Work Text:
“How’s your homework coming along?” Was the first thing that Takano asked after Hatori, Kisa, and Mino had emptied out of the conference room.
It seemed like Takano was asking Ritsu about his confession homework on a near daily basis now. He had to be getting impatient. There was no other reason for him to ask again so soon.
“I-it’s just as far along as the last time you asked a few hours ago.” Ritsu looked away, slightly irate. “You want me to use my time at work on personal matters?”
“I think we passed that boundary a long time ago.” Takano began packing up his materials, still making a point to continue staring Ritsu down. “You have all the inspiration you want within the four walls of this building. Shoujo manga holds an endless amount of references and inspiration for you. I’ll even give you some personal recommendations if you’d like.”
Oh. He was desperate if he was at the point where he was willing to start influencing the confession contents. Ritsu felt a whole new level of pressure to hurry up and confess already.
As the two of them left the conference room, Takano ran a hand through RItsu’s hair, ruffling it up
“Hey-” Ritsu attempted to swat Takano’s hand away, but he easily dodged him, instead moving to now poke Ritsu’s undefended cheek. “Qwit it!”
“Hey, if I can’t do any of the other fun things I want to do, I have to take my chances to touch you somehow.”
Ritsu flustered, but held in his protests. He knew all that had been going on recently was definitely harder on Takano than it was on himself. He might as well let him at least have this much.
But Takano quickly noticed the way he deflated, and instead opted to pinch, which just as quickly riled Ritsu up all over again.
“Takano-san, quit it!” Ritsu scolded him, just missing another swipe at him.
“Heh.” Takano laughed quietly, amused as he pulled away. “I’m gonna go stop by the break room and get a drink, you go ahead.”
“Oh, alright.” Ritsu nodded at him as they parted ways in the hallway. Now alone, his eyes strayed out the office windows, where dark clouds had begun brewing.
“I sure hope it doesn’t rain…” Ritsu mumbled aloud to himself.
Takano and Ritsu had left the office together, and had gotten off of their train to begin their walk home.
Storm clouds had been brewing above all day, but of course, now that they were too far away from the train station to easily turn back, now the rain began.
“Shit, I was hoping we’d get home before it started.” Takano cursed under his breath, pulling Ritsu under the nearest overhang for the time being.
“Should we just rush home before it gets worse?” Ritsu suggested, not all that interested in waiting outside.
“Visibility is only going to get even worse, it might be dangerous…” Takano was rummaging through his bag now, until he pulled out a single umbrella. “If you don’t have one, we can share.”
“Ah, um…” It was hardly the time to be feeling shy about a matter like this—if they didn’t use an umbrella they’d get sick after all! “Okay.”
“Why didn’t you bring an umbrella today when all they’ve been talking about on the news are the recent storms?” Takano asked as they slowly made their way down the side-streets towards their apartments.
“It just kind of slipped my mind…” Ritsu answered honestly. His mind had been all over the place recently, keeping track of the weather wasn’t really something at the top of his priorities.
“Ah, I know.” Takano snaked an arm around Ritsu’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “You wanted to be all snuggled up with me under an umbrella, didn’t you?”
“W-what are you going on about?!” Ritsu sputtered, fighting his urge to shove Takano away, lest he want to get pelted with rain.
“I don’t see you pulling away.” Takano pointed out, giving Ritsu a squeeze. “Maybe we should take a different route so the walk takes a bit longer.”
“And spend more time in this weather?” Ritsu glared up at him, and Takano only shrugged.
“A small price to pay for some alone time with you.”
He put it so simply that Ritsu found it hard to even attempt a retort. He simply grumbled something incoherent, making no move to escape Takano’s grasp.
Usually their walk from the station didn’t even last ten minutes, but today they were being cautious at every corner, squinting through the deluge of rain for any possible cars that got stuck outside.
That, and Takano actually had purposefully led them down a street that added on a couple more minutes that would require them to snake around their building to get to the proper entrance—the one that didn’t lead into the parking garage.
The thing about the street that led to their building’s parking garage though…was that as you might expect, cars actually frequented that street.
Through the intense rain, Takano was the first one to spot an oncoming car, and he grabbed Ritsu so they could huddle at the side of the road to let the driver pass by. Unfortunately, in doing so he took the brunt of the splash from the ankle-deep puddle of water the car just drove through, drenching his entire back and down his legs.
“Fuck, that’s cold!” A shiver went up his back, and he genuinely wondered what kind of idiot would be driving that quickly with such low visibility.
“Takano-san, are you okay?” Ritsu looked at the damage done, face paling at the sight of Takano’s absolutely soaked clothes. “We should hurry and get back inside, you’re going to catch a cold!”
Suddenly, lightning struck far too close for either of their liking, and in a second when thunder echoed around the area, Ritsu jumped.
“Yeah, we need to get inside now.” Takano began speed-walking now, wanting to get them inside where they’d be far better off.
With one half-block left to walk to the building entrance, car headlights peeked through the rain again, and they both cringed. Not again.
Ritsu attempted to take the brunt of the splash this time, but Takano just shoved Ritsu against the nearest wall, taking yet another hit.
“Takano-san, you’re going to get sick, quit doing that!” Ritsu shoved him a bit now, but Takano caught Ritsu’s hand in his own, looking far too sincere for someone who looked like a drenched cat.
“You can’t get sick again so soon, I'd rather it be me. I can take care of myself…not that I wouldn’t mind you nursing me back to health in return for protecting you.”
Ritsu sputtered, going from feeling his heart race at this man who was so casually throwing himself in harm's way to protect him, but simultaneously saying something so presumptuous.
But of course Ritsu would take care of him. It’d drive him crazy if Takano was cooped up at home all alone in his apartment with nobody helping him. What if he collapsed and nobody was around to help? That thought alone drove him up a wall.
But admitting to that out loud was completely different…it wouldn’t hurt though. After all, Takano had just saved him from getting absolutely drenched twice.
“I…wouldn’t mind. Taking care of you, I mean.” Ritsu mumbled far too quietly for Takano to hear him, the storm only getting worse.
“What?” Takano spoke louder, not having caught what he said. “Could you speak up?”
“I said I wouldn’t mind taking care of you!” Ritsu repeated, feeling a blush begin to creep up on his face.
Takano just stared at him, eyes widening slightly at his words, before a small smile formed on his lips.
“W-what’s with that face?” Ritsu was scowling at him now, only making Takano smile more widely as he laughed.
“I’m just thinking about how much I love you, that’s all.” Takano leaned in closer now, wet shoulder flush with Ritsu’s.
Ritsu’s chest got tight as a wave of emotion washed over him suddenly, all at once. Despite the current setting being far from what he imagined (or at least, what he thought Takano would have wanted), his heart said now was the time. It was coming out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
“I-” Ritsu felt like he could hardly breathe. “I love you, too.”
Just as he had spoken, thunder boomed once again, drowning out his voice completely.
“Did you say something?!” Takano shouted. “It’s hard to hear over all the noise!”
Ritsu just cringed because of course something like this would happen to him again. He felt somewhat dejected again, wondering briefly if this was just a sign from the universe to just stop and try again a different time—that perhaps as Takano kept insisting with all his other attempts, that it wasn’t the right moment.
…But that was a quitter’s attitude. Onodera Ritsu was no quitter! Like hell he was going to let this happen again!
In the distance, thunder continued to roll, wind whipped around them, and the crackling overpowered the sound of the pouring rain around them, but Ritsu was past the point of letting that stop him.
“Takano-san!” Ritsu was just about screaming now, grabbing onto Takano’s arm as he did so. “I need you to listen to me carefully!”
“What?!” Takano looked irate, straining to hear him amid the storm. “I can hardly hear you!”
“I love you!” Ritsu yelled so loudly that there could be no mistaking what he had just said.
Had Takano not been so caught up on getting them back home to safety, he probably would’ve been paying enough attention to Ritsu to see this coming and put a stop to it. But he hadn’t, and honestly? He was happy that he didn’t.
Takano leaned in, taking up Ritsu in his arms, bringing him in for a bone-crushing hug, the umbrella falling out of his hand.
“T-Takano-san, the rain-!” Ritsu squirmed in his arms. “We’re both going to get sick!”
“Good, that means we can take some time off together.” Takano seemed far too serious about that for RItsu’s liking.
“Takano-san!” Ritsu blustered, heart thudding in his chest. His nose began twitching, and he sneezed. “S-see?! We should go inside!”
“You're the one that confessed, take some responsibility.” Takano finally pulled back, and took Ritsu by the hand so that they could run off to get shelter.
Once inside, he guided Ritsu’s head up and claimed his lips, pushing his tongue into Ritsu’s mouth and leaning him back.
When he finally pulled back, Ritsu was staring up at him with such a dazed expression that he couldn’t help but laugh.
“God, I love you, let’s get upstairs and out of these clothes already.” Takano started for the elevator, taking Ritsu by the hand again.
“T-Takano-san!”
“I can’t believe you.” They were resting against each other in bed the following morning, the storm having fully passed now. “Confessing in the middle of a typhoon.”
“What, do you want me to take it back?” Ritsu squinted up at him through tired eyes, quite worn out from the past night’s activities.
“Even if you do, you’re never getting rid of me again.” He wrapped his arms around Ritsu’s center, pulling him closer. “Ever.”
Ritsu just hummed, embarrassed. He’d fought this for so long, and for what?
“Say it again for me?” Takano asked, nose buried in the back of Ritsu’s bedhead.
“Say what again?” Ritsu turned slightly in Takano’s arms, and he shivered when he felt a soft, amused exhale through his now-boyfriend’s nose.
“Don’t play dumb.” Takano’s fingers rubbed in gentle circles. “Tell me that you love me again.”
“Jeez, how many times are you going to ask me...I love you.” Ritsu mumbled, just loud enough for Takano to hear, but he then began to squirm as Takano pressed kisses against his neck. “H-hey, hold on, what are you doing back there?”
“I’m kissing my boyfriend.” He put special emphasis on the word ‘boyfriend’, sending a shiver up his back. “Because I don’t plan on letting either of us leave this bedroom any time soon.”
“W-we have to get up soon, we still have work today you know!” Ritsu squawked as Takano’s lips instead creeped up towards his ear instead. “Takano-san!”
“I don’t know, I think I’m getting sick after getting soaked yesterday, you might not be far behind.” His hands began straying lower, and Ritsu’s breath hitched. “Why don’t we just skip out on work today and mess around?”
“I-Isn’t it suspicious if neither of us show up?” Ritsu turned slightly, only to find Takano was completely serious.
“Let them think what they want.” He pressed yet another kiss against Ritsu’s skin. “It’s true now anyways, isn’t it?”
“...Yeah.” He answered, blush creeping to his ears.
The rest of the morning was spent attempting to convince Ritsu to skip work for today, which was, of course, ultimately unsuccessful.