To Come in from the Cold

"My idiot boss piled his work onto me. Won't be home till late, but don't wait up. I might not be done till tomorrow if I'm lucky."

Nowaki read Hiroki's text aloud to himself. The tone of his voice lowered disappointingly with every word. At first, he had been excited to see the screen of his cell phone cheerfully lit up. Now, he didn't regret it one bit that it had taken him an over an hour to notice. Although…

His eyes wandered over the simple dinner he had made them, curry with fukujinzuke, still steaming with freshness, and he sighed deeply.

Standing, Nowaki moved the dishes to the kitchen counter and put plastic wrap over them. His appetite had disappeared along with his hope of spending a quiet evening with his Hiro-san.

Opening the refrigerator door, Nowaki trembled immensely as the cool air escaped and clung to his warm body. In the dead of winter, even a thick sweater couldn't provide a means of escape from the inevitable, overpowering cold. At least it wasn't snowing yet, Nowaki had observed from the window. Plus, he had a source of warmth to run to. Shuffling quickly into the living room, he decided to let the food just sit on the counter for the time being.

Nowaki sat cross-legged under the heat of the kotatsu and sighed again as he leaned back, not quite sure what to do with himself. It was times like these that he wished their apartment was smaller. When Hiroki wasn't around, the rooms seemed too wide and too tall. They were too quiet, their silence echoing down the hallway and pervading even the kitchen and living room.

Nowaki perked his head up. He could have sworn he heard something at the front door. He stood and made his way over to it, but he shouldn't get his hopes up, he knew that. Perhaps the wind messing with him. Perhaps it was swirling outside the door, chuckling at the lonely fool ambling about inside.

But then there was a click and in came Hiroki, who rubbed at his arms as he shivered in his blazer.

"Man, is it freaking cold out there!" he growled, closing the door against the wind as it struggled to get inside and spoil any warmth. As Hiroki nudged a shoe off of one foot, he glanced over his shoulder. "I'm back, Nowaki."

"Welcome home, Hiro-san," Nowaki said, sounding completely surprised. "What are you doing home so early?"

"What, I can't take a break?" Hiroki replied, frowning. He faced Nowaki and, looking strangely flustered, crossed his arms.

"You normally finish all your work first, Hiro-san," Nowaki explained.

"Well, yeah, but…" Hiroki looked away. "I remembered that you'd be working practically nonstop for the next two days, so…"

Realizing that Hiroki was still shivering a bit, or at least with that as his excuse, Nowaki pulled Hiroki into his arms. He held him tightly to his chest.

"You're cold," Nowaki said. After a short silence, he murmured, almost to himself, "So Hiro-san just wanted to see me."

Hiroki blushed and slowly returned the embrace. His fingers curled around folds in Nowaki's clothing as he buried his head in the crook of Nowaki's shoulder.

"That makes me so happy, Hiro-san."

"It better. Why else would I come home like this?"

Nowaki opened his mouth to reply, but then Hiroki continued, "And none of that, 'you didn't have to' bullshit. I wanted to, and that's that."

"To be honest, Hiro-san, the thought crossed my mind, but…that wasn't what I was going to say just now."

Hiroki looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "Oh really?"

"What I was going to say was…" Nowaki trailed his lips along Hiroki's collarbone, his neck, stopping to nip at the flesh there, his jaw, his cheek, till he finally reached his lips. "Thank you."

And Nowaki kissed him with the intensity of a swirling, inescapable blizzard.

A/N: Fukujinzuke is a kind of pickle that is used as relish for Japanese curry. And a kotatsu, for those who don't know, is a low, wooden table covered by some form of heavy blanket upon which a table top sits and underneath is a heat source. While I haven't tried fukujinzuke, nor was I even familiar with it before I wrote this fic, I thought of maybe describing a kotatsu (which would be so awesome to own *o*) but thought a more proper Wiki explanation might suffice, lol. ;)