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If asked what time of the year he likes the most, Akito would immediately answer with “anytime where I don’t have to go to school.”
During the break, he doesn’t have to worry about upcoming tests and his horrific grades that never seem to get better, even with all the study sessions Touya has dragged him into. He can instead put his attention towards more important things, like Vivid BAD SQUAD, or the new breakfast diner that recently opened which has the most mouth watering pancakes Akito has ever seen, or doing little sewing projects.
He surprised himself by liking sewing, actually. The occasional prick to his finger by a needle did annoy him a bit, but it was an overall relaxing activity. And learning how to sew was a great excuse to hang out with Tsukasa.
Speaking of Tsukasa, Akito had invited his boyfriend over earlier to his place for a little sewing session together. His parents were out somewhere (he didn’t care enough to ask where they were going), and Ena had left last night for a sleepover at a friend's house, so he had the entire place to himself. And he was gonna use that to his heart's content.
Exactly ten minutes after Akito had ringed his boyfriend's phone to come over, the cacophonous doorbell chime echoed throughout the Shinonome house thrice , accompanied with a few firm knocks to the door.
Had Akito not known it was Tsukasa, he would’ve grabbed the closest slipper he could find and chase the fiend who dared to make such a racket out of Japan. But, alas, it unfortunately was Tsukasa, and damn Akito for not having the energy to find a slipper and at the very least (lightly) hit the boy over the head with it. That didn’t stop him from glaring at Tsukasa though, who just smiled and kissed him on the cheek in greeting. Akito immediately forgets what it feels like to be annoyed.
“I brought some torn up clothes we can sew back together,” Tsukasa explained as he politely took off his shoes and put them near the shoe rack, then held out the bag he brought with him to Akito. “Oh! And I brought some fun fabrics, so we can maybe make a shirt, or something. I thought it’d be fun to be a little creative, seeing that you like to do this so much!” He beamed and waltzed into the living room, setting everything up on the table.
Akito races upstairs to quickly steal his mothers old sewing kit and her sewing machine from his parents closet. He was debating on just keeping it in his room, since he used it so much and his mother didn’t sew anymore. Akito thinks of setting up a little corner in his room for his sewing shenanigans, and files that idea to the back of his mind for later. If Tsukasa stayed long enough, maybe he could help with that.
When Akito enters the living room, Tsukasa has already settled himself on the couch, shuffling through movies on the TV. He collected all the pillows and blankets he could find and made the couch more cozy to rest on. The blond smiled at Akito when he entered the room.
“Akito! Rui and Nene have r-”
“No.” Akito cut him off with a flat tone, kneeling down at the side of the couch to plug in the sewing machine.
Tsukasa spluttered, “Huh?! I didn’t even finish what I was saying!”
Akito smirked at his boyfriend and snatched the remote from him. “You mentioned Kamishiro-senpai and Kusanagi? I already know it’s not good.”
Tsukasa pouted, and it took every single bit of self restraint in Akito’s body to not kiss it off his dumb face. But he did soften his smirk to a small smile, and handed the remote back.
“C’mon, don’t use that face with me.” He took the pair of glasses on Tsukasa’s lap, which had plain black frames and small sparkly gray stars imprinted on the temples, and situated them on his face, pushing it up his nose. He didn’t actually need them, it was more so for the fact that he looks more professional (he didn’t), but whatever made him happy. “Finish what you were saying?”
Tsukasa huffed lightheartedly and took the remote, going to the search bar and slowly punching in letters.
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted ,” Tsukasa emphasized the last two words and side-eyed Akito, who simply grinned, “Rui and Nene recently recommended to me a movie that they thought would be a worthy inspiration for our next play. The basic rundown of the plot…”
As Tsukasa rambled about what information he garnered about the movie through Nene and Rui and the internet, Akito felt very light and content. There was an unfamiliar but welcome silence in his usually erratic brain, his ears tuned into what Tsukasa was saying. He loved Tsukasa’s voice, loved the days where he’d have his head in his boyfriend's lap as Tsukasa read a book to him or just talked about whatever came to mind. Akito did have to (sadly) shush him when the movie began to play though.
And they simply sit there for an hour, sewing and watching the movie in a comfortable silence, with Tsukasa sometimes letting out gasps and cheers and Akito giving his sarcastic commentary.
Sometime during the movie, Akito got so invested he stuck his needle in the fabric—he wasn’t really making anything with it—and leaned slightly against Tsukasa, careful not to bump his arm and cause his boyfriend to poke himself. But Tsukasa had also put his stuff down, focusing entirely on the TV.
Akito took this opportunity to put more of his weight onto his boyfriend, which prompted Tsukasa to lay on his side on the couch, dragging Akito down with him and resting his chin on the other boy's fluffy orange head, fixing a blanket on them and draping an arm over his side. These were the times when Akito was glad the living room couch was wide enough to allow the two of them to cuddle.
And they stayed like that for the rest of the movie. And if Akito snuck a few kisses onto Tsukasa’s hand, then no one needed to know.
Sometime during the movie, Akito had reluctantly extracted himself from Tsukasa to go use the washroom and get a snack, and to also clear up the table a bit, because he knew they weren’t going to go back to sewing. There was always next time.
As Akito carefully stowed away the items he took out of the sewing kit, he was too absorbed in what he was doing to notice the movie had ended, his concentration breaking by the abrupt sound of thunderous applause.
Akito whips his head to the source of the noise, and is met with a teary-eyed Tsukasa, who has put a hand over his heart and is dramatically wiping away non-existent tears pouring out of his eyes.
“Oh, Akito, I now know exactly why Rui and Nene suggested this film,” Tsukasa breathed, staring at the TV screen which was now rolling the credits.
Akito hummed in response, quickly stuffing the few pieces of fabric too small to use in the garbage bag, and then made his way over to Tsukasa. He had moved to lay flat on his back, facing the screen, and Akito suddenly got an idea.
He carefully kneeled on the couch, cautious to not alert Tsukasa of what he was doing, crawling towards him with an impish grin plastered on his lips as he slowly loomed over Tsukasa and—
—fell flat on his face.
Akito groaned at the sudden coolness of leather in his face, rolling over onto his back and glaring up at Tsukasa, who by some means managed to escape before he could flop on top of him.
Tsukasa stretched his arms over his head, sudden excitement evident on his face. He kneeled down to his boyfriends level, taking his hand in his and placing a kiss on his knuckles. Akito’s tan cheeks immediately flushed pink.
“I just got struck with a brilliant idea!” Tsukasa began, running his thumb over the back of Akito’s hand absentmindedly. “In the movie, the boy from the diner had cooked his friends a big supper as a thanks for protecting him from the Big Red Dragon, and so my genius brain thought, ‘why don’t I cook something for my wonderful friends?’”
He let out a hearty laugh as he stood up and shuffled to the kitchen with a quick “I’ll be back!” thrown over his shoulder, leaving Akito alone with the low buzz of the TV.
Akito stayed where he was for a bit longer, not too keen on getting up when he was practically one with the couch. Sighing, he closed his eyes and, for a bit, just listened to Tsukasa hum a tune and patter around the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and supplies he’ll need to cook whatever he was planning.
Akito was bored out of his mind .
Only fifteen minutes had passed since Tsukasa retreated to the kitchen, and Akito had done everything he could to pass the time. He mindlessly scrolled on his phone and immediately got bored, shuffled through shows on the TV for something interesting and couldn’t find anything, tried to sleep but ultimately failed, and he didn’t feel like sewing. He wished Tsukasa would get over here and help him nap.
‘Whatever,’ Akito grumbled in his head, slowly rising to his feet and making his way to the kitchen, now interested in seeing what Tsukasa was brewing in his kitchen.
Sliding the door open, Akito was greeted with the beautiful sight of his boyfriend in an apron ( where did he even get that?) that said in big, bold letters, ‘KISS THE COOK.’ Akito mentally rolled his eyes at that, and then noticed just how little counter space there was left, all covered with different ingredients he didn’t even know were in his kitchen.
Tsukasa looked up from where he was kneading a big ball of dough, a wide grin making its way onto his face.
“You finally decided to drop by! See, I’d come over and hug you, but my hands are a bit busy right now,” Tsukasa emphasized his point by lightly slapping the ball of dough on the counter, “Does anyone in your house cook often? You had basically everything I needed!” Tsukasa laughed.
Huh. How convenient.
Akito walked over and watched his boyfriend knead the dough. He had a sudden urge to rip off a piece and eat it.
“So, what are you making?”
Tsukasa hums, reaching over to grab a large bowl and a cup filled with olive oil. “Originally, the plan was french fries to give to the others tomorrow, but I thought I’d make us dinner as well, so now I’m making pizza. Oh, and I wanted to make some pasta, but I don’t think I’ll have enough time—”
“I can help,” Akito blurts out before he can even think about what he’s saying.
Tsukasa looks at him, “You know how to make pasta?”
“Well, uh, no ,” He fumbled to grab his phone out of his pocket, “But I can search it up, right? It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Tsukasa blankly looks at him for a few more seconds, before breaking into a cheerful smile, leaning up just the tiniest bit to peck Akito on the nose. “I believe in you!”
Tsukasa gestures towards a place on the counter where a bunch of different things lay, “That should be all you need. If you need help, just let me know,” he explains before turning his back to Akito, focusing on the pizza dough.
Well, then. Akito was going to become a chef today.
He opened his phone browser and searched up “how to make homemade pasta.” A bunch of different links popped up, and he tapped the one that looked the best to him.
Akito skimmed through the instructions, glanced back at Tsukasa, who was preparing the sauce and other toppings while he waited for the pizza dough to rise, and stared back down at his phone.
‘You got this! ” He told himself mentally, ‘It’s just pasta.’ Akito hyped himself up as he rolled up his sleeves and went to wash his hands.
Akito surprised himself by being able to follow the instructions well enough.
Sure, Tsukasa sometimes had to pitch in to help him out at some parts, like measuring the right amounts and cutting the right sizes, but he managed well enough on his own.
Making pasta from scratch also allowed him to find things buried in his kitchen that he’s never seen before, like the fucking pasta roller they conveniently had, tucked away in a corner cabinet. Tsukasa must’ve dug through every nook and cranny in his kitchen, because how he found that was beyond Akito.
And actually using the pasta roller was another challenge in itself.
Akito was in charge of cranking it while Tsukasa helped guide the dough and made sure it didn't fall apart. Things were going smoothly, and they were joking around with each other until they got to the cutting part.
Tsukasa somehow failed to notice that the dough was too long, and when Akito began cranking, the blond finally realized how long the pieces were. Akito watched in amusement as his boyfriend scrambled to control the pasta, cautiously and carefully making sure it didn’t fall to the ground. Tsukasa told him off for goofing while cooking after they finished cutting up the pasta dough.
They both goofed around a lot, actually. Usually started by Akito, who got bored randomly, but Tsukasa had his fair share as well. Whether that was slightly bumping into each other while passing, Akito’s attempts to make Tsukasa stumble on his own feet, the blonds random pecks on the face which, in turn, made the other flustered, or throwing flour at each other. There was a lot of that.
When Akito finished the pasta, he took it upon himself to take responsibility for the french fries so Tsukasa only had to worry about the pizza. It was fairly easy, and he was so tempted to snag one for himself. He gave into that urge a few times, but Tsukasa had caught every attempt, lightly slapping his head with a wooden spatula and scolding him for his impatience. Apparently a guy can’t be hungry anymore.
And, finally, the pizza.
Tsukasa had, of course, done a phenomenal job with it. Akito was silently amazed at how he did it from memory, but then again, maybe that’s a given if you’re a baker or a cook. He wouldn’t know.
Tsukasa let Akito spread the sauce on it while he gathered all the toppings. They argued back and forth about what kind of pizza they wanted it to be, Akito completely against anything with vegetables. After a while, Tsukasa finally gave in to the others' requests, and they settled on pepperoni. Simple, but delicious.
They threw the pizza in the oven to bake, and used the waiting time to clean themselves off.
Akito went up to his boyfriends face, who raised a questioning eyebrow, and then clapped his hands together, flour coming off of it and going on Tsukasa’s face.
“What you get, for ruining my clothes.” Akito stated simply as he watched Tsukasa splutter and wave his hands frantically around.
“You ruined my clothes and my hair!”
Akito blew a raspberry at him in response.
Akito got the satisfying experience of taking a pizza slice from a freshly baked pizza. His mouth watered almost akin to when he got his favorite pancakes. He must’ve not been trying to hide it, as he heard Tsukasa trying to stifle a chuckle of triumph.
As Akito stuffed his face with the pizza and pasta—which was arguably the best he’s ever had, by the way—he garbled out a “Thish is fhe mofst Italian dimner I’fve eva had.”
Tsukasa was also kind enough to spare him a few fries from the batch they made. Akito silently stole the one’s Tsukasa took for himself off his plate when he wasn’t looking.
If watching movies meant cooking with Tsukasa and eating his food, he’d sit through a movie marathon every day for the rest of his life.