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"It's the first time I've seen you in weeks, and you've had your head stuck in a book the entire time I've been here." Tiso's body went into a slump, causing him to slowly slip off the couch. He let out a long and dramatic sigh, but Quirrel didn't even glance at him.
"I haven't been reading the entire time you were here. I had to let you in, didn't I?" Quirrel noted playfully, a charming lilt in his voice.
Tiso groaned. He wasn't getting anywhere with this. Some would think that Quirrel would be excited to see him, considering how rare of an occasion it was for them to be able to meet up. Although they were a little over three years into their relationship, they'd been dating long distance for the better part of a year by now because of Quirrel leaving for college.
"It'll be okay," Quirrel had reassured Tiso before he moved. "You'll still be able to visit me, and we can write letters too! Won't that be cute?" Tiso ate everything up, fantasizing about all the stories they would tell each other. It really didn't sound that bad in theory, but in practice it was horrible.
They did get to write letters—although they usually just sent texts—but Quirrel never had much time for Tiso to visit. Tiso had heard "I have exams" and "I'm going on a trip with my club" and "I just don't have time right now" about a million times by now.
This was his third and final visit before the semester ended, which meant that if Quirrel didn't re-enroll for the next semester he would come back to Hallownest and stay with Tiso for a few months, but that didn't seem very likely. Curse his mother for making the bug so studious.
"Come on," Tiso whined, sounding like a needy puppy. "We barely get to see each other, and I'm leaving in two days! Is this really all you want to do while I'm here? Can we please just hang out for a while?"
Quirrel patted Tiso's head, putting down his book to look at him. He had the most gentle expression that Tiso had ever seen, it was what he loved most about Quirrel. How patient he could be when Tiso was deliberately being annoying stole his heart.
"I know you want to hang out, but I really need to get this reading done. If you can just give me an hour, I should be done with the book, and then we can do whatever you want for the rest of the time you're here. Does that sound good?"
Tiso wanted to complain; an hour was a really long time, after all. How was he supposed to fill up that time? Did Quirrel expect him to just sit on the floor in boredom? Nevertheless, Tiso knew that this was the best he could get, so he had to agree to it.
"Mm, okay," Tiso groaned reluctantly, sliding even further onto the ground. He had to crane his neck to see Quirrel, who had an amused look painted intricately on his face. God, did he love Quirrel's face.
Quirrel reached his body over and gave Tiso a kiss on his forehead. "Good boy," he hummed, picking his book back up. "You already know that there's food in the kitchen, and a television in my bedroom. Feel free to make yourself at home."
Tiso was in Quirrel's room when the hour ended, watching some sort of action movie.
Quirrel knocked on the open door, diverting the ant's attention to him. "The hour's up. What do you want to do?"
Tiso patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Come finish this movie with me. It's pretty good."
Quirrel obliged, squeezing into the spare space. It was a twin-sized bed, so there wasn't that much room, but that just gave them an excuse to cuddle.
Tiso rested his head on Quirrel's shoulder, snuggling into his warmth. It was almost pleasant enough for him to not feel bitter about the hour he spent alone. Almost.
"What's the movie about?" Quirrel asked quietly.
"Nothing that special," Tiso replied. "It's just superhero stuff, but look at the special effects. So cool!" he squealed as a bug got thrown into a building.
Tiso knew that action and violence wasn't really Quirrel's thing, that Quirrel preferred slice of life or documentaries, but the pill bug was watching the movie intently. He was never unwilling to tinker with Tiso's interests. Quirrel had always been supportive, engaging with Tiso's band and not trying to push his boyfriend into college with him. When Tiso would argue with his parents, Quirrel always extended an invitation for Tiso to stay with him and Monomon. Tiso ended up spending so much time at their house that he had gotten his own room there.
The movie came to a close with the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. It really wasn't anything phenomenal, but it was good enough to keep him entertained.
It was around mid afternoon now, and Tiso was starting to notice that he was hungry.
He stretched and yawned, gently breaking out of Quirrel's cuddling. "Can we make some food?"
Quirrel nodded. "Of course we can. I'm guessing a late breakfast?"
"Eh, I was thinking more of an early lunch," Tiso replied, getting out of bed.
There was a small pause, and then both spoke at the same time.
"Brunch?"
"I have this peach bread I made just the other day. It's pretty sweet, actually."
They were standing in Quirrel's kitchen, which was just big enough for the two of them to move around without bumping into each other.
Quirrel was rummaging through his fridge, trying to find ingredients for their meal. "I don't think that I have any meat though, I meant to get some when I heard you were coming but I forgot. Is it fine if we have a vegetarian brunch or should I…"
"It's fine, I can manage," Tiso reassured. He knew Quirrel wasn't interested in meat, so he expected to be eating nothing but fruits and vegetables when he arrived. Sure, it was a bit disappointing, considering that Tiso's favorite foods all had meat in them, but he didn't mind it that much to make a big deal over it.
"Oh, okay!" Quirrel replied, sounding a little bit surprised. "That's cool, thanks."
Tiso hummed, watching as Quirrel pulled out various ingredients from his fridge and laid them out on the counter. Eggs, fruits, vegetables, and other baking ingredients were splayed out in front of him.
"I uh…don't really have any ideas but, maybe we can figure something out?" Quirrel said with a hopeful tone.
Neither of them were great cooks. Tiso lived off of microwaveable dinners and whatever his parents made him to eat, while Quirrel typically threw a bunch of fruits and vegetables together. On rare occasions, Quirrel would bake some type of bread, but that was all he knew how to make.
Tiso sighed. "Well then, to the internet we must go." He pulled out his phone, looking up recipes for a typical brunch.
He scrolled for a second or two, until he found a website that listed around fifty different foods.
"How about these egg muffins?" Tiso showed Quirrel a picture and the recipe. Quirrel nodded his head slightly, looking at it warily.
"Yeah, we can do that." Quirrel moved over to prepare the food, taking out several eggs.
"Are you actually going to eat that, though?" Tiso asked, eyeing his boyfriend suspiciously.
"No," Quirrel answered bluntly. "But you will, right? So let's make it, and I can just put together a salad after."
Tiso shook his head. "No way, man. We can find something you might like, it's okay."
Quirrel didn't reply to Tiso's refusal. Hesitantly, he put the eggs back in the carton and turned to look at Tiso.
Tiso scanned the rest of the page for things Quirrel might like. He was well aware that the pill bug wouldn't eat if he didn't like the food. It caused some problems for Quirrel when he was younger, leading to him being shorter and weaker than the rest of his peers. Picky eating wasn't strong enough to describe his tastes, but Tiso couldn't come up with another word for it.
It wasn't as bad now, because Quirrel was able to find new foods that he enjoyed and kept them in his house, but it made going out on dates or preparing meals together a hassle.
"You ever had French toast?" Tiso asked, looking at another recipe. Quirrel nodded his head. "Did you like it?"
"It was okay, yeah. I'll eat some if you make it," Quirrel answered. He didn't sound that convincing, but Tiso didn't want to spend an hour browsing for more recipes.
"Awesome. Could you take out the peach bread you made?"
Quirrel slinked back over to the fridge, taking out a covered dish. He pulled off the foil on top, revealing an almost complete loaf of bread. Only around two slices were eaten from it. The rest of it was completely intact.
Tiso set his phone down on the countertop, leaving the recipe up.
He rubbed his hands together and then clapped. "Okay then, let's get this party started!"
By the end of their cooking session, Tiso had concluded that whoever said that French toast was easy to make was a liar.
Maybe it was harder because the recipe called for baking it and Tiso had always seen it made on a stovetop, but it seemed ridiculously impossible to get the simplest steps done.
They had to cover the bread in an egg mixture. Sounded easy enough, but Tiso kept getting the shells into the yolks, and fetching them out was such a drag. Tiso tried to argue that it was only small fragments of the shell that got in so it wouldn't be an issue, but Quirrel kept insisting that it wouldn't be as good if they kept them in. Quirrel ended up winning that debate, leaving Tiso feeling resigned.
They put the bread in the oven and left it alone for forty minutes. When Quirrel came back to check on it, he realized that he had never put the oven on preheat. That meant the two of them had to wait for the oven to warm up and then wait another forty minutes for it to bake.
By the time it came out of the oven, Tiso and Quirrel were too hungry to wait a few minutes for it to cool, so they threw a few slices onto some plates and went into the living area.
"What a hassle," Tiso grunted in between bites. Not once in his life had he gone through so much trouble to eat, but then again he hardly ever made food.
"Was it worth it, though?" Quirrel asked, poking at his bread.
Tiso violently nodded his head. "Definitely. Dude, you actually have to try this, it's delicious."
Quirrel hummed, then cut off a piece of bread. Hesitantly, he brought it up to his mouth, then took a tentative bite. The second the bread entered his mouth, Quirrel's eyes turned into a thousand twinkling stars. He squealed, then dug into the food.
Tiso couldn't help but burst into laughter. "I knew it was good, but is it really that delicious?"
Quirrel glared at Tiso. "It's absolutely delectable," he said with a mouth full of food. "Can we have this like, every single day? I would eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I could."
Tiso's eyes widened. "Maybe like, once a month. I'm not dealing with that cooking nonsense again any time soon."
Before Tiso realized it, both he and Quirrel had cleared their plates. The kitchen was still a mess, but Quirrel insisted that he would clean it up. Tiso didn't have anything else to do, so he went into the bedroom, going over some song demos he had made.
"What are you doing?" Quirrel asked after he finished with the kitchen.
Tiso paused his music, shifting over so that Quirrel could climb into bed with him. "I'm reviewing some demos, trying to figure out which stuff is worthy to put out."
"Oh!" Quirrel chimed in enthusiastically. "Can I listen to some?"
In the past, Quirrel had helped Tiso with his music. His main area of support was advertising, but every once in a while Tiso would send some files over for him to listen to and review.
Tiso shook his head. "Not this time. It's all really rough, you know what I mean? I think I wanna polish up some of this stuff before showing it to other people." He felt bad saying no, but Quirrel didn't seem to mind.
"Of course!" Quirrel hummed, a bright smile on his face. The rays of the setting sun poured into the bedroom, but Tiso could've sworn that Quirrel's smile was what illuminated the room. "Is there anything else you want to do tonight?" Quirrel asked, pressing his body closer to Tiso's.
Tiso thought about it for a moment. "Nah, can we just cuddle? You can put on one of those nature documentaries if you'd like."
"A nature documentary? Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?" Quirrel joked, turning on the television.
Tiso snorted. "I'm only saying that because it'll put me to sleep and I wanna have an early night."
Quirrel rolled his eyes, resting his head on Tiso's chest. "Yeah, whatever you say," he teased.
Tiso hummed gently, leaving a kiss on the side of Quirrel's head. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you more," Quirrel sang mischievously.
"Nope! We aren't doing the who-loves-who-more routine tonight," Tiso said sternly, waggling his finger. "The answer is obviously me, anyway."
Quirrel made a pouty face, but he didn't argue. Instead, he watched the documentary closely. Tiso loved watching Quirrel's mind at work. It seemed to be so large and expansive, retaining all sorts of knowledge, while Tiso could hardly memorize his multiplication tables.
There was so much to love about Quirrel, and all of it was his to love. It made him feel warm and comforted. Nothing came close to how much he loved Quirrel. That was a debate he knew he would win no matter what.
Tiso closed his eyes, allowing his last thoughts to be about Quirrel as he fell asleep to the soft narration of the television.