Chapter Text
Suna was excited . Beyond excited. He couldn’t believe it was actually happening. He felt guilty about being happy that their current situation was caused by something as awful as a worldwide quarantine but he was too appreciative and excited that it was actually happening.
Cue January 31, 2020: The WHO announced a global health emergency for the sixth time in history. Suna remembered tracking the news on his phone, mask already in place, as he took a train to work. The virus had spread to Japan a week earlier but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. It never does, at first. It was declared a national emergency in the United States a few months later. Hyogo got its first case in early March and travel was limited between prefectures shortly after. Work was cancelled until further notice so Suna went home to the apartment he kept in Hyogo. Come April, they were in a lockdown. By the summer, Suna’s prefecture had the most people affected. By October they were over 100,000.
Time passed quickly, especially being alone in an apartment he rarely visited. He was lucky to have had the chance to stock it full of food before shelves started clearing in grocery stores. He felt like he was back in college with his diet of ramen, rice and boiled eggs. In January of 2021, a state of emergency was declared in Hyogo. Suna spent 11 days in the hospital after contracting COVID from who knows where. He was one of the lucky ones as an athlete. He watched so many around him who weren’t as fortunate.
Suna shook the thoughts away and set up his laptop to the stream that helped him cope. Work still wasn’t happening; it was hard to be a personal trainer when everything about the job was hands on. Suna knew business would be booming post quarantine but he had no hope during. He was able to go jogging outside and that was about all he had until he discovered Tiktok. Then Suna discovered a chef that had an infectious smile, fantastic recipes, and bulging arms- or eggplants- or squash? Fuck off. Suna hadn’t touched anybody besides himself in almost 2 years.
Skip to October of 2022. Japan was open for business again. Suna’s work didn’t pick up as fast as he thought it would but he ended up getting into virtual personal training sessions: specifically, yoga. All these people were stressed out of their minds after spending so long stuck in the house, stuck at work- just stuck somewhere in the world that they needed some kind of escape. Suna was able to provide that with a few morning and afternoon yoga classes that ran 5 days a week. What helped him relax the most was knowing what he was doing for others. With his connections to the online world, Suna found the chef.
That was what had him setting up his laptop across from his kitchen island where he had already thoroughly researched the recipe the chef had posted earlier that week so whoever wanted to cook alongside him could. He had all the ingredients, double checking them as the stream loaded. He bit back a smile when the livestream came to life.
“Hey! I’m Chef Osamu and this is my little stream: Chef and Me . I’m sure most of ya are tired of the same ole spiel but I’m sure there’s some new people here too. I’ve gained a few more followers these past few days.” Osamu scratched his head sheepishly.
Suna snorted at that. When he first discovered Chef Osamu, the man had about 7,000 followers. That was nothing to laugh at (especially compared to Suna’s 74 which primarily consisted of his aunts and high school volleyball team but nobody was talking about him). However, Osamu grew and he grew fast. Last time Suna checked, before starting the stream, he was sitting pretty at 932,238. Nearly a million. The excitement was still in his eyes and the bags underneath them were gone. He’d gained a few thousand over the past few days. It was incredible seeing him grow. Throughout it all, the best part was-
“Oh! I spy some of my favorite regular chefs in the comments. Heya, SunaRin.”
Suna blushed and ducked his head as if Osamu could see his shame through the screen. He also waved back as if that meant anything. Osamu simply smiled and continued addressing others before motioning to everything he had spread out in front of him.
“I don’t know how many of you are followin’ me on Insta but I post these recipes at the beginnin’ of every week so if you want to work along with me then you can. Is everybody ready to start cookin’?” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation, that sly smile stretching across his face.
Suna held up his knife. “Ready, chef!”
He heard a groan behind him and ignored it. “Are you really watching him aga- oh, what are you making?”
“I’m not making shit for your ungrateful ass, Kiyo.”
“I’m starving!” Sakusa whined, draping himself over the counter behind Suna.
Suna rolled his eyes. “This will be ready in like 45. Probably less. I don’t remember what he said. Shut up now. Get out. Go away.”
Sakusa flipped him off as he grabbed a bag of kettle chips to hold himself until Suna produced food.
“This is one of my fave quick recipes that I learned from my ma back when I was in high school. She liked to cook it because it was super easy to make a bunch for my brother an’ I. It was hard feeding two starving teenagers, yanno?”
Osamu reached for his blender and Suna copied the movement.
“S’totally fine to leave this to marinade longer, overnight even, but I wanted to make this for you guys today since we have a special guest-”
“It’s me!”
Suna squinted at the carbon copy of Osamu that seemed to have been dipped into the River Bleach by his ankle. It was Osamu but it wasn’t.
“Who is that?”
Suna waved Sakusa’s prying eyes away and turned his concentration back to what his chef was saying- his chef? What?
“This is Atsumu, my gross baby brother-”
“You have no proof that I wasn’t born first-”
“Other than the word of the main witness, our ma-”
“And fuck off for sayin’ so!”
Osamu slapped the back of his shoulder. “This is a family stream you douche canoe, stop cursin’.”
Atsumu grumbled and reached for the knife at his own station that had been set up beforehand. He frowned at the pastel-colored knife then glared at his brother. “Samu, what is this?”
Osamu didn’t spare him a glance. “First, grab about 4 green onions, we are going to chop those up. Your knife work here isn’t that important since we are going to be blending this into the marinade.”
“Is this a fuc- freakin’ kid’s knife?” Atsumu poked the tip that was very clearly for children to avoid cutting themselves.
“I’ll have y’all know that the last time Atsumu and I cooked together was 3 weeks ago. We made noodles and some meatballs and this guy decided to chop off the tip of his pinky-”
“It wasn’t the tip! It was just a slice!”
“Show them, Tsumu.” Osamu responded smugly as he started chopping the green onions with his adult knife.
Atsumu walked around the counter and proudly held up his finger that was more than likely a little bit shorter than his twin brother’s. The entirety of the chat viewing the stream were collectively skeptical.
“You cut yer finger off.” Osamu shook his head and reached for two more things. “You can also cut half an onion and a kiwi. Peel the skin.”
“Why are you tellin’ them to peel the skin? Who eats a kiwi with skin?”
Osamu stared at the camera for so long that Suna thought he froze. “Some people need the direction.”
Suna laughed as he chopped the last of his kiwi and separated the three items on his plate. He glanced at the recipe he had up on his tablet to see what he would need next. He reached for the small bowls he purchased specifically for Osamu’s recipe streams.
“Anyway-” Osamu said loudly over his brother continued mumbling. “You’re gonna want about a quarter cup of soy sauce, half cup of sesame oil, same for mirin. About 3- no, 4 tablespoons of canola oil.” Osamu expertly dumped it all into the blender without a measuring cup in sight.
“Chat wants to know why ya don’t measure.” Atsumu asked as he read the questions pouring into Osamu’s chat (simultaneously leaning over the counter with his liquid measuring cup to ensure the proper amount of oils).
Osamu shrugged as he smirked at his brother. “I just cook so much that it doesn’t seem necessary anymore. I can eyeball most of the thinks I cook now. Except baking- I’d never, ever suggest eyeballing anything while yer baking. You’ll mess it up, I know I do.”
Atsumu laughed as he poured his sugar into the blender. “You can’t fake for shit.”
“And yer a horrible assistant who is cursin’ again and gettin’ ahead of the recipe.” Atsumu scowled at him in response but paused the next step. “As my brother so instructioningly showed you-”
“That’s not a word-”
“Ya need a quarter cup of sugar then a half cup of chopped cloves. If ya have whole cloves, go ahead and pause my steam or something or just take the recipe down. It won’t take that long but with whole ones you’ll want to throw ‘em in a bag and just beat ‘em. Then use a rolling pin or even a can or something and grind them up.- Yanno what…hold on. I’m sorry-”
Suna raised an eyebrow as he watched Atsumu start giggling as Osamu’s face started to burn. He lowered that pretty face of his until his forehead was pressed against a clean few inches of the counter. Suna also frowned at the recipe because it was so clearly missing cloves. Wait-
“He meant garlic cloves and ya keep ‘em whole. Who taught ya to cook, Samu?” Atsumu asked through more laughter as he tossed whole cloves into a measuring cup.
Osamu sighed and finally raised his head. “I meant garlic cloves. Please don’t beat em. They’re good whole. And then like- maybe two tablespoons of sesame seeds.”
“Changin’ the subject like this isn’t yer own recipe.”
Osamu elbowed his brother and ignored his cries of pain in favor of turning on the blender. He grinned at the camera. “And blend!”
Suna blended it until it was liquid enough for a marinade and reached for his short ribs.
“We will be usin’ the blender a lot today with more or less the same ingredients so ya don’t have to run back and forth cleaning it. I certainly won’t.”
Atsumu had his own blender going and despite his confidence Suna saw him nudge his brother. “This good?” The mic barely picked it up. Osamu smiled softly behind him, where Atsumu couldn’t see, and he nudged him back.
“It’s perfect. Let’s just dump this onto the ribs and press into the meat. Set that to the side and let’s get a nice handwash-”
Suna kept his eyes on the chat exploding about their growing crush on the blonde twin. That was fine. They could have him. Suna knew who he was there for.
“Alright, so more blending! In a sec though, we need- what’s next?”
“Heat up some canola oil, probably around 2 cups, on low-medium heat. Add in 2 cups of garlic cloves-” Atsumu snickered behind his brother. “Yes, garlic cloves- and yes, 2 cups kOtukob, trust me.” He winked at the camera and Suna scowled as he looked down between his legs.
“Fuckin’ cool it down there!”
“Cut up the other half of that onion and a few jalapenos, if you don’t like spice I’d say cut 1 or 2, honestly it won’t come out spicy if you use two. It’s just flavor.” Osamu talked through each of the steps as he minced onion and diced jalapenos. Suna loved watching the chef’s hands, it was an undeniable attraction he had.
“These are going to go in another pan so you can get that going next to your oil.” Osamu flicked a second burner to life. “Jus’ add a drop or so of canola and toss in those veggies.”
“A jalapeno isn’t a vegetable, Samu, it’s a pepper.”
Osamu stared at the camera without blinking for a long minute. He raised both eyebrows expectantly as Atsumu didn’t bother second guessing himself. His sentence was far too confident. Osamu closed his eyes as he sighed.
“1 cup soy sauce, ‘bout ¾ a cup of oil, and 2 cups of rice wine vinegar: throw that all into yer blender.” Osamu added the ingredients then reached for a fourth. “Ah, and a half cup of sesame oil. Veggies come next: 8 whole garlic gloves, a quarter cup sugar, a quarter cup gochugaru- oh this stuff! I wanted to talk about it.”
“Gochugaru.” Atsumu whispered as he read the label. “Chili powder?”
“Yup, it’s a korean-style red pepper.” He sideeyed his brother as he said the word pepper. “You just dry red chili peppers in the sun and then crush ‘em into flakes or powder. It’s so good, adds so much flavor to this dish.”
“Nice,” Atsumu commented as he measured it out. “More green onion or?”
“Yeah, chop up 2 or 3 of them. Roughly, it doesn’t matter again, since it’s blender time. Add a handful of sesame seeds.” Osamu held his palm up to the camera and Suna bit back a groan.
Sakusa glared at him from where he had taken up seat in a chair he dragged in from his own bedroom because their living room furniture consisted of beanbags, throw pillows and fuzzy blankets.
“What is it called when someone has a hand fetish?” Sakusa tapped his fingers against his chin as if he already hadn’t Googled it for that exact reason.
“Fuck you-” Suna hissed as he turned the blender on.
“Your Master Chef didn’t tell you to blend yet.”
Suna scowled at him and turned it off. He forgot the ginger anyway. Not because Sakusa was right. Suna chopped a half cup of ginger and tossed it into the blender. He jabbed the button and glared at Sakusa the entire time it whirred.
“Alright, go ahead and turn off both on yer pans then grab another onion and a bunch of cilantro, when I say bunch- this is a bunch.” Osamu held up a pre-separated bunch of cilantro. “Don’t be like my brother over there who is grabbing as much as his big ass hand can take.”
“You said ass.” Atsumu mumbled as he took only one bunch.
“Mince the onion and cilantro, add it to a bowl then squeeze in a lime.” Osamu looked up at the camera with furrowed brows as he chopped. “I usually have some helpers in here doling out the steps but they must be cookin’ with me today.”
Suna closed his eyes briefly, ignored Sakusa’s teasing, and walked around to type.
“There’s my guy!” Osamu grinned at the camera. “Sunarin is my best sous chef, guys, he must be cookin’ for a date or something today.”
Suna’s finger flew faster than they had before.
“Sunarin said he’s single and ready to- man? Mangle? Mangle you? What the fu- oh, ready to mingle. Oh, Samu, I think he’s hittin’ on ya.” Atsumu laughed as he returned to his station. He glanced up at the chat again and froze. “Oi, that’s fuckin’ rude ya little shit!”
“Oi! Language!” Osamu barked as he squatted below the island and grabbed a dutch oven. “Fill this with canola, enough to fry the tots, and put it on low-medium. What are you growling about over there?”
Suna snickered as he followed the directions.
“He called me a konbini version of you!” Atsumu whined.
Osamu’s smile lit up the screen, his laugh echoing so much that Suna dropped his knife. Sakusa’s eyebrows hit his hairline then he glanced down and gagged. Suna started to go to smack him but the pain in his foot had his eyes drawn elsewhere.
“Shit.”
“Oh my- oh- my God- you cut- you cut off- oh my God!” Sakusa fled from the room.
“Shit.” Suna cursed again.
He bent down to examine his foot. There wasn’t an appendage hanging off at all thank goodness, but there was definitely blood. Enough blood for Sakusa to continue to be gagging in the other room. It was his one weakness. Suna glanced up at the stream and realized Osamu had moved on to grilling his meat (unfortunately there was no innuendo) though he kept glancing at the screen.
Suna grabbed a clean towel and hobbled toward the sink where his laptop was set up on a makeshift stand so he could see it well enough. He typed in a garbled message that he hoped would make some semblance of sense and started skipping to the bathroom.
“Kiyoomi! Stop being a goddamn baby, come finish the recipe!”
Sakusa gagged from the other side of the door. “Fuck you! You know how I feel about blood! Did you- ugh, did you clean it?”
“No, I’m busy reattaching my pinky toe.” Suna announced as he watched blood drip from his toes to the basin of the bathtub.
“You’re WHAT?!”
“I’m just kidding, fuck, it’s just a scratch. There’s not enough that much blood, go finish it!”
“Clean yourself then I’ll go finish it!”
“Fuck you! Finish it!”
Sakusa gagged again. “I’ll throw up on your shoes.”
“I’m not even wearing shoes, you insist we wear no shoes in the house and maybe that’s why I cut three toes off. I would have been protected with my sneakers on.” Suna managed to stop the bleeding and clean off the wound. It really was just a scratch. He might be anemic. He bandaged it up and hobbled to his room for a sock.
Sakusa didn’t hear anything he said or did after three toes . Suna banged on his door to let him know he really was just joking and went into the kitchen to clean the blood up. He was surprised at the quiet and was greeted with a screen that said “The livestream you were watching has ended”. He frowned at the screen but cleaned up the blood first.
He refreshed his page and realized he had new notifications. He opened the tab and nearly dropped his phone on his now damaged foot.
New followers
chefosamu has start following you.
Chef Osamu
Hey??
Is this weird? Idk but hey
Are you okay??
Suna started hyperventilating. Sakusa finally emerged from his den of bloodless darkness and poked his head into the kitchen as if a crisis from Suna was all that was needed to get him to come out.
“Is it clean?”
“YeS!” Suna squealed. He closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, and opened them again. The messages were still there.
Chef Osamu
Im so sorry, this is weird isnt it?
I just saw your message that said you cut something that wasnt a green onion and i got a bit concerned yanno? Youre one of my og followers and yeah i mean are u good?
Sunarin
Hi
Dude.
No. this isn’t weird. I’m good. Just a scratch. I got surprised and dropped my knife. Did you finish already?
Chef Osamu
Good! Good! Thats good
No
I mean no i didnt finish
Just couldnt message yu and kepe the stream goin without typing in the chat and i thought that might be more weird??
I can start again
Sunarin
Yes please :) im looking forward to these
And not for a date
Just me
Maybe my roommate
Chef Osamu
Cool :)
The red circle appeared around Osamu’s name again to indicate he was streaming again. Suna reached for his burner and flicked the stove back to life. He waited a few minutes as Osamu was apolozing to viewers for ending so abruptly. He hoped they were still with him as he reheated his grill pan to cook the meat.
“Yer gonna wanna cook this until it’s dark and charred but not burnt. I know that’s a bit counterintuitive but stay with me-” Osamu smiled at the camera and Suna couldn’t feel his toes anymore. “While that’s goin’, you can take those onions and garlic that you cooked and toss it into the blender. Add a little more than a half cup of orange juice, same amount of lime juice, then some salt and pepper. Season with yer heart.”
Atsumu snorted. “Cilantro next?”
“6 bunches. I know it’s a lot, but a little tip from an apartment livin’ chef, you can regrow cilantro very easily. I have a video posted about it that- oh, thank you Sunarin! In for the save with the link. I appreciate you.”
God , did Suna feel appreciated.
Atsumu whispered something that the camera didn’t pick up and Osamu swiped his hand over the back of the blonde’s head. When he looked back up at the camera, his cheeks were pink and the tips of his ears matched.
“Blending time!”
“Is that gonna be yer catchphrase?” Atsumu asked as he chewed on a cilantro stem. “It’s pretty fu- freakin’ lame, Samu.”
“You’re pretty freakin’ lame, Tsumu.” Osamu retorted smartly.
Not long after, the meat was done and the tater tots were fried. Osamu instructed them to toast up as many tortillas as they would want to eat.
“Please don’t be a heathen like my brother and microwave these. You can, truly I will not judge you that much, but they’re better heated up over the stove.”
Suna trusted anything Osamu would tell him to do so he heated his tortillas on the stove like a good boy.
“Crack some eggs into a bowl, I’m doin’ six since it’s me and Tsumu, and scramble em. Throw in some butter before ya do, it’s the best.” Osamu and Suna cooked their eggs together.
Suna was thankful that Sakusa’s second vice was cleanliness so in between takes of making unseen eyes at the blonde on the stream, he was cleaning behind Suna. It was also in exchange for breakfast.
Osamu layered his taco and slathered them with the two sauces they had made. He held up a perfectly plated dish and grinned at the camera, his lips stretching into a wide proud smile. “Ta-da!”
“Thanks for the food!” Atsumu grinned beside him, holding up his own (slightly more disastrous looking) plate for the world to see.
“Thanks for tunin’ in everyone, thank you Sunarin for modding and I hope yer feelin’ better!” Osamu waved to the camera and the livestream ended with the twins taking bites.
Sakusa took bites of his taco and watched Suna takes bites of his. “So-”
“What? What? What could you possibly-”
“He messaged you.” Sakusa raised his inky eyebrows in the most instigative manner like the demonic possession that he was. “What happened next?”
“Nothing,” Suna grumbled through a mouthful of the best breakfast taco he had ever had in his damn life. “Asshole.”
“Why and how am I the asshole here?”
“Because I said so.”
“You’re spitting egg at me.” Sakusa complained as he balled up a napkin and threw it as his roommate. “You’re a caveman.”
“Eat me.”
“I’d much rather eat these tacos, goddamn, who was the blonde?”
“Who cares?”
“Rintarou, please.” Sakusa popped a dropped tater tot into his mouth. “I will crash every livestream from here on out if you don’t tell me-”
“Oh my god,” Suna groaned with a long eyeroll. “Atsumu. His brother. Twin brother. Go away.”
“Going, thank you!” Sakusa was already scrolling through his phone to discover the social media of one Atsumu Miya.
Suna finished his tacos, washed the plates, and spread out on the couch with his phone. It buzzed the moment he had it hovering over his face and he nearly dropped it again.
Chef Osamu
Hey, any thoughts to picking a recipe for me to do tomorrow? I was thinking of changing it up with a surprise recipe :))
Suna bit his lip to keep from smiling as he typed back a response.
Sunarin
Today was korean…so maybe somewhere else in the world tomorrow?
Chicken?
Chef Osamu
Solid idea. Fried chicken?
Sunarin
True way to a mans heart is friend chicken
Chef Osamu
Nice. ill start planning it
Thanks sunarin :))
Suna hummed quietly and locked his phone. Before he could think better of it, he opened it and sent one more message.
Sunarin
Call me Rin :)
~~
““Hey! I’m Chef Osamu and this is my little stream: Chef and Me . Most of y’all already know, I had a mixup today with some ingredients but I was able to get most of it sorted. We are going to be cookin’ something similar to what we were already doin’ but since I’m lacking a few vegetables we are switching it up. Fried chicken!”
Suna smirked up at the camera knowing he at least had something to do with the meal that night. He wasn’t cooking but he was moderating Osamu’s chat. He had to fend off the thirsty gals and gays from their rather inappropriate comments about his biceps and thighs.
“Now, I know y’all saw the myriad of spices that we are going to need. I promise ya, they’re all worth it. For the actual chicken, it really doesn’t matter much what ya use. You can break down a whole chicken like I did, you can see how to in another video I have posted if needed-” Osamu smiled at the screen and Suna watched as his ears turned pink again. “Thanks, Rin. That’s the one.”
He seemed to forget what he was saying for a moment as he stood staring at the camera but clanging behind him had him blinking in confusion. He sighed, something long suffering that Suna recognized as a reaction to certain things Sakusa did. Suna snorted when Atsumu stumbled into frame holding three pans and two bowls. Osamu stared at him until he set everything down, straightened his shirt, and smiled that million dollar smile at the camera.
“Hey! What’s goin- hey, what? What are you looking at?”
Osamu rolled his eyes and turned back to the camera. “Anyway, any chicken is fine. Put them in a baking dish like the one my brother fell into the kitchen with so you can season them.”
Atsumu muttered something that sounded like “fuck off” as he grabbed a baking dish and reached for the chicken.
“In another bowl, you can add the spices. Season with yer heart but if yer a measurin’ fiend like I know some of you can be, it’ll be 2 tablespoons of everything I add first: dried tarragon, onion powder, black pepper, and sweet paprika.Then two of salt.” Osamu swirled it all together in a bowl with the tiniest whisk imaginable.
Atsumu was feeling up the chicken in a way that Suna wanted to ban. He said as much in the chat. Osamu squinted to read it and started to laugh.
“Yeah, yer right Rin, he’s a menace. What can I say?”
That soft little smile was making Suna feral .
“Then you’ll add just a teaspoon of oregano, thyme, and cayenne pepper. Then two of garlic powder. Sprinkle it all over your chicken and cover every inch of it.” Osamu was rubbing spice into the chicken and it only made Suna realized he hadn’t gotten laid in so long.
“Parsley then buttermilk to cover it. Throw it in the fridge. You can marinate this for a few hours, it just gets better. The buttermilk here is key.”
Atsumu pulled out a separate bowl. “Samu cheated for the sake of makin’ food for me. He knows what I deserve.”
“I don’t even like you.” Osamu muttered. “Grab a deep pan and turn it on medium-high heat. Fill about ¾ of an inch with vegetable oil. Please, before yall ask, do not use olive oil. The smoking point of olive oil won’t work with this. Vegetable, straight lard, peanut, canola or coconut if you must.”
Suna rolled his eyes as he muted someone in the chat for making a joke about Osamu’s nuts. He banned another for posting links to their own live. Then a third disrupter was muted for making filthy comments about Atsumu. Sakusa complained about that one.
“Yer all makin’ my mods work tonight. Don’t let them stress you, Rin.”
“Who the fuck is Rin? Who are you talkin’ to? Is one of yer friends in there?” Atsumu inquired as he removed the plastic wrap from the chicken. “Goddamn, this smells delicious. How long is this gonna take?”
Osamu was simply grateful he didn’t have to answer the question. “Not long. Grab a baking tray and pour on a few cups of all-purpose flour then season it, please season yer flower, with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, paprika, a little more cayenne- truly, whatever you want. You’re going to dredge the chicken in that then throw it straight into the oil.”
Atsumu followed along what his brother was saying until it got to the final step. “I put it all in there?”
Osamu shook his head. “Nah, don’t crowd it. You’ll lower the temperature too much and the chicken will get soggy. Just put in a few pieces, like enough that they won’t touch- that’s perfect.” The camera was set up to shoot the stove as well as their faces, splitting the screen perfectly.
“What’s the temp we are shootin’ for?” Osamu eyed the chat for a chorus of the answer. “Perfect! Yes, 165 internal temp. If you poke the chicken and the juices are clear, you know it’s done. Fry until it’s lightly browned.”
“Pro-tip: if yer worried about cookin’ in oil like most people are, just throw it in the oven until it comes to temperature. The crispiness won’t go away and it’s a sure fire way to be sure you don’t overcook it.” Osamu added as Atsumu started pulling pieces from the oil and placing them on a wire rack. “You can throw this on a paper plate or paper towel too, that works just as well.”
He held up a finished piece of chicken to the camera and flashed that smile that had won over follower after follower. “Thanks for the suggestion, Rin.”
The chat blew up once again, comments about some relationship between the two but both Osamu and Suna ignored them. Sakusa, however, did not. He was watching from his phone and snickering at all of the comments and eggplant emojis that he was contributing to.
“I have an idea for tomorrow, I’ll just have to talk to someone about it to gt the go ahead, but I was thinkin’ of doing a duet stream. I’d like a viewer to cook alongside me. My brother is here for another few days so we can all cook together. You guys will find out when I stream tomorrow. See ya!” There was a flash of smile then he was gone.
And in Suna’s messages.
Chef Osamu
So i was thinkin for tomorrow’s dinner that you should join me :)
Suna blinked at his screen, closed his eyes, then blinked again. Nope, it was still there. What? He wanted- He wanted Suna to what?
Sunarin
You want to what now
Chef Osamu
Cook together? I mean u really dont have to but it would be fun, you’re usually cooking with me arent you? Or at least sometimes
Idk bad idea?
Its cool, rin
Suna shuddered each Osamu said his name whether it was vocally or in text. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he debated. He glanced up at Sakusa.
“Hey.”
“Is for horses.”
Suna narrowed his eyes. “What are you smiling at over there? Who are you- no, you fucking are not.” Suna was up and snatching the phone out of Sakusa’s hands a second later. His eyes bulged at the content of his text messages (because he had the goddamn audacity to already get Atsumu’s number). He threw the phone back at his roommate.
“So rude.”
“Whose dick was that- you know what, never mind. Don’t answer. I hate you.” Suna sulked into the bathroom to wash his eyes.
After he wiped the visual assault from his mind, he brought up Osamu’s messages again.
Sunarin
I’d love to :)
I’ll be available after 4. Im in gmt+9
Chef Osamu
Same! Ill message you tomorrow
Have a great night
Sweet dreams, rin :)
~~
“Why are you so nervous ?”
Suna sucked in a deep breath and fanned his face. “I don’t know. I don’t know. God, fuck, fuck, fuck, why did I agree to this? I can’t cook! Can I cook? I can’t fucking cook, Kiyoomi! Don’t let- fuck. I can’t do this. I have to text him. I need to text him. I have the biggest fattest fucking crush on- oh he’s calling.”
Sakusa gaped at Suna as he went through every single stage of denial before answering the call.
“Hey.” Suna breathed, all evidence of his previous hesitance gone without a trace.
“Rin! Hey, uh, hey! What’s up? How are you? You ready?”
Suna laughed quietly. “Which question do you want me to answer first?”
He received a laugh in response, low and quiet like he was used to. “Aw sorry, I’m a little nervous, I guess. I wasn’t sure if you’d really wanna do this. I was gettin’ a bit antsy.”
Suna rolled his lips between his teeth and hummed. “Were you?”
“Yeah,” Osamu paused as his tone dropped. “I realize we’ve spoken less than a handful a’times via messages but yer a good mod and nice and I thought this would be fun.”
“I think so, too.” Suna agreed. “I’ve got everything set up, should I turn on the camera?”
“Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let’s switch to a cam online. Hey, thanks for doin’ this again, thank you.”
“Anytime, Osamu. Don’t be too shocked at what I look like, alright, no laughing! Quarantine has been rough.”
“I’m sure you look just fine,” Osamu murmured as he tinkered with something in the background. “I’ll call ya on there in one sec.”
They hung up and Suna’s computer was ringing a moment later. He took a slow steadying breath before answering it. He frowned at the screen immediately.
“Hey! Sorry, Samu had to answer the door.”
Suna rolled his eyes. “Then why did you call me?”
“Is that Atsumu?” Sakusa finally perked up in the background.
Atsumu’s eyes went sparkly . “Is that Omi?”
Suna turned to look at his roommate very slowly. “O mi ?” He drew out the nickname. Sakusa flipped him off but moved closer. Suna hip bumped him away. “You’re absolutely not taking over this stream to have phone sex or whatever it is you two do.”
“We do not-”
“I have seen exactly one glimpse of your texts and it was enough to scar me for a lifetime, Atsumu.” Suna complained. “I don’t want to see your face, I want to see your brother.”
‘We have the same face,” Atsumu whined as he pointed at his hair. “Only this is different.”
Suna shook his head. “No, no, no, it’s not just-” Suna’s words failed him when Osamu finally appeared in the background. He was wearing a soft grey t-shirt and dark joggers. His hair looked like he had been running his fingers through it. Maybe he really was nervous. Cute.
Osamu rearranged some groceries before noticing the screen was open. He cuffed the back of his brother’s head for touching his streaming set-up and leaned over to see what he was doing when he realized a call was going. His lips parted as he stared at Suna. Suna was ready to greet him when Osamu spoke.
“Who’re ya?” Atsumu elbowed his brother and jabbed something on the screen. Osamu’s face flushed. “Aw shit, Su- Rin! Rin? Holy- hey, wow.”
“Jesus,” Atsumu muttered as he ran his hand over his face. “You’re right, Sunarin, my brother and I share nothing more than fuckin’ DNA. He sure didn’t get the same game that I got.”
Suna snorted and leaned forward. “S’alright. I’m thankful.”
“I- I didn’t think- you’re- Fuck, you’re cute.” Osamu blurted out. He stiffened as his brother burst into laughter. Suna’s eyebrows jumped to his hairline and Osamu squeezed his eyes shut.
“Thanks,” Suna responded quietly as he reached for the recipe card. “Want to go over anything or just get started?”
Osamu gave him an appreciative glance that they weren’t going to dwell on his admittance. “We can just get started. You have everything ya need?”
Suna nodded. “I do. I’m ready whenever you are.”
Osamu was smiling at him again and Suna didn’t know how he was going to make it through the broadcast but he was certainly going to try.
Atsumu stuck his head into frame. “Is Omi cookin’ too?”
Suna rolled his eyes. “Yes. Omi is cooking too.” He stopped back from where he had the camera set up to reveal they had arranged room for the both of them to make the meal together instead of separately. “He’s my sous chef.”
Sakusa saluted the camera. “I am. What’s on the menu, Atsu?”
Osamu jabbed his brother in the ribs. “Atsu?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Atsumu shoved him away as Osamu turned on the stream to show the recipe card as viewers starting pouring in. Osamu scanned the chat as best he could as the comments flew by.
“Which mods do I have in here today? My main one is going to be showing y’all how well he follows instructions.”
Suna fought back a blush. If only he knew- no, no, calm down. They are cooking . “Yeah so behave chat!”
Atsumu was elbowing his brother again and there was some whispered arguing of “no, you” going on between the two. When Suna raised an eyebrow at the camera they both stopped and grinned at him.
Osamu rubbed his hands together. “Alright, let’s-”
“You gotta do the intro,” Suna chided with a smirk.
“The- oh! Hey!” Osamu laughed at bowed his head. “I’m Chef Osamu and this is my little stream: Chef and Me . Today I’ve invited your favorite mod Sunarin to cook with me. As you all know, we are going to be making a key lime parfait and steak sandwiches! It sounds simple and it definitely is, it’s just a whole bunch of ingredients.” Osamu gestured to the mass of tiny bowls in front of him and Suna gestured to the mass of half opened packages and containers in front of him .
“I do not have the dish capacity to do 300 little glass bowls of salt so what you see is what you get.”
Osamu laughed again. Suna was in heaven. “Whatever ya gotta do is totally fine, Rin. I imagine most people at home who aren’t cookin’ for a living are in the same boat.” Osamu started unwrapping his steak from his fancy butcher paper. “First, go ahead and preheat your open to 350.”
Suna snapped his fingers at Sakusa who was paying zero attention to anything other than what was probably half-naked photos on his phone. Suna was not judging, he was simply jealous. Like hell he would ever admit that.
“Yes, chef?” Osamu glanced up to see Suna rolling his eyes at his roommate.
“Preheat the oven you cretin.”
“He’s not a-”
Osamu and Suna both cut their eyes to Atsumu and his love-riddled outburst. Atsumu snapped his mouth shut and started grumbling under his breath.
“Grab a large heatproof bowl, we are going to be making dessert first. You’ll need 4 large eggs, about a cup of sugar, ⅔ cup of lime juice, 10 tablespoons of unsalted butter. I’d use fresh key limes for this, it will taste phenomenally better. Juice as many as you have until you get ⅔ of a cup. Before you start, you can heat a pot of water to boiling. Fill it up about halfway. We are going to cook this over it.”
Osamu juiced, Atsumu juiced, Sakusa juiced, and Suna juiced. They all juiced together. He combined the eggs, sugar, and juice together and placed the bowl over the pot of now simmering water.
“Whisk this constantly and I mean that, don’t stop! You’ll get this beautiful light, fluffy consistency. You’ll know it’s ready when it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon without drippin’ off.” Osamu held up a spoon to show what he meant. He flipped the stove off and removed the bowl from the heat.
“Let it cool for about five minutes. While it does it’s thing, go ahead and cut that butter into chunks, you’ll be whisking it into that mixture then it will hang out in the fridge. You can divide it into whatever you’ll be using to serve it beforehand if you’d like. It’ll chill in the fridge while we make the sandwiches.”
Osamu divided the mixture into small mason jars, put the lids on, and set them in the fridge.
“Next is the streusel. Grab another large bowl and throw in a cup and a half of all-purpose flour. 6 tablespoons of sugar, one and a half teaspoons of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of water, and half that of salt.” Osamu held up each ingredient before tossing it into the bowl. "Now you’re going to rub in about 7 tablespoons of cubed, frozen butter. I posted a reminder to have this on hand so y’all better! You got it, Rin?”
Suna glanced up at the camera and winked. “Yes, sir.”
Osamu stammered in response and ducked his head again. Atsumu whispered something that earned him another elbow.
“Rub the butter in until there’s medium sized clumps then pop it into the the freezer.” Osamu demonstrated spreading the streusel onto a baking sheet. “Once it’s firm, we’re going to bake that for about 15 minutes or until it’s golden. We are goin’ to do the meringue topping last. Go ahead and clear your station and grab the stuff for the main course.”
Suna remembered they were going to make the sauce and onions first so he reached for several things. He started preheating a skillet when he realized Osamu had stopped what he was doing to watch him. “Something wrong, chef?”
Osamu shook his head, his lips just barely parted. “Naw.” His tone was low, his accent thick, as he watched Suna arrange his ingredients. His brother elbowed him but he didn’t feel it. He gave Suna a goofy smile and nodded. “Throw a large skilled on the stove like Rin did and start heatin’ that up. We are going to carmelize the onions first and those take forever, ‘bout 15 minutes. Add a bit of oil and some thyme and let them sauté for about 15 minutes.”
They cooked the steak next, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, then moved onto the bread. “I like mine steamed but it can be toasted as well, whatever you prefer.”
“I feel like we’re missin’ something.” Atsumu muttered as he looked down at the slices of cheese he was unwrapping. “What are we missin’.”
Osamu glanced at the ingredients and searched for anything they hadn’t touched. He looked up at the camera with a lopsided smile. “Help?”
Suna and Sakusa snorted simultaneously and looked down at their own stations. Suna had lost the recipe card at some point. He started cataloguing each item when Sakusa perked up.
“Sauce?”
“That’s my baby!” Atsumu cheered.
Osamu blinked at the camera. Suna blinked back at him. Sakusa’s eyes were wide.
“I- I mean uh- yeah. Sauce. The sauce, Samu, damn!” He shoved him brother lightly and reached for the missing ingredients that were hidden under butcher paper. “How do I make it again?”
Osamu decided to do his brother a solid for once in his life and not address his outburst. Suna itched to do the opposite of his roommate but followed the chef’s good example.
“Half a cup of horseradish, you can use the fresh or stuff in a container, doesn’t matter much. About a quarter cup of mayo and the same amount of sour cream. Season with a bit of salt and pepper then you can start building yer sandwiches.”
The four of them put their own sandwiches together and held them up to the camera for a photo op and a ‘cheers’. Suna’s eyes rolled back as he bit into the sandwich. Sakusa groaned audibly.
“Fuck.”
“Fuck is right.” Suna agreed.
“Fuck.” Sakusa repeated. “I love this.”
“Solid 5 stars.” Suna looked up at the camera again to see Osamu responding similarly. He gave him a thumbs up. “Universally loved.”
Osamu chuckled and set his sandwich down. “Thank you. We got one more thing to do then y’all can finish eatin’. We have to complete the recipe for the viewers.”
Suna groaned but reached for his eggs. The last step of the key lime parfaits was to make the meringue by whisking egg whites and sugar into submission. Osamu directed him to whisk them over simmering water constantly for nearly 10 minutes. Then he broke out a handmixer that took a few minutes to find until he could hold the bowl over a horrified Sakusa’s hair and the mixture didn’t budge.
“Beautiful.” Osamu murmured as he watched Suna pipe the meringue on top of the streusel he had sprinkled over the curd. He cleared his throat and nodded his head again, Suna had started to notice it may be a nervous tic of his. “Lookin’ great, Rin.”
“Thanks, Osamu.” He held up the small parfait with two large spoonful's already stolen from it. “This is incredible.”
“Glad ya like it.” Osamu responded through his own mouthful of dessert. Osamu spread hi arms out in a flourish. “Well, I humbly thank y’all for tunin’ in tonight. Please thank my capable sous chef as well-”
“Yer welcome, yer welcome-”
“I meant Rin you narcissist.” Osamu jabbed Atsumu in the ribcage, earning spam texts of laughing emoji’s. He rolled his eyes and waved to the screen. “Have a great night.” He stared at the camera for a an extra few seconds and Suna preferred to think Osamu was looking at him instead of the chat.
~~
“Hey Rin, I’m going to grab breakfast do you want anything?”
Suna rolled over on the couch and sniffled pathetically. “No. I want to die.”
Sakusa snorted from where he was wrapping a scarf around his neck. Suna was sick and had been sick for 4 days. Nothing was making him feel better. Thankfully, he was negative for COVID, it was more than likely just a winter cold but he couldn’t shake it. He hadn’t slept at all the night before, he instead moaned and groaned as his body punished him by turning him into a mouth breather. He couldn’t taste anything, he couldn’t smell anything, he could barely hear anything. Sakusa was far too chirpy.
“I’ll see what I can find that results in death. Bye!”
Suna knew that Sakusa was not going to bring him something that resembled death, he was going to end up on his knees for Atsumu as he always did each time he left the house. He liked to brag to Suna about it because Suna was a ballless man who had not made a move on the man he had been festering a massive crush on. That was Suna’s fault.
Suna didn’t care.
Suna wanted to die.
~~
Suna was so warm. Not sick warm but cuddle-buddy wrapped up like a hot tortilla warm. He pressed up into the warmth blanketing his head. Soft. Warm. Soft. Suna cracked his eyes open in search of the source of that warmth.
“Kiyo?”
“He’s in the kitchen. You should sleep.”
Soft. Warm. Soft. Familiar?
The next time Suna woke up, the room was darker. He could hear the low sounds of the TV and there was something exceptionally comfortable about his pillow. He smooshed his cheek against it and yawned. His yawn turned into a groan as he realized he was still sick.
“You doin’ alright?”
Suna blinked. He blinked again. He blinked three times. He narrowed his eyes at the TV. “Kiyo? Kiyo?! KIYO!”
Sakusa came running into the room, only furthering Suna’s confusion. “What? What? What the fuck- what’s wrong?”
Suna coughed miserably and closed his eyes. “I hear Samu talkin’.”
Sakusa scowled at me. “What now?”
“Samu. Pretty boy. I hear ‘im. So nice.”
“Are you delirious? Is he delirious?”
Suna shifted as his pillow shifted slightly. He pressed his face against it again. Weird.
“He might be. When’s the last time he took some medicine?”
Why was Osamu talking about medicine on his stream? Suna yawned again and his eyes snapped open. He shot upward and realized his very comfortable pillow was Osamu’s thigh. Oh god , the fantasies that is going to-
“Owowow-” Suna cradled his head and immediately went back to a horizontal position (yes, yes…on the thigh). He was far too miserable to compare it to how down bad he was for Osamu. Pathetic, maybe, but Suna couldn’t find it in him to care.
“Yer alright.” Osamu cooed as he ran his fingers through the sweaty mop on top on Suna’s head. “Sakusa said you weren’t feelin’ well so I made ya some porridge. It’s light on yer stomach. Brought you some mangoes too.”
“I love mangoes.”
Osamu hummed. “I know, Rin.”
“I think I’m sick.”
“Yer sick as fuck, man.” Atsumu called out, far too loudly, from the kitchen.
“I hate him.” Suna pulled up the blanket he had been wallowing in. Osamu tucked it over his head and continued to pet him.
“I know,” Osamu was sympathetic to his plight against his brother, at least. “He will get distracted by Sakusa soon. Is the TV too loud?”
“Nah,” Suna rolled onto his back and pulled the blanket down enough to peek at that beautiful man. “Am I dreaming?”
Osamu laughed quietly. “If you are then I am.”
Suna hummed in response. “Cool.”
Osamu’s eyes were gray up close. Suna always thought they were brown. He said as much and earned a soft smile. “Tsumu’s are brown. It’s one of the few ways people tell us apart if they pay any attention.”
Suna coughed out some kind of laugh-snort-huff along with some phlegm. Unsexy in its entirety but the gentle way Osamu looked at him didn’t change. “You two have waves of differences. Anybody paying the slightest bit of attention can see that. You’re way hotter.”
“I resent that.” Atsumu chastised as he bounded into the room, Sakusa attached to his hip. “I’m the hotter twin.”
“Kiyo, back me up here.” Suna yawned against from the couch. “C’mon. Don’t lie cuz y’re bangin’ him. M’so sleepy.”
“My own boyfriend will not- wait, are you my boyfriend? Are we boyfriends?”
Sakusa glared at Atsumu and maintained eye contact and he loudly agreed with Suna. “Osamu is the hotter twin. I apparently don’t have a boyfriend to compare him to.”
“Are they having a lovers quarrel?” Suna asked from where he was disappearing beneath the blanket again.
“I think so.” Osamu carded his fingers through Suna’s hair, pulling his bangs back. “Don’t mind them. Just sleep.”
“Mhm. Mhm.” Suna closed his eyes on command. He had no plans to go against anything that man said. “You’re a great fuckin’ pillow, Samu. You can cook. You’re brutally hot. Can you stay?”
Osamu shook his head and looked up at the TV as Suna fell back asleep.
~~
Osamu stayed.
Suna woke up with a normal temperature and stuffy nose the next morning, his neck aching from sleeping on a leg. He had to feel around for a moment to remember where he was. He rolled onto his back and looked up at Osamu who aw still sitting there, inches away from the plague, quietly snoring.
Suna stared at him so long that Osamu started to stir. He woke up slowly, yawning and scrunching his eyes shut. He rubbed a hand roughly over his face and blinked slowly. He made a soft sound of realization and finally, finally looked down at Suna.
“Hey, Rin.”
“Samu, I-” Suna cleared his throat from the morning scratchiness. “I like you. You know that, right?”
Osamu smirked at him and shrugged one should. “I had a feeling.” He uncrosed his arms and reached out to place his forearm across Suna’s chest. Suna brought his hand up to grip his sweater. “I like you too, if that wasn’t obvious.”
“Yeah?”
Osamu nodded. “Even with all that grossness you got goin’ on. Yer pretty great, man.”
Suna narrowed his eyes at Osamu but the look didn’t last long before Suna sneezed, without warning, directly into Osamu’s face. Osamu’s eyes were squeezed shut. He rolled his laps into a thin line and nodded slowly.
“I-”
Osamu shook his head.
“Sam-”
“Don’t say anything. Yer goin’ to ruin this moment and I’m tryin’ to remember how much I like you.” Suna bit his lip to keep from laughing. “Did you get that all outta yer system?”
Suna pursed his lips. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“Do you still-”
“For some reason, yes, despite you throwin’ all yer plague germs in my face, I still like you.” Osamu responded as he reached for the half pack of wet wipes Sakusa had deposited on the coffee table earlier. “At least if I get the plague I can still work on recipes.”
“I’ll take care of you, promise.”
Osamu balled up the wet wipe and tossed it at Suna’s face. “You better. How are you feelin’?”
“Better.” Suna groaned quietly as he sat up. His head spun for only a moment before it cleared. Osamu’s fingers found his back and traced along his spine. Suna sat up so he was next to Osamu and glanced at him expectantly.
“What?”
“I remember something about food.”
“That was nearly an entire day ago.” Osamu huffed. Suna continued to stare. Osamu rolled his eyes and stood. He reached out a hand to help Suna to his feet. “C’mon, you’ll feel better if ya move around.”
“I don’t think that’s accurate but okay-” Osamu pulled Suna to his feet and Suna paused when he was an inch from Osamu’s chest. “Y’know you’re pretty built for a chef.”
“Played sports in college.” Osamu murmured. “I wanna- I want-”
“Yeah,” Suna agreed as he closed his eyes and leaned forward.
Two throats were cleared behind them a moment after their lips touched. “That’s unsanitary.”
“Fuck off, Kiyoomi, Atsumu is unsanitary.” Suna retorted, still focused on Osamu’s mouth. He kissed him again.
“I am not.” Atsumu huffed.
Osamu glanced over Suna’s shoulder and squinted. “Yer wearing each other’s boxers. That’s unsanitary.”
“How do you know these aren’t mine?!” Atsumu shrieked.
“Because you steal mine, ya fuckin’ miscreant, and Sakusa is wearin’ mine.” Suna huffed out a laugh and pressed his forehead against Osamu’s neck, inhaling slowly. “I’m makin’ Rin breakfast and you are not invited. Sakusa can join.” He guided Suna toward the kitchen and situated him onto a stool. His fingers lingered on Suna’s back before he stepped toward the fridge. When he turned around, all three men were eagerly awaiting breakfast.
Osamu sighed as he plated everybody’s food. Sakusa and Atsumu took theirs to-go. Suna whispered a thank you . He pulled out a second stool for Osamu to sit next to him. Osamu set their plates down and Suna could only watch in horror as, in a split second, Osamu’s face scrunched up and he sneezed.
On both plates of food.