Kiss Me (Like You Wanna Be Loved)

Chapter Twenty: Absolutely, Undeniable

Kuroo scoffs. "Nerd."

"Boring," Tsukishima agrees.

Keiji catches Bokuto's eyes for a fleeting moment and they share a secret smile.

"He gave me exactly what I wanted," Keiji says mildly, feeling a bit pleased when Bokuto's ears turn pink.

"Well you should thank me," Kuroo says, and Keiji raises a questioning eyebrow. "I talked him down from getting you an owl onesie."

"I see," Keiji says to Kuroo. "In that case, I owe you my life."

"Aghahsheiee! It was a really cool onesie!"

"Bokuto-san, I don't think any onesie can be described as cool."

"Hmph." He folds his arms over his chest and pouts. Keiji fights back a smile. It's honestly not fair of Bokuto to be so cute.

"Are you two buying anything or are you only here to annoy us?" Tsukishima grumbles, but Keiji notices that he's currently making a drink that isn't in their order line-up.

"The latter," Kuroo says cheerfully. Then, "Oh, open table!" And he veers off to claim a recently vacated booth.

Tsukishima lets out a long-suffering sigh. "I'll be right back," he says, picking up the drink he just finished making and following after Kuroo. As an afterthought, he picks up another drink that had been sitting off to the side for a few minutes, one that had been mistakenly made with regular chocolate instead of white chocolate.

"You can have this one," Tsukishima says, offering the drink to Bokuto as he walks off. "It's sweet. You might like it."

"Hmm," Bokuto says interestedly, lifting the cup to his lips. He manages to take one sip of it before Keiji is swiping it out of his hands.

"Absolutely not," he says, putting it out of reach and turning to the espresso machine to steam a fresh batch of milk.

"Akaashhhieeee! Whyyy?"

"You don't even like coffee," he barely refrains from rolling his eyes. "And if you drink that, you won't get any sleep tonight, which means I won't get any sleep tonight. Oh, stop pouting," he chastises mildly when he sees Bokuto's crestfallen expression. "What would you like for dinner? I'll make you whatever you want."

Bokuto instantly brightens and Keiji quickly amends, "Within reason."

While Bokuto considers his options, Keiji pours the hot milk into a paper cup and stirs in a generous amount of chocolate syrup, topping it with an extra generous amount of whipped cream.

"Umm... ooh! Chicken dumplings?" Bokuto finally requests.

Keiji purses his lips. Making dumplings from scratch takes a lot of time, and they don't have all the ingredients on hand so it'll definitely be more of a hassle than Keiji hoped for, but he knows as soon as he looks at Bokuto's wide pleading eyes what his answer will be. God, he really does need that tutorial on how to deny him.

"Alright," he says through a sigh. "But we'll have to stop by the grocery store on the way home. Here. Hot chocolate."

"Wow! Hot chocolate and dumplings! Aghaashee! You're the best!"

Keiji can't help but smile as Bokuto takes a sip and lets out a little cheer.

"Aww," Yachi says, looking over from her spot at the register. "You guys are so sweet together."

Keiji grimaces. For a moment he'd forgotten he was at work-he was acting like he does at home and now Yachi thinks he's sweet? Akaashi Keiji is many things but sweet is not one of them.