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Exhausted didn’t cut it. Kojiro felt more tired than he had in weeks, perhaps even months. His limbs felt heavy, his wrists and shoulders ached from chopping and peeling and overall working all day. Sia La Luce had been extremely busy today, following up on a week of only slightly-more-busy-than-usual days.
Don’t get him wrong. He loved Sia more than any other non-living thing in his life (he says that because nothing could take higher priority and meaning than Kaoru, or even the kids), and he’d trade it for nothing. Cooking was something that made everything seem better, a hobby and a job and everything in between. But that didn’t mean that long days didn’t take a lot out of him.
So, as much as he loved his work, sometimes it was a very relieving thing to finally flip the sign over to Closed and begin to wipe down the counters. Sometimes, the best part of the day was pushing chairs in and humming to whatever music his playlist was giving him that day. As much as he loved regular, easy days, and as much as he disliked being swarmed during the day, nothing really felt the same as unwinding after a long day.
Cleaning and finally ending the day wasn’t really his favorite part of it all, though. His favorite part of unwinding after these days was Kaoru. Who would indulge him when he was so stressed, who would massage his back or clean his hair during a shared bath, who’d cuddle with him or even give him a while to just be a caregiver or handler (especially if Kaoru was also stressed). However, as the minutes ticked by, the calligrapher didn’t show up to greet him so they could return home together— since Sia was closer to his studio than home, he’d usually stop by to spend the time Kojiro spent cleaning up with him. Yet, while a while ago Kojiro would have become practically deflated, today he wasn’t. Because, while a while ago he’d have an empty house to return to and nobody to bicker with and cuddle into the sheets with, he has that now.
Kaoru may not have been at Sia today, but he would be at home when Kojiro returned, likely having gone directly home. It likely meant he, too, was rather stressed, if he’d chosen to discard the trip to Sia he usually took after work. Rather than an upset (though he was worried for Kaoru), it was a motivation to finish settling the restaurant so that he could leave.
It took longer than he’d originally expected in order to do so, but eventually, the restaurant was cleaned up to his standards. Which meant he could finally go home. Despite the bone-deep exhaustion, he could feel the soft excitement running through his body as he turned the lights off and locked up the door at last.
The ride home was quiet, filled mostly with music. Nothing too loud, since it was quite late by now, but enough he wasn’t left alone with his thoughts, which were slowly filling with questions about what might’ve made Kaoru go straight home. He usually only did that when he was planning something, or when he was stressed enough he just wanted to get his nightly routine done and settle down in bed with music and a comfort item of his choice—something more ‘adult,’ like a book or his latest sketchbook, or something more little, like a stuffed animal or pacifier.
Overly stubborn and frustrating clients were usually the cause. Ones he couldn’t just deny, because they weren’t just entitled, but were the rich, spoiled type. Ones who paid far too much to be denied, even if Kaoru himself was quite well-off on his own, and had too much reputation to deny. Sometimes Kojiro wished he could stand by Kaoru’s side during those meetings so he could say what his partner could not, and possibly punch the pretentious assholes in the face, but alas, that would probably earn Kaoru a worse reputation than not accepting them in the first place.
A pity, because it would be satisfying. Kaoru certainly imagined punching them plenty, and they both knew that.
Kojiro pulled into his driveway absent mindedly, only really registering it once he was turning the music and engine off and exiting the car. Stepping out and into the driveway, he noted Kaoru’s car there in the driveway—he was indeed home. Taking out his key, he headed up to the front door and unlocked it, stepping in and closing and locking the door behind him.
“Kaoru?” He called out, slipping his shoes off and switching them to house slippers, something Kaoru would complain very adamantly about every time he forgot. There was no response. The house was quiet, but it didn’t feel empty. Kojiro entered the living room, looking around for a moment before he heard it: From the bedroom down the hall, there was soft music playing. One of Kaoru’s relaxation playlists.
Kojiro had been quite right after all.
He headed down the hall and into the bedroom, knocking on the door softly twice before gently pushing it open. Of course there was nothing he could walk in on that Kaoru wouldn’t be more upset with than a few words of complaint, but letting a stressed Kaoru be aware he was coming in first was always a good idea. Unless, of course, he was already asleep, which was unlikely but still possible.
The sight he was met with was something that told him all he needed to know.
The bed, made perfectly that morning, was bunched up a bit towards the end, where Kaoru laid curled up like a cat, eyes closed and breathing slowed. A sight unique to when Kaoru was so stressed he needed to regress, but chose to pet regress in lieu of the fact Kojiro was not home at the time to care for little him; Kaoru had always preferred to age regress when his caregiver was there, after all, and he tended to pet regress more when alone.
In short: Kaoru, curled up on the foot of their bed in an awkwardly comfortable position with his eyes closed and hands held halfway over his face, was nothing more than a kitten right now. Kojiro’s expression softened slightly, but instead of bothering him yet, he quickly moved his way silently through the bedroom to grab a change of clothes, leaving to go to the bathroom and change.
Only after he was done getting himself out of work clothing and relaxed enough, he entered the bedroom again and walked quietly over to the edge of the bed, kneeling down. Carefully reaching out, Kojiro ran his fingers through Kaoru’s hair.
He let out a small, high noise in response, moving his hands away and leaning into the touch without question, barely opening his eyes enough to see who was touching him. Of course it was nobody but his handler, nobody but the only person he’d expect to be here right now, so gentle and careful with him.
“Hi, pretty boy,” Kojiro whispered. Kaoru hummed, his voice carrying the same higher pitch it did moments before, the same it always carried when he was in kittenspace. His eyes were slightly unfocused with tiredness and what Kojiro could see remained of the day’s stress. That was a conversation for tomorrow, though, or later if he returned to his regular headspace before then: for now, he had one task, and one he was settling into very quickly.
“Do you want your ears?” He asked; Kaoru had changed into something simpler, comfortable, but he didn’t often put on his gear alone unless Kojiro wasn’t going to be home at all. He seemed to have been too stressed and tired to bother, anyway. Kaoru closed his eyes, slowly, leaning into his touch. Okay, no. “How about your collar?” A small noise, and Kojiro nodded. “Alright, how about your tail?” Another mimic of a cat’s ‘mrrw,’ presumably. Kojiro scratched his head once before heading over to the closet.
He took out the regression gear, quickly grabbed Kaoru’s tail and collar (the tail a fluffy white, the collar leather on the outside and white fluff on the inside, sporting a tag that had his name and Kojiro’s number on the back, as though a real cat’s collar,) and returned to Kaoru with the items.
The kitten had laid back down, visibly more relaxed by now. Kojiro sat down on the bed, against the head of it, and reached out again to pet Kaoru. He received a soft hum and Kaoru rolled over slightly towards him.
“Come on,” He whispered. “Let me put on your collar and tail and we can cuddle, sweetheart,”
Kaoru made a faint noise of annoyance, but slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his wrist and yawning. Kojiro watched silently as he crawled closer, settling down with his head on Kojiro’s lap. The chef carefully reached under and around to settle the collar on, before adjusting himself to clip the tail on Kaoru’s pants.
“There you go,” He whispered. “Now you can rest. I’ve got you.”
Almost instantly, any remaining tenseness evaporated from Kaoru’s body, and he curled up against Kojiro, eyes closing. A faint noise Kojiro knew to be Kaoru’s subconscious imitation of a purr began to come from him, and Kojiro returned his hand to the kitten’s hair, carefully scratching his head while playing with his hair. Exactly as he knew Kaoru liked it. He could feel Kaoru’s hands making rhythmic motions over his chest, expressing his contentment.
While he would’ve rathered Kaoru had a better day of his own, this was a fine way to destress; knowing he had his kitten’s head in his lap, relaxed and purring because of him, was a feeling he never would get sick of.
Eventually, the purring stopped, the kneading faded, and Kaoru’s breathing slowed to indicate him falling asleep. Kojiro adjusted them so he, too, could get comfortable enough to sleep, avoiding waking up the man in his lap– although the tedious task was plenty worth it.
“Goodnight, darling,” Kojiro whispered, finally letting his eyes close. They’d talk tomorrow. For tonight, he was more than ready to just sleep, Kaoru right there next to him, safe and comfortable.