A warm and slightly spicy scent hit Seijuurou's nose as he stepped inside. There was a flurry of shoes by the doorstep once inside, of varying styles and sizes. Some were placed on the shoe rack neatly, while others were lain sideways, clearly taken off haphazardly. Kouki toed his shoes off as he dropped his brown house slippers onto the floor before stepping further inside, past the doorstep and turning around to drop Seijuurou's blue slippers in front of him. Seijuurou took his shoes off and neatly placed them along the shoe rack as he toed on his designated house slippers and stepped right in front of Kouki, causing their chests to touch and Kouki's eyebrows to raise and mouth agape.
Seijuurou gazed into Kouki's eyes, a warm hazel due to the warm lights surrounding them. He bumped his nose into Kouki's by angling his face up, appreciating the small, barely there, freckles just littered on the bridge of his nose. He had gotten slightly tanner over the summer, a healthy glow on his skin, accentuating his jawline. Seijuurou's eyes travelled down to Kouki's slender nose, before resting on his pink lips, slightly blending in with his skin due to the lighting around them.
Kouki had been mirroring what Seijuurou had been doing, getting a much closer look at his boyfriend, admiring his slender face, arched eyebrows and sharp eyes, framed by long eyelashes. His porcelain skin was as unblemished as ever, save for a scar hidden by his eyebrows from when he had apparently split his head as a child. ("Wow it's like you had a normal childhood!" Kouki had exclaimed before Seijuurou promptly punched him in the gut) His eyes also trailed down to end at Seijuurou's thin, pink lips and he began to inch forward, before he heard thumping footsteps and his mother shouting,
"Kouki, are you back?"
The moment was broken as Kouki hastily took a step back and spun around, just as his brother Kousuke bounded from the kitchen and threw his arms around Kouki.
Seijuurou flinched slightly at the sudden motion. Kousuke Furihata was the middle one of Kouki's four older brothers. He went to some university Kouki had never mentioned the name of, just outside of Tokyo apparently. He was currently in his second year. Kousuke looked somewhat like Kouki, save for his slightly lighter skin tone, and taller build, although now they could be slightly more comparable. His hair was a darker brown, almost black and his irises were slightly bigger, so they made his face seem fuller and more expressive.
"Aw the baby's back! And look, he's brought his best friend!"
"Get off me you fatty," Kouki struggled against his brother's grip on him.
Kousuke just flashed Seijuurou a familiar smile and threw his head back, "The mini dunker's here!"
Seijuurou's eyebrow twitched at his new nickname. Kousuke seemed to come up with a new one every time.
Kouki broke free from Kousuke's grasp just as Seijuurou stepped closer to him, squinting at Kousuke for his new nickname, before his expression gave way to a small smile as Kousuke took a step forward to throw his arms around Seijuurou now, giving him a firm pat on the back before stepping away to reveal Kouki's mother rushing in from the kitchen, a wide smile on her face as her eyes landed on Seijuurou.
Just the sight of her put Seijuurou at so much more ease, as his lips naturally began to curve upwards and his eyes brightened, and it was now that he was as grateful as ever that Kouki's family (sans his father), were more huggers than they were Japanese.
"It's so great to finally see you again Seijuurou," she greeted warmly, her slight accent barely distinguishable if you weren't looking for it. Her eyes crinkled in a similar fashion to Kouki as she wrapped her arms around Seijuurou. He returned the hug as he buried his face in her shoulder, breathing in the same warm scent that lingered in their house, filling him up with a sense of familiarity he had been missing the past few weeks. She pressed a quick kiss to his hair before pushing him at arm's length, giving him an investigative look as her eyes travelled up and down.
Mrs. Furihata had light caramel skin, with the sam matching kind eyes as Kouki and jet-black hair. Her Japanese had a slight accent to it, but he could not place her ethnicity. He always meant to try and ask for her name somehow but found it may be slightly rude to ask directly, so never did.
Initially, when they had finally started dating, Kouki seemed to always try to ensure he would never meet his mother, which only had Seijuurou try his hardest to ensure he did. Which, of course, he eventually won out. Well, it was more due to sheer luck in timing and place, since Seijuurou had been eating at this slightly rustic, beach-side styled restaurant with some of the Generation of Miracles before Kouki and his mother had walked in. They had been speaking in a language Seijuurou could not recognize, Kouki clearly quite fluent in it as the words spewed rapidly from his mouth. It was Testuya who had called out to him, Kouki turning and meeting the eyes of his secret boyfriend, eyes wide with surprise, right before his mother turned and saw Testuya, her face lighting up and striding over to fuss over him. The other members had been polite to her, as Kouki stood awkwardly to the side, his face turning beet red. It had been quite amusing to him, especially when he found out Kouki had been talking about him to his mother ("Oh so you're that Seijuurou with the red hair huh!"). At that point even the other people at the table were appreciating this interaction, enjoying the motherly attention being showered over them solely due to them being high school boys, before Kouki came in to drag his mother away.
When Seijuurou had later confronted Kouki as to why he had not wanted them to meet, Seijuurou was hurt to find out Kouki seemed embarrassed by his mother, by her accent, the way she dressed. They had a pretty big fight about this, Seijuurou in disbelief that Kouki would think he would ever judge him or her on something so trivial. It was not until later that Seijuurou found out from Kouki about all the teasing he would get when he was younger, how he could not bear it if one of his close friends were to say something about her now, the rage that pulsed through him as he imagined a younger Kouki listening to teasing taunts about his kind mother, too shy to do anything about them. His regular house visits began after they had made up, Seijuurou suddenly finding himself being fussed over and looked after by a motherly figure, something he had not felt in years. It obviously caused a surge in emotion within him, but he had been able to keep it all contained throughout his visits, only mentioning it once very briefly, to Kouki as they fell asleep in his room.
Ever since that fight, the topic of his mother's ethnicity had never really come to surface, Kouki always finding a way to deflect. Seijuurou never wanted to push it and was able to instantly recognize these deflections, but always allowed them since there were a lot of things he also never really wanted to talk about and he knew Kouki accepted him for that, never pushing the topic. It seemed to be a sensitive topic for Kouki. Seijuurou had some guesses, but knew he was going to find out one day, so he chose not to push his luck.
Kouki's mother met his eyes and brought her hands to cup his face.
"Hope you haven't been pushing yourself too hard Seijuurou-kun, with basketball and searching for universities." Her hand brushed through his hair as he relaxed into her touch.
Kouki's head popped up from the side, "Ehh, why are you already looking into unis?!"
Kouki's mother pulled his ear, making him face her as she furrowed her brows.
"What do you mean, already?! You have less than two years left in high school Kouya!"
Seijuurou let out a small laugh at the scenario in front of him. Seijuurou had mentioned his search to Kouki's mother in one of his phone calls, impressing her with his initiative apparently.
"I'm just trying to make sure I know about all the requirements to apply, and to see the caliber of each school, know if I need to build up my portfolio with other extracurriculars and such," Seijuurou explained to Kouki as his mother let go of his ear.
"You should take a leaf out of his book, Kouya."
"Yeah, yeah," Kouki grumbled as he rubbed his ear and mock glared at Seijuurou. Mrs. Furihata turned to walk back into the kitchen, "I'm just going to check on the curry."
Seijuurou just shrugged at Kouki and eagerly followed her into the kitchen.
The smell was a lot more concentrated and reminded Seijuurou just how hungry he was. He had skipped lunch in favor of exploring the campus of a nearby urban university and lost track of time.
"Do you need any help in anything?" Seijuurou asked politely.
Mrs. Furihata turned to face him with a gentle smile and softly placed a hand on his cheek, "No, I'm fine, thank you though that's very nice to offer. We're just waiting on Kouya's father to get back, his sister and other brothers should be coming back very soon, they just went out to pop by the convenience store around the corner."
Seijuurou gave her a nod and Kouki slid his hand around Seijuurou's arm, dragging him back out towards the stairs.
"Let's go chill in my room then!"
Seijuurou flashed her one last polite smile and allowed Kouki to drag him up the stairs (carpeted, something not usually seen in most Japanese houses, but according to Kouki's father it has saved them from a couple of nasty slips and falls, clumsiness seems to be a common trait amongst the family).
As soon as they were out of sight from anyone on the first floor (where did Kousuke disappear to?), and safely on the second floor, Kouki pulled Seijuurou close and ran his hands through his hair, cupping the back of Seijuurou's head, bringing it forward to meet his in a kiss. It was in a new angle, due to Kouki's growth spurt. New, but still felt natural.
Kouki's lips were warm and slightly chapped (clearly not using the lip balm Seijuurou bought for him) and were applying a reassuring pressure on Seijuurou's. Seijuurou's hands grabbed onto the front of Kouki's hoodie, pulling him even closer so they were flush against each other. Seijuurou parted his lips slightly, allowing for a deeper kiss as Kouki pressed forward, feeling his tongue running over his lower lip. Before getting too lost in the kiss, Seijuurou pulled back and looked at Kouki, resting their foreheads together. Kouki was slightly out of breath from the kiss as well as rushing up the stairs.
"Room?" Seijuurou asked, also slightly breathless, giddiness bubbling up from finally kissing his boyfriend after almost three months.
Kouki just grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers and began walking down the hallway to the end. He pushed open the door and Seijuurou let his eyes wander around the familiar room, the older posters of various train routes through Tokyo, as well as the newer posters for Kyoto, the bed with plain sheets and a blue duvet pushed into the corner, next to a side table where Kouki's Seirin water bottle sat, as well as his phone, charger and a copy of a certain volume of One Punch Man, Kouki's current favorite manga. Seijuurou believed he had gotten him that copy just before he left, so he felt a warm bubbly feeling inside about it being the current thing Kouki was reading. Not like he'd tell Kouki that though.
There was a window right next to the bed, just before the closet where you could look down into the front garden and the houses in front. Beneath the window laid one of Kouki's remote controlled train sets, set-up and running in a loop. Seijuurou's eyes travelled back in front of him to Kouki's desk, right in front of the door, facing his bed, as Kouki closed the door behind them. Kouki's laptop was open, and his headset was strewn on the desk, connected. Seijuurou had a slight suspicion and turned and narrowed his eyes at Kouki.
"What?" Kouki asked.
Seijuurou just turned and quickly strode over to his desk, pressing a laptop key to turn it on.
Kouki jumped into action and almost slammed the laptop screen down.
"Woah, woah, respect my privacy man! What if I was looking at porn or something? That's embarrassing Sei!"
Seijuurou turned so his entire body was facing Kouki and adopted his most dead-panned and serious expression onto his face, simply staring at Kouki. He knew Kouki knows he does not like it when Kouki, his boyfriend, refers to him as man, and also when he refuses to show him things like his laptop.
Kouki avoided the eye contact as long as he could, picking up a few pens on his table and placing them back in a cup he kept on his desk to hold them all, before toying around with his headset cable. Then he chanced a glance at Seijuurou, knowing what he was going to find, the stare enforcing in him just how much control Seijuurou still had over him. Kouki gave an exaggerated pout before giving in, signaling dramatically to his laptop with his arm as he went and fell backwards onto his bed.
Seijuurou gave a curt nod and opened his laptop, entering his password before he saw the Minecraft home screen display across the laptop screen.
"Huh, I'm guessing you couldn't call me yesterday because you got busy handling your mom and playing Minecraft, right?" Akashi pressed his lips together and nodded at Kouki. Kouki sat up on his bed and had the decency to look guilty.
"Look, I spent three months with no electricity. No laptop, no phone, no electric stove, no tap water, plus I was super tired when I got here. I just wanted to relax and figured I'd call tomorrow. And look at that! You were actually in the neighborhood, so I didn't even have to call, I got to do something even better, I got to hug you! And bring you back home! To my room! Where we're all alone. With my mom and brother downstairs. And everyone else out of the house…" Kouki trailed off, looking at Seijuurou with wide eyes, raising his eyebrows and raising his arms towards him.
Seijuurou sucked in the sides of his lips but gave in and fell into Kouki's arms. Kouki pulled the both of them onto the bed more securely, resting his back on his headboard, placing Seijuurou's head on the crook of his neck, placing a kiss on the top of his head and threading their fingers together once again.
Fingers started running through Seijuurou's hair, as he placed his other arm around Kouki's waist, trying to get more comfortable in their position while keeping his left hand intertwined with Kouki's hand. As Seijuurou's eyes once again scanned the room, he realized just how much he had missed this. The close contact with his favorite person, the bickering, the smiles, the kissing, the bed; just the familiarity and closeness of it all. Seijuurou had missed the hell out of Kouki and was only just now truly feeling it. His head lay in the crook of Kouki's neck, between his shoulder, feeling the warmth emanating from his skin. Unable to control them, tears rapidly started welling up in Seijuurou's eyes, before he hastily reached up to wipe them away, and burrowed his face into Kouki's neck, not used to these feelings. These small displays of emotion were still something new to their relationship, so Kouki was still unsure how to deal with them. He wrapped his arms around Seijuurou and slid down, so they were now laying with their heads on his pillow, facing each other. Seijuurou avoided eye contact, concentrating on Kouki's jaw as he felt his gaze on him. Kouki's thumb reached up to wipe away a remnant of a tear in his eye, before cupping his face and forcing his gaze up to meet his eyes. Seijuurou was met with a calm gaze, before Kouki dropped a quick peck on his lips. They both lay there, gazing at each other, eyes wondering over the other's face, taking in their presence. All the walking about from the day was finally catching up to Seijuurou, feeling the fatigue in his legs and slightly drooping his eyes. The warmth in the room felt like a cocoon, with the sounds from Kouki lying next to him, lulling his eyes closed and evening out his breathing.
Kouki watched as Seijuurou fell into a light sleep and eased his arms away. Seijuurou woke up to the movement but nuzzled right back into the pillow as Kouki got up.
Kousuke gave one short, light rap on the door just as Kouki was making his way over to open it.
"Can I help you?"
Kousuke waggled his eyebrows and grinned at his brother, "Everything ay-okay in there Kouya?"
Kouki rolled his eyes and made a rude gesture at Kousuke before going to shut the door. Kousuke kicked his foot in before it closed.
"Lani's coming over for dinner too, remember, might wanna give him a little warning, hmm?"
Kouki narrowed his eyes.
"I doubt akjaan is gonna make it though, and if he's not here, she's not here. So realistically, it's probably just gonna be us and mama and Otou."
Kousuke scrunched up his face. "Aw so no drama tonight-"
He dodged as Kouki swatted at his face, eyebrows furrowed. He shut the door with a little more force than necessary. Seijuurou rustled around on his bed behind him.
"All good?"
Kouki turned around to see Seijuurou sitting at the end of his bed. Kouki sighed and nodded, walking towards him before flinging himself onto the bed, avoiding Seijuurou. Seijuurou climbed up to lay alongside him, propping himself up on his elbows, looking down at Kouki's face right up against the duvet.
"I think everyone knows."
Right. There had been subtle hints here and there, and the house itself didn't really leave too much room for privacy. In fact, this may have been the first time Seijuurou had heard Kousuke knock on Kouki's door. Seijuurou sucked in his lips as he contemplated. His fingers turning Kouki's hair through them, curling them before they straightened themselves as he released.
"Doesn't seem like they mind."
"I guess not."
Kouki glanced up at Seijuurou who was looking right back at him. His eyes were downturned, and it seemed like he was still thinking.
"What's up?"
Seijuurou rubbed his face with his hands before laying his head down next to Kouki, facing him.
"I guess it's just that… I'm still scared they could let other people know. The main thing is to make sure this doesn't get back to my father, so I can't really risk anyone finding out. I can't control the flow of information like that."
Kouki ran his hand through Seijuurou's hair, resting his hand on the back and pushing his head forward.
"I won't let that happen."
Notes: There definitely will be a mix of languages in this... I grew up very multi-cultural so it's kind of what I'm used to :)
