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“He’s awake now, Mr. Tenma. You’re good to go see him.”
Tsukasa looked up from his phone when the dentist peeked around the corner. He stands up, pocketting his phone and trotting into the room she had just exited. She pulls her mask down and waits with a warm smile outside the door.
“He bled a lot, but it was nothing serious. He’ll be a little delirious for a while, so make sure he keeps his fluids down and just ring for a nurse if you need anything.” The dentist says, pulling her mask back over her face and vanishing down the hall to fix another person’s mouth.
Tsukasa slides the door open and muffles a snort when he sees the patient inside.
Rui was staring at the ceiling, head thrown back with gauze stuffed in his mouth, sleepy look in his eyes. Tsukasa closes the door behind him and has to cover his mouth to not cackle.
“Rui.” He addresses as soon as he’s regained his composure.
Tired golden eyes flick over to him, then seem to widen and almost sparkle at him. Rui brings his head up lazily, and a little like one of those balloon men you see outside car dealerships, he sits up and waves at the blond.
“Hello.” He smiles through a mouth full of gauze and slurred speech. Tsukasa strides closer and stands at his bedside.
He tilts his head. “Hey, Rui, let me see your teeth.”
Not even six hours ago, Rui had nearly lost his face to a drone malfunction. Luckily, he managed to dodge in time, and instead of losing his charming good looks, he lost his cat-like smile when the airborne weapon chipped three of his teeth and cut his lip.
And, since he was able to squeeze into a dentist’s office, he figured it was time to get his wisdom teeth removed, too. Unfortunately, Rui also has the worst pain tolerance Tsukasa has ever seen, so he opted to go under rather than stay up and sit through it.
(Also, he complained about feeling like one of his own machines when they have all of those tools prodding at him while he just sits and watches.
“It’s like I’m being experimented on by some alien life form.” He had shuddered with the slightest lisp from his chipped teeth. Nene had made some offhand comment about ‘now you really sound gay’ and left him to fight back with a pained whimper when he fumbled to reply through his aching mouth.)
Back in the present, Rui looks at Tsukasa with starry eyes. He lifts his lips up and smiles. The three chipped teeth were fixed cleanly.
“Did the dentist send you?” Rui mumbled through the gauze. Tsukasa tilts his head.
“Uh, if you mean she let me in to see you, yeah.” He offers. Rui blinks at him for a moment, then squints.
“You aren’t a nurse.” He says, as if confirming for himself. He reaches out and touches Tsukasa’s arm. “You’re real.”
“Wh–?! Of course I’m real!” Tsukasa says. He briefly considers buzzing the dentist in to see if this was a common occurrence, but the director stops that before he can make a decision. He throws another curveball at Tsukasa.
“Then you’re an angel.” He says.
Tsukasa wants to dissolve where he stands. His ears light on fire and he looks at Rui, weakly shaking his head. “No, Rui. It’s me, Tsukasa.”
“Tsu…ohhhhhh, Tsukasa! The pretty boy I do shows with!” He seems to beam through the cotton in his mouth. “I know Tsukasa. I like him a lot.”
Tsukasa nearly doubles over from embarrassment. He eyes a cup of water on the table nearby and snatches it.
“Just drink something! You’re drugged, you aren’t thinking straight.” He says exasperatedly, fussing with the straw. He holds the cup in front of Rui and holds the end of the straw towards his mouth. “Don’t ruin your gauze.”
Rui tries to put his lips around the straw, and he seems to really be trying, because his brow is furrowed in concentration and his mouth isn’t cooperating. After a moment, he manages to get it in his mouth, but as soon as he gets a drink, half of it seems to pour down his chin. He glances down at the wet stain on his shirt collar.
Tsukasa sighs and takes the water away, setting it aside while he pulls his sleeve up and wipes the corner of Rui’s mouth. The director looks at him with his jaw slacked.
“What?” The blond asks, looking at his expression. He looked as if he was caught in a dream.
“Tsukasa is so kind, taking care of me…He’s so lovely.” Rui slurs. “He’s like a model, too, one of those who always steals the show.”
Tsukasa fights down the flush spreading over his face and fixes his sleeve. Rui seems to have forgotten he was speaking to Tsukasa at all, instead just rambling about him.
“Did you know Tsukasa wants to be famous?” He goes on. “I think he already is. He’s the best.”
“You’re absolutely right.” Tsukasa agrees without hesitation. “Tsukasa is the best.”
Rui looks at him for a moment. Tsukasa has come to terms with the fact Rui’s brain was practically mush. At least he can get some funny interactions out of him later, maybe. Tsukasa remembers when Saki had her wisdom teeth removed, and he remembers her thinking a lot of things.
“I like Tsukasa a lot,” Rui repeats. “He’s pretty.”
Despite the flattery getting to his head, Tsukasa was curious to hear just what praise Rui could spew out, unfiltered, through his cotton-filled cheeks and limp jaw.
“What do you like about him?” Tsukasa pries, tilting his head while he looks at Rui. The director blanks for a moment, looking at the wall with a distant look in his eyes and mouth hanging open.
“He’s smart,” Rui says, then shakes his head. “No, not smart. He’s…loud.”
Tsukasa’s face drops a little. “What else?”
“He’s my friend. My best friend. I trust him.” Rui says, scrunching his face. He brings a hand up to poke his own cheek, grabbing his jaw, then poking the gauze back into place. He loses his train of thought.
“You trust him?” Tsukasa asks.
“A lot. Lots of trust. He’s…really cool. I like his poses.” Rui says, lifting his arms in some half-awake imitation of one of Tsukasa’s poses. Tsukasa has to fight off a laugh. “Oh, and he looks really good.”
“He is very well dressed.” Tsukasa supplies confidently, smoothing out his shirt as he says it.
“His face is cute.” Rui says. The blond short-circuits.
“It’s wha–”
“He’s got a cute face.” Rui says, patting his own cheeks. “Pretty face. Pretty…pretty lips.”
The director stops, and Tsukasa is too flustered to say anything. He looks over at Tsukasa, blinks, and then tilts his head. He touches his own lips and tries to puff his cheeks out. When that doesn’t work, he goes back to feeling his lips.
“Maybe one day Tsukasa will let me feel his lips. I bet they’re soft.” Rui carries on. “Maybe we could, like…kiss so I could feel them.”
There’s a pause, and Tsukasa just blinks as his face turns a vivid red colour and his head seems to heat up immensely. He swallows hard before he speaks.
“You want to…kiss me? You want to kiss Tsukasa?” The blond asks, stunned beyond belief.
“If he lets me. But…but I want it to be special.” Rui drabbles. “He’d look at me, and I’d…be super cool…and then it’d be like… mweh ! Like they do in movies.”
The director imitates a kiss between two miniature hand puppets, then drops his hands into his lap. He swings his head to stare at Tsukasa and smiles.
“Don’t tell him I told you this.” He says, putting a finger to his lips in the least coordinated way ever, nearly shoving it up his nose in the process. He pushes his lips apart and scratches a tooth.
“Why…why not?” Tsukasa struggles to answer, fumbling out words forcibly.
Rui cups his hands around his mouth and leans forward to Tsukasa, then lowers his voice poorly to whisper.
“I like Tsukasa.” He shout-whispers, most likely with full intention to remain as quiet as he could. He leans away and chuckles. Tsukasa’s brain nearly overloads for the third time.
He gapes and flops his lips like a fish for a few moments, before leaning his face down into his hands and groans. He smiles a little, like one of those girls whose heart rate skyrockets when a cute boy looks at them. Mostly, he’s frustrated.
“Rui, you are the weirdest guy I’ve ever met.” He struggles out. “But, you wanna know a secret?”
He looks up, and Rui’s giving him a curious, big-eyed look. He tilts his head. “What?”
The blond smiles warmly at him. "I think Tsukasa likes you back.”