Hokuto glanced up from his book at the sound of the front door opening and closing. After a moment the hall door opened and Kochi padded in, exhausted but smiling nonetheless.
"You put up the tree," he noted, dropping his bag on the floor and crossing the room to join Hokuto on the couch. "And the lights."
Hokuto threw a proud look at the small but carefully decorated Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. There were baubles and snowflakes hanging on the branches, and when Hokuto had hung the fairy lights around the windows, he had saved one of the thinner strings for the tree. Now that it was getting dark outside and Hokuto hadn't switched on the ceiling lamp, the fairy lights on the window and the tree created a lovely warm glow in the room.
"I did," he said and tilted his head to receive a peck on his cheek. "We finished the shooting early so I came home."
"Lucky you," Kochi said and yawned widely, resting his head against Hokuto's shoulder. It was only six in the evening, but he had left to work a full twelve hours ago already.
"Two Christmas specials in one day," Kochi murmured and shifted until he was lying on his side, his head on Hokuto's lap. "I love variety shows and Christmas is fun too, but..." He trailed off and fell silent.
"You won't sleep at night if you sleep now," Hokuto warned him, gently combing his fingers through Kochi's hair.
"Read something for me? I won't fall asleep if I'm listening."
Hokuto raised his brows in amusement, but he one-handedly slipped a bookmark between the pages of his book, placed it to a small side table where he had several other books piled, and tugged another from the middle of the pile. The books on top collapsed with a soft thud, but Hokuto let them be. He didn't need to fix them now. Instead, he just flipped the book new open where he had left it the last time. It didn't matter that he started in the middle - he had read the whole book to Kochi twice before.
"Piecing together fragments of memory is not easy work," he started in a deliberately low, soft voice. Kochi chuckled quietly in recognition and shifted into a more comfortable position, tucking one hand under Hokuto's thigh. His hands were cold even through Hokuto’s sweatpants.
"We’ve reached a point where all the memories I have of being with her lie smashed to bits. Painful even to recall, let alone attempt the extremely difficult task of connecting them with that trip. But that’s what we need to do," Hokuto read on, fingers slowly playing in Kochi's hair.
He barely reached the end of the page before he heard Kochi's breathing settle into a peaceful rhythm of someone fast asleep.
Putting the book away, Hokuto looked at the man lying in his lap. He let his gaze travel across Kochi's face, from the relaxed brow to the closed eyes. He had always liked the laugh lines in the outer corners of Kochi's eyes. When they were younger, the lines smoothed away when Kochi was sleeping, but not anymore. That's what one got for reaching their thirties, Hokuto thought with tender amusement. He loved the laugh lines even more now.
When exactly fifteen minutes had passed, Hokuto stroked Kochi's cheek with his thumb. The skin was already prickly with an evening stubble, even though Kochi had just shaved it in the morning. Hokuto had been in the bed still, barely awake, but he had heard the buzz of the razor from the bathroom.
“Hey,” he murmured, “you should wake up now.”
Only a short frown and a deep sigh indicated that Kochi was stirred awake. He didn’t move, and he didn’t open his eyes.
“How about I make a cup of tea for you?” Hokuto tried, receiving a low hum for an answer. “Is that a yes or a no?” he asked, cupping Kochi’s head from below, turning his face up towards his own. Kochi slowly blinked his eyes open, looking drowsily into Hokuto’s eyes.
“Hi,” he said, voice rough with sleep, and tilted his head so he pressed his cheek against Hokuto’s hand.
“Hi,” Hokuto answered softly, feeling so unbearably in love, he could only smile helplessly. “Tea? Or something else?”
Stretching his limbs, Kochi rolled to his back and moved Hokuto’s hand to rest on his chest. “Tell me about your day first.”
So Hokuto recounted the funny incidents that had happened during the day at the drama shooting. He described how good his and Shintaro’s unit song had sounded when they finally got to listen to the complete, edited version from the beginning to the end. He delivered greetings from Fuma whom he had happened to meet at the company building, and he mentioned a new pasta recipe that his mother had sent him so they could try it, too.
“I stopped by the supermarket on my way home, but we should probably save it for tomorrow's dinner.”
Kochi nodded, fiddling with Hokuto’s sleeve. “Do you have anything after the tour meeting?”
“No,” Hokuto said, shaking his head. “But I promised to stay near my phone in the afternoon in case my agents calls me about a movie role I applied for.”
“Yeah?” Kochi asked, turning his head to the side when Hokuto moved his hand to gently stroke his neck with his thumb. “What kinda role?”
“Voice acting. Suzume was so much fun, I'd like to try it again. Can’t tell much more yet,” Hokuto said, slipping his fingers under the neckline of Kochi’s sweater, fingers feathering over the warm, sensitive skin of Kochi’s collar bones.
“I hope you get it,” Kochi breathed, smiling and letting his eyes flutter shut again as he tilted his head even more. “You’d nail it.”
“Thanks,” Hokuto murmured, letting his fingers travel even lower along Kochi’s chest. Kochi’s next breath was long and shivery, and he dampened his lower lip with a flicker of his tongue. A smile tugged at the corner of Hokuto’s mouth as he too felt the first tingles of lazy arousal in his body.
Priorities, though.
“What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?” Hokuto asked, keeping his hand still, apart from the thumb with which he still slowly stroked the warm skin underneath the jumper.
“I’ve got nothing before eleven.”
“Good. Are you hungry?”
“I could grab a bite of something.”
Hokuto nodded and pulled his hand away, patting Kochi's shoulder like encouraging him to sit up. “I found discounted gyoza at the supermarket. It’s probably from yesterday, but I ate a couple before you came home and they were just fine, not dry at all!”
Kochi wrenched himself up to his feet, throwing a gently amused look at Hokuto before turning away.
“You could just have bought them fresh,” he pointed out across his shoulder as he walked, out of habit of course, because Hokuto knew he could, and Kochi knew he knew. They had this very same conversation at least twice a month. Hokuto was always delighted to find discounted products; making economical choices made him feel particularly sensible and capable.
Hokuto followed Kochi to the kitchen where he found the man leaning against the counter and picking the fridge-cold dumplings into his mouth with bare hands, directly from the plastic tray, without any sauce.
“That’s horrid in so many ways.”
Kochi raised a brow. “It’s food, it’s not spoiled. It’s not horrid.”
“You are a gremlin with abysmal table manners.”
“And you love this gremlin,” Kochi said, smiling slyly. “Here. You can have the last one.” He held the last dumpling in front of Hokuto’s face until Hokuto gingerly opened his mouth.
“It is horrid,” he garbled through the full mouth, swiftly turning to grab a glass of water and rinse away the taste. He pushed the glass to Kochi as well, and waited until Kochi had gulped down the water. “Come here.”
He grabbed the belt hoops of Kochi’s pants, pulled their bodies together and leaned in for a kiss. It was slow and gentle at first, but got more intense when he nibbled Kochi’s lower lip and slowly rolled their hips together, eliciting a soft gasp from the other man. Hokuto smiled through his closed eyes, enjoying the rising heat in his chest and belly, and slipping his hands under the hem of Kochi’s shirt. He gently dragged his nails along the skin of Kochi's lower back, loving the way it made him shudder. “Bed?”
“I’m not so disgusting anymore?” Kochi breathed with twinkling eyes, his hands firmly around Hokuto's waist.
“Nah,” Hokuto said. “Everyone knows I like weird things.”