You preferred life plain
For those of you who don't know who Shinji is, this is definitely a sort of spoiler fic. XD The title for this fic is taken from the 31 Days theme for November 19, 2007.
He used to believe that after the incident, Shinji had changed into someone that he could no longer recognize, a person so full of wounded rage and misplaced guilt that it actually hurt too much to look him in the eye. The other boy's return to the dormitory, however, soon became a lesson in re-learning routines for Akihiko, in realizing that his childhood friend had not really changed at all. Shinji had simply become more of who he already was, for better or for worse. Akihiko found himself thinking about that once again, as he came back to school to the smell of something wonderful brewing in the kitchen. The silver-haired boxer allowed himself a moment to try and figure out what it was, and, failing that, immediately crossed over to the kitchen to the sight of Shinji wearing an apron that looked ridiculously white against his clothes, surrounded by counters and table tops full of food in various states of preparation.
"No touching anything unless I tell you that it's fine."
"I know, I know."
Cooking was one of the things that Shinji was really good at beyond kicking ass, and it was what Shinji liked to do whenever he was in an extremely pleasant mood or an extremely bad funk – given the fact that he appeared to be experimenting with different tastes, however, told Akihiko that the other boy was in good spirits. He confirmed this by stepping up, and promptly getting reeled in by Shinji's free arm as it snaked out, to draw him close. Shinji, Akihiko realized not for the first time in his life, smelled very, very nice. The fighter leaned against the solid weight of Shinji's chest, content with watching him at work and feeling his heartbeat close to his ear.
"…Care to try this for me?"
"Sure."
The heat registered first the moment Shinji lifted the ladle to his lips, then the spice. Akihiko licked his lips, studying the taste, admiring, once again, this strange hobby that Shinji seemed to enjoy so much and the amount of skill that he poured into it. He waited until Shinji was back to stirring before he went up on his toes, to brush his lips over the other boy's.
"It's good," he murmured after their kiss, without bothering to specify exactly what he meant. Shinji only snorted and kissed him again.
"Of course it is."
It took a monumental effort on both their parts to save the making out for later.