Disclaimer - I don't own Hetalia - Axis Powers
The Missing Kitty
It was one of the rare off-days Kiku got from work, and he decided to waste no time, and do some housekeeping. Yao, his boyfriend, was working today, and Kiku though it'd be nice to come home after a day of work to a nice clean house.
Kiku put on his apron and bandanna, and grabbed the duster and made his way through the house dusting every corner, opening the windows as he went to let in the fresh Autumn air. Once all the dust was gone, he pulled out the vacuum and vacuumed all the floors.
After he stopped for a quick lunch break, he started for his and Yao's shared bedroom. He crawled onto their bed and reached around Yao's Hello Kitty plush to open the window. Kiku was sweating from all the work, and the breeze cooled him down.
He crawled off the bed and collected all the laundry from the adjoined bathroom. On his way out, he pulled the blankets off the bed, which made a whoosh sound as the covers flew outwards. There was a crashing sound as Kiku pulled the blankets into his laundry basket. Alarmed, Kiku looked up, thinking he must've knocked the lamp down, but nothing he could see was out of place. Sighing, he climbed onto the bed, closed the window, and went to start the laundry.
Pleased with his work for the day, Kiku sat down on the couch in the living room and started reading one of the manga from his bookshelf.
x
"Come on, Kiku. It's time to wake up, I already made dinner and it's going to get cold, aru! It's Chinese food tonight, and you know it'll be delicious!"
Kiku opened his eyes to see Yao's smiling face beside him. Sitting up, he could smell Yao's cooking coming from the other room. Kiku stretched and went to sit down at the dinner table.
"Smells good, thanks Yao-san."
"It's Yao, Kiku. Just Yao"
They ate their dinner, while Yao rambled on about his crazy day at work, and Kiku nodded and added the occasional comment.
"I'm really tired, aru. I'm going to bed early tonight!"
"Okay, I'll be up soon as well."
Kiku settled back down on to watch the evening news.
"Tomorrow's forecast starts with a 80% chance of snow continuing until 4:00 in the afterno-"
"Kiku!" Yao exclaimed while running down the stairs, wearing his red pyjamas with his hair out of the usual ponytail.
"I can't find my Hello Kitty anywhere! Did you see it today, aru?"
"Your Hello Kitty..? Kiku started up the stairs into the bedroom, "I saw it today while cleaning up. It was on the windowsill."
"But it's not there, aru! I looked everywhere! You have to help me, I can't sleep without it!"
"Aren't you a little old..?"
"No, I need it, Kiku, aru!" Yao put on his best pouting face.
"Okay, okay," Sighed Kiku.
Together they looked everywhere - under the bed, behind the dresser, in the closet - but neither of them found the Kitty.
"Yao-san, it's getting late and we both have work tomorrow. I'm sure you can survive one night."
"But Kiku-"
"Please, let's just go to bed. We'll find it tomorrow."
Yao sighed, but climbed into the bed anyway. Kiku got in beside him, turning out the lamp. After some hesitation, Kiku leaned over and kissed Yao's forehead.
"Night, Kiku," Yao smiled.
Kiku closed his eyes as he started thinking about where Yao's Kitty was. Beside him, Yao rolled over, restless, and started fidgeting.
x
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Kiku opened his eyes and shut off the alarm clock. As he stretched, he looked beside him to see Yao asleep. Smiling, he made his way downstairs to make them both breakfast.
Ten minutes later Yao stumbled into the kitchen, his hair dishevelled and bags under his eyes.
"Good morning," Kiku said without looking away from the stovetop.
"Mmhmn," Yao mumbled, as he sat down at the counter and put his head in his arms.
"… Yao-san? Are you feeling well?"
Yao didn't respond, his usual loud and flamboyant personality gone. He has never been a morning person, but the Chinese man was never this quiet. He didn't even notice the honorific added on to the end of his name.
Kiku walked over to where Yao was sitting with his plate of breakfast.
"Mm, sorry, Kiku, I barely slept last night, aru."
Yao lifted his head up enough to get a forkful of food in his mouth before he put his head back down adding, "I feel like I'm going to throw up, aru."
"Perhaps you shouldn't go to work today…" Kiku suggested while putting his hand on his boyfriend's forehead to check his temperature.
"I have that big meeting, aru,"
"Ah. Well at least let me drive you to work."
Yao just nodded as the Japanese man got up to collect Yao's briefcase before he tapped Yao on the shoulder before opening the door.
Yao got in the passenger side of the car, and as soon as Kiku got his seatbelt on he rested his head on Kiku's shoulder and closed his eyes. Kiku flinched at the contact, but then settled down and started driving.
As they pulled up to Yao's office building, Kiku looked down to see Yao's head of messy brown hair.
"Ah, you'll need to fix your hair."
"Don't worry about it, aru," Yao mumbled, still not lifting his head off his lover's shoulder.
Sighing, Kiku gently lifted Yao's head off him and pulled out his hair ribbon. Yao had opened one eye and watched Kiku look around in the glove compartment for the comb Yao kept. Once he found it he quickly ran it through Yao's hair before tying it up again, putting his briefcase in his hands, and wrapped his scarf around his neck so it shielded wind along with gloves to keep his hands warm from the snow.
Yao smiled for the first time this morning and kissed Kiku on the cheek before opening the door and stepping out. "Thanks, Kiku, you always take care of me, aru."
Kiku watched as his boyfriend stumbled towards the building and got inside before driving off.
x
Kiku got home early, and had an hour before he had to go back and pick up Yao from work. Without wasting time, he started his search for the Hello Kitty.
The hour flew by and Kiku still hadn't found the doll. He put his coat on and grabbed the car keys as he made his way to the car.
He got to Yao's work five minutes before the meeting ended, so he started looking up where they sold a Hello Kitty doll in the area.
Kiku looked up as the car door opened and the Chinese man plopped into the seat.
"Didn't know you were coming after work too, aru."
"I thought you might be too tired to walk to the subway station, and it's freezing today," Kiku explained as he started the car, "I found a shop that sells Hello Kitty merchandise. We could stop by on the way home…"
Yao's eyes flew open, "Aiya! We can't, I need my Hello Kitty! We got it from Japan on our trip, remember? You brought me to the store and everything, aru!"
"I know, but you have the Hello Kitty ears with the bow, and the smaller keychain Kitty you bought from Japan as well. One different Hello Kitty wouldn't make that much of a difference."
"I don't care, aru. It wouldn't come from Japan or from you."
"I'll buy it f-"
"No."
"Yao-san, how will you fall asleep tonight?"
Yao didn't answer, and just closed his eyes. Kiku sighed and pulled into the driveway.
x
After searching for the missing cat, dinner, and more searching for the Hello Kitty, the two men sat down on the couch to watch the news. Yao yawned and lay down, resting his head in his boyfriend's lap. Kiku opened his mouth to say something, but as he looked down at Yao's face and saw the peaceful expression he wore through his sleep. He didn't want to take away any extra sleep time Yao could get, so he opted to turn down the volume of the television instead.
"That's it for tonight's news, we hope to see you tomorrow here again at 6:00 on HNS! Have a good night."
Kiku turned the power off the TV and looked down at his lover, said lover's quiet snores the only sound in the room.
Kiku started debating his options, 'Should I wake him up? What if he can't get back to sleep after? He might be grumpy with me… But sleeping here will hurt his neck by tomorrow, and I'm not strong enough to carry him up to the bed… I could put a pillow under his neck to support him, yes that'll work!'
Kiku started fidgeting, but before he had to make a move a warm hand had reached up and smoothed out the creases in his forehead.
"Mhmn, Kiku if you stress like that you'll have wrinkles before me, and I'm older, aru."
Kiku froze and blushed, "Sorry, Yao, I didn't want to wake you…"
"Aw, Kiku you're so cute! And you called me Yao!" Kiku's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to apologize when Yao cut him off. "Ah I love you so much, though I wish you had cat ears, aru…"
Kiku blushed, he wanted to say 'I love you' back, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was hard enough the first time, so he replied with, "We should go to sleep."
Yao gave him a smile and slowly made his way upstairs. He knew Kiku loved him too.
x
They had be lying in the dark for at least an hour, but it felt like five. Kiku couldn't sleep with the worry of Yao not getting the proper amount of sleep along with the Chinese man's tossing and turning - so he lay thinking.
"I know, but you have the Hello Kitty ears with the bow, and the smaller keychain Kitty you bought from Japan as well."
"It wouldn't come from Japan or from you."
"I wish you had cat ears, aru…"
As Kiku stared at the shelf against the wall, he got an idea.
He got out of bed and walked over to the shelf. Behind him he heard Yao talking to him, but he didn't respond.
Kiku sighed, 'This is for your boyfriend. He spent months trying to get you to talk to him and he gave you a friend. He told you he liked you, but didn't expect anything back, he didn't even try to hold your hand because he knew you didn't like contact. He stayed your friend for a year before you finally worked up the courage to say you liked him back'
Somewhere in the back of Kiku's mind he could hear his lover's voice.
'Even after you got together there was no excessive touching. You can see it in his eyes how much he wants to kiss you senseless but he still holds back until you give the signal it's okay, because you know you want it too. He takes the time to learn the small changes in your face so he knows what you're feeling. All this for you, and you can't even help him fall asleep. How selfish.'
Kiku was determined now, he could do this for Yao. Before he could change his mind, he grabbed the Hello Kitty ears and bow and placed them in his hair.
"Kiku, aru, what-"
Kiku sat down on the bed, "I have cat ears now, and the matching bow, though I'm a little bit big compared to the usual. I'm also not as soft or fluffy, and my hair is black. I'm not cute like the original…" Yao just kept staring at him with his mouth hanging open, "I was born in Tokyo so I do come from Japan, though I wasn't made in a toy factory. And… I-I'm… I'malreadyyours…"
The bedroom was silent, Kiku was avoiding looking at his boyfriend - he didn't think his face could get any hotter - and Yao was staring at him, wide-eyed and mouth open.
"AIYA! Kiku you are so sweet and cute! Are you saying you'll be my Hello Kitty doll, aru? …"
Yao kept rambling on about Kiku and his Hello Kitty outfit as his boyfriend pulled him down.
'How does he find all this energy…'
Yao's speech started slowing down, "And… I'll be able to… you know… sleep, aru."
Kiku pulled Yao's arms around his waist, without hesitation, and draped his arms around the rambling man's neck and nestled his forehead against his lover's shoulder amongst his long hair.
Kiku's actions fired Yao up again, "Eep! I get to cuddle with you too? This is waaay better than some doll, aru! Th-"
He was cut off by Kiku's mouth against his, though it was so fast he wasn't quite sure that it was Kiku, and not the wind.
"Aw, Kiku what's gotten into you? If it's the ears, you're never taking them off, aru!"
"J-just… you need to sleep so you have energy tomorrow!" Kiku's voice was muffled by Yao's hair.
Kiku found out the answer to his previous question, his face could get a lot hotter.
As soon as Yao put his head down, he was out like a wasn't far behind his love, as he didn't even need to think before sleeping.
It was the best sleep either of them had hand in a long time
x Six Months Later x
The weather had warmed up, and the couple was in the backyard looking at what new plants they had to buy this year.
"Yao, it looks like these flower bulbs were dug up."
"Oh that's okay, aru. Half of this bush is gone too - AIYA!"
Kiku ran over to where Yao was, "Yao! What's wrong?!"
His lover was trying to loosen something out of the twigs in the bush.
"Look! Oh Kitty-chan, I've missed you! What do you think you're doing out here, aru? You missed so much! As soon as we get inside I'll give you a bath to get all the dirt off you, then you have to take kitty lessons from Kiku because he's a much better Kitty than you are, aru!"
"Yao-"
"Speaking of Kiku, look at this ring, Kitty-chan! Do you see the red, aru? I think mine is much nicer than Kiku-cat's because he's boring!"
Kiku still doesn't fail to blush whenever he hears 'Kiku-cat', but so many times of telling Yao it's embarrassing ended up with becoming very familiar with Yao's pouting face and he can't say no to that. He can't say he was surprised with the nickname, as the man who gave it to him was sitting on the ground hugging a soggy Hello Kitty to his chest.
"Kiku, come here and show Kitty your ring! See, Kitty-chan, I've missed you and all but I'm glad you can handle the winter outside because you'll have to spend all night on the shelf, aru!"
Kiku laughed, but was secretly glad he wouldn't have to fight a doll for his husband's hugs.
x
A/N - well that was my first story… please go easy on me! :3 if you made it to the end, thanks! it means a lot.
China and Japan are pretty OOC to me, but my friend threatened to cut my hair if i didn't post *shivers*