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Ryota knew by now where to find Sagishi: Their schedule was rigid, and they made sure to keep everyone else on track too. Still, Mondays were always the least structured day, and with a little softening up, he hoped to convince his partner to join him for the afternoon, to relax for once. He tied his hair, then tugged the band out, retied it, pulled it out again. Would Ishi have a preference, he wondered, staring frustratedly in the mirror. It was only his sixth alarm going off that shook him from his thoughts - that was the last alarm before he had to leave, and if he wasn't at the restaurant on time, Teruteru probably wouldn't be able to hold Sagishi off from finding yet more tasks they could take upon themself. He resolved to slip his hair tie onto his wrist, grab his nearest sketchbook and pencil, and head off.
In the restaurant, Sagishi was, as usual, pestering Teruteru about something or other, looking like a caricature with their clipboard and fake glasses - though they felt more comfortable now wearing their own skin rather than a disguise, they had a tendency to slip a little into Togami whenever something important needed to be done. It was probably them lecturing the chef on using more sustainable ingredients, things that could be grown on Jabberwock. After all, no matter how kind Naegi was, they couldn't keep requesting fancy ingredients from the Future Foundation in each shipment. Ryota couldn't help but laugh as Teru laughed awkwardly, trying to dig himself out of the hole he'd buried himself in. Still, he felt bad for his friend, so he wandered over and wrapped his arms around his partner's waist, tucked his face in the crook of their neck. Their hair still smelled of the rose shampoo they'd used at an ungodly hour of the morning, and he hummed amusedly.
'Hey Ryota,' Sagishi still sounded miffed, but the annoyance in their voice drained away with every syllable of their partner's name, 'Sleep well?'
Ryota nodded into their shoulder, before pulling away sheepishly. Teruteru had already snuck off into the kitchen, either to avoid another round of lecturing or to grab the picnic basket he'd been asked to prepare.
'So...' Ryota could hear Teruteru returning, so he might as well ask now before Sagishi started questioning the presence of the hamper, 'Since you've been so busy working lately, I was wondering if, uh, you might like to, yknow, have lunch with me?' For once in his life Ryota's timing was perfect - Teruteru sauntered in with the picnic hamper and thrust it into his hands.
'Yall go off and have fun, y'ain't saying no to a damn nice date with my cooking on the table,' He was strutting off before the confused look on Ishi's face disappeared, so they turned to Ryota instead.
'Well, are you asking me on a date?' They asked amusedly, the corners of their eyes crinkling in a way that was so uniquely them, not a hint of a costume. In his infatuation, Ryota nearly forgot what he was being asked, and nodded far too late, but his partner only laughed; they were so used to his awkwardness, and yet they never minded.
With that they were off, headed down one of many well-walked paths that lead towards the central island. Ryota insisted on carrying the hamper, not because he wanted to be a 'gentleman', but because it had been his idea to have this date, so he didn't want Sagishi to have to do all the work. They walked hand in hand, their arms intertwined and swinging, a peaceful blanket of silence in the warm spring air. The island initiative Ishi had led, their effort to improve the islands and make them a home, Ryota was in awe of it every day.
Jabberwock Park no longer housed an ugly statue; Nekomaru and Akane had between the two of them pulled down the original statue of the island guardians and melted it down into scrap within a month of the duo's awakening. In its place, Ryota had designed a statue of Monomi and Chiaki, a dedication to their memory and sacrifice, which stood proudly in the centre of the park. Occasionally the statue was surrounded by offerings of flowers or little handmade trinkets, which Sagishi collected once a week, burying them by Nanami's shrine; it was supposed to be a secret, but Ryota was always awake at whatever early hour his partner chose to sneak out. Getting to share in that secret made Ryota love his partner all the more.
They sat beneath the statue, their deceased friend and robotic supervisor watching peacefully over them. Ryota untied the jacket from his waist and laid it on the grass - it was one of Sagishi's, a soft grey-green like their eyes, and big enough for the both of them to sit on. The picnic basket before them was left as an afterthought, as Sagishi turned to him.
'This is different,' They said simply, a fond smile on their face, 'You're not usually the one making moves.' Ryota blushed furiously, resisted hiding his face with his bangs, or burying it completely in his hands.
'I just, yknow, wanted to do something nice. For you. You're always doing things for everyone, so I thought maybe...' Even after all these years of recovery, Ryota was still tripping over his words, but he pushed on, 'You deserve to be spoiled too. Not that, uh, that this really counts, but-'
'Thank you, Ryo,' Sagishi cupped his restless hands in theirs, safe and sturdy as they always were, 'It's very sweet of you to think of me. I appreciate it. I appreciate this.'
Ryota pulled his hands free to wrap them around Sagishi; they melted into the touch as they always did. 'You still deserve good things,' Ryota mumbled in their ear, 'Even if you didn't work so hard on the island every day, even if the world never forgave you, you'd still deserve happiness. I mean it, Ishi, and I wish you knew that,' In the safety of his partner's embrace he wasn't shy anymore, and he had to tell Sagishi, like he always meant to. He tucked his face into their neck and pecked their cheek.
Sagishi was silent for a moment, still, and Ryota was more than ready to panic again by the time they spoke once more, whispering, 'You're getting sappy,' and chuckling into the crown of their partner's head.
Ryota pulled away smiling, shy, 'We should probably eat, or else Teru will be mad at us,' he said, gently reminding his partner why they were there. While he was more than happy to sit and snuggle, he knew there were bits and pieces in the hamper that would already be going cold. He shuffled over to the basket and tugged it closer to the pair, opening it to reveal Tupperware filled with all Sagishi's favourites - various tender meats that Gundham had raised and... prepared, Teruteru's handcut crisps, a huge platter of the vegetables Mahiru took such pride in growing, and even more things buried underneath. Between the two of them Ryota wasn't sure they'd finish it all, but he knew his partner could always sweet-talk the chef into forgiveness.
They ate in comfortable quiet, the white noise of insects and the swoosh of soft breeze through tropical leaves muting the silence. To Ryota's surprise, the duo made it through most of the picnic that had been prepared; though really, knowing Sagishi's pride in maintaining their physique, he shouldn't have been shocked at the success.
'Look at this strawberry,' Sagishi seemed to be holding the fruit with an odd kind of reverence, 'Does it remind you of anything?' The fruit in their palm was oddly shaped; instead of the regular single conical peak it had two, and one side had developed slower, leading to it still holding that near-white colour that was often hidden by leaves. It almost looked like a bunny, he thought. Then his eyes widened a little, as he realised what his partner meant, and he smiled fondly.
'Monomi,'
'Nearly a spitting image, right? Well, as much as you could get with fruit, at least,' Ishi was carefully prying away the strawberry's leaves until only two remained, 'It's like she has a bow now. I wonder if she'd like it,'
An artist to his core, Ryota's brain was firing off with all manner of ideas. Part of him wanted to draw the soft smile on his partner's face as they looked so fondly at this little fruit, a little corner of his mind insisting the serenity of their expression should be cast in bronze for all the world to see, immortalised. But his main thought was far more practical, and, he hoped, would keep the smile on Sagishi's face. They gave him a curious look as he picked up a blackberry and began to separate it with his hands.
'It'll make sense in a second,' he mumbled, as he was prone to doing in the midst of artistic inspiration. He was pulling apart a raspberry now, for a single little bead of its flesh, but the skin was too soft and burst. 'Hold these for me?' He handed the two tiny pearls of blackcurrant to Sagishi, who accepted them wordlessly. They put up with stranger things, he supposed, especially with being the island leader for a group of former ultimates.
After going through three more raspberries, one complied with him, sparing an intact pearl of red. 'Got it!' He hissed excitedly, and turned to finally catch his partner's gaze again. Sagishi's face hadn't changed, though their eyes now found their focus on him, with the same serenity as before.
'So what have you been making?' Their eyebrow quirked up amusedly as they asked.
'Hold out the strawberry and I'll show you,' Ryota replied. Sagishi stretched out their hand, the strawberry nestled carefully in their palm, and watched intently as Ryota carefully positioned the three beads of berries on the strawberry's surface, struggling a little to keep each piece in its place because of the fruit's curved surface. After far too long spent on designing a strawberry, Ryota cupped his hands around Sagishi's larger one, looked up at them to see the recognition on their face.
'It really is her now,' They said, voice hushed in reverence for this tiny Monomi icon.
Sagishi was lost in thought, so Ryota grabbed the miniature sketchbook from his back pocket and got to sketching the scene before him. Sagishi had been their muse since before despair, but now, grown up and much happier, more themself than he'd ever seen them, he couldn't help but doodle all their little expressions, and his sketchbooks were filled with their joy. He'd cherish them forever.
'Wait,' He put his pencil behind his ear as he held Sagishi's hand, tilting it ever so slightly so it was visible alongside the bronze-cast Monomi of the statue. He was back to sketching without a second's hesitation, and when he looked up again his eyes were locked with Ishi's, filled with love, so much that he could practically see those cartoonish heart pupils. He could feel the blush on his cheeks as he smiled, and put the sketchbook down in the grass after only a few more moments of jotting down the scene. He shuffled closer and crawled into Sagishi's lap, and took the makeshift Monomi carefully from their hand so they could move their arm once more.
'We can't eat her, can we?' He asked, head tucked against their chest, 'She's got to stay with the statue, right?'
'Hmm, you're right,' Ishi hummed into his hair, 'We should put her on the pedestal beside your other creations,' They guided his hand up towards the warm bronze plinth, and between the two of them their little creation was laid to rest peacefully at the foot of its life-sized inspiration. With the fruit settled and their hands free, Ryota nuzzled once more into his partner's embrace, with their arms wrapping comfortably around him.
'She'd be proud of us, wouldn't she?' He whispered up at Sagishi. He'd never truly known Chiaki, but he could always sense the kindness she'd held in life radiating from her statue.
'I know she would,' Sagishi uttered back.
Sagishi dozed off after a little while in the warm afternoon sun, and Ryota, trapped by the strength of their embrace, was left to his thoughts. Said thoughts were sappy, of course, as they often are when caught in a lover's arms, and he found himself dwelling on their conversation. He sure hoped that Chiaki would have been proud, especially of how far Sagishi had come - she'd never truly known them either, but surely she'd be able to tell how far they'd come, from leading their ragtag group out of fear and false authority to becoming the beloved leader that the whole island looked up to. It must be exhausting, but everyone could tell that they wouldn't change it for the world. Here on this island, with the freedom and safety to be themself, Sagishi had had a front-row seat to watching his partner evolve into their own, real self. And he was so grateful, ever thankful for all those blessed coincidences that had saved them, saved him, saved the world, so they could finally live peacefully, as they more than deserved.
Underneath him, Sagishi stirred, sleep-filled eyes landing on him and softening their features. Ryota couldn't help himself as he whispered into his partner's ear, 'We're all so proud of how far you've come.'