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Mitsuba turns over in his bed, and cocks his head to see his alarm clock. He blearily opens his eyes, watching as the numbers slowly start to make sense. He thinks he hears knocking at the front door, but tunes it out. The numbers begin to come into focus. 11:02. Kou comes in an hour, so he should probably get up now. All of sudden, he hears his mother talking with someone at the door. It’s a boy’s voice, probably a teenager… It's his boyfriend's voice. With another look at his alarm clock, his brain finally puzzles it out. It’s 12:01, not 11:02. And his boyfriend is here, ready for their second anniversary date. Mitsuba’s brain goes into overdrive. He throws the blankets off of himself, jumps on to his feet and rapidly goes to his closet to look through his clothes. He can hear as Kou’s footsteps get louder and louder, when suddenly he knocks at the door.
“Mitsuba? Are you ready? Can I come in?” Mitsuba’s heart is about to give out when he realised he didn’t lock the door.
“Uhhhh wait a minute!!” He yells, still all the way in his closet and all the way panicking.
“Aren’t you just doing your hair or something? I can help!” Finally Mitsuba picks a white button up and yellow sweater, with no help from Kou since he’s still sitting outside his door.
“No, I uh. I’m still doing something!” Mitsuba takes off all his clothes in record time and manages to get the buttons done without chipping his black nail polish. Finally, he opens the door, only to find that Kou was leaning on it. As Kou falls back, Mitsuba catches him, and they stand in the doorway with Kou in Mitsuba’s arms. Mitsuba wraps his arms around Kou fully, and they both look at each other.
“You look ok.” Mitsuba says approvingly. Kou laughs and tries to pull him down for a kiss.
“Mitsuba?! Why are you keeping poor Kou waiting?” Mitsuba’s mom yells. Mitsuba leans back and pushes Kou up to stand on his own.
“Mom, he’s fine!” He can hear as she huffs as loud as humanly possible. Mitsuba grabs Kou’s hand and drags him towards the bathroom. He locks the door with both of them inside and grabs everything he needs to do his hair and makeup, while Kou takes a seat on the toilet. Mitsuba forcibly gives Kou a hairbrush and then plops down on his lap.
“Please brush it.” Mitsuba says, but Kou already knows the drill. Kou knows about hair- he has a little sister, for god sake. Due to Mitsuba, his hair knowledge only grows. He loves when Mitsuba lets him touch his hair- he’d probably call him a pervert if he ever said that aloud, but Kou loves Mitsuba’s hair. For one, it smells great, for two, it feels great, and for three, everytime Kou does Mitsuba’s hair, he’s usually sitting in his lap. Which is always great. Kou works away at detangling Mitsuba’s hair while he quietly does his makeup. Mitsuba knows they were supposed to be out of the house by this time, so he resists the urge to go all out. Mitsuba quickly puts on some concealer and blush, and starts on his eyes. Mitsuba tells Kou to stop for a second so he can apply pink to his lid and then bright pink glitter on top of that, then grabs some eyeliner and demands Kou to stop breathing so he can get it right. Slowly… slowly… slowly…
“They look ok.” Mitsuba says, capping his liquid eyeliner. He gets up and pulls out his mascara and strokes his lashes for 10 seconds each, bottom and top. Finally he grabs his setting spray and tells Kou to actually stop breathing. While fanning his face, Mitsuba sits back down in Kou’s lap and asks him,
“So what's the style today?” Kou, now high off of setting spray fumes, leans his head on Mitsuba’s back and says,
“I’m just gonna make a little braid… Your hair is so pretty, Mitsubaby.” Mitsuba fake gags at Kou’s nickname. He came up with it three months ago and hasn’t given it up at all. Kou finally pulls back and quickly gets to work on the little braid he promised. Kou wraps it with a hair tie and looks back to see his hard work. Mitsuba ends up with a small braid framing his face on the other side of his bangs. Kou smiles at him, and Mitsuba closes his eyes and kisses him right on the lips. Mitsuba pulls back and leaps out of Kou’s lap, unlocking the door and running into the hall, snickering all the way there. Kou gets up shortly after, chasing him into the hall and down the stairs. Kou gets down to the bottom to see Mitsuba’s mom giving him money before kissing his forehead. Mitsuba hugs his mom and then signals Kou to come down.
“Kou! My favorite son!! Come here!!” Kou comes down, smiling. Mitsuba’s mom envelopes him in a hug and kisses his forehead as well, before opening the door for them and waving them off.
Kou and Mitsuba are walking side by side when Mitsuba all of a sudden grabs Kou’s hand to hold. Kou squeezes his hand happily and keeps holding on even when they reach his car. He opens the door for Mitsuba, and then walks around to the other side and jumps in. Mitsuba plugs his phone into the AUX and his playlist immediately starts with the song he doesn’t want to hear. Kimagure Romantic begins to blare in the speakers and before Mitsuba can skip it, Kou has turned up the volume. Mitsuba turns to complain, but when he sees Kou headbanging to the song and smiling so beautifully, he freezes. And then turns back towards the road.
“Where do you wanna go first?” Kou asks, Mitsuba’s hand in his, as they walk into the mall.
“I want a drink.” Mitsuba says, but then adds, “And a snack.”
“So you want Starbucks?” Mitsuba covers his mouth with his sleeve, and turns to Kou with his cutest puppy eyes.
“I never said that, but it would be very kind of my adoring Koubaby to get me Starbucks.” Mitsuba nearly threw up while saying ‘Koubaby’ but Kou smiled really wide once he said that. Mitsuba knows at some point he's going to turn on himself and start unironically calling Kou that, but he’d like to hold onto his sanity for now. Kou squeezes Mitsuba’s hand and they both walk into the line. They chat idly while waiting, when finally the cashier calls for them.
“Yashiro? I didn’t know you were on today.” Yashiro beams at the both of them and answers,
“Hanako’s birthday is coming up and I want to get him something nice, so I took up a few more shifts. What can I get you two?” Kou gets a pink drink, and Mitsuba gets a blonde roast and a chocolate chunk brownie. The caffeine in the blonde roast is super strong, which he knows isn’t good for him, but if you tell him that, he will get annoyed and he will call you a pervert. Not like Kou would know or anything. Kou hands over the cash, leaves a tip, and thanks Yashiro, waving at her as they walk two feet away. Five minutes later, when Mitsuba is heavily caffeinated and has already finished his brownie, Kou asks him again where he wants to go.
“You just want me to tell you what I want for a gift. Nope! You gotta figure it out, Koubaby.” Mitsuba is trying really hard to make Kou hate this nickname, and is failing on all fronts. Kou smiles, and says,
“You want me to just pull you into stores?” Mitsuba shrugs and takes another sip. Kou sighs, but then all of sudden yanks Mitsuba towards something. Mitsuba nearly drops his drink while Kou pulls him into Sephora. Mitsuba tugs on Kou’s hand, until he finally looks back.
“Why Sephora?” He asks curiously, walking towards a display. They let go of each other's hands while Mitsuba looks around. Kou scratches the back of his neck nervously.
“I thought you might like… a makeup thing. Blush? Eyeliner?” Mitsuba giggles, but keeps looking.
“I should do your makeup one of these days.” He mumbles to himself, but Kou definitely hears him. “Unless you don’t want to.” Kou laughs way too hard for what Mitsuba had said.
“No! I think… it would be nice!! You’re so good at that whole thing.” Mitsuba pretends to not hear his compliment, but he’s pretty sure his hands are so sweaty he’ll leave behind marks on the stuff he’s touching. Meanwhile, Kou doesn’t understand what he’s saying. Mitsuba suddenly gets up and announces,
“I don’t really see anything. Let me take you somewhere.” Kou barely has enough time to nod before Mitsuba has grabbed his hand and is hauling him to another store.
Mitsuba doesn’t know where he’s going, but he’s definitely going. Meanwhile, Kou is suddenly re-thinking his boyfriend’s strength. Mitsuba finally spots somewhere he could go. American Eagle is a place where people shop, right? Mitsuba finally stops and lets go of Kou, and then walks right into the noisy store. Kou follows quickly behind, looking around while Mitsuba leads confidently. Where to? No idea. Suddenly something catches the corner of Mitsuba’s eye. A slightly distressed blue sweater. He walks over and picks it up, looking for Kou’s thoughts.
“What do you think? Medium or Large?” Mitsuba asks, holding it up to his frame.
“Large, you like them baggy.” Kou responds, also looking around.
“Do you want to look in the men's section..?” Mitsuba asks. Kou nods sheepishly. “We can meet at the dressing room in 20.” Kou smiles, kisses Mitsuba on the cheek, and runs off. Mitsuba begins building his sweater stack.
Twenty minutes later, Kou shows up to the dressing room with three pairs of jeans, a black sweatshirt, and two shirts. Meanwhile, Mitsuba is standing there with 20 sweaters, all meticulously stacked on top of each other. Kou wants to act surprised, but he’s well beyond that at this point. Mitsuba notices him and waves him over. While waiting for a room, Mitsuba whispers so only Kou can hear,
“What are you gawking at? My cute face? Thinking about what you’re gonna do when you get me alone in the dressing room? You know Kou, there are lots of people here, you can’t be loud while you rough me up.” Kou leans into Mitsuba’s ear and says,
“You’re not even talking in hypotheticals anymore.” Mitsuba humphs, and responds,
“It’s because what I’m saying are facts! These are simple truths, one, you are a pervert, two, you are going to rough me up, like a pervert!” Kou laughs, and simply responds,
“K, Mitsubaby.” Mitsuba’s face may have gone red, and maybe his heartbeat started to go a little faster, but he hates that nickname. Totally hates it. Doesn’t find it endearing or anything. When Kou and Mitsuba get their room, everyone behind them pretends to not be confused on why they walked into the same one. Mitsuba immediately takes a seat on the bench, since he just has sweaters.
“What should I start with?” Kou asks, while Mitsuba pulls out his phone.
“Pants.” Kou strips quickly and starts with some black skinny jeans. Kou has tried to explain to Hanako and Nene that they like to go and try things on together, that Mitsuba and him figure you show more at the locker rooms at school. Hanako and Nene just think they’re weird. Hanako even said, “You only need to see your girl naked when she’s undressing for you in your house.” Which was met instantly with Nene screaming her head off and nearly slapping Hanako. Kou had to pry her off of him. Kou finally turns around, showcasing the pants. Mitsuba looks up from his phone and does a once over.
“Cute. But you didn’t cuff them.” Kou bends over and cuffs them, then turns back. “Ok. You look cute, we get it.” Mitsuba tries desperately to not smile, but ultimately fails when he looks back at Kou’s eyes. Kou collapses onto Mitsba’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Hey! We can’t do this for every piece of clothing!” Kou nuzzles into Mitsuba’s neck and answers a muffled,
“Why not..?”
“Pervert! Pervert! Pervert! Blocking this cute boy by squishing him! Pervert! Pervert! Pervert!” Mitsuba suddenly starts tickling Kou’s stomach, until he’s crying, laughing and squirming all over.
“Let me get off!” Kou says, in between laughs. Mitsuba finally lets him go and get up.
“Do the rest of the pants already!!” The other people in this changing area must be so concerned by now, but it’s on neither of their minds.
“I’m getting to it!!” Kou responds, already out of the other pair. This time they’re light blue, and he puts on the hoodie he brought. He remembers to cuff them this time, too.
“The last one are just these but darker.” Mitsuba rests his chin on his hand and says,
“The lighter colors look nice. Also the black one might go with some of the stuff you own. I like those two. So don’t bother with the last one. Also I like the hoodie.” Kou gets undressed again and gives his approved clothes to Mitsuba to hold. He actually takes his shirt off this time, meanwhile Mitsuba pretends he’s fine. Mitsuba told Kou the first time they went shopping that all couples changed in front of each other, so it wasn’t weird at all. “I mean, you see more in the locker room!” He said, like an idiot. Of course, Mitsuba was pulling his words out of nowhere and didn’t expect Kou to actually want to change in front of him. Yet time after time he was dragged into the dressing room for an agonizing 30 minutes while he pretended he was internally screaming at himself to not look at Kou. Mitsuba has to only shop for sweaters with Kou because he can’t stand to do anything else. Finally Mitsuba looks up from the floor, expecting him to be done when he gets an eyeful of shirtless Minamoto Kou, trying to understand how to put on a shirt. Mitsuba ducks his head so fast he gets whiplash.
“Mitsuba, how do you put this on?” Kou asks. Mitsuba does not even look up.
“It’s a shirt, Kou.” Mitsuba responds, trying to add some sort of edge, but fails miserably.
“Oh sorry, are you embarrassed?” Kou asks teasingly, patting Mitsuba’s head. Mitsuba closes his eyes shut and snaps his head up to Kou.
“Stop being a pervert!!” Kou nearly bursts out laughing while his boyfriend is being so undeniably cute. His cheeks are so red, and he even closed his eyes to avoid looking- truly a disaster. Kou pats his head again and quickly puts on the shirt, finally saying he can open his eyes.
“You look good, ok! Don’t let it go to your head.” Mitsuba yells, and then hides his face with his sleeve.
“I never said it would!” Kou says, laughing.
“You’re having too much fun with this.” Mitsuba pouts.
“Sorry. I’m done, do you want to start?” Mitsuba huffs even more at this sudden tenderness.
“Sit down.” Mitsuba says, getting up and pretty much pushing Kou on to the seat. He pulls off his sweater, trying not to disturb the braid Kou did, and picks a white cardigan.
“So?”
“Cutest in the world. So cute, no one could even rival you-” Kou would continue to sing his praises if Mitsuba hadn’t started shushing him.
“Shut up.” Mitsuba commands half-heartedly. His face had already turned back to its earlier state, completely pink, nearly matching his hair. He falls into Kou’s lap dramatically, groaning,
“You’re just trying to butter me up so you can get me back to your house, tie me up, and have your way with me till morning. Pervert! Complete pervert!” He says, covering his face with his arm. Kou gently takes his hand in his, and pulls his arm off his face.
“I feel like you’re the only one accusing me that.”
“I'm your only victim! My cuteness has captured you, and now you’re gonna take me!”
“I like this sweater on you. It’s a lot longer than a few of your others and you don’t have a lot of white ones either.” Mitsuba tries to hide his face again, but Kou catches his other arm and holds that hand, too.
“What are you gonna do? Restrict my arms so I can’t move them, and then ravish me in this dressing room?” Kou smiles, and leans in closer to Mitsuba. Their kiss is slow and sweet, and they take their time, with Mitsuba in Kou’s lap. Kou suddenly ends it and pulls back from Mitsuba. “What's up with you and ruining things?! Who told you to turn away!?”
“Maybe it’s just me, but an American Eagle dressing room isn’t the best place for a makeout session.” Obviously it's just him because Mitsuba continues to pout angrily. “C’mon, finish the fashion session. I’ll make it up to you later.” Mitsuba, newly motivated with this promise, gets to it and goes through sweaters like no tomorrow. In the end, they get Mitsuba down to 5 sweaters, and exit the dressing room after nearly an hour. As they walk towards the register, Mitsuba gets distracted by something and pulls Kou near it. He picks up a light brown scarf, neatly embroidered with flowers, and runs his thumb over them. He’s about to show it to Kou when a small gremlin comes up and takes it from his hands.
“Why are you two homos here?” Tsukasa says snarkily, wrapping the scarf around his neck.
“Your brother should get a cage for you.” Mitsuba says, trying to rip the scarf from Tsukasa’s neck.
“Nii-chan could never! Not to his dearest brother! Anyway, this is mine now” Just as Tsukasa begins to run away, Kou angrily stomps up behind him and grabs his shoulder. Tsukusa stops.
“Hey, Mitsuba got to that first. Give it.” Tsukasa turns around, darkly chuckling. Tsukasa takes Kou hand in his, like a hand shake. But all of sudden Kou's arm is twisted and he’s screaming in pain. Tsukasa lets go, taking one last happy glance at Mitsuba, and walks away. Mitsuba rushes over to Kou’s side, stroking his arm to ease the pain.
“I could punt you, 4’2 lookin’ ass!” Mitsuba screams, tears rolling down his face. But Tsukasa’s already gone like the wind. Kou wraps his arm around him comfortingly.
“Hey, it’s ok. He’s already gone.”
I liked that scarf! And this fucking gremlin comes out of nowhere and steals it! And he hurt you! Kou! Homo this, homo that, I fucking hate him, I hate him! ” Mitsuba covers his face with his sleeve and turns to bury his face in Kou’s shoulder. Soon after, some employees come asking what happened and offering tissues. Kou takes them and thanks the staff, saying that they just had a confrontation with a friend’s brother. They ask if they want to call security, but Mitsuba insists they don’t. After a few minutes of calming down Mitsuba, they walk towards the register again. Kou pays for Mitsuba’s things, and Mitsuba for Kou’s- anniversary gifts. With their items in their bags, both of which Kou carries, they walk out of the store hand in hand.
“Anywhere else you want to go?” Mitsuba shakes his head, still a little shaken up from their encounter.
“My house? No one’s home.” Mitsuba nods, and they walk all the way back to the car. Not before Kou takes out his phone and complains to Hanako, of course.
Kou pulls up to his house, glad that no one is home. Tiara is at gymnastics practice, and of course Teru went to watch his little princess. Kou gets out of the car and goes to get the door for Mitsuba, then grabs the bags from the back and heads up to his doorstep. The moment the door is closed behind them, Mitsuba stumbles into Kou’s back. Kou turns to scoop him into his arms, carrying him towards his room. He sets Mitsuba gently on his bed and lays some blankets on him. Mitsuba pouts, finally saying something for the first time in ages.
“Get over here.” Kou tries to say that his jeans will be uncomfortable, tries to make Mitsuba wait, but all of a sudden he has his arms reaching out, trying to grab Kou. He secedes, getting into the bed and wrapping his arms around Mitsuba. Mitsuba curls into Kou, tangling his feet with his.
“I wish I could throw him across a football field.” Mitsuba murmurs.
“I’m sure you could, by the way you were dragging me around earlier.” Kou says, resting his head on top of Mitsuba’s. They sit in silence until they both fall asleep, tangled together