His body shook with abject fear as Sosuke turned to him and gave a misleading smile. "Honey, where's the tea? I could've sworn I'd asked you to get it...?"
"You did, I – I forgot, I'm sorry" Ichigo put his hands together, pleading with his husband to forgive him for his trespasses. He jumped as Sosuke took a step towards him. "But how could you forget? I don't get it". Sosuke continued his approach, the corners of his mouth raised, showing what Ichigo recognised to be fake sereneness. Ichigo started to back away, though he realised his efforts were futile when his back hit a solid wall. He gave a quick glance past Sosuke's side, saw the kitchen's open door and contemplated running, but swiftly reconsidered once his eyes met his spouse's broad shoulders and chest.
He was quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.
There was one option. BEG. "Look, baby. I can go straight back to the shop for you, I swear I'll be 5 minutes, no longer! P-please, Sosuke, please let me go back! I'm so sorry!" Tears began to fall from Ichigo's eyes. He'd do anything to prevent what he knew was coming. Hell, he'd give away his life-savings (not that he had any) just to stop Sosuke from delivering his punishment. "You know that I don't accept apologies, my love. Why would I? So that you can get away with it this time, only to repeat the mistake later? I'm tired of you trying to get away with shit Ichigo, you can try to pretend, but I'm not buying what you're trying to sell me."
"NO, I-" Ichigo began, before all words were halted by a tremendous cracking sound, and he was sent to the ground by slap across the face. As he looked up from the cool, marble flooring, he saw the calm façade melt off Sosuke's face, only to be replaced with red hot umbrage. Sosuke was raging. Ichigo had seen him angry before, but nothing like this. His forehead looked clammy and as he finally started shouting, a throbbing vein on his temple became visible. The slap had hurt – badly, but it was the power in his voice that sent chills across Ichigo's spine, and Sosuke's next words that pierced him like a dagger to the heart.
'Ichigo, tell me you're not a complete fucking idiot! Don't you know that I could do SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU! I FUCKING SETTLED FOR YOU, I SETTLED FOR YOU DESPITE ALL OF THESE PRETTY, PETITE DAMSELS PRACTICALLY THROWING THEMSELVES AT ME EVERYDAY! Sosuke screamed at him, delivering a harsh kick to his chest, before continuing. "When I made my vows to you, I made them believing that I could be happy, little did I know that I was marrying someone so INCONSIDERATE!"
Tirade over, Sosuke sighed and ran his hands through his slicked hair, observing his work. "Now clean yourself up, you look like a mess" he said, storming out of the kitchen towards their shared bedroom. Ichigo lay there on the floor, where he had been left, where he belonged. He lay there for a good 10 minutes, thinking about everything that had been said, trying to counter his husband's words, however no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find any evidence against what Sosuke said. 'Here I am' he thought 'In Sosuke's house. Tonight, I'll go to sleep in Sosuke's bed, sleep between Sosuke's sheets. He provides all of this for me, yet I don't even have the gratitude to complete one simple task for him?! I'm a disgusting parasite...
Ichigo knew that Sosuke loved him. After all, if Sosuke didn't love him, he wouldn't come home to him every night. YES, Sosuke punished him, but it was because he cared for Ichigo, and didn't want him to make mistakes.
'I have to show him that I love him' Ichigo said to himself, and with that sentiment, Ichigo managed to compose himself enough to get up off the floor and drag himself to the bathroom where he used his washcloth to dab away at the blood on his swollen lip and apply a little concealer to hide the newly developed bruise on his cheek. When he felt a tad better, he dashed out of the bathroom and through the corridor on his way back to the kitchen. On his way he passed the bedroom and considered going in, but then he heard deep murmuring from Sosuke, and decided against interrupting one of his business related skype calls.
Once he arrived in the kitchen, he immediately rummaged through the cupboards and grabbed all the ingredients needed to make his signature dish – Spicy Shoyu Ramen. The dish was surprisingly simple, but it was one of Sosuke's favourites, and Ichigo was often rewarded with hugs and kisses whenever he made it. Not only that, but the dish reminded Ichigo of his family home. He reminisced, thinking of the time when he'd get home from school during the winter time, and be greeted by the succulent aroma of Yuzu's spectacular cooking. Life was so simple then, and he was so happy. If only things hadn't turned sour once he came out. Ichigo promptly shook his head to rid his mind of the past and set to work. 'Sosuke is gonna love this' He raved.
It took a while, because Ichigo hadn't made the dish in a while, but eventually he had two bowls of Ramen, topped with nori, boiled egg, fish cake, scallions, and juicy ChaShu pork. He had even gone to the effort of formally setting the table, with a deep indigo table cloth, and the best tableware he could find in the house. He nervously called Sosuke to the table and waited the couple of seconds it took the man to reply 'What?'. Ichigo neglected to answer, not wanting to ruin the surprise, and waited for him to walk into the dining room. When Sosuke walked in and saw the table, his eyes shone in a rare display of joy. Ichigo fiddled with his hands shyly and after a short pause said "I wanted to apologise for what I did today. I should've considered the possibility of you being stressed from work and I don't know how I let the situation get so out of control, I–." Sosuke interrupted Ichigo's monologue with a gentle kiss to the forehead. "Don't worry about it honey, I've forgotten about it already. Now, sit."
He led Ichigo to his side of the table and pulled out a chair for him to sit on. "I hope you know that I didn't mean what I said earlier, I do love you, it's just that you shouldn't make me lose my temper the way I did, please don't do it again, Ok?" Ichigo nodded enthusiastically, elated that he had been forgiven, and had earned back his husband's respect. "I won't, Sosuke, I promise" he smiled, looking into his eyes, before Sosuke broke eye contact and began to dig in. 'See? He does love me' Ichigo thought, sure that he'd never feel as elated as he just did, when Sosuke finally said the words: 'I love you.'
Author's note: This took a surprising amount of time to write, because my mind was all over the place. Hopefully this is more enjoyable than the tiny chapter I wrote last time. I'm trying hard to update but work is building up so I don't have much time. I'll try to update within the next week, but for now, thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!