Work Text:
“Whatever, I’m not buying you a second set of tickets. Just don’t cause any trouble and – hey, be grateful! How many people have a boss who basically gives them a free vacation, huh?”
Ryuki frowned and held the phone at a distance from his ear while Boss continued. Date was just reveling in not being on the receiving end of her reprimands for once, idly stirring his drink and grinning as Ryuki resigned himself to waiting her rant out. He was about to whisper-ask about where they should go for dinner when Boss’s voice cut through again.
“Are you even listening to me?”
He nearly dropped the phone in his hurry to put it back to his ear. “O-of course! You’re so generous, Boss.”
“I really am, aren’t I?”
Smiling like she could hear it through the phone, Ryuki added, “Mr. Date says thank you too.”
“No, he didn’t.”
Date gave an oblivious thumbs up and Ryuki returned it in a way that he hoped was convincing.
“Well – I’ll let you get going. Thank you again.” With a sigh, he pocketed the phone and looked at Date. “She can’t transfer our tickets any sooner, so it looks like we’ll be staying overnight and taking the 3pm flight tomorrow.”
“Guess that makes sense.” Ryuki hummed in agreement and took another sip of his drink. “I seriously can’t believe they called us out here only to get all high and mighty about ‘interference with their jurisdiction’ and keep us out of the interrogation room.”
“At least they were able to get him to confess on their own.”
While he wasn’t exactly thrilled about making a trip to Osaka for no reason, at least it had ended with the case closed. Several other away missions he had participated in had been significantly less… successful. He was still frustrated with the sheer volume of crimes they had to get involved with, but he was getting better at stopping them. And of course, he was happy to be working with Date.
“That’s why you’re my favorite, Ryuki, your optimism.”
Ryuki tried not to cling too tightly to such a casual declaration of affection. After what he hoped was only a moment, he protested, “Well, I wouldn’t call it that…”
Date scoffed a laugh, plenty familiar with Ryuki’s attitude about these things. Ryuki let himself revel in the word for a bit, favorite, favorite, Mr. Date’s favorite –
Are you gonna spend the whole night hung up on that? Tama cut him off when his thoughts spilled over into conscious consideration.
No! He took a long drink and glanced over to see Date looking out the window. Maybe.
With a heavy sigh, Tama replied, I knew it. Though, I can’t exactly blame you this time. A whole night alone with Date and he’s praising you after only one drink? What’s better than that?
I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not. Besides, regardless of his own excitement at the myriad opportunities presented by a night together away from work, Ryuki was sure that Date would rather not have his time wasted. They were supposed to be having a single celebratory drink before heading to the airport, but the latter half of that plan had been shot down by Boss.
“I wouldn't mind getting us tickets on a flight tonight, if you want to get home sooner.” Tama immediately spat, Are you serious? Don’t throw this chance away like that!
For a moment he felt stupid for saying it, silly for making it obvious that he was looking for a way out of this, confident he’d regret it when Date was fast asleep on the plane and Ryuki was stuck replaying the last twelve hours in his head.
But Date waved the offer off and sat up. “Nah, if Boss is paying, I’m not saying no to a night in an actual bed. And this means we don’t have to be in the office tomorrow.”
Ryuki blinked and hoped his excitement wasn’t too obvious, reverting his gaze to his glass. “Oh, that’s a great point! It really would be nice for you to get some proper rest now and then.”
“You’re telling me.” Date smirked, “Not to mention we can have some fun since it’s just the two of us.”
No matter how hard he tried, there was no possible way for Ryuki to keep his imagination from wandering, flashing forward to sitting across from each other back in their hotel room, bored of flipping through news and reality television. I want to have some fun with you, Ryuki, since you’re my favorite.
No, no, that scenario needed more work to seem plausible. It just didn’t sound like Date, something was missing, something was always missing in his mind. Of course he couldn’t live up to the real thing, but he could try, could use the excuse to consider which characteristics of Date’s were so endearing again. Favorite what? And – and what had he meant by that anyways?
Then how about something more like ‘I want my favorite subordinate to show me how fun he can be when he –’
Tama! Don’t voice-act the fantasies I’m having!
“Fun?” Ryuki tried not to cringe at how high-pitched the word had come out while Tama laughed. Shit, he was sure he was blushing now, and they hadn’t drank enough to blame alcohol.
“Duh.” If Date found his pause and tension suspicious, he didn’t let on, pointing towards the bartender with a grin. “None of these people are gonna tell us off for drinking on a Tuesday.”
As it turned out, it was possible to get kicked out of bars by people who didn’t know whether or not you had work the next morning.
Especially when your coworker had a habit of making increasingly incomprehensible (but still obviously sexual) remarks about everyday objects (ice cubes, bar stools, dart boards, and, most confusiningly to Ryuki, pool cues). Oh, and also seemed to forget what a bathroom looked like.
Why, Tama groaned as Ryuki hastily pushed Date further into the alley and tried to ignore the sound of him unzipping his pants, do you like this guy?! At all! He sucks!
Ryuki was grateful that, for once, his anxiety about being alone with Date had made him less interested in drinking. If he had tried to keep up with Date, who would have over-tipped the bartender and apologized ten times on their way out? Who would (try to) get them to their hotel? Date struggled with his phone at the best of times, so Ryuki needed to keep enough composure to follow Tama’s navigation. Speaking of which, he was planning to ignore her but decided that he would rather defend his crush than listen to him piss on a pile of garbage.
Mr. Date doesn’t take a lot of time off of work, so it only makes sense that he sometimes goes overboard when he gets free time.
Scoffing, Tama knew he knew better but wasn’t going to let him get off so easily. Instead, she insisted, Sometimes? Throwing up or pissing outside of Marble 27% of the times you’ve gone out together counts as sometimes to you?
Frowning, Ryuki gave an exaggerated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Tama always had the upper hand in arguments about Date with statistics on her side. He was about to launch a half-hearted defense regardless (a good number of those really shouldn’t count against him, since Ryuki had been shit-faced too) when Date turned around and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“Alright, where to now?”
Ryuki spent a moment judging his expression before formulating a response. Please don’t check if his fly is down. Oh. Well, it wasn’t. I told you not to check!
“Wait, I know!” Date’s grip on his shoulder tightened and he leaned in too close, suddenly serious. “It’s finally time, Ryuki. You’re gonna meet Reika.”
Before Ryuki’s imagination could spiral off into thoughts of other things the two of them could ‘finally’ get around to, Date’s own ideas brought him back to reality. Sighing and pulling Date’s hand from his shoulder by the wrist, he said, “Mr. Date, we’re in Osaka, remember?”
Fishing a small bottle from his pocket, he insistently pushed hand sanitizer into the taller man’s hands. Date pocketed his gloves to clean up. After a shared sigh, Tama and Ryuki mentally high fived and nearly didn’t catch the bottle when Date it tossed back. Compared to historical data, Ryuki was sure that tonight’s chaperoning was going smoothly. Relatively. Hopefully the trend would continue.
Date had only been temporarily distracted from his goal, putting on a confused frown as he looked left and right at the buildings they stood between. Moving past Ryuki to the sidewalk, he took in the street and slouched when no familiar scenery greeted him. Ryuki was about to give in and comfort him, momentarily moved by his pouting, when Date clenched his fist and stood up straight.
“Then we just have to find a club with a woman like her!”
It was times like these when Ryuki thought maybe, maybe, Tama had a point. Some small part of him screamed that he should be embarrassed at his willingness to follow Date’s whims or the disproportionate happiness he felt when carrying Date out of Marble on a too-regular basis. The longer they knew each other, the more Ryuki’s ideal image of his superior faded to more closely match reality. But still, somehow, even with the nagging knowledge that he shouldn’t be enjoying this, even when Date was drunk and babbling about someone else, Ryuki found his determination and earnestness charming. Maybe that was his own tipsiness talking.
Please don’t be pathetic about this.
Ryuki ignored Tama’s request, doing his best to put on an enthusiastic air and stepping back out of the alley. “Great idea! I actually know of a really exclusive place around here, how does that sound?”
Looking close to tears, Date grabbed one of his hands in both of his own. Ryuki swallowed and his cheerful expression almost faltered at the sudden touch. “I knew you had it in you, Ryuki. Take me there. I’ll pay for everything if you just, just show me where it is, I promise.”
He blocked out Tama’s loud objections and withdrew his hand. Date’s hung there for a second, grasping at nothing and waiting for his reply.
“Of course, Mr. Date!”
I cannot believe that worked.
Ryuki strode up to their hotel’s reception desk after depositing Date on one of the lobby’s couches. He gave their details to check in (or, as he’d told Date, verified their credentials and get access to the club’s premium level) and allowed himself some self-satisfaction at the plan’s success.
Date was quickly heading to the drowsy end of drunk and had stopped asking for detailed profiles of every person Ryuki ‘knew’ from their supposedly renowned destination when they were about halfway to the hotel. Now, with keycards in hand, all they had to do was get up to the room. Then Ryuki could try to get some rest while Date slept this off. He and Tama bantered on and off as Date let himself be ushered into the elevator with little protest.
Thankfully, he wasn’t questioning the fact that the hallways were far too well-lit for the type of establishment Ryuki had promised. Part of him suspected that Date had caught on before they’d arrived. There was no point in forcing the issue or putting more energy towards the lie, as both of them were nearing exhaustion and wouldn’t argue if given the chance to sleep. If Date’s pride held him back from admitting that he just wanted to pass out already, Ryuki would happily play along until they reached the room.
All I’m saying is maybe don’t doubt me so much next time! Ryuki was smiling, again, sure he’d proved something to Tama tonight, as he unlocked the room and let the other man head in first. He was definitely getting better at wrangling drunk Date! Whether it was a result of his own efforts to not drink himself stupid quite so often or Date’s adjustment to accepting more support, Ryuki didn’t care.
Tama’s whip cracked, ready to playfully nip his confidence in the bud, but she barely got a word out before Ryuki found the lightswitch. Cackling replaced criticism as they both took in the room’s furnishings.
Oh Ryuki, you’re right! I completely misjudged you, you have had this entire night soooooo under control. Things went just according to plan, right?
It wasn’t a shitty room, or anything. It had a decently sized television, and a mini fridge, and a rather nice desk, and, judging by the glimpse of the city Ryuki caught through the curtains, didn’t look out into a brick wall. Hell, if he had glanced into the bathroom, he would have been pleasantly surprised by the size of the shower and tile choice. It was just lacking the appropriate number of beds.
Date kicked off his shoes and tripped his way to the center of the single offending piece of furniture with no hesitation, smashing his cheek into a pillow and hugging it to his head. Clearly the limited space didn’t bother him, though the more likely explanation was that he was too intoxicated and tired to notice. What now? Should he try to wake Date up? Should he attempt to shift his superior out of his central, spread-eagle position so they could share the space? Should he call Boss and try to find out why she seemed to enjoy torturing him before begging for advice?
That last possibility was the first one he ruled out. Tama hadn’t stopped laughing even as Ryuki desperately assessed his options. There was no sofa, just a leather armchair that he supposed he could curl up in. The floor might be preferable, less cramped, and – and at least there was carpet, and Date had only attached himself to one of the bed’s pillows, so he could take a couple of them and –
Wow, not even going to call the front desk to try to get a different room? You’re shameless, Ryuki. Though, he doesn’t look like he’ll be moving anytime soon.
Well, she was right that Date seemed to be out cold. He didn’t bother to correct her on the rest of it. Not because she was right, (she was definitely wrong and he definitely had not imagined this scenario even once before this very moment) but because, in his panic, it hadn’t occurred to him that they could try to get another room. He hurried to the landline on the desk. He would fix this and would not embarrass himself. With the phone to his ear, Ryuki glanced back at Date before dialing.
The view grounded him, easing him back from extreme reactions with its mundanity. No one else was here, and even if they had been, or if Date had been awake, there would be no reason for his actions thus far to be taken as anything other than friendly. Dealing with an unexpected sleeping arrangement wasn’t a matter of life and death, wasn’t the end-all be-all of his ridiculous crush, and as long as he stayed relatively reasonable, everything would be okay. Hopefully. He took a deep breath.
Really, he should try to appreciate this.
They’d taken work trips together before, but he was usually the first to pass out, exhausted from trying to keep up with Date’s unnatural stamina and absorbing as much of his investigative knowledge as possible. Ryuki rarely saw him like this, completely relaxed and vulnerable, his features calm, sound asleep. Some parts of Date’s persona were, as the name implied, so performative that Ryuki suspected Date didn’t even recognize them as unnatural any more. It was refreshing to have the chance to look past them, even if it was only possible after dealing with Date’s drunken escapades. He allowed himself – for just a moment, he promised – to be completely engulfed by the warmth of his admiration and affection. These feelings that he made an effort to keep in check (rather unsuccessfully, if any other member of ABIS was asked) had been ignored all night as Ryuki did his best to have fun and make up for Date’s uninhibited behavior. So, maybe, he had earned this.
He shouldn’t wake Date up. He looked happy, and comfortable, and Ryuki didn’t have it in him to carry the dead weight of his superior and their belongings to another room. Just this once, he decided, there wouldn’t be any harm in doing not-quite-everything in his power to ensure that things looked purely professional.
Despite her previously superior tone, Tama’s voice softened as she tried to encourage him. For once, I agree with you about him. Moving is probably more trouble than it’s worth. Ryuki set the phone back on its receiver and felt Tama’s excitement as the dial-tone was cut off. Now get in there!
Ryuki set his shoes by the door, turned off the lights, shrugged off everything but his undershirt and pants, walked over to the bed and grabbed a pillow.
Coward! Are you fucking serious? Come on!
Stubbornly, he settled down on the floor and ignored Tama’s attempts to goad him into making an obvious mistake. Regardless of how badly he wanted to lay down next to Date, Ryuki didn’t trust himself not to do anything embarrassing while asleep. He was confident that he didn’t snore and only talked on rare occasions (mostly gibberish, sometimes panicked) but feared his habit of hugging a pillow or quilt to his chest would translate poorly to a shared bed.
Tama continued to argue, citing previous daydreams about similar situations and the rarity of the opportunity, but Ryuki took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Sober Date would insist on switching places or sharing, but the special blend of anxiety that came with a crush convinced Ryuki that this was the most reasonable option.
Good night Tama.
Still, even though he had resolved to do nothing, even though he knew Date had undoubtedly slept in less welcoming places, his mind wandered to concerns about his comfort. He had taken off his jacket hours ago, and had abandoned his shoes when they arrived, but was still wearing his vest, and gloves, and socks, and… belt.
Urgh, his brain was such a traitor, circling back to overfamiliar worries and fond imaginings over and over. It took Ryuki the better half of an hour to drift off, only to blink awake minutes later at the feeling of his arm being tugged upward. It almost hurt, so he instinctively shifted in the direction to ease the strain. And someone – no, Date – was… talking to him?
“...an idiot? ‘S a big bed.”
Drowsy, he sat up to a kneeling position only for Date to haul him halfway onto the bed. He’s strong even when he’s this out of it, Ryuki noted, with no choice but to awkwardly sit on the edge of the mattress while Date kept his grip on his arm.
“You’ll catch a, uh, mold?”
The sight of Date (when did he take off his shirt? when did he take off every item Ryuki had worried about?) – sleepy but determined, barely visible in light coming through the curtains, frowning at his own inebriation, concerned about him – instantly eroded the last of Ryuki’s self control.
“Cold. That’s it.”
Wow, confused Date was cute, and cared about him, and was maybe going to give him a heart attack.
“Okay, well,” Ryuki tried to reconnect to reality through the feeling of cool sheets on his hand and steady thrum of the ceiling fan. “You’ll need to get under the covers then. So neither of us get sick, right?” Giving a tentative tug at the top of the sheets and comforter, Ryuki couldn't bother to hide his smile.
Date shifted cooperatively to allow Ryuki to pull them down, rolling over to face the wall with a muffled, “Whatever.” Ryuki dropped the covers on him and within seconds, Date’s breathing evened back out.
It was over, Date was asleep again, and Ryuki was – still on the verge of a cardiac emergency, heart beating so loud in his ears from the brief interaction that he nearly forgot to lay back down. He made a mental note to thank someone (Boss? the airline’s customer service staff? the bartenders they’d irritated?) for getting him here. He wasn’t going to get very much sleep. The floor had certainly been the better choice if he wanted to wake well-rested, but he was no stranger to exhaustion and could absolutely handle a day of tiredness if it meant getting this chance.
Now, he just had to calm down and act like curling up at the furthest edge of the bed was normal. Date was making it easy to justify scooting further away, as he hadn’t moved much from the spot he’d initially flopped on, square in the middle of the bed. If Date was making sure he was comfortable, Ryuki would do his best to do the same. That meant facing away from the other man and not relaxing enough to reach out and cuddle the closest warm body as soon as he lost consciousness.
I don’t know why I bother getting excited. You can never just make the most of chances like this!
When Ryuki still didn’t respond, Tama gave up as promised, leaving him to lie awake obsessing over tonight’s conversations in peace.
He was woken by a thudding pain from his hips to his shoulders and, embarrassingly, the too-high sound of his own voice. It was still dark and something fuzzy was pressing against his face, into his open mouth. Carpet. Ew.
“The hell are you doing?”
Hearing Date’s voice brought the details of the night back into sharp focus, jolting him with enough self-awareness that he sat up too fast. Why was he back on the floor? And why were they both awake? A dizzy glance at the bedside alarm clock confirmed that it was just past four in the morning, so the softness of Date’s voice was coming from sleepiness rather than concern. Right. He’d rolled over from his precarious spot at the edge of the mattress onto nothingness, landed on the floor, and apparently yelped in the process. How lovely and completely not embarrassing of him.
“Sorry to wake you,” was all he could manage, nervously running a hand through his hair.
Propped up on one elbow and looking in his direction, Date dismissed the apology with a wave. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.” Excluding his pride, Ryuki lamented. “I just, um, fell off the bed.”
It was silent for a moment and he felt his cheeks and neck going red. But then Date sat up, hand over his mouth and laughing quietly.
Tama, now he’s laughing at me, he whined. She didn’t respond. Maybe it was because she was still annoyed that he’d opted not to make the most of the situation earlier, or maybe she’d anticipated how quickly Ryuki’s embarrassment would shift into warm appreciation for the sound of Date’s laugh. It was light, like he was holding back on Ryuki’s account, and raspy from sleep. His heart was pounding again.
“I must have really been out of it, I move around a bit in my sleep,” he tried to explain. Getting more rest suddenly seemed unimportant when weighed against getting to have this quiet, private conversation, no matter how silly it made him look. “Sorry.”
“It’s no big deal, just get back up here.”
All he could manage was a mumbled ‘Okay’ before moving back under the covers. It wasn’t like he could come up with an excuse to stay on the floor now. He glanced back at Date despite his nerves. Of course, Date was smiling at him with the same sleepy vulnerability that his laugh had carried a minute before. Ryuki couldn’t (or, more honestly, didn’t want to) look away. Thankfully, he was rescued from any realization that he had been staring when Date clutched at his own head.
“Are you feeling okay? Still drunk?”
“No, just…” With a groan, he stood up. “Ugh, I’m gonna take a piss.”
Ryuki nodded and kept his back to the bathroom as Date left.
Couldn’t he have just stayed asleep until morning, gotten up first, and dealt with exactly none of this? He found himself wishing for Tama’s commentary, even if she would make fun of him more, as long as he could avoid all the overthinking that being awake in the same bed as sober Date would inspire. All he could do was take this minute or two to focus on his breathing. He sighed and rolled back over, ensuring he was as close to the edge as possible again as the bathroom door opened.
Ryuki brought an arm up to cover his eyes, squinting at Date’s silhouette. Standing in the doorway to the lit bathroom, Date hesitated a moment and lazily put a hand on his hip. “Well of course you fell off the bed if you were laying like that.”
Unsure of what to say, he scooted back a few inches and tried not to think too hard about the fact that while Date was all shadows with the lighted room behind him, he could see Ryuki clearly. The light was switched off before he could dwell on it, and the padding of Date’s footsteps was all Ryuki could use to track him until he lay back down on his side of the bed. All was quiet again. His overthinking had been for nothing, Date would go back to sleep and Ryuki would go back to staring into the dark.
“This headache is gonna suck on the plane.”
“We can pick up some painkillers on the way. Or I can go get some in the morning,” Ryuki offered without thinking.
Date sighed again and it was enough to make Ryuki reconsider his response. Maybe that was too enthusiastic, maybe Date thought that no one should sound that eager so early in the morning, or maybe it had been the last straw before Date acknowledged his fawning as inappropriate.
“You’re too nice to people,” was not what he’d expected. As Ryuki wrestled with the conflicting impulses to modestly deny the assertion or correct that he was too nice to Date specifically, he kept talking. “Sorry if I was a pain in the ass earlier, got way too into having no responsibilities for a day.”
The words sounded off, didn’t fit with Ryuki’s memories of other times one or both of them got wasted. He realized they’d never done this – never slept the buzz off together in a comfortable place instead of their separate apartments, or cars, or (one, memorable time) on the floor of the Psync room. And so he was learning that Date’s instincts to crack jokes and feign disbelief that Ryuki had paid his tab again kicked in sometime after five in the morning.
“It’s okay. I mean, it wasn’t any trouble. I’m the one who woke you up, I should be apologizing.”
“Told you before, it’s fine.”
Ryuki wished they would just keep talking. This was doing more to relax him than lying in silence had, the reassuring sound of Date’s voice dissolving his anxieties one by one. Sleepily, he thought that he would listen to Date talk about anything. “And seriously, you don’t need to sugar-coat it, I remember enough to know I was way further gone than you.”
“You could definitely say that,” he admitted and Date chuckled again. What did he have to do to keep hearing that? Ryuki didn’t have the self-consciousness to push the thought away. He was finally too tired to obsess over details that Date probably didn’t care about, instead closing his eyes.
“I’m lucky I had you to drag me back here in one piece.”
“Mhm, was no problem.”
Ryuki faintly hoped that Tama was paying attention enough to confirm the details of what Date was saying later. He was barely holding sleep at bay, trying to appreciate the moment just a bit longer.
“Ryuki? Still awake?” It had been a couple minutes, but Ryuki managed an affirmative noise. “You still look like you’re about to fall off the edge there.”
When he didn’t respond, Date tugged on the covers just enough to make Ryuki tighten his grip. “Thought we were sharing.”
Date pulled harder. “Scoot in and I’ll drop it.”
Ryuki wasn’t in a mood to object, wiggling backwards until the tension on the covers eased up and he could hold them to his chest again. Tama’s interjection of, This is so stupid, midway through the process nearly startled him enough to get a physical reaction, but was forgotten as he drifted off to sleep.
Satisfied, Date spoke softly, voice closer than before, “‘Night.”
It wasn’t light that woke him, but warmth.
Lying stomach down, he tried to recall his surroundings. Right, they were still in the hotel. He’d managed to get a few hours of deep sleep and was pleasantly surprised by the softness surrounding him. He was under a blanket pulled up high enough to shield most of his face from the room’s cool air. Exhaling happily, he shrank further into this cozy feeling. The carpet wasn’t nearly as scratchy as it had seemed the night before… Wait.
Awareness was creeping into his limbs, the varied soft textures where his head, hands, and body rested coming into focus. That wasn’t right. Hadn’t he fallen asleep on the floor?
When the curiosity was too much, Ryuki opened his eyes and squeezed them shut again right away. He gradually adjusted to the bit of light coming through the gap in the curtains. No, he definitely wasn’t on the floor. He hadn’t imagined being wrapped in the blanket. Recalling his indecision from the night before and having to be convinced to get in bed twice, his mind suddenly connected the dots and recognized the warmth he was curled up against was not a pillow.
His pulse quickened at the realization and he forced himself to tilt his face up and saw – Date. Date, familiar, comforting, shirtless, eyes closed. Ryuki’s head was resting on his chest, one arm squished between them and the other resting in a loose hold around Date’s waist, legs kept untangled but weighed down by one of Date’s hooked over them.
He finished his appraisal and nearly stopped breathing. This was why he had wanted to sleep on the floor, had risked rolling off of the bed, had done his best to stay awake. It was all too much, too sudden, his instinct to flee from the room crashing against the urge to commit every aspect of this to memory, competing priorities freezing him in place.
After seconds or minutes, Ryuki let out a breath, resolving to carefully extricate himself from this position as to not wake Date. Step one, sit up, was easily done – done, but miscalculated, no consideration given to Date’s arm that had been circling his shoulders and now slid to rest at the small of his back. He reflexively looked to Date for a reaction and found his eyes open, returning his gaze.
“Good morning.”
Date said it like their position was the most natural thing in the world and for a moment Ryuki believed him, entranced – but then it was all too real, too much again, and he was scrambling backwards out of the covers and into a fully upright position on the end of the bed. His foot had definitely made hard contact with Date’s leg on the way out.
“Okay, ow – what’s wrong?” Date didn’t sound hurt, thankfully, just curious, a small, amused smile on his face.
“Nothing I, well, Tama thought it would be funny to set an alarm! Sorry if I woke you up, it really surprised me.” Lying wasn’t his strong suit. But it was better than confessing to snuggling way too close to Date while he slept. Had Date even noticed before Ryuki moved away? No, he must have just woken up, and their position wasn’t completely damning. Realizing that he might have overreacted, Ryuki cringed at the words fresh out of his mouth and followed up with another, “Sorry,” for good measure.
“All good,” Date said. And – and he still sounded way too comfortable, too casual, too unbothered by the circumstances. He didn’t even sound tired, Ryuki thought, covering his own yawn and rubbing his eyes. On second thought, Date hadn’t done any of those things. He’d just sat up, taking no time to squint and adjust to the light or groggily examine the room. It had Ryuki feeling as if he was at a disadvantage trying to get his bearings, almost like Date hadn’t even – Oh.
The realization sent a nervous chill up his spine, making him miss the blankets more.
Date had already been awake.
Ryuki stood, fishing Tama’s charging station out of his bag and fumbling it into the bedside outlet. His movements felt stiff and awkward as he removed his AI, not looking back at Date as he grabbed the door to the bathroom.
“I’m going to take a shower!”
Clicking the door shut behind him, he barely heard Date’s nonchalant, “Okay.” He spent upwards of ten minutes just standing under the water, willing himself to act completely normal as soon as he left the bathroom.
He would not think about the previous night, or the position they’d woken up in, or the lingering sensation of Date’s fingers on his back, where it would be easy to slide down and – Ryuki shook his head and turned the water almost as hot as it would go.
How long could one person spend describing the ‘often underappreciated’ aesthetic value of instructional knitting diagrams? Date was surely angling for a world record, enjoying his captive audience in the back of the limo, unaware that Tama’s stopwatch was running up to the ten minute mark. Spurred on by a few drinks and Ryuki’s ill-advised curiosity, he’d bought several magazines from the vending machine outside of Marble and launched into his explanation before Tama could bring the car around.
This was more than he had bargained for, but Ryuki didn’t mind, taking the opportunity to marvel again at the fact that his cuddling hadn’t had any consequences. Of course, he had just been overthinking things.
He’d been certain that it was only a matter of time before Date teased him about it, or worse, told him off. But then it didn’t come up during the taxi ride to the airport, or on the flight, or when they parted ways after landing. Date didn’t even avoid him. Casual touches continued, not too frequent, not lingering, just like before.
Weeks went by as usual, any awkwardness Ryuki could dream up swallowed by routine reports and trips to Marble or Brahman. What Ryuki had internally deemed ‘the bed incident’ went unmentioned aside from Boss’s snide questions about whether the hotel was up to Ryuki’s standards when they reported back to the office. No, Date hadn’t seemed to care about it at all, and while Ryuki knew he should be grateful, the lack of closure had him more on edge than relieved.
Daydreaming about wrapping his arms around Date’s chest or waking up next to him without having to jump away was making him read far too much into (completely normal!) casual affection. He didn’t remember being pulled into side hugs quite so often and was suddenly hyper-aware of Date’s habit of putting an arm over the back of couches, or restaurant booths, or the bench-seat of the limo.
Ryuki was just out of range of his touch, leaning back against the cushion and tuning back in to the knitting discussion. Date waved a hand in front of his face, the same hand that Ryuki had been so careful to stay a foot away from.
“Still with me?”
“Sorry, I guess I spaced out. Little tired. What were you saying?” Date shook his head and clicked his tongue in mock disappointment before dropping his magazine with the others in the car door pocket.
“You should lay down.” When Ryuki just rolled his eyes and turned to look out the window, Date had no choice but to tease him. “What, decided I’m not comfy enough for you anymore?”
“What?” Ryuki choked out. His gaze was snapped back from the city outside, taking in Date’s self-satisfied smirk and getting no further explanation. Surely Date was speaking generally, he couldn’t possibly have the one, specific incident when Ryuki had undeniably found him comfortable on his mind. But – he was patting his lap invitingly and Ryuki felt dread settling in his chest because, well, he’d been thinking about this for weeks and couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse.
Scooting towards Date’s side of the car after a few moments of indecision, Ryuki pulled his legs up onto the seat and laid back. This would be fine. Coworkers did this – well, maybe they didn’t – but friends did this sort of thing all the time, he was sure. With his head on Date’s lap, he had nowhere to look but up. Maybe he should roll over onto his side (Oh, cause that went so well last time, Tama huffed), but Date had picked the knitting magazine back up with a smooth, “As I was saying…” and Ryuki wasn’t going to look away.
This position did nothing to improve his understanding of whatever minutiae Date was talking about. He was far too engrossed in the movement of his mouth, the animated way he spoke, and the comfort of his body heat. After a few more minutes, Date reached down to run a hand through his hair.
“Are you listening?”
Well now he was. Date’s hand stayed there, resting on the back of his head while Ryuki just blinked up at him.
“...Yes?”
Date laughed and Ryuki could feel it, could feel the stupid smile on his face, and couldn’t even be mad at himself for the way his voice came out off-pitch and stilted.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, you’ve been a pretty good sport about this stuff for not telling me to shut up sooner.”
“You don’t have to shut up.” Did he sound too desperate? Was it too obvious that he was just trying to keep the conversation going? His mouth was moving before he could think too much about it, “I like hearing you talk.”
And Date didn’t say anything to that, just smiling softly and continuing to run his fingers through Ryuki’s hair, nails light on his scalp sending Ryuki’s thoughts and pulse racing. Their eye contact was broken when Date went back to reading, silently this time, flipping the page with his thumb every now and then. Ryuki was pretty sure he had fallen asleep some ten minutes back, was imagining everything, would be woken up soon by Tama’s teasing, would have to keep acting like he didn’t spend most of his time with Date wanting this. Testing his theory, he spoke up.
“Mr. Date?”
He hummed in response, shifting his reading material to the side to look down at Ryuki expectantly. No – this couldn’t be a dream, Date’s tilted head and familiar expression were far too close, and real, and warm, and endearing, to be a figment of his imagination. This was as good as it would get, Ryuki was sure, so he should make the most of it, should stop staring and say something substantial, and honest, and hopefully not humiliating.
The car stopped and he lost his nerve, sitting up too fast as he tried to compose himself. Right, they were at his apartment. Now Tama would take Date home, as she often did, even though his place was further away, because Ryuki had successfully begged and pleaded for the excuse to spend more time together on enough occasions that refusing was more trouble than just doing it.
“Right – we’re here, uh.” Ryuki finally looked away to confirm the presence of his apartment building outside, pushing thoughts of confessing out of his mind and fast forwarding to the relief he’d get from screaming into a pillow about ninety seconds from now. Keeping his gaze on his shoes, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
When Date didn’t say anything for five, and then ten seconds, Ryuki looked back up to find him much closer, having shrunk the distance between them while Ryuki was panicking. The way Ryuki’s eyes widened didn’t seem to discourage Date, who pointed casually out the window.
“Can I come up?”
Opening and closing his mouth and failing to say anything, Ryuki momentarily forgot how to anxiety spiral or cycle through every possible motivation Date could have. Instead, he just nodded, “I have a guest room,” like Date hadn’t crashed there a hundred times before.
“Uh-huh.” Grinning, Date reached past him to grab the handle, practically in Ryuki’s lap as the car door swung open behind him, “That’s great.”
This time, the number of beds was not going to be an issue.