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"It was a weird question, wasn't it?"
A drowsy noise came from the seat beside him, as red eyes tore away from the sight of passing buildings through the window to stare back at him, blinking once or twice as he fully registered the question.
"You're still thinking about it?"
"I mean… I don't know, something about it just stood out for some reason." His red-headed companion gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, letting out a small huff as they rounded a corner. "It wasn't the most out-of-field thing we've been asked, but it just felt… More personal?"
"What is your favourite place to spend time together?"
Ritsu mused, repeating the plagued interview question under his breath, his eyes slowly becoming less droopy and more focused, akin to the careful strategist of Knights rather than the sleepy creature that begged Mao for hugs every hour of the day.
"Well, they were definitely digging for some kind of clearer relationship status for sure. Or, fan-bait at the very least."
That made sense. Mao could already imagine that clip being sent to him by his very own boyfriend through a video titled something to the likes of 'maoritsu being an irl couple part 53', and being teased about it relentlessly for months.
"Well, they need to try a little harder than that if they want to pry anything out of us."
A delightfully smug grin came from the vampire beside him, who's lips had quickly but gently nudged against his cheek before the soft zip of his seatbelt had pushed him back into place, though not without Ritsu linking his pinky with Mao's more or less free hand, squeezing it lightly.
Ritsu's second statement was also true. They had been dancing around the thought of publicly announcing their relationship for a while now, and had been dating for even longer, with speculations about them existing since the beginning and only growing since then. But that also meant they were skilled as ever in dodging questions and giving half-truths, having barely any slip-ups throughout the years.
(Only one incident really came to mind and that was due to being a little too eager to see each other after two weeks being separated abroad and exchanging a little too many kisses in an airport terminal.)
As such, the aforementioned question was answered gracefully as always, but the thought of it still seemed to linger for some reason.
Maybe it was because it was a personal dig that was meant to catch him off guard like Ritsu mentioned. But maybe, it was because he didn't have a readily available answer that was genuine either.
It was hard to pick favourites when there were so many available answers, all of which had such delicate and personal nuance that he didn't think anyone but the very person sitting beside him would truly understand no matter how much he tried to explain.
Maybe it was the playground?
The quaint little set of swings and slides that allowed two young children to truly meet, and the large tree that shaded them through many sunny days that Mao would spend simply sitting with Ritsu regardless of how many calls and invites to ball games and tag that he'd receive. After all, it was Ritsu who would wipe his tears and help him get home after scraping his knee, and it was Ritsu who would sit and wait patiently for Mao every day after school to walk home through that very park. No matter how rainy or sunny, or how long Mao took after extracurriculars, Ritsu always looked happy to see him, offering a fanged smile and waving beneath his black parasol once Mao would arrive. Really, how could Mao not want to spend time with Ritsu?
Even after that strange unknown desire to remain with Ritsu had turned into a self-realised crush, and soon a mutual love, the playground and park had retained its soft innocence for the duo. Sitting on the swings with their hands interlocked or walking around the park in the dead of night, following the same path they had done when they were small children, with the only difference between times being the kisses that would be snuck in between stories of how their days were.
The days spent in that quiet neighbourhood were now long past, but Mao could still remember the exact steps and footholds to climb in through Ritsu's bedroom window without making a single noise, while Mao's family would barely bat an eye if an extra person had suddenly appeared in their household overnight.
There were countless hours of Mao discovering the hidden nooks and crannies of the Sakuma mansion, and just as much time Ritsu insistently spent napping in Mao’s bed instead of walking for two minutes to pass out in his own home. Regardless of whoever’s home was going to be broken into that day, they’d still be just as satisfied together spent staying up late counting stars, revising for tests (for Mao anyway, Ritsu would just look bored and flop on his bed), or sleeping in far too late due to the allure of each other's warmth cuddled beneath blankets, draped in soft clothes that they had stolen or borrowed from each other.
Though admittedly, there was another place in mind where they had arguably spent even more time together. Maybe it was a cliche for his response to be Yumenosaki when presented with such a question, but he would be lying if he didn't admit that countless precious memories he had with his boyfriend were formed within the school.
He would be a fool not to consider it when half of the cohort would not-so-quietly gossip about how he and Ritsu were definitely dating months before Mao could even realise his own feelings.
Even with those surface-level observations from other students about how they would always arrive at and leave school together with Ritsu on his back or holding his hand, or the blatantly affectionate way Ritsu would talk about him at all times (Yes, yes, he was aware that he was very dense for not realising that, sorry Ritchan…), there were certain things that he kept close to his heart from throughout the years.
While he’d probably rather die than admit the cumulative amount of hours he had probably spent admiring Ritsu’s sleeping face instead of waking him up so they could go home, he'd definitely never want to forget those moments. It had started with slow realisations that his childhood friend looked oddly cute when napping quietly on the desk behind him even when he was very much not paying attention in class. From there, it had snowballed into wasting as much time as possible admiring his boyfriend, playing with his hair or (if nobody was around), kissing him awake so they could return home together. The music rooms were meant for almost nodding off while listening to Ritsu’s little performances, the 2-B classroom was meant for idle chatter, trying to catch his boyfriend up on what he definitely did not learn in class and ending up going along with his ridiculous whims instead of studying, and the library was made for Mao to attempt to revise classwork while Ritsu slept resting on his lap, making a compelling argument for Mao to join him in dreamland, which, no matter how hard he tried to fight it, he inevitably did.
While their final year at Yumenosaki was much more isolated from each other than either would have liked, the couple had managed to make it work, no matter how unconventional the means were. As one of the final standing members of the tea club, Ritsu would drag Mao into meetings whenever Hajime wasn’t around, keeping him there for hours just so he could figure out what his boyfriend’s favourite tea was.
Mao wasn’t going to tell Ritsu that every single one tea that he brewed was his favourite just out of how cute it was that his boyfriend was so committed to the task, while Ritsu had only looked so elated while pushing more cakes and drinks onto Mao because of his rare opportunity to not only distract the ever-busy student council president with a date, but that his attention was drawn away from work and onto him and only him.
Their “hidden” agendas were probably clear enough to probably everyone except them after one session of this, but that didn’t stop Mao from allowing himself to be whisked off to drink tea and admire his boyfriend for a few hours every once in a while.
The alternative was Ritsu barging into the student council office like it was his own room and doing whatever he pleased, much to the annoyance of Tori. To be fair, he never usually was a destructive force, most likely found asleep in the corner, just out of the reach of the sun. If he ever was awake, he wouldn’t stray far from his assigned spot, with Mao occasionally catching the vampire sleepily watching him work before his eyes would droop shut again. He would take all the complaining in the world from Tori if it meant he could keep seeing Ritsu’s pleased little smile upon realising that a familiar hoodie had been draped on him in his sleep. However, sometimes Ritsu would decide he wanted more attention from Mao, which meant seating himself as close to Mao as possible to demand whatever physical affection he could get. It was a process of trial and error, with his original plan being to simply sit directly on Mao’s lap and pester him. Obviously (to Mao, anyway, Ritsu didn’t seem to care how bad this plan was), there were several flaws to this idea, such as Ritsu obscuring his entire view of the many papers he had to work through, as well as the reaction anyone would receive if they walked in to see a horrifically embarrassed Mao being straddled by his boyfriend.
After chiding Ritsu for this, he came back a few days later, pulling a chair over and seating himself right beside Mao’s desk. His arm was looped around Ritsu’s and his shoulder was used as a pillow almost instantly. As his dominant hand wasn’t locked in place and he wouldn’t feel like crawling into a pit to die if anyone caught them like this, it was certainly an improvement. Mao decided not to complain, allowing Ritsu to do as he pleased. He only realised after one stack of papers how this was becoming an issue, when his entire shoulder started cramping, and he might have been losing blood circulation in his arm purely out of how tightly Ritsu was attached to him. Any attempt to pry himself free was met with sleepy grumbles and an even more iron-clad lock on his arm, which was warning enough for Mao. The alternative was waking up his boyfriend, but considering how freely Ritsu had access to his neck currently, he’d rather not take his chances. The day had ended with Mao complaining about his entire left arm feeling like it was about to drop off, while Ritsu half-apologetically left kisses on his hand and nearly bit him as an excuse to "get the blood flowing again" (yeah right, Ritchan.).
The final solution was certainly the strangest, but somehow, it was still endearing to Mao in a way. On a particularly exhausting afternoon right after his unit’s rehearsals, Mao had shoved the doors to his office open, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever paperwork was going to make his eyes glaze over. What he wasn’t expecting after throwing himself onto his chair was to almost kick a very familiar Ritsu-shaped creature napping underneath his desk. While Mao was just about ready to scream, all his boyfriend did was stare with eyes half-lidded before uttering a single “Maa-kun~”, shuffling over to lean against his thigh.
He could have still scolded Ritsu for sneaking in without permission, or for scaring the living daylights out of him, but it was far more tempting not to interrupt a sleepy vampire curling up to him, illuminated softly by a setting sun. And this was by far the best choice that he could have made, as the stress of the entire day easily melted when he could stroke his boyfriend’s unfairly soft hair or feel him nuzzle against his leg in attempts to find a more comfortable position to sleep in. Every so often, right when he could feel himself spacing out and ignoring the single-spaced, identically coloured and shaped fonts of the papers in front of him, Ritsu would tap against his leg lightly before reaching up to grab his free hand, swinging it lightly in the small distance between them, or fidgeting with his fingers giving him a welcome snap back into reality.
While there was something comforting about the more obscured, subtle moments of fleeting kisses through ascending elevators or shoulders brushing as they walked towards recording rooms in ES, it was far more freeing to be alone in their own little world, with no one else able to breach the bubble they had created without warning. Despite the convenience of ES dorms, he didn't regret moving out with Ritsu in the slightest. Relationship or not, he couldn't really imagine not having that familiar presence nearby after being accustomed to so many years of it. And having that safety net always at an arm's reach, whether he was curled in bed beside him, a couch cushion away or a wall apart, he wouldn't have it any other way.
Maybe he had an answer to that question after all…? But could he really discount all those memories, all those precious moments in so many locations, just to settle on this one place? Did it even really qualify when it was the newest out of them all, and could not stack up to the years they could've spent at somewhere like their old home? Regardless, this was the only place that was probably uniquely theirs and that had to mean someth-
Thunk.
Two slight jolts had snapped Mao out of the endless loop of uncertainty he was trapped in. The first came from the car jerking to a halt making his seatbelt tug against him slightly. The second came from the tiny tug of Ritsu's pinky linked to his own as his hand instinctively tried to reach to shift the car into park, stopped only by the connected fingers.
Shit. Did he really drive all the way home on autopilot all because of a silly interview question?
…Surely nothing bad would have happened if Ritsu was now fast asleep next to him. Sure, he could sleep like a log sometimes, but a car crash had to be something he'd wake up at…
Regardless, he needed to turn off the car properly. Gently but reluctantly, he untangled his hand from his boyfriend's, helping it drift onto his lap before finally parking the car and switching the engine off. The only task left now was to head home, but unfortunately his partner for this task was completely knocked out.
Ordinarily, he'd be shaking Ritsu awake to get him up and moving, but today, he was feeling a little sentimental. Maybe it was good to reward the vampire for a hard day's work once in a while, for old time's sake. Opening the car door as quietly as he could, Mao reached over, unbuckling the seatbelt before pulling Ritsu up against him.
There was no immediate reaction for a few moments while Mao locked the car and headed out of the car park and towards the elevator. It was a smooth and quiet wait all the way up until the ding of the elevator created a small groan from the vampire in his arms. His eyes were still diligently trying to remain closed, but his arms sluggishly raised to grasp onto Mao’s neck, and his head no longer lolled, now resting against Mao’s shoulder.
“Morning, Ritchan. Sleep okay?”
“...Mm...”
A comfortable silence was met after that, mixing into the quiet hum of the elevator rising. Though, in this rising metal box with nothing but light-rimmed buttons to keep him company, his mind couldn’t help but wander back to that question once again. Ah, he was going to spiral again at this point, pulled into loops of open-ended questions. Maybe it was worth asking for a second opinion this time…
“Ritchan?”
A soft hum in response.
“Did you have an answer to that interview question? Ah, I mean… Like a genuine one.”
This time, Ritsu’s eyes had fluttered open, gazing softly but carefully at Mao’s face. He was expecting almost any kind of answer at this point. Maybe he would laugh at how seriously Mao was taking this tiny exercise in digging for gossip, or give a joking response that gets him no closer to a definitive answer. Or maybe it was worse for him to receive a genuine response, if it was something Mao hadn’t even thought of, making him feel like a bad boyfriend for forgetting something sentimental, an issue that had already been sparked before.
“Mn. Right here.” He spoke with utmost confidence, leaning up to leave a lazy kiss on Mao’s jaw before settling back in place.
…What. In an elevator? Surely he was missing something, but hopefully he wasn’t forgetting anything, because there was no way he could justify this answer in his brain, but-
“Maa-kun still doesn’t get it, does he… I like being here. With Maa-kun.”
oh.
Here. Here.
With Ritsu. In his arms. With Ritsu, together. The common denominator, every single thing that had led him to finding that fluttering feeling of adoration, of love, was his Ritchan in the end. In the end, it never mattered where they were, because, if he could still find that same feeling in any place and any time, even here in an apartment elevator, all from being with his boyfriend, Ritsu would always be his favourite place to be.