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Ryuji shouldn’t be so damn nervous. Yeah, it was Valentine's Day, and it was the first that he’d be sharing with Akira since they started dating, but it wasn’t anything to get worked up over!
They’d been going steady for months. Ryuji’d been the best damn boyfriend he could be during every moment of it. Maybe that was the problem.
He’d totally let the time slip away from him, and Valentine’s day had rolled around and Ryuji had nothing to show for it. He could ask one of their friends for help, but he didn’t want to admit that he’d forgotten. Ryuji could almost hear the voice of Ann in his head, giving him a hard time for screwing up.
Akira had already sent a text asking him to meet at Leblanc, and as much as Ryuji’s frustrated with himself, he’s never been one to run away from something. Not anymore.
He forces himself out of the house, mentally committing himself to find something along the way. Ryuji gets to Shibuya first, he knows that whole area like the back of his hand, and heads to the underground mall.
The place is picked clean. More girly shit than anything, but it’s bad news. There’s not even any flowers. When Ryuji approaches, the woman shakes her head before he’s even had the chance to open his mouth.
He does another loop of the place, but the only thing still available is a pair of earrings for more than 100,000 yen. And look, Ryuji loves his boyfriend. But he hasn’t got that kinda money, even if he’s just about desperate enough to go for it.
He debates heading over to Kichijoji, or even hitting up somewhere in Akihabara, but his phone buzzes with another text from Akira. All his boyfriend’s sent is two hearts, but it’s enough for Ryuji to give in and finally make his way to Yongen-Jaya.
Ryuji isn’t prepared to walk down the street to Leblanc empty handed. He’s standing at the corner, gazing forlorn towards the coffee shop when a voice cuts through his daze.
“Young man? Are you lost?”
Ryuji turns, and is waved over by the older gentleman manning the small second-hand shop. He walks up to the man with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, looking all sorts of sheepish.
“I’m not lost, I’m just…I’m stuck, that’s all.”
The owner smiles at him. “Ah, I recognize you. You’re one of that young man’s friends. Haven’t seen you around here in a while. Haven’t seen him, either.”
“Ha, yeah… He’s been out of town for a while. Only jus’ came back to visit.”
The owner regards him carefully. “What’s making you hesitate?”
“I was supposed to get him a gift, and I’m about to go in there empty handed. Ain’t cool.”
“Well, that won’t do at all.” The man turns, rummaging around his store for a moment. He returns to Ryuji, holding out the nicest fountain pen he’s ever seen.
“I couldn’t–”
“It’s an old thing, but it still works. I got it as a gift long ago, and it’s served me well.” The owner holds up one shaking hand, fixing Ryuji with a serious expression. “It won’t do me much good any longer, so it’s about time it found a better home. That’s what this place is for, after all.”
“If you’re sure…” Ryuji takes the pen from his outstretched hand. It’s heavier than he expected, smooth and sleek black with a dark crimson highlight around the edges. He couldn’t have found something better if he had tried.
“I’m sure. The boy’s brought good business my way, it’s the least I can do.”
“How much?”
The man waves him off. “No charge. Come back and buy something later if you must.”
Ryuji slowly closes his hand around the pen, holding it tight in his fist. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Ryuji gives him a hasty bow, before pivoting hard towards Leblanc. It takes him less than a minute to arrive at the door, and about ten seconds to catch his breath.
He pushes the door open, letting that familiar bell welcome him in.
“I was about to send out a search party,” Akira says.
“What do they say about absence makin’ the heart grow fonder, or whatever?” Ryuij grumbles, making a beeline to the counter. He slides himself into the seat, pouting at his boyfriend.
Akira slides a mug his way, one with a heart drawn on the surface. Ryuji gingerly pulls it close to him, smiling down at his drink.
“There’s my favorite smile.”
Ryuji looks up, and he melts at Akira’s gaze. It’s a little unfair how effortlessly Akira can remind him why he’s so down bad for the guy, or the way seeing Akira makes his heart pound, trapped in his chest in an endless loop of a roller coaster’s first major drop.
“Ya can’t just say shit like that, man.”
“Yes I can. You’re my boyfriend.” Akira slides a second mug across the counter, then joins Ryuji on the other side. He tangles his leg around Ryuji’s good leg, removing as much of the space between them as possible.
“That’s exactly why, actually. You keep this up, and I’m going to turn into a giant pile of mush.” Ryuji takes a big sip of his hot chocolate, which is stupidly delicious as always. He goes to wipe his mouth off with his fist, but Akira catches his hand and leans in, pressing a soft, coffee-flavored kiss against his lips.
“Wouldn’t want to waste any.” Akira says, leaning back just far enough to take a sip out of his own drink.
Ryuji lets out a small squeak. “What did I just say?”
“All I heard was a challenge.”
Ryuji pouts again, an expression that’s rewarded with another kiss. He puts his mug down and pulls Akira’s stool in closer, sliding one hand behind his neck while his other fist remains at Akira’s side. He bites at Akira’s lip, drawing a gasp from his boyfriend that allows Ryuji to clumsily stick his tongue in his mouth, chasing the taste of coffee and Akira.
Akira’s hand covers Ryuji’s fist and attempts to smooth it down against his side, but the pen Ryuji’s still holding doesn’t budge, and Akira finally pulls back with a small frown.
He drags Ryuji’s fist onto the table, and waits expectantly.
“I got ya something…well, the owner at that second-hand shop gave it to me. I just brought it over, really.”
Ryuji flushes, painfully aware that the pen in his hand is all clammy and warm. He unfurls his hand and exposes the pen, and Akira lets out an appreciative hum. Akira plucks it from his hand, not paying any mind to the clammy texture as he rolls the pen around between his fingers.
Finally, Akira looks back at Ryuji with a dead-serious expression. “Is this a confession?”
“Maybe from the shop-owner!”
“But is it?” His expression cracks, and the emerging smirk on Akira’s face is devious.
“Fine.” Ryuji lets out a huff of air. “Akira, man, I love you a lot and want to be your boyfriend. Here’s a pen I got for free, as a present on Valentine’s day, just for you. WIll you go out with me?”
Akira stands up. He has to tug himself out of Ryuji’s legs and untangle them both from the stool to do it, which is jarring enough that Ryuji’s completely susceptible to being pushed upstairs, backwards, by the guy cupping his face in his hands.
It’s a miracle they don’t fall down on the way up, and even more so that they can make it to the bed at all. Akira starts pressing kisses to his face as soon as they’ve cleared the stairs, and it’s all Ryuji can do to kiss him back and shuffle backwards.
He hits the bed and stumbles into a seated position, and Akira’s on him in seconds. Akira wraps his legs around Ryuji’s waist, clinging onto him and pressing kiss after kiss against Ryuji’s lips.
He slips away from Ryuji’s mouth, peppering kisses against his cheek, the corners of his lip, and on his nose, allowing Ryuji to finally attempt a halfhearted protest.
“Our drinks—”
“I can remake them later,” Akira says, words fragmented by the additional feather-light kisses he’s pressing underneath Ryuji’s eyes.
Ryuji squirms under his boyfriend, half-heartedly leaning away from the onslaught as his face gets redder and redder. He’s never been so flustered in his life, which is saying something, because Kurusu Akira’s pretty fantastic at finding some way to do it every chance he gets.
The affection is getting to him. Ryuji knows that Akira likes him, ‘course he does, but this is overwhelming. His heart is fluttering against his chest, and it feels like it’s going to shove its way out just at the chance to be marginally closer to the boy straddling him.
“Dude,” Ryuji tries, at the next moment Akira’s not attacking his mouth. “Dude.”
The liberal use of bro-language during their heated makeout session is enough for Akira to pull back, ever so slightly. He bumps their noses together, giving Ryuji a moment to catch his breath.
Ryuji doesn’t succeed at that, but he manages to get his words out anyways.
“Why?”
Strike that. Word, singular.
“What do you mean, ‘why’”? Akira asks. His glasses have fogged up, which is both adorable and ridiculously attractive on the guy, and Ryuji takes a moment to tug them off so he can see his boyfriend’s eyes.
“Why all this?”
Akira frowns at him. “It’s Valentines’ Day.”
“I know that!” Ryuji yelps. His voice shifts to something smaller. “I just… don’t get it.”
“Don’t get that I love you?”
Ryuji’s eyes widen. He doesn’t reply for a long moment, and Akira watches him carefully. It feels like those grey eyes are prepared to consume him whole, and Ryuji would let them. Of course he would.
Akira hadn’t said it before. It wasn’t an issue, Ryuji never needed that sorta thing from him, he knew what they had and it was endlessly enough. But it’s different to hear it said to him, like this. Akira’s the most incredible guy he’s ever met, and every inch he’s gotten out of their time together feels stolen. The declaration of love from Akira feels like a tidal wave’s been crushed over him. Ryuji’s suspended in it, unable to breathe or move or do anything but take everything about Akira in, absorb it into his mind as intensely as he can.
Akira shifts a little closer to Ryuji, wrapping his arms around him and squishing Ryuji into a hug. He still is koala-attacking Ryuji, legs wrapped around his torso with a hold of steel, but the hug is nice. Akira’s nice. Akira’s the nicest.
Ryuji’s arms have been trapped in the hug, but Ryuji manages to shake himself out of his haze long enough to squirm his way out and hug Akira right back. His final attack is dragging both of them on their sides, forcing Akira to retreat just enough to be properly lying down next to him.
“I love you, Ryuji,” Akira says, pressing their foreheads together. “You deserve this. That’s my present to you, today. All the love I have.”
Ryuji breathes out. His face has been red so long it should probably be classified as some effed-up kind of sunburn, the emotional kind, and if he could manage the impossible task of looking away from his boyfriend’s gaze, he wouldn’t be able to meet it again.
“It’s overwhelming, a little.”
Akira stays quiet. He lets Ryuji adjust himself a bit and get more comfortable. Ryuji tangles their legs together again, something much easier achieved when they’re both lying down. Akira doesn’t say anything until Ryuji leans in and presses a small kiss against the corner of his lip.
“Do you want me to stop?”
Ryuji stares at Akira for a long moment, his eyes growing wide. The emotion is painfully familiar to an entirely different context, a different question from the year prior. Still, Ryuji’s answer is the same.
“Wha– Hell no!”