Work Text:
the clock’s thinnest hand moves slightly. a second passes.
somewhere in kamiyama highschool, rui is watching the clock like a hawk.
the school year had only started to begun, students greeting each other with lively chatter, so much so that even the teachers didn’t bother trying to quieten them down. post holiday energy was buzzing in the air, making almost every student restless.
lessons were basically useless to rui now, filled with teachers doing their introductions and letting the students buzz with one another for the rest of class. the usual beginning of a school year, but rui had only one person he wanted to talk to.
the boredom was seriously getting to him! he did try to pay attention, but soon realised this was as interesting as watching paint dry the moment he flipped open his textbook. surely, mundane chitchat with people he didn’t even like was not worth his time. his teacher seemed to be droning on and on about himself, voice fading into background noise as rui’s eyes trailed away from his textbook to the clock above the blackboard. his heart sank a little to find out class wasn’t even halfway over.
rui sighs. he had the sudden urge to fly out of his classroom and hunt tsukasa down, free him of his misery. which was a brilliant idea, seeing as though he was going nowhere with this class. watching the clock tick as an excruciating pace, the gears in his head were already turning. the thought of staying in class was already out of the question.
“sir,” he raises his hand politely, putting on an act of looking embarrassed. “may i go to the nurse’s office, please? i don’t feel too well.” he even hangs his head low in an effort to make it seem truly authentic. the teacher easily gives in, giving rui an opportunity to slink out of the classroom with his hand on his head. he had to keep up the act for his plan to work!
the moment he’s out of sight, he drops his act.
he make a detour and heads straight for his locker, grabs a screwdriver, and shuts the door with an extra burst of energy.
making sure nobody was in sight, he opens the third locker to his left and steps right in, practically strolling in calmly as if entering lockers was second nature to him. however, this locker didn’t have a wall inside of it. instead, it held a passageway, a passageway that felt rather long to rui into the teacher’s office. the school had blocked off the exit long ago and replaced it with lockers for students, and only rui knew that from hours of exploring kamiyama. but entering the office would only be one part of his plan done, because he was planning to see tsukasa-kun soon!
either way, returning to class was never part of his plan.
—
meanwhile, tsukasa was hard at work, paying attention like any other student in class. a self-proclaimed math genius, he was! scribbling away whatever the teacher had written on the board and into his notepad, an exemplary student should always be paying attention! he was listening closely and writing down his teacher’s introduction. things like hid teacher’s name, where to find him for after-school tutoring, his contact information, any useful points to take down.
until a voice erupts from the speaker, ruining his plans on becoming a good student, voice coming through crisp and clear.
“tenma tsukasa, come to the office with your belongings, please.”
his head snaps up from his notebook, horrified. why him, specifically? had rui gotten him into some sort of shady trouble he had to lie out of again? it didn’t help that the class had gone dead silent and started gaping at him like he was some sort of delinquent! ..given his reputation with his boyfriend, it was likely, but it was only because of rui! even his teacher raises an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to leave the room with his bag as instructed.
getting up painfully loud, tsukasa packs his things as told and leaves reluctantly, still feeling multiple pairs of eyes on him for the wrong reason. as he walks down the hallway, he grumbles to himself about how he’d chide away at rui the moment is saw him again, give him an earful about school rules, and how he’s being called to the office because of him..
now that he thought about it, the voice sounded strangely familiar. don’t tell him, his boyfriend didn’t—
“tsukasa-kun!” a voice sings, and tsukasa feels a pair of hands wrap around his waist from behind. it the same voice he heard on the speakers minutes ago.
“rui!” tsukasa yells, but it was not with the same kind of happiness the voice had shown him. rui nuzzles right into the warmth expanse of his neck, something he had always done since even before their relationship started. tsukasa is not having it. “we’re supposed to be in class! and how did you manage to use the intercom—“
“secret passage,” rui mumbles and makes an attempt to silence him with a lazy kiss to his neck, already tuning out from tsukasa’s scolding. he was already feeling sleepy from the warmth of tsukasa’s neck. once again, he was absolutely not having it, smacking rui’s head gently while continuing his tangent. “what if you get caught? —no! what if we get caught cuddling in a hallway? we still owe two days of detention from that stunt you pulled last week!”
“secret passage,” rui mumbles sleepily again. in response, tsukasa swats his head a little harder.
“i get it! but we should really be focusing in class, the school year just started, and—“ he’s cut off by the sudden movement of rui raising his head, and then feeling a soft nudge on his ear. it tickled, and it tickled horribly.
“—rui!” tsukasa starts to squirm in his grip. with the upper hand, rui takes advantage of his giggling fit to grab tsukasa’s hand.
“secret passage!”
and soon enough, rui had taken tsukasa by the hand, and they were running into lockers that had no walls that tsukasa didn’t know about. he was barely surprised, with rui having the best knowledge of their school’s secret passages and unused doors. once they step into the passageway, tsukasa is quick to give him another earful.
“—we should really just go back to class, i have notes to write, and i’ve never skipped class before..” tsukasa pauses when he looks at the sudden manic glimmer in rui’s eyes. he didn’t plan on skipping from the start, did he?
“don’t give me that look! we are not skipping class!”
rui frowns. “i only tricked you into coming out because i missed you,” he cries sorrowfully, even adding a few fake sobs to emphasise his point. “we haven’t had any alone time in so, so long..” he looks to the side with a pitiful expression.
“..we had lunch, alone, two hours ago,” tsukasa shoots him down flatly.
defeated, rui had no choice but to pull out his last card. “oh, my star, you wouldn’t want to return from the office with your school bag in hand, what will you tell the class? that you were skipping class with your boyfriend?” tsukasa’s horrified expression only fuels him further. “after all, i’ve created the perfect cover up for you to skip with me!” he wore the same manic look he only gave during insane show instructions. with no route out, tsukasa gives in through his own silence, looking away angrily. rui gives him an ecstatic kiss on the cheek in exchange.
“drop your school bag, i have a place in mind for us!”
they walk for what seemed like ages, from steep stairs, surrounded by unpainted concrete. the doors creak as they pass through, indicating they haven’t been used in a long time. tsukasa walks down the stairs hesitantly, still holding one of rui’s hands, not too sure why rui had to hold his hand so tightly when he could clearly see the path in front of him. to make sure he doesn’t fall? even though he doesn’t need the guidance, he finds comfort in holding rui’s hand. he runs his thumb along rui’s, enjoying the way rui always smiles without looking back in return.
when they stop, tsukasa is greeted by a rush of cold air on his feet.
“rui, where are we?”
“secret passage,” and then rui smiles at him in a way tsukasa knows he can’t resist.
one of things rui likes about hanging out with tsukasa, was that is there was no awkward silence. they could be doing anything, from studying together to practice their choreography, not saying a word, and they still could understand each other. one of them was how rui always notices when his partner’s face scrunches up in the slightest after making a mistake, no matter how small it was. he cherishes it, most silence in his life previously due to the stifling quiet that everyone else someone else to talk to. except, this silence was pleasant.
rui turns the doorknob, feeling the cold from the metal seep into his hand. as they enter, the first thing the both of them see is a small stool and many shelves, each piled up with old books. small robots, likely rui’s, were also lined up in the left corner, some even still in pieces. “it’s a hideout behind the library! i found it while exploring,” he beams at tsukasa, anticipating another round of chiding from his boyfriend. strangely enough, tsukasa seems fascinated by this hideout.
“you.. you found this? it’s so cool!”
rui nods and smiles in agreement, but inside it's like a second sun has been turned on, all of his insides melting under its warmth. tsukasa’s smile did wonders on him. tsukasa continues gaping at the small room.
“it’s cold here too, it looks like a penguin could live here!” tsukasa giggles faintly, head still low as he carefully caresses rui’s hand in his. “but it’s our hideout. and if there is one, i can fight it.”
rui raises his eyebrow at this statement, prompting him to keep going. “because i fought a penguin once. and won! ..sort of.” in demonstration, he rolls up his sleeves and outstretches his arms towards him, showing off his muscles.
tsukasa never fails to amaze rui.
in his eyes, tsukasa absolutely enthralling in every way imaginable to him. he’s like a bright ball of warmth, light in a dark forest, seemingly so open but mysterious in nature, yet he could he someone so gentle and soft around his loved ones. he loves both sides, if not all sides of of his partner. tsukasa is worth everything to him.
“rui, your eyes are going all big on me again,” tsukasa frowns, and he’s currently looking at him with a puzzled, but amused face. oh, he must’ve been staring. rui immediately tears his eyes away from him, and tsukasa chuckles once again at the sight. he shuffles closer to him and squeezes rui’s hand in his, then gestures to the small room they were in.
“so, care to show me around?”
rui rambles on about his room for a while, telling tsukasa in great detail about how he found the room and how he studies in there from time to time. tsukasa listens carefully, making sure he takes in every single word rui is telling him. but as soon as rui realises he’s talked for too long, he pauses abruptly, panicking to himself.
“—ah, it seems like i’ve spoken for too long, i’m sorry,” he stops himself, whatever he was speaking about previously thrown away completely. tsukasa pokes him gently on the shoulder, and when he simply stares, he clears his throat obnoxiously and puts one hand on his hip. another one of his habits, rui notes.
he looks at rui. his gaze is deep, like he’s lost in his thoughts, his eyes darkening to a pretty color that reminds him of the setting sun. it makes rui feel positively paralyzed, just the way he looks at him.
“i like listening to your voice, so never be sorry around me!”
turning pink, rui lets a grin overtake his solemn face slowly. he turns away, unsure of how to respond. he can even feel his face burning up, but it doesn’t feel awkward. like how he felt it was okay to be himself around tsukasa, sitting less than a feet apart, staring deeply into each other’s eyes.
"i love you,” rui says the words with little to no hesitation.
“—so suddenly?” tsukasa’s face heats up too. “you’re going to kill me!” giggling at his reaction, rui leans forward, and tsukasa’s body naturally follows suit. their noses are so close, they almost squish each other. in a sudden surge of confidence, rui puts his hand on tsukasa’s left cheek, and he leans in. brushing his knuckles on his face carefully, as if being too rough would hurt him. his hair brushes against the top of his hand, tickling it.
he is skipping school with his boyfriend, in the middle of a secret room no one knew about in the library, alone. tsukasa finds this seriously unromantic, but endearing when it came to rui. and only rui.
rui leans a little bit more forward, if that’s even possible. he can feel tsukasa’s breaths, a little shaky against his own. they are barely centimetres from their lips touching. “may i kiss you?”
tsukasa smiles. “always.”
rui smiles too, and finally closes the distance between them.
for a fleeting moment, it feels like they are the only people in the world.
the space around them feels timeless, not physical, unimportant to them. the only thing that rui could and did care about in that moment was tsukasa, his soft lips and his hand finding his. because there was nothing in the whole world that could beat the feeling of kissing tsukasa. not a great show performance, and not even the thrill of hearing the audience clap after. ever since they first kissed, this was the warmth and serenity only tsukasa could bring.
it’s a bit awkward, kissing in a tiny room in a library, but he doesn’t care. neither of them did. it’s tsukasa, and he’s kissing him, and tsukasa’s kissing him, and he wishes for the moment to never end.
unfortunately, tsukasa pulls away for air first. his eyes are glossed over with a look of pure fondness, something only rui saw during moments like these, and his gaze is nothing but full of adoration for him. rui’s hand stays on his cheek, and tsukasa makes no indication of wanting for him to take it off. rui’s other hand and one of tsukasa’s are still interlocked beside them. tsukasa might have squeezed it so hard, that rui’s knuckles have gone white.
but neither of them wouldn’t have it any other way.
rui’s the first to break the silence.
“come tsukasa-kun, i’ll show you more places i know!”