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Frankly, Rui had started thinking that maybe it was a bad idea to use a bit of their time to teach Emu and Tsukasa how to braid hair, if Nene’s occasional grimaces had anything to say about it. It wasn’t as though he could have predicted that Tsukasa wouldn’t know how to braid- especially with a younger sister that adored styling her own hair- yet he couldn’t help but think that maybe it was a little bit of a rash judgement in the first place.
“Emu, not so hard,” Nene mumbles through gritted teeth, and the pink-haired girl behind her giggles playfully. Her hands were currently attempting to hold several parts of Nene’s hair at once, tongue sticking slightly out of the side of her mouth in deep focus. They’d been at it for around half an hour, and yet Emu had only succeeded inz looping the hair two times before the process had gone downhill. Rui laughed all the same; even if Nene looked like she’d die any moment, Rui was all too aware of her feelings for the other. So long as she was around Emu, she’d be content, no?
A significantly strong pull on Rui’s own hair has his head tugged suddenly backwards, and he hisses out of surprise. It seems as though his own partner happened to have a little trouble as well. “Ah! Sorry about that, Rui,” comes the apologetic remark, along with the gentle touch of soft lips against the top of his head, and Rui forgets he was even in pain in the first place.
As much as he and Nene discussed her feelings for Emu (of course when the mentioned girl wasn’t around), he couldn’t exactly tease her for falling so deeply when he himself had fallen as well. There were too many things that he could say about Tsukasa, and so many things that he’d felt for him. It’d only gotten worse when they’d eventually confirmed their mutual feelings for each other and became, as Tsukasa proudly called it, “official.” Every second that the blonde wasn’t around was another second wasted in his mind, no matter what time of day or season of the year. To say that Tsukasa was the sun to his moon would be a little cheesy, but true in a sense; plus, he felt as though saying something like that to his boyfriend (ah, that was a little new to think about) would only make him blush a little more.
And, well, Tsukasa’s face when he blushed happened to be Rui’s favorite thing in the world.
The famed director can only chuckle a little and reach up to pat the back of Tsukasa’s hand in assurance. “It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean it. You seem like you’re having fun, Tsukasa-kun, and that’s all I need.”
Another pause, before Tsukasa leans down to kiss Rui’s hand in loving retaliation, smiling against his skin. “Well, all I need is you , so-!”
“We’re right here!” Emu interjects without a hint of remorse, her hands still tangled in Nene’s hair as she tilts her head to the side, not even trying to be subtle with her words. Rui blinks and squints a little to see that she’d adorned the failed braids of hair with colorful ribbons of all textures. Nene looked tired, enough that she couldn’t even bring herself to form an insult. Presumably from Emu’s antics, but perhaps from the spontaneous PDA that’d just happened right in front of her eyes.
You know I can’t help it, Nene, the younger male thinks, shooting her an unapologetic wink, to which she rolls her eyes. “Sorry, sorry, Emu-kun. I’ll keep it to a minimum, but I can’t promise that Tsukasa-kun will do the same.” Rui glances up to see as Tsukasa is in… deep consideration. Was he taking this seriously? That’d be surprising, even for the blonde. He couldn’t exactly say that he’d be annoyed over the thought of Tsukasa showing him love in public, though.
“Hm!” is all that Tsukasa responds, and proceeds to continue his work on Rui’s hair.
Emu looked positively confused, her hands lowering in the slightest while she blinked. “What’s ‘hm’ supposed to mean?! Rui said he’d, um, ‘keep it to a minimum’, so are you gonna do the same?”
“Maybe.” There was not a single hint in Tsukasa’s tone that indicated he’d stop anytime soon.
“Tsukasa-kun!”
As the two members of the unit bickered back and forth, Rui could feel Nene’s eyes on him, and looked over at her with curiosity. She stared back at him for a few moments longer before seemingly snapping out of her daze, her eyes shifting to look up at Emu and back at him again. Nene wasn’t the type to express her concerns out loud if she were the only one feeling such ways, Rui had noticed, and there was only so much one could do to make her express them on command. He’d gotten to know her enough where they could communicate without words, only through subtle shifting of eyes and the tilt of heads.
They’d both been alone during their younger years and had stuck together through and through, despite some of the challenges they’d had when first meeting Tsukasa and Emu, and becoming a unit shortly after. Rui was confident that he could consider Nene one of the people that he’d trust the most. She had been there for him when he was figuring out his own feelings for a certain starry blonde, and he’d been there for her when she’d experienced almost the same thing. Rui cared for her, more than most people.
Even with that, he can’t force down the teasing yet kind grin he directs her way. “Are you enjoying yourself, Nene-chan?” And, Rui can’t say that the response he receives was expected in the slightest.
“I am, Rui,” Nene replies, quietly, but the soft smile on her face doesn’t go unnoticed, and the director’s eyes are shining, crinkling upwards in happiness. “I really, really am.”