Work Text:
“So, when are you going to properly introduce Tsukasa-san to us, hm?”
Rui nearly choked on his Chicken Katsu when his mother asked him that question. Despite having dated Tsukasa for roughly three months and having known him for soon two years, Rui had never introduced him to his parents in the classical sense.
Sure, brief ‘hello’s and ‘goodbye’s were shared when the blonde came over and Rui’s parents happened to be there too, but there was never more. Rui never bothered to change that, nor did Tsukasa, but naturally, Rui’s parents would get curious when their son kept talking about the star with high praise.
“Ah… Um… I’m not sure, haha…” Rui awkwardly replied, focusing his eyes on the plate in front of him.
“Well, how about you invite him to dinner tomorrow?” Rui’s father joined the conversation.
The director had no reason to decline the offer, but why was he so nervous about all that in the first place? It wasn’t like he was embarrassed of his parents nor was he afraid of what his parents might think about Tsukasa. So, Rui agreed to the suggestion.
“Okay, I’ll ask him later,” the purple-haired boy replied, though he still felt nervous about the whole thing. He knew there was nothing to be worried about, yet he couldn’t shake that feeling off.
After finishing dinner, Rui headed to his garage and flopped onto his couch. He pulled his phone out and immediately called Tsukasa. After only a few beeps, his call was picked up.
“Hey, Rui! Did you need something?” the star’s voice immediately made the director’s heart melt. He loved hearing that sweet tone over anything.
“Hi, Tsukasa-kun! I need to ask you something,” after hearing a hum on the other end, Rui continued, “Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow to meet my parents?”
“Meet your parents…?” Tsukasa seemed surprised by the question. Rui waited patiently for Tsukasa’s full response, though, “I’d love to come over, but why so suddenly?”
“Ah, well, my mom brought it up… You don’t have to agree if you don’t feel like meeting them yet…”
“But I want to!” the blonde’s voice cut in sharpy, “I want to get to know them better! It’s awkward when I walk past them whenever I visit you and I think it’s about time I get to meet them properly!”
“It’s about time, you say… Fufu, are you implying that you want to leave a good impression on them so as to receive their blessing once you want to get married with me~?” Rui teased, even though his cheeks turned slightly red at the thought of their potential wedding.
“WHAT!? No! That’s not what I said! I mean- It’s not like I don’t want these things but- I wasn’t implying that with- ARGH!” Rui could hear how Tsukasa apparently fell of his bed, judging from the thud he heard. When the star recovered from the sudden teasing, he spoke again, “A- Anyway, I want to come.”
“Okay then! We can talk about it tomorrow in school again if you want to, fufu~”
“Yeah! That’d be good! Well, see you tomorrow then!”
“See you~”
“Oh, but before I hang up-”
“Hmm…?”
“I’m looking forward to our wedding.”
After that, Tsukasa immediately hung up and left Rui speechless. The director turned into a flustered mess and could only bury his face in a pillow, hoping that he would calm down soon enough. However, his heart was racing and his face was completely red. It didn’t seem like Rui could do anything else other than freak out for that evening.
—
The next evening, Tsukasa was getting ready to head over to the Kamishiro household.
He and Rui had talked briefly about the dinner at school, and though the director had emphasised that the star wouldn’t have to dress himself up much, Tsukasa couldn’t help but carefully select the perfect outfit.
After some time, the blonde became audibly upset about not finding the right clothes to wear, though, which made his sister enter his room.
“Onii-chan, are you still trying to find the right outfit?” Saki curiously asked, tilting her head as she walked up to her brother.
“Ugh… Yeah, I just can’t seem to find the perfect outfit!” Tsukasa complained and groaned into his hands.
“Ehe, I doubt you really have to dress up too nicely for this dinner. It’s not like you’re going to a restaurant!” Saki reassured Tsukasa who let out a sigh as he flopped onto his bed. His sister looked around the floor where many of Tsukasa’s clothes were spread.
“But, I want to look the best as I can!”
“Look, Onii-chan, I think your best is just you!”
“I’m not sure I can follow…”
“Well, hmm… Here! Your favourite sweater! Pair it with a shirt, but leave the collar unbuttoned, so you feel comfortable in it! Then… There! A plain pair of jeans that matches with most of your other clothes anyway and that is not too tight! Oh, and you can add this chain to the jeans as a little extra, hehe!” Saki carefully picked all those clothes up from the floor and placed them on Tsukasa’s bed.
“I love this outfit, but isn’t it too plain for this occasion?” the star asked worriedly while watching Saki pick the other clothes up and hanging them back in the closet.
“The outfit isn’t even finished yet! Look! Ah… where is it… I know you still have it… There!” Saki pulled a puffy jacket with a checkered pattern out and held it in front of Tsukasa, “This perfectly complements the rest of your outfit and will keep the colours in balance once you put your shoes on!”
“Why do you know my closet better than I do…?”
“Oh, and for the little extra…” completely ignoring her brother’s question, Saki ran off to her own room and came back shortly after with a box in hand, “Tada~! I know you’re not usually wearing necklaces and all, but I think it would suit you a lot, Onii-chan!”
Saki picked a necklace and a few bracelets out before pulling Tsukasa over to his mirror and putting the aforementioned necklace around his neck.
“Don’t you look great now?” Saki exclaimed as she slipped the bracelets around his wrists as well. “Did you also want a ring or two, hehe?”
Tsukasa stared at himself in the mirror. More specifically, he stared at the necklace he wore. It was a fine golden chain with a little heart hanging down from it, so nothing special in that sense. However, it was special as it was one of Saki’s favourites. On top of that, Tsukasa had bought it for her, so naturally, a warm and cosy feeling lingered inside the blonde’s chest.
When the star turned to thank his sister, he was met with an excited Saki who held a few rings from her collection, “Ah, Saki, I can’t take all of your accessories! The necklace alone is fine!” Tsukasa took the bracelets off again and returned them to Saki.
“Aw, but I don’t mind if you wear them!” Saki pouted but took the bracelets back and placed everything into her little box again.
“It’s not about that, it’s just that you are too kind to help me out this much. I can’t accept all of this! What sort of star would I be if I let my little sister spoil me like this!!” Tsukasa offered Saki a proud smile alongside his confident laugh and the latter giggled at her brother’s remarks.
The star’s laugh became softer and suddenly, Saki felt how she was pulled into a hug. “O- Onii-chan?” Saki wasn’t used to Tsukasa’s more tender side yet, so it was to be expected that she would be a little surprised by the action.
“Thank you, Saki,” Tsukasa pulled away and the two siblings smiled at each other.
“Hihi~” Saki looked around the room for a moment, “Wait, what time is it now…?”
Tsukasa was a little confused as to why his sister would ask that question, but soon the realisation sank in and his expression quickly turned into one of shock. He hastily grabbed his phone and stared at the time displayed in horror.
“I’M GOING TO BE LATE IF I DON’T HURRY NOW!!”
—
Tsukasa was standing at the front door of the Kamishiro household, which was unusual. Normally, he’d enter and leave the house through the garage door as he and Rui always spent their time in there anyway.
Despite the tight time limit he had, Tsukasa managed to get dressed and even arrive a little early, so now he was nervously making sure he looked fine. The star wasn’t sure why he was so on edge about this dinner. He had seen Rui’s parents occasionally and they didn’t seem like strict people. Far from that in fact!
For at least a minute was Tsukasa’s finger waiting to ring the doorbell, but the nervosity kept him from actually pressing it. Eventually, he shut his eyes close and just pressed the button, not even a second passing and the door flung wide open.
“Welcome, Tsukasa-san!” the blonde was so shocked by the door opening this quickly that he had almost stumbled backward and fallen on the ground. He could barely process the greeting.
“Dad, I asked you to not to dramatically open the door like that…” Rui, who looked at his father with slight annoyance from behind, glanced over to Tsukasa, smiled cheekily, and gave him a small wave.
“Apologies… Tsukasa-san, please come in.” Rui’s father stepped aside to let Tsukasa in.
As the star entered, Rui’s mother smiled at him with an all too familiar smile, “Welcome, Tsukasa-san, it’s great to finally meet you properly, fufu,” she waited for Tsukasa to put his shoes off before continuing, “My, my, there’s so much I’d love to ask you! Rui has told us so much about y-”
“Ah! Why don’t we wait until we’re at the table to talk, hm?” Rui cut his mother off in a panic, feeling too embarrassed to let her continue speaking. Tsukasa stared at Rui with wide eyes and a blush on his face and the latter turned redder at the sight.
“Oh, you’re right. My bad! Then let’s eat right away, shall we?” Mrs. Kamishiro went to the dining table first, followed by her husband. Tsukasa got closer to Rui.
“Hi,” the star gazed at his director lovingly, the blush from previously still evident on his cheeks. Tsukasa gently interlocked his and Rui’s hands and squeezed the latter’s hand.
“Hi,” with lovesick eyes, Rui returned the squeeze. “Can we pretend that you don’t know about me talking to my parents about you?” as he stared into his boyfriend’s eyes, the blonde seriously considered his answer. Slowly, a smirk grew on Tsukasa’s face.
“Why, I think it’s cute of you to talk about me to your parents. Actually, I believe you should talk about me more! You have a great star like me as your partner and won’t boast about it? You need to change that!” Though Tsukasa’s words turned Rui into a flustered mess, it was obvious that he himself felt embarrassed about it too, with his face just as red as Rui’s.
“You meanie! I invite you for dinner with my parents and all you do is tease me!” the taller poked the shorter’s cheek. Tsukasa heated up under the touch and Rui could feel that, “Aww, now that’s adorable, isn’t it? Your cheeks are so squishy, fufu~!”
“Ahh, stop that!!” Tsukasa complained, unable to tame his heart any longer if Rui hadn’t stopped.
“Aw, fine…” Rui lowered his hand again with a sigh.
“Boys! Stop flirting and come over before the food gets cold!” Mrs. Kamishiro’s voice was heard from further away. The boys in question both blushed again at the remark.
Before heading over to the table, the director quickly left a peck on the star’s cheek and whispered, “You look gorgeous, by the way,” then led him to his seat by the hand.
While Rui’s parents sat on one side of the table, Rui and Tsukasa sat on the other. It felt a little like a parent’s talk at school for some reason but at least the two boys could hold hands under the table if they wanted to.
Before digging into their food, everyone wished each other a good meal and Tsukasa immediately thanked Mrs. Kamishiro for the dinner in advance. She giggled in response and smiled kindly, “Don’t mention it! Also, if you want to know, I made sure not to include any bell peppers tonight. Rui wouldn’t have eaten them anyway.”
“Ah, that’s very mindful of you, Kamishiro-san, thank you once more!” Tsukasa’s posture was a little stiff and he carefully thought about each word that he said. Though Rui’s parents seemed nice, one could never know what crazy ideas go through their minds. After all, Rui’s sense for blowing Tsukasa up must come from somewhere.
“Say, Tsukasa-san, you help Rui with his inventions, right? If so, what do you think of them, and would you be interested in seeing some of my own robots?” Rui’s father jumped right into the conversation with a new topic. With high enthusiasm, he anticipated the blonde’s answer.
“Ah- Well, yeah, I help him test his inventions, though, I have to admit that I rarely ever volunteer…” Tsukasa sighed, looking to the side where no one was.
“That already makes you more willing than anyone else on this planet! But now let me know if you want to see some of my inventions. I’ve still got some of my first robots ever stored!”
“Uh, I’d like to see them after dinner, yeah,” Tsukasa answered with a little hesitation. As he was about to take a bite from his food, he glanced over to Rui and noticed how quiet he was until now. It was rare to see the purple-haired being quiet for this long.
While Rui’s parents were chatting together, Tsukasa used the opportunity to slip his hand under the table and rest it on Rui’s knee. “You’re so quiet. Is something the matter?” the star asked with a curious look.
“Oh, sorry, I just don’t really know how to join the conversation, I guess… Usually, I’d talk about what happened in school or at the Wonder Stage, but considering that you’re here tonight, Mom and Dad probably want to hear those things from you,” Rui explained while taking Tsukasa’s hand and caressing his knuckles.
“Hey, Rui, would you mind retelling that story of how you and Tsukasa-san ended up getting kicked out of the park because of that bird robot?” Mrs. Kamishiro asked as if she had heard what Rui had just said. Perhaps she really did hear it?
“Eh, um, you mean the one where Tsukasa-kun screamed like a dying turkey?”
“What?! I did not sound like that!! If anything I was a mighty eagle!!”
As Rui started giggling, his mother looked fondly at him before glancing at Tsukasa shortly with a smirk but her expression was nothing but gentle still. The blonde figured that she really did catch a glimpse of what Rui had told him.
If Tsukasa was honest, it was scary how observative Rui’s parents, especially his mother, were but he could also feel that they were truly caring people. People that he could trust. So, as the dinner conversations kept going, he showed more and more of his true character rather than the good-boy persona.
“Wait, that reminds me of that one time your mother asked me out on a date to a pond that she had found. She had shown and explained to me how all the organisms work together and how they maintain balance. However, at some point, she slipped on mud and as she fell, she grabbed me by my arm and pulled me into the pond with her. We were soaked from head to toe!”
“But Mom, you always said that Dad had slipped and fallen into the pond!”
“That’s because your dad is lying!”
“I’m not?!”
“This is just like the time when you acted so convinced that I had placed the snow machine in the middle of the storage when Emu tripped over it, Rui! But I know you said you would carry it back into the storage, so you can’t fool me!”
“But, Tsukasa-kun, it really wasn’t me, and Emu-kun and Nene left early that day! I thought you admitted that it was you!
“What?! You still believe that?! I admitted it because I wanted to go home!!”
As everyone kept laughing about the stories they had to tell each other, their plates got emptied slowly but surely. After Tsukasa ate the last one of Rui’s vegetables, Mrs. Kamishiro started collecting the dishes, but the star offered his help as she was about to take his plate.
“Allow me to help you with the dishes!”
“Well, how could I decline such a kind offer, fufu.”
While Rui and his father went to look for some old robots and inventions that they had talked about earlier, Tsukasa now assisted Rui’s mother in the kitchen.
“Would you mind taking the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, Tsukasa-san? You can just put them on the side there, I’ll put them in their right place later and take care of the dirty dishes now,” Rui’s mother gave clear instructions and got to work right away.
“Not a problem!” Tsukasa didn’t hesitate to do as he was told.
The first few minutes passed in silence with occasional crashing sounds in another room. However, that silence wouldn’t last long as Mrs. Kamishiro spoke up, “Say, Tsukasa-san, are you happy with Rui?”
The sudden question caught the star off-guard. “I- Yes! 12,000 times yes!” Tsukasa exclaimed with a determined look in his eyes.
“Fufu, that’s great. I’m happy for both, you and him,” Mrs. Kamishiro went silent for a moment again but then continued, “It makes me so incredibly happy that you two have found each other. Not only does it bring back old memories seeing you two like that, but it also relieves me knowing that Rui has found a precious group of friends and a lovely partner like you.”
“Ah, you flatter me! I- I’m not sure if I’m the right person for Rui if I’m honest, but I really hope I am. I wish to stay by his side forever,” Tsukasa zoned out as he started to think about Rui and him together and only Mrs. Kamishiro’s giggling snapped him out of his haze. The blonde’s face was all warm and bright red as the realisation of him getting lost in thought in front of his boyfriend’s mother sank in.
“You two remind me a lot of Rui’s father and me. I’m sure you’re the right one. Don’t doubt yourself now, got it?” before Tsukasa was able to give an answer to that, Rui and his father returned with a bunch of boxes with various robots.
“We found them all, darling! Let’s show them to the boys!”
Mr. Kamishiro explained every single one of his old inventions in detail, which had surprised Tsukasa as he didn’t think Rui’s father would be able to remember all that after so many years. Everyone simply listened to Mr. Kamishiro’s rambling with Rui occasionally adding a few things of his own. Before any of them noticed, it had become pitch-black outside.
“Oh, and if you press this button here, Tsuka- Ah, hehe, better not wake them now, huh? What do you say, honey?” Mr. Kamishiro looked over to his wife, who was sitting next to him on the floor.
“Hihi, let’s carry these robots back and head to bed.” Mrs. Kamishiro got up from the floor, covered the two sleeping boys with a blanket, and began collecting some of the robots, putting them back into the boxes. Her husband followed suit and, quietly, they cleaned everything up.
Before heading to store the boxes of the other inventions of Rui’s father, the couple took one last look at their son and his boyfriend. They smiled fondly at them, watching as Tsukasa snuggled closer to Rui, who then adjusted his position so as to make it comfortable for both of them. Their peaceful breaths were synchronised and their cheeks a light pink.
“Okay, let’s go before we get caught watching them, fufu,” Rui’s mother stole a kiss from her partner before walking lightly as a feather towards the storage room, humming an old song. Rui’s father shortly followed, mumbling out some incomprehensible words with a flushed face.
And in the dead of night, after the adults, too, had entered dreamland in an embrace, a young star whispered a few words of affection in his sleep that shall only be received by the sleeping director beside him.