Happy holidays, @drabblesetc! I was your KnB Secret Santa! I saw you liked AoKaga, so I wrote about Kagami cooking Aomine an American Christmas dinner! I’m sorry it’s late, but I hope you like it!
Also on AO3!
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“Yo, Kagami,” Aomine greeted when Taiga opened his apartment door.
“Oh, Aomine,” Taiga blinked in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you today.” He stepped back and allowed his boyfriend to step into the apartment.
Aomine went over and sat on the couch. “I came over because I was wondering if you had any plans for Christmas Eve. It’s less than a week away.” He looked away, but Taiga got a glimpse of his red cheeks. “Satsuki told me it’s a romantic holiday and that we should go to dinner somewhere nice. So…” he trailed off hesitantly.
Taiga thought Aomine was so adorable when he was being shy. He hated the fact that he was about to disappoint the blue-haired boy. Taiga gave him a sad smile. “Aomine, I’m sorry,” he said gently. “I already have something to do that day.. I was going to go to the grocery store for Christmas on Christmas Eve. In America, Christmas is this big family holiday with insane amounts of food.”
“So, basically, the amount of food you eat every time at Maji Burger?” Aomine asked with a smirk, giving no hints as to whether he was disappointed by Taiga‘s negative response.
“Oh, shut up!” Taiga grumbled. “Anyway, Christmas in America is this really big thing, nothing at all like how it is here in Japan. There’s presents and a guy in red who brings presents to kids, but the best thing of all is all the food!” Taiga’s eyes sparkled just thinking about it. “There is just so much! Turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, though most people eat it out of a can. Isn’t that odd? And the desserts! So many cookies and pies, you could bake for days!”
Aomine chuckled at Taiga’s enthusiasm and rested his head on his hand. “Why do I have the feeling that you just like American Christmas because of all the food?”
Taiga reddened. “That‘s not true!” he protested. “The family part is really important to me, too, you know! But unfortunately, my father has to work Christmas Eve, so he can’t travel here. I need someone to help me eat all this stuff.”
Aomine burst out laughing. “You can’t eat all that food by yourself? You, the guy who could eat 40 Maji burgers? I never thought I would see the day!”
“Shut up, Aho!” Taiga grumbled petulantly. “I was going to ask you to come whether my family could come home or not, because I like you!” He closed his mouth immediately. He wasn’t usually one to express his emotions like that, but Aomine… Daiki… could bring that side out of him easily. He cleared his throat. “Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to come eat with me?”
The blue-haired boy wrapped his arm around Taiga’s shoulder. “Of course I am, Bakagami! I love your cooking, you know! It’ll be better than any restaurant! The company‘s kind of a pain, though,” he added slyly.
Taiga responded with a scowl and a punch to Aomine’s shoulder, causing Aomine to yelp.
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Taiga headed down to the market on Christmas Eve to get all the ingredients he would need to make all the food he wanted. He had always made a feast for his family ever since he was in America. He remembered the first American Thanksgiving meal he made for his family, Alex, and Tatsuya with a smile.
Even as a young boy, Taiga had been interested in cooking. He’d watch his mother chop, crack, mix, saute, bake, and dozens of more cooking techniques. Finally one day, Taiga’s mother had invited him to cook with her. She’d taught him to do simple things at first, like chopping vegetables, then eventually, he’d gotten to more difficult feats like separating eggs. When he had spent those years in America, he’d learned even more techniques like making cream puffs and torching a crème brulee without burning it.
As he walked, he saw couples wandering around hand in hand, looking at the pretty Christmas lights or heading to restaurants. He wasn’t celebrating in the Japanese manner like they were, but he was still excited to be spending the holiday with his boyfriend.
Aomine was waiting for him outside the market and together they went inside. Taiga had a list of the things he would need for a Christmas feast for two huge eaters. He led the way to the produce department first.
Aomine watched with interest as Taiga checked the vegetables for freshness. “How do you know all this stuff?” he asked Taiga as the redhead examined a bag of potatoes. “You’re only what, seventeen, same as me?”
“Yeah, but my mother taught me,” Taiga explained. “She took me grocery shopping as a kid when I started cooking with her and she showed me what to check for each food. Like potatoes should be hard when you squeeze them.” He held out the potato to Aomine.
“Interesting,” Aomine mused while he squeezed it gently. “Show me more, Kagami.”
Taiga showed Aomine all the techniques his mother had taught him as they went around the market getting the food they needed for the next day. He liked being able to share his knowledge with someone he cared about.
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On Christmas day, Taiga woke up early and began the preparations for the turkey, knowing that it would take hours to cook fully. After it was in the oven, he began to chop the vegetables and fruit for the side dishes, even if he wasn’t going to be cooking them for some time yet.
He was just taking the turkey out to baste it when there was a knock at the door. He ran over to the door and let Aomine in. Aomine took a big whiff of the year and a happy grin appeared on his face. “That smells amazing! I can’t wait to eat it all!”
Taiga chuckled. “Well, it still has an hour or two left. I’m in the middle of working on the potatoes. You want to help me mash them?” he asked, holding up a potato masher.
“Sure,” Aomine took the masher from him
The time passed quickly as Taiga prepared everything. Aomine was able to help him with some simple things, for which Taiga was very grateful for. Finally, the dinner was ready and Taiga took several trips between the kitchen and the table where Aomine was already sitting to lay it all out.
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It had taken Taiga hours to cook their Christmas feast, but it took a much smaller time for the two boys to eat the enormous amount of food. Aomine burped loudly and looked over at all the plates with barely anything on them and the nearly picked clean turkey. “That was so good, Kagami!”
Taiga grinned. “Thanks, Aomine!” He picked up the carving knife and removed the rest of the turkey meat. “If you want, we can have turkey sandwiches tomorrow, too, and finish off everything.”
“Yeah, I think so,” Aomine agreed. “I think we need to have a round of one-on-one to work off all this food.” He patted his full belly.
Taiga laughed. “We’d have to find an indoor court instead of our usual one since it’s so snowy out.”
Aomine wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Seriously, if you ever decided not to play basketball or after you retire, you need to become a chef or something!”
Taiga’s jaw dropped. “Me, a chef? Are you serious, Aomine?” He couldn’t deny that he hadn’t thought about it before, but he loved basketball too much to quit playing. But it was the first time that someone other than himself had said
“Of course,” Aomine responded, then grabbed Taiga’s hands. “Promise me that you’ll keep on cooking, Taiga, no matter what.”
“I will, Daiki” Taiga vowed. “And promise yourself that you’ll always be there to eat it with me?”
Aomine responded by kissing Taiga on the lips.
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Fifteen years later, after he had finally retired from basketball, Taiga opened his own restaurant in Tokyo, called Red Tiger, after an old basketball nickname. The restaurant served traditional American cuisine and the most popular meal on the menu was a smaller one-person version of the meal he had made all those years ago on Christmas day. It was called “Daiki’s feast”, named after his husband who would always be his biggest supporter.