Chapter Text
“..are you sure you don’t need one?”
he strikes a pose.
“i’m sure don’t need an umbrella! your big brother will be coming home before any rain hits!”
saki stares at him, doubt written all over her face, the rejected umbrella held mid-air. “it’s going to rain really heavily, just take the umbrella!”
“you can have it, so you don’t get sick!” giving her a reassuring pat, tsukasa guffaws something about being the best brother ever before leaving the home to go to school.
saki has a bad feeling about it all.
——
the day starts off as an average one, tsukasa and rui spending lunch together at the rooftop like any other day. tsukasa decides he wants a drink from the vending machine, so rui tags along.
however, it doesn’t take long for things to go south.
the hundred yen coin slides down the coin slot smoothly, tsukasa presses the glowing button for his drink..
..nothing comes out?
tsukasa presses the button again, thinking of it as a weird malfunction.
nothing is coming out.
tsukasa’s eyes widen, and he starts spamming the button relentlessly. “my coin!” he hisses through gritted teeth. rui doesn’t say a word, observing him and his furrowed eyebrows closely. as expected, tsukasa’s attempts were futile. exasperated, he turns to rui. surely, he had a solution for everything?
“..rui, the machine ate my coin.”
rui cocks his head to the side, expression neutral. “that is very mean of the machine,” he nods, tapping the sides of the machine as if to test something. after he does so, the usual mischievous expression he always wore was back to haunt tsukasa. “i want to try something.”
tsukasa expected many things, like rui kicking the machine, or rui sticking his stupidly long hand in the machine to grab his drink, but he found it strange when he pulled a bag of powder out of his pocket to sprinkle into the vending machine instead.
“..what is that? don’t tell me you brought illegal things to school!”
rui’s smile only gets wider. “oh tsukasa-kun, you’re even meaner than the machine to assume i’d do such a thing!” tsukasa doesn’t buy at of his words. “stop that! it’s not my fault you’re a delinque—“
“stand back.”
a command. as rui uses a hand to pull tsukasa away, his eyes turn to the machine that was softly vibrating, whirring to life. for just a brief second, tsukasa even believes rui fixed the machine, so he could get his drink, maybe he could even thank him by buying him candy later on,
a corner of the vending machine explodes before his eyes.
“what the—!”
a blur of events occur next.
students dashing over to find out what happened, students nearby dashing away to not get caught up in any of their shenanigans, tsukasa grabbing his head and yelling, rui feigning sadness because his ‘experiment didn’t work’, and of course, a teacher has to step in.
“tenma, kamishiro! what were you two thinking when you blew up that vending machine?”
“oh, but we didn’t mean to,” rui sighs, tilting his head to the floor apologetically. an act he was putting on. “the vending machine simply wouldn’t give tsukasa-kun his drink, even after he paid.” his feet even shuffle a little to emphasise his innocence, yet the teacher doesn’t seem to buy any of it. the machine had a huge dent on the bottom right from the explosion, and that was the end of their discussion.
tsukasa bristles in anger, he wasn’t even the one who sprinkled weird powder into the vending machine, but he was still caught up in this scolding!
the teacher cuts him off.
“enough! the both of you will receive detention after school, class 2-A.”
the sentence hits tsukasa like a bucket of cold water. detention? forget detention, it was a normal occurrence, but what about the heavy rain? panicking, he shoots rui a death glare. rui’s tongue darts out in the slightest, careful not to get caught by the teacher.
“—but!”
before tsukasa could even begin to justify himself, the teacher had turned on her heel, storming off into the teacher’s lounge to likely blow off some steam. he stares at blackened vending machine with a newly awakened, venomous hatred. however, rui looked more than delightful to spend his detention with tsukasa.
“tsukasa-kun,” rui sings, dragging out the u’s. “my mistake, looks like i had your drink all along!” he waves the can around for tsukasa to see.
tsukasa wanted to punch the drink out of his hands.
—
when tsukasa pulls open the door begrudgingly, he’s not surprised to find rui the only one in the room, swinging his devious legs like the happiest man in the world. the both of them received so much detention slips that teachers gradually stopped showing up after school. “tsukasa-kun!” he croons sweetly. stomping towards a seat beside him, tsukasa couldn’t be more irked by his devilishly smooth voice.
tsukasa couldn’t believe it. of all the people to get detention, it was him, the world’s future star? sure, he missed a few classes here and there, maybe even got into cahoots with rui once in a while, but this time it was different, it was for something he didn’t even do! it was completely unfair, and he would get caught in the rain right after detention!
stupid, silly rui, dragging him into unnecessary things. how was that fair? he turns to see rui staring right into his eyes, grinning the same cat-like smile that made him want to punch him right in the face. his scowl deepens when he sees the sparkle in his eyes.
“..what are you so happy for? this is all your fault!”
rui giggles, pulling up his chair to slide closer towards tsukasa. “what if i just wanted to spend some time with you?” light pink dusts his freckled face. “—we could’ve gone somewhere else!”
“hmm.. i think this is more fun.”
rui was right up close to him, arm pressed up against tsukasa as he perched his chin in his hand, wearing a sweet expression. tsukasa was trying his hardest to make his blush fade, feeling like his skin was going to catch on fire with how warm he was. “..whatever.”
“oh? don’t you think so?” rui prompts him further, chuckling a little at how consternated tsukasa looked, with a thick crease between his eyebrows. tsukasa crinkled his nose at him. “suit yourself,” he grumbles while reaching for his bag. “while i’m here, i have homework to finish!”
—
with that, hours sped by, but not without the usual back and forth bickering from the two. tsukasa needed help with his homework, and rui was more than happy to give him a hand.
“there, the answer has been number two this whole time.”
rui tapped his pencil against his lips— impossibly pink and slightly chapped, tsukasa noted, before leaning over to check tsukasa’s answer. tsukasa wasn’t paying attention however, particularly stuck in a trance looking at rui’s unnaturally enticing lips. the words rui says next fly over his head just as quickly. “and you got the right answer, i’m pleased!”
tsukasa had to tear his eyes off of rui, remembering he was still in a conversation. flicking his eyes over it quickly, he nods confidently. “as expected of a star!” but what was totally unexpected, was how rui wrapped an arm around tsukasa’s shoulder, pulling him in too close for tsukasa’s heart not to pound uncontrollably. “indeed! good job, tsukasa-kun.” his praise was just as gentle as the smile he wore.
something tsukasa loved about him. how the corners of rui’s eyes would crinkle when he praised all the little details about tsukasa, no matter how small. tsukasa was certain he could strike a pose and have rui compliment him on his posture, and it felt different to other comments he received. it fuelled him with an indescribable warmth.
alright, now tsukasa was definitely full-on blushing. rui was so willing to get close to him, and his praise was about to send him to the moon! this was too much for his poor heart, as he stuttered to make up for the lack of silence. “uh, well—, of course!”
rui spends the rest of detention helping tsukasa, his arm showing no intention of leaving tsukasa’s shoulder. he had to try his best to keep from hiding his face in his hands every time rui’s glinted eyes made eye contact with his. rui was infectious, sending him soft smiles whenever he got a question correct that lit up the room with his enticing golden eyes. it made him constantly feel like he was dreaming, like he was left in the afterglow a show that did extremely well.
it left tsukasa feeling lighter and giddier than ever, his heartbeat thrumming in his chest and filling his heart with a fuzzy sensation. even rui’s voice was alluring, powerfully and mysteriously trapping him in a trance with how patient he was with him.
even though it seemed like rui couldn’t move in any closer, tsukasa couldn’t help but want to be nearer to him.
rui’s hair sat perfectly on his face, strands of cyan swaying around as rui spoke. tsukasa could barely hear rui’s calm voice explaining to him the reasoning of the answer, too busy resisting the urge to run his fingers through his hair, to get more than just a small touch whenever rui needed help with putting on an accessory. the ache burned in the pit of his stomach. he wanted to feel his hair for more than just a few glorious seconds, to feel his hair as more than just a troupe member..
“tsukasa-kun? is something wrong?” a warm hand rested on top of his own.
he couldn’t even think, throat going completely dry. rui was beautiful, even when talking about the must mundane things.
“—right! sorry, i just spaced out there,” tsukasa gulps, turning back to his worksheet in order to avoid eye contact. “you can go back to explaining! i’ll pay attention this time.” the hand that was above his suddenly tightens its grip.
“tsukasa-kun, look at me.”
tsukasa snaps his head up, embarrassment fading into confusion as he does so. what did he—
rui was even closer now, so close their noses could touch if tsukasa dared to lean in any further. it was all so strange, so foreign, with his heartbeat matching the soft pitter-patter of the rain that went on outside. rui was making full-on eye contact with him, eyes half-lidded with an unrecognisable look in his eye that made tsukasa feel like he was the only person in the whole world.
tsukasa felt his pulse thud away in his throat, cheeks burning as he stared into the same pair of eyes he had been admiring. tsukasa kept flicking his eyes down to rui lips, slightly parted, and it almost seemed like rui’s face was getting closer and closer, as his eyes fluttered shut. his hand found his way into intertwining with tsukasa’s fingertips, and it felt like he was on fire, an intense ache in his heart to be closer to rui, to finally close their distance—
knocks on the door.
it echoed throughout the classroom, and tsukasa practically jumps off of rui as if he caught red handed in the act of committing a serious crime. “t-the door!” he yells, practically feeling his face emit smoke as he tried to compose himself. “someone’s at the door.” quieter this time.
tsukasa laid his head back down on the chair as rui slowly got up to answer the door, heart working overtime to thud against his ribcage. the ache in his chest worsened, something about being so close to a kiss he craved for being torn away from him made him want to yell at whoever was at the door.
..but, what was all of that about?
when rui returns, his face is as red as tsukasa’s, but he seemed to have acted like nothing ever happened, face expressionless. “it was just a student council member telling us detention has ended. we can head home now.” rui’s voice comes out shaky. tsukasa nods just as shakily.
“w-well, finally! it was your fault was getting us stuck here in the first place!”
within seconds, he is back to his usual smug demeanour. “oh tsukasa-kun, woe is me!” he exclaims without bothering to hide the glee in his tone. “you should be excited to spend more time with your director, no?”
“..cut that out right now! it’s still raining outside, and i told saki i didn’t
need an umbrella! what kind of older brother am i going to look like if i come home drenched?”
rui places a finger on his chin, considering tsukasa’s words in his mind carefully.
“is that so? then, i’ll walk you home.”
“—!”
as if this afternoon could get any worse!
yet his heart is back to beating faster, excited at the idea of spending more time with rui.
..this was all rui’s fault.