Work Text:
“Rui!”
Rui looked up from his desk, where he was busy constructing another robot, to look at Tsukasa. Tsukasa was standing in front of his desk, hands on his hips, a grin on his face. His beautiful eyes were shining brightly. Those eyes were on him.
Sometimes, Rui would wonder how he ended up dating the best person in the whole world. How did he, a complete nobody, end up dating this wonderful person? He didn’t think it was true. Yet, everyday, Tsukasa would be with him, chatting away about his ideas for their troupe’s next show or talking about this new musical he had watched with Saki. Rui felt so lucky to be dating him. It seemed so surreal.
He looked up, smiling. “Hmm? Tsukasa-kun? Is there something you need?” he asked.
“One, why are you still at your desk? School’s over! Two, yes! I do want to ask you something!” Tsukasa exclaimed, not caring to acknowledge the stares of their fellow classmates.
Rui hadn’t even noticed that classes were over for the day. Most of the time in class, he would be busy working on his robots. At this point, many of his teachers didn’t care anymore. Why would they? He would always find a way to work on something in the middle of class without them noticing. Besides, he was doing quite well in school, above average, even. So, they just didn’t bother anymore, with the exception of a handful of teachers. “Ah, I see, fufu~ What did you want to ask of me, my Future Star?” His hand propped his head as he stared at Tsukasa with a smile.
He could see a faint blush on Tsukasa’s face appearing at the nickname. Cute. He coughed. “W-Well, this future star was wondering if his Director would like it if he could come over to his house and try baking!”
“Baking?” Rui repeated. He had tried baking once, with his mother. It was a fun experience. He probably would have continued baking to this day if it wasn’t for his fascination with machinery and robots and of the sort.
Tsukasa nodded. “Yup! Baking! I want to try baking with you! I already bought all of the ingredients yesterday!” He looked at Rui, hope evident in his eyes. “Are you able to make the time?”
Rui paused to think. His parents, as per usual, wouldn’t be home until late at night. He didn’t have anything important he needed to do, besides homework and working on more robots for Wonderlands x Showtime’s next show. He could do all that later, though. There wasn’t practice at Phoenix Wonderland, either, since Emu had told them in their group chat that she was planning to go on a date with her Asahina-senpai, and had asked for a day’s break. Rui, Tsukasa, and Nene had agreed. They deserved it, anyway. After all, their latest show was such a success. “Well, how can I turn my Star down?” he said simply in response.
Tsukasa’s grin widened at his words. “Great!” he exclaimed. He grabbed Rui’s pencil case and notebook and stuffed it into his bag for him. “Come on and pack your bag, Rui! You can work on your experiments later!” He was practically glowing with excitement. Rui could feel it, too. He’d never tried baking with Tsukasa before. He did know that Tsukasa was an experienced baker as he baked a lot for his younger sister, though. It should be fun, considering that Tsukasa would be teaching him about the basic rules of baking. And, maybe they could bake together again in the future, if today went well.
Rui obliged and carefully stuffed the robots he was working on in class into his bag before closing it. He stood up from his chair and stood by Tsukasa’s side. Tsukasa grinned, grabbing Rui’s hand and running out of their classroom, all the while screaming, “Let’s go!!!”
They bumped into several people as they made their way to the shoe lockers and then towards the school gate. Rui recognised half of them; Nene, who was playing games on her phone and was shaking her head at them, and Akito, who seemed horrified at even having laid his eyes on them, like their reputation would destroy his (it might) who was with Toya, who called out a greeting to them. Rui didn’t mind much. He was used to being known as a weirdo since middle school. It appeared that Tsukasa was way too excited to care, and simply yelled out apologies; on a normal day, he’d probably get on his knees and apologise, for “that is what a world future star should do”, as he would say.
Only when they were outside Kamiyama High School did Tsukasa finally stop running, though he didn’t let go of Rui’s hand. He panted slightly as they walked at a normal pace.
“Tsukasa-kun, what are we going to bake?” Rui asked, turning to the blonde haired boy.
“Hmm? Oh! I didn’t mention it earlier?” When Rui shook his head, Tsukasa sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, I guess I was too excited. We’re making cupcakes!”
Cupcakes. That was what Rui had made with his mother as well. He told Tsukasa this, and Tsukasa smiled, surprised. “Oh, you’ve already tried baking! I see! So, you aren’t as inexperienced as I thought! That’ll make this easier, and more fun!” He started swinging their joined hands back and forth, beaming.
Rui smiled. “That was a long time ago, though. I might have forgotten some rules in baking…”
“No worries! This future star will teach you later!” Tsukasa exclaimed confidently.
“Fufu~ I have no doubts that my Star will be an excellent teacher~” Rui commented, just to boost Tsukasa’s already inflated ego (thanks to him) by a notch. It was nice seeing Tsukasa so happy. He was so pretty when he was happy.
“Well, of course! I am a world future star, after all!” Tsukasa boasted, but not arrogantly.
Rui giggled, “Of course, Kasa, fufu~”
They chatted about random topics as they walked to the Tenma household. Tsukasa was telling Rui about this movie he was watching with Saki the other day, and Rui was relaying a story about something he’d witnessed when he was out in the mall with Mizuki on Saturday. Eventually, they were outside Tsukasa’s house. Tsukasa unlocked the door with his key and pushed it open with a BANG!
“THIS FUTURE STAR IS HOME!!”
Rui followed Tsukasa inside, closing the door behind him as Saki walked out of her room to greet them.
“Onii-chan! You’re home!” she exclaimed, her smile mirroring Tsukasa’s. She turned to Rui. “Hello, Rui-kun!”
Rui smiled at her. “Hello, Saki-kun,” he returned.
Tsukasa ruffled Saki’s hair. “Rui and I are going to bake! Do you want to help?” he offered.
Saki shook her head. “No, it’s alright! I’m going out to meet my friends soon! We’re going to the mall before practising!”
“I see! This future star wishes you good luck with practice!” Tsukasa smiled softly.
Saki nodded happily. “Thank you, Onii-chan! Good luck with your baking as well!” She then hurried back to her room to prepare for her band practice after exchanging a casual nod with Rui.
Rui cocked his head to the side. “Why did she wish you good luck with baking?” he asked Tsukasa.
Tsukasa crossed his arms, turning to face him with a sigh. “Knowing you, you might blow the kitchen up… Why do you think she wished me good luck…” He shook his head.
Rui pouted, with fake offence in his expression, a hand to his chest like he’d been shot there. “You think so low of me, Tsukasa-kun! Since when have I blown anything up?”
Tsukasa gave him a pointed look, obviously referring to the times when he’d gotten in trouble for blowing up various areas in their school. “...”
“...I haven’t blown anything up in a kitchen setting, though,” Rui fake-protested.
“That’s strange,” Tsukasa said, propping his chin up with his hand, pretending to think. “Didn’t Nene tell me that you left a fire on in your house while cooking instant noodles a few months back? I think the story ends with you blowing your kitchen up.”
“Tsukasa-kun! You’re so mean!” Rui gasped, putting on his best wounded puppy look. “Don’t you love me?”
Tsukasa sighed again, shaking his head. “No, I don’t,” he stated with a neutral expression. At the same time, he reached up to gently kiss Rui’s cheek.
Rui smiled teasingly. “I thought you said you hated me, Tsukasa-kun, fufu~”
Tsukasa whirled around, face slightly flushed. “In fact, I do!” He stormed off to the kitchen, yet Rui knew that he was wearing a smile on his face. Chuckling to himself, Rui followed after him.
On the kitchen island rested several ingredients, tableware, and trays. Rui recognised some of the items; eggs, flour, bowls, and of the sort. He turned towards Tsukasa, who was pulling some butter in a bowl out of the fridge and setting it on the counter. He grabbed two aprons and shoved one into Rui’s hands.
“Here. I don’t want you to dirty your school uniform while we’re baking.”
Nodding, Rui quickly put the apron on. There wasn’t anything special on the black apron, besides a small cartoon cat stitched in gold on the apron’s front pocket. He recognised the cartoon cat. Tsukasa liked to doodle when he was bored, and Rui had taken a look at the doodles. He’d seen a similar looking cat from the doodles. Tsukasa must’ve sewn the cat on himself. Rui couldn’t help but smile to himself at this fact.
Tsukasa’s apron was white in colour, and there was a large golden star on the front pocket. Knowing him, there was no doubt that he’d sewn the star on as well. The apron really suited him. Rui couldn’t help but stare at him, once again questioning how he managed to date someone like Tsukasa.
Tsukasa must’ve caught him staring as he asked, “What? What is it, Rui? You’ve been staring at me for a while…”
Rui snapped out of it. He gave Tsukasa his signature grin. “Ah, it’s nothing, Tsukasa-kun. I was just thinking of how lovely you look, fufu~”
Tsukasa’s cheeks burned bright red. “Y-You! So shameless!” he admonished, turning away.
Rui continued to giggle as he watched Tsukasa pull out his phone and type something in it. He approached from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist, peering at his phone.
A small smile appearing on his face, Tsukasa explained, “This is the recipe for the cupcakes.” He copied the link to the website. “Hold on, I’ll send it to you…”
A few seconds later, Rui felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reluctantly peeled himself off of Tsukasa and extracted his phone from his pocket to read the recipe. It wasn’t all that hard. Pretty simple, honestly.
“Should we start, Tsukasa-kun?” Rui asked.
Tsukasa nodded. “Yes! This future star will show my dear Director what he can do!” he announced loudly.
Rui giggled, “Fufu~ Very well, My Future Star. Show me your way of baking.”
Tsukasa coughed, reading from the recipe. “Okay! Rui, you need to preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius! I’ll fill the cupcake tray with cases!”
Rui nodded and walked over to the oven. He frowned. Isn’t 180 too little? Maybe he could set it to 220…
Just as he set the oven to 220, Tsukasa ran over, yelling, “Rui! Follow the recipe!” He frowned and set the temperature to 180, like in the recipe. He put his hands on his hips. “One baking rule is to follow the instructions exactly,” he scolded.
Rui pouted but nodded anyway. When Tsukasa saw him nod, he gave him a light peck on forehead and walked over to the kitchen counter. He grabbed the electric whisk and turned to Rui. “You do know how to use this, right?” he questioned. Rui nodded again, and Tsukasa continued, “I need you to beat the butter and golden caster sugar until it’s pale and fluffy. When it is, I’ll add in the two eggs one at a time! And, you need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with each new addition! Is that alright?”
“Fufu~ Of course, Kasa~” Rui took the whisk from Tsukasa’s hands and grabbed one of the large bowls. He took the bowl with the butter and used a spoon to scoop the butter into the bigger bowl. Then, he poured the already measured caster sugar into the bowl. He turned the whisk on and started to mix the ingredients together.
Tsukasa stood by his side, watching his every move carefully like he was afraid that Rui would do something reckless and blow his kitchen up (he actually might be afraid of that, now that Rui thought about it). After the mixture turned a light colour and looked fluffy, Tsukasa cracked an egg and added it to the mixture. Rui followed his instructions on scraping the sides of the bowl down and continued to whisk it. They repeated this once more for five or so minutes before Tsukasa told him to stop.
“Now! I’ll help you add the vanilla extract, the flour, and the salt!” he told the taller boy, grabbing the vanilla extract. He poured in exactly half a teaspoon of the liquid and grabbed the bag of flour.
That was when he tripped on his own feet.
Before his head could hit the floor, Rui wrapped one arm around his waist and used his other hand to support his head, catching him. During the process, the bag of flour in Tsukasa’s hands jerked violently, and some of it ended up on Rui’s face. Upon noticing this, Tsukasa started to laugh.
Rui gave him a look of mock offence at the sound of him laughing. “Tsukasa-kun! You’re so mean!” he cried, as his boyfriend started cackling in his arms. “This director caught you before you could fall! You should thank him, not laugh at him!”
Tsukasa was still laughing as he managed, “I’m…s-sorry, Rui! I-It’s just, y-y-your face!” Smiling widely, he stood up straight with Rui’s help and grabbed a handkerchief from his apron’s pocket. He reached up to help wipe the flour away from Rui’s face carefully, so as not to accidentally poke his eye. Rui stood there without complaining as he watched Tsukasa. Tsukasa really was so beautiful. His eyes were so bright and full of life. He really wondered how he managed to date this amazing person. He felt like the luckiest man alive on Earth. He really didn’t deserve Tsukasa’s love or attention, but he had both. He cracked a smile at this.
“All done!” Tsukasa exclaimed, stuffing the now flour-covered handkerchief back into his pocket.
“Thank you, Kasa, fufu~”
“It’s nothing! It’s just what a future star is supposed to do, which is to help his friends!” His expression softened. “Sorry about that, though. I really am clumsy…how unfitting of a future star…”
Rui gently smiled back as he brushed his lips against Tsukasa’s cheek. “It’s quite alright, Tsukasa-kun. Even future stars make mistakes at times. It was an accident, and I’m not harmed in any way. Don’t worry.”
Tsukasa smiled back. He grabbed Rui’s shirt and pulled him down for a kiss. Rui happily reciprocated it, his hands finding Tsukasa’s waist. Tsukasa placed his hands on Rui’s shoulders. Humming, Rui melted into the touch.
“Onii-chan! I’m going to go out now-”
Hearing this, Tsukasa’s eyes went wide and he pushed himself away from Rui to look at Saki, who stood there looking at them with a frozen-on smile.
“W-We weren’t d-d-doing anything!” he blurted out, face crimson red. Rui didn’t understand why he would say that. It was quite obvious that they were, in fact, doing something!
Saki nodded slowly. “E-Eh…sorry for…intruding, Onii-chan, Rui-kun…uhm, carry on!” With an awkward smile and wave, she ran out of the front door.
Tsukasa stood frozen in place, his face still burning a bright red. Rui chuckled. “Tsukasa-kun? Are we going to continue?” he asked.
At this, Tsukasa turned around faster than Rui could blink. “C-Continue?!” he shrieked, face growing redder as the seconds flew past.
Rui smiled innocently. “Yes, continue baking. Were you, perhaps, thinking of something else?” he teased.
Tsukasa shot him a glare, though there was no heat behind it. “N-No! No, I wasn’t! I was also, uh, thinking of t-the same thing!” he stammered, obviously flustered. He stormed past Rui for the second time that day and continued to do the whisking himself, instructing Rui to add a few more ingredients into the mixture.
Once the mixture was completed, it was time to spoon it into the cupcake cases. Tsukasa and Rui both worked on it in comfortable silence, both too busy concentrating on their jobs to speak. Occasionally, Rui snuck glances at Tsukasa. Tsukasa was biting down on his bottom lip slightly, obviously focusing hard on his job. Rui stared at him, knowing that he probably looked like a “fool hopelessly in love”. (Nene’s words, not his.)
It wasn’t until Tsukasa suddenly whirled his head in his direction and yelled, “Rui! That’s too much!” that Rui realised that he had added too much mixture into one cupcake case, and it was starting to spill out. Oops. He quickly scooped some of it out and added it into another cupcake case.
Eventually, they finished filling up all ten cupcake cases. Tsukasa placed the tray into the oven and shut it, setting a timer for fifteen minutes on his phone. He then turned to Rui with a grin. “That wasn’t that bad for a second try at baking, my Director!” he complimented.
“Fufu~ It’s only because my Future Star was here to help me, fufu~” Rui lightly pressed his lips to Tsukasa’s for a second or two.
Tsukasa flushed the slightest bit as he said, “We’re not done yet, though. We still have to make the buttercream!” He walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the whisk to wash it. Rui grabbed the bowl they’d used earlier and placed it in the sink, taking another sponge and washing the bowl. Tsukasa noticed and exclaimed, “Ah, Rui, it’s alright! I can wash it on my own!”
“I do want to help Tsukasa-kun, though,” Rui replied.
“No, no! It’s fine! Just, take a break over there! I’ll wash the bowl! You’re the guest here! What kind of host am I if I let my guest do the dishes for me?”
At Tsukasa’s stubborn insistence, Rui obeyed and sat down on one of the cream coloured bar chairs. He watched Tsukasa for a while before turning to the cupcakes, then back again.
After a few moments, Tsukasa approached him, the washed and dried whisk and bowl in his hands. “I’ll make the buttercream, and you get the cupcakes out of the oven when the timer rings,” he instructed.
“Whatever you say, Tsukasa-kun, fufufu~” Rui watched Tsukasa whisk together butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. His mind wandered off to when Tsukasa had confessed to him on the school rooftop, and how he’d been so shocked that this wonderful, incredible person, one that he knew he wasn’t worthy of even being friends with, let alone breathing the same air as him, that he’d pined for for so long actually liked him back. He’d been so shocked that he didn’t even notice that most of their friends were spying on them. Why did Tsukasa like someone like him, a total loser, a nobody, a weirdo? What did he do that was worthy of Tsukasa’s love? To this day, he constantly asked himself this question.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The sound of the alarm jolted Rui back to the present just as Tsukasa told him while pouring milk into the bowl he was using to whisk the ingredients together, “Rui, the cupcakes!”
Rui hurried over to the oven, opening it. He grabbed the tray with both hands, about to lift it up and out of the oven and on the kitchen counter when a sudden pain shot through both of his hands. Only then did he realise that he wasn’t wearing any oven mitts. He shrugged and pretended that everything was normal. It was, for him at least. He could tolerate pain easily, after years of getting bullied and self-harm in middle school and getting injured while building his experiments. He simply carried the tray and set it in front of Tsukasa without a word. “Here are the cupcakes, Tsukasa-kun, fufu~” he giggled.
Tsukasa looked at the cupcakes, opening his mouth, when Rui noticed that he had suddenly tensed up. He turned to look at Tsukasa’s face and saw that he was looking right at Rui’s red and swelling hands. Tsukasa’s eyes were wide.
“Ah, this is nothing to be concerned about, Tsukasa-kun,” Rui quickly explained with a smile. “I can tolerate the pain. I just forgot to wear the oven mitts, fufu~”
“...Rui! This is nothing to joke about!” Tsukasa suddenly shouted, anger in his words as he turned to glare at Rui, concern and rage in his eyes. Rui was taken aback. Tsukasa rarely got mad. Why was he getting mad over Rui hurting himself? Tsukasa furiously went on, “How can you be so stupid, Rui?! You need to be more careful!! Your burns are really bad!! Go run them under cold water right this instant! And, do NOT argue with me!! I’m serious, Rui.”
Rui couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten upon hearing Tsukasa’s words. Tsukasa was angry. Worse, he had made Tsukasa angry because of his stupidity and forgetfulness. Tsukasa had every right to be pissed off at him. It was his fault for making Tsukasa unhappy. He really didn’t deserve to be with Tsukasa. He couldn’t breathe. He needed to get away from Tsukasa. So, he did the one thing that he’d known since middle school.
He ran away from his problems.
Whirling around, Rui ran away from Tsukasa, ignoring his calls as he opened the front door and dashed outside, where it had started to rain. He didn’t care for the rain. He continued to run and run and run, only stopping when he felt safe enough, when he felt that he was a good distance away from the Tenma household.
He looked up and found himself at a park, spotting a bench and walking over to it before sitting down with his knees up to his chest. He stared at nowhere in particular, ignoring the throbbing pain in his hands as he remembered why he was at this park. He stubbornly refused to cry. He wasn’t going to act like a kid. He would just sit there for a while to calm down and head back home. It was clear that Tsukasa wasn’t going to let him back into his house after he’d pissed him off.
Rui still found it difficult to breathe. He knew it was because he was still panicking, over what, he had no idea. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but it didn’t help, either. So, he just sat there, trying hard to breathe and failing to do so. It felt like a year had passed, but it had probably only been about half an hour.
“RUI!”
Startled, Rui glanced up. It was difficult to make out who had called him because of the heavy rain, but he would recognise that voice anywhere. Sure enough, Tsukasa was running towards him, a red umbrella in his hands, panting heavily. And, maybe it was just Rui’s imagination, but it appeared that Tsukasa’s eyes were slightly red, like he’d been crying.
Tsukasa screeched to a halt when he was standing right in front of Rui, holding the umbrella up to shield him from the rain. He sighed in what seemed like relief.
“Oh God, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find you,” Tsukasa mumbled, more to himself than Rui, rubbing at his eyes with his other hand. He took a deep breath. Rui was bracing himself for a lecture, but Tsukasa suddenly did something that Rui did not expect him to do.
Tsukasa bowed deeply, making sure not to hit Rui with the umbrella, crying out, “I’m really sorry, Rui!”
Rui watched him in confusion. “...Why are you apologising to me, Tsukasa-kun? If anything, I should be apologising to you…”
“I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier,” Tsukasa continued, ignoring Rui’s words. “I was just worried about your burns and lost control. Because of my carelessness, I scared you off…” His hands were trembling as he bowed again. “I really am sorry, Rui.”
Rui sighed, “It’s not your fault, Tsukasa-kun. It was my fault, for not wearing oven mitts and carrying the hot tray in my bare hands…I should’ve put them on immediately when I realised that I wasn’t wearing them, but I suppose I just wanted to feel…pain again, so I didn’t do anything.”
Tsukasa furrowed his brows. “Why would you want to feel pain again?” he questioned.
To be honest, Rui really didn’t know why as well. How silly of him… He shook his head as he replied, “I suppose I wanted to know what pain felt like again, since the last time I felt so much physical pain was in middle school, when I used to…” He trailed off, but he knew that Tsukasa knew what he was talking about. Tsukasa, Nene, and Emu had seen the scars on his arms. The three of them knew about it.
Tsukasa’s expression turned into one of concern. “Rui, please don’t do this again,” he pleaded. “You can’t just go harm yourself whenever you want just because you want to feel pain again. It’s not healthy. Just, promise me you won’t ever do something so reckless again.”
Rui swallowed. “Of course, I promise, Tsukasa-kun,” he told the other, cupping his cheek with one hand. “It was my fault this time. Don’t blame yourself for yelling at me.”
Tsukasa nodded, smiling weakly at him. “Let’s go back, alright?” he said. “I need to treat your burns, or they could get worse.”
Rui returned the smile. “Alright, Tsukasa-kun.” He stood up, taking Tsukasa’s hand, and the two walked back to the Tenma household in peaceful silence.
-
The minute they returned, Tsukasa ran Rui’s hands under cold water and helped him to apply some lotion before bandaging his hands. Then, he made him rest on one of the bar stools while he made the buttercream.
After a while, Tsukasa said, “Rui! Do you wanna try the buttercream?”
Rui got off of the bar chair as he hummed in response. He approached Tsukasa, who was licking some buttercream off of his fingers. Tsukasa held up a spoon for Rui. Instead of taking the spoon and taking some buttercream from the bowl, Rui leaned in and licked some buttercream off of Tsukasa’s middle finger.
Tsukasa turned seven shades of red. “R-RUI?!” he exclaimed, in shock.
Rui smiled innocently. “Hmm? Did I do something wrong?”
Tsukasa shook his head, face still burning, as he asked, “How did it taste…?”
“Alright. Not terrible,” Rui answered casually, like he hadn’t done anything.
Tsukasa sighed as he turned around to go wash his hands, kissing Rui lightly as he did so. Rui instantly brightened up like a kid who was given candy.
Tsukasa ended up making buttercream of all the colours of the rainbow and a few others like purple and pink. He turned to Rui with a grin, gesturing to all of the piping bags. “Each of us get to decorate five cupcakes! We should decorate them to match the people we care about most!”
Rui giggled, “I don’t see why not, fufu~”
Rui grabbed one cupcake and chose a green colour to represent Nene. He added some chocolate rice on that cupcake and set it aside. Then, he took another and decorated it with pink frosting and rainbow rice to represent Emu. He took another one and decorated it with pink frosting and strawberries to represent Mizuki. He chose an indigo colour for An, adding the chocolate rice on the fourth cupcake and placed it next to the one that represented Mizuki. Now, he had to decorate Tsukasa’s. He frowned as he took the yellow piping bag. How could he represent Tsukasa…
That was when an idea graced him with its presence. Rui grabbed some rainbow rice and got to work. By the time he was done, Tsukasa was adding the last details to his last cupcake. He watched as Tsukasa worked on it, noticing that the colour of the frosting he’d used was purple. His heart started racing at this.
Tsukasa chose that moment to finish up. “I wanna see yours!” he exclaimed, approaching Rui’s cupcakes as he said so. Rui watched him as he observed each cupcake carefully, muttering the name of each person the cupcake represented under his breath. He managed to get all of them correct. Then, his gaze rested on the cupcake that represented him. Rui could hear Tsukasa gasp quietly, and he smiled.
The cupcake’s frosting was, of course, yellow in colour. But what had shocked Tsukasa was the star that Rui had taken so long to assemble with the rainbow rice. Rui knew it was worth the pain and effort when he saw Tsukasa smile. He suddenly launched himself into Rui’s arms, almost causing Rui to fall.
“Thank you, my Director,” Tsukasa murmured.
Rui returned the hug, kissing Tsukasa’s temple. “It was nothing, my Future Star, fufu~”
Tsukasa pulled away all too soon. “You should see this future star’s cupcakes now!” he declared.
“Of course I will, fufu~” Rui walked over to Tsukasa’s cupcakes. The first one definitely represented Saki, with pink and yellow frosting. The second represented Emu, with pink frosting and rainbow rice, like Rui’s one that represented Emu. The third represented Nene, with plain green frosting. The fourth represented Toya, with blue and indigo frosting. Finally, his eyes wandered off to the one representing him.
His one had purple frosting and had chocolate rice on it. The chocolate rice was assembled carefully to make it look like some mechanical tool. Rui didn’t recognise what tool, but thought it to be quite cute. There was an Oreo on the cupcake as well. Rui could feel his heart swell with joy upon seeing the cupcake.
He turned to Tsukasa with a smile that no doubt would have Nene gagging due to disgust. “Ah, thank you, Kasa,” he said. “I like it.”
Tsukasa fondly smiled back as he walked over to Rui and yanked him down for a kiss. Rui smiled and returned it eagerly, pulling Tsukasa closer.
Rui still didn’t know the answer as to why Tsukasa would love someone like him. That didn’t stop him from feeling happy to be with the most important person in the world in his eyes, though. For now, he was content without knowing the answer to that question.