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Kunikida fidgets.
The birds chirp outside his window.
Morning sunlight softly illuminates the scene in his dorm- his desk, the notebook and pens neatly organized atop, Atsushi still sleeping soundly on his mat, blanket wrapped warmly around him- and Kunikida feels a tight pang of something twist in his chest before putting the emotion aside for now.
Not now.
Right now, his priority is…
Atsushi stirs.
Kunikida stiffens before sighing and smoothing his fingers over his face. It’s nothing to be nervous about, really- not really that big a step. Atsushi lives here already- that was such an easy transition, since they had gotten to the point of 'practically living together’ about a month prior to Atsushi getting his own key and vacating his dorm (which Kyouka was fairly grateful for- after almost two years, living in close quarters with your faux-sibling gets fairly stifling, but all the Agency dorms were filled.)
Just a question. The next phase in their relationship.
Kunikida tries to crush the fluttering in his stomach and gets up to make breakfast.
~~~~~~
About half an hour later, Atsushi pads into the kitchen.
“Hey.” He sighs, rubbing his eye and stretching- at some point, he had apparently taken possession of one of Kunikida’s sleep shirts. It’s pale and pinstriped and the sleeves reach his knuckles. Even after a year, it’s still unbearably cute.
Kunikida glances between him and the stove, where he’s finishing frying two eggs.
“Hey.” He replies, smiling slightly- he dishes the eggs from the pan onto two plates, setting them by the bowls of rice and miso on the kitchen table. Atsushi leans up to kiss him- it tastes like toothpaste, and only lasts a moment, but he comes away from it with a warm look in his eyes and sits down across from Kunikida.
“It’s my turn to cook tomorrow.” He laughs, picking up his chopsticks, and Kunikida scoffs.
“If you can get up in time.” He parries, and takes a bite of his rice and a sip of his soup before setting his food down, glancing up at Atsushi.
“Atsushi.” He starts, and damn, he can feel his face getting red already.
Atsushi looks up at him mid-bite- he swallows and says, “yeah?”
It’s now or never, really.
Kunikida stops his fingers from twitching.
“Do you want to come meet my family?” He asks in a rush, feeling the breath in his chest leave him in a 'whoosh’, carrying the question from his lips to hang in the air.
Atsushi blinks at him.
His face splits into a beaming smile.
“Of course!” He exclaims, blushing, eyes wide in excitement.
Kunikida sighs in relief.
“Well,” he continues, “I’m taking a week off at the end of this month to visit them- they live in the Yamanashi prefecture, near the Shizuoka border, so it’s a fairly mountainous area.-”
He’s cut off because Atsushi leans around the table to kiss him.
~~~~~~
“Get your snacks off my dashboard.” Kunikida grumbles, pulling out of the rest stop parking lot. “I brought a box for that. Don’t drop crumbs.”
“Ah-” Atsushi grabs and deposits the bag into the cardboard box set in the median between their seats, “-right.”
He sticks two pocky in his mouth and leans over to poke one past Kunikida’s lips- the other man rolls his eyes but draws it into his mouth nonetheless, finishing it in a few bites.
Outside, the forest flashes by, yellow sunlight and green foliage. Atsushi watches it with soft eyes.
“We’re almost there.” Kunikida says, following the curve of the long, empty road they’re on. “My parents live in a village at the base of the mountain.”
Atsushi looks sideways at him, interested.
“So you were a small-town boy?” He grins, imagining a young Kunikida Doppo- exploring through the woods, bug net in hand, or buying notebooks and pens at the general store- getting his first pair of glasses, walking to and from school.
Kunikida shrugs.
“I transferred to Yokohama in high school.” He replies. “Lived with my uncle. That’s where I met Daichi, actually.”
Atsushi watches him, takes a bite from his snack and leans back in his seat, letting the warm feeling of contentment wash over him.
“Thank you.” He says, quietly.
Kunikida keeps his eyes focused on the road in front of him. The tips of his ears are completely red.
“I wanted you to come.” He responds honestly, fingers wrapped tight around the steering wheel.
Atsushi smiles.
~~~~~~
Kunikida knocks on the door.
It’s a nice house, Atsushi thinks- what he would expect from a mountain village, with cleanly painted wood and a screen door. There are two age-battered rocking chairs on the porch.
The front door swings open with a 'bang’.
“Doppo!” A voice exclaims, and before Atsushi can register what he’s seeing, Kunikida disappears from beside him and reappears wrapped in the arms of an older woman- his mother?
“Mother.” Kunikida sighs, extracting his arms from her embrace to return the gesture. “Good to see you.”
“Oh, 'Mother’!” Mrs. Kunikida scoffs, releasing her son and holding him at arm’s length. “You used to call me 'mom’- what happened to that?”
Kunikida scrubs a hand over his face before smiling- a real, lovely smile.
“Mom.” He says. “Where’s Dad?”
Mrs. Kunikida waves.
“Ah, he made a run to the store for some groceries.” She dismisses it before looking over her son’s shoulder to focus completely on Atsushi curiously. “Who’s this?”
Kunikida coughs and adjusts his glasses.
“Mom, this is Nakajima Atsushi.” He says, a blush rising to his face. God, he sounds like such a huge cliche. What is this, junior high? “My boyfriend.”
A look of pure, unadulterated joy takes over Mrs. Kunikida’s face.
“Ah-” Atsushi flushes red, “n-nice to meet you!"
He bows politely, twisting his fingers together in his lap, before- a pair of arms sweeps around him, and he’s suddenly being encompassed in a warm, exuberant embrace.
"Oh, I’m so glad!” Mrs. Kunikida cries, fingers smoothing over Atsushi’s back. “We were beginning to worry about Doppo- he’s so unapproachable and hard-headed-”
“Mom!” Kunikda hisses.
Atsushi laughs and hugs Mrs. Kunikida back.
Is this what it’s like to have a mother, he wonders?
~~~~~~
Mrs. Kunikida- though she insists Atsushi call her Chiyo- ushers them into the house, setting the kettle to boil. She’s fairly beautiful- bright green eyes, a softly lined face, long, caramel-colored hair streaked with silver, and a slim figure that matches her son’s- but undoubtedly the thing that stands out most about her is the exuberant energy that she seems to emanate. Her smile glows, and Atsushi finds himself at ease, smiling back.
Mr. Kunikida- Akira- returns after about twenty minutes with enough ingredients to feed double the amount of people that they have- Atsushi offers to help put them away, and in no time he’s been folded into the Kunikida household, like an expert chef stirring miso paste into soup.
“Doppo,” Akira laughs, patting his son on the back, “how did you manage to end up with a boy as polite as Atsushi?” He smiles mischievously, the gesture wrinkling the crow’s feet by the corners of his eyes. “You’re always so distant and stubborn-”
Kunikida sighs in resignation.
~~~~~~
Dinner is wonderful.
The Kunikidas set Doppo and Atsushi up in Kunikida’s old bedroom- Atsushi snickers a little at the Pokemon and Digimon posters lining the walls- before setting out a spread of homemade cooking that almost makes the table buckle under the weight of the dishes.
It’s something Atsushi, a year ago, didn’t know if he would ever experience- warm, homemade food, people bickering and chatting warmly over plates of labor, gentle teasing and easy words of love- he’s crying before he knows it, a couple tears streaming down his face, and the Kunikidas look at him in surprise and concern.
“Atsushi!” Chiyo exclaims, worry on her features. “Are you alright?”
“I-” He laughs, wiping the tears from his cheeks. “I- thank you.” He smiles at the three of them, which seems to put their worries mostly to rest.
Kunikida laces their fingers together under the table.
It’s so warm, Atsushi thinks, as the chatter starts up again, as he helps clear the table and wash the dishes, as Chiyo kisses him goodnight on the cheek and Akira puts an arm around his shoulder, telling him that he seems like a good kid, but if he hurts his son, the mountain is a very dangerous place. It’s so warm.
He falls asleep that night with his arm wrapped around Kunikida’s waist, Kunikida’s arm cushioning his head, blankets tucked securely around them.
“Goodnight.” He mumbles, drifting off. He hopes Kunikida understands what he’s trying to say. “And thank you.”
Kunikida replies softly.
“Goodnight, Atsushi.”
There’s a pause.
“Thank you.”
He’s already asleep.