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Today’s practice session at the Wonderstage was no different to any of their usual sessions.
Wonderlands x Showtime’s next show was still quite a few weeks away, so there was no need to revise their lines or vigorously rehearse through their scenes just yet. Sure, they still had to run through the script and get a general idea of the overall story and their roles, but there wasn’t any rush to have it all memorised as if everything from the script was just how they naturally acted.
Nene had asked Tsukasa to run over a particular scene in the script that starred only the two of them, so they sat together in the front of the audience area going through their lines, making a few minor changes when needed as they went along.
Rui was sitting back a few rows away from them, tinkering away on a small robot he was planning to reuse for this upcoming show. It didn’t require a lot of reworking, considering it was a simple frog design; the only modifications needed was to switch out the eyes to a much more fitting design, and to change the blinking mechanic so the eyes blink one after the other rather than blinking simultaneously.
“Hey, hey Rui-kun!” a voice called out, almost whispering.
He looked over to his side to find Emu sitting right next to him, legs dangling from each side of the bench they were now sharing. She was looking up at him with a rather exaggerated smile and wide puppy eyes.
From that look alone he knew she was scheming something, although he wasn’t exactly sure what that something could be, and there was no way to guess when her train of thought held no bounds.
“Fufu, hello Emu-kun, what brings you over here today?”
She moved her hands over her mouth to cover up her giggles. She shuffled closer to him, still keeping her volume at a low level, “Come with me!”
Rui tilted his head slightly confused as to why, but decided to smile and play along. “Oya? And what exactly do you have planned?” He playfully asked in response.
Emu hopped off the bench, holding a single finger over her lips. “Shh~ it's a secret~!”
Okay, now he was really confused, which was clearly evident on his face; Yet Emu continued to quietly giggle at him. Was this a game that he wasn’t in on? If so then shouldn’t Tsukasa or Nene also be in on it?
Without another word, Emu grabbed Rui’s hand, pulling him off the bench and dragging him to god knows where.
She was trying her best to hold in her giggles which didn’t go unnoticed by Rui, leaving him all the more confused; although that wasn’t to say he wasn’t intrigued as to where she was taking him.
Their footsteps eventually came to an abrupt stop, with Emu tugging Rui’s hand to pull him…
…Backstage?
Still wondering what she was up to, Rui looked around, then back down at Emu who was still trying to contain her giggles.
“Hm? Emu-kun did you have something to show–”
He was quickly cut off when Emu yanked the sides of his hoodie (which he didn’t even notice she had a grip on in the first place,) pulling him down firmly pressing her lips onto his in a rather hasty kiss, which she emphasised with a drawn out ‘mwah’ sound.
Rui let out a surprised hum against her lips, instinctively latching onto her waist to prevent him from stumbling forwards and falling onto the much smaller girl. His eyes were still wide open from the overall shock of it all, giving him an up close view of all the little details of Emu’s scrunched up expression.
Once she pulled away he barely had a chance to catch his breath and collect himself as Emu stood up on her tippy toes, pulling him down closer to her height and began kissing him hurriedly along his flushed cheeks; her lips against his skin felt strangely wetter than usual, although that was the least of his concerns right now.
“Ah– E-Emu–”
Emu reached her hands up towards his cheeks and squished them, causing him to completely forget the words which sat on the tip of his tongue not even a second ago. Her hands were soft and warm, even somewhat comforting the more he thought about it. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and lean into them once her hold on his cheeks relaxed to now cup them carefully in her palms.
She pressed a few more kisses along the bridge of his nose to his other cheek then down towards the corners of his lips, and for the finale to her endless rain of kisses: another kiss placed square on the lips!
She held it there for half as long as her initial kiss lasted. Their lips finally parted ways, and Rui opened his eyes to be greeted with the sight of Emu smiling up at him oh-so widely.
He could only stare at her in that moment, completely wide-eyed and lightheaded, panting as he tried to catch his breath from everything that just happened in the span of a minute or so.
His knees felt as if they were about to give out at any moment, and without even thinking, he found himself leaning down and melting into Emu’s shoulder. A mixture of flustered heat and embarrassment was practically radiating off him. Emu could definitely feel it against her skin, as she laughed right next to his ear, that all too familiar sound that sounded much sweeter than usual caused Rui to tense up and bury his face further into her shoulder.
While he was taken aback by her attempt to almost kill him, he didn’t hate it. Actually, he found himself enjoying it after the overall shock of it all died down.
Perhaps he should repay her for her backstage surprise.
After giving himself a brief moment to recover, he lifted his head away from her shoulder, holding his face just mere inches away from her’s. Emu immediately laughed at the sight of his face, yet he didn’t think much of it; assuming he looked rather silly as his face was coloured entirely with a deep red.
Soft citrine eyes met wide pink ones, and for a brief second his breath hitched within his throat. Yet he couldn’t back out now; he didn’t want to back out .
He wanted to kiss her.
Rui slowly leaned in, admiring her look of intrigued awe before his eyes fluttered closed, lips gently pressing against her soft cheek, which felt warm and was now dusted with a rosey-pink colour.
Emu squeaked at the feeling, but quickly began giggling when Rui pecked her again just a few inches away from the previous spot, and again moving up to where her cheek met her eye.
He trailed from her left cheek, to the bridge of her nose, and eventually made his way over to her right cheek. Each kiss caused her face to flare up even brighter than the last, and her quiet giggles soon escalated into a bubbly laughter.
“Ehehe~ Rui-kun that tickles!” She laughed. Rui simply smiled against her skin, managing out a small chuckle in between kisses.
His lips continued down to the corners of her mouth, kissing along the length of her smile until he reached his final stop.
He lightly pressed his lips onto her’s, the touch was just as soft as a feather. They stayed like that for a short while until Rui pulled away, sighing contentedly as he placed his forehead against hers.
Their eyes fluttered open at the same time, their hearts racing rhythmically in sync.
Both of them erupted into euphoric laughter, they felt so breathless and light. So warm and fuzzy. So happy to be together like this.
Rui could see that Emu was looking down at his lips, she wasn’t very good at hiding it; but she didn’t need to hide it considering it was just the two of them alone backstage, hidden away from the only other two people outside.
Another kiss wouldn’t hurt right? It's not like they had anything majorly important to do, and Nene and Tsukasa were already caught up with their own thing to be worrying over him and Emu.
“Emu-kun,” he said, keeping his volume just above a whisper. The sudden sound of her name on his tongue startled Emu, her eyes darted up to meet Rui’s. “Do you want another kiss?”
Her face flared up at the question, almost surprised to think he could read her mind (he obviously couldn’t, but considering he understood all her mannerisms and could tell when there was ever something off about her; he might as well be reading her mind), but she didn’t hesitate to give him an eager nod.
Rui chuckled at her enthusiasm, smiling down fondly at her as he took one of her hands in his, gasping it in a firm, but comforting embrace. His other hand moved up to gently cup her cheek, she melted into the touch as he carefully caressed it along the soft pink blush decorating her skin.
Keeping his hand to her cheek, he leaned in and closed the small distance that lingered between them.
Their lips touched for what felt like the very first time, despite it actually being their fourth kiss of the day. Kissing each other felt so right, like their lips were made for each other .
Emu would move up onto her tippy toes to push herself closer. What was once a soft and chaste kiss was now firm and passionate, yet Rui didn’t mind; rather, he welcomed it.
Rui’s hand moved back to Emu’s nape, he laced his fingers through her soft pink strands and carefully combed through her hair. The action made Emu smile, and the feeling of her giggle into his mouth caused the butterflies in his belly to elegantly flap their wings to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Everything that surrounded them at this moment was tuned out, the only thing that mattered was Emu and Rui and nothing more than that. It was as if…
The world around them simply vanished…
“EHH–?!” Two distinct voices blurted out, one of them much louder than the other.
… For only a second…
Emu squealed as she hurriedly pulled away from Rui. The two of them looked towards the direction of the sound to find Tsukasa and Nene standing at the backstage entrance; Nene looked on in shock with her mouth agape, while Tsukasa was scrambling to cover his eyes and turn around to face away, completely embarrassed at the sight in front of him.
The air around them was now suffocatingly thick as Rui and Emu looked back at them, completely speechless and frozen in embarrassment.
“So this is where you two snuck off to?!” Nene started, her voice was uncharacteristically loud, which was usually reserved for her acting roles.
Tsukasa would chime in, still facing away from the scene. “Y-YOU TWO! YOU GUYS SHOULDN’T BE SNEAKING OFF TO K-KIS—“ he stuttered, trying to think of another word to save him from any more embarrassment, even though he wasn’t the one who was caught backstage. “BE OVERLY AFFECTIONATE! WE HAVE AN IMPORTANT SHOW COMING UP IN A FEW WEEKS!”
Clearly, Tsukasa failed to read the room and didn't quite understand that screaming just made the situation worse for all of them.
Nene pinched the bridge of her nose, unclear if it was directed towards Tsukasa and his poor social cues, or to the pair in front of her.
“L-Listen…” Nene sighed, trying to keep her composure steady. “Let’s just… forget this ever happened, and we’ll all go back out there and continue on with what we were previously doing.”
Rui and Emu wordlessly nodded, faces still beet red in humiliation.
“HAHAHAHAAA, G-GREAT IDEA—“ Tsukasa was quick to shut up when Nene elbowed him in the arm, he was just about to complain when the murderous glare she directed at him made him think otherwise.
“And you two,” she shifted her line of sight towards Emu and Rui. “No more sneaking off, especially if you’re sneaking off just to do… this, got it?”
The pair gave another quick nod, and slowly made their way back outside, heads hung low in a walk of shame.
Just as Rui reached the backstage entrance, face still completely red in embarrassment, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve.
He looked behind him to see Nene, eyebrows furrowed holding out a handkerchief towards him.
“You’ll need this, you have lip gloss smeared all over your face.”
Rui brought a hand to his cheek and flared impossibly red, realising there were indeed lip gloss marks across his cheeks.
That would probably explain why Emu’s kisses felt a bit wet, and the fact she was laughing the moment she got a glimpse of his face.
With a shaky hand, he reached out for the handkerchief, almost choking on the words he had to force out, “ah… t-thank you…”