Work Text:
“Hey, Kyo, I love you!"
Kyo turns to stare at Ren, who's already looking at him from where he sat at the bed. Kyo's bed.
"Where did that come from?" Kyo laughed.
Ren doesn't look at all disturbed by the way Kyo dodges, instead, his smile grew, "just thought I let you know, I love you."
"I know very well," Kyo turns back to continue working on his assignment, "you say it a lot."
Ren hums, "I mean it everytime."
"You know, I," Kyo paused, mouth closing and opening around the word he wanted to say.
"You don't need to say it, I know you love me too!" Ren exclaimed, in that excited tone of his.
Comfortable silence wraps the room.
—
Let it be known that Kyo loves working in the small coffee shop near campus. It's a nice break from his daily life as a graphic design student, a nice break from endless projects and revision. It is a hassle sometimes to handle his shifts alone, the wave of customers are unpredictable, save from a select few regulars that he knows by name.
"Hi, Kyo!"
Like this one.
"Oh, it's Ren," said Kyo, voice laced with mock disappointment.
"Oh, c'mon, don't sound so disappointed." Ren smiles. The genuine smiles that make his eyes turn into crescents.
Kyo rolls his eyes, holding out a cup of hot chocolate towards Ren. The same drink he's been making for him since he started working here, the same drink Ren always ordered ever since they were a child. A cup of hot chocolate, with just a little bit of sugar, and foamed milk shaped like a heart on top, even though the lid is opaque and will cover the latte art that Kyo made.
"Aww, you're made me a heart!" Ren exclaimed, swiftly taking out his phone to snap a picture.
"I made you a heart like, every time, bro, chill."
"It's alright Kyo, you can just say you love me," Ren grinned, leaning over the counter.
"Alright, that's going too far," Kyo took a step back behind the register.
"Wow, my boyfriend doesn't want to say that he loves me," Ren's hand clutched his chest, face contorting in mock pain, "I'm hurt."
"Yeah, hurt is what you're going to experience if you don't get out of my face, fucker," Kyo exclaimed.
"Hey, can you make me a swan next time?"
"What? Fuck no!"
The next time Kyo hands Ren his cup of hot chocolate, the latte art on top was in the shape of a swan.
—
"I thought you were sick?" Kyo asks as soon as Ren walks in his dorm room, bundled in an oversized sweater and a coat.
Ren hums, walking inside as Kyo locks his door before going in towards Ren, taking his coat and dropping it on a stool, then pressing the back of his hand on his forehead to check his temperature
"Okay, yeah, you're warm," Kyo's brows furrowed, "go lay down, I'll get you some meds."
Ren nods then walks to Kyo's bed, sitting down on the side and pulling the blankets around his shoulder, watching Kyo going over to get some water and paracetamol, handing them to Ren before he pulls his chair so that he can sit near the bed. Ren took the pill silently.
"Did you walk here alone?"
Ren nods.
"Ren, you should've just slept or something."
"But I wanted to see you."
"I would've come to your dorm if you'd ask, stupid," Kyo flicks Ren's forehead, causing him to whine.
"You would visit me?"
"Of course I would, the fuck?" Kyo rolls his eyes, "Go and sleep, Ren," Kyo stood up, or, at least he was trying to until Ren took his hand and pouted.
"Stay?" Ren asked, "please."
Kyo sighed, motioning for Ren to scoot over to give him some room to lay down next to him.
"Lights off?"
Ren makes a noise of affirmation. Kyo stood up to put his chair back to its place as well as to flick off the light switch before going back to his bed and making himself comfortable next to Ren.
"This dorm room bed is not made for two grown ass men," Kyo grumbles.
Ren only laughed, pushing himself into Kyo's space until the two were completely tangled together. Kyo lets him. His hand found its way to Ren's soft black hair.
"I love you," Ren mutters, voice muffled from being pressed against Kyo's chest.
Kyo hummed, then pressed a kiss on Ren's hair, "go to sleep."
When Ren wakes up the next morning, Kyo is nowhere to be seen, already off to his classes. Instead, he is greeted by a tupperware filled with soup, a pack of medicine, and a sticky note with 'get well soon' and a crossed out heart written on it.
—
It's valentine day.
And just his luck that it's also Kyo's day working on the coffeeshop.
There's a promo going on, a buy 1 get 1 for all couples, and a discount on some sickly sweet drink with way too much sugar that took five minutes alone to make. His only saving grace is that now he's got a shift partner. A blonde guy that goes by the name Wilson, just a year below him, majoring in communications. He is a nice company, and he works efficiently. It's just that right now, he is busy with his boyfriend in the employees backroom. Probably making out, maybe more. Kyo doesn't want to know.
As soon as Kyo finished making a drink for this wave of customers, he took a step back to just breathe. After a minute of not seeing any new customer, he went over to knock on the door to the employees room, waiting a second, then saying, "I'm coming in, you better be fucking decent in there!"
They are, thankfully, clothed when the door opens. Kyo's eyes flicked between Wilson, who is out of breath and visibly flushed, and his boyfriend, who's very much put together despite the hickeys littering his neck.
"Had fun?"
"Very much. Thanks," Wilson replies
"Yeah, well, thank you for fucking leaving me to deal with a long line of customer, fucker."
Wilson's boyfriend laughed, "didn't think I introduced myself yet. Hi, I'm Zali. Vezalius."
Kyo nods, " Kyo Kaneko."
"C'mon, Kyo, it's not like I don't usually deal with you and Ren being all lovey dovey," said Wilson as he put his apron back. Zali went over to tie his apron for him.
"Me and Ren don't make out in the backroom during shifts."
"Boo-hoo, maybe you should try doing it now," Wilson rolls his eyes, passing Kyo to get out of the door with Zali in tow.
"Oh, speak of the devil! Ren! Kyo's waiting for you in the back," Wilson exclaimed, seeing Ren enter the shop just as he exited the backroom.
"Yeah? Okay!"
"What's up, Kyo?" Ren pops his head into the room.
"The fucker was fucking making out with his boyfriend during work hours," Kyo rolls his eyes.
Ren nods, then walks into the room and hands Kyo a box of chocolate in the shape of a heart, tied with gold bows, "happy valentine day, I love you."
Kyo took the chocolate from Ren, setting it on the table, then going in to press a chaste kiss on Ren's lips as a thankyou. Ren grins, hands going in to settle behind Kyo's neck so that he can pull him and press another closed mouth kiss onto him. And another. And another.
Until Kyo had to use his hand to push Ren's face away, fighting back a smile from appearing. Kyo ignores Ren's noises of protest, instead going to his backpack and rummaging through it.
Then he took out a bouquet of flowers for Ren.
A bouquet of paper flowers.
"Happy valentine, or whatever."
"You made this for me?" Ren asked, looking at Kyo in adoration.
Kyo nods, eyes looking everywhere but Ren, "well, Aia and Scarle helped, but yes I did make them."
Ren grinned, then took Kyo's face into his hand to pull him into a kiss, murmuring I love you's in between. Savoring the way Kyo melts onto him, hands find their way under Ren's shirt so that it's splayed flat across his back.
Wilson closed the door to the employees room as silently as he could.
He only wanted to grab his phone which he left inside. He didn't expect to see such an intimate moment of his co-worker. The kiss was soft and tender and nothing like the heated kiss between him and Zali earlier. Kyo and Ren were just gentle. Lips pressed against each other, Ren's hand on Kyo's face rubbing softly as if Kyo is the most precious thing he ever touched, and Kyo's hands under Ren's shirt just settling there without trying to lead the kiss into anything more. Like they have all the time in the world. Like time won't even dare to disrupt what they have.
—
"Bitch, stop looking at your phone and listen to my story," said Enna, taking another spoonful of her ice cream.
Kyo held his hand up, gesturing to her to wait a second as he types on the phone.
"Fucking bitch," Enna grumbles, now taking a spoonful of Kyo's ice cream.
The two are hanging out in an ice cream parlor, catching up on each other and gossiping about their teachers and friends. At least that's what they were doing before Kyo's phone notification went off, the notification that's specifically for Ren, in the middle of Enna's spiel about her professor. So she's just going on about how annoying his professor is while Kyo is typing away on his phone.
And he's smiling.
The guy, who usually kept his phone silent, and is a notorious slow responder, is texting and smiling.
"God, you're so whipped."
Kyo's head shot up, "pause, what?"
"You're so fucking in love with him it hurts just looking at you two," Enna stares at Kyo, "so lovey dovey and mushy and, just, in love."
"Huh," Kyo tilts his head, placing his phone face down on the table, "you know, I never told him that."
"Told him what?"
"The L word."
"Love."
"Yeah, that."
"Say the word."
"No."
"Say it."
"No!"
Enna sighed, "hopeless. You're hopeless."
"The fuck?"
"On second thought," Enna sat up straight, "you don't have to say it, I think he knows."
At that, Kyo's brows furrowed.
"Still would be nice to hear the words, though"
"Bitch, are you on my side or not?"
—
It's not that Kyo doesn't love Ren, nor that he is actively trying to not say that he loves Ren. Because he does, really. He is so deeply in love it feels like his heart is going to burst out of his chest sometimes. It's just so, so hard, to declare this overwhelming feeling verbally.
And Kyo wants so badly to let Ren know that he is in love with him, because Ren throws out his 'I love you's' as easily as he breathes, and yet he means them every single time. Every single one is accompanied by the look of pure adoration in his eyes, or a blinding smile, or wandering hands, and it's all so genuine Kyo might get nauseous from how sweet he is.
Actually, Kyo might get nauseous from how angry he is at himself for not being able to say those three stupid words.
Those thoughts definitely don't have anything to do with the fact that Kyo is now standing in front of Ren's dorm room door.
It's also definitely not the reason that he immediately flung himself onto Ren and kissed him as if there's no tomorrow as soon as Ren opened the door.
"Hey," Kyo mutters, breathless.
Ren runs his fingers through Kyo's hair from where he buries his face in his shoulder, peppering kisses on the exposed skin and praising whichever gods out there for the fact that Ren is only wearing a black tank top right now.
"So," Ren uses his foot to kick the door closed, then walks over to the bed, "where is this coming from?"
Ren sat on the side of his bed, letting Kyo sit on his lap, clinging like a koala, and still kisses now going up to his neck, paying extra attention on the spot under his ear which prompts Ren to tilt his head to the side, allowing him better access.
"Just thought I'd let you know that I," Kyo paused, taking a breath, "iloveyou."
"Oh, I'm aware," Ren took Kyo by the shoulder and pushed him back slightly so that they're face to face, "I can see it, you know?"
"Yeah?"
Ren nods, smiling ear to ear, "you take care of me, you indulge me, you let me into your space—no, you invite me into your space! You give me gifts, and keep my company, and listen to me, and—"
"Okay, stop," Kyo pushes his face back to Ren's shoulder, "just, I need you to know that I do."
"You're always so loud in loving me, you know that?"
"Am I?"
Ren hums, "just because you don't say the exact word doesn't mean I can't hear it. Love is in the air, or whatever."
"Okay," Kyo mutters, satisfied.
"Hey, Kyo, I love you!"
Kyo wants to roll his eyes, and maybe scoff. But what comes out is a small laugh, bubbling out of him involuntarily.
"I love you too, stupid.”