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Hearing that Ritsu had properly rejected Kiyomiya (and that he was actually backing off) had been a huge weight off of Takano’s shoulders, but at the same time had raised more questions for him.
Just as he had felt himself being drawn back to Ritsu after finding the key in his shoes on his way out of apartment 1202, hearing about this had only served to make him even more hopeful. He really wanted things to work out between them, but first they’d have to talk through everything that had been happening recently.
Ritsu had both in his feverish haze as well as later on when he was in a far more coherent state approached him with the intent of talking. It was a far cry from the old Ritsu who was constantly avoiding him and running away from addressing any arguments or issues they were having.
Of course this time, while Ritsu's actions of allowing Kiyomiya to briefly live with him and all the things that were said afterwards were what sent him over the edge, what Takano did was still unforgivable. His emotions were no excuse for what had happened.
He was intent on apologizing whenever it was that they’d sit down, having promised Ritsu to set aside time to talk when the two of them had a chance after his business trip.
He originally was considering just turning in for the night and figuring out a good time to talk with Ritsu tomorrow, but…
The last thing that he’d been expecting to see was Ritsu sitting outside their apartment complex in the summer heat, waiting for his arrival.
“Ah, um, welcome home.” Ritsu hopped off of the small brick wall he had been perched on.
It wasn’t a phrase that Takano had been on the receiving end of much at all during his life. His parents hardly ever bothered with it (and that was only if they’d even been home when he got back from school), and his time with his grandmother had been so brief overall that such warmth was a distant memory.
Hearing those words come out of Ritsu’s mouth meant a lot more than he probably would ever realize.
This wasn’t a conversation between boss and employee—that possibility was thrown out the moment Ritsu had gone and used a phrase as familiar as ‘welcome home’.
Just to be sure though, if Ritsu still wanted an out and wasn’t ready yet…
“Were you heading somewhere?” Takano asked, coming to a stop.
“No, it’s just that I didn’t hear from you, so…” Ritsu looked down to the ground, cautious. “I’m sorry, I know I was already rushing you to talk the other day, if you rather just wait for tomorrow…”
“Were you waiting for me?” Takano tried a different phrasing now. He wanted to be certain. Any amount of certainty in what was going on right now was important to him.
“N-not really…” The usual non-committal answer, but he continued. “But I did say that I would talk with you about what happened, so…”
Ah. He really did want to talk. They’d do so tonight then. Hopefully all this anxiety could finally resolve when everything was laid out.
They headed up to Takano’s apartment, and it was very calm. It wasn’t often that Ritsu walked into 1201 of his own volition, without any dragging along or threats of power harassment. But it felt like they were past that. If Takano truly wanted to show that he was sorry, he’d have to put a stop on that behavior. He had no interest in messing up so badly ever again.
After sitting down next to each other with some drinks (he noted with a bit of silent excitement that Ritsu had willingly joined him on the floor), they spoke about the business trip, but that was only a formality before getting to the real reason they were here.
Ritsu talked. And talked some more. Takano just sat their quietly, allowing Ritsu to talk about everything that he wanted to. And God, it was really something to actually have him sitting there telling him about all these feelings that had been bottled up for who knows how long.
He told him about his reservations towards their own relationship, about his fears of facing his feelings, about keeping up appearances to others and his family, and slipping in apologies as he went, because he was always apologizing, even when he didn’t have to.
Takano wanted to talk to Ritsu about all sorts of things, how much he regretted what he did a few nights ago, to ask about the key that Ritsu had dropped after collapsing, and above all else about how much he loved him.
Now wasn’t the time for that though. He told Ritsu that he would listen to what he had to say, so he was going to follow through on that no matter what.
When Ritsu seemed to run out of things to say, trailing off, Takano finally spoke up.
“Is your body okay?” He asked, having noted that Ritsu had very much skimmed past talking about that specific event.
“Oh, um, I’m not fully better yet, but I’m getting there. You took care of me after I collapsed, right?” Either he wasn’t getting at what Takano was saying, or he was purposefully avoiding it. He guessed it was the former, and that Ritsu just thought he was talking about him getting sick. But now that he had done his part in listening, he had some other things he still wanted answers for.
“The key…” Takano started, but felt the need to backpedal, wanting to assure he got in a proper apology before he lost the right moment for it. “No, before that, I need to apologize for forcing you the other day. I went too far.”
“Um, that’s…” Ritsu started, but was cut off.
“No, what I did was horrible.” Takano didn’t want to let Ritsu minimize it. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I…this whole mess was my fault to begin with, so please don’t worry about it…”
Here he was, ten years older and still taking accountability for others’ bad behavior. Memories of how he treated Ritsu as a teenager very early in their time together passed through his mind. Ritsu really hadn’t changed much at all. Takano sipped on his can of beer as he thought of some way to continue their conversation, when he caught Ritsu abruptly standing up next to him, a small noise building up in the back of his throat. The only time he usually did something like that was when he was about to-
“And, um! That’s all I have to report!”
-do something outrageous.
Report? What the hell did he mean by ‘report’? Was this his awkward attempt at continuing their conversation? God, he’s so…
“Wait, um, that’s not what I meant.” Ritsu squeaked out.
Takano couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, hiding his head in his arms.
Ritsu just sputtered and did his best attempt to steer things back to how they were going, but Takano just couldn’t help himself.
“I love you.” He said, smiling for the first time in days in Ritsu’s direction.
“Huh?” Ritsu breathed out, still somehow surprised to hear those words after how many times Takano had said so. After all that had happened recently, he couldn’t blame him. He’d have to make up for how badly he’d messed up by saying it even more.
“I love you.” Takano repeated.
Ritsu was on the floor next to him now, hands sliding towards Takano’s. He felt his heart begin to thud.
“Okay.” It was the first affirmative response he’d received to expressing his love to Ritsu since they reunited last year. It spoke volumes to him.
“I want to touch you.” Takano said.
“...Okay.”
“I want to kiss you.”
And quite possibly the biggest surprise of the night so far, Ritsu leaned in all on his own, and the two of them kissed. Despite it not even having been a week since their last kiss, it had felt like an eternity. Warmth pooled his chest, but he still had one more thing he wanted to hear answered, so he pulled away.
“The key to my apartment was on the floor in your entryway when you collapsed. Were you thinking of using it to come to my place?” Takano asked.
“I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time but…”
“Mm.” Takano urged him to continue talking, intent on hearing him out to the very end.
“Um…I guess I was thinking that I had to come see you as soon as I could…”
“Okay.”
The fact that Ritsu had even thought about approaching him when he was in such a delicate state after all that happened…Takano didn’t know what to say about that.
After that point, things progressed as they usually would, and Ritsu seemed more into it than usual. It made him wonder if things could have been this way sooner had they taken things more slowly like Ritsu had always been asking of him.
The whole time, Ritsu kept looking at him, face bright red, small tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, arms wrapping around Takano’s back. It made him feel so full.
He hadn’t felt this loved since their high school days, even if Ritsu hadn’t expressed such a thing with his words. Takano could just tell. He had to be able to read between the lines with Ritsu, and now he was more confident in his ability to do so than before.
It wouldn’t be long until they were a couple again. Takano was sure of it.
And he’d do anything to make it that way.