Written on 8/9/2014 for stephanericher on tumblr for the AU ficlet meme:

8. roommates au

Shuu was very easy to live with, for the most part.

He took care of himself with the ease of someone who's long used to looking after themselves and others. He cooked well enough, kept his things tidy and out of the way, and always asked Tatsuya if there was anything he needed before he went to go shopping.

The main problem with living with Shuu, for Tatsuya, was that it was very hard to pretend you weren't wildly attracted to your friend when you saw them every day. Somehow, seeing Shuu be domestic around the house just made everything worse. Tatsuya liked to watch him in the kitchen; he was no Taiga, but he was definitely comfortable, and his food always tasted a lot better than Tatsuya's did. It had a sort of 'made with love' mother-y quality to it that Tatsuya kind of envied, and found surprisingly adorable.

Of course, Shuu didn't actually enjoy cooking, but it was cheaper overall to cook for one's self, and Shuu didn't like to needlessly throw money away when he didn't have to (though, Tatsuya knew, he definitely indulged himself in his favourite brands of sportswear, few of which would be considered cheap).

Also, Tatsuya couldn't cook at all. So there was that too.

When he came home from his evening classes one night, Shuu was asleep on the couch. He must have dozed off waiting for him to come back; the TV was making some ambient noise in the background, and it was all just so very cute.

(One day, Tatsuya might question why he was so drawn to tough-looking softies. One day. Maybe.)

Shuu had left some food out on the counter for him, but there wasn't a note with it. That was okay; Tatsuya didn't need it to know what Shuu had meant for this to look like. (He would have gotten up and turned off the TV, as if he'd just finished watching whatever had been on and told him that the food on the counter was for him, and he was going to bed, and despite himself, he would tell Tatsuya not to stay up too late.)

Tatsuya leaned over and kissed Shuu's forehead.