Work Text:
Ritsuka's POV~~~
I pull out my phone and check the time, 5:54pm. I'm meeting Mafuyu here at 6, I told him to meet me outside the festival entrance. I double checked that there was only one too so we don't end up in different places again. This is our first official date, but I'm not completely sure he knows it's a date, I'm just glad he agreed to come with me.
"Uenoyama," I look up to see Mafuyu walking towards me.
"Ready?" I ask him, picking up my bag before we walk towards the ticket booth.
"Yeah."
"Do you want to get food first or check out the booths?"
"What kind of booths?"
"Just different booths selling stuff for the festival. We can buy stuff and stay for the fireworks later, if you want, otherwise I have something else planned."
He takes a moment to think before looking up at me, "no."
"No what?"
"We don't need to stay for the fireworks."
"Ok... are you hungry then? If not then we can look around and eat later." He makes planning a date more difficult than it should be, but that's ok, we have plenty of time.
"Sure."
"Do you know what you want?" I've been saving up money for weeks, "I'm gonna pay for you."
His eyes widen, looking around at the various food booths available. He must find something he likes because he starts walking away. I hurry after him and when I catch up he's already ordering something. The lady working the booth says the total so I get my money out and pay. Shortly afterward we're sitting on a bench sharing a snow cone. As we finish, I stand up to throw away our trash.
"Did you like it?"
"Yeah," he looks up at me and smiles.
"Your tongue is blue," I point out and his face flushes red, "it's... cute though." Mafuyu's face turns even more red at that.
We end up wandering around for a bit, looking at all the different booths set up. Mafuyu has this amused look on his face the whole time and I'd be lying if I said it didn't cause my brain to malfunction. He looks so happy which is a hard sight to find, he's usually staring into space, lost in thought. If only I could get him to open up a little more, but I know expressing feelings is hard for him so I'm not gonna rush him. I know I'll never be able to measure up to Yuki, but the least I can do is be there for Mafuyu to support him however I can.
After an hour of walking around and looking at the booths, talking about whatever came to mind, Mafuyu runs off without saying anything, leaving me to run after him. When I catch up, he's standing and staring at a booth selling stuffed animals. "Wait out here." He points at a bench for me to sit on. Following his instruction, I go and wait for him to finish shopping.
"Uenoyama!" Itaya shouts at me, he and Ueki walk over to where I'm sitting "What are you doing here? Did you come here by yourself? You could have asked us to hang out!"
"I'm here for the festival, just like you, and if I wanted to hang out I would have told you." I tease him, knowing he gets riled up easily.
"Oh? So I guess you don't care about your friends anymore-" He gets cut off by Ueki elbowing him, "Are you here with anyone?" Ueki says while trying to get Itaya to stop whining.
"Oh uh, I'm kind of here on a date." I hope they don't ask questions, it's not like I'm ashamed or anything, but Haruki told us to keep it a secret for the sake of the band. Oh no I probably should have just told them I was here with a friend, now if they see Mafuyu-
"Uenoyama," I turn to see Mafuyu, clearly holding something behind his back. Itaya and Ueki look from Mafuyu to me, back to Mafuyu, back to me, for what feels like ages. Mafuyu looks away, slightly embarrassed before holding out a stuffed animal panda, "this is for you <3."
"So... you're here on a date right?" Itaya smirks, giving me a very knowing stare.
".... yeah," I blush, taking the panda to put it in my bag, Mafuyu sits down next to me.
"So, why don't you tell me more about your date? When did you two start going out? Why didn't you tell us?" Itaya rambles, Ueki grabs his arm and tries to pull him away. "Enjoy your date you two," he winks as they walk away.
I turn to Mafuyu, "thank you, for the panda." He smiles at me which makes my heart melt, "so uh, do you want to stay here? If not I have something else planned too."
"Whatever you want to do, you're the one who planned our date so what's next?"
"Well, I planned it to do what you want, so if you want to stay here we can, but if you're bored we can move on to the next thing."
He thinks for a moment, "let's go to your next thing."
"It's a little far from here, want to walk or take the train?"
"Let's walk."
"Ok, let's go then, it's this way." With that we start walking, it should take about half an hour to get there, hopefully I can keep a conversation going.
Mafuyu's POV~~~
This is fun. Spending time with Uenoyama is fun. I'm having a good time. So why do I feel like there's something off? I shake the thought away, this is a date, I should be focusing on Uenoyama. I wonder where he's taking me, "Uenoyama?"
"Ritsuka." Uenoyama's walking slightly ahead of me so I can't see his face.
"Hm?"
He turns to look at me, "call me Ritsuka, you are my boyfriend after all, you don't need to be so formal."
I can feel the heat rush to my face, I'm sure I'm blushing, "Ritsuka, where are we going?"
"Oh, just... somewhere I thought would be a nice date spot, why? Are you getting nervous?" He smirks.
"No, I just like spending time with you." Now it's Ritsuka's turn to blush. We walk in silence for a few minutes. This would be less awkward if I knew what to talk about, but I'm not the best at making small talk. "Ritsuka," I hold my hand out to him.
"Hm?" He looks at it, then back at me.
"There's no one around, and we're just walking, so I thought we could hold hands..."
"A-are you sure it's ok?"
"Ritsuka, I want to hold your hand."
"Oh." He gets really flustered and I can't help but laugh, it's cute when he's like this. He takes my hand. A few minutes pass before he breaks the silence, "Mafuyu?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell me something about yourself. If you don't want to that's ok, but I figured that since we're together now I should try and get to know you better."
"What do you want to know?" I don't know what to say if I don't know what he's looking for.
"Well... what kind of things do you like?"
"I like you." That makes him blush again.
"T-that's not what I meant..."
"What did you mean then?"
"What do you like to do, like in your free time?"
"Hm... I like playing guitar."
"I already knew that, tell me something else, something I wouldn't know."
"I like to cook." Well, I know how to cook, but it is fun sometimes.
"Oh? You'll have to cook something for me sometime." Ritsuka smirks.
"Well, I- oh." My heart drops when I see where we are, I let go of Ritsuka's hand. Yuki and Ritsuka have something in common...
Ritsuka's POV~~~
"Oh it looks like we're here, it seemed like it would be a popular date spot so I thought I could bring you here. The weather is nice and I brought a blanket so we could watch the sunset together." Something's wrong, he's staring off into space, "Mafuyu?" He doesn't respond. I grab his shoulder and turn him to face me, "Mafuyu? Is everything ok?"
"Yeah."
He's still zoning out, but if something's wrong I don't want to push him and make him uncomfortable. I just walk ahead and set up the blanket, there aren't many other people here so it's pretty private. Mafuyu sits down next to me, staring at the sky. I want to ask him what's wrong but I don't want him to get angry, although maybe talking about it will make him feel better. I look around to see if there's anyone watching before I reach over to take his hand. He looks shocked but doesn't pull away.
I open my bag and get out the panda he won for me earlier, "hey, I think we should give it a name, what do you think?"
"I don't know, it's yours so you should name it."
"Yeah but you won it for me, so I think we should name it together."
"Hm..." He takes a while to think, "Sumi."
"Ok." He smiles a little, but it doesn't last for long, he seems lost in thought.
I lay back on the blanket, Mafuyu stays sitting. I wanted this date to be special, but maybe I did something wrong bringing us here, Mafuyu has been in a weird mood since he saw this beach. I know I said that I didn't want to pressure him into talking, but sometimes that's the best way to get over something, "I can tell something is bothering you, maybe talking about it will help." I sit up and face him.
"It's ok, it's nothing important." He looks away, avoiding my gaze.
"I know you said that talking about your feelings is hard for you, but as your boyfriend I'm here for you, I want you to talk to me." I reach my free hand up to his cheek, turning him to face me, "Mafuyu, please talk to me."
"I- I can't"
"Why not?"
"I just... can't."
"I can't help you through this unless you tell me what's wrong, talking it through might help." I move my hand down from his cheek to grab his other hand.
"It's ok, I'm fine."
"Mafuyu I know you, I can tell that you're not fine, please just tell me what's wrong so I can help. I want to help you. Is this about your past relationship or something? I know you don't like to talk about that but maybe this is the time to just let it out. Actually tell me what happened so I know what to do to be there for you."
"I said I'm fine and I don't want to talk about it!" Mafuyu stands up and starts walking away.
"Mafuyu!" I get up and rush after him, grabbing his arm to make him stop but he doesn't turn around. I move in front of him so he has to look at me, "Mafuyu, why can't you just talk to me?"
"I- I want to but I can't ok?" He's still avoiding my gaze.
"Don't you trust me?"
He stares at me with those eyes, the ones where it looks like he's about to cry, and I know I've said something wrong. "Mafuyu?"
"No. I want to go home." He breaks out of my grasp and walks off.
"Mafuyu? Mafuyu!" I run back to quickly pack up the blanket and grab my bag, running after him again, "Mafuyu!"
"Please, just leave me alone."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong." I take his hands again and sit down on the sand, gently pulling him down with me, "Mafuyu please, I'm here for you, just talk to me."
He stares off for a moment, "I'm sorry, I got out of control, you were just trying to help."
"You trust me right?"
"Yes."
"Ok, then let's start from the beginning, what has you so freaked out about this beach."
We sit there talking for a while. He starts slow, not sure where to start with his story, eventually deciding to just start from the beginning. He talks for a while, opening up more as he gets going. Hearing everything gives a whole new meaning to his song and it makes me want to hear it again.
Eventually it's time to watch the sunset. I get the blanket back out of my bag and lay it out. We sit there in silence for a while. I'm glad I was able to calm him down, otherwise my big plan wouldn't work. I'm not sure if I should do it now or wait until later...
"Ritsuka."
"Hm?"
"Now you're staring into space."
"Oh I was just thinking..."
"About what?"
"Uh..." I dig into my bag and pull out something small, "I wasn't sure when to give this to you but I suppose now works..."
"What is it?"
"Close your eyes first."
"Why?" He looks at me and smirks.
"It's a surprise."
"Ok then." He closes his eyes but keeps a smile on his face.
I take his hand and slip something small onto his finger, "ok open your eyes."
He looks at his hand, "what's this?"
"It's a promise ring, it means that I'll always be here for you. Whenever you need help, you can always come to me and trust me. You can know that I'm here and that I'll be here for you when you need me most." I silently curse myself for being so cheesy saying all this, but it's what I believe and I want him to know that.
"I..." He just stares at the ring. Is he speechless? Does he hate it? I get nervous waiting for a response. Suddenly he leans in and kisses me, nothing big, just a small kiss on the cheek, but it makes my face turn red. "Thank you, Ritsuka," he breaks the silence, "I love you."
I pull him in for a hug, kissing him for real this time, "I love you too." We sit back and watch the sunset, enjoying the other's company. When it gets dark, Mafuyu is the one to break the silence, "we should get going before it gets colder."
"Oh, yeah, I uh, didn't plan this far ahead..."
"Come to my house."
"Wait really, is that going to be ok?"
"Yeah, my mom is out of town too so it will be just us."
"Ok then, let's get going." We get up and I shake out the blanket to put in my bag. My mind is racing, is he planning something? What are we going to do when we get there? We're gonna be alone so anything is possible. I'm not sure what to think. Once we're ready, we start walking in the direction to his house.
No POV~~~
After walking for a while, they finally arrive at Mafuyu’s house. Ritsuka looks around, taking in the familiar sight. Mafuyu unlocks the door and they head inside. They take off their shoes as Kedama runs up to greet them. Both boys stop to pet the little cotton ball before Mafuyu breaks the silence, “you can set your stuff in my room.”
Mafuyu leads the way, with Ritsuka following behind, and Kedama running between the two, excited to see a visitor. Mafuyu walks over to his dresser to grab an extra pair of pajamas, “you can shower first, I’ll set up an extra futon for you to sleep on. Do you need me to show you how the shower works?”
“Oh no that’s fine, I can figure it out.” In reality, he was just nervous to be in a bathroom with Mafuyu, even if it is for an innocent reason.
"Ok, I'm going to set up the room then." Mafuyu went to his closet to grab the extra blankets while Ritsuka made his way to the bathroom.
Once he finished his shower he went to grab a towel, only to see that there was none. Ritsuka sighed, and opened the bathroom door slightly, "uh Mafuyu?"
"Hm?"
"I um, don't have a towel..."
"Oh sorry," he could hear Mafuyu walking closer, "here."
"T-thanks." Ritsuka quickly shut the door and heard footsteps walking away. Great, that was embarrassing. Now all he had to do was get dressed into the clothes Mafuyu gave him. He picked up the shirt, even though it was clean it still smelled like Mafuyu... no now's not the time to be thinking that. He quickly got dressed and dried his hair before heading back to Mafuyu's room, seeing that there was futon set up right next to Mafuyu's bed. "You can take your shower now."
"Ok, you can look around if you want while you wait." Mafuyu said as he was walking toward the bathroom.
Now that Ritsuka was left alone in Mafuyu's room, he started to freak out. How was he gonna be able to sleep next to him, was Mafuyu planning something? It's so hard to tell what he's thinking. Ritsuka sits down on Mafuyu’s bed and decides to take his mind off the current situation by scrolling through his phone. Eventually Mafuyu finishes his shower and walks back into his room, hair still wet.
"You're going to catch a cold if you don't dry your hair." Ritsuka puts his phone down.
"I'll be fine."
"No you gotta dry it, come here I'll dry it for you." It takes him a moment to process what he just said, but it's too late to take it back now.
Mafuyu stands there staring at him for a moment before walking over and sitting on the bed in front of Ritsuka, facing away from him, and handing him a towel. Ritsuka begins to carefully dry Mafuyu’s hair. He can hear the other boy humming softly, it’s actually kinda relaxing listening to him. “Hey, what’s that song you’re humming?”
“Hm? Oh I didn’t even realize I was humming, I’ll stop.”
“No, I mean, I like it, you don't have to stop…” he felt his face flush, at least Mafuyu wasn’t facing him to see it. He spoke too soon though because Mafuyu turned around and looked up at him.
Mafuyu stared for a few seconds before turning around and leaning back, his back pressing up into Ritsuka’s chest. “You’re really cute when you get flustered.”
“W-what? I am not cute.” Hearing Mafuyu say that makes him even more flustered.
“Nope, you’re cute.” Mafuyu laughs, teasing his boyfriend.
“If anything, you’re the cute one.”
“If you say so,” he smirks, even though he knows Ritsuka can’t see it, “I think my hair is dry now.”
“Oh ok.” Ritsuka takes the towel and throws it to the side, not sure what to do next now that Mafuyu is leaning on him. He got an idea, but wasn’t sure if Mafuyu would agree to it. To test it out, Ritsuka wrapped his arms around Mafuyu’s waist, pulling him closer and placing a kiss on his neck. Mafuyu lets out a small sigh that Ritsuka takes as confirmation that what he’s doing is ok.
Mafuyu turns his head the next time Ritsuka goes in for a kiss so that he catches his lips instead. Ritsuka is caught off guard but keeps going anyway. He slowly leans them back until they’re laying on Mafuyu’s bed, with Mafuyu on top of him. Something doesn’t feel right though, he flips them over so he’s laying on Mafuyu instead, which somehow makes things feel less awkward.
Mafuyu lets Ritsuka take the lead, deepening the kiss as their breathing speeds up. Mafuyu can feel Ritsuka’s hands begin to wander, moving up his sides as he wraps his arms around Ritsuka’s neck. They keep going until Mafuyu can feel something pressing into him down below. “Wait” he breaks from the kiss and looks away.
“What’s wrong? Do you want to stop?” Ritsuka looks down at Mafuyu, face full of concern.
“I- I don’t know, I don’t think I can do this, at least not yet. It’s too soon since…” Mafuyu trails off, his eyes starting to water.
“That’s ok, you don't need to say more, I’ll stop. I’m not going to push you into doing something you’re not ready for, whatever the reason may be. I respect your decision.” Ritsuka grabs Mafuyu’s face, planting a kiss on his forehead before moving off him and laying so that the two are on their sides facing each other.
“Thank you.” Mafuyu buries his face into Ritsuka’s chest and hugs him.
Ritsuka wraps his arms around Mafuyu, pulling him closer, “I’m here for you. I’ll support you through everything and we can go at your pace. I know things are still hard for you so I want you to be comfortable.”
“Thank you, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
With that, the two lay there, comforted by the other’s presence, and drift off to sleep.