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It was an offhanded comment from Mizuki that flipped Tsukasa’s world upside down. He was patrolling the halls, performing his duty as an outstanding disciplinary committee member when he spotted Mizuki struggling with a stack of boxes. Being the reliable upperclassman that he is, naturally he had to step in. Their combined efforts freed Mizuki from an extra trip to the teacher’s office and in exchange Mizuki promised to treat him to dessert from the new cafe that opened whenever their schedules sync up.
“You should really try it Tsukasa-senpai! Ena and I went the other day and it’s perfect for couples. I already recommended it to Rui for your next date. Actually, I think he said something about wanting to take you today. Bummer that he got sick.”
It took a few seconds for those words to sink in, and once they did, Tsukasa’s mind erupted in pandemonium. Him? Go on a date? With Rui? He and his genius, wonderful, brilliant, inspiring director did not have that sort of relationship.
“Haha funny joke Akiyama, but Rui and I aren’t like that.” Tsukasa tried to laugh it off.
“Like what?” Mizuki asked, the confusion seemed to be sincere and Tsukasa was slightly thrown off.
“You know, like calling it a d-date… And implying we’re a couple…” he awkwardly trailed off, his face rapidly turning crimson with every word uttered.
Mizuki stared at him for a few seconds before doubling over in laughter. “Now you’re the one who’s joking Tsukasa-senpai. C’mon, no need to be shy, all of Kamikou already knows you two are dating.”
“WHAT!?”
“Ah geez, keep it down senpai. You guys aren’t exactly subtle, of course the whole school knows,” Mizuki teased.
Tsukasa felt like he must be in an alternate reality, otherwise why else would the entire school (according to Mizuki) think that he’s dating Rui. They were just very close friends, nothing else. And so, he told Mizuki exactly this.
“Eh? You’re not dating? But I thought—” Mizuki cut off midway and gave him a bizarre look filled with a mix of concern and pity. “Oh I get it… Don’t worry Tsukasa-senpai, all couples go through a rough patch. I’m sure you guys will make up soon!”
It was at this moment that Tsukasa realised his friend sure loves to jump to conclusions. He was about to put an end to the misunderstanding when a text alert sounded.
“Ah sorry senpai, I’m running late to a group celebration. I gotta go or else I’ll never hear the end of it from Ena. Let’s try that cafe together soon. Bye!" Just like that, Mizuki disappeared from sight before Tsukasa could get another word in.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
After that strange encounter, Tsukasa had his head in the clouds. He stumbled and messed up his lines a noticeable amount to the point where Nene and Emu had to check on him after rehearsals. Luckily Rui’s still bedridden, or else he’d be too ashamed to face him.
“Tsukasa-kun, are you okay?” Emu’s worried voice pulled him back to reality.
He shook his head and tried to flash his usual bright smile. “Hahaha, nothing’s wrong! I stayed up too late last night, that’s all. A star needs his beauty sleep after all, I better head home and get some extra rest.”
His excuse wasn’t as foolproof as intended. “Wait, Tsukasa. You obviously have something on your mind.” Nene shot him a sharp glance, daring him to say otherwise. “If you’re comfortable with it… You can always tell us. We’re a team, so…” Nene, not the type to usually say these things, was trying her best.
“So we’re here for you!” Emu finished for her. “Nene-chan is right, you can tell us anything that’s been troubling you Tsukasa-kun. Bottling everything up is not good, because then you’ll be like bam-bam ba-boom!”
Tsukasa’s heart felt a lot lighter seeing his friends’ attempt at cheering him on despite them not knowing what’s going on. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to get an outside opinion on the issue right? And Rui just so happens to not be here… Not wanting to dwell on it too much, he recounted his shocking discovery to the girls.
After his explanation, Nene and Emu turned towards each other and shared a look that he couldn’t decipher. In normal circumstances, the scene of Emu shouting using her expressive facial features while Nene is calmly responding with the raise of her brow would be comedic. Instead, the longer they stared at each other, the more this was starting to feel like a court hearing. Finally they finished their exclusive discussion and Tsukasa was served the final verdict.
“Tsukasa, you’re an idiot,” Nene said bluntly. “How did you not realise you and Rui are dating? It’s been months.”
Oh come on! Not Nene too. He turned to Emu for back up, but with the way she nodded aggressively in agreement to Nene, he concluded that it’s a lost cause. Why on earth does everyone think he’s dating Rui? Was he really that dense? How does one even accidentally start dating one of their best friends without noticing it?
Tsukasa ransacked his brain for any traces of him and Rui doing anything remotely romantic with each other and cannot recall a single instance. While he could think of moments when they held their hug for too long, or the touches linger just a tad more than expected, that didn’t mean anything. Rui was just a touchy person. He loved to lean against him when he’s tired, or even use him as a lap pillow. He’s like a lazy house cat and Tsukasa found it endearing (in a totally platonic way). Although he hadn’t seen the director act like that with anyone else, that just meant Rui felt comfortable enough around him to let his guards down around him right? This was a surefire indication that they were really, really close friends. Is it a crime to have a close male friend?
“But, Rui and I really aren’t dating,” Tsukasa said in defeat. “We never do anything lovey dovey like hand holding, or kissing…”
“You and Rui-kun kissed last week,” Emu pointed out unhelpfully.
That’s true. For their performance last week, the great sorcerer had to awaken the slumbering prince with a kiss. Tsukasa didn’t see anything wrong with it since it was all for the sake of a spectacular show, a few kisses meant nothing for a future star. And of course they had to practice kissing during rehearsals for the show to go smoothly. “It was for the show. How else would the curse have been broken? ” he reasoned.
“You know Rui wrote the kiss right? We could’ve changed it to be a potion, a magic crown, or anything else instead of a kiss” Nene pointed out.
Oh. She was right.
Why hadn’t he thought about that. Why did Rui specifically choose a kiss to be the method of waking him up? Did Rui want to kiss him? Would he have let him if he knew Rui’s true intentions? To his own surprise, Tsukasa realised he wouldn’t be opposed to kissing his friend, even if it was under the guise of acting.
He felt a strange sensation stirring deep within him, something he never felt before. What was it? He didn’t understand, but he knew where he could find some answers. “I need to talk to Rui,” Tsukasa decided at last. Nene rolled her eyes at his proclamation while Emu vigorously nodded in approval.
“Go easy on him, he’s still sick,” he caught Nene’s last words before he sprinted out of hearing range. Onwards, to his director’s home!
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
“Pardon for the intrusion,” he called out as he stepped inside Rui’s bedroom. Usually when he entered the room he would get jumpscared by whatever contraption Rui was currently working on. Today, he was met with silence. All the gadgets and gizmos were powered off. The only source of noise in the room was coming from the boy curled up in a pile of blankets.
“Tsukasa-kun…”
It was faint, but the name whispered was unmistakable. Holding his breath Tsukasa stepped closer to the sleeping teen. He looked so peaceful, with his messy locks sprawled across the pillow while donning his usual scheming smirk even in his slumbers. Tsukasa shuddered at the thought of what weird experiments his dream counterpart must be undergoing for the director to be smiling like that.
A few minutes passed where Tsukasa did nothing else but admired his sleeping companion. It felt like a crime to rouse Rui from his rare moments of rest just to bombard him with Tsukasa’s sudden discovery of his potentially non-platonic feelings. So for now, he watched and wondered what Rui was thinking about when he gazed upon the sleeping Tsukasa during the play where they kissed. Did he also have the urge to reach over and trace along his lips, to touch and test if it’s as soft as it looked?
Tsukasa gave into his thoughts and just as his fingers were about to come in contact with Rui’s lips, the sleeping beauty awakened. Sleepy eyes meeting him, Tsukasa was stunned locked, his hand stuck hovering rigidly in mid-air. Rui blinked a few times to process his surroundings before clasping onto Tsukasa’s arm. A strong tug from his friend sent Tsukasa stumbling onto the bed and into Rui’s embrace.
Rui immediately latched onto him like an octopus trapping its prey in those under the sea documentaries he and Saki occasionally binged together. They would imagine what the marine life were saying and have a competition about who can create the best backstory. If Tsukasa were to dub the current events, he’d say starfish Tsukasa is screaming for help, trying not to get eaten by octopus Rui. But if Saki were here, she’d say octopus Rui is expressing his love for his companion, he’s clinging on tightly because he doesn't want them to be apart.
He was strangely warm, which must be a side effect from being sick and buried in blankets the entire day. Usually Rui loved to startle Tsukasa by randomly touching the back of his neck, the sudden contact with his cold hands never fails to incite a loud shriek. After a few times, the novelty wore off and Tsukasa has grown to expect these attacks. Nevertheless, he still shrieked.
Recalling this norm, Tsukasa is starting to realise that maybe him and Rui were abnormally touchy for just a pair of best friends, especially when they’re in the midst of cuddling and Tsukasa is not averse to it at all. In fact, he liked the sensation of being wrapped in Rui’s arms… a lot.
For a moment Tsukasa completely forgot what he came here to do, content with just letting himself bask in Rui’s embrace. But he reminded himself that he was here on a mission and if he didn’t get a proper answer soon he would literally explode.
With the subtlety of an elephant marching into a room, Tsukasa spouted out the daunting question. “RUI! ARE WE DATING!?!?”
Rui, still half-asleep, gazed at him with the cutest look of confusion. He blinked slowly while processing the question and his mouth widened to a tiny “o”.
“Of course we are,” Rui answered once he realised what was happening. “Why? Do you want to get married? Aren’t we a bit too young?” he teased.
“NO! We can’t get married, I didn’t even know that we were dating!”
At his words, Rui’s cat-smirk got beaten up and reshaped into a frown. “What do you mean?”
Tsukasa proceeded to recount today’s events for the second time and Rui’s frown deepened with each word.
“Then Nene said that we’ve been dating for months—”
“Okay wait, I did ask you out months ago. At your Sekai, with fireworks and a confetti cannon.”
Tsukasa did remember a time when Rui used fireworks to spell out “Tsukasa <3” in the night sky of his Sekai while streams of confetti were raining down. But just spelling his name with a heart is super ambiguous, that could mean anything.
“I thought you were just testing the props and new stage effects. You always try to include explosions in a show. How exactly was I supposed to know? Rui, to let your feelings be known, you must be forward with your intentions!”
“But after the fireworks I said ‘Tsukasa-kun will you go out with me?’” Rui retorted in an eerily calm voice.
“Oh…Well yes… we were going out for dinner after practice ended.” Okay, Tsukasa was starting to admit he might have missed a few obvious cues.
“Then I guess you also didn’t pick up on the fact that we went on multiple dates, just the two of us? Didn’t you wonder why we were holding hands at the aquarium if we were just friends?”
He did notice that they were hanging out more frequently as a duo than with the other Wonderlands Showtime members, but he just assumed Nene and Emu were busy doing other things. As for why they kept visiting trendy couple date spots…
“Ah, sorry Rui. I thought we were scouting locations and gathering inspiration for future plays. I guess I just never considered that we could be involved in the romantic sense.” And he really didn’t. Not until the enlightening conversation with Mizuki had opened his eyes to this new perspective.
“I see… So that’s Tsukasa-kun’s true feelings,” Rui’s tone grew colder and Tsukasa didn’t like this new shift. “Seems like I’ve misinterpreted the nature of our relationship. I apologise if I made you uncomfortable with my advances, seeing as you cannot fathom us being involved romantically.”
“Rui…” Tsukasa started. Things were going bad, this was not the direction that he wanted the conversation to head towards.
Before he had the time to find the words for a perfect confession, Rui’s chilling tone once again sliced through the air. “Tsukasa-kun, I believe it’s best if you leave for today. I’m feeling unwell and I would appreciate being left alone to nurse my sickness.”
No, no, no, no. This was clearly an excuse to avoid him because Tsukasa was a heartless monster who denied that they had been dating for the past few months. Poor Rui was going to cry alone the moment he stepped foot outside the door. He could already hear the incoming “yoyoyos”. He had to stop this from happening!
“Rui, listen to me! I never realised until today but I like it when you touch me!” Tsukasa needed to stop blurting out the first thing that crossed his mind.
Rui’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” He had never seen the director so at a loss for words before.
“NO! That is not what I meant! I mean yes, but ARGGG!” To Rui’s credit, he was handling this very well, watching silently as Tsukasa incoherently screamed into one of his pillows after he had requested some peace and quiet.
Finally, Tsukasa stopped yelling and reached out to take a hold of Rui’s hands. Making sure their eyes were locked on, Tsukasa loudly and proudly professed the feelings that made his heart want to burst.
“Rui, I’m in love with you! Sorry, it took me so long to notice. I thought that this amount of skinship was normal because you’re my best friend and you’re a naturally touchy person and the warm tingles I felt when we kissed was because we were putting on a great show but—”
“Tsukasa-kun, stop,” Rui interjected, bringing his rant to a halt. “If I’m understanding this correctly, you didn’t realise we were dating, but you’re not opposed to the idea? You…you are okay with dating me?”
“More than okay! Rui, I think you are brilliant! I know I made a mess of things, but I would be the luckiest star if you are willing to be my partner.”
Rui gave a chuckle. “Well, every great director needs their shining star. Of course I will be your partner, Tsukasa-kun.”
Tsukasa beamed brightly at him and they stared lovely at each other for a solid minute before Tsukasa started fidgeting around. “Uhhh, what now? Should we start kissing and doing coupley stuff.”
“As much as I would love to kiss you right now, I don't want you to catch my cold.” Tsukasa was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to kiss his newly appointed boyfriend but Rui was right, he couldn’t risk getting sick.
“And for the rest of the ‘coupley stuff’ as you put it, let’s just go at our own pace. We can just interact how we usually do. Although, you need to be aware that when I hold your hands or cuddle you, this is all done with romantic intent. If Tsukasa-kun does any of this with someone else because he thinks that’s how all friends act…yoyoyo…”
“Okay Rui, cut that out. I got it. Sorry for missing all the signs,” Tsukasa apologised in exasperation. He prayed that his obliviousness to their not-platonic relationship wouldn’t be a running joke in the future.
Tsukasa stayed with his boyfriend until he drifted off to sleep. Giving one final look to the adorable sleeping director, he headed home to prepare for the long day tomorrow.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
“Good morning Kamiyama High School! Rui and I are officially dating!” Tsukasa, deciding that it was virtuous to clear up misunderstandings, shouted this at all the Kamikou staff and students that passed through the gate. His boyfriend was standing next to him watching everything unfold with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“What does he mean by ‘officially dating’? I thought they’ve been dating since last year and exploding the school was a fun couples activity for them?”
“Oh my god. If they weren’t dating before, imagine how insufferable with PDA they will be now,” a fellow classmate from Class 3-C complained to his friend.
The first teacher who heard this news messaged all the staff to assemble in the office for an emergency meeting.
In the rare case that someone from Kamikou didn’t know the Oddball 1-2 Finish were dating, they do now.