A Bittersweet Christmas

Kuro was tired when he came home from work. Just last year, his company decided to set up a branch in Japan, and Kuro was in charge of it. He was also able to finally be together with his one and only, Tetsu. He was supposed to come home early tonight to help set up the Christmas tree, but Vincent had distracted him, and he ended up getting home two hours later than intended.

Tetsu had given up waiting for him. He was sitting on the couch, lips pursed over a new design sketch, an assortment of coloured pencils stuck behind his ear, and thorough his ponytail. He looked up when Kuro came in, and almost immediately looked back down again. "Dinner's in the microwave."

"...Alright..." This was the sort of routine they had fallen into, and Kuro wondered where the romance had gone. He sighed and sat down to eat, taking the dirty dishes to the sink after he was done. "I'm going to bed, now..." he said soon after. His sexual trysts with Vincent were usually so intense.

Tetsu frowned, untucked a pencil from behind his ear. He had set the tree up, sure, because he was expecting Kuro home any minute, but he'd never started decorating. He'd sat down with his sketchbook to fritter away the expected few minutes. But it had been a lot longer than a few minutes, and he could smell Vincent's aftershave again, and dammit, why the hell should he be able to recognise that smell?

"Fine," he said at last. "I'll... be in soon. I'm nearly finished, I think." Nearly finished feeling worthless here at home, while my boyfriend nails someone else, he finishes the thought bitterly in his head.

"Okay, hon," Kuro said from the bathroom of their bedroom. He washing himself before stepping in the shower to clean himself. Come to think of it, he and Tetsu hadn't even had sex yet. He bit his lip and shrugged. He didn't mind not being with him intimately. He had Vincent for physical pleasure, anyway.

Tetsu spent a few more minutes adding colour and depth to his sketch, but stopped once he realised he was getting nowhere. His pencil strokes were too hard. They weren't doing anything for the imaginary clay pot. He set them aside, flicking off the light and navigating the dark house easily.

He spent a few minutes in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, combing out his hair, changing into his pajamas, and then he crept stealthily to the edge of their bed and slipped inside slowly, careful not to jolt Kuro too much.

"Mmm, I missed you..." Kuro whispered, turning so he could pull Tetsu into his embrace and nuzzle his neck, kissing the flesh. "How was your day?"

Tetsu sighed, not quite leaning in, not quite pulling away. "Disappointing," he said truthfully, once again noticing the scent of Vincent's aftershave mingling with Kuro's own more personal smell.

"Oh, that's too bad..." he mumbled, half-asleep. He yawned and nuzzled Tetsu some more before he rested his head on his lover's shoulder and whispered a "oyasumi".

"Yeah," Tetsu murmured in return, head dropping back onto his pillow. "It is." He stroked a hand through Kuro's hair, holding scarlet strands up in front of his face in the darkness. "Oyasumi."

"...Love you..." Kuro added before falling into the throes of sleep.

It was enough to make Tetsu smile, just a little bit, and he scrunched the hand through the older man's hair again, scratching his fingertips over Kuro's skull. "Aa."