, equal parts embarrassed and fond; Toya hesitates briefly, before murmuring a quiet, “Do you want me to stop?”
He thinks. …Part of him wants to say yes. It feels embarrassing, vulnerable, almost tipping over the border of what he’s comfortable with. But…
Toya’s eyes peering up at him are filled with nothing but love. He can trust his partner with this.
He shakes his head, hands coming down to gently toy with his partner’s hair; both an encouragement to Toya and a motion to keep himself grounded. His partner giggles, the vibrations soft against his stomach, pressing a few little kisses against a freckle. “Let me know if that changes.”
And then he’s moving again. Akito watches as his partner noses around his stomach, kissing and laughing and pressing his fingers into the squishy flesh. Each movement is gentle, openly and freely loving– Akito allows himself to accept that love, laughing along as Toya’s hair and lips tickle his sensitive skin.
“You’re so warm,” Toya giggles out eventually, pinching and rolling a piece of flesh softly. “So, so cute.”
“Mm, Toya– haha, that tickles!– T-Toya, slow down—”
His partner obliges, releasing the skin and brushing his thumb over it in an unneeded apology. “You are cute, Akito,” he says, nuzzling against the skin, “you have a soft tummy, but I can feel the muscles underneath. It’s like having the best of both worlds.”
“Toya–”
“You’re so strong, too. I love how easily you can pick me up. I feel so safe in your arms when you carry me.”
“Toya!”
He looks up. “Yes?”
Akito stares back. Toya looks so lovely; cheeks flushed red, the two shades of his bangs mixed together where they’d rubbed against the skin, lips parted into a cute little o where he’d pulled away mid-kiss.
The ginger sighs and brings his hands to his partner’s cheeks. “…C’mere, pretty.”
With a quiet chuckle, Toya follows, sliding upwards; Akito tugs him down into a kiss. Slow and soft, filled with gentle affection. It flows so easily between them. A question and an answer, a melody.
Slowly, careful not to jostle his partner, Akito presses his arm to the mattress and sits them up; his partner follows, lips still connected. He only pulls away when Akito does.
“…Thank you,” Akito murmurs, sliding his hand to gently rub the junction of Toya’s neck. His partner smiles.
“Of course, my love,” he whispers back, voice fond. “It’s my pleasure. And…” his hands land back on Akito’s waist, “let me know if you ever feel this way again, okay? Like I said, I don’t want you feeling bad without reason.”
Akito smiles. “I will. Thank you.” Then, he laughs, gently shoving his partner’s shoulder. “Now get off me and let me get dressed, weirdo.”
“Ow,” Toya pouts, sliding off of him and onto the bed with obvious amusement, “you’re so mean, Aki.”
Akito laughs again, approaching his closet and flicking through his options. Toya speaks as he does. “I know we’re going to check out that new clothes place, but I had a look and there’s a cafe nearby too. How about I treat you to some pancakes while we’re there?”
It’s obvious, what his partner is trying to do; Akito smiles. “Yeah, that’d be nice. Thanks.” The rest of that, thank you for taking care of me, remains unspoken but not unheard.
Eventually, he settles on a black graphic tee. Pulling it on, he turns to his partner and holds out a hand. “Gimme my phone.”
Toya smirks. “That’s not very polite.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Akito drawls, “may I please have my phone back, my liege?”
Clearly holding back giggles, his partner considers this for a moment, then reaches into his pocket. “You may.” He holds out the device, and Akito takes it, rolling his eyes. He steps over to his desk and props it up, flicking on the camera and starting to pick through his earrings; he keeps most of them in a little dish, one Toya had painted for him on a date to a pottery studio. It doesn’t look… fantastic, but he loves it all the same.
Speaking of Toya, he approaches Akito’s side as soon as he realises what he’s doing; he joins in flicking through the pieces. A few are taken into his hand, and he holds them up to Akito’s ear, testing different combinations and placements; eventually, he seems to settle on a silver moon with a chain, carefully pinning them in and adding a few rings to the cartilage, wearing the cute focused pout he always gets in moments like this. Akito smiles in approval at the choice. He takes a few complimentary pieces and pins them to the opposite ear, turning his head and nodding, satisfied with their combined efforts.
“All ready now?” Toya asks, taking Akito’s hand; Akito smiles, swinging his bag over his shoulder and squeezing his partner’s hand.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”