Cooking together brought the two great joy. They both saw it for what it was; a culinary art. Sasori liked feeding Deidara, as he had become accustomed to feeding his hungry university student of a husband, and Deidara liked feeding Sasori due to... just wanting his husband's approval and overall wanting to dote on him. Plus just being able to cook a decent meal unlike early in their marriage, Deidara reveled in his new found skills. Culinary artistic skills. Yes, from lifting heavy furniture, gardening, fixing the cars and installing just about anything, Deidara took charge and greatly enjoyed it. Far more than Sasori who would rather... not doing any of that. From the sidelines, if Deidara didn't drag him in to get involved as well, Sasori instead sat with a book, a beverage and enjoyed the view. It was wonderful.

Lately the two had been doing more cooking together, trying new dishes and moving more furniture. Well, Deidara was while Sasori happily watched. They also enjoyed their increased time to make art, being with one another in general, intimacy, and as men, took advantage of just not having to wear pants. But why? Why did Deidara forgo the act of pant wearing and why did Sasori often join him?

Stay-at-home orders. Lockdown. Those things. So of course, like hell Deidara was risking his older husband's compromised health for anything. Their house was disinfected daily and Sasori was bubbled from the outside world. He was taking this whole thing to a new level! They couldn't leave the house for almost anything. Even for the occasion of tonight, no buts about it.

As he scooted past Deidara's dishwashing to wash his hands, Sasori couldn't help but plant a kiss on his protector's cheek before returning to his own task of finely chopping vegetables.

"Mmm... just be careful with that chopping over there." Deidara muttered as he watched closely as Sasori shook his hands dry, reaching for the knife with still damp hands, "I don't want you to cut yourself now that you're on blood thinners."

Sasori scoffed, "I've been working with blades my whole life. I'm not about to start slicing my finger off now."

Groaning, Deidara huffed about, placing the clean dish in the drying rack, "I know... I just want you to-"

"Ouch!"

Deidara gasped at the yelp and turned to face his husband's little cut on his little thumb. How little it was, but there was blood.

"You damn fool!"

Sasori sighed as Deidara immediately jumped in in taking charge of this situation. There was no fighting it after all. Not that he actually minded it, really he didn't. Of course not that he would say anything. To Deidara this wasn't just a situation to take charge of, no, this was a dire situation.

Focused of his work, Deidara took this very seriously. With applying pressure and adding added antibacterial cream for just in case, then bandaging it up way too much for such a little cut. And of course, he ended the first aid with a big kiss on the cut and pinch to the side of Sasori's ribs, making his gasp and flinch in shock.

"Hey!" Sasori hissed as he knew that Deidara knew very well that he didn't like that. To be honest it was something he quite hated as his ribs, sides and chest were very ticklish.

"Don't you 'Hey' me mister!" Deidara poked him again earning another flinch, "I said to be careful!"

Sasori groaned as his husband was in fact right. He did in fact say to be careful. Why oh why did he have to slip up right after saying how amazing he was? It made him look like such a...such a loser!
"I'm just a little out of it okay?" Sasori sighed. "This whole online class experience is unusual. How can I strike the fear into my students if I can't be there in person? How can I know from their lifeless expressions if they're really grasping the moment of what I'm reading to them? Plus I don't trust them at all! They're just consuming junk foods all day and finding ways to mask their cheating."

"Pfft.. How do you cheat in English? Plagiarism? You have an eagle eye to catch that, hm." Deidara scoffed, knowing the pleasure it brought Sasori to find cheaters and to bring down a hailstorm of torment onto them.

Fumbling stubbornly a bit with his utensils, Sasori huffed as he put his cut vegetables in the saucepan while his pasta finished cooking. He pouted a little as he stirred the vegetables, "This online teaching thing is just... weird okay?" he fished a noodle from the boiling pot with a spoon and popped it into his mouth to see if it was done; to which he nodded it was. "Hm."

Words need not be said further as Sasori stepped back from the pot to focus of the saucepan. He knew better than to lift the heavy thing as well as knowing Deidara would already want to do it for him. Especially with that practically fatal wound and overly bandaged finger.

Like clockwork, Deidara kissed his husband as he reached for the hot pot, "You're doing great, Danna." and walked away with it to drain the water into a colander in the sink.

Sasori snorted, "It's all thanks to you. Had you not been there there set things up and guide me, I'm sure I would have messed up and made a fool of myself on that blasted program."

"Making a fool of yourself?" Deidara hummed as he tossed the pasta to shake out the last drops of water. He then put the pasta into the saucepan and glanced at Sasori's cut finger, "Oh no... we can't have that now can we, hm?"

The staring didn't go unnoticed as Sasori turned away, hiding the foolish injury, "Would you shut up about the cut?"

"I think not, my man."

"Don't call me that tonight!"

"Don't tell me to shut up tonight, hm."

Sasori glared at Deidara while the blond mixed and tossed the pasta with the sauce, picking out the Parmesan rind and then adding far too much of the actual cheese. Deidara was like a rat when it came to cheese. There was never enough.

Just as ridiculous as when Granny was when she cooked. Deidara on the other hand could make low fat and healthy alternative choices. Just... not with cheese. For him and his rat self, it was go big, gooey, and fragrant or go home.

Placing his hand on the small of Deidara's back, Sasori sighed, "Yes you are indeed correct. Tonight is not the night for our foolish-" he stopped after saying the f-word again and scowled, "It is not a night for bickering, but rather it is for love." he finished, kissing Deidara's cheek once more before going to the table to pour their wine.

"The course of true love never did run smooth, hm." Deidara hummed, taking their dishes and artistically filling them with the food. Twirling the pasta, placing the vegetables and meat strategically, and finally garnishing with a touch more cheese and a sprig on parsley.

"Hey you brat..." Sasori growled as he picked up the wine.

Deidara looked over his shoulder and sent his husband a wicked smile, "His unkindness may defeat my life, but never taint my love~"

Holding the bottle of wine close to his chest with one hand, Sasori turned pink and pinched the bridge of his nose. He already had a hunch Deidara was listening in while he conducted his online classes, but he didn't want to admit it. However having quotes from Shakespeare's numerous works being thrown at him? He couldn't hide from the fact that Deidara knew what subject his class was currently doing. It was obvious now that he was indeed listening in and it was actually embarrassing.

From what it seemed though, if anyone was getting an education, it was Deidara. It didn't help that Sasori found it extremely alluring either. Especially the use of some of the most piece filled quotes available from Shakespeare's catalog. Perhaps this is why Deidara was so intent on listening in?

Sitting at the table with their food, the two ate with romantic music playing in the background. It was the best they could do as their town recently had an outbreak causing everything to change and shut down. Instead of their usual Valentine's night at their favorite luxury restaurant, as the place only served their favorite dessert once a year, tonight they were forced to stay at home and make do with what they had. And what they had was each other; and that was good enough.

"So did that technique you were trying out a couple days ago work?" Sasori asked, taking a sip of his small portion of red wine.

A week ago Deidara had been working on a new clay piece using a new technique. Having finished it, he tossed it into their kiln to dry out. The night prior he started the kiln and that evening they were cool enough to touch. Thankfully for Sasori, nothing exploded when Deidara had said he was using a 'new technique'.

Deidara took a sip of his larger portion of wine and shook his head, "Eh, not so good. Gotta say I wasn't a fan of the textures it produced. I prefer my lines-"

"Sleek. I know."

Deidara eyes crinkled as he extended his hand across the table to hold Sasori's, "Of course you do, Danna." he sneered as he touched Sasori's wrapped finger gently.

There was not a moment of hesitation as Sasori brushed the soft and loving caresses aside and took his husband's hand into his own, "Of course I do."

The two looked at each other with smiles. There was something about Valentine's that always seemed silly to them. Sure it was a date night for them as the restaurant of their choice only served a particular dessert just once a year, but somehow this year was better than all the rest. There was something about being home that reminded them that it was really just another day. There wasn't anything different from Valentine's Day from the day after it- other than cheap chocolates the stores sold.

Five days a week Sasori got love letters in his lunch boxes. Every day Deidara was excited to see his husband come home from work, even though at the moment he was in the room next to him. There was not a day that went by they weren't expressing some form of love to each other. This dinner they were eating was like any other. From the chatting to the hand holding and just being together, it was bliss.

The only thing so far that was different was Sasori's small glass of wine. A year prior he had to pretty much stop drinking as a whole due to his medicine. This little splash in his glass was a rare treat. The rest of the wine he could drink off Deidara's lips later on.

Sasori snorted as Deidara sent him a little wink from across the table, "I must be going delirious from the wine..." He glanced at his hand still being held, "as I feel you may be flirting with me."

"I can smell what you baked for dessert, hm." Deidara said, taking a bite and glancing towards the kitchen, "How could I not? Delicious boys bake delicious treats."

Sasori rolled his eyes at being called a 'boy'. Both of them stopped being just boys a long time ago. He knew he was an old man who just so happened to have most wonderful Valentine in the world. Perhaps in an alternative universe he could refer to him as a 'delicious valentine', but this was not the one.

Dessert for the two was a little more intimate as instead of sitting across from the table, after placing Sasori's dish before him, Deidara grabbed his chair and pulled it closer before taking a seat.

"Personal bubble." Sasori said with a smirk as Deidara leaned in close on his elbow to take a bite.

Picking off the maraschino cherry on his dessert, Deidara sucked on his fingers as he placed it in his mouth, "Valentine's day...especially in lockdowns... doesn't get personal bubbles, hm."

Sasori shook his head and sighed, "And here I was thinking we do something we haven't done in awhile..."

Deidara smirked, "How is that different than what I'm alluding to, hmm?" he snickered, flicking out his tongue.

He earned a glare for that one.

After cleaning up, which took no time at all thanks to Deidara's cleaning as they worked, Sasori led Deidara to the living room.

Standing in the middle of the room while Sasori walked towards their record player, "Hmmm I wonder what you think we haven't done in awhile... that could be better than what I think we haven't done in awhile..."

Sasori shot a dirty look over his shoulder. The day after Valentine's fell on a school day, a day they usually went all out as Deidara usually tricked him with some sort of lingerie or toy or just smelling and looking really good! On a school night though, there was no way he was going to risk going back to work all achey, even though he got to sit in his comfy home chair and wear his pajama pants. Or if he was in the mood, no pants.

Another one of Deidara's clever ideas as it never occurred to Sasori his students couldn't see his bottoms.

"If music be the food of love, play on." Sasori said, extending a hand towards Deidara as the record's music began to play.

Deidara eye sparkled as he caught on. He chuckled at the Shakespeare quote and took his husband's hand, "You have witchcraft in your lips!" He shot back, taking the lead in their dance around the living room. A simple waltz as the two couldn't keep their eyes off one another, twirling about flawlessly like masters of the craft.

They danced in circles until they took wing, the both of them taking a step forward, until Sasori changed his direction to walk a half-circle in front of Deidara to his right then to his left side. Deidara smiled and in turn led the dance with a heel turn, turning on the heel of his support foot while his other foot held close and parallel to the support one. Finally he ended the turn with the weight transferring from one foot to the other. With that twinkle in both their eyes now, Deidara kept his lead and took a small lunge forward and Sasori took one back, being dipped slightly in a flawless oversway.

Sasori smirked as he was pulled up and held close, returning to the gentleness of their waltz, both knowing it was so he could catch his breath. He never tired of dancing with the blond, from the day they met in a noisy club dancing, to now many many years later on a peculiar Valentine's Day during a pandemic doing a romantic waltz. He sighed heavily as he held back just as tight, "I humbly do beseech of your pardon, for too much loving you."

Had anyone looked out their window, or had been allowed to pass alongside the street and gazed on. They would see the figures of the two men's silhouettes dancing against the curtains. And most certainly they would be jealous of their love on this night.

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss

Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronge.


valentines specialllll. i say special cause this isn't entirely canon cause covid is bad so it doesn't exist in this universe. just this one only.

i hope you all enjoyed the mush! bye losers! loooooove youuuuuuuuu