🧣scarf🧣

(gachiakuta fans UNITE!!!)

Sae did NOT knit.

He did not craft. He did not "do cozy hobbies."

...Except he absolutely did.

At 2AM. Alone in the living room. With the curtains drawn like he was committing a crime.

A half-finished crimson scarf lay in his lap, needles clicking rhythmically.

He looked like he was planning a bank heist—tense, focused, jaw tight—except the crime was: being in love with a chaos gremlin.

Every time the yarn snagged, Sae muttered under his breath:

"...This is stupid. He won't even notice. Why am I doing this..."

But he kept knitting.

Stitch after perfect stitch.

And every few minutes, he'd pause, imagine Shidou's neck wrapped in something warm and soft and made by his hands, imagine Shidou's stupid smile—

—and then shove that thought violently away.

"No. Gross."

He kept knitting.

After three weeks, the scarf was perfect.

Soft. Long. Slightly oversized. Shidou would bury his face in it and look achingly adorable.

Sae held it in his hands. He stared at it for way too long.

"...I'm not giving him this."

He immediately hid it in the back of his closet.

Behind a suit he hates and under a pile of shoeboxes.

As if the scarf itself was a confession.

And Sae Itoshi did NOT confess.

Shidou knew something was up.

Sae kept acting weird at night. Sneaking off. Appearing in the morning with faint yarn fibers stuck to his sweater.

And when Shidou asked:

"Whatcha doin' lately?"

Sae responded with:

"None of your business."

(Suspicious.)

One cold afternoon, Sae walked into the house, kicking off his shoes, ready to relax—

—and then froze.

Because across the room—

Shidou was on the couch.

Curled up. Watching something on his phone. Humming.

And around his neck...

THE SCARF.

THE scarf.

Sae's soul left his body.

Shidou didn't even look up yet.

He was just casually wearing it. Looping his fingers through the soft fabric. Tugging it close to his face. Smiling at it.

Sae's brain:

No. No no no HOW did he—?!

He cleared his throat sharply.

Shidou looked up.

Bright eyes. Lovesick grin.

"Oh! Babe! Look what I found in your closet!"

Sae: dies instantly

Shidou hopped over, excited like a golden retriever.

"I didn't know you could knit! You made this!? For me!?"

Sae opened his mouth to lie. To deny everything. To claim it was a random scarf from a store that somehow teleported into his closet.

But Shidou was already beaming.

Already rubbing his cheek against the fabric like a cat.

"It smells like you... it's warm... I love it."

Sae's voice cracked in his throat.

He choked. Literally choked.

"...Take it off."

"What? Why?"

"I didn't— it wasn't— just— take it off."

Shidou blinked.

Then his grin softened into something devastatingly gentle.

"No."

Sae stared. "What do you mean 'no'?"

Shidou tugged the scarf tighter, wrapping it an extra loop around his neck.

"This is my new favorite thing," he said simply. "You made this for me. I'm never taking it off."

Sae short-circuited.

"I didn't make it for you," he said weakly.

Shidou leaned in, eyes glowing with sinful smug warmth.

"You made it in my favorite color."

"...Coincidence."

"You made it long because you know I like wrapping things around myself."

"...Accident."

"You hid it in the closet instead of throwing it away because you're secretly soft for me."

"...I hate you."

Shidou kissed his cheek. Quick, warm, devastating.

"I love you too."

Shidou grabbed Sae's hips and pulled him into a hug so tight Sae stumbled.

"Now you gotta stand here and let me thank you properly—"

"No— Shidou— stop—"

But Shidou was already rubbing his face into Sae's shoulder like an affectionate animal.

"This is the best present ever... you're the best."

Sae's ears turned red.

His hands hovered awkwardly before finally settling around Shidou's back.

"...It's just a scarf."

Shidou whispered against his collarbone:

"It's not just a scarf. It's from you."

Sae melted. He would deny this later with violence.

But right now... He pressed his forehead into Shidou's hair.

"...Don't lose it," he said quietly.

Shidou gasped dramatically. "I'd sooner lose a kidney."

Shidou wore it everywhere.

Every day. To practice. To the store. Even to bed until Sae forced him to take it off before sleeping.

Every time someone complimented it—

"Wow, cool scarf!"

Shidou grinned like a man who won the lottery.

"Sae made it for me."

Sae in the background: visibly dying, soul glowing red like a heater.

And Shidou? Absolutely thriving.

art credit: https://www.tumblr.com/kurtiness/797897659956543488/jabber-shidou