Work Text:
The sound of sewing machines in Toto's head turned into the monotonous and lulling ticking of a clock, which made him slowly close his eyes, already resting his head to take a nap, when Spitz's voice interrupted him.
"Tototo... don't sleep here."
Toto quickly straightened up, frowning slightly.
"Sorry, there's been so much to do lately..." he sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking around the atelier. He had come here to check on how the clothes were being sewn according to his sketches. "And we're short-handed too."
Spitz nodded understandingly, not looking up from the fabrics.
"All the models are busy right now too, aren't they? I don't see Ron-kun near you at all..."
Toto snorted at the mention of the model's name.
"Believe me, he's definitely not sad. He loves posing for cameras."
As if on cue, familiar arms wrapped around Toto's neck, followed by a sweet whisper near his ear, "My favorite designer forgot about rest again, didn’t he?~"
He just sighed, turning his head slightly to see Ron's bright smile. Nevertheless, tiredness was also visible in his eyes.
"How much rest do you get yourself?" Toto said softly. "Go have lunch."
"I already had lunch," Ron grimaced. "Better..."
"Sorry, no new ideas, I haven't finished all the sketches yet. You don't want me to pay attention to them instead of you on the holiday, do you?"
Ron found nothing to say and changed the subject,
"Elmer is helping decorate the hall. Before he saw, I stole this..." And he draped tinsel around Toto's neck, chuckling. The designer looked at him reproachfully, though he made no attempt to remove the decoration.
"You might as well have hung string lights on me," he rolled his eyes.
Spitz suddenly pushed his sewing machine away, moving his chair a little closer to his friends. Toto raised an eyebrow at the air of mystery he was projecting.
"Speaking of which, I heard... that Amamiya-kun... will spend the holiday with Kawasemi!" Spitz whispered.
Ron chuckled, seemingly already devising a joke for Kawasemi at their next meeting, but he said aloud, "Eavesdropping again?"
Spitz coughed, returning to his work.
"It was an accident," he tried to justify, but even Toto didn't believe him. "Tch... Ron-kun, why did you say that? I won't help you anymore..."
"You will," Ron interrupted his offended words imperturbably, still hugging the designer.
Toto frowned. "...Help with what? Is there something I don't know about?"
Ron smiled and patted him on the head.
"No, Toto, it's fine. Spitz is just talking nonsense." His voice became even more alluring, knowing it would quickly distract Toto from his previous thoughts. "Will you show me the sketches for the clothes I'll be wearing for these holiday events before the New Year?"
"Show you the sketches?..." Toto mumbled, suppressing a smile. "You know they're still being refined."
But he stood up from his chair and headed to his office, not noticing his model saying something to Spitz. Something Toto wasn't supposed to know yet.
-
In the quiet room, Ron sat on a beanbag chair, holding a tablet in one hand and the papers Toto had used for the sketches in the other. With the New Year approaching, there was a need for New Year's and winter collections, and Toto had created a lot for Ron in particular — at the insistence of his boss, Amamiya, among others.
"Chicory said your photo would be on the front page of the 'Lime Weekly' fashion issue," Toto said, sitting at his desk and watching Ron. Propping his head with his hand, he reached for his coffee cup. The tinsel, which Ron had somehow taken, now lay on the windowsill as decoration. It was snowing lightly outside.
lWhat do I care about 'Lime Weekly'?" Ron replied, handing the tablet back to Toto but continuing to look at the papers. "The important thing is that you say how amazing I look."
Toto glanced at him, remaining silent, but he couldn't change the subject. Ron raised his head with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Toto, do you disagree with something?"
"You always look amazing," the designer mumbled. Ron beamed, happily returning to the sketches.
After a while, Toto stretched, sighing. He still wanted to sleep, which made him even forget about Ron's presence, who had suddenly gone quiet, looking at his phone. Only when he heard the rustling of wrappers did Toto startle and turn around.
lRon, shouldn't you be on set?" he asked. The model shrugged.
"To spend time with you, I acted extremely professionally and got off early."
Toto blinked a few times, pursing his lips. "You're such a..."
Ron licked his lips after the candy.
"Such a what? Cheesy?" he teased, offering Toto a few candies.
"...idiot," the designer grumbled in response, accepting the treat.
The model pouted demonstratively.
"Your idiot," Ron drawled. "How do you even know my schedule? Even my manager would be jealous..."
"Shut up..."
"Or else wha—"
He didn't get to finish: Toto stood up from his chair and leaned towards Ron, resting his hands on his shoulders, then gently, as always, kissed him. Not expecting to be silenced that way, Ron let out a quiet gasp, quickly melting from the soft display of affection.
Pulling away, Toto smiled slightly, while Ron turned his head, a blush spreading across his cheeks.
"I'm supposed to kiss you first," he protested and stubbornly pulled Toto in for a second kiss.
A couple of minutes later, they were already snuggled together on one armchair: Toto continued working on his sketches, while Ron succumbed to a burst of affection and refused to let go of him. He tenderly hugged the designer, resting his head on his shoulder.
From the closeness, Toto could smell the berry-mint scent of Ron's perfume. His hair, styled that morning, was a little disheveled, and only a slight tiredness stopped him from consciously messing it up even more — it usually covered the model's eyes, as if hiding his mesmerizing sky-blue eyes.
In reality, Toto didn't particularly like showing unfinished sketches and drafts, believing that people should wait for the perfect result, not an intermediate one that might lead to bias. But Ron... Ron could have anything: watch the work process, and see any sketches — from unfinished to completely unsuccessful.
The silence and peace were interrupted by Spitz: he knocked and flung open the door, holding a box of cupcakes. Ron, who loved sweets, immediately perked up. As soon as the box was opened, he reached for a cupcake with a gummy platypus on top. Toto, seeing a pastry with a gummy hamster, was confused, though he mechanically reached for it.
"Heh-heh, Elmer brought these!" Spitz explained, taking a third cupcake. There were still a few pieces left in the box for someone else.
"And where is Elmer himself?" Toto inquired, unable to imagine how this guy manages to help decorate the agency first, and then somehow pull those cupcakes out of nowhere...
Spitz shrugged.
"He said he had things to do and asked me to distribute these cakes in honor of the holiday."
"Did you finish all your work?" Toto asked, surprised.
A familiar sweetness of oranges spread across his tongue, which was definitely no accident. Judging by the delight with which Ron was eating, he had gotten the cupcake with brown sugar syrup.
"Elmer knows us all well..." Toto's thought flashed through his mind.
"No, I'm just on a break," Spitz waved off with a smile. "By the way, you're celebrating together, right?
"Of course!" Ron nodded proudly. "At my place."
Sighing, Toto playfully nudged the model.
"What about you, Spitz?"
"I think with my family... with my brother," he replied shyly, standing up. "Alright, I'll go to Amamiya-kun and get back to work."
After he left, Ron turned to Toto with a sly smile.
"I hope you've already prepared a gift for me~”
"You have cream on your lips, my gift," Toto snorted, handing him a napkin, but Ron had already licked his lips like a cat.
-
One evening, Ron was lying in bed, reading the latest issue of "Lime Weekly." Just as Toto had said, Ron was on the front page — and of course, in Toto's designer clothes, which he had worked so hard on: while fitting them on Ron, he had almost been ready to tie him up so he could truly appreciate his creation. White glitter, mimicking snow, adorned his black hair. A blue pattern graced the coat. The overall effect gave the impression that Ron was a snowflake. (Or a stray cat caught in winter, but he didn't usually think of that association.)
Taking his phone, he called his favorite designer without hesitation. "Toto, did you see my photo on the front page?~"
The designer, clearly already dozing off, sleepily replied, "Of course I saw it."
"And what do you think?"
"I've told you many times..." Toto yawned. "You're very handsome."
"Especially in what you made," Ron purred, imagining Toto forcing himself to talk to him on the phone, his face buried in a pillow. "Are you asleep yet?"
"I am. You should go to bed too."
"Then goodnight, Toto," the model said more softly.
"Goodnight, Ron," the designer replied, ending the call and sinking back into sleep. No one else called him about such trivial matters.
-
Ron eagerly awaited this day—a holiday off that he would spend in Toto's company. The entire apartment was hung with string lights—pointless on one hand, and on the other, one might not even need to turn on the lights.
As soon as the doorbell rang, Ron dropped all the cookies he was checking for burnt spots.
Stepping into the model's apartment, Toto gazed around, bewildered by the sheer amount of lights and his boyfriend's beaming face.
"…I think you might have gone a little overboard…"
"Not at all! It looks so cool with the lights off!" Ron retorted and started turning them off everywhere.
The entire apartment was plunged into darkness for a couple of seconds, but then it was illuminated by the light of numerous string lights of all colours. It certainly created an unusual atmosphere.
Toto sighed with a smile, handing Ron a box tied with a ribbon.
"You once listed the clothes you couldn't find…" he began, but Ron was already sitting on the floor, opening the gift in the dim light of the string lights.
"Cute…" Toto thought tenderly.
"How did you fit so much clothing in here and…" Ron read with delight the labels on the packages on top: brown sugar syrup with various flavor additives, candies with the same syrup. "Ah, immortal classic!!"
"That's not a classic, it's a guide to getting diabetes," Toto laughed.
Ron smiled slyly and nudged a return box towards him. Toto opened it with anticipation, but carefully: Ron's homemade candies, which Toto really liked, merchandise from the singer Nyo-Nyon, and… His eyes widened in astonishment.
A plush chibi toy of Ron.
"And I have one just like it, in the shape of you," Ron added teasingly. "We can hug each other in our sleep, even if we don't spend the night together…"
"Oh… you know how to surprise me…" Toto laughed again, sitting down on the sofa. He held up the plush versions of himself and Ron, admiring them. "Spitz helped you, didn't he?"
Suddenly, Ron gasped, pulling out the last part of the gift, hidden among the clothes.
"Where did you find this criminology book?! I was sure the print run was incredibly small…"
"It was really small," Toto replied, playing with the plush Ron. "But my grandmother collected rare books for a while. She even found one like this among them."
"Toto, you know how much I adore you?"
"I adore you too, don't worry."
When Ron's excitement subsided a little, he presented Toto with a huge pile of sweets and cookies. He had prepared them himself — and was especially proud to see that Toto liked everything more than enough. The platypus-shaped cookies unexpectedly amused Toto: perhaps because he was trying them from Ron's hands.
They put on movies of different genres in the background, and the whole evening until late at night, even after the new year had arrived, they played board games, dedicating an endless amount of time to each other.
"Since we're celebrating another new year together, it means we'll spend the whole year together again," Ron remarked, beating Toto at chess for the third time.
"Mmm-hmm. It's a tradition now," Toto smiled, intently trying to figure out which of his moves had led to his defeat.
Chuckling, Ron swept all the pieces off the board. "Forget chess, I want hugs."
Toto rolled his eyes but settled in, allowing Ron to snuggle closer. Glancing at the time, he murmured, "Happy New Year, Ron..."
"Happy New Year, Toto," came the immediate reply.
Years pass, but they are still together.