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"Hey, Toya... I'm home..."
Akito's voice came through far weaker than usual as he entered through the creaking door of their shared apartment. His day was absolutely exhausting -- between having to rush around every which way to keep things in check at the livehouse, draining every bit of his social battery by chatting with some younger fans who were excited to work with him and having to get the squad's event schedules and set lists in working order... all he wanted to do by the end of it was collapse into bed, cuddle up to his partner and sleep through the next couple of days.
However, even as Akito moved to shut and lock the door behind him with the essentially nonexistent amount of energy he had left, he received no answer from the partner in question. It immediately struck him as odd -- If Toya came home before Akito, he always stopped what he was doing in order to greet him. It was the biggest highlight of both their days to be able to return to each other after hours of hard work, nothing but their love mattering one bit until the coming of dawn.
"Toya?" Akito repeated with a bit more volume, even if he absolutely didn't have the energy required to do so. Again, no answer was received, stilling Akito's heart for a few too many moments to be considered healthy. He stepped further into the deathly silent space before him, completely cloaked in darkness save for the blue-ish light he could slightly make out behind the wall...
"Ah." The sight of an unconscious Toya clicked everything together nicely. He'd fallen asleep at his computer with a music program still open, what were probably dozens of handwritten notes scattered all across the surface of the desk he was hunched against... He must have gotten into a groove, breaking his weeks-long writer's block, and tried to pull an all-nighter again.
"Jeez, Toya..." sighed Akito, quietly stooping down so he could meet the level of his idiot partner, who was lightly snoring without a single care in the world. Even when he'd simply powered down at his desk, Toya never failed to look utterly peaceful when he slept. It was like his body itself was glad it had the privilege to recharge its batteries and start the day anew... It was so completely Toya-like that Akito couldn't possibly not be endeared by it.
Regardless of how content the cloudlike softness of Toya's relaxed features made him seem in this state, though, Akito knew the guy was going to catch cold or screw up his back if he let him stay like this all night... It fell squarely on his shoulders to make sure his partner took care of himself, then -- a weight he was thankful to be able to carry, if he was being honest.
"Toya..." Akito spoke as softly as he could manage, not wanting to rouse his beloved partner too sharply. With a hand at his back, he lightly jostled Toya in hopes it would ease the gears of his brain back into motion. "Toya, it's me. You up?"
"Mmf... Akito..." rasped the tired voice of Toya, ever the light sleeper when Akito wasn't around. Instinctually so, Toya's lips were lazily tugged into a smile as he was able to set heavy eyes on the boy he loved -- He was barely conscious, and yet the happiness he felt being able to see his partner was so ingrained into his heart that he couldn't help mustering a look that made never failed to make Akito's heart melt into a puddle.
Akito had heard rumors that the longer a relationship went on, the less you would feel that overwhelming affection that set off fireworks in your heart until everything settled and became casual. Those rumors were clearly bullshit, because he'd been with Toya for several years now and he was still absolutely crazy for him and everything he did like this; and Toya fully returned the gesture -- that much he had no trouble reminding Akito of.
"...Hi, Akito." a tenth-awake Toya finally spoke, adjusting his position to form a makeshift pillow out of his lazily crossed arms.
"Hey, partner..." Akito returned with an elated tone he hadn't even known he could speak in until he met Toya, barely able to rip a grin of his own off his face in time to deliver a small punctuating smooch against Toya's lips. He could feel the resulting, barely audible giggle of satisfaction bumble from Toya's lips against his as a result, forcing the younger to suppress the urge to just dive straight back in and pepper his whole face -- A wake-up call that was often inflicted on himself, so he was sure Toya wouldn't exactly mind, but...
"You fell asleep at your desk again, dummy." Akito settled on saying instead, because whatever he wanted was nothing but a secondary priority at the moment. Contrary to his objective, he rubbed soothing circles into the clothed back of his partner, as if trying to lull him back into the depths of sleepy relaxation.
"I was, um... working on that song." Toya began through an obviously foggy mind, slowly raising in his seat until Akito had to retract his hand. It seemed liked his earlier suspicions were right on the money, then. "I thought I could keep going if I pushed just a little bit further... I guess I was more tired than I thought."
"No kidding..." thought Akito. His poor partner had visible eyebags from staying up too late, and his favorite coffee mug sat at the coaster adjacent to his keyboard with the sticky remnants of its intended liquid stuck to the bottom... He'd completely overexhausted himself.
"Oh. That reminds me... Are you hungry, Akito?" yawned Toya, still worried about Akito's wellbeing even when his was the one he should be concerned about. "I heated up some hamburger steak in the microwave for you... It's just a convenience store meal, but I thought you would enjoy having something hot to eat."
"Did you eat anything after you got back?" questioned Akito with an exasperated sigh. It was all Toya could do to blink in lieu of a response, like the idea had completely failed to cross his mind.
"No... But I'm not very hungr-"
"Toya." Akito interrupted, tone reminiscent of the one Toya himself used to adopt whenever Akito tried to run away from his studies back in high school. Suddenly, the younger had planted two hands into Toya's already messy hair, ruffling it up further as if attempting to soft reset his brain.
"You're smarter than that, dude. It's no wonder you passed the hell out if all you had to eat was coffee..." Akito began grumbling as he rose to his feet, swiping the used mug that Toya had fully forgotten was there if his puzzled expression was anything to go off of. "I'm gonna bring you some dinner, then you're gonna get some sleep in an actual bed, got it?"
"But... The song..."
"I'll help you with it in the morning." Akito spoke with clear-cut confidence as he stomped out of the room. He clearly had no intention of letting Toya carry on, though the older supposed his partner's candid ability to tell someone what they needed without holding back once things got dire was one of his admirable qualities.
Akito sighed as he entered the kitchen, swiping the still-stained coffee pot off the counter along the way which... Jesus, did Toya seriously drink the entire goddamn pot? It barely came as a surprise that he wasn't hungry, then, but it didn't take a genius to conclude that he'd be regretting it later if he didn't have any food alongside it...
Shaking his head with what he couldn't decide was further exasperation or genuine concern for his partner's digestive system, Akito placed both the pot and mug in the... sink? Huh... It was completely empty now, when he knew for a fact that there was still a bit of pile-up when he left. They'd both been busy for a while what with their upcoming event, so neither of them really had the time to keep up with the dishes as well as they usually did... Toya must have forcibly carved some time out of his schedule in order to do so.
Glancing around, it was only then that Akito really took the time to notice that the whole kitchen had become squeaky clean compared to the state he'd been forced to leave it in... He understood what happened now -- Toya, having gotten home from the composition classes he'd been taking and tutoring for earlier than Akito and his livehouse escapades, spent the afternoon deep cleaning their apartment.
Cleaning and organizing things had always been a therapeutic process for Toya, a sentiment that Akito frequently shared, so he supposed it came as no surprise that it would clear the taller's head enough for inspiration to strike. Now if only the idiot had considered that maybe gradually chugging a pot of coffee with no food while hunched at his computer after a full day's worth of schoolwork and cleaning was perhaps a bad idea...
"It's cold..." Akito thought as he then examined the seemingly forgotten hamburger steak dinner sitting abandoned in the microwave -- He'd even cleaned that out, damn. Luckily, that just meant he had time to make a trip to the bedroom while he reheated the meal for Toya.
...Oh. Toya had already done the laundry and made the bed... He'd even laid out both their usual sleepwear and arranged those matching Sanrio plushies they'd gotten next to their respective pillows. It'd be impressive if he hadn't completely drained himself to the point of literally passing out in order to achieve the feat.
Setting the issue aside for now, Akito swiftly grabbed the large throw blanket that had been politely folded near the corner of the bed. Snatching the now-cooked hamburger steak meal on his way back, he was now equipped to spoil his lover by any means necessary.
"You really don't have to go to all this trouble, Akito..." was, of course, his foolish partner's first reaction when the ginger finally returned to the main room. Akito almost had a mind to be offended if it weren't for the fact that the words were coming from Toya himself.
"Doesn't matter. I want to take care of you, idiot..." Akito scoffed as he tossed the blanket around Toya, like the very idea that it could be a bother for him to go above and beyond for his lover was ludicrous beyond belief.
"Thank you..." Toya muttered in stark contrast to the true feelings which had no shortage of trouble shining clear on his face, an obvious guilty twinge strumming through fluttering eyes of silver as he fought the depths of unconsciousness. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Akito."
"Hey. Don't gimme that crap." Akito sighed, and suddenly a portion of the hamburger steak that had been placed on Toya's desk was being poked at his lips. Blinking in surprise a few times, his delayed attempt at registering the sudden act settled in and allowed him to sink the peace of meat into his mouth.
"You're my boyfriend, you dumbass... My partner. All I wanna do is make you happy day and night -- That's more important to me than anything else in the world." Akito continued, watching carefully as Toya slowly chewed up the steak and swallowed with the little strength he had left. "So take care of yourself, Toya... Eat and sleep when you know you need to, and let me help you if you get too tired to keep going, kay? I'll drop anything to give you an extra hand."
"I know..." Toya sighed, the life slowly returning back to his eyes as the meat settled in his stomach. Almost like a reward or something, he could feel the younger's hand card back two-toned hair in order to press a tender smooch into his waiting forehead. "It's just that... I want to do the very same thing for you, Akito."
"Eh...?"
In what felt like an instant, the hand currently raking through Toya's hair had been guided downward by the older's own. His touch simulated a cloudlike floatiness as he brought Akito's hand to cup against his face, encasing the younger's heat between that of his own comparatively pale hand and cheek. And then he smiled, as if to be reminded that he was able to feel that which made his lover human as he pleased was the most delightful sensation he could hope to achieve -- Such a move never failed to make Akito blush, not even now that they were both adults and college students.
"You had a very long day too, didn't you, Akito?" whispered Toya in that unfairly hypnotic voice of his. The younger had clearly already been lured into his soothing trance, seeing as he didn't even consider rejecting it when Toya had suddenly reversed their roles by bringing a bite of hamburger steak to Akito's lips. "I can see it in your eyes. You're absolutely exhausted..."
"That's..." Akito almost considered denying it even through a muffling cheekful of hamburger, but he knew he'd be a liar and a hypocrite if he did considering his eyes bore matching luggage with Toya's at the moment. "...Yeah, maybe."
He should've figured that Toya would immediately see through his facade... Not that it exactly took a rocket scientist to see how tired Akito was -- from the sheer lack of energy in his movements to the way he instantly melted into a puddle when Toya opted to pull him close, it was more than obvious that he was dead on his feet and craving a dose of R&R with the boy he loved most to revive him.
"Damn..." Akito managed to think as his subdued self was yanked into a proper hug, sealing the both of them into the blanket. "We both really suck at finding a work/life balance, don't we...?"
Both boys sighed happily into each other, despite the inherent awkwardness of the position they were in. Toya was right; they both needed this badly. It was funny how the both of them seemed to have an uncanny ability to keep going for hours off the aid of caffeine and adrenaline alone, only to suddenly be made cognizant of their own exhaustion and fall apart at the last second... They both supposed it didn't matter so long as it was each others arms they could manage to collapse into, though.
"I took care of everything at the livehouse..." Akito suddenly muttered, already drifting in and out of consciousness. "So we can have a lazy day tomorrow... Just the two of us."
"Pfft..."
"What?" groaned Akito, too tired to care about how blatantly whiny he came off.
"Nothing, nothing." Toya sleepily hummed, arms determined to keep his partner secure in his hold. "It's just that you never would've said that when we were in high school."
"Well, we're not in high school anymore..." groaned Akito, even if he knew they still retained most of the tendencies they had from those days into what should've been the domestic bliss of their current college years...
"That we aren't." Toya agreed with a hum, kissing the side of Akito's head to the best of the ability their strange angle could privide. "...I love you, Akito."
"Love you too, Toya..." murmured Akito, both of them falling asleep without a single care for the aches they would receive in the morning.