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It had started as a pretty normal day. That was saying something considering what they had to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But, today had been pretty calm for once. Nothing had gone that wrong and that was saying something.
Ryouma had gotten bored and decided to go pester Takatora for a while. He didn't think he would mind. He was probably bored as well. Though, maybe not. He did always seem to find some type of work to do to keep himself occupied.
Ryouma entered his office without even a knock. Takatora was seated as his desk, typing away on his laptop. Ryouma approached, wondering if he had even heard him enter. Should he say something or try to surprise him?
"Do you need something?" Takatora glanced up at him. So he had heard him. Perceptive as always.
"I was feeling bored so I thought I'd stretch my legs." Ryouma replied, walking to stand beside Takatora. "What are you up to?"
"Answering emails. What do you think?" Takatora retorted.
"Always so busy, aren't you?"
"Unfortunately."
"Care if I take a seat and hang? Or are you gonna shove work on me if I do that?" Ryouma asked.
"Depends on how annoying you get." Takatora replied.
"Calling your boyfriend annoying is mean." Ryouma stuck his tongue out, Takatora ignoring him.
"It's the truth."
"Cold."
Ryouma invited himself into a seat and observed Takatora as he went back to work. He tried to be quiet and not stare too long. He really didn't want unnecessary work put on him. He despised the paperwork that Takatora had to do. He had to do some before and it was torture trying to get through it all.
There was a knock on the door a while later. Ryouma tried to make himself seem like he was at least doing something instead of just lazing around. Someone entered the room. Someone from a different branch of the company, if Ryouma recalled correctly.
"You're early." Takatora spoke to the man.
"Traffic was lighter than usual." The visitor replied. "Am I too early?"
His gaze traveled over to Ryouma. Ryouma didn't know why, but something about his gaze was off-putting. Had he seen this man before? Did they get off on the wrong foot or something? Ryouma had no idea. Maybe he was just imagining it. He did tend to be wary over anyone from this company when he wasn't familiar with them.
"Not at all. He just wanted some feedback on things and stayed." Takatora said, speaking so smoothly that you could not tell that was a lie in any capacity. "He can step out for our meeting if you insist on that much privacy."
"I would prefer she wasn't here." The man was giving Ryouma a glare now.
Ryouma tensed. This was someone who... knew him before he transitioned. Oh, this was not good. Was he able to play this off or was he going to have to finally tell Takatora about that. He hadn't wanted to. Didn't see it necessary for him to know.
Takatora looked very confused. He stared at Ryouma.
"What are you going on about?" Ryouma questioned the man. "I am very clearly not a girl. What's with the pronouns?"
"Don't try to deceive me." The man said. "I know you from before."
"You must have the wrong person. I have no idea what all this is about." Ryouma replied, trying hard to not let his voice falter at all. It was hard.
"Stop lying."
"What are you even going on about?" Takatora jumped into the conversation now.
"Don't you know?" A smirk was forming on the visitor's face. "She isn't what you think. Has she really deceived you that well?"
"I have no idea what you're going on about, but if you continue to harass him, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Takatora stated.
"Not my problem if you don't want to admit she's a freak." The man shrugged.
"Get out." Takatora was firm.
Their visitor rolled his eyes and left without another word. Takatora sighed after he was gone.
"What the hell was that?" He asked quietly, mostly talking to himself.
Ryouma took in a deep breath. "Takatora... I..."
He trailed off. Could he actually bring himself to say it?
"Do you know what he was going on about?" Takatora questioned.
Ryouma lowered his gaze and nodded. "Yeah... I do..."
"What was that?"
"I... well, I'm trans. He... knew me before I started transitioning and... guess he doesn't like me trying to be myself." Ryouma said quietly.
Takatora was silent for a while and then simply said, "Oh."
"I'm sorry I never said anything. I know I probably should've but..." He trailed off. What even was his excuse?
"It's fine. If you didn't want to tell me, you shouldn't have had to."
"You... don't mind?"
Takatora raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why would I?"
"Well, obviously some people mind." Ryouma tried to joke, but his voice was still tense.
"I don't care about this. It doesn't change anything."
Ryouma nodded. He took in a few deep breaths. That had gone well despite everything.
Takatora got up from his seat. Ryouma watched in confusion as the man walked over to him. In a swift and sudden movement, he was engulfed in a hug. Ryouma didn't know how to react at first, but tears started to well up in his eyes.
"You don't deserve to be treated that way. I'm sorry you've had to deal with people like that." Takatora said, pressing a kiss to his head.
"Takatora..." Ryouma didn't know what to say but the floodgates opened.
He had never had someone care. This was the first time someone truly was willing to accept him for who he was. He hoped he never lost this. He didn't want to go back to being all alone again.