Work Text:
"Ritsu, you're adorable."
Rewind.
"Ritsu, you're adorable."
Rewind.
"Ritsu, you're adorable."
He could do this the rest of the night.
Ritsu sat on his bed and hit rewind on his laptop again. And again. And again. His chest felt tight in a bouyant, anticipatory way, like the tension in a bow before an arrow is let loose.
He navigated around the track a bit to find other key snippets. There was a part early in the day where you'd complimented his tie- the knot he'd practiced for several mornings before finally feeling confident enough in his work to wear it out of his room.
"Ooh, very tidy. Your hobbies are so cute, haha. How long did you work on learning this one?" His cheeks flushed as he remembered you leaning in to appreciate his... him.
Rewind.
"-idy. Your hobbies are so cute, haha."
Rewind.
"-o cute, haha."
For as much as he worked with words, for as much as language had done for him in his life, it failed him here. Nothing could adequately convey how he felt when you laughed.
How he felt about lots of things regarding you.
All he could do was sit with this feeling, with bits and pieces of you, and bask in the heat that always bloomed across his cheeks and down his neck when you paid him any little bit of extra attention, that poured into his stomach and stirred him up in a dizzy, exciting way.
You were so kind. He saw it everywhere in you, how you were diplomatic, and optimistic, and thoughtful. How you didn't make fun of his habits and interests, the idiosyncrasies that had gotten him particularly excluded from the pack in his younger years.
From you, he'd never seen the look he got from so many people. The quiet aversion that they thought he didn't notice. The rapid there and back eye contact with friends that would alert him to having said something socially incomprehensible.
You seemed to look at him and see a person, rather than a problem. It felt so good it stung.
He clicked around, following a familiar trail of folders.
Eldredge knot: successful.
Today's date.
Feedback he'd received from peers. There wasn't much to put down beyond what you'd said, but that was more than sufficient.
Ritsu hummed as he worked, editing down and updating files, sorting them away to relevant folders. Saving key conversations.
You hummed this short, bouncy tune occasionally, when doing menial tasks, or to fill the silence as you traveled across campus together. He liked it, liked pretending he was humming it along with you.
He liked so many things about you.
He really, really liked you.
Setting his computer aside, he took a moment to mash his face into a pillow and let out a small, high whine.
His chest swelled like the sea, rising, threatening to break through his sternum and flood the world, exposing his soft, embarrassing feelings to anybody and everybody fortunate enough to be there to see it.
He loved it.
He. Might love you.
He hoped he could find the perfect arrangement of words to convey this to you.