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Rui really needs to fix his sleeping schedule.
It’s not as though he gets no sleep at all, but the consistency that he does is far from ideal. He knows it shows in his face, and in his demeanor, and that his friends have most certainly noticed—after all, when they have sleepovers, he’s the one who is always awake until 3am. (That’s not always his fault. One time Tsukasa had fallen asleep while resting his head on Rui’s thighs and he really couldn’t focus on sleeping then.)
The night before he’d pulled an all-nighter(!!!) for the first time in a while. But in his defense, the robot needed to be done by the next day. And he’d barely started working on it.
Anyway, practice that day was a blur. His eye bags feel heavy as he recites his lines and directs Emu and Nene across the stage. He nearly fell asleep during their ten minute break, leaning on Tsukasa’s shoulder. He’s an incredibly comfortable pillow, though Rui would never say that out loud. It’s embarrassing.
It’s near nighttime now, and Emu and Nene have already left, and Tsukasa is packing up to leave. Which means! Rui will be walking home alone. Chances are he’ll get tired and just sleep in the back room of the stage. He’s done that before. Besides, if he can’t sleep, he can always use his work bench that he keeps back there for inventions. The cot back there is sounding increasingly appealing.
“Hey!”
He glances up. “Hello, Tsukasa-kun.”
“Are you heading home after this?” Tsukasa asks, hopping off of the stage, bag in hand.
He hesitates, considering whether or not to tell the truth. Tsukasa probably wouldn’t like him staying at the Wonder Stage overnight, he never does. It’s endearing how much he seems to care. “...I was just going to sleep on the cot I have in the back. I’m tired, I don’t feel like walking all the way home.”
“What! You are not sleeping in that cold-ass room. There’s not even a blanket.”
“I have sheets.”
“That doesn’t count! Come on, my house is closer to the stage than yours is. Sleep over at mine.”
Rui blinks, fidgeting with his gloves that he hasn’t taken off yet. “I don’t want to be too much of a bother,” he says eventually. “It’s not that big of a deal if I walk an extra block to get to my house.” Really, that’s all it is. They’re not that far away from each other.
Tsukasa hums softly, and leans his head on Rui’s chest. They do this sometimes, and it never fails to make Rui’s heart flutter a little bit. He snakes his arms around Tsukasa’s waist and holds him close, hands rubbing small circles into his back, and thinks that even though Tsukasa most likely does not return his feelings, this isn’t so bad. “But Saki got a new hammock, and she said I could use it!” Tsukasa says. “We could stargaze.”
“Aren’t hammocks small?”
“So?”
“And they’re outside. You don’t even want me sleeping in the back room.”
“Shush! I want to cuddle with you!”
“Mm.” Rui presses his nose into Tsukasa’s hair. “Okay.”
They stand there like that, swaying, underneath the pale moonlight, holding one another. Rui decides it’s rather nice to hold Tsukasa—although he already knew that from the nights he spent at Nene’s house with Tsukasa falling asleep on his chest, even though they’re only really halfway through the musical they’re watching. He shouldn’t be so tired and certainly not so comfortable around Rui as to fall asleep on him.
“Let’s go to the hammock,” Rui murmurs tiredly when he feels Tsukasa’s breathing even out. “I don’t want you falling asleep.”
“Okay then, Mister ‘I’ll sleep on the Wonder Stage’,” Tsukasa grumbles, pulling away and holding Rui’s hand. His fingers are warm, intertwined with his own, his fingernails cleanly cut in comparison to Rui’s. He leads the two of them out the gate of the stage, through the then-empty amusement park and out to the sidewalk.
Tsukasa looks so human underneath the moonlight, Rui thinks, keeping his gaze on him as they walk. His skin is pale, smooth, and he has freckles dotting his neck that Rui would one day like to gently kiss as he holds him—his hair falls, prettily, over his face, swept and combed expertly. His eyes are bright and sparkle with the reflected light of the Milky Way above.
“What’s the real reason for inviting me over?” Rui asks quietly as they walk. “I know you didn’t invite me to the hammock just because I was going to sleep in the cot.”
“Well—that was part of it! But also…well, you’ve been busy directing that movie, and we haven’t gotten to spend much time together at all recently,” Tsukasa sighs. “And I’ve been exhausted, and you’re a really good battery.”
“Battery?”
“Mhm! Whenever I’m around you, I regenerate my energy!”
“I see. I’ll do my best, then. I’m no Duracell.”
“You’re better. Durarui. You’re the next competitor.”
“Hmm…perhaps I’ll start a battery brand~? Ne, Tsukasa-kun, you could be the mascot.”
From then on the walk does not take much longer. Tsukasa’s house is, in fact, much closer to Phennyland than Rui’s is, and Tsukasa doesn’t even go inside—he’d already texted his sister that he’d be in the hammock that night. Rui isn’t sure whether or not he mentioned that he would also be there.
Tsukasa’s backyard is well-kept, unsurprisingly. Hand-in-hand, they walk through the gate to the garden and walk past camellias and spider lilies until they reach the yellow and white striped hammock that lies in the clearing. It’s not too small, but they’ll still be curled up against one another. Being the taller one of the two, Rui gets in first, and lets Tsukasa climb into his arms and snuggle into his chest.
From this spot in his backyard, the sky is rather clear, and he can see the entirety of the galaxy striping across the sky. Tsukasa’s hair tickles his neck—despite it all, he still shines far brighter than anything that hangs above them. That’s something corny that middle school Rui never would have settled for. But Rui can feel the rhythm of Tsukasa’s heart, even and steady, underneath his fingertips, which rest gently on his chest.
His cheeks feel warm as he shifts slightly to better accommodate him. “The stars are quite nice tonight,” Rui murmurs. Can Tsukasa sense the double meaning in his words? He has never been one to pick up on subtle hints, but, when it comes to Rui—things are different.
“They are. I used to study astronomy a lot when I was younger.”
“Did you?”
“Mm. I thought if I learned enough a star would come down to me and turn me into one.”
“If it’s worth anything at all, I think you’re just as bright, if not brighter, than the stars in the sky.”
“...Ah.” Tsukasa’s expression softens. “Then I suppose all my hard work paid off.” He snuggles into him, face no longer pointed at the sky. He’s not even stargazing anymore, like he’d claimed he’d wanted to do! Now he’s just cuddling him.
Rui kisses his hair. He really likes being in love with Tsukasa, even if it hurts him sometimes.
A long time ago, Rui thinks he would have hated this with a passion, being so close to someone else who was so painstakingly bright and human. But god, even if Rui is a speck of dust, and Tsukasa has entire galaxies growing inside of him—he will not ever leave his side. He will cling to him because that’s all he really knows how to do.
“It did pay off,” Rui says eventually. “I firmly believe you’ll reach true, true stardom one day.”
“Mm. Will you be there?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
There’s a sentiment buried deep inside the recesses of his mind that he’d like to wake up to Tsukasa’s sleepy face every morning, and that he’d like to hear faint piano on Saturday mornings. Would Tsukasa cook often? Would he let Rui help him? Would an early bird like him stay in bed a little later to hold on to him?
How sickeningly domestic. Nene would gag and tell him to touch grass. Which is rather hypocritical of her, but he isn’t exactly one to talk.
“That’s good. I really want you there when I become the biggest star in the world.”
“And I really want to be there. You’re improving so quickly, it can’t possibly be much longer.”
“I’ll exceed everyone’s expectations!”
He cards his fingers through Tsukasa’s hair. “You will.”
“And then I’ll go home and you’ll be there, right?”
“...Why would I be there?”
“Because,” Tsukasa shifts a little, hiding his face in Rui’s chest fully, now, “I wanna have you by my side until I can’t anymore.”
“What about Nene and Emu?”
“Them, too, but I think I’d like—” —Tsukasa yawns— “to wake up to your face in the morning.”
Well, he doesn’t have anything to say to that. He’s not even sure if Tsukasa knows what he’s saying, since it’s late at night, and the both of them are tired. Before he can find a response, though, Tsukasa is out cold. He is sleeping while cuddled into Rui and Rui’s arms are around him and their legs are all tangled together and wow, Rui is never going to get over him.
Perhaps that’s not the end of the world.