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Manabe had always known that he was comparatively different from other kids. He was the one who had been labeled ‘the weirdo’, ‘the know-it-all’, ‘the quiet nerd’ — so many different names that he had honestly lost count of how many there were. It had never really bothered him too much, he always chocked it down to people being jealous of him.
Now, he was kinda thinking that they were at least right when the called him a weirdo. Because honestly, what normal person would fall in love with an alien? The only other people he could think of were Minaho and Tsurugi, which only further proved the point rather than disprove it.
Giving a heavy sigh, Manabe grabbed his pillow and shoved his face in it. It had been about six months since the Galaxy Tournament and for the most part, things had gone back to normal for him. The only difference now was the almost crippling hole he felt in his heart that seemed to grow day by day. Ryugel had made a promise that the two of them would see each other again, but he never said just how long he would have to wait.
It was times like this, when his mind was stuck on this topic, that questions and concerns raced through his head. It wasn’t just the distance that was a concern for him – there were a lot of things that he wondered about. He, admittedly, knew very little about the natives of Faram Obius. He didn’t exactly have the time to research or ask questions about things like their culture or their biology, and he never asked either of the Baran brothers either. He didn’t really know too much about them aside from their obvious dimorphism, and even with that the Baran brothers were outliers within their own species.
Manabe shook his head, realizing his mind was starting to trail off the more that he thought. But regardless, there were still a lot of things that he needed to know. What are some of their more personal customs like? Are relationships there like they are on earth, or are they handled differently? Did they have their own unique marriage ceremonies? Okay maybe that last one was Manabe thinking too far ahead like he normally did, but he was the type of person who liked to take as much as he could into consideration. Above all those questions though, there was one in particular that burned in the back of his mind and made his heart twist with pain every time he thought about it…
“How long are their lifespans compared to ours?” He mumbled it under his breath as he rolled over to stare out the window. The stars in the sky were just mere blurry specks of light without his glasses on, which made him wonder why he was even staring in the first place. Maybe it was because looking at the stars brought him comfort. He had always, even when he was younger, saw the night sky as a sign that he was never truly alone. That there were hundreds upon thousands of soft little lights looking down on him.
Fatigue was starting to get the better of him and, giving a yawn, he pulled his covers over his body. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of any distracting thought that might have continued to plague him.
He was close to sleep, when a heavy knock at his window startled him so badly, it felt like he had fallen and hit the ground. Actually, that’s exactly what happened. He had been so badly jolted that he fell right out of his bed.
“O…Ow…” The reaction to the pain was delayed as his mind caught up to him from its past location on the bed. “What the…”
He scrambled for his glasses on the nightstand and put them on, his attention turning to the window. What he saw didn’t calm his nerves any, and he almost screamed in shock at what was in the window.
It was the very person who had been plaguing his thoughts – Ryugel Baran, looking at him through the window with what had to be either the most excited, or the most shit-eating, grin on his face. Given his personality, Manabe wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a mix of the two.
“R-Ryugel!?” Manabe shot up onto his feet and staggered over to the window, opening it so fast he almost twisted his wrist. “What on Earth are you doing here!? How – this is the second floor of my house!”
Ryugel chuckled at that and crossed his arms. “I came here to see my boyfriend, duh!” He replied, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. “Also look at this.” He pointed down at the small levitating platform he was currently standing on. Manabe could only sigh and run his fingers through his hair.
“Y-You came here at...” He paused and his eyes glanced over at his alarm clock. “2:00 in the morning!”
“How were we supposed to know what time it would be when we arrived here on the warp.” Ryugel shrugged. He looked at Manabe and his expression quickly grew pouty. “Geez, I thought you would be happier to see me.” He whined. Manabe opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a few choked stutters.
“I…Well…I…I-I’m happy to see you it’s just…” He adjusted his glasses and diverted his gaze from Ryugel’s childishly pouty face. “It’s really late and unexpected…and I was just thinking about you so I’m even more – “
“You were thinking about me? Aww you really do love me!” Ryugel leaned in, resting his hands on the windowsill. His face was only inches away from Manabe’s now. Manabe looked at him and for a moment forgot what he had been thinking. He was too caught up looking at Ryugel’s beautifully unique eyes to form comprehensive thoughts.
“You dummy, of course I love you…” Manabe’s cheeks flushed a shade of pink that was barely noticeable in the dark room. He brought a hand up and playfully poked the diamond on Ryugel’s forehead, earning a small groan in return.
“I really am sorry for barging in so late. It’s just been really lonely back at home without you…and Gandales felt the same regarding his little detective boyfriend so we both decided to abandon our duties for a while and come over to see you two…” Ryugel sighed a little, the look in his eyes growing so much softer as he looked at Manabe. Bringing one of his hands up, he cupped Manabe’s cheek, his thumb gently tracing across his warm skin. The heat only increased with Manabe’s darkening blush and his rushing pulse.
“Ryugel…”
Ryugel chuckled and leaned in just a little more, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss. It was a lot more tender compared to the kisses that he had given him back on Faram Obius – not that Manabe minded this in the least. He absolutely melted at the soft kiss, his eyes slowly fluttering shut. He brought his hands up and cupped Ryugel’s cheeks in return. He had missed this more than he had thought. He had missed Ryugel more than he thought.
When they broke the kiss, Manabe smiled warmly. “I forgive you…and I’m happy that you came all this way just for me. I’ve been really lonely here, even with all of my friends…”
“Long distance is a real bummer ain’t it?” Ryugel asked as he slowly crawled in through the window. Manabe moved out of the way to allow him access as he made his way inside and gracefully plopped face first onto the floor. Manabe had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.
“Yeah it really is. Also, that’s what you get for scaring me out of bed.”
“Mmm what is it that you humans call it...Karma? Would this be that karma thing?” Ryugel asked as he stood up, making his way over to the chair in front of Manabe’s desk. He plopped down in the chair and Manabe sat down on his bed.
“Yes. That would be karma.” Manabe hummed, crossing his legs.
“I don’t like it.”
“I know you don’t.”
“It’s stupid.”
“Not really.”
Ryugel went quiet for a moment before sticking his tongue out at Manabe. Manabe rolled his eyes, sticking his own tongue out. Usually he wouldn’t allow himself to act this childish around anyone. Maybe it was because of the late time loosening his inhibitions, or maybe it was because Ryugel brought out a side of him that hardly anyone else had ever seen.
Things between them fell silent, but it wasn’t any sort of awkward or uncomfortable silence. It was the type of silence where both were staring at one another, taking in the full weight of their reunion and how long it had been since they had last seen one another. Ryugel didn’t seem too content in the chair, because he quickly moved from the chair to the bedside to sit next to his boyfriend. He took Manabe’s hand in his own and held it firmly, almost tightly. Manabe leaned against his shoulder and nuzzled up to him, enjoying how he was just a little warmer than any human would be.
“This is nice…we didn’t really get a chance like this on Faram Obius…” Ryugel mumbled.
“We really didn’t….” Manabe whispered in return. He glanced down at their hands and moved to tangle their fingers together. “How long do you two plan on staying here on Earth…”
“That depends…how long do you want us to stay?” Ryugel asked with a chuckle. Manabe pursed his lips together and shifted a little.
“Forever, preferably.”
This seemed to catch Ryugel off guard. He looked at Manabe with shock, his eyes wide. However, his expression soon relaxed and softened. He pulled his hand away from Manabe’s, turning his body a little so he could pull him into a tight hug. Manabe quickly returned the hug, wrapping his arms tightly around Ryugel. He buried his face in his shoulder, fingers gripping tightly to the fabric of his loose, casual clothes.
“Hey…one day that’s gonna be a reality, y’know that right?” Ryugel whispered reassuringly in Manabe’s ear. His hand calmly ran through his lilac hair, playing with the ends just a little. “You’ll be able to live with me on Faram Obius…or I can come and live here with you on Earth. I…I know it’s probably silly to think that far ahead when really we’re just kind of getting started but...”
“No…I understand…because I think about these things all the time. It is kind of silly…but I can’t help but be a little idealistic…and I really love you. There…I have so many things I want to ask you, so many things that I still don’t know!” He pulled away from the embrace to look Ryugel in the face. His expression was contorted with uncertainty and worry, which in turn caused Ryugel to adopt a similar look.
“Don’t worry too much okay…we can talk more about it when your sun has risen and its daytime!” He poked Manabe on the forehead, mirroring his actions from earlier. “You have bags under your eyes so you must be tired, yes? Also, nothing ever comes from getting into really heavy discussions at this time of night. I mean we’ve already talked enough I think and I don’t really want it to get any heavier because then you just get emotional and you might start crying and I don’t want you to cry, because it would make me upset and I just might cry, and no one wants that. We’ll just get itchy eyes and stuffy noises and our heads will start to hurt. So, I think we should just – “
He was cut off from his rambling by a quick kiss on the lips from Manabe. He froze in place for a moment and effectively shut up.
“Ranting is also something common when you’re sleep deprived. Then again, you have a bit of a motor mouth anyway.” Manabe teased, mumbling against his lips.
Ryugel’s cheeks turned a deep shade of violet, but he didn’t try to argue this. He only crossed his arms, looking incredibly childish once more.
“Y-Yeah well…shut up….” Ryugel grumbled. Manabe giggled and nuzzled against him apologetically.
“Sorry.”
“You’re right, but you shouldn’t point it out…” Ryugel nuzzled him back. “Okay maybe I’m a little tired because I was so excited about seeing you that I didn’t really sleep the night before we decided we were going to leave…”
“Looks like we are both in the same boat then…”
“But we’re not in a boat?”
Manabe’s glasses went a little skewed on his face. “T-That’s just a saying here on Earth…it means that we are both in a similar situation.”
“Oh…” Ryugel didn’t look like he really understood it, even with the explanation. “Earth sayings are so strange…” He pulled back and laid down on Manabe’s bed, crawling under the covers.
“H-Hey what do you think you are doing?”
“Going to sleep?”
“But this is my bed!”
“And?”
Manabe shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair again. “Do you have any idea how much my mom will freak out if she comes in my room in the morning and there is some weird uninvited alien guy snuggled up to her son in his bed.”
“…Do you really think she’ll think I’m weird…?”
“Augh! That’s not the point here!! My parents don’t know I’m dating you!”
“Make up some excuse for now. I don’t like sleeping on floors.” Ryugel shrugged his shoulders. “This bed is big enough that we can both share it and have some wiggle room away from each other, so it can’t end up being that weird…”
Manabe went quiet, unable to argue against Ryugel. He was too tired for that at this point. “I…I guess you’re right…” He slipped off his glasses and crawled under the covers. Ryugel’s comment about the space lost any weight to it within a matter of seconds, because the alien quickly scooted close to wrap his arms around Manabe.
“Wiggle room, huh?” Manabe scoffed, but wasn’t complaining. He knew that he probably had a lot of explaining to do to his parents soon, but for now he was way too tired to really worry about it too much. He just wanted to be close to his warm boyfriend.
“Mmm yeah…wiggle room…” Ryugel mumbled, nuzzling his face in Manabe’s soft hair. Manabe smiled and nuzzled close to Ryugel. He could hear the soft thumping of his heart beating – a perfect lullaby.
“If I wasn’t so tired…I’d complain…but…ah what’s the point…”
“There is none…now go to sleep Jinichirou…”
Manabe took in a sharp breath at the use of his first name, his heart fluttering happily in his chest.
“Yeah…hey…tomorrow we should get together with your brother and Minaho…we can go on a double date or something…”
“Heh…that sounds like fun…I wouldn’t mind that at all…”
“Perfect…” Manabe closed his eyes, feeling himself starting to drift off. “It’s settled then…”
“We’re gonna have a lot of fun together…”
“Yeah…I…I love you, Ryugel…”
“I love you too…”
Manabe let out a content sigh. He had a lot to look forward to in the next coming days. He knew there was going to be a lot of things they would need to talk about, but for now, he was just going to enjoy this. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to last, so he was going to make damn sure he would enjoy every moment of it.
Their relationship may have been the most strange and unconventional, but he had hope. He knew in his heart that they would make it work, somehow.
Ah, but he didn’t want to think anymore. So, he decided to shut off his brain and peacefully drift off to sleep, secure in Ryugel’s arms.