Chapter Text
Sometime in between a Given tour in seventeen venues around Japan and a SYH performance in Southern Hokkaido, Mafuyu all too casually wrecks Ritsuka's mental functionality, as per usual, though this time on a much, much grander scale. An entire Wreckage– capitalized, deserving of an identity, if it so wishes, an event.
Looking back on the scene as an ordeal rather than the simple five minutes that it was, Ritsuka has bunched up the line of events into something akin to this:
They were standing almost a foot–probably ten inches, if it matters–-away from each other half waiting for the train to roll in and half loitering for the hell of it. Mafuyu had this can of strawberry lemonade that he had picked up from the vending machine a little ways away from them; Ritsuka had a cola.
Those are the futile details. The ones Ritsuka can only relate in the aftermath of It because they are the ones that are completely standard–the usual. Mafuyu always drinks strawberry lemonade at the train station; Ritsuka always drinks cola next to him.
The ‘It’ started with Ritsuka–the loitering half of their two person party–opening his, for some reason terribly emotional, mouth to fill a few seconds of silence just for the fuck of it. He’s been doing it all along the four years now that they’ve had this little routine; Mafuyu–the waiting half– does the same, if he so wishes. It’s another causal thing.
“I always feel bad that you live so far from the studio.” He said to his perspiring cola–really to his boyfriend but it looked, from an outsider’s perspective, as though he said it to his cola. “Especially when it’s late.” It was only about two hours after noon when he said this, but in a different scenario it could have very likely been nine hours after, or maybe ten. Given has sporadic practices like that.
Mafuyu, half absent, gave a hum. “It is a little inconvenient. More so now that we’ve reached this serious point.”
He was referring, of course, to Given’s blossoming success after their previously mentioned tour. They are halfway a proper know-’em-on-the-street band these days. Selling out records, getting a gaggle of acknowledgement here-and-there. And with that, of course, comes increased demand for music output. And with that, of course, comes increased time spent in the far-away studio.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a place in a closer area.” He said it to the board indicating the ‘one minute until arrival.’ “Just close enough to walk. I was thinking near the park we went to after our second performance. Do you remember it? We were still in high school.”
“I do.” Ritsuka’s head popped questionably towards Mafuyu, “Is your Mom on board with that?”
There was a bit of an amused tone when his answer was given “Mom wants to move down to Okinawa, she always has. Her sister lives there. We’ll probably go separate ways.”
Ah, of course. Ritsuka is no stranger to the notion of going separate ways–he’s on his second (and third?) band, his fourth school including Pre-school, and last year quit all his accumulated part-time jobs to focus–albeit strenuously–on music alone.
Yet that segment–the ‘realizing he is now twenty-two and still sleeping in the same bed as he was in his preteens’ segment–has not been one he has faced. One he has thought to face, even.
“You’re alright with that?” He asked, a little awkward.
“I am.” It came with another hum, “the life I am building here, I enjoy it. I don’t think I’d care for the heat down there anyway.”
An image of himself and Mafuyu popped into Ritsuka’s mind at that particular moment. One of them on the vast concrete border between land and ocean. Minato Mirai, freezing beyond sane enjoyment, yet even Mafuyu’s eyes seem static with pleasure.
“Take and Yayoi just moved in together, right?” Broke him from his thoughts. Suddenly Mafuyu was looking right at him.
“They did. Four or five months ago, I think.” And what an ordeal that had been. Ritsuka remembers every box he helped pack, tape, carry, unpack all under the steering honor of ‘she’s your sister, Son. Help her out in times of need.’ God, it must have taken a whole twenty four hours when smushed together.
The initial annoyance is not to imply at all that he does not miss her, though. He very much does; despite the fact that she only moved halfway across the city, and she stops by often enough to call it weekly, he misses her like hell.
“What do you think about that?” Mafuyu asked him–and this is where things started to spiral for Ritsuka.
“What do I think about it?” He repeated “I mean, I guess I think it’s fine. They seem to be happy with the apartment and all of that–I don’t think they’ll live there too long, though. Yayoi says they want an actual house by the time she’s thirty.”
“I mean, what do you think about–as a couple–moving in together, living together. Is that something you’d be interested in?” Despite being obviously a little nervous about the whole thing, Mafuyu had to raise his voice a little bit to be heard over the oncoming train behind him (he was, at that time, directly in front of Ritsuka and speaking straight into his eyes.)
There was then a shell-shocked kind of static that shuffled through Ritsuka’s brain. It pressed its way into a physical form via a hot-red tint to his face that he very much felt, but could not soothe into containment.
Mafuyu–your boyfriend (supplied less than helpfully by his brain)--is asking you to move in with him. He is asking you to survey available locations, select a desired, pack-tape-carry-unpack, Live, with him. That is what this is.
That is what he was trying to process at the time. Though the train, unfortunately, was less than compelled to wait for his thoughts to catch up with the intended occupant standing in front of him.
“Since I’ll probably be moving soon anyway, I just thought it could be considered.” Mafuyu broke the silence hurriedly, shifting his guitar onto his back. “You can think about it, I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
‘Think about it’ Ritsuka wasn’t sure he could even accomplish the first word of that.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ue.” Was the last thing Ritsuka heard before the ‘It’ pulled on a black sanitary mask, and boarded a train destined for the other side of the goddamned city.
—
So that’s where Ritsuka is when he half dazed to the moon walks to his family’s apartment. He can’t really fathom how he got home once he’s there, and barely acknowledges the rather odd fact that Yayoi is in the living room laying on the couch in pajamas as though she’s still nineteen.
His father and mother don’t get home until five and seven respectively, and the initial assumption that he would be spending the next couple of hours alone enough to maybe revive a bit of his cognition is hardly dampened until Yayoi forces him to actually process her presence.
She does this via slamming on his freshly closed door, as if–once again–she is still nineteen.
Sloppily, almost lazily, he forces himself to stop standing and staring at the yelling door and actually open the damn thing. He fumbles with the knob.
Just thinking about doors and their knobs sends him into thinking about keys and front doors and how if he and Mafuyu live together, they’ll live in a place with a door and a key and a knob. It’s really enough to send him practically straight back into shock.
“Ritsuka! Christ, have you finally gone deaf? I saw you walk in here not forty-five seconds ago, so what’s the fucking deal?” That’s what the door says to him while he’s thinking about doors. It’s what finally gets him to pursue opening-the-damn-thing too.
When he does go through with that, he can’t help but just start talking. “Yayoi. Why’re you here? You know, given that you’re no longer a rightful resident here, I think you ought to start applying general guest-manners when visiting. Slamming on my door before even a ‘hello–”
“I did say ‘hello.’ You just zombie-crawled your way past me without even a blink to show for your humanity. You must be going senile, really.” She huffs “And for your information, I’m here because Koji is off watching one of his friends perform in Nagoya. Thought it’d be nice to catch up with my family and revisit my second home, thank you. I’m not a goddamn guest. ”
A second home. That is what the place Ritsuka is in at the present moment will turn into if he takes up this world-shattering offer he has been dished. Moving out, moving in. God, he’s beyond senile, really. His brain has never been this useless before.
He lets himself simmer on nothing, really for as long as he is socially allowed. Yayoi’s still in front of him. She inspects him with her caring-switch suddenly flipped–probably because she’s realized his state is purely disastrous, no will attached.
“Ritsuka, you alright?”
Oh, the second-question-of-the-hour (the first one obviously being ‘Is that something you’d be interested in?’) He can’t seem to find an answer to it–to either.
“I think I’m losing my mind.” He says, untruthfully. The honest answer would have been ‘I think about half an hour ago I lost my mind. Left it at the train station. It was scooped out and taken to an apartment across the goddamned city.’
Something incredibly knowing flashes across her face as it suddenly turns all the more serious. “Is this about Mafuyu?”
Another wave comes, Ritsuka readies himself for a tipping spiral. He thinks he might faint–fall on the floor of his current bedroom that may be emptied and relocated soon. He wonders if he’d ever faint on the maybe-floor of his maybe-apartment with Mafuyu there, staring and saying ‘you alright?’ in Yayoi’s place.
“So it is, then.” Yayoi observes the extra layer of paleness that the name alone added to her brother’s face. “I guess I ought to make us some pizza. A ‘Break-Up Pizza’ or a ‘Congratulations-Pizza’. Do you want to tell me which one it’ll be?”
“I don’t know.” Ritsuka croaks “We didn’t break up, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“Congratulations.” Yayoi says as Ritsuka becomes vaguely aware that they are moving to the living room and he is sitting down on the couch.
“You don’t even know what happened.”
The freezer door slams shut. Yayoi gracelessly throws the pizza box onto the counter before preheating the oven. “Well I can guess. I don’t blame you, you know. I felt like the world was spinning the wrong direction afterwards too, a mile a minute.”
Oh, maybe she does know. Ritsuka thinks, halfway between asking for advice and just restating the apparently known ordeal just to grasp it further himself.
Yayoi continues “I don’t really know how yours works, but I can’t imagine it’s much different in the end. Did dad ever give you any books on this kind of thing? Mom insisted on me reading at least two of them–said if I didn’t she’d read them to me and–”
“Hang on, what the hell do you think happened?” Ritsuka suddenly feels nothing but wide awake and rather hot.
“Well I assume you guys finally hit it off, right? That’s why you’re acting like you’re dying.” The worst part about this terrible misunderstanding is that Yayoi doesn’t look the slightest bit bothered. She’s just standing and waiting for the goddamn oven to heat up.
His first thought is to be mortified, his second is to be a bit insulted. “If that was what happened, there is no way in hell I’d be discussing it with you of all people–and, secondly, Mafuyu and I have been dating since high school. You’re four years too late if you want to play role model and give me the safety talk.”
That seems to strike Yayoi as funny– hilarious. “No way you two were going at it back then. You used to look like a cherry every time he so much as smiled at you–don’t think I didn’t notice. High school Rikka was a blushing virgin until the very end.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Ritsuka shoots her a look “Just until the end.”
Yayoi finally stops staring at the oven as though waiting for it to do a trick “I knew there was something off about that whole thing. ‘Rikka’s going to the shrine down by the port with a friend.’ Mom said, but I always had an itch to call bullshit. Who the hell celebrates their own graduation by freezing their ass off?”
“We did go to the port. It was after— Jeez why am I telling you this? See how crazy this whole thing has made me? I’m not even thinking.” Ritsuka’s palms find his eyes wearily. “Let’s shut up about my sex life, please. Forever.”
“You still haven’t told me what ‘this whole thing’ even is. I’m running out of ideas here, Rikka.” Yayoi finally sticks the tray into the oven.
“Your only idea was that I was a twenty-two year old virgin. Don’t act like I’m exhausting you with riddles or something.” He presses his thumb and index to the bridge of his nose, terrible. “Mafuyu asked me something out of the blue today and I’m reeling like hell from it.”
“Do tell.” A weight dropped on the end of the couch, she didn’t even bother telling him to move, sitting down right on his feet until he swiped them away and kicked her while they went.
“He said…” He doesn’t even know if he can repeat it aloud. “He said that he’s most likely moving out of his mom’s place soon and–he asked me if…if I wanted to get an apartment with him. Like, you know–just the two of us, and all of that.”
Yayoi doesn’t look half as exploded as Ritsuka felt upon hearing the words coming out of Mafuyu’s mouth. She doesn’t really even look surprised. “Rikka, how is that ‘out of the blue’? You two have been dating for nearly half a decade.”
“It’s just… I don’t know, Yayoi. We’ve never really discussed it before.” They really hadn’t.
“Well, it’s a pretty normal thing to do if you’re feeling like you don’t want to break up with someone. I’m sure you’ve got friends who live with their significant others. I live with mine.” Yayoi always loves to bring that up–maybe because it’s still fairly new and she’s still fairly giddy about it.
And, well, she isn’t entirely wrong. Akihiko and Haruki basically live together, Ueki found a girl in his freshman year of college and they moved in together just after graduation, Waka and her boyfriend are engaged now–but none of those people are him. This is his move, his relationship.
“Did you say no?” Yayoi asks, voice by his feet.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Are you going to say no?”
No, he isn’t. He knows that. He probably knew that somewhat subconsciously the entire time he was dragging his half-alive body home; maybe before Mafuyu even said anything. He’s been formatting the whole thing in his mind–consciously–as a yes-or-no despite it really being a jumble of ‘if, when, what, should, can.’ He knows it.
“I want to say yes.” He finally says it, though into the couch cushion. “I’m nervous as hell, but…I want to.”
“Good.” Yayoi sounds faintly proud. “Now call him and tell him that.”
“Now?” It has only been maybe forty minutes.
“If you said nothing to him asking if you want to move in together then he’s probably half drowned in worry right now. Maybe he’s going around thinking you’re a minute away from breaking up with him.”
Well that’s just terrible, isn’t it?
The very last thing Uenoyama ever wishes to do is imply things. He finds it never really works out–especially when they’re bad things, because he usually never meant to imply them in the first place. The second very last thing he ever wants is to make Mafuyu drown in worry over really anything–especially a misunderstanding. He knows of the guy’s past, after all. He knows how much he just worries.
“You know,” Ritsuka starts, stalling for some stupid reason “You’re acting a little too underwhelmed for this whole thing. I mean, saying it’s not a big deal and all–”
“I never said that.” He is interrupted “I am surprised, really–but more so because you just said that you two have never once discussed moving in together. I mean come on, Ritsuka. It’s been four years.”
“Well we talk about plenty else, so don’t get too worked up.” He’s more present now, enough to smell the pizza in the oven and relate the things around him to reality. “We’re dating, and we date. Sorry for not following a goddamn rubric.”
“Well in any case, call Mafuyu. You’re probably crippling him more and more by the second, you know.”
He does know, somewhat. There is a blatantly clear picture of Mafuyu and his Mother at their dinner table with Mafuyu tearing up into his yaki udon in Ritsuka’s head. Then Mafuyu’s Mother says: “What’s wrong?’ And Ritsuka starts to think about how he and Mafuyu will have their own table soon, and if something happens that causes Mafuyu to cry into his yaki udon, it’ll be Ritsuka himself who says: ‘What’s wrong?’
“Alright.” He says, mostly to himself. “I’ll call him, but you have to get the hell out.”
“And go where, genius? This is the goddamn living room. If you want to be alone so badly, go to your bedroom.” She makes the effort to point him down the hall like a chauffeur.
The first thing Ritsuka wants to do is talk back. She’s on his last nerve, but now he’s all worried about Mafuyu crying or something, so he feels a little rushed.
“Fine then.” He pushes himself up, “don’t go listening to our conversation, though.”
“I wasn’t planning on it, actually. Pizza will be ready in ten–don’t get too invested in your little heart-to-heart.” Yayoi has already moved to occupy his old spot on the couch, sort of like mold or a stain.
The first thing Ritsuka hears other than his door shutting and the phone making its waiting sound, is his own name–or rather, part of it.
“Ue?” Mafuyu always calls him that, or some other shortening of his last name.
“Hhhey.” It’s dragged out “Uh, I wanted to talk to you.”
There’s a bit of shuffling at the end of the line, then a door closing. “Ah, alright. I’m listening.”
It’s then that Ritsuka comes to the very relieving conclusion that Mafuyu is not crying, and does not sound as though he has been previously. Deep down Ritsuka supposes that he knew that would be the case–Mafuyu doesn’t typically get to crying unless they’re having some sort of misunderstanding with each other that has led to a fight.
Yayoi made him worry otherwise, though. It really was just her projecting–Take cries like a goddamn baby just about every hour or so. Ritsuka wouldn’t be surprised if he’s crying right now; he has half the mind to dial him up and see if he’s right, but the man is also a rather incessant talker when it comes to the phone, and there is hardly a soul on Earth who has time for his ramblings.
“Sorry I went mute at the station. I didn’t really mean to.” He couldn’t help himself.
Mafuyu’s head presses against the wall behind his bed on the other end of the line–Ritsuka can just see it. “It’s alright. I figured you just needed some time to think about it.”
Oh Ritsuka just adores how much this man seems to understand him. He really does. “Yeah, yeah I did. And I did. Think about it, I mean.”
“I didn't mean to pressure you or anything. I would've been a little concerned if you had just answered me right then and there without any hesitation.” And Ritsuka appreciates the out, but he really doesn't need it.
“I’ve been thinking that I’d like to. Move in with you, I mean. Obviously. I’d really like to.” Ritsuka continues, for some stupid reason feeling nervous–as if Mafuyu was not the one who brought the whole thing up in the first place.
“Really?” That bullet of joy shooting from the other end of the line kills Ritsuka instantly–maybe even before it hits. He can’t even grasp how it makes him feel.
“Yeah, I would. Of course, it’s not going to be something I can just do, there are steps to this kind of thing. I don’t want to move to someplace crazy, and if we’re too close to the middle of the city, Hiiragi will start showing up out of the blue like he does. All the time, probably.” Ritsuka already sees the guy too much as it is.
“It’s funny you say that, he just came by yesterday completely unannounced and ended up staying for dinner. You know he and Shizu are thinking about getting their own place too? They got me thinking about it–probably part of the reason I asked you today.”
“I pity Shizu. They make no sense–I know you disagree, and that you know them better than I do and all, but I really just don’t get the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing.” Hiiragi tires him out even more than Itaya used to; it’s a feat.
“Well, imagine if Ueki and Shizu were a thing. It’d just be silent all the time–so I think…it’s probably like a balance beam; no one goes crazy and no one is bored to death.”
“Maybe, maybe.” Ritsuka lets the words hang for a minute. They’re accompanied by a background noise on the other end of the line sounding rather similar to a car horn giving a short snap. “Hm, are you outside?”
“I am.” Suddenly the Mafuyu Ritsuka pretty much had down to the slightest mannerism sitting on his bed, feet crossed over each other, head pressed just-so on the wall, is standing on the street, dog leash in hand. “I’m in the park near my neighborhood with Tama. You know, it was just a normal walk before you called me, but now I’m starting to feel a little melancholy about it.”
It’s a terrible thing, really. Ritsuka now has to live with the fact that he’s out here making Mafuyu feel melancholy on the streets. Horrible. “Why is that? If you’re having second thoughts about moving out of your place than I–”
“I’m not. I’m not. I won’t.” Ritsuka listens to him sigh. “But it is sad to leave home, don’t you think? I’ve been here a while, so I have to feel something about leaving it, is all. I don’t think I’ll mind missing it as much when I’ve got a place with you, though.”
It’s a point that Ritsuka can’t contend at all. He was sad as hell when Yayoi moved out–when she announced she was going to move out–and he feels sad as hell thinking about her leaving now, even though it must have been eons ago by now. He doesn’t think about it enough for it to mess with his daily functions, but when he does think about it, he really thinks about it. It’s…melancholic.
He thinks it will probably be easier to leave himself than it was to watch her leave. He gets to look forward and all of that. He’s the one changing things, he’s the one who gets to have the new shit instead of living in the old shit. It’s still sad, but he’s not going to be too reminiscent, probably; at least, not at first.
“You said something earlier about where you were wanting to look for a place, right?” Ritsuka presses himself down on his bed–he doesn’t really feel like he’ll get to do it too many more times before he probably gets a new one, so he really tries to sink.
“I want to move near the park we used to like. I know you said you don’t want to be too near Hiiragi, but it’s a great area. You didn’t grow up right next to a park like I did, so you probably haven’t discovered how nice that whole situation is. Especially with a dog.”
It isn’t until this point that Ritsuka thinks of that detail. He is going to have a dog–a sweet one that likes him already, yes. Though it’s a brand new thing to focus on; taking care of a living creature and all that, it’s new.
“Yeah, yeah I like that park too. Hiiragi is far enough away–for now, I guess. You did say he was probably going to be moving soon–I’m really on board.” Ritsuka pauses “Of course, it’s not going to be a deal-and-done thing, like I said earlier. I’m not at all prepared to up and move in the extremely short run. But…I’d like to start looking around with you, you know, for places.”
“Oh, I’m definitely not either. I assumed it would be a little bit, for sure. But I know we both have the means to pay rent right now, so I don’t think we’ll have to wait ages or anything.” Ritsuka hears the rattle and pop of a vending machine on the other end “Looking sounds good. Let’s try it out this weekend, yeah?”
Ritsuka imagines the whole thing–the two of them skimming the edges of some high school memory that was just pleasant enough to stick out, some realtor lady with a clipboard who probably thinks they’re just roommates who are close, probably a lunch or dinner run afterwards depending on the time–and they’ll probably eat it in the park, or maybe in the restaurant depending on the mood. They’ll also talk all about the apartments, and maybe even make a decision, though he doubts it.
“Yeah, great. That sounds good to me.”
“Okay” Mafuyu draws it out “I’ll see you then, Ue. Probably sooner, too, but definitely then.”
“See you.”
It’s only after Ritsuka hangs up the phone that he remembers that this god-given day he’s living through in the moment is Thursday, and he has made life-altering plans for most likely Saturday– because Mafuyu always ends up working on Sundays. It’s a two day long period, sort of. One might say that it’s more like a day and a half at this point.
It’s not as stressful as it is rather mind boggling. Earlier today, he had never even really considered this whole thing, and now he’s taking steps to make it happen. It’s really just crazy. He’s crazy.
After standing kind of dazed in his room for a good amount of time, Ritsuka fumbles a little with his doorknob, and eventually successfully makes it into the living room in which Yayoi is standing at the counter of the attached kitchen cutting pizza.
He’s back to his state of bewilderment, and collapses onto the couch quite similarly to his earlier display.
“I take it your talk went perfectly fine? You have to stop reacting to good news like the world just ended.” Yayoi looms over him, he’s vaguely aware of it.
“We’re looking at apartments on Saturday. Not making any decisions or anything. Just looking around an area.”
“Cute.” Yayoi joined him on the couch, two plates of pizza in hand. She put his on the coffee table, since he was so mentally deranged at the moment and all. “I trust you’ve remembered the fact that you’re going to have to relate this information to our parents?”
No, no he has not considered that fact at all, really.
Ritsuka has never really told their parents about Mafuyu. It’s been almost five goddamn years since they started going out, but he just never got around to it. It’s really just because he doesn’t know how they’ll take him being gay and all. Yayoi wasn’t super jazzed at the very start, he remembers, and he doesn’t really want to go through that again. It feels like shit.
“I’ll tell them that I’m moving in with a guy from the band, and they’ll know it’s gotta be Mafuyu, but that’s it, really. I’m not gonna do any of that ‘oh by the way, this isn’t a roommate thing, he’s actually my boyfriend and has been since highschool.’ stuff. It’s not vital that they know that.”
“Ritsuka…” For some reason Yayoi sounds exasperated. He doesn’t really want to know why, he actually doesn’t really want to talk about any of this.
“It’s not like they don’t know Mafuyu and I hang out a lot. They know we’re really good friends, and what else is there to that? Everyone is happy, honestly.” Honestly. Really. He’s fine with it. Fine about all of it.
“Ritsuka, for one they know you and Mafuyu are dating and have for probably two goddamn years in the least. And two, why on Earth would you want to keep it from them so desperately? What the hell do you think is going to happen if you tell them?”
“What do you mean they already know?” He’s feeling a bit of a stomach twist, but it might be relief. He feels like he’s kept the whole thing pretty on-the-low, but somehow–”How the hell do they know?”
“Ritsuka” She repeats, sounding even more tired, like she’s dealing with an utter idiot “They sat you down in the living room and told you they’d love you no matter what, and you responded by announcing you were planning on taking a semester off of collage to tour with your band.”
He vaguely remembers that, sort of. “What the hell does that have to do with this?”
“They were trying to get you to tell them about Mafuyu. They tried for ages to get you to tell them and you never did so they gave up. Now it’s just a game to see ‘how long will it take Ritsuka to realize that he was never fucking subtle about it.’ Two years in the making, I’d say.”
That’s…Ritsuka doesn’t know what the hell to do with that. He really doesn’t. “Weren’t they…you know upset by the whole thing? I mean, you were at first, were they not?”
“I was just an asshole.” Yayoi rolls her eyes, like he should know that. “They were just surprised you found anyone when all you do is play the stupid guitar. They thought you’d be single for a long while.”
Ritsuka had no idea he was even stressed about the whole ordeal until suddenly a burden jumps off his shoulders out of nowhere. He can’t fathom why. Telling his parents about Mafuyu…he hasn’t thought about it in a while. He’s found a way to pretend they’ve been best buds this whole time just fine.
Knowing they apparently know, though. It’s really nice. He feels good.
“If you’re being serious then I’m going to throw up.” He tells her.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know.” he really doesn’t “Why is everything in the world happening today? God I was already tired when it started, and now all of this–”
“You don’t have to freak out about this, Ritsuka. Just tell them you’re moving in with Mafuyu, mention that he’s your boyfriend so they know that you know that they know, then deal with mom crying your ear off because you’re ‘all grown up.’ Then you can get your stupid beauty sleep.”
Well it seems easy enough when she says it like that. Ritsuka won’t know what to do about the crying part, but he wouldn’t know anyway, Mafuyu or not. Their mom is a crier, and he never knows what to do about it.
“Fine then.” He finally reaches for his pizza “I’ll talk to them or whatever, but if I’m getting the feeling that you’re wrong and they don’t know, I’m not dealing with all of that. I’m really not; at least, not tonight.”
When his dad comes through the door in the next twenty minutes or so, he’ll try the whole thing out. If it doesn’t work, he’s not going to even start with his mom. He really isn’t.