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When Rui suggests they drive to the beach, Akito immediately agrees.
Recently they haven't spent much time together. They've both been busy, both working, Rui with robots and Akito designing characters for an upcoming game. Neither have super fixed schedules, but being the way they are, they care deeply for their projects and have been prioritizing them.
It works though. They eat each meal together and Akito knows once he's done with his current project he'll have a lot more time to spend with Rui and vice versa.
Still, he can't help but miss his husband. He still can't believe he gets to say that either. If during highschool someone had told him he'd be married to the purple haired weirdo one day, he'd have probably yelled at the person. Told them that it wasn't funny.
But a lot of things happened to change his opinion. Surprisingly, he had Tsukasa to thank for that. Unsurprisingly, he also had Touya to thank for that. Touya, obviously, loved watching Tsukasa’s shows, he idolized the older. And as his best friend, unfortunately or in hindsight fortunately, Akito was often dragged to them too. And Tsukasa was always keen to hear Touya’s opinions on his shows, which is how Akito tended to end up talking to Rui. Emu also spoke with him a little, but in the end would always return to spending time with Nene instead. At first, Akito was hesitant to speak with Rui but the other basically didn't leave him a choice. Soon, Rui and him also talked at school and little by little his opinion on him changed.
Then Vivid BAD did it. It was their last year of highschool and, unfortunately, just like Ken-san and his group mates, they had to consider breaking up. Both Kohane and Touya wanted to go to university and would have to move away for it. An wanted to stay with Kohane, so she would also move and Akito was lost. He hadn't really thought enough about what he wanted to do in the future, surpassing Rad Weekend had always been his highest goal.
Frustrated with his own indecisiveness, he complained to his sister that he wished he could be like her. Sure about what he wanted. Ena had always known that she wanted to do art and that's what she did, which ended with her acceptance to one of the best art schools in all of Japan.
Surprisingly enough, she had been the one to determine his future once again. He almost suspected that she'd thought about his future more than he had.
Since he liked fashion and already worked in a clothing shop, allowing him to gain different impressions, she had suggested that he could look into clothing design. With him unable to think of anything better he had decided to do just that.
Determined, he applied to a university he knew offered design as a course and actually got accepted.
But that had sealed Vivid BAD's fate. All of them were going somewhere else, so if they were going to surpass Rad Weekend it was now or never.
They asked around for a good venue, easily finding one, considering the notoriety they had built up and asked everyone they knew for help, setting things up.
Tsukasa, Emu, Nene and Rui donated their own expertise in stage production and when Akito told her about it, Ena, to his surprise, volunteered to design promotional posters. He totally didn't cry at that.
The day arrived and Akito swore he had never seen a bigger crowd. The show went amazing, the atmosphere better than he could remember from any of their previous show's.
As the event came to a close, they all hugged, openly crying, but happy that they had done it at last. They promised to never ever forget the Vivid BAD SQUAD, that, if they ever found the time they would get together and put on another show, that they weren't completely done.
That night he also kissed Rui for the first time. Nene, Emu, Tsukasa and Rui had come up to them after the show, all of them grinning and enthusiastically congratulating them. Seeing Rui under the neon lights, genuinely happy for their success, he couldn't help himself anymore and surged up to kiss him.
It hadn't been perfect like movies always made believe, their teeth clacking on each other and noses knocking together, causing them to quickly part again. Akito had thought he could hear An make fun of him, but that was forgotten as soon as Rui kissed him again, this time more comfortable but with just as much emotion.
They started dating after that. They had their bad times, sometimes Akito had even been scared that they were over, but Rui always proved himself worthy of the effort of fixing and mending things after fights.
Unfortunately, they couldn't spend a very long time together. When Akito graduated from highschool and moved to study, Rui couldn't go with him, wanting to stay with Wonderlands x Showtime. So for a while they did their best to make a long-distance relationship work and as soon as he was done studying, Akito returned, Rui welcoming him back with open arms.
They dated for another two years, moving in together and Akito getting a job as a designer, though for game characters, rather than actual fashion like he'd expected, in the meantime, before they proposed to each other.
Akito had been planning it for a while, but Rui had been a little bit faster, proposing to him when they visited a local aquarium. When it happened, Akito could only laugh, caught off guard. Rui had deflated a little at that, thinking Akito would say no, but when Akito got the ring he'd gotten for Rui out, he quickly joined in, laughing bright and happy.
It hadn't taken very long for them to plan the wedding after that. Rui had let him decide on their clothing and in return Akito had let Rui decide the location.
Both of them being in a somewhat sentimental mood, they had independently chosen the venue and clothing from the time they had helped with a surprise show for a wedding, back in Akito’s first year of highschool.
When they realized they had shared a grin and Rui asked if Akito was ready to play the part of the bride this time. And without thinking about it too long he had agreed.
The wedding itself had been relatively small. They just invited their friends and the family members they actually liked. While Akito had debated inviting his mom, he had decided against it in the end. There was a good chance that she would bring his father and he didn't want that. Not to mention, she had never really helped Ena or him when their father made them feel worthless.
Naturally, he chose Touya and Ena as his best man and best woman respectively. Yes he was calling it that, bridesmaid was an overrated term and if it's best man, why not also best woman? Rui chose Tsukasa and Nene, reasoning that they were his best and his longest friend, when explaining it to Emu. Emu for her part didn't seem disappointed at all, just happily congratulating Rui.
It had been another year since then. They had moved again, into a bigger house, one closer to Phoenix Wonderland while also being far enough away for their neighborhood to be relatively quiet.
Today had been a quiet day, Akito had gotten up later than usual.
“Good morning, Akito~” He smiles and replies with a good morning of his own and walks over to where Rui is sitting, a cup of coffee waiting for him. With extra milk and sugar obviously. He sits down across from Rui and takes a sip. When he's a bit more awake he blinks up at Rui and gestures for him to lean over, his husband chuckling a bit, but happily leaning over to give Akito a light peck on his lips.
Akito smiles again and hums, content. Rui is reading a book Akito had seen him with a lot recently. He tried reading it but all the pages only said ‘meow’ instead of any different words, but Rui seems to enjoy it, so who is he to judge?
“Are you free today?” Rui looks at him expectantly. He mentally goes through his schedule for the day but can't think of anything pressing he needs to get done, so he nods, getting a bright smile in return.
“Great! Let's go to the beach today then, it'll be nice to spend some more time, yeah?” Akito smiles again and nods. “Sure. You wanna bring anything to eat or is it just a short trip?” Rui tilts his head and thinks for a bit. Even after all this time the gesture is ridiculously endearing to Akito and he has to suppress a small coo.
“I guess we should bring a little bit? I'm not sure how long we'll be gone.” Rui smiles again, eyes crinkling at the edges. “Sure, pancakes sound good?” Akito will never not use the chance to make pancakes, especially when they want to have something quickly. “Yours? Always.” Rui is a weak man, for always indulging him, Akito thinks but gets up to mix the batter. Rui follows him up but turns to leave the kitchen, probably to pack whatever else they need.
Soon they're done, Pancakes in a box and placed in a backpack, already filled with a water bottle, sunscreen, sunglasses and a Picnic blanket, though Rui says they probably won't need it.
Akito takes the backpack and follows Rui to his motorcycle. Rui had gotten it somewhere between when Akito left and returned and always kept it in amazing shape, allowing it to still look good as new, even years later. Akito loves sitting behind Rui when they go really fast. Loves feeling the wind against him and Rui’s warmth in front of him, when he hugs him around his torso. Somehow he had gotten into the habit of pressing a kiss between Rui's shoulder blades and apparently Rui had come to expect it now, making sure to tell Akito when they were getting close to their destination and he hadn't done it yet. It makes him smile, Rui explained one day. The thought makes Akito happy.
After a little bit of driving, out of the city and past huge fields full of flowers, they arrive. There's no other people, it's a rocky beach, not something most people would choose as their destination and it's quite a way down from the road. Rui locks his bike halfway down, where it gets a lot steeper and they walk the rest of the way. When they make the final step, Akito grins. Rui was great at finding nice, quiet places.
They walk across the beach, hand in hand and Akito thinks that if this were his last day on earth he'd die a happy man. He's not dying though, so he can look forward to more happy days. When he looks at Rui he can't imagine anything less.