Chapter Text
“Hey Emu! Nene!” Tsukasa yelled as he ran up to the Wonder Stage, roughly fifteen minutes before their practice was supposed to start.
Nene glared at him from over her handheld gaming device. “You invited us here early, the least you could do is show up before us.” She turned off the console, giving the blonde her full attention.
“Yeah! What Nene said! Do that again and I’ll have Mr. Mascot feed you a centipede!” Emu threatened, causing Tsukasa to shudder at the grotesque imagery.
“I’m sorry! I just had to get something!” Tsukasa set his bag down and began digging through it, relieved to find his special item still intact. He heard a delighted gasp and an exasperated groan as he pulled a single red rose out in front of the girls.
“So romantic!! But why did we have to get here early and not Rui?” Emu questioned, her face inches from the brilliant red flower.
“Well, I need you guys here when Rui gets here, but you have to leave on an “errand” right as he arrives. That way, he won’t be able to back out from talking to me! A perfect plan thought up by a perfect star, ha ha ha!” Tsukasa laughed, but in reality his stomach was in knots. What if Rui took one look at him and the rose and turned the other way?
Tsukasa shook his head, no use for bad thoughts. “Why should we go along with this?” Nene asked, skeptical. Tsukasa rolled his eyes, but he ultimately expected nothing less from his co-star.
“Because, Nene! Then you won’t have to deal with my hopeless pining!” Tsukasa announced with his usual bravado, much to the distaste of the younger girl.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” She mumbled, looking towards Emu, who nodded excitedly with a loud hum.
“Thank you two! Now, all we have to do is wait for Rui.” Tsukasa said with a grin, laying the rose on one of the audience seats. He sat down next to it, looking towards the entrance and willing Rui to come faster.
His silent prayers were seemingly answered, as Rui soon appeared at the Wonder Stage, eliciting a sharp yelp from Emu. “Ah! Nene!! I just remembered, my dad needed me to, uh, scare the pigeons! You have to help meee!” Emu screamed, tugging Nene’s arm and pulling away from the Wonder Stage.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Nene replied, much quieter, before giving Tsukasa a small thumbs up. He appreciated their efforts, even if the methods were a bit dramatic.
“Mm, what a strange display, I wonder what they're up to.” Rui mumbles to himself, keeping his eyes away from Tsukasa. Tsukasa took a few steadying breaths, thinking of Toya and Emu and Nene and Akito, before clearing his throat.
“Rui! I’m sorry for whatever I did to make you ignore me! Please accept my apology!” Tsukasa squeaked, shoving the rose towards Rui with his eyes clenched shut. The Tsukasa Tenma does not get anxiety, but one could maybe say that he was a tad bit uncertain as to what Rui’s reaction might be, and that uncertainty may or may not create a level of discomfort he normally wouldn’t experience.
“Oh.” Was all Rui said, taken aback by the gesture. Tsukasa gulped, shakily prying his eyes open to look up at Rui’s hopefully-not-upset expression. Tsukasa was pleasantly surprised by the pink hue Rui’s cheeks had taken on, and the subtle parting of his lips as he stared at the flower.
Slowly, he grasped the stem in between his thumb and pointer finger, and Tsukasa relinquished his grip on it. Rui brought the rose up to his face, examining it, before looking towards Tsukasa.
“Well, thank you, but I’m not exactly sure why you’re apologizing.” Rui says after a beat of silence, the most adorable look of confusion on his face. Tsukasa rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Rui’s shoulder instead of his eyes.
“You’ve been ignoring me, which probably means you're upset with me, which probably means I did something wrong, and for that I apologize.” This definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Tsukasa wanted to know how Rui would react to getting flowers.
“Oh, well, I actually wanted to talk to you about that. You see, I…” Rui trailed off, face flushing further as he gently put down the rose, turning away from Tsukasa. “I actually wanted to talk to you about that.” Despite his words, Rui kept silent after that, struggling with his articulation.
Tsukasa, now worried, leaned close to Rui, placing a gentle hand over his shoulder. “Whatever it is, Rui, you can tell me. I would love to know and help you with it if I can, you mean a lot to me.” Tsukasa admitted, running his thumb back and forth over Rui’s shoulder.
Rui’s face felt incredibly hot, from Tsukasa words to the prolonged physical contact, but his own thoughts stayed lodged in his throat. “You shouldn’t apologize, Tsukasa. You did nothing wrong.” He eventually settles on, keeping his face pointed away from Tsukasa in a failing attempt to save his pride.
“Then why were you ignoring me, Rui?” God, Tsukasa’s face was so close, he could practically feel his breath against his neck. Rui bit his lip, torn between telling the truth or coming up with an absurd lie that only someone as gullible as Tsukasa would fall for.
“You have to be honest with Tsukasa! If not for your sake, then his.” As Mizuki’s words bounced back into his head, Rui came to a decision.
“Actually, Tsukasa, the reason I was ignoring you was,” Rui looked towards Tsukasa, his orange eyes open wide in anticipation. Rui swallowed, before deciding to go for it, rationalizing as ripping off the band-aid.
“The reason I was ignoring you is because I really like you, Tsukasa. I came to the realization, and thought that if I ignored you, these stupid feelings would go away.” Rui gave a weak laugh, eyes locked on the grass in front of him. “Obviously that didn’t work.”
There was silence for a beat, then two, before Rui was promptly lifted from the ground. He tensed, looking down at the top of Tsukasa’s head that was buried in his chest. He heard a hearty, albeit muffled, laugh before Tsukasa began to spin him in the air, arms locked around the back of his knees.
“Woah! I didn’t know Tsukasa was this strong!” Rui laughed, confused and still a little scared as to what the blonde boy's reaction meant.
The spinning ceased, and Rui was put back onto the ground, only to be met with Tsukasa’s beaming face.
“I’m sorry, I was just excited. I really like you too, Rui!” Tsukasa smiled brightly, so full of sincerity that Rui almost didn’t know what to do with himself. Almost, that is.
“Well then, what do you say we stop dancing around it, and maybe you’ll let me start walking you home?” Rui offered, sounding much less smooth and much more nervous than he intended. Tsukasa either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because he just kept smiling like there was no tomorrow.
“I would like that a lot, Rui.” Tsukasa’s smile softened, going from a large beam to a sincere grin, his eyes lidded with affection. Rui’s cheeks pinked at the realization that that look was directed towards him .
“Well then, I suppose that’s that.” Rui smiled, looking down at his feet. He felt so giddy and dumb, thrilled beyond relief that Tsukasa felt the same.
“Wait! I wanna do this right!” Tsukasa suddenly yelled, placing his hands on Rui’s shoulders before trailing them down his arms till the taller boy's hands were held in his own. Rui shuddered at the touch, unfamiliar.
“Rui Kamishiro, will you date me?!” Tsukasa asked, looking at Rui with such an absurd look of determination and anticipation that he couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“I would love to date you, Tsukasa Tenma.” Rui replied, still giggling. Tsukasa smiled again, wrapping his arms around Rui once more.
This time, Rui relaxed into it, enjoying the warm embrace. “You really seem to like hugging me.” He muttered into Tsukasa’s hair, astonished by the softness of the strawberry blonde locks.
“Mmm, I do. Is that a problem?” Rui could feel Tsukasa’s throat vibrate against his chest, bringing an odd sense of comfort with it.
“Not at all, Tsukasa.” Rui responded, pressing a soft kiss to the shorter boy's hairline.
“Not at all.”