A Taste of Forever (Katakuri x Reader)

Chapter 35 - The price of perfection

You blinked up at him, opening and closing your mouth repeatedly but never managing to get more than hot air out. That was impossible. Your ears must have been playing tricks on you.

Katakuri watched your face pull into a bunch of different expressions as you mentally repeated his request in an attempt to figure out whether you had misheard it, his body still leaning against the makeshift doorway without a care in the world while he waited for you to find your voice again.

"Are you joking?" you eventually blurted, finally realising that he in fact had just asked you whether you wanted to join him in his Merienda.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure whether I have ever seen you joke to tell that."

That earned you the tiniest of hidden pouts from Katakuri. While Katakuri wasn't sure whether or not to feel slightly offended, you got up from the bed, abandoning your book on it before you walked over to him. You could feel your heart travel further up in your throat with every step you took as you kept your eyes fixed on his.

"Kata, what is this about?" You stopped just shy from him.

Katakuri's Merienda was holy to everyone in the family, but mostly to himself. No one had ever seen him when he was doing...what was he doing apart from eating doughnuts? He couldn't have been praying to some war god all day for the past 48 years. Either way, it didn't matter what he was doing. The important thing was that no one had ever been inside of his Merienda.

"I want to show you something." He placed a mochi-fied hand between your shoulder blades.

What's going on?

Too confused with what he had to show you, and still feeling nervous over intruding such a significant part of his life, you didn't protest Katakuri when he led you to his half of the mochi shrine by his mochi-fied arm.

The pressure between your shoulder blades was gentle and yet determined, calm and yet nervous. No, that wasn't right. He wasn't nervous...was he excited?

With a gentle pressure against your back, Katakuri led you into his part of the shrine where you tore your gaze off his to take a look around. There was his basket of huge doughnuts sitting idly on the floor, with one doughnut on the floor. His black tea was still hot based on the steam coming out of the teapot's spout. A mochi mirror was hanging on the wall, and you saw something that resembled a seating area, but apart from that his part of the mochi shrine was empty.

You had unconsciously left Katakuri's touch as you were walking around the room to take in its blankness with your full attention.

What is he doing in here?

"(Y/N)?" His voice made you turn around. "What are the titles that you've given me?"

With confusion wrinkling your brows, you answered him.

"Mr. 'Perfect', Mr. 'Has never laid on his back', Mr. 'Looks down on earth itself', Mr. 'Has never relaxed a day in his life', Mr. 'Frowns at everything', Mr. 'My mother was one 'busy' woman', Mr. – " your voice grew quieter with each title you listed, your mind too busy trying to figure out why he wanted to hear them. "Kata, why do they matter?"

A quiet sigh left his lips as his shoulders grew tense.

"Would you be disappointed if I told you that most of them are wrong?"