Work Text:
“I have to get back.”
“Now?”
“...No.”
“Then come on!” Shou slipped his hand into Ritsu’s, leading them both into the sky.
__________
The night time air was cold, but the glare Shou received from Ritsu was colder.
“I can fly by myself.” He made a gesture of removing his hand from the sloppy grasp they had on each other and using his own psychic ability to carry himself.
Shou didn't seem fazed in the slightest by his annoyed and constantly irked attitude. Despite all harsh words, he could feel the others silent thanks for stealing him away. He had led him to a place where his duties and obligations were lifted from his shoulders and neatly stored away on a shelf till he was ready to take them down. Instead of responding, he just grinned and put his hands up defensively.
The smile that tugged on Ritsu lips didn't go unnoticed, neither did the pink on Shou’s ears
__________
Shou wondered how much higher he would have the two would rise, Ritsu had let him take the lead on this little recess but he had no idea how much farther he would take them.
The sky was endless, and the night was full of possibilities.
They would be breaking through the clouds soon enough, but that didn't feel like a reason to stop.
__________
Past the clouds laid the stars and moon, spread out on display. The moon seemed to glow as though it was putting on a show for only them to see.
Shou stopped, and Ritsu did too.
They didn't need to stop, they could go higher, but Shou no longer felt the unyielding need to get away. If they kept on they would soon find themselves unable to breath. But that wouldn't stop them, they would keep going till they broke a barrier no one knew existed.
He and Ritsu would continue till they were stars engraved in the sky, shining down on the world they had been the first to successfully escape from.
__________
Shou looked back down towards the earth, he couldn't see anything past the clouds that obscured it from view. They were alone, together, in their own world.
A world where time stopped, and the icy wind made off with words. One where there were no student council meetings and dances to plan for, where the only thing to stress on was being drained of energy and plummeting back to the world they had flown from.
Even then that worry was small enough to nudge to the side. No when in the company of the other who would surely catch him.
He turned back to Ritsu who seemed more enthralled by the assortment of stars and constellations than the world below. Far below.
__________
Ritsu turned back to Shou. He studied him with furrowed eyebrows, analyzing him up and down.
“Why are you upside down?”
Oh.
Had he been spinning? His perception of gravity always felt strange when he used telekinesis on himself. It made him feel like he was slowly spinning without any real direction or position.
It was hard to tell so far from the ground, with space and the clouds sandwiching them. Ritsu was probably right though, all his blood would rush to his brain and make him pass out. Or maybe his telekinesis took care of that too, he probably shouldn’t risk it. But, he should take advantage of his inverted position.
Ritsu watched him with observant eyes, waiting… expecting. Shou knowingly stared back into those dark eyes.
Shou hovered closer to the other, Ritsu placed both hands on the sides of his head, most likely to keep him from floating off. Shou bore into him with wide bright blue eyes. If he focused he could feel Ritsu's breath through the night time wind. It was warm, and steady.
Not needing any further prompting, they split the distance. It was short and messy (granted they were hovering above the clouds and very much feeling the effects of below 50 degree weather). Even so, the feeling behind the kiss felt just as stable and delicate.
__________
If he focused, he could image obnoxiously loud music blaring through speakers, loads of middle schoolers laughing and cheering as the songs faded and cut through some horribly composed remix.
If he concentrated even harder he could see a bunch of girls scouring the gymnasium on the hunt for a certain heart throb, then melancholy when they find their search unsuccessful, and teething with anger at the passing thought that he might have been stolen away by another girl to make out somewhere in the dark and empty hallways.
He wondered if they'd be struck with some feeling of unknown resentment next time they looked to the sky. Because he, Shuzuki Shou, had the stoic-handsome-drop-dead gorgeous Ritsu in his arms on a… date? Yeah, this was definitely a date. A date they couldn’t even dream about having.
_________
In the back of his mind the speakers that blasted the obnoxious pop music had slowed its upbeat pace and faded into a nearly muted ballroom-like dance. He wondered if Ritsu heard it.
In favor of movement, Shou untangled himself from the other and extended his hand over-dramatically. “May I have this dance?” Instead of taking his hand Ritsu simply raised an eyebrow. Shou was never taught to back down from a challenge. Giving into his confidence Ritsu took his hand with a similar amount of emotion.
Dancing was far more awkward then Shou had imagined it to be, neither of them had any idea where to place their hands, and the wind blew and shook them strangely. Shou was certain that if they’d been on solid ground toes would not be spared in their disorder.
It took a few tries before the two found their rhythm, they learned to move with the flow of the wind till it began to feel like second nature.
Shou had once skimmed through an article about dancing to this type of music, “The Art of Ballroom Dancing,” as he recalled it, it talked about how intimate the dance could be, when done correctly (which they had only just begun doing), and more importantly when done correctly with the correct partner.
Being able to hear your partner's heartbeat, the feeling of your nose grazing their cheek, and a single timestop-like moment when the music reaches its slow climax and you and your partner are in perfect sync leaving you both with the feeling of walking on air (they quite literally were).
He hadn't paid it much attention, but imagined this is what it must’ve felt like. Absolute heaven. Along with having the pleasure of experiencing it with the perfect partner, or maybe it was because he had the perfect partner? The article had also spoken on how the art was perfected by a partner who could appreciate the music along with their companion.
Shou concluded that Ritsu must’ve heard the music too.
_________
“Hey,” Ritsu nudged the other with his elbow, this time, they were in a position similar to sitting on a tree branch. Ritsu’s eyes wandered to Shou’s sneakers, which looked comedically out of place with his formal clothes, even more so with his bright orange hair. Was it dyed, maybe?
Instead of answering, Shou looked up, “you know I…“ Ritsu cut himself off with a sigh, it took a minute to find a better way to coordinate his thoughts which he felt were being made off with by the wind. After a few more seconds Ritsu's thoughts re-took a verbal form. “Thanks for…” Or maybe those had been stolen right off his tongue, also. To avoid making a larger fool of himself Ritsu made a broad motion towards the sky and what lay beyond it. No, that was probably stupid too. “This.” He concluded, satisfied.
Shou had begun swinging his feet in the air, “for what,” Ritsu wondered if he ever got tired of wearing that shit-eating grin so widely. Nonetheless, it was just as infectious, and Ritsu found himself sporting his own small smile. Instead of working to summon up some of the annoyance he often felt toward just about everything, he opted for nudging him once more in the rib.
Shou let out a laugh so light that the moon itself seemed to shine brighter just by witnessing it. Ritsu felt it too, it was like he was being italicized by the others' unbridled joy. Being paid the special attention he had worked so hard to obtain from others in compensation for what he felt to be lacking. And here he was, getting it for free.
_________
“Hey, what time is it?”
“It’s...” Reaching for his pocket Shou quickly fished for it before answering, “oooh,” Shou winced before returning it to his pocket. “Uh, MobBar?” Shou offered in a haste to change the subject, after a moment of twitchy silence he returned the half-melted candy bar to his other pocket. Ritsu took the liberty of engulfing the others phone with his own aura and covertly sliding it into his palm.
After fending off a flurry of rushed strikes from Shou, Ritsu got a good look at the time. “Oh, Shit!” Shou decided the term 'nothing good lasts forever’ did indeed exist. Ritsu dropped the device in his own panic, barely giving the other enough time to save it from being swallowed by the clouds. Ritsu could do without seeing that ugly phone case again. “I need to go!” Ritsu straightened himself out, re-buttoning the few undone buttons on his shirt, combing down his hair with his hand (not that it did much against the wind), and wiping out a pocket mirror to check his subtle eyeliner.
Ritsu quickly began his descent, seemingly too far in his own mind to cast another glance towards the night sky. He’d knock his problems off his mental shelf and dive head first back into his duties. No more breaks, no more running, and certainly no more, this?! Whatever this was, he hated it. It wasted important time, and did nothing but get him in trouble. So he’d dive straight into his work, and it’d all go away. He’d get swallowed by them and that would be that.
“Tag,” a hand had inconspicuously pressed itself into his shoulder while he hid in his mind, there’s only one person who it belonged to, and when Ritsu looked up, there he was shining down on him just as brightly as ever. “What?” In another second (and In Ritsu’s brief confusion) he had dipped and stolen a kiss. “I said tag, didn’t I,” as if to emphasize his point Shou tapped the tip of his nose, smiling with bright blue eyes.
The way his eyes gleamed said exactly one thing, race ya! Ritsu blinked and suddenly, Shou was falling through the clouds of his hands folded behind his head and a mock snoring expression painted on his face.
He chased Shou, all the way back to the world they had escaped from. But maybe he hadn’t wanted to escape, maybe neither of them had.
__________
“Hmm… that’s strange,” Teru appeared seemingly from thin air with the drinks he had just left to get.
“What’s strange?” Murmured Shigeo, who had quickly recovered from the scare. He had turned his head to peer across the dance floor.
Initially, there was nothing out of the ordinary, upon taking a closer look (and lots of squinting), he realized the one thing that did stand out. Two very familiar esper auras that, once you were looking for them, stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the crowd of dancers.
One, he quickly recognized to be his younger brother, Ritsu. But the other… had he seen it before. It was large and excited. It came off eccentric and a bubbly bright orange. “I think I recognize that aura,” Shigeo tilted his head at the foreign aura.
Teru smiled into his plastic cup, then removed it from his lips. “I mean their auras, together,” this time he pointed. Re-focusing his eyes to the two he took a closer look at their auras. Oh. That is strange. They were blending together. In a way two happy and drunk high schoolers would on their way home from a party. Now he really wanted to know who made his brothers aura swell like that.
Neither realized that the two auras they’d been tracking for the last few minutes had started approaching them. Breaking through the crowd, the first thing Shigeo noticed was recognizable bright orange hair that matched his equally bright aura.
Everyone was aware of how hard Ritsu had worked to make this dance a success, it had been worrying, even Reigen had tried to convince him to take some time off (even if it only made him work harder, most likely out of spite). The dance had been a success, but even still Ritsu had been working hard behind the scenes. Restocking the food table, casually picking up trash, and using his telekinetic abilities to fix-up balloons and streamers.
“He seems happy,” Shigeo outwardly observed.
Teru nodded, “But they don’t,” his eyes gleamed with amusement at the sight of a group of girls standing in the corner sending very directed glares toward Shou who had been talking noisily with his arm resting on Ritsu’s shoulder, completely unresponsive to their silent threats. Teru huffed out a laugh, though Shigeo suspected he might’ve said something else that got carried off with the flow of music. He turned his attention back to the pair who were now fast approaching, he turned his gaze back to Ritsu who had been sporting his own little smile.
Shigeo needed to thank Shou later.