A Tasty Treat

Epilogue

  "Suki's coming over later."

  "Mm."

  "That means pick up your laundry." I said, and Atsushi whined in response as he was sprawled out on the couch. "I'm not gonna do it, so get up."

  "I'm tired."

  "Should have thought about that before you left your dirty clothes on the floor." Looking down at him with my hands on my hips, I raised my eyebrows. "I understand practice was hard, but the hamper is literally two feet away from where you dropped them."

  Atsushi whined again while burying his face into the couch so he didn't have to look at me. Ever since we moved in together, there were times like this when I could beat him with my shoe. However, I now knew exactly how to deal with his lazy behavior by now.

  Sighing through my nose, I crouched beside the couch while looking at the side of his head.

  "Atsushi, look at me." He grumbled something incoherent, and I just waited. Atsushi turned his head to look at me while his long hair covered much of his face as he peered through. "Please, Atsushi?" I used that sweet tone that always worked like a charm with him, and I saw his ears turning pink.

  He groaned while rolling off the couch before lumbering to the bathroom where he'd left the laundry on the floor.

  "Such a dork." I quietly scoffed before standing up. Any time Atsushi wanted to whine and pout about chores, all I had to do was say his name and 'please' in that tone to get him to do it. I had found that out purely by accident, and I sure as shit didn't stop using it.

  When the purple giant came back, he grabbed me in a big hug and pulled me down on the couch with him to cuddle. That was also something I had figured out. After using that trick to get him to do chores, he'd always come back wanting to cuddle. There was just no way to stay upset at him when he got so sweet.

✧☾✧

  Picking up oranges and feeling them as I looked them over, I sniffed them to check how good they were before putting them into the basket. I saw purple moving in the corner of my eye, so I looked up to see Atsushi hanging out of an aisle with a bag raised over his head. I glanced at the bag, then shook my head, and Atsushi went back into the aisle to find the right one.

  Moving over to the bananas, I looked for a bunch that wasn't too yellow or too green. I glanced back at the aisle Atsushi went down to check if he was there before I went over to the vegetables. I knew he didn't like vegetables, but he would eat them like crazy if I cooked them just right.

  However, he still hated seeing the vegetables raw and would get a dirty look on his face if he saw me picking them out. I'd convinced him through trial and error to eat more vegetables both in smoothies that tasted sweet from the fruit and by mincing them when they were in our meals. His family had warned me about his bad diet and how much of a pain it was to get him to eat certain things, but I wanted to be sure he was getting at least some proper nutrition instead of just junk food. So I kept trying until I found what worked.

  Even though he still had childish tendencies as an adult, there were still ways to work around it. Like the 'please' and cuddles for chores, mincing and blending up the vegetables, and going with him on runs around the neighborhood to work out on the days he didn't have basketball practice.

  Getting some cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers, and an onion, it was as I was going through the carrots that someone stood rather close to me. I assumed they were just picking their own vegetables out until they started talking.

  "You plan on making a big meal or just getting stuff for the week?" Looking over, I saw a man around my height with an undercut and athletic clothes looking right back at me.