This one was doozy to do. I kept trying so hard to find something different from the generic reunion idea of a soldier returning home. And I also had trouble with trying not to redo my first Adashi ficlet that I did when we first got the news about Adam. Anyway here's a fun little thing about Adam just quitting his day and his ray of sunshine fiance making it better!

It had just been one of those days for Adam.

It started with him forgetting to charge his phone the night before and woke up late for work. His homeroom was a complete mess once he got to his class with half the kids skipping out since he showed up late. During the rush to get to work, he had left behind his laptop and was unable to work off his lesson plan for the day which turned into a massive disaster with Adam eventually caving and relying on old Bill Nye YouTube videos to teach for him. And if his day couldn't get any worse, after the lunch period he was surprised with an official from the school board coming by to sit and evaluate his class and his lesson plan – no YouTube videos for that class period.

By the end of the day, Adam was exhausted. He had been metaphorically kicked and punched so much that he was surprised to even make to out to his car in the parking lot after he finished grading half the test that were supposed to be graded the day before. His one saving grace for the day was that he was now able to drive home, maybe order a pizza so he wouldn't have to cook and sit in some much-needed peace and quiet.

Whoever said being an adult was hard lied. Being a teacher was much harder.

Adam took a few moments to myself to just sit and gather himself after pulling into his driveway. His house was a modest fixer-upper that him and his fiancé worked on together on weekends. Or at least used to. It was now all on Adam till Shiro got back from his time in Japan and Lord knew how much longer that was going to take.

Adam knew that being an Air Force fiancé was going to be hard – he was an Air Force boyfriend during Shiro's training and first tour – but now it was much harder with a full time teaching position and having to take care of his future little brother-in-law while Shiro was away. And it definitely didn't help his single parent lifestyle that that said future little brother-in-law had a bad habit of bringing in strays almost every week. Without Shiro around to magically talk Keith into taking the animals he found to a no-kill shelter to be adopted, they somehow had ended up with a new cat named Red and puppy named Kosmo this month. Was Shiro happy about the news? No, not at all. Pets and renovations don't work well. But at least Keith is as stubborn as Shiro is and was determined to prove that he can take care of the new family members and keep them away whenever Adam was working on the house.

But at least tonight Adam will get a break from the chaotic zoo that is his home. Keith was spending the night with a friend and took the puppy with him so that he could socialize it with other people and places. So tonight, it was just going to be Adam, the SYFY channel, a large pizza with all the toppings he could think of, a couple of beers, some badly written AP science papers, and Red cuddling next to him on the couch.

A nice and quiet night after a very stressful, agonizing day with no more surprises.

Did Keith leave these out here?

Ok maybe one surprise in the form of a pair of Shiro's uniform boots. Keith would usually wear them whenever he took the puppy out and was too lazy to find his own shoes, but he would usually leave inside next to the backdoor, not on the front porch.

"I don't have the energy to question this," Adam said to himself as he rubbed his tired eyes under his glasses.

He bent down and picked up the boots to bring them inside. As he unlocked the front door he could hear Red's bell collar jingling toward the door and once Adam took the keys out of the knob queued the series of meowing and scratching at the door. After opening the door Adam traded the boots for the attention starved orange tabby and dropped off his bags in the living room behind the couch.

"It's just me and you tonight Red. No being chased around by Kosmo and all the cat treats you can have." Adam wasn't really talking to anyone in particular since he knew that the cat couldn't understand him, but he felt that something needed to be said within the silence.

After scanning his surroundings, making sure everything was in its place like every homeowner when in the middle of moving things around would do, Adam realized that the lights were on even though he never turned them on. He instantly assumed that Keith turned them on when he stopped by after school to get Kosmo and just forgot to turn them off when he left.

Or so he thought after hearing the microwave turn on.

Adam let Red jump out of his hands, her running instantly toward the kitchen in the back of the main level of the home. He quickly went into slight defense mode. Even though they've had Red for such a short period of time, Adam and Keith had learned that she is very picky with the people that come around her – going as far as scratching one of Keith's friends when he tried to bet her – so if she was happily going to the kitchen to inspect the noise, whoever was in there was not a threat to her. But Adam was still skeptical. The front door was locked, but was the back door? Did he relock the windows after working on them? Did Keith forget something and come back?

"Keith," Adam yelled out.

He grabbed his school keys out of his pocket and laced one key between each of his fingers. He knew how to defend himself, but having the keys added an extra punch – pun intended.

"I thought you were staying over at Lance's tonight?"

No response except for the sound of the microwave being used.

"Did something happen? I hope Kosmo didn't do anything to make you two fight and cancel."

Adam walked up to the threshold to the kitchen and heard the microwave finish its job and whoever was in there open it up and put a bowl on the counter.

Adam took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his keys and stepped into the kitchen. He hesitantly looked around the top cabinets in the kitchen and all the tension in his should dropped.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, tending to a bowl of Easy Mac and bobbing his head along to his music was Shiro, completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn't alone in the house anymore or that his fiancé was about to jump and attack him. Within how long he was home, Shiro had made himself comfortable by trading in his uniform for a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and his contacts for glasses. His earbuds were clear signs that he was able to do something productive before he got hungry and Adam got home, which meant that Keith knew he was home and didn't say anything to Adam. He made a small note to get back at the little preteen for that and giving him a small panic attack.

But Keith was not who Adam was frustrated with right now.

"TAKASHI!"

Adam yelled at the top of his lungs and threw his keys at the big oblivious love of his life, the only thing that was known to bring Shiro out of his ear-deafening world.

Shiro jumped when the keys hit his shoulder and looked at what hit him and then at who threw them, ripping his earbuds out right away.

"Oh! Hey babe! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I did some work in our bathroom and forgot I had these in."

Shiro gave the most innocent, apologetic look but that wasn't going to save him.

"Shut up," Adam yelled again. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Did Keith not tell you I was home?"

"No!" Then the important question popped in Adam's head. "Why didn't you?"

"Well," Shiro drug out, seeming embarrassed to answer the question. "My phone kind of broke while I was away."

"What do you mean by kind of?"

"Kind of like, I dropped it in the ocean."

There it went. There went Adam's last strand of composer. He quietly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, heading straight for the couch to lie down and cover up his defeat under a blanket. Usually in situations like this, he would be overjoyed and throwing himself at Shiro and peppering his face with kisses, but today was just too much and he was done functioning.

"Babe?"

Shiro walked into the living room with his bowl of Easy Mac and put it down on the coffee table before sitting on the couch to check on his fiancé.

"Sorry about not calling you. I just got swamped and never had time to FaceTime you when you were awake. But the good news is that I'm going to get a new phone tomorrow completely free and I luckily backed it up to my laptop the night before losing it so thankfully I'm not going to lose anything."

Adam was silent, the day was too much. The stress and surprises were too much. He just wanted to be a hermit and stay under his blanket.

Shiro reached over and pulled part of the blanket down to show Adam's eyes. They were tired. Like really tired. He took Adam's glasses off for him and put them on the coffee table.

"Are you going to change out of your work clothes?"

"No." Adam pulled the blanket back over his head. "I quit for the day."

Shiro sat there and took in what he said, knowing instantly that Adam had a very bad day. He knew that ordering Adam his own pizza with his favorite toppings, put out a six pack, and keep the TV on the SYFY channel would usually help him feel better. But that would take hours to work.

"Ok," Shiro signed as he stared at his hands as he thought about his words. "Do you want me to change you out of your work clothes?"

Adam had always said that he loved Shiro's dorky side whenever he tried to be funny and witty, so maybe that would work?

And it did in a way. Adam pulled the blanket down a bit from his face and looked up at Shiro, his eyes narrow to look both skeptical and because he couldn't see without his glasses. He couldn't hold his seriousness for long though. He snorted out a laugh through his nose before chuckling.

"I missed you," Adam said softly as he pushed the blanket off his face and smiled.

Shiro leaned down and touched his forehead to Adam's.

"I missed you too."