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Ryouga opened the door and was immediately hit by a wall of a rich, heady scent. The sharp smell of onions and sound of boiling water reached him, along with Thomas humming tunelessly.
It felt like forever since he had come home to his boyfriend cooking for them. The first few months of his pregnancy had been incredibly rough on Thomas - morning sickness and exhaustion killed his appetite and cooking was out of the question. Thomas ate little except rice, applesauce, bananas, unseasoned chicken breast and broccoli.
Ryouga never wanted to eat steamed broccoli ever again.
But recently his appetite had returned, as had a bit of his energy, and Thomas had cooked a few simple meals for them. His food was usually basic regardless - recipes he had learned from helping in the orphanage's kitchen, meant to save money while feeding a large crowd - so he usually ordered or ate out out if he was in the mood for something fancier.
So Ryouga was surprised when he arrived in the kitchen to see multiple pots and pans of ingredients littering the stove and counters.
Two cutting boards sat on the counter, next to a metal bowl with vegetable skins and scraps inside. The spice rack in the corner had been raided, the small bottles scattered throughout the kitchen. Ryouga looked over Thomas's shoulder, trying not to startle him - yet. His boyfriend was packing a mixture of uncooked rice and ground meat into a deep green leaf, and rolling them up like harumaki. Rolled leaves, about the size of inarizushi, littered the bottom of a ceramic dutch oven sitting on the stovetop. Ryouga had never seen Thomas cook anything so intricate and complex.
“What the hell are you making?”
Thomas’s shoulders sprang up, and the spoon holding the rice and meat mix went flying into the wall with a clang.
“Guh - don’t scare me like that! Christ.”
Ryouga shrugged, wrapping his arms around Thomas’s chest. Thomas wiggled a bit to try and get free, and Ryouga loosened up just enough for his boyfriend to turn around a bit in his grip.
“I’ve never heard of leaves as a pregnancy craving. What, did you pick these up off the ground?” Ryouga grinned teasingly.
“What? That’s nasty. No, I had to buy them online. I’m making dolmades.”
Thomas looked honestly a little offended, but for all Ryouga knew, they really were leaves he picked up outside. The name of the dish didn’t ring a bell either. He tilted his head a bit, like a confused puppy.
“Stuffed grape leaves. They’re Greek. My mom used to make them.”
Ryouga went silent. He could count on one hand the amount of times Thomas had mentioned his mother. It was obviously something he didn’t like talking about. They each had their own boundaries that were slowly being taken down over time, brick by brick. (Ryouga had only told Thomas about Iris recently.)
Thomas looked up at his boyfriend. “Can I keep cooking now?”
Ryouga released his hold, watching as Thomas continued to spoon the rice and meat into the leaves, his delicate hands shaping and folding them.
“We have a rice cooker, you know.” Ryouga looked at the appliance on the other end of the counter, untouched.
“No shit we do. The rice cooks inside the grape leaf. It’s supposed to go in raw.”
“Weird.”
After the last of the leaves was filled, Thomas ladled them into the boiling water and stuck a lid on the pot.
“It'll be about an hour.” Thomas punched the time into his D-pad. “What do you want to do until then.”
Ryouga didn't even wait a second. “Duel?”
Thomas grinned. “Of course.”
With Thomas taking the next year off of work and trying to stay out of the spotlight, he didn't have much opportunity to duel, so Ryouga offered himself up as a practice partner to keep his skills sharp. Ryouga would never turn down a duel with his boyfriend if he could help it. Thomas was a skilled opponent, and knowing each other's tells and thought processes added an extra layer to their duels that wasn't present with any of Ryouga's other opponents.
“My turn-” the timer on Thomas's D-pad buzzed. “Oh, they're done. Let's come back to this.”
He scooched away from the low table, and slowly pushed himself to his feet.
“Urgh. My back hurts, and all I was doing was dueling.”
“Better get used to it.”
“Don't be a dick, how about ‘I'm sorry babe’? Or ‘Thank you for sacrificing your handsome body to have my kids’?”
Ryouga rolled his eyes and stepped back into the kitchen.
“Or you could rub my back. That'd be nice.”
“Aren't these going to burn if you don't take them out?” Ryouga uncovered the pot and closed his eyes as the rich smell of meat and onions wafted out of the pot. He pulled two plates from the cabinet and ladled the dolmades onto them.
“Can you clear the cards off the table?” Ryouga shouted into the living room.
“You want me to sit back down? Seriously!?”
Ryouga rolled his eyes again. He poured both of them some water and met Thomas back at the low table, where he had put their decks back in their boxes.
“Alright, here we go.”
Steam curled up from the wrapped leaves, bringing with it a savory, herbal scent. Ryouga blew on his first dolma, taking a bite and chewing tentatively, his palate exploring the hearty lamb, and the soft texture of the rice, and something slimy and bitter-
Ryouga spit a tiny piece of translucent vegetable into his hand.
“Is this an onion?,” he asked. “Are there fucking onions in here?”
Thomas looked up, somehow already on his third dolma. His cheeks were puffed out like a hamster's, and a look of shock dawned on his face as he suddenly swallowed.
“Shit, yeah. I forgot to tell you. I made them for myself, so I didn't cook any without onion this time…”
Ryouga pushed the plate with a handful of dolmades left on it towards the center of the table.
“I've kinda lost my appetite.”
Thomas rolled his eyes and shoved another dolma into his mouth.
Either he's starving or this is one strong craving, Ryouga thought. His eyes wandered from the plate to Thomas's face. His eyes were closed, all senses seemingly redirected to his meal. A grain of rice had stuck an inch or so from his lower lip, in a spot that would have been the perfect set up for a joke in a romcom manga.
Ryouga took the bait. He scooched up to Thomas and put his hand on the side of his face. When his eyes opened to look, Ryouga kissed the side of his mouth, tongue darting out to grab the rice.
“You're being a really messy eater. Slow down.”
Thomas huffed.
“Make me.”
Ryouga grinned.
“Well, if you insist.”
He picked up the last dolma from Thomas's plate and gently poked the wrapped end against his lips. Thomas's eyes grew wide, but then slowly closed, and he took the offered snack. Ryouga watched him slowly chew it. His eyes opened again, halfway, unfocused, like he was in another world altogether as Ryouga placed the first of his own uneaten leaves to his boyfriend's lips.
This time Thomas's tongue and lips lingered on Ryouga’s fingers just a bit longer. They caressed and sucked at his fingertips and the skin around his nails, and when Thomas drew away to chew, Ryouga shivered.
He had fed Thomas (and even Rio) things on chopsticks and spoons before, but never hand to mouth like this. It was so intimate it was embarassing, especially when he considered he was, by proxy, feeding his own unborn children by feeding their other father.
Thomas made a hum of appreciation as he finished swallowing the last of of the dolma Ryouga had just given him. He stared down at the other ones on Ryouga’s plate, indecision clear on his face.
“Don't you want them?”
“I dunno, I wasn't planning on eating this many…”
“But are you still hungry?”
It was a question Ryouga had to ask a lot over the past month or so. Bad morning sickness the previous few months plus an obsession with calorie counting that bordered on disordered eating meant Thomas had a tendency to not eat as much as he should, according to his doctor.
Thomas wiggled in his chair. “…yeah, I'm still hungry….”
Ryouga picked up another dolma and brought it to his boyfriend's lips.
The plates were cleaned, and Ryouga had made himself a quick onion and pepper-free dinner. He shook Thomas's shoulder, breaking him out of his food coma.
“Ugh… you're gonna have to roll me away from the table.” Thomas slumped back in his chair. His eyes fluttered closed, and Ryouga scoffed.
“It wasn't that much food. You're growing two whole humans, you need to eat.” Ryouga held Thomas's hand. “Come on, if you're gonna nap, at least lay down in bed.”
Thomas got up again, with a bit more difficulty than before. Ryouga led him to their bedroom, where the scent of cooked food melded into the earthy scent of sandalwood emanating from their air freshener.
Thomas sat down on the edge of the bed and rolled on his side with a huff. Ryouga held him from behind again, one hand applying pressure to his lower back, and the other skimming under his shirt to feel his swollen belly.
“You're the worst.” Thomas sighed, a small smile on the corners of his lips.
“And you love it.”
Ryouga started gently massaging his boyfriend's strained back, kneading the taut muscles in circles. Over the years both of them had carried so many expectations - their own, Thomas's family’s, Nasch's kingdom’s - on their backs and shoulders. If it weren't for the physical burdens of pregnancy, it was the same old, same old.
Speaking of Thomas's family -
“You never told me about your mom.”
Thomas stiffened. Ryouga kept rubbing his back, but eased his touch.
“She died when I was 3. I barely knew her.”
The hands rubbing Thomas's back slowly surrounded him in a hug. Ryouga, unsure what to say, nuzzled his cheek into the back of Thomas's shoulder.
“Dad met her when they were both in Greece. She was studying the United Lands of Poseidon.”
“Hey, we might have gotten along, then.” Ryouga chuckled.
“She left me her doll collection, too. She's kind of the reason I got into collecting them.”
Ryouga's eyes wandered to the cabinet next to Thomas's side of the bed. Behind the locked glass doors were several creepy antique porcelain dolls. Ryouga groaned.
“I take that back.”