#el writes

Morning came far too early for Higuruma’s tastes. He and Kusakabe hadn’t made it back to their guest house until after midnight, but instead of going to bed, which would have been the smart move, the uncertainties of the night had driven both to reaffirm their relationship by making love late into the night.

By the time he’d dropped off to sleep in the cradle of Atsuya’s arms, Hiromi was worn out physically and emotionally. He knew he needed to address that half-assed confession Kusakabe had made last night, and truth be told, he didn’t know what he was going to say to it.

He knew he cared for the other man and that Atsuya had become a fixture in his everyday life, but love? If he was honest with himself, he’d never fallen in love with anyone as far as he could remember. More than one previous lover had accused him of being emotionally unavailable and closed off, and now he was afraid that might be the case here.

Hiromi had fallen asleep with those unsettling thoughts rattling around in his head.

Now he woke up to the sound of someone ringing the bell, alerting them to a visitor, and he jolted upright when he realized he’d completely forgotten to set an alarm.

“Shit!” was all he managed as he scrambled out of Kusakabe’s arms and out of bed.

“...’Romi? What’s wrong?” Atsuya was now jumping out of bed, clearly just as frazzled as him, and automatically reached for his katana as though expecting an attack.

“I over<I>slept</I>!” The lawyer said as though it was a criminal offense. “Miwa’s probably right outside.”

The yukata he’d slept in was tossed on the floor as Higuruma pulled fresh but wrinkled clothes from his bag. His normal suit was passed up in favor of loose exercise pants and a t-shirt with a cheerful-looking red apple mascot on the front, a souvenir from a conference he’d attended in Aomori City a few years back.

Atsuya caught him by the shoulders and pulled him to a halt.

“Miwa will be fine, breathe, Hiromi. I’ll go talk to her and get breakfast started, because you’re going to need it today.” He kissed him before turning to open the shoji screen that separated the bedroom from the rest of the house. “And brush your teeth.”

Higuruma could hear him chuckle as he headed outside to greet his former student.

But knowing that Kusakabe was handling Miwa did put him at ease, and he rushed off to the bathroom to complete his morning routine. By the time he was done, he could hear the cheerful chatter of the two coming from the kitchen. When Hiromi stepped inside, he spotted Atsuya at the stove making rolled omelets while an excited-looking Miwa sat at the table, waiting for breakfast.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Miwa.”

“It’s okay, Mr. Higuruma. We have plenty of time; I’ve cleared my schedule for the whole day for this. And I’ve missed Kusakabe’s omelets.”

“Pretty sure I showed you how to make them, brat.” Atsuya groused, but there was no real heat in his words. Hiromi thought he caught a note of gruff affection in the man’s tone.

“He tried to show me too, but mine always ends up scrambled in the end and doesn’t turn out nearly as neatly as Kusakabe’s,” Higuruma admitted with a faint smile. He found himself at a bit of a loss about how to act with Atsuya in front of his beloved student.

Sure, their relationship was an open secret in Tokyo, but he had no idea if they knew about it in Kyoto or how Miwa would react to such news. He knew Kusakabe hadn’t really dated anyone seriously in the past decade, so it was possible she didn’t know he was bisexual and into men.

Japan still struggled with embracing homosexuality on a societal level as a whole, especially within traditional spaces such as Sorcerer’s society. It was why Higuruma had always been circumspect with his private life.

It was safer that way, yet over the past few months, he’d grown more comfortable with being more open about his relationship with Kusakabe.

“You’re too impatient. You need to take your time and let the egg firm up before you start rolling it.” The swordsman chided as he plated the rolled omelet and placed it down in front of Miwa.

“It’s hard to tell when it’s set enough. I might need a remedial course on cooking.” There was a reason he’d survived on convenience store dinners and take-away for most of his adult life. Atsuya despaired of his laziness when it came to cooking, even though Hiromi had tried to explain that he simply didn’t have the bandwidth to do so before when he’d been working seventy-plus-hour workweeks.

Now that life had slowed down for him, he’d taken to experimenting more in the kitchen, mainly out of a sense of obligation, because it didn’t feel fair for Kusakabe to cook for them all the time.

Still, there was now a stack of take-away menus shoved into one of the drawers of Atsuya’s kitchen that he leaned on often, all the same.

“Use this man as a lesson, Miwa. You can be a natural-born genius but still be terrible at being an adult. Don’t get to be Higuruma’s age and survive on nothing but Famichicki or other garbage food from the convenience stores.” Kusakabe tossed over his shoulder while beating up another few eggs for his next omelet.

“Hey now, I also like those pork sandwiches from the vending machines on a busy day.” Higuruma didn’t take offense and only teased him back by mentioning the dreaded vending machine sandwiches.

That earned him a loud harrumph from his lover and a giggle from the teenager.

“But your teacher is right, definitely learn how to cook when you’re younger. It will do you well in adulthood.”

“Or I could find someone who will cook for me like Kusakabe.” Miwa teased, which drew a squawk from her former teacher.

“Who said anything about you finding someone, missy! You’re far too young for that.”

“Now you sound like my mom.” Miwa shot Higuruma a playful look, and he knew she was deliberately winding Atsuya up. Hiromi hid a smile as he turned on the kettle and looked through the cabinets for coffee, only to find nothing but various tea bags and some loose matcha.

“No coffee?” He asked, a little mournful.

“They might have some at the school’s kitchen. I can go check?” Miwa offered.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll make do with the tea.”

“Hiromi is a fan of those overly sugary drinks you kids seem to enjoy so much.” Atsuya supplied and began plating another omelet.

“We do have some vending machines on campus, and you can get some coffee from there.”

“Excellent, thank you, Ms. Miwa. Kusakabe thinks I’m a heathen because I don’t enjoy tea.”

“Cause you are. It’s a wonder your teeth haven’t rotted out of your skull.”