Chapter Text
The first thing Ryuusui does after he settles back into his hotel after a day of work is checking his personal phone (a different phone from the one he uses for work). There are two new messages from Ukyo, so he eagerly opens LINE. Hitting his eyes is a photo of Shinkai, Mayflower and a shorthair apple-head chihuahua on the sidewalk. The chihuahua has a black leather collar decorated with spikes, very hardcore. In the corner of the photo, there is a pair of sneakers where the chihuahua’s leash leads to.
Ukyou: [picture]
Ukyou: I think they make a new friend today
Ryuusui: Haha! Who’s that little guy!!
Ukyou: his name is MG
Ukyou: short for MG-42 www
Ryuusui: The machine gun? www
Ukyou: his owner is American wwww
Ryuusui: Haha! That makes sense!! wwww
Ryuusui grins at his phone screen. The reason Mayflower is with Ukyou right now is because Ryuusui is currently on a business trip. They have been dating for around several months now. They have kissed, and he has no problem calling Ukyou his lover, which is why he decided to ask his lover to look after Mayflower while he is all the way in Hokkaido. Mayflower is familiar with Ukyou and likes him, not to mention, she gets to hang out with Shinkai – he is the perfect choice.
Ryuusui scrolls up the chat. Ukyou has been sending him daily pictures so he can keep track of his cat, although Ryuusui has full trust in him. There is a picture of Shinkai and Mayflower both drinking from the dog’s bowl, a pic of Shinkai sleeping in her dog bed and Mayflower sleeping on top of her, and a pic of them looking longingly at a piece of broccoli Ukyou was holding in his chopsticks.
Ah, he misses them. It has only been half the trip, and he wants to see them again. So he shoots a text asking if they can call now, and when Ukyou replies yes, Ryuusui eagerly video calls him. It rings three times before connecting to the other side. Ukyou’s face viewed from slightly below greets him.
“Hi.” His lover smiles cutely and adjusts the camera angle.
“Hey.” Ryuusui says softly, his lips subconsciously pulling up. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
Ukyou chuckles. “No, I was just looking over the lesson plan for next week.” He peers at Ryuusui surrounding, which consists of the wall and the hotel bed headboard, and comes to the conclusion. “Are you done for the day?”
“Yep. Just had dinner with the negotiators at this restaurant. The salmon was delicious, wish you could’ve tasted it.”
“What, that sounds good. Now I feel sad about my stir fry dinner.”
Ukyou jokes, laughing, and Ryuusui responds enthusiastically. “Let’s have it when I get back! I’ll take you, no, Francois can recreate it with double the tastiness!”
“Wow, if it’s Francois, then the dish is gonna be out of this world!”
In the middle of their lively chatting, Ukyou asks if he wants to see the pets, and the screen flashes before showing them on the floor of Ukyou’s apartment. Shinkai is sprawled out on the floor, completely relaxed with her tongue sticking out, while Mayflower is kneading her fluffy body with tiny paws.
“Aren’t they the cutest?” Ukyou coos from offscreen. Ryuusui is inclined to agree, enraptured by the scene. The camera zooms in on the animals, and Ukyou’s voice calls out.
“Mayflower, look, it’s Ryuusui.”
Once he gets close enough, the cat lifts her head to look at Ukyou’s phone. There is a brief moment of silence where she processes Ryuusui’s face on the screen. Recognizing him, she gets closer and sniffs around.
Ryuusui laughs. “Mayflower! It’s me!”
Mayflower, whose face takes up nearly the whole screen, peers at him with her big round eyes. “Meow, meow,” she cries out.
“Haha! Do you miss me?”
“Meow…”
A hand enters the screen, landing on her head. “Of course she does.” Ukyou says while petting her head. “She started noticing your absence around the third day. Poor thing, she was looking around the place for you.”
Ryuusui softens. “Is that so? Sorry, I’ll be back soon, it’s halfway there.”
As Mayflower lets out a small meow, licking her paw, Shinkai stands up and does a little curtsy-like turn to see what all the fuss is about. Ukyou tilts the phone over to show her.
“Look, Shinkai, it’s Ryuusui~”
The girl pokes her snout around, and Ryuusui laughs at the full view of all the details of her wet black nose. Shinkai leans back. She lets out a loud bark, fluffing up at the sight of him, and right at the moment she pounces, Ukyou expertly moves his phone out of the way to save it from being slathered in saliva.
“No licking!” Accompanying the indiscernible flashing colors on the screen is laughter, bright and clear as a spring breeze.
Ah, Ryuusui really misses him. Maybe he can go back a day or two earlier?
Ryuusui knocks on the door. His ears aren’t as sharp as Ukyou’s, but he can easily pick up the sound of barking, followed by shuffling footsteps. A moment later, the door opens to reveal Ukyou.
“Hey, you’re early.” Ukyou shows him a soft, cute smile. “I thought you said seven?”
Ryuusui laughs. “What can I say? I can’t wait!”
Ukyou opens his mouth, only to be interrupted by frantic meowing. As they turn to look into the apartment, Mayflower runs out of a room. She heads straight toward Ryuusui, who crouches down to catch her.
“Haha! Did you miss me?”
“Meow, meow meow!” She cries, before shifting around to make herself comfortable in his arms. She purrs and rubs against him, getting white fur all over his dark colored clothes.
Ukyou chuckles, reaching out to pet her head. “It’s her first time away from you for this long, so this kind of reaction is normal. I’d know.”
In a show completely opposite to normal, where Mayflower is the calmer one, Shinkai walks up to them leisurely, and greets Ryuusui with a cheery bark. He laughs.
“Hey,” he frees one arm and leans down to pet her, “nice to see you too.”
“Woof!” Shinkai sticks her tongue out happily, tilting her head for more pets.
“What about this one?” Straightening up, Ryuusui reaches out his hand to cup Ukyou’s face. “Does this kitty miss me?” He asks with a cheeky grin, and Ukyou turns red as a tomato.
“Don’t call me that.” He slaps Ryuusui’s hand off, who snickers to himself. Ukyou glares at him half-heartedly out of the corner of his green eyes, then sighs, before speaking up again.
“Erm… do you have any plans tonight?”
Ryuusui scratches Mayflower’s chin as he answers. “Not really, no.”
“Uhm,” Ukyou fiddles with his hands behind his back, “I made a lot of curry today. Do you… want to stay for dinner?” He is about to preface that of course the meal isn’t going to be as tasty as what Francois makes, but Ryuusui cuts him short.
“Yes! Of course!”
Shinkai doesn’t know what is going on, but seeing Ryuusui’s elated reaction, she barks to join in on the fun.
Ryuusui helps set the table, and they put food out for their furry companions before digging in. Ukyou doesn’t exaggerate. He made a large pot of curry. Ryuusui likes it so much that he gets flustered from all the praises the blond sings. He has never thought his cooking skill is anything extraordinary, especially not to someone with such a refined palate, but then Ryuusui tells him it's so delicious because it's a home-cooked meal made for him, so Ukyou stays quiet, and they have their meal surrounded by a fluffy atmosphere.
Ukyou intends to have some leftovers for one or two meals. However, with Ryuusui’s appetite, the two of them leave only a little bit, which he transfers to a smaller pot to put in the fridge. Meanwhile, Ryuusui brings the dirty dishes over to the sink.
“Alright.” The blond puts his hands on his hips in front of the sink. “How do you wash the dishes?”
“Eh?” Ukyou turns back from the fridge. “Oh, you don’t have to wash them!” He says, walking toward Ryuusui. “I’ll do it later.”
“Nonsense! You already cooked, so it’s only fair that I clean up afterwards!”
It makes sense. Ukyou would do the same. However…
“You don’t know how to wash the dishes?”
“Yeah.” Ryuusui admits without unnecessary shame. “I’ve never needed to, so if you could tell me how to, that would be very much appreciated. You use this to scrub, am I wrong?”
He picks up the dish cloth in the small rack next to the sink. “Uh, that’s right.” Ukyou comes to stand next to him at the sink. “You put some dish soap on it.” He points at the bottle of dish soap, and Ryuusui picks it up. “Be generous with it.” He says, laughing. As Ryuusui squeezes a generous amount onto the cloth, he turns on the faucet, talking about how the dishes need a quick rinse first, then rolls up his sleeves to help. It's also a way to check if Ryuusui scrubs them clean.
There’s not a lot to wash, and Ryuusui certainly doesn’t struggle, so they breeze through it. Their chatting makes the time pass even faster, and the sink is clean in about five minutes.
“That was fun.” Ryuusui says honestly, drying his hand in the towel Ukyou shows him.
Ukyou laughs. “You're probably the only person who finds washing dishes fun. Imagine if there were more people… it'd be way more tedious…”
Ryuusui has seen the dishes piled up on ships and at dinner parties. “...I can imagine.” He hands the towel to Ukyou. “But this is fun because we did it together!”
“Hehe, that’s true. It didn’t take any time at all. You did well for your first time doing the dishes.” Ukyou reaches out and pats Ryuusui’s head with his dry hand. As the bright copper eyes widen, he realizes what he’s done and reels back.
“Ahhh! Sorry, I didn't mean to! It’s just force of habit—”
“No, it's fine.”
Huh? He takes a pause. His gaze directed toward the floor, Ryuusui's cheeks are tinted red.
“Ukyou… can you do that again?”
…cute!!! Ukyou complies and reaches out to stroke up and down the silky blond hair. Ryuusui squints his eyes, just like Shinkai being petted, so cute. Ukyou is used to patting children’s heads, now he is patting the head of a 187 centimeter tall handsome man. His lips twitch into a smile.
“Is this enough?” He asks in amusement.
Ryuusui’s expression remains contented. As he hums low in his throat, his hands grab hold of Ukyou by the waist, catching him by surprise.
“It’s not enough at all.” One of his hands pulls Ukyou closer, while the other one travels upward to cup his face. His brown eyes are packed with heat smoldering under the surface. Drawn in by their depth, Ukyou rests his hands on the broad chest in front of him and lets himself be pulled in, until the distance between them becomes nonexistent.
“Woof!”
“Meow meow!”
Shinkai and Mayflower, who were chilling together in the living room, start to chase each other out of boredom. They run into the kitchen, and upon seeing the humans sticking to each other, they start bothering them out of curiosity. But even as their pets are causing a ruckus around their legs, it is impossible for them to separate, lost in a deep kiss.
When they eventually part, Ukyou has to stifle a giggle. Ryuusui smiles tenderly at him, and his thumb strokes the soft line of his face. Ukyou peers up at him through his lashes.
“Hey,” he whispers, “would you… like to stay overnight?”
In Shinkai’s perspective, Mayflower’s human, who is a good friend to both Ukyou and her, pays them a visit today. Mayflower is very happy to see him after staying with them for almost two weeks, Shinkai has never seen her run that fast before. Then after dinner, the humans stay in the kitchen to do human stuff, which happens to be them sticking to each other. And after that, the two of them go to the bedroom together. However, when Shinkai and Mayflower try to follow them, they are barred from the room. With a wry smile, Ukyou gives an apology (she has no idea what he says) and closes the door in their faces.
That’s strange. Ukyou rarely keeps the bedroom door closed while he is in it. Shinkai lingers in front of the door, pacing back and forth in confusion while Mayflower watches from the side, before she ultimately decides to lie down, looking like a watchdog guarding the door.
Until cries of pain start coming out from inside the room – Ukyou’s cries of pain, to be exact. Alarmed, Shinkai jumps to her feet at the speed of light and in the process, disrupts Mayflower who is lying against her stomach. The cat is less than pleased to be thrown off. But Shinkai pays her no mind, shuffling on her feet in panic. It quickly dawns on her that her human is in danger, so she stands up, her front paws on the door, and barks furiously.
Her barks echo in the apartment loudly, yet Ukyou, whose ears are unrivaled, doesn’t appear at all. She keeps hearing his cries, accompanied by Ryuusui’s grunts, it only drives her to be even more intense. Mayflower obviously doesn’t like this, her tail thumping the floor, so she tries to put a stop to it.
A rough translation of their conversation:
“Stop that. You’re too loud, meow.”
Shinkai does take a break to reply to her. “Don’t tell me what to do! Your human is hurting my human!” Standing back on all four, she squirms on the spot from frustration. “I trusted him, why is he doing this?”
“No one is hurting …I think, meow.” Mayflower licks her paw. “I’ve heard these noises before. Humans make noises like these when they’re connecting to each other. They’re actually having fun, meow.”
Shinkai has some doubts about this, looking at the door.
“Besides, you’ve been making noise all this time but no one came to open the door.” Mayflower stretches her body, then stands upright. “Better stop, it’s useless.”
Saying that, the cat walks away. Shinkai sits dejectedly in place. The truth is, she is never too loud in their home. Growing up with Ukyou, she has been trained to be more quiet. She knows Ukyou dislikes loud noises. But… she can’t let him be in danger, either.
Amidst her troubling canine feelings, a ball made of woven bamboo bounces toward her. The sudden movement instantly catches her attention, and she looks up to find Mayflower in the direction the ball came from. It’s her favorite ball. Shinkai hesitantly leans down and pushes it around with her snout, taking in its familiar smell.
In the end, she gives in to the temptation of ball, and pushes it back. The ball bounces in a clean arc. Mayflower watches it closely, before jumping up and hitting it with her paws. Excited, Shinkai follows the ball to catch it. The noises from the bedroom fade into the background as they become engrossed in their little game of catch.
On the other side of the door, Ryuusui breathes a sigh of relief. Ukyou is squeezing him too good to pull out right now.
“A-ah, Ryuusui—”
Finally, after three long hours, the door to the bedroom slides open. Ukyou, dressed in boxers and an oversized shirt, which its owner put on him, only manages to take one step before a worried golden retriever jumps on him.
“Woah!” He stumbles backward on his weak legs. Thankfully, Ryuusui, whose upper body is completely naked, is right behind him. He catches Ukyou with a chuckle.
“Careful there.”
Flustered, Ukyou mutters a quiet thank you. Meanwhile, Shinkai is sniffing his body to see if anything is wrong, and of course she finds Ryuusui’s scent all over him. The dog turns to Ryuusui, her canine mouth twisting as she growls at him, making full use of her fierce face.
“Wow.” Ryuusui exclaims upon the sight. He chuckles nervously. “She can be quite scary.”
Ukyou can’t believe Shinkai is actually hostile to Ryuusui. The golden retriever has always been friendly toward him like they are kindred spirits. “It’s Ryuusui, Shinkai.” He strokes her head in an attempt to placate her. “Don’t you like him?”
“Haha! That just means this lady cares about you, am I wrong? She’s just trying to protect you.” Ryuusui reaches in order to pet her, but quickly decides against it considering her current attitude toward him. Hmm, this is quite the predicament. He would rather not have his lover’s pet hate him.
Seeing the conflicted look on both of their faces, Ukyou huffs ruefully. “I’m sure she’s just a little shocked.” It hits him then that he really let his dog hear the embarrassing noises he made… god. Ryuusui had him so dizzy that he could barely notice the commotion outside the bedroom. He feels like crawling into a hole. “...It won’t take long for her to get over it.”
Head hung low in shame, he drags his feet over to the rack Shinkai’s bed is placed next to. When Shinkai sees him fiddle with the bag of dog treats, the wrapping crinkling, she perks up immediately, rushing over with her tail wagging idly in anticipation.
Ukyou hands a dog biscuit over to Ryuusui, who has a smile crawling on his face. Bribing, huh?
Ryuusui holds out the bone shaped biscuit. Shinkai hesitates. Her beady eyes stare at it skeptically, but in the end, she can’t resist, and begrudgingly munches on the treat. Ryuusui laughs as the palm of his hand tickles.
Once finished, Shinkai laps at his empty hand. It seems like he has been forgiven. Ryuusui tentatively moves his hand up, and she quietly lets him pat her head.
“Come on.” A rosy cheeked Ukyou tugs on his arm. “Let’s go wash up.”
Cute. Ryuusui chuckles. “Right away.” He follows after Ukyou, then sidles up next to him, resting his hand on the other’s hip and pressing their sides against each other. “How about unboxing those souvenirs I got for you later?”
“Mmm…” Ukyou hums and leans his head on Ryuusui’s broad shoulder. “That was the plan from the beginning.” He mutters in a dreamy voice. “I’m drooling just thinking about it.”
Shinkai and Mayflower trail after their owners, but they are kept out of the bathroom too. Well, at least this room is normally off-limits, unless Shinkai is being given a bath.
Nanami Ryuusui has a secret. Something so private, so scandalous that the press and tabloids can’t know. A secret that only those closest to him are allowed in on—!
He– is– a very clingy sleep hugger. Perhaps it is another way his greed manifests, but he just sleeps better hugging something. Especially since he doesn’t sleep around nearly as much as the media makes it out to be, he has a collection of hug pillows across the residences he owns.
He giddily rubs his face over the soft, orange shampoo scented hair. His hug pillow for today is 173 centimeters tall and equipped with its own heat source. It is firmer than goose down, but a lot more comfortable, and very much priceless.
“Uhm, Ryuusui…?” Ukyou mutters into chest.
“Hm?”
“Do you mind if Shinkai sleeps on the bed?”
As soon as he says that, the mattress dips at the end. Paws pad over their bodies, and a moment later, Ryuusui feels air puffing in his face. Shinkai sniffs his face. She then huffs and moves away, circling on the bed before settling down at their feet.
“I don’t mind, but… does she usually sleep with you?”
“Most of the time, no.”
Hm. His feet feel warm under her big body. “I think she’s still a little wary of me.”
He is responded with a wry laugh. “Maybe she just wants to join in on the sleepover—woah.”
A tinier set of paws lands on his bicep. Mayflower clambers on to him from behind Ryuusui’s back. As she shuffles around inspecting the lump of humans, she gracefully gives both of them a faceful of her fluffy tail.
“Wow.”
“Ahaha…”
She heads for the crook of Ukyou’s knees and kneads the blanket there. Once she is satisfied, she settles down, right above Shinkai. Unlike the golden retriever who is already fast asleep, she starts making work on grooming her fur.
Propped up on his forearm to watch the animals, Ryuusui chuckles. “It’s quite a crowd here.”
Ukyou giggles. “I don’t mind. Although, it might be too hot in summer…”
Ryuusui actually finds their presence endearing, but hm, there will be times he wants to be alone with Ukyou for sure. For now, though, this private, domestic scene makes him feel as if his heart is expanding infinitely.
He pulls Ukyou close. “Good night.” Ryuusui kisses the crown of his head, and Ukyou snuggles close, listening to his heartbeat.
“Mh, good night.”
Just like that, they fall asleep.
Pet profile♪♪
-MG (short for MG-42)-
Stanley’s chihuahua. Big forehead.
Doesn't bark a lot, so that's a relief.