Work Text:
“Morning.” Takano ruffled Ritsu’s bedhead as laid next to him, beginning to get up for the day. “Is your body okay?”
Ritsu felt his heart flutter in his chest at the casual contact between the two of them, but pushed the feeling aside.
“I’m sorry…I should probably just say that I’m fine even if that’d be a lie, but…” The fluttering feeling left, being replaced by pain in his legs and lower back. “I’m not okay at all.”
“Figures, we fucked...” Ritsu felt his cheeks heat up a bit at the sight of Takano beginning to count upwards on his fingers, before stopping at a number Ritsu rather not speak aloud. “...A lot last night.”
“...Please don’t count on your fingers like that.” Ritsu fought the urge to pull the covers over his head to just avoid this conversation entirely.
“Why not? You seemed to enjoy yourself last night just fine.” He could hear faint amusement in Takano’s voice despite his back being turned to him as he began to pull a black shirt on.
“Th-that’s besides the point!” It wasn’t denial.
“I’m gonna go make breakfast.” Ritsu was thankful that Takano spared him for now. “Before that though, I’ll start heating up the bath for you. Just sit tight for now.”
“Oh, um, thank you.” Ritsu felt a bit shy as Takano exited the room with one last pat to his head, leaving him on his own to listen to the distant noises of his…lover beginning to start the day.
…He had confessed last night after all, so they were dating now, weren’t they? And if they were dating, by extension, they must be lovers, right? It was surreal to even think about it.
He was happy that it was Sunday so they wouldn’t be working today, that meant they could spend their first proper day as lovers together…even if he was still feeling a bit shy.
Old habits were hard to shake, so it wasn’t as if he would become a totally different person overnight and get all clingy and lovey dovey like he was certain Takano would enjoy, but he’d still like to hang around and relax together.
He just wanted to relax together, though. His body couldn’t take anything further after how much they’d done last night.
When the smell of breakfast foods began to waft into the bedroom, Ritsu fought with his aching muscles, forcing himself to get up and put his clothes on.
Despite having stripped before entering the wet room to shower together last night, their clothes had migrated to the bedroom floor at some point. He imagined that at some point after he had fallen asleep Takano had taken care of it.
While it wasn’t all that different from many of the mornings Ritsu had spent with Takano in the past few months, it felt like just a taste of what life would be like with Takano as his lover from now on. He found his chest tightening at the thought.
After pulling on the clothes he had worn yesterday, Ritsu walked out into the living room, watching Takano’s back in the kitchen for a bit, just taking it all in. But he was starting to feel a bit much too like his teenage stalker self rather than a proper lover, so he cleared his throat.
“Um, Takano-san?” He called out.
“Oh, before I forget, while I was in Kyoto I met a student who I thought would be a good fit for the magazine.” And suddenly, with just a few words, Ritsu was pulled out of his mood, switching into work mode all too abruptly.
“O-oh, really?” He hoped he didn’t sound disappointed, because he absolutely wasn’t, but perhaps he hadn’t been expecting work talk so early into today…
“Yeah, she showed me her whole portfolio. I brought a copy of one of her storyboards home, so you can look over it later when you can.”
“Oh, of course.”
Ritsu fell into auto pilot answers as he continued staring at his wide back. His job was important to him of course, but…
But, oh…Takano had turned and was smiling at him now. He felt his brain turn to mush. Had Takano still been saying something? Maybe he should tune back into what he was saying so he didn’t miss anything important.
“-dera.” Takano was suddenly in front of him now, snapping his fingers. “Onodera, are you listening? Are you okay?”
“O-oh!” Ritsu jumped backwards a bit, snapping back to reality. “Sorry, I kind of spaced out for a second.”
“Are you okay?” Takano leant in, and Ritsu closed his eyes in anticipation, only to feel their foreheads bump together. “No warmer than you usually are when I get this close.”
“H-hey!”
…Perhaps Ritsu’s expectations had begun to warp in the past year as to what an official relationship between the two of them would be like due to how over the top Takano was and their jobs as shoujo manga editors, but he had been expecting a bit…more?
While he’d been excited at first, this was all beginning to feel exceedingly normal for them, and while Ritsu thought that he craved stability, perhaps he also had come to enjoy things like being dragged into quiet corners at work where nobody was around and being kissed senseless…not that he would ever say something like that out loud.
So when such an opportunity appeared in which they were all alone at work, having boarded onto the elevator together, Ritsu just stood there, waiting expectantly…only for the entire ride to pass in silence, Takano seemingly unaware of the complete turmoil he was in.
He couldn’t just ask for attention! That wasn’t the Ritsu thing to do! He would never do something like that! And if he were to ask for such a thing and provoke Takano at work, that could actually get them into more trouble than it was worth, so it was probably better to just leave things be…
…But dammit, with every brush past each other, every time their eyes met, every moment they spent alone, Ritsu was waiting for something, anything.
But nothing was happening. It was as if he had never confessed at all to begin with! He was starting to go crazy, thinking that perhaps he had imagined the whole thing, but that would be a pretty crazy thing to just convince yourself of having happened, wouldn’t it? He couldn’t have done that to himself.
He was certain that he had confessed! He had to have!
But as more time passed and Takano continued to just…not give him the amount of attention that he was expecting from what he thought would be a honeymoon phase of sorts that Takano would so often refer to their time spent together as, Ritsu just became more doubtful.
It all finally came to a head three days later when they had arrived back at their apartments from work for the evening, when for the third night in a row, Takano went to enter his own apartment without any attempt to worm his way into Ritsu’s or drag him along into his.
“Goodnight, Onodera.” Was what Takano had been intending to be his goodbye to Ritsu for the evening, but then the door stopped behind him before it could close all the way, a hand having caught it. “...What?”
“Um, Takano-san, I…” With great effort, Ritsu sucked it up and began admitting to what he had been feeling for the past few days. “I’m confused, are we dating or not? You’re not acting like I thought you would.”
“...?” Takano turned around to properly look at him, finding that Ritsu was actually being serious about this. What kind of question was that? “That’s up to you, isn’t it? I’ve been ready to date you for the past year. You’re the one who’s been fighting it.”
“Eh? But the other night, I…” While he definitely didn’t outrightly go out of his way to say he wanted to date, wouldn’t a love confession make the answer to if he wanted to date obvious enough? And he called Ritsu dense.
“I mean, we made up and screwed a bunch, but we’ve already done that dozens of times in the past year, so what made you think that meant we were dating this time?” The way that Takano had put such a thing so simply made Ritsu’s stomach churn with both embarrassment and regret, but he had to push forward.
“But doesn’t me saying I love you make it different from all the other times?” He was genuinely confused. Why would Takano not think something that took a lot of effort for him to admit to after wrestling with himself for months would make this time different from the rest?
“...A confession?” Takano asked after a hefty silence. “A love confession?”
“Y-yes?” Ritsu looked down, unable to look him in the eye.
“From you?” Takano took a step towards him, and Ritsu felt his stomach begin to do flips.
“...Who else would I be talking about? Have you received any other love confessions recently that I should know about…?” He hadn’t gone through any bouts of jealousy lately but perhaps he would soon have a reason to.
“Uh…no, I think I would remember something important like that. Especially if it was from you.” Takano brought a hand forward, tilting Ritsu’s chin upwards until they were making eye contact. “Maybe you came to me the other night intending to confess, but I certainly don’t recall hearing anything like that.”
“................I didn’t say it?” Say it wasn’t so. Please.
“As far as I’m concerned, just now is the first time I’ve heard you say that in a very long time, so if you’ll excuse me…” With small grunts from both of them, Takano threw Ritsu over his shoulder, locked the door, and began making his way into his apartment.
“Eh?” Ritsu couldn’t see Takano’s face, but his imagination was running wild from the heat he felt radiating off of him. “Takano-san? What are you-?”
“We’re going to do what couples do, since you want to date me so badly apparently.” They were dangerous words for someone whose stomach was in the perfect spot for Ritsu’s knee to jerk straight into, but he found it to be a worthy risk.
“That’s not what I…!” Ritsu’s protests trailed off as Takano’s bedroom door was kicked open. Perhaps it was past the point where he could deny such a thing. “You’re so unfair…”
…But even if he was being complicit, Ritsu’s lover was not one to just let him be.
“And what’s so unfair about sharing a bed and cuddling? Did you think we were doing something else? After I was sparing you so nicely for the past few days after you complained you were sore?” He gently placed Ritsu down on the bed and got right to delivering on his words, holding him close in his arms.
“Y-you know that isn’t what you meant!” Ritsu shakily returned the hug, fingers digging into the back of Takano’s shirt. “Don’t try and flip that onto me.”
“Heh.” Just a simple laugh was enough to get Ritsu’s heart racing even faster than it already was. “You’re right, but you realize this means you’re going to be even more sore than last time, right?”
“.........”
“Are you alright with that, since you love me so much?” Despite his teasing tone, there was a slight waver to his voice that made things even worse.
Instead of a proper answer, Ritsu pulled back in Takano’s arms and kissed him deeply, running his fingers through the ends of his hair. Takano replied with equal vigor, nearly tumbling the two of them off the bed.
When they pulled apart, Ritsu couldn’t bear to look away from Takano, who was looking at him with so much love and adoration that he felt as if the love beaker he’d imagined himself to have as a teenager would have filled up several times over.
“I love you, Ritsu.”
“I love you, too, Takano-san.”