#i'm on a roll skjfhj

[aleenya]

domestic // hinanami prompt 02

@hinanami-week

Prompt 02 was domestic! Adult Chiaki/Hajime have so much potential for such a cute dynamic! I really hope I captured that here.

When Hajime returned home from class that evening, he wasn't expecting a very petulant Chiaki to greet him, sitting right outside the door to their apartment. 

"Where is it?" she demanded. She'd been hugging her knees tight and, when she turned to look up at him, her expression was so stone-cold and serious that Hajime felt his blood run cold.

He scratched at the back of his neck and quickly glanced away. "I'm not sure what you're talking about," he lied. Suddenly, the extra weight of her power cords and consoles in his backpack felt like heavy stones dragging him down.

Chiaki pounced to her feet, which startled a jolt out of Hajime and caused him to take one stumbling step back. "Hajime Hinata," she began, allowing the air to crackle under the quiet static of her voice. In all their many years together, Chiaki had never once raised her voice; it simply wasn't in her nature to yell, or shout, or be visibly mad about something. That remained true in the six months since they'd moved out of home and gotten an apartment together, tucked away at the top of a shitty complex that at the very least was close to the train station.

No, Chiaki never yelled, but she did get mad - and she had her own subtle ways of showing it. With Hajime, it was by using his full name. He knew her well enough by now to know that when she called him Hajime Hinata in that soft, severe tone of hers, he was in for some trouble.

"I know what you did," she said with a puff of her cheeks. "Give them back. Now."

Even though he hated upsetting her, Hajime wasn't about to back down on this front. He shifted his backpack around on his shoulder, which was enough to catch Chiaki's sharp eyes. She sprung like a lioness on the hunt, but Hajime wasn't caught off-guard; he raised his arm high, just out of reach of Chiaki's desperately reaching fingers, and silently thanked the growth spurt he'd gone through during his last year in the reserve course.

"Sorry, but not this time. You still have that essay to write, remember?"

"And I will," Chiaki grumbled, backing down and putting more force than ever before into her angry expression - which, if Hajime were being honest, just made her look like a child who hadn't got her own way. It was more cute and endearing as opposed to threatening. Not that he'd tell her that, especially now, when it was very clear she wasn't in the mood for their usual teasing.

"You said that yesterday, and the day before that," Hajime sighed. "I'm just trying to help. You want to make games of your own, yeah? Well, to do that, you need to study. I know it sucks, but it'll be worth it in the long run."

The University they attended was world-renowned and had connections at Hope's Peak, thus getting in for Chiaki had merely taken a glance at her profile and the Ultimate talent she had been given. For Hajime, it was a bit more of a fight. As a reserve course student, he'd achieved above average marks in most areas of study, though he was nothing outstanding by any means. It had helped that Chisa had given him a warm recommendation, which Hajime suspected was the sole reason why he was lucky enough to even be here in the first place.

But while Hajime was busy working hard, attending all his classes and striving to match his fellow peers in terms of excellence, Chiaki was admittedly struggling with her chosen career path. At the mention of study, she had deflated and gone to tugging at the strands of her hair. "It's different," she mumbled, "playing games is easy, but making them is a whole other level. I like the programming and testing units, but all the other stuff that comes with it ..." Back to her petulant, stubborn expression. Chiaki squeezed her hands into fists and exclaimed, with breathy passion, "pointless!"

Hajime sighed. It wasn't hard to sympathize with that struggle. "I know." He almost relinquished his hold on the bag, containing all Chiaki needed to dive back into her procrastination slump until the inevitable regrets tomorrow morning. "But it's due tonight, yeah? You can't waste anymore time. You made me promise to make sure you didn't fail this unit, so I'm gonna do all I can to keep you from failing."

"That was last week Chiaki," Chiaki said, though by the way the conviction was slipping from her voice, it was easy to tell that this was a battle she was losing. "Today Chiaki needs one more hour in Pokemon, and then she'll be ready."

"What are you, an addict?" he huffed, unable to keep the fondness out of his expression as he brushed past his girlfriend and pushed open the door. Though he'd shifted the bag back down to hang around his shoulders, Chiaki made no attempt to yank it off and run. That was an improvement, at least.

Still, she looked so dejected standing there with her eyes downcast and cat hoody drooping sadly in chorus. "Have you eaten? Because I was thinking pizza tonight. We can get your favorite?" The suggestion didn't summon the delight he was hoping for. Chiaki simply sighed, dragged her feet over to her desk, and slumped into the bean bag that was her chair.

When they'd first moved in together, Hajime had learned that dating and living together were two decidedly different things. Whilst Hajime was somewhat of an orderly individual, Chiaki had all the makings of a compulsive mess-maker. In turn, Chiaki had learned that Hajime had a tendency towards mopey moods and was easily frustrated at the best of times. Thankfully, they'd been together long enough to know each other incredibly well, and living together hadn't changed much in the grand scheme of things. If anything, knowing each other to the full extent, flaws and all, was what made their relationship so much stronger.

(And they'd reached a compromise on the mess issue, much to Hajime's sanity. Chiaki could have her gaming area as much of a bomb-zone as she wished, so long as she remembered that for the rest of their apartment, rubbish belonged in the bin - and not behind their bed or under their couch.)

Stepping over one of the empty cola cans that marked the boundaries of Chiaki's personal zone, Hajime leaned down beside her. "Come on, it won't be too bad. Why don't we do it together? I don't know much about the topic, but I can try my best to help."

She didn't reply for a while, but that was to be expected. It took Chiaki a long time to process things, especially when she was upset. Then, in her more usual tone of voice, "...if we do, will you give my games and chargers back?"

"Of course," said Hajime promptly.

"And play Mario Kart with me?"

"I mean sure, if that's what you want."

Chiaki paused. Then, "and will you buy me that new Final Fantasy game?"

"Okay, now you're pushing your luck."

"What if I downgrade it to Stardew Valley?" Eyes wide, pleading. Ugh. Chiaki was much slicker than she liked to let on. "Please? We can co-op together and I've wanted it for ages!"

"...Fine. But you owe me a few rounds in Fortnite just for that, okay?"

Chiaki's eyes were glittering like stars. "Deal!"

Why do I feel like I was just the one negotiated with, and not the other way around?

At the very least, that seemed to do it. They pulled out Chiaki's laptop, with Hajime sending her a sharp look when she automatically moused over the Steam icon, and set to work on the essay.

Midway through, Chiaki scooted closer and leaned her head against his shoulder. "...I'm still mad at you, by the way."

Hajime rolled his eyes and let out a tired breath, unable to hide his smile. "I know."

"Don't think this changes anything. I'm gonna kick your butt in Mario Kart so bad."

Now that part was true. Hajime grinned. "I know."