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The problem that came with having a boyfriend—or something like it (after four months Ryuu still wasn’t terribly clear on whether or not what he and Ennoshita were doing counted as dating strictly speaking), Ryuu reflected, was that he’d spent so much of his free time conjuring romantic scenarios for himself and his eventual girlfriend that now he had no idea how to proceed in his sudden all-male romance.
Like, just for example, normally, every unattached male’s fantasy was to come home to their significant other cooking them dinner in nothing but an apron, right? But if Ryuu was to even hint that Ennoshita do such a thing he knew it’d earn him that flat-scary-captain-esque look that his significant other usually saved for his history grades.
The same went for any of the other ‘traditional’ lovey-dovey gestures. Kissing or holding hands Ennoshita was fine with as long as they weren’t being watched, but he wouldn’t be on board with flowers, or good luck charms, or feeding each other cake at a café, or sharing a milkshake (though Ryuu was still kind of hoping he’d maybe get chocolates on Valentine’s, even if they weren’t homemade).
Still Ennoshita in an apron…
Ryuu could picture it almost perfectly (thank you communal showers!). Ennoshita had long, long legs, perfect ivory-smooth skin and a two little dimples right above the tight ass that was a product of more receive practice than any other second year could claim. And was it wrong that Ryuu thought that watching his…person, practice was strangely sexy?
And his hair was getting long enough that he sometimes tossed his head just so, and fuck his collarbones, Ryuu didn’t think he’d ever spend so much time in contemplation of softly sloping bones before. He kind of wanted to taste them…
Ryuu yanked his mind back to the task at hand with some difficulty.
This, actually, this was the real problem, he acknowledged ruefully. Scrubbing a hand over the stubble on his scalp.
As pure-of-intention as he’d been in the beginning of their relationship now basically all he could think about was Ennoshita’s body, and he’d been less than a gentleman about it too, sneaking glances and fantasizing at all hours of the day and night. And the kissing, he’d very nearly gotten carried away with the kissing a couple of times now, turning what had once been the primary method for the expression of his continuing love and devotion into something hungry, and a little filthy and a lot hot.
He was worried that Ennoshita would notice the change and start thinking bad, wrong things, like that Ryuu was only after him for his—long, sculpted and absolutely perfect—body.
He knew from long years of conditioning (and listening to his sister wax poetic over the faults of every single one of her failed relationships) that to treat ones partner like they were anything less than a radiant goddess descended from heaven was absolutely unacceptable, and he figured that that probably applied no matter what sex, gender, or orientation the partner in question happened to be.
He’d applied himself to training for this eventual scenario diligently, revering all women as lovely and perfect (because they were!) and treating them with the worshipful respect that they deserved—but all that training was rendered useless in the face of Ennoshita.
Ennoshita who’d been his friend long before they’d started kissing and who liked teasing and pizza and game nights and bumping hips and meat buns and racing down the road at a dead sprint, and Ryuu’s loud showboating and thuggish manner of speech. Ennoshita who’d complained about his smelly socks and his snoring, who didn’t mind that he was rough-mannered.
Hell, he’d laughed and rolled his eyes when Ryuu had tried to be more gentlemanly and refined around him in the early days of their becoming…a thing.
But that was scary in a way because it was so easy to be totally in love with and captivated by Ennoshita and what if Ryuu got too carried away one day? What if he forgot himself and became one of the ‘pushy, messy, loud-mouthed, sex-obsessed, good-for-nothing assholes’ his sister was always dumping and being angrily drunk about?
He hadn’t thought much about it when they’d just been friends, but if Ennoshita got fed up with him (like really fed up with him, like enough to say that they should break up…) he didn’t know what he’d do.
Now that he’d had the chance to bury his nose in Ennoshita’s shower-damp hair, and trace his long, callused and strangely elegant fingers, and kiss instant ramen and laughter out of his mouth, he couldn’t even imagine having to give it all up.
And so began operation: stop-thinking-with-your-dick-and-make-sure-Ennoshita-Chikara-knows-you-love-him-goddamnit-Ryuu!!
His first attempt had been the simplest, saying the words, out loud and as often as he could manage—but that had proven strangely embarrassing and he’d only managed it twice to date.
So Ryuu had gone back to the drawing board, trying things like sharing an umbrella and walking home together and carrying his book bag. But nothing about any of that screamed ‘I love you’ with sparkles and hearts and all that shit, which was the effect Ryuu was going for.
Consulting shoujou manga had only left him more dismayed because even if he did take dramatic action like the protagonist in one of his sister’s old mangas Ennoshita would not react anything like a shoujou heroine, and he’d probably be annoyed with Ryuu for trying to force him into the girl’s role—
A sudden realization washed through him, as he flicked over to the next page of one of the mangas in question.
He was dating another guy! And even if Ennoshita didn’t want to take on the duties of a lovey-dovey shoujou manga heroine that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t appreciate such a gesture coming from Ryuu! After all Ennoshita was a guy too, so he should find that kind of thing just as appealing as Ryuu did, and that gave him a whole bunch of new options.
“Alright! Let’s get fired up!” he bellowed, hopping to his feet, and dashing down to the living room where Saeko was watching a crime drama and painting her toes an interesting shade of purple.
“Big Sis! Teach me how to make cute bentou!”
“Hah? What makes you think I know how to do something like that?” she shouted back, not even looking up, “Look it up on the internet or something!”