Chapter Text
RyuDate Week - Day 1: Drinking together | Getting together
"...ki, wake up".
Huh? What was that? It was almost like Ryuki could hear someone call out to him. Who could it be? And how come he wasn't able to properly look around, or even remember where he was? He felt trapped, in a way he wasn't really able to comprehend. This was all so weird…
"RYUKI!" It happened in an instant. As soon as he realized it was Tama that shouted his name, his eyes snapped open and his body jolted up from the table he was resting on. His mind was dazed, but now awake enough to recall some things.
The first thing was his current location. His memories told him he was at Brahman, and his surroundings told the same tale - dim orange lighting, calm music and the nice and familiar aroma of Gen's cooking. Even back before the…incident, he often found himself there after work. Nowadays, however, Ryuki goes here alone way more often than together with Mr Date.
Following this train of thought, Ryuki recalled the predicaments that led up to him being there. Which in itself wasn't anything too special. He felt like shit the whole day. The detective barely made it through work without having a breakdown. He had gone quite some time without having one of those, and he really didn’t want his streak to break today, he had thought to himself. If everything else failed, some good rounds of alcohol always did the trick.
"Seriously, you can't keep falling asleep in public like this". Tama, who had waited for about two hours now for her partner to finally wake up, sounded both annoyed and concerned. She was careful because she knew Ryuki's mental state, and yet she wanted to give him a push in the right direction.
"Don' worrry. Gen's already closed up, no one's goin' to cme in herrr…"
It was only while talking out loud that Ryuki noticed how he really hasn't sobered up yet. No wonder, the table in front of him was filled with emptied bottles of alcohol, only giving him barely enough space to rest on. He also took notice of his throbbing headache now. He didn't like this side-effect of his habit.
"It's true that it's better here than to have you running around in the streets like a drunkard, but saying that no one would show up here…"
"Huh? What do you…"
"Look next to you, dumbass…"
Next to Ryuki? The detective didn't quite understand what Tama was saying, but he obliged anyway.
The cogs were running inside of Ryuki’s brain. It took him quite some time to discern what he was seeing, even though it was so simple.
"Hey".
Date’s friendly smile matched the tone of his voice, and yet you could tell there was something more behind it. To Ryuki, however, that detail didn’t quite matter at that moment.
“M-m-mmm…Mr Date??? Why-? How-? When-”
“He’s been here for a few minutes. I tried to wake you up earlier, but you didn’t react”.
Tama answered only one of the many questions racing in Ryuki’s head, but at least it had been the most important one. The Why’s and How’s could easily be explained if Date just ran into Gen somewhere or wanted a drink himself.
“Drinking without me, huh? How dare you, I’m hurt!”
Next to Ryuki, Date seemed like the most well-composed man on earth at that moment. Totally natural, he grabbed one of the liquids on the table - he didn’t even bother checking what was inside - and put it up to his mouth. The younger detective could only stare, still not sure if he was currently hallucinating.
“I came to talk. With you. About some things”.
Apparently, it didn’t bother Date to have a one-sided conversation like this. What he had to say must’ve been important enough for him not to care. Ryuki couldn’t answer. It took him everything he had not to run out of the room, as far away as possible. He knew what Date wanted to talk about.
Before the older man continued, he took another drink from the bottle. Probably to prepare for what’s to come, Ryuki assumed.
“Look, I don’t want it to be like this between us”.
What? What did he mean by that? This surprised Ryuki, as he was sure that Date wanted to finally cut all ties with him, once and for all. He just couldn’t believe that anyone would forgive him for what he did, least of all the person he had actually betrayed. Yes, maybe those events were now more than six years in the past, and maybe he helped solved the case in the end, and maybe he even took a bullet for Date, but-
“I know what you’re thinking. You think I still…you think I ever hated you for what you did. But I know all about what was going on then. Sure, I was kinda mad at you for a little bit, but if I was in that situation and it was Aiba that was held hostage, honestly, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Although…”
“You better don’t continue that sentence”, Aiba chimed in. It earned a chuckle from Date, and even Ryuki felt slightly less tense now.
“What I’m trying to say is…you were always someone special to me. I hate how our relationship has changed over time”.
“Oh yes, your intimate relationship”. Tama couldn’t hold back the comment.
“Physical relationship.”, Aiba corrected.
“Seriously, you guys aren’t making this any easier!”
Date let out a long sigh, and took another sip from the bottle. Then, he handed it to Ryuki.
“It’s not drinking together if I’m the only one doing it”.
Ryuki reluctantly raised the bottle up to his chin. Well, this was quite different. The whole night, he was emptying bottle after bottle without any extra thought, but this one felt somehow special. Perhaps because he was sharing it with Date. He took an ambitious swing from it.
“I like you, Ryuki. And I want us to go back to how it was before. I know you have it more than rough even now, but I sincerely want to help you. So please, stop avoiding me”.
Again, Ryuki was surprised that Date noticed this. It wasn’t like he was avoiding him physically. That would be impossible considering they both work at the same place. He only avoided talking to him, as seen by the fact he has barely said a word since Date was there, and also tried to never meet his gaze. But right now, after what he heard, Ryuki finally decided to look at Date properly. It was enough of an answer for the older man. He smiled back at him.
It was thanks to the alcohol that Ryuki didn’t fully process what had Date said to him that night. Maybe in the morning he will realize what he had heard and that, if everything else failed, he had a person that would help him.