Chapter Text
“Tsukasa-kun, if you don’t hurry up I'm going to leave you behind~!”
Hearing the familiar teasing tone, Tsukasa stopped fussing with his shoulder bag and grabbed the handle of his suitcase before running off after the retreating Rui.
“Don’t you dare! If you leave me behind I'll haunt you when I die!”
Tsukasa’s feet carried him quickly up next to Rui’s side, a pout resting comfortably on his face as if it belonged there. Rui on the other hand, couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him upon seeing Tsukasa’s reaction. The two were currently in London for a vacation; Tsukasa hadn’t been too sure about it at first having only traveled rarely and compared to his French, his English was rather lacking. Still, Rui had insisted that Tsukasa come with him since he wasn’t doing anything over his summer break anyway. ‘And besides,’ he had said. ‘Who doesn’t want to travel the world with their significant other?’
He still flushed when he thought about it for too long…dating Rui that is. When Rui confessed to him, it wasn’t extravagant. Rui had come to Tsukasa’s apartment during his finals week as a surprise, supposedly because he could tell that their great leader was stressing out. This was not untrue, Tsukasa had been bogged down with a paper and because of that he was having problems studying for another class. Rui coming to stay for a couple days actually helped a lot, with his help Tsukasa managed to submit his paper a good 30 minutes before midnight that night.
They had only been laying down for about an hour, talking back and forth in the dark on Tsukasa’s bed when Rui dropped it on him out of nowhere it seemed. ‘You know, Tsukasa-kun?’ he said. ‘There was another reason I came out here.’
‘Oh yeah? What other reason?’ Tsukasa had replied, setting his phone back on the nightstand and rolling over to face Rui again.
‘To tell you that I love you, Tsukasa-kun. Some things are better said in person don’t you think?’
‘Yeah I gue- wait huh?!’
He’d sat up at that, looking at Rui as if he had grown a second head. Rui loved him? The man had said it with such ease that Tsukasa almost got swept up in the flow without even questioning the content of his words.
‘I said ‘I love you,’ Tsukasa-kun.’ Rui reiterated, smiling faintly in amusement as he watched Tsukasa’s face change colors in the dark. He figured Tsukasa felt similarly, but doubted that the star-to-be would ever say it himself.
Tsukasa had spent the next three minutes fumbling over his words and putting up with Rui’s teasing before he managed to say it back. He did love Rui afterall, but as Rui predicted, never planned on saying anything. Tsukasa didn’t want to get in the way of Rui traveling and Tsukasa still had another year before he could graduate so he would be busy. He wasn’t too keen on the long distance thing but ultimately decided that if he could make it work with anyone it would be Rui.
So that was that, and now they were following one of Rui’s whims together. Pulling himself out of the memory he walked closer to Rui and grabbed the others free hand with his own. The taller of the two didn’t do more than hum before taking the opportunity to lace their fingers together.
“Aren’t you bold, Tsukasa-kun. I thought you were mad at me~?”
“Stuff it! I just…don’t want to get lost in the crowd is all.” Tsukasa protested a bit but it was little more than an excuse. He really did just want to hold Rui’s hand, it was like a tangible reminder that this was all real and he wasn’t dreaming the past 2 months up.
Rui wound up taking care of their check in since for all of Tsukasa’s confidence, he couldn’t bring himself to overcome the anxiety of screwing up his English. He made a mental note to try and convince Rui that France was also a good get away option, then it could be his turn to show off. Once they had gotten settled in their room the two left almost immediately so that they could try out the cafe that Tsukasa had found while he was doing some pre-trip research. It was a nice little place and they spent a good amount of time there discussing what the plans were from tomorrow onwards. By the time they had left it was well into the evening and the long flight was finally catching up to Tsukasa.
A yawn escaped him despite his best efforts, and when he rubbed at his eyes Rui thought that perhaps he did die or something to be able to see something this cute. He had to admit however that the jetlag was catching up to himself as well.
“Alright , Alright~ We’ll head back to the hotel soon so that the young master can sleep!”
“Who’re you calling ‘young mas-” even though he wanted to retort, another yawn forced itself out of him. Damn.
Despite the intent to get back to the hotel quickly so that the two could get some much needed rest, they found themselves moving slowly. The nightlife of the city was interesting to say the least and they could hear the sounds of laughter from inside the bars along the street. Neither of them were big drinkers so they hadn’t made any plans to visit one but Tsukasa could easily imagine what was going on inside. Some of his University friends would go out to drink and he would tag along on occasion, it couldn’t be the exact same but he assumed it would be similar.
“Hey, Rui…”
“Hm? What is it, Tsukasa-kun? You’re not going to tell me you’re suddenly too tired to walk are you? Not that I would mind carrying you~”
Tsukasa punched Rui’s arm in retaliation, apparently deciding that would be where he was drawing the line.
“I’m not that weak!” He shouts, though honestly he wouldn't be opposed to being carried.
“Yes yes, I know. So what did you want to say?”
“...Thanks for bringing me with you, and…” Tsukasa couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore and instead decided to focus on the sidewalk in front of them. He could see their hotel approaching in the distance, soon they would be able to rest and recover. Something Tsukasa felt like he would need.
“Thanks for loving me, I guess?”
Honestly he didn’t think he would ever really get to experience that, not that he went out of his way to look but still. He was an eccentric, with a massive ego and could be incredibly self centered and selfish. He could work well with others when he had to but tended to suffer from main character syndrome. Overall he considered himself a rather difficult person to love, especially given his mental health issues. Yet Rui had said he’d fallen in love with him, of all people despite the long list of flaws. Tsukasa was glad that the person he did end up falling in love with was Rui. It was only after the silence stretched on for a little too long that Tsukasa looked over to Rui again. The taller man was quiet, staring at Tsukasa while they walked and blinking in what appeared to be confusion.
“Rui?”
Hearing his name seemed to pull the other out of his stupor and an easy going smile settled onto his face.
“Tsukasa-kun is really cute, you know that?”
Tsukasa found himself pouting all over again at the comment, but he clearly enjoyed the compliment given the tinge of redness to his cheeks.
“Shut up about it already…! I’m being serious here!”
“I know, I know. I am too~ I’m both honored and grateful that you chose to come with me; and i’m forever over the moon that you returned my affections. Though, I do have to wonder what on earth is going on in your head that prompts you to suddenly drench me in such genuine thanks.”
“Nothing much, I was just thinking about the past year.”
“Well don’t worry, I love Tsukasa-kun even with his incredibly messy floors and a laptop screen that hasnt been wiped down in at least 4 months ~”
Tsukasa couldn’t help but get into a playful banter with Rui over the state of his room, which admittedly was pretty bad, Rui had made a comment as he was leaving his visit about coming back to help sort it out. Though Tsukasa had to point out that Rui’s room would forever be worse than his own. The walk back to the hotel felt shorter now that the conversation had picked up and soon enough they were back in their room, crawling in bed for the night. Tsukasa laid their for all but maybe five minutes before shuffling himself over and settling himself into Rui’s arms. There was a puff of tired laughter from Rui before he adjusted to a more comfortable position and soon the two drifted off to sleep.
Tomorrow was another day, and it would be another day spent with him.