Amphibians & Reptiles [TsukiYama]

#1: appreciation

In the new year, Tadashi replaced his old job at a small business, at a new career as a software engineer for a robotics company. Now, he deals with a combination of electrical engineering and computer science on a daily basis. He's never been good at anything but math, coding, and science, so it was a perfect career choice for him. He had the opportunity to work with an amazing team with different people, and he loves it. As a result, Tadashi came home with a smile on most days.

On other occasions, Tadashi sometimes came home with a dark cloud over his head. During these days, he'll go into the kitchen, and grab something sweet to calm himself down. It can be a juice box from the fridge, or the many snacks they keep in the pantry.

Kei sighs at the sight of his boyfriend's frown. He happened to be in the kitchen trying to repair the pipes under sink. "Welcome home, do you want to order takeout?" The blonde questioned as he looked through the tool box. He looks up at his boyfriend and smiles gently.

"Uhm, Teriyaki would be nice," Tadashi responds. Kei looks at his boyfriend stress-eating one of the many strawberry shortcake's from the refrigerator and he bit his lip awkwardly. He focuses his attention back on repairing the sink, but he didn't know how to actually fix sink pipes.

"How was work today?" Kei is stalling so he didn't have to act like he was a repair-man. He couldn't risk mutilating the kitchen sink and having to pay for an actual plumber.

"Not the best, but it wasn't terrible. There's a problem with our prototype that we have to figure out. I'm not even sure if it's a mechanical, electrical, or programming issue."

Tadashi drops his fork and massages his temples when he remembers the issues happening at work. The team is currently working on making a functioning hydraulic arm for another company that makes cars. They want to start using robots to assemble vehicles to be more safer and efficient.

Kei stands up and approaches Tadashi with an intimate smile. He picks up the fork and takes bite out of the short cake, "I'm sure your team can figure it out. You don't have to do everything by yourself."

"You're right," Tadashi sighs and looks behind Kei. He notices all the tools laying on the ground and decides to take over the repair work. Fixing things around the apartment is his specialty since he used to help his mother with the plumbing at home when he was young. Kei settles on not trying to stop Tadashi, since he knew his boyfriend feels better when he has a bit of control in a situation. "I guess I'll order us Teriyaki," Kei says and cleans up the shortcake mess. He picks up his phone off the ground and dials the number for the nearby Teriyaki place. It was expensive since it's a hotspot for tourists, but he knew Tadashi loves it. So, he'll gladly pay for it whenever his boyfriend wants it. 

~

When the food arrived in warm plastic bags, Kei sets the table in silence. Tadashi had went into the office to work after finishing the sink. Kei enters the room and sees his boyfriend typing on the computer rapidly. Their pet bearded dragon, Charmander, is relaxing on the desk next to the keyboard to keep Tadashi company.

"Dinners here. Are you still feeling stressed? We can eat in the bedroom," Kei offers. He picks up the lizard to put him back into his large enclosure. Charmander enjoys being on top of his favorite rock under the warm lighting. Kei smiles at the reptile and pets the top of it's head.

"Not anymore, thankfully. I think we found the problem. Me and my co-workers have some solutions we'll try out tomorrow." Tadashi stands up, his expression less tense than before. He wraps his arms around Kei's waist, and his face snuggles against the blonde's chest, "I love you so much, Tsuki."

"I love you too. But, I didn't do anything to deserve the random hug," Kei replies with a chuckle and presses a kiss to Tadashi's scalp.

"Well, you always get frustrated when I take your cake without asking, but you didn't today. Also, you hate ordering takeout teriyaki because it's so expensive, but you got it for me."

"I was just being a decent boyfriend, Tadashi. It's the bare minimum," Kei huffs. They both let go of each other and Kei awkwardly walks to their small dining room. He points at Tadashi's container of food, "it's the one you like. I also made brownies in case you still weren't feeling well. We have vanilla ice cream in the freezer too—."

"See what I mean, Kei? Gosh, you like to do so much but are so insistent on being all cool, you won't let me appreciate you." The shorter man crossed his arms and pouted. Kei has dealt with feeling inferior for most of his life, and he tries to mask it by acting chill and laidback.

Both of them sat down at the table and begin to enjoy their meal together in silence. Tadashi sighs heavily and fidgets around with his chopsticks while he thinks about what to say next.

"I just love everything you do for me, okay? Even if you feel insecure about it, I will still love it. Whether you think it's the 'bare minimum' or whatever. Just let me appreciate and love you with no objections."

"But—,"

"No objections, Kei Tsukishima! Now after we eat, we will enjoy our brownies and ice cream in bed, okay?"

Kei mumbles out a small "okay" and continues eating. He looks up at Tadashi, the boy he met in middle school that was extremely shy. Back then, Tadashi would have followed Kei to the end of the world without any complaints. Now, he can speak his mind whenever and however he wants without the fear of embarrassment or being mocked.

As the ate dinner, Kei could only wonder how he ended up with such a cool boyfriend.