It's still November, but winter's approaching, easing its way across their city instead of barreling in with a massive blizzard. It's starting to get cold at night, and it was a bit of a blip in the radar today, too cold to go out once the clock hands passed five.
Hajime is in the kitchen, stirring two mugs of hot chocolate. He has a blanket around his shoulders, and two pairs of socks on. He's never really been one for cold weather, but the early winter does equal an earlier start to the cuddling season, so he can't say he complains.
He leaves the spoons in the mugs and secures the blanket tighter over his shoulders before picking them up and taking them too the couch.
Their living room is a bit of a mess. They were both sent home early, a combination of finishing work quickly and the cold, and they'd been cooped up inside ever since. There's schematics on the coffee table, a small platform bears the weight of a wood foam building model, complete with walkways and a pulley system elevator made from paperclips and string.
Hajime thinks it's pretty cool.
There's a small bin of wires and other bits of circuitry, one of Kentarou's kits. He toys with them when he gets restless. Hajime's learned to recognize the signs by this point. Kentarou's hands start twitching and he starts chewing on his lips. That's when the circuit and switch boards come out. Kentarou had the day off once and Hajime returned home to find a small army of semi functioning robots waiting for him.
Kentarou had been rather proud of himself, he didn't even blush when Hajime told him he'd done a good job.
At the moment, Kentarou is upside down, his legs thrown over the back of the couch while his head hangs off the cushion. One of his robots is in front of him, part of one anyways. Kentarou is moving his hand, the motion sensor in the robot's head is following it.
"Going well?" Hajime asks, he sets the hot chocolate on the side table before sitting next to Kentarou.
"Mm, jus' testing."
When Kentarou is satisfied, he shuts the robot down and sits up properly. He settles himself against Hajime's side and reaches over him for one of the mugs.
They sit in relative quiet, Kentarou has a terrible habit of accidently slurping at his drinks. They've tried to break it, he's doing better, and Hajime continues to over exaggerate his expressions of irritation.
"Personal project?" Hajime asks after a moment, gesturing to the powered down robot.
"Sorta. Competition, 'm winnin' a bet."
"Against?"
"This asshole at work, thinks he's hot stuff."
Hajime chuckles, dropping a kiss to Kentarou's head.
"What was that for?" Kentarou asks.
"No reason."
Kentarou does blush then, but he turns his head so Hajime can't see his face. It doesn't do much good though, Kentarou's ears are bright red and his neck is too.
"So, what exactly do you have to do for the bet?"
"My robot has to beat his in a competition. It's a series of tasks," Kentarou grumbles.
"You'll do wonderfully."
Kentarou just mumbles an affirmative.
"What do you get if you win?"
The shift is immediate. Kentarou brightens considerably, he turns back to Hajime and grins.
"A dog."
"A dog?"
"Yeah. Kinda, anyways. The guys are betting on who'll win, and the jackpot money is more than enough for a dog."
Hajime blinks slowly. He's known for some time now that Kentarou wanted a dog, he wouldn't mind having a dog either. It does throw a bit of a wrench into his plan of surprising Kentarou for his birthday, he's been going to visit the shelter every other day, steadily getting paperwork and training done with Kunimi's help. But this is just as well.
"A dog," Hajime says.
Kentarou fidgets, removing himself from Hajime's arms, apparently under the impression that Hajime is opposed to the idea of a dog, which is absolutely ludicrous. He toys with his mug, drumming his fingers around it.
"What kind of dog?" Hajime asks. The question is more effective than physically grabbing Kentarou to keep him against Hajime's side.
"Huh?"
"What kind of dog do you want to get?"
Kentarou gives him a look, like he's trying to figure out if Hajime's being serious.
"I dunno yet. I was gonna check out the shelter this weekend."
Well, that's a small mercy at least.
"Good idea."
"Really? You're not upset or anything?"
Hajime sets down his mug and eases back.
"Of course not. I was just planning to surprise you for your birthday. Kunimi volunteers at the shelter and he told me there was one you might like. I've kind of already gotten most of the paperwork filled out."
Kentarou doesn't say anything for a little while, then he sets down his mug and throws his arms around Hajime's shoulders.
"I can wait until my birthday," he says, "It's just a few weeks, I can wait. Thank you."
The day before Kentarou's birthday, Hajime goes to the shelter. Kentarou's at home, rearranging the living room to accommodate the dog bed and toys he'd bought with his competition money. Hajime had come home from work to find Kentarou amidst several shopping bags, cutting the packaging off rope toys and tennis balls.
"Iwaizumi."
Kunimi hasn't changed much from high school, the only difference is that he's grown his hair out enough to pull it into a short pony tail. When he's not volunteering at the shelter, Kunimi works in the pediatrics wing at the hospital with Watari, surprisingly enough.
"He's in the back, I gave him a bath, and got all the paperwork in order so everything's set," he says, waving Hajime through the door.
"Thanks for this, Kentarou's really excited."
"I'd imagine."
The soon to be love of Kentarou's life is a little bull terrier named Kenji. According to Kunimi, he'd come in with a brother who'd quickly gotten adopted.
"Hey, there you are." Kunimi opens up the kennel and Kenji comes running to Hajime. He's a bit bigger than pups his age usually are, but he has a clean bill of health from the shelter vet.
"I think he's been anticipating this, he's been very happy all week," Kunimi says, handing Hajime one of the leashes hanging on the wall. Kenji's collar and tag are in Hajime's car, he'll put them on later.
"Thank you, Kunimi, really."
"Of course. Go finish up with the receptionist, I'm going to get Kenji's toy from the dryer."
By the time Hajime has all of the documents pertaining to Kenji, Kunimi returns with the ragged stuffed bear. He crouches down on the floor beside Kenji to give him the bear, patting his head.
"You behave now."
They trade goodbyes, Kunimi promising to say hello to Kindaichi and Kageyama when he gets home and Hajime promising to say hello to Kentarou.
Kenji gets settled in the front seat and naps for the rest of the drive, Hajime can't wait to see Kentarou's face.
It's worth it.
The second Hajime opens the door, Kentarou's there, a smile on his face, and his eyes gleaming.
"He's perfect," Kentarou breathes. Hajime hands the puppy over, watching Kentarou cradle him like he's the most precious thing on earth.
The rest of the day passes rather quickly, not a second goes by that Kentarou doesn't have Kenji with him. He's smiling, that's all Hajime cares about. Eventually though, Kenji gets tired, content to curl up amongst the toys that Kentarou had set out, as opposed to the dog bed.
Kentarou joins Hajime on the couch, curling up at his side.
"Thank you, Hajime, really." His voice is soft, whether because he doesn't want to wake Kenji, or because "thank you's" are still a bit hard for him, Hajime isn't entirely certain.
"Of course, I'm just glad you two get along so well. Though, I think you've yet to meet a dog that doesn't immediately love you."
Kentarou just laughs quietly, snuggling closer to Hajime.
It's quiet for all of two minutes before Kentarou speaks up.
"We'll get another dog, right? Soon? So Kenji can have a friend?"
"Let's just focus on Kenji for now."
Their apartment is a little too small to accommodate another dog, and if Kentarou has his way, they'll likely have a dozen dogs running around.
Not that Hajime is opposed to the idea in the slightest, they just need to find a bigger place.
I know Kyoutani's birthday is in December, but I'd probably forget to post this then so here it is in advance, also this is a stress write piece so there's that. I think IwaKyou is pretty dang great, and I figured why not. So, yeah, let me know what you think if it's not too much trouble.