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The day is going far too well, Shu thinks.
He’s never been fond of parties, even ones thrown for his own birthday, but the young lady knows him well by now. Under her careful management the event is almost… pleasant. Shu arranges a small gallery of his work, answers fan questions, demonstrates tatting lace, and wonders if perhaps this is what feeling comfortable in his own skin is like.
It wouldn’t do to have his guard down too far at ES—the idol world barely goes a day without some underhanded plan or overblown drama—but as he watches the Aoi twins show off some new acrobatics for him, the silliest smiles on their faces, he decides to set his worries aside.
Except for one.
Gifts exchange hands, cake is had, songs are sung, and a chaotic mop of red hair is conspicuously absent. This is why the day has gone so smoothly, Shu knows. Any plan falls apart within five minutes of exposure to Rinne Amagi. Shu keeps a careful eye out for him, nearly expecting him to pop out of an oversized present just to give him a heart attack, but the party winds to a peaceful close without one single sharp grin or hyena laugh. It has Shu feeling uneasy.
“Oshi-san! Oshi-san!” Frantic shuffling footsteps follow him as he tries to leave. “Wait! Y’gotta take your presents!”
Shu’s arms are filled to the brim with bags and boxes before he can so much as reply, and it’s only his pinpoint balance that saves it all from toppling over to the ground. “Tch! Kagehira!”
“Nghhh, m’sorry, but—”
Shu foists the presents back on him. “I’d already requested the staff to take care of it, but if you’re so adamant then take them to my dorm. I have other plans.”
“B-But—!”
Kagehira’s unwarranted panic makes Shu’s eyes narrow with suspicion. “Don’t just stand there. Out with it.”
Kagehira makes a sound low in his throat, distressed, before he gives up on the paper-thin subterfuge and nudges at the top of the pile he’s holding with his nose. “Take that one.”
Shu hadn’t noticed before, but a small, flat box had been slipped in with his other presents. Shu plucks it out, feels its lightness in his hand. If Shu didn’t know any better he’d say it was empty, but when he gives it a light shake he surmises it might be a card of some sort.
“If he’s blackmailed you into cooperation I’ll see how well his luck fares against a handax. I’ve gotten quite adept with it since its use in Craftmonster last session.”
“Nah, he got me a whole bag of that pineapple penny candy, y’know the one that—”
“Bribery. I should have known.”
“An’. Well.” Kagehira fidgets. “You were lookin’ kinda sad, before.”
Shu doesn’t dignify that with a response. Instead he turns his attention to the mystery box, cheeks warm and brows furrowed, and then removes the lid. Despite his educated guess he half expects it to blow up or spray confetti in his face, and is very gratified to find it does neither. Instead of a card, a single lottery scratch ticket rests at the bottom. When Shu lifts it out he sees the heart drawn on the bottom of the box, encircling what has to be a meet-up time.
“This is,” Shu says with an unfortunate amount of fondness, “the absolute worst thing I have ever received.”
When Shu arrives Rinne is already sprawled in their usual corner booth, staring at his phone while he nurses his second beer. He projects a roguish air, a lopsided smirk on his face, but there’s a weariness to the slope of his shoulders that Shu can’t overlook.
“You fool.” Shu slides in next to him. “I should drag you out by the ear and into bed.”
Rinne leers filthily over the edge of his phone. “Yeah? And then what?” He cackles when Shu slaps him over the head with the menu.
“If you had such a busy day you should have slept. I would have made the time to see you tomorrow.”
“ Fuck that. Wanted t’see you now.” Rinne curls an arm around Shu’s waist and tucks his face into the crook of his neck, nuzzling in like he intends to stay there forever. “Gotta give my good wishes to the birthday boy, right? ‘Sides, how can I sleep when the night’s just gettin’ started?”
“This again. Would it kill you to rest at a reasonable hour?”
“Don’t go actin’ like you’re any better than me, ya hypocrite bitch. Remind me, how many all-nighters didja pull the other week? Three? Four?”
“That was artistic inspiration not useless gallivanting—”
Their squabbling is a familiar dance by now, comfortable insults laced with affection that chip away at Shu’s stiffness until he’s nearly as relaxed against Rinne’s side as Rinne is against his. Once their conversation lulls into a temporary silence, Shu starts to massage at the back of Rinne’s neck one-handed, digging at stress-tight muscles most people would never guess the man had. He huffs a laugh into Rinne’s hair at the frankly indecent moan Rinne makes in return.
“Anyone ever tell ya you got the sexiest hands in the universe? ‘M serious, pretty sure I could get off just on that video they uploaded today.”
“Pardon?”
Rinne wiggles his phone at him. On it is the recording of that lace-making demonstration he’d done hours earlier.
“That. That is not what that was filmed for!” Shu squawks, mortified.
“Kyahaha! What’cha gonna do, try and stop me?” Rinne taunts. He looks at the video again and sighs happily. “Man. One day we’ll get married and I’ll get those beautiful fingers in my a—”
“Non!” Shu resists slamming his hands over his ears through sheer force of will, but he’s sure his face is an appalling shade of red. “Th-these are not appropriate dinner table topics!” After a long, bitter moment of watching Rinne lose himself in hysterics he crosses his arms. “Besides, I have no recollection of agreeing to marry a degenerate like you.”
“Aw, c’mon Shu-chan,” Rinne cozies back up to him, fingers toying with the nearest belt loop. By the time Shu notices the crafty glint in his eyes it’s far too late. “All the times I’ve asked, and ya still don’t wanna?”
“‘Let’s get hitched’ is hardly an adequate proposal.”
Rinne opens his mouth.
“Neither are those little ‘marry me’s you so casually toss around at anyone you please.”
Rinne’s mouth snaps back shut, much to Shu’s satisfaction.
Perhaps it’s naive of him to think he’s sidestepped the topic completely, but the waiter comes with the appetizers Rinne must have ordered beforehand and that makes it much easier to avoid Rinne’s considering gaze. Married. Shu likes to think he’s learned to take most of Rinne’s strange jokes in stride after a year of voluntarily dating the man, but this one gets under his skin every time.
“Hey. How about we bet on it.”
Shu’s fork freezes halfway to his plate. “Amagi,” he warns, “If you turn it into a wager I might think you’re being serious.”
Rinne doesn’t answer him directly. Instead he pulls out a scratch ticket, his devious grin a little softer than usual. “You got yours?”
Shu pulls it out of his jacket pocket and stares at him in disbelief.
“If I get a winning ticket we’re gettin’ hitched. If you get a winning ticket you can ask for whatever you want. If both of us get duds it’s a wash. Deal?”
Shu keeps staring at him and Rinne stares back, gaze steady and sparking with challenge. This is not at all the kind of heart attack Shu was expecting to have today. He looks down at the gaudy scratch ticket, takes a long breath that does not at all seem long enough, and looks back up. “I’ll expect a ring, of course. And a proper proposal. I imagine you know my standards are quite high. If you don’t do it to my satisfaction I’ll make you do it over and over again until it's just right.”
“Yeah,” Rinne says, with the same kind of fondness Shu had felt when opening a present box just to see a scratch ticket inside, “I figured.”
“Good.”
Shu retrieves a coin from his wallet and gets to work, slowly and methodically scraping the gray from the ticket to reveal the numbers underneath. He can hear Rinne right beside him sloppily getting at his own, going so fast that he’ll be done any minute now, but Shu refuses to speed up his pace. With his heart beating in his throat so strongly Rinne’s lucky he’s moving at all.
Shu doesn’t even look at the numbers until he’s quite sure every single millimeter has been taken care of, cleaning the coin with his handkerchief and a bit of the tap water from the glass he hasn’t touched. He slips the coin back into his wallet.
“You are so fuckin’ slow. You tryin’ to kill me over here?”
Shu presses the ticket to his own chest before Rinne can sneak a peek, slapping his hand away. “You stop that! Can you even decipher yours?”
Rinne gusts out a great sigh and lets his ticket fall to the table. “It’s a bust. Guess I’m givin’ up for now.” He gracelessly flops back against the seat, his head lolling to look at Shu. “So how ‘bout it, ya got any better luck than me?”
Shu observes him for a moment. The lazy smile, the naked interest, the way Rinne’s casual sprawl slants towards Shu, falling far short of devil-may-care. He looks about five seconds away from springing forward and wrestling the ticket right out of Shu’s hands himself. Shu savors that feeling and turns the ticket towards him.
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
His winnings: 1,000 yen and a request Rinne can’t refuse.
“Ayyyyyy, there it is! Lady Luck’s treatin’ the birthday boy right tonight. So what’s it gonna be?” Rinne turns on his side and scoots closer, face propped on his fist. He waggles his eyebrows. “Wanna deck me out in frills?”
“Oh no,” Shu says, “I have entirely different plans for you.”
It’s incredibly satisfying to be the one making Rinne sweat for once. He hopes it feels exactly the same: that wonderful, terrible exhilaration that snaps the heart into a frenzy. He takes a sip from his wine glass just to prolong it, smile poorly hidden against the rim.
He sets the glass back down and finally deigns to speak again. “You’ll have to pack tomorrow. I suggest you do so before your Halloween performance and not after.”
“...huh?”
“I’m leaving on the 1st.” Shu sees the instant Rinne connects the dots, blue eyes going so wide it makes him look startlingly innocent. This time Shu doesn’t bother hiding his smile. “You’ll be accompanying me this time. I never did go to your room and tell you about France, but these things are best experienced in person anyway.”
Rinne gives a helpless little laugh. “Hey, hey, you’re tellin’ me to uproot my life for a month?”
“ You ’ re the one who wanted me to make a life-changing decision, Rinne. This is a simple vacation. Although…” Shu plays with the stem of his wine glass. “I suppose since you failed your little wager it’ll fall to me to propose, won’t it? Shame. I would have liked to see you down on one knee.”
Rinne chokes on nothing, and it might be the most satisfying sound Shu has ever heard.
“Ah well, it’s for the best. I’ll do a much better job, after all. Kakakaka~♪”
“You’re a monster when you win,” Rinne complains, eyes bright. He slings an arm around Shu’s waist again and nearly pulls him into his lap. “Next time I’ll pop that swelled fuckin’ head of yours.”
Shu hums, not particularly bothered by his future self’s plight. A gambler’s high is a fearsome thing indeed. “You’re welcome to try.”