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Faint music and the scent of food filled Korekiyo and Rantaro’s shared apartment. It was a Saturday evening, less than a day after getting back from their last adventure halfway across the world from home. No luck finding one of Rantaro’s sisters, not this time, and Korekiyo hadn’t learnt much else about the locals he had spoken to, but that was no matter at the moment, the both of them jet-lagged to all hell and attempting to recover from their trip. They had plenty of time to try again in the future, but for now, living in the present was what the both of them needed.
That wasn’t always possible.
Korekiyo was laying with his head on Rantaro’s lap, the adventurer braiding and unbraiding his hair repeatedly as he hummed along to the music playing from the kitchen. He would occasionally pause, grab some of the food off of his plate from nearby, and offer some to Korekiyo before resuming exactly what he was doing before. Korekiyo himself had a book in his hands, absentmindedly skimming the pages as he flipped back and forth between chapters. It wasn’t holding his attention very well, but Rantaro certainly wasn’t going to call him out on it. He never did, not when Korekiyo was lost in thought like that. The soft light of a lamp on their end table illuminated the room, barely shedding enough light for Korekiyo to make out Rantaro’s neat handwriting on the map on their coffee table. Korekiyo wasn’t wearing his mask, but miraculously, he didn’t feel unsettled by it, not with Rantaro, anyway. Ever since he had gotten rid of his old mask (that wound was still fresh), he had taken to wearing various other things around his face. It was just too much of a hassle to do it around Rantaro, and with how much he trusted him, it didn’t really matter.
The domestic scene in their living room was almost perfectly unmarred by outside factors. It appeared to just be a lazy night between two friends, but it was that label that was bothering Korekiyo. He understood that this should have been a moment of bliss, of relaxation before their next trip one week from then, but some thoughts had managed to worm their way into his mind…
It had started that morning. For once, Korekiyo had convinced Rantaro to take a plane and not his family’s boat, and they finally got off their flight at about eight in the morning. It had been a fairly long one, and Rantaro was still half asleep when they walked hand in hand off of the plane. Fortunately, Korekiyo had been awake for hours and was perfectly capable of watching out for the both of them. As they walked towards the edge of the terminal, Korekiyo vaguely registered a thump as something behind them hit the ground, but he kept walking, right up until he heard someone behind him.
“Sir!” A woman’s voice called after them, and Korekiyo paused, Rantaro stumbling ever so slightly further at the sudden stop. He groaned, letting his head thunk against Korekiyo’s shoulder as the anthropologist turned. A flight attendant was holding Rantaro’s phone. “Sorry! I think this is your husband’s!”
“My… husband?” Korekiyo cocked his head to the side, but took the phone regardless. “Ah, you must mean my travel partner. Yes, this is his, I sincerely thank you.”
The attendant’s face turned red as she rescinded her hand. “A-Ah, I see, terribly sorry! I just assumed with all the rings he was wearing, one of them must be… sorry again! Have a wonderful day!” she hurried off right back to her post. Korekiyo raised one eyebrow as he continued walking, and Rantaro took his phone out of his hand.
“Did I not tell you to keep that with you?” Korekiyo scolded lightly, thinking nothing of the interaction that had taken place moments ago.
“Technically, husband,” Rantaro replied, slipping the phone into his pocket, “you told me not to leave it on the plane. I don’t remember getting any instruction after that. Pull your scarf up, by the way.” Korekiyo sighed softly, pulling up the edge of the scarf he was wearing. Rantaro was right, it had gotten a little lower on his nose than he usually preferred.
“Thank you, but you don’t need to refer to that. Did you see how embarrassed that girl looked? Poor thing…”
“Relax, she’ll be fine, Kiyo, she probably just assumed that two people so hot had to be married to each other.” Korekiyo once again became aware of just how much they were touching, Rantaro’s head on his shoulder and their fingers intertwined with one another. He could feel each of Rantaro’s rings, just as warm as his hand. With a squeeze, Korekiyo let go of him entirely, his hand going back to the strap of his own bag.
“No matter. I believe there’s a Starbucks in here… if you’d like to partake, that is. I can pay for us.”
“Over my dead body, Shinguji, c’mon,” Rantaro started walking a bit faster, then paused, groaning softly. “Jesus, we’re taking the boat next time.”
“Understood,” Korekiyo followed just slightly behind him, and when he started to fall behind, he grabbed the loop on Rantaro’s backpack to keep up. They walked right into the coffee shop like that, and neither of them were really conscious of the people around them staring. They had gotten used to it by now; with how often they were touching, and how Korekiyo tended to dress, it wasn’t all that uncommon, and they just thought nothing of it by this point.
Rantaro went right up to the counter, and Korekiyo let go of his backpack. As his hand went into his pocket to grab his wallet, Rantaro intercepted it and held it between them. Rantaro spoke as soon as they were greeted at the counter. “Hey, good morning, could I get… uh, shoot, Kiyo, what’s the thing I usually get called? I’m blanking, it’s the ridiculously sweet one.”
“I believe it’s a cotton candy frappuccino.”
“Well, damn, that sounds right. I’ll take that, and a chai latte, but could you replace the water with milk and add extra chai?”
The barista behind the counter blinked, but he put in the order regardless. “Yep, we can do that. For you, sir?” He turned his attention to Korekiyo.
“Oh, no, the latter order is mine. Thank you.”
“I see. That’ll be out in just a minute, then, could I get a name for the order?”
“Amami,” Rantaro handed his card over, holding Korekiyo’s hand just a bit tighter as he did. The barista swiped it and handed it back, and with that, went off to work on their drinks. The second he was gone, Rantaro pulled a decent sum of loose cash out of his pocket, dropping it in the tip jar, then walking them over to a table. Korekiyo complied as Rantaro pulled their interlocked hands up onto the table, elbows resting on its surface so that the adventurer could place his forehead against their closed fists. “Geez…”
“Poor, sweet, seafaring Rantaro, hm?” Korekiyo teased, his eyes just barely betraying the smile behind his scarf. Rantaro pouted, not truly offended, but not perfectly pleased, either.
“My ears still haven’t popped, and my back hurts from sleeping in a chair like that. Perfectly good boat at our disposal, and you wanna fly.”
“It’s faster, you know that. Occasionally, one must suffer in order to achieve what they desire… you’re also acting like a bit of a baby, don’t you think?”
“Eloquence into snark,” Rantaro chuckled, warm breath ghosting across Korekiyo’s knuckles. “You’re a real treasure, y’know that? Never change.” A warmth spread across Korekiyo’s cheeks; he had never been great with compliments, especially vague ones like that. Right as he was about to ask him to elaborate, Rantaro’s name was called from the counter. He groaned again, letting his cheek rest against their hands as he looked towards Korekiyo. “I pay, you fetch?”
“Well…” Korekiyo met Rantaro’s eyes for a moment. Those damned puppy dog eyes. Korekiyo had yet to figure out what it was about them yet, but he couldn’t help but feel a slight guilt when he saw them. “I do not approve of your choice of words, but… since you’re feeling under the weather, I’ll go. Just this once,” and every other time in the future, he noted internally. A massive grin spread across Rantaro’s face, and he finally let go of Korekiyo’s hand. He instantly felt colder, and he hurried up to the counter to get their drinks.
Once he got up there, a different barista, a teenage girl, handed him their cups. “Hey, I have a question for you! That guy over there, the one that knew your order better than he did his own, he’s with you, right?”
“...Yes?” Korekiyo took both of them out of her hands. It really hadn’t struck him as odd that Rantaro had managed to remember his order, but not his own, but now that she pointed it out... “My apologies, is there a problem with me retrieving our drinks rather than him?”
“No, no, that’s fine, we saw you guys come in together. Are you two dating?”
“Oh, that’s all? No, we are travel partners. That’s funny, though, you make the second person that has assumed we’re engaged in a romantic partnership, though…” Korekiyo’s voice trailed off, dying in his throat. They had been mistaken for a couple before, it wasn’t entirely uncommon, but never this direct. “I’m sorry to disappoint.”
“Darn!” she let out a laugh, almost causing him to drop his latte. “It’s fine. We had a bet in the back to see who gets the extra dollar off of your friend’s tip. Thanks anyway. Have a great day!”
“And you as well,” Korekiyo gave her a sort of awkward nod, then returned to their table, sitting across from Rantaro. Rantaro started to thank him when he did, but Korekiyo beat him to it. “Rantaro, why did you know my order, but not yours?”
“Oh, that?” the adventurer took the frappuccino from his hand, taking a sip from it. As he spoke, he started to intertwine their hands once again. “I dunno. It’s just memorable, I guess.”
“Yes, but your order is literally only three words long. No modifications, and that is what you get every single time.”
“Fine, fine, you got me. I have your Starbucks order tattooed on the inside of my wrist, and I read it every spare moment I have, just to think of you. Happy?”
“You don’t have a tattoo on your wrist,” Korekiyo replied immediately, only thinking to look at his wrist after. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t tell, as Rantaro was wearing long sleeves and his bracelets anyway, but he was certain that there wasn’t a tattoo there.
“And why have you studied my wrist enough to know that, huh, Shinguji?” Rantaro grinned, earning a slightly annoyed huff from Korekiyo. “C’mon, just drink your latte so we can get home.”
“Fine. I retract my line of questioning, but I do think the situation you’ve proposed is a false equivalency, Amami,” he replied coolly, shooting Rantaro a leer as he started to drink his coffee. Rantaro laughed at him, gnawing on his straw as he spoke.
“Y’know, I’m still not used to seeing you eat or drink with something on your face like that. I don’t get how you do it… Whatever. Pretty cool. Why are you so worried about it, Kiyo?”
“The barista mentioned it, and it seemed peculiar once she pointed it out. She also asked if we were dating, though, which is even stranger.”
“That’d be the second one today, huh?” Rantaro’s grip shifted around his hand. “We don’t have to be so touchy if that’s bothering you.”
“It’s not necessarily bothering me, I just find it odd. Do we really look like a couple?” Granted, they were usually touching, they could talk to each other for hours on end, they were in the midst of travelling the world together, and this did look suspiciously like a date, so maybe…
“Eh. Nah,” Rantaro shrugged. “I think people just expect us to be ‘together’ because we’re always together, if that makes sense. You wanna know what I find weird?” Rantaro didn’t have to let Korekiyo respond. Whenever he asked something like that, he never did, he just knew the specific look of intrigue Korekiyo got on his face. “I think it’s weird that all of them think I could score someone as pretty as you, like, c’mon.”
Korekiyo scoffed. “Don’t discredit yourself, Rantaro, you’re quite handsome as well. You’re just saying that.”
“No, no, seriously! I have the prettiest travel partner in the world!” Korekiyo could feel a blush creeping up his neck, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the baristas whispering amongst themselves. They must have heard. “But, you know what the prettiest travel partner in the world would do for me right about now, right?”
“Enlighten me,” Korekiyo replied, trying to keep his voice from wavering. Rantaro’s face spread into a massive grin, and slowly, he leaned forward, across the table, in a manner that was magnetic enough to draw Korekiyo closer to him as well… until Rantaro’s empty cup was set between them.
“Throw my cup away?”
“Oh, you absolute rogue!” Korekiyo huffed, pulling away from him entirely and using his now free hand to pick up the cup. Rantaro was laughing again, standing up and following Korekiyo to the trash can, then out of the store entirely. He linked their pinkies together the second they were out.
“You’re not actually mad at me, are you? You give your poor partner jet lag, then you get mad at him when he’s bein’ a lazy jerk? Some nerve you got there,” he murmured. He didn’t need to talk any louder, Korekiyo could hear him just fine, despite the crowded airport. He sighed, heading outside towards their car.
“Ah, yes, how cruel of me, knowing my value and treating you as my equal. I’ll make sure to pamper you as soon as we get home, would that make up for it?” he took the driver’s seat- he had the keys in his pocket anyway, and he didn’t trust Rantaro to drive like this- and started the car as Rantaro climbed in and laid across the backseat.
“Damn right,” Rantaro’s arm fell across his eyes, shielding him from the sun as Korekiyo drove them back to their apartment in companionable silence. It’s not that they really needed to talk about anything at the moment, and Korekiyo was fine with the light tapping of Rantaro’s nails on his phone screen as he typed. They were almost home when he broke the silence once more. “Hey, two of my sisters invited us to dinner tomorrow. Do you want to come with? I know you have an appointment with your therapist tomorrow, so you can skip out if you need the time at home to relax after.”
Korekiyo blinked. He had completely forgotten about that. “Thank you for the reminder. Are you sure I can intrude?” To intrude may have been a strong choice of words. Out of the few sisters that he and Rantaro had managed to find over their travels (with the occasional help of Shuichi’s detective work), they seemed to take a liking to him almost immediately. There had been several occasions where they interrupted Rantaro mid-story in order to ask Korekiyo for one of his, or for his perspective on the same event, and each and every time, it made him feel appreciated, even if Rantaro was a little bugged by it. They were nothing short of welcoming to him, and they had grown on him almost as much as Rantaro had over time.
“My phone’s set up to remind me, no big deal, and you wouldn’t be intruding, they specifically asked for you to come. Besides, each of them are going to have their boyfriends there, so they said I ‘might as well bring mine.’”
“Do they think we’re dating, too?” Korekiyo almost looked back at Rantaro, then, remembering what he was doing, kept his eyes on the road instead. He heard typing, then a notification.
“Well, one of them said ‘yes’ with five question marks and the other one said ‘I know you’re not, but I think you should’. Huh. Well, same question, then, triple date with them and me?”
“...Yes. Regardless, I would still like to attend,” it was starting to bother him now. It wasn’t that he hated the idea of being with Rantaro, but instead that everyone assumed that it was true without asking. That wasn’t how that should go; if they wanted information, they could easily just ask, he thought to himself. He was quickly reminded, however, of the barista who had asked him earlier, only to receive a similar bewilderment on his part.
“Perfect. It’s some sort of world culture themed place, doesn’t look too shabby. I think you’ll like it.”
“That… does sound quite exciting, actually. Let them know that I look forward to it, please,” at that moment, Korekiyo parked the car in front of their apartment complex, and he climbed out with both his and Rantaro’s backpacks. That was all they had brought, all they really needed, and Rantaro was still texting as he got out.
“Uh… they say ‘he better’ and ‘great, me too!’ with a smiley face, respectively,” with that, he took his backpack out of Korekiyo’s hand and walked at his side. The afternoon once they got inside wasn’t much, just tossing their dirty clothes in the laundry, ordering lunch at one point or another, and heating the rest of it back up when they were too tired to make dinner. Then, here they were now, the book having fallen to Korekiyo’s chest as he stared off into space. He found it ironic that the earlier joke of Korekiyo pampering Rantaro once they got home turned into Korekiyo having his hair played with while Rantaro fed him from his plate. It was so… tender, at least to him. It was a sort of intimacy he hadn’t felt in a long time, and at least this time didn’t have an underlying sense of wrongness.
He heard a Snapchat notification go off on Rantaro’s phone, and one hand pulled away from his hair in order to grab it. The other continued combing through it, close to his scalp and threatening to put Korekiyo to sleep then and there. “Hey, Kiyo?” he heard from above him, and he heard a soft ‘hm?’ escape his lips almost unconsciously. “I told my sisters that we’re just kinda laying here together when they asked what I was doing, and they’re kinda badgering me for proof. Is it okay if I take our picture?”
“Why wouldn’t it- oh. My mask,” he brought a hand up from the cover of his book to gently touch his own cheek. It squished lightly under his hand, but it felt foreign to him, almost strange. He still wasn’t used to his cold, thin hands not meeting fabric whenever he touched his face. His hand fell back down to his chest, and while it made him somewhat uncomfortable, it was still him… “I suppose it’s fine. Just one, though, alright?”
“Mmkay,” Rantaro hummed softly, holding out his phone to take a selfie of them. Korekiyo held his breath, making no effort to change his expression until Rantaro’s hand gently came to rest over his mouth and nose. He could see on the screen that the usual parts of his face were covered perfectly, yet he could still breathe perfectly fine. His eyes widened slightly, and Rantaro took the picture. It looked… serene. Rantaro wasn’t smiling, either, but he didn’t look mad, just relaxed. Korekiyo could see a dusting of red across his cheeks above Rantaro’s fingers, and his hair was fanned out beneath him. “Oh, damn. Do you mind if I keep that one? I like it a lot.” Korekiyo nodded, and Rantaro quickly saved the picture to his camera roll before pulling the phone out of Korekiyo’s line of sight once again. He craned his neck to look back at him once Rantaro’s hands didn’t come back to his hair, and he noticed that he didn’t seem to be typing.
“Did you send the picture to them?” he asked. Rantaro lowered the phone to look at him, then brought it right back up.
“Yep. No response yet, but I think I’m gonna replace my home screen with this picture.”
“Your home screen?” Korekiyo sat up, turning to face him. He folded his legs beneath him and watched Rantaro. Rantaro didn’t seem to mind. “Why would you make that a picture of you and I when you could make it you and your sisters? Or somewhere you’ve traveled?”
“We were already on my home screen, Kiyo, I just like that picture. I put my sisters in a collage as my lock screen.” Korekiyo just sat there for a moment, completely stunned. What could have possibly driven him to that? While he ran through every single possibility in his head, Rantaro looked up at him and chuckled softly. “Do you forget that I can see your facial expressions without a mask? Your mouth’s hanging open, don’t look so shocked. You’re my best friend.”
Korekiyo shut his mouth abruptly. There was a moment of hesitation, a staredown between the two of them as Korekiyo’s back straightened. “I wanted to ask you something about that, actually. I believe we need to have a discussion.”
Rantaro’s face fell. The joking tone was immediately gone, and he mirrored Korekiyo’s posture, dropping his phone into his lap immediately. “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all, Rantaro, I was just wondering, thinking, you know, and I- well, I had this thought, and,” the words were getting caught in Korekiyo’s throat. Usually so eloquent, now incapable of forming a coherent thought. He could hear his voice going higher and higher as he got flustered, his eyes heading up away from Rantaro and towards the ceiling until he felt a warm set of hands lock with his. He looked right back down, lips parted and eyes wide in shock.
Rantaro was holding both of his hands tightly, and he had leaned forward ever so slightly. Green eyes full of concern locked on gold, momentarily grounding him. “Hey. Whatever you’re about to say, it’s fine. I understand if we need to have an adult conversation, alright?”
“...Alright,” Korekiyo swallowed his anxieties, if only for a moment. “I was wondering if we were… romantically involved.”
“Romantically involved?” Rantaro raised an eyebrow. “Like, a couple? Why?”
“Well, you called tomorrow’s dinner a triple date. Everyone thinks I’m your boyfriend already, and we’re constantly touching. I’m quite fond of it, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be normal, but it seems to give everyone else the wrong idea.”
“I see…” Rantaro gave Korekiyo’s hands a light squeeze, breaking eye contact with him. “Well… I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. I think you’re super attractive, obviously, but I’m just comfortable being around you. I wouldn’t mind travelling the world with you forever, y’know?”
“Ah… myself as well, I suppose,” Korekiyo followed his gaze down to Rantaro’s lap, but he managed to snap himself out of it. “Not the point. I didn’t ask if you wanted to be, I asked if we are.”
“Hm?” Rantaro looked up once more. “I mean, sure. It makes more sense than not, doesn’t it? I’ve had less involved relationships with my girlfriends in the past. I think the only difference between us and a couple is a label and maybe some tongue-to-tongue by this point.”
Korekiyo felt his face flush. “Never say that to me again.” Rantaro let out a laugh, the loudest sound either of them had heard in hours, and Korekiyo’s heart started to melt as he watched.
“Man, you’re pretty cute whenever you get all flustered like that. All dead serious and stuff, but not intimidating,” his laughter died down after a few moments, and a silence hung over the room once again. “...Are you okay with entering a romantic relationship? I don’t know how therapy’s going, dealing with ‘you know what’ and stuff. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“Therapy’s going perfectly fine. I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t sound enough to try,” that wasn’t a lie, either, and he took pride in that. All that pain and healing had finally culminated to this. “I feel comfortable with you as well. You provide me with a certain safety I’ve never truly been granted, Rantaro. You feel like… like…”
“Like home, right?” Rantaro finished, summing up every racing thought in Korekiyo’s head with just three words. When Korekiyo didn’t answer immediately, though, Rantaro kept talking. “Safety, somewhere to come back to, warmth, everything you like about the world… home. Like we could be anywhere in the world together, not just our apartment or this city, and it would all be the same because it’s you and I, right?”
“...If that’s what you mean, then yes. I suppose you feel like home. I want you, Rantaro. I understand that we’re partners already, but would you mind if we became partners in a different form, officially this time?”
“Partners…” Rantaro thought for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip. “Yeah, I like that. Boyfriend seems too childish for you. I wanna be your partner, Korekiyo, as long as you’ll be mine.”
“Then I suppose that settles it,” Korekiyo’s face had broken out into a wide smile at some point, but he didn’t really remember when. He could feel that he was positively beaming, though, and it felt fantastic. He was damn close to tears, sheer relief at this gnawing feeling in his chest finally fading to a warmth. “Pardon, but I’m not sure if my experience in this category would be truly suitable, what exactly should we do other than what we do already?”
“Well, I was thinking we start with you letting me hold you again.”
“That’s fairly normal for us, is it not?”
“It is, I just wanna do it. C’mere, partner,” the way Rantaro said it, it sounded almost cowboy-esque. No matter. Korekiyo fell right into Rantaro’s open arms, wrapping his own around the adventurer’s neck as Rantaro’s took their place around his lower back. Head on his shoulder, he looked up at him, their faces mere inches from one another. “Man…”
“Is something wrong?” Korekiyo took a moment to study Rantaro’s face, each and every detail as close as possible. Other than the usual, he looked absolutely starstruck, and a dumb grin spread across his features.
“Literally, the second you’re okay with it, you’re gonna be lavished in all the compliments and kisses either of us can stand. Hold me to that. I mean it.”
“I don’t know if I can handle that much at the moment, but I wouldn’t mind an insight into what you mean. One of each, alright?” Rantaro’s face lit up, and barely a second later, his lips were on Korekiyo’s. Gently, slowly, Rantaro allowed the anthropologist to get used to it, or so he thought. Even when Korekiyo got ahold of himself, air coursing through his lungs again, Rantaro didn’t make an effort to go any faster. It was certainly different than what he was used to, no push to proceed, no urging ever forward, just something sweet, almost innocent. In the end, he wasn’t the one to pull away, Rantaro was; how could he in that sort of heavenly stupor? The second they had parted, and barely so, Rantaro was mumbling soft praise against his lips.
“You’ve just got to be the single most stunning thing I’ve seen in my entire life. Talkin’ about how beautiful humanity is all the time, gods, have you looked in a mirror recently? The sum of all that beauty’s laying in my arms right now, freakin’ incredible, Kiyo, you have no idea…” that alone was enough to make Korekiyo melt entirely into Rantaro’s grasp. There was no coming back from that; a tear dripped down Korekiyo’s face, then another, then another. It took him a moment to realize that it was Rantaro’s hand that came up to wipe them away and not his own. “Happy tears or sad tears?” he murmured, pulling him just a bit closer by the hips.
“Happy. I promise. I cannot recall the last time I felt like this, my apologies,” he replied, a soft, wet chuckle coming from somewhere in his chest. “Rantaro, when I say that, you understand that it has come to mean you over time as well, right?”
“Of course I have. It’s not like everything you say is completely lost on me, Korekiyo, I pick up on things when you look at me making breakfast in the morning and mutter ‘humanity is beautiful’ under your breath.”
“And yet you hang on me regardless. It’s like you’ve been trying to seduce me all this time.”
“Not really. I always kinda had the hots for you, sure, but I never expected you to reciprocate or anything,” Rantaro shrugged, letting his hand slide up into Korekiyo’s hair. It felt secure there, natural, with Rantaro gently grazing his fingertips over his scalp. “I just assumed we’d spend the rest of our lives together, and that would be that, platonic or romantic labels be damned… feels nice to have it official, though.”
“I suppose it does make more sense for us to be like this. Nothing much has to change, we can just move forward a bit… speaking of moving, I understand that it isn’t very late, but how would you feel about retiring to our room?”
“Our room. Our goddamn bed. Wow, we’re kinda dumb, don’t you think?” Rantaro chuckled softly, but regardless started to pull away from Korekiyo. “In all seriousness, though, I thought you would never ask, I should have taken a nap so much earlier in the day. C’mere, I’m gonna carry you.”
“Rantaro, dear partner, I regret to inform you that you share a build with a sunflower. By no means can you carry me,” Korekiyo slid to the edge of the couch beside him, just in time to notice the mock pout on Rantaro’s face. “What?”
“Well, you can’t carry me, either. I’ve seen you try to lift your own backpack before and fall over. Could I at least have a chance, Kiyo, please?” It wasn’t begging, at least not shamelessly, but Rantaro could have gotten literally whatever he wanted from Korekiyo in that moment. Without much more thought, Korekiyo nodded, and Rantaro let out an honest to gods whoop as he pulled Korekiyo to his feet. A second later, Rantaro’s head was pressed against Korekiyo’s chest, his arms around his waist. “Jump on three, okay? I’ll catch you.”
“If you drop me through our coffee table, I won’t be very pleased, Rantaro, I hope you know that,” Korekiyo replied, and with a snort, a grin, and a roll of his eyes, Rantaro started counting down. As instructed, Korekiyo jumped when Rantaro got to three, and he damn near went flying through the ceiling. The lift had apparently gone a little too well, and he panicked for a moment, hands gripping onto Rantaro’s shoulders and his legs wrapping around his waist. “Good heavens-!”
Rantaro had already recovered, and he was holding Korekiyo aloft, arms wrapped tightly around him. “You’re a lot lighter than I thought you would be. Huh. You okay up there?”
“Scared half to death, thank you very much, but I’m uninjured.” Rantaro walked them into their room, and Korekiyo had to duck to keep from hitting his head on the doorway. Rantaro set him on his designated side of the bed, turned off the lights, and climbed in beside him.
“Poor thing. We know for next time, though, because you know I’ll be doing that literally every chance you let me.” Korekiyo was about to protest about their street clothes in bed, right until Rantaro turned his back to Korekiyo and started stripping down. He vaguely recalled Rantaro sleeping in less than normal pajamas on particularly hot days, but it felt different this time, more intimate and less than routine. Rantaro glanced over his shoulder at Korekiyo once he managed to kick his jeans off. “Is this okay?”
“Yes, this is fine. This is okay. Why wouldn’t it be okay?” came Korekiyo’s flustered, spat out reply.
“You’re red, and you’re biting your thumb. I can put a shirt on if you want, but-”
“No, this is fine. I understand, you don’t want to get up and get a new one anyway, it’s been a long day, your muscles- you should rest, I mean.”
“Korekiyo, that’s pretty gay, babe, are you sure you should be saying that to your partner?” Rantaro raised an eyebrow as he laid down, smirking up at the anthropologist.
“Slip of the tongue. Pardon me,” Korekiyo stood up once more. “I think I’ll change myself into something more suitable to sleep in,” not waiting for an affirmation, Korekiyo slipped off to the bathroom. They occasionally left some clothes in there, in this case, some pajamas set out earlier for the both of them by Korekiyo with the expectation that they would be using them, but as he looked through his stack, he couldn’t seem to find a shirt. Rantaro’s stack, however, did. With a soft sigh, he slid on the shirt, an old, faded one from a youth group Korekiyo had never heard him mention, then his own pajama bottoms before heading back to their room.
Once he re-entered, Rantaro gave a low whistle, raising up one arm as Korekiyo got into bed beside him. “Well, you’ve earned my approval.”
“It’s just a shirt, nothing more,” Korekiyo replied smoothly, tucking himself against Rantaro’s side. The adventurer pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, and despite Korekiyo’s earlier insistence that he get one and one only, he didn’t mind, nor did the fireworks that went off in his stomach whenever he did it.
“I know for a fact that the top that goes with those pants is a matching button up that you fasten all the way up your neck. I mean, firstly, that shirt looks nice on you, please keep it, and second, I didn’t know you had a collarbone.”
“Oh, hush, you,” he kissed the side of Rantaro’s chest- the only part he could really reach- and let his cheek come to rest there again as he shut his eyes. He could hear his heartbeat, feel the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the warmth radiating off of him was impossibly soothing. Rantaro raked his fingers gently through his hair, all the way down to the ends.
“Didn’t mean it to be mean, Kiyo, I think you’re pretty, every inch of you,” he kept running his free hand through Korekiyo’s hair, and slowly but surely, the anthropologist felt himself starting to drift off. He muttered a goodnight, muffled slightly by the position of his head, but Rantaro seemed to get the memo. Whatever he said was inaudible to Korekiyo at the time, and it didn’t really register to him. It wasn’t until after Korekiyo fell asleep in Rantaro’s arms that the hand in his hair stilled, Rantaro’s breathing slowed, and he joined him as well, their first night as a true couple coming to a close.