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Another successful show!
Rui's new inventions made this show one of a kind. Tsukasa had never seen anything like it before. Rui really is going to be the greatest director of all time one day. Tsukasa was absolutely certain about that.
“Tsukasa-kun? Is something wrong? You've been staring at me for a while…” Rui glanced at him from the other side of the stage as he cleaned up the confetti.
Tsukasa snapped out his thoughts. He hadn't realized. “No! Nothing's wrong! Just thinking about how great our show was.”
“It was so sparkly and shiny and Wonderhoy!” Emu agreed. “And Nene-chan's singing was so beautiful and amazing. I loved it!” She abandoned her cleaning supplies and ran over to hug Nene.
“Emu, I can't breathe when you do that.” Nene tried to protest.
Tsukasa always noticed how physically affectionate the two of them were. He often wondered what it would be like if he hugged Rui all the time like that. Something about the thought gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. He never seriously considered acting on it, but maybe that could change…
After a while, the stage was cleaned up and it was time for the four of them to each head home. But Tsukasa didn't want to leave Rui yet. He wanted to give him a hug like Emu did to Nene.
“Bye everyone! See you all tomorrow!” Emu shouted and skipped away happily. After she left, Tsukasa knew what he had to do.
“Hey, Rui.” He and Nene looked at him questioningly. “Could you stay for a bit, please?”
“Yeah, sure, I don't mind.” Rui answered.
“I'll head home on my own then. See you guys.” Nene started walking home, leaving Rui and Tsukasa alone together.
“What did you need?” Rui asked. Tsukasa glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then he hugged him. He's never shown Rui affection like this and his cheeks heated up in embarrassment. “What's this for?”
“For putting so much effort into our show today.” That sentence wasn't a complete lie. But really, Tsukasa just wanted a hug, nothing more. It would be embarrassing to say that though. Even more so to tell him that it feels really nice.
Rui pulled Tsukasa a little closer. “I didn't do anything special though…”
“Sure you did! You used all your new inventions!” He squeezed Rui tighter.
“Hehe, I guess I did. I appreciate the hug, Tsukasa-kun.”
Tsukasa looked up at Rui excitedly. “Does that mean you like my hugs?”
Rui looked away, his cheeks turning pink. “Well, yeah…”
“Then, can I hug you more often?”
“Sure, but, why…?”
He put his hands on Rui's shoulders and stared into his eyes determinedly. “Because I need to make sure this director knows just how much he's loved by the world's future star!”
“Oh, I see.” Rui's lips curved up into a smile. “In that case, feel free to hug me whenever.”
…
As the four of them met up for practice the next day, Tsukasa couldn't wait any longer and flung himself into a hug with Rui the second they made eye contact. He stumbled back from the unexpected force. “Hi, Tsukasa-kun.”
Before Tsukasa could even respond, Nene had something to say about what she was just forced to witness. “Idiots.”
“No we're not!” Tsukasa turned his head to face her. “Can't I show Rui some affection?!” He hugged him even tighter.
“You’re behaving like a couple.” She crossed her arms.
“We’re not a couple! I'm just hugging him because I love Rui as my best friend in the whole world!” He knew deep down that that was a lie, and what he really wanted was to be more than friends with Rui. But he was certainly not ready to admit that to anyone yet.
“Right…” She sounded skeptical, but didn't push any further. “Well, how about we start practicing?”
“Yes, let's do that.” Rui agreed as he searched his bag for his notebook, digging through the many things he had stuffed in there. Tsukasa still kept his arms around Rui's waist, not letting any of Nene's words stop him.
Emu looked at the two of them curiously. “Why are you hugging Rui-kun so much? You've never done that before.”
“I've decided that he needs to be hugged by me as much as possible so he can feel my love for him!” Tsukasa glanced over at the green haired girl again. “As a friend.”
Rui leaned into him a little. “I'm feeling all your love, Tsukasa-kun.”
“See, it's working!” He exclaimed. Even though Nene doesn't understand what he's doing, he's sure that Emu will.
And as expected, her eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh, Wow! Nene-chan, let me try it on you!” She dashed over to hug her, almost causing the both of them to topple over. “Can you feel how much I love you?”
Nene sighed as she glared at Tsukasa. “Yes, I can…”
“Yay!”
Rui chuckled at the two of them and then flipped to a page in his notebook. It had seemingly infinite show ideas inside, especially since Emu writes her own thoughts in it when he's not looking. “Okay so… Here's what I think we could do next…”
…
The next day, Tsukasa arrived early for practice along with Emu. As they were waiting for Rui and Nene to show up, Emu had been telling him about all her new ideas to add to Rui's from yesterday. But then she completely changed the topic out of nowhere. “So are you going to hug Rui-kun like you did yesterday?”
“Absolutely!” He answered confidently.
“Then I declare a battle!” She shoved her face in front of Tsukasa's. “A battle of hugs and love!”
He instinctively leaned back. “What does that mean?”
“I get Nene-chan, you get Rui-kun, and we give them as much love as possible! Whoever gives more love, wins!”
“Hmm…” Tsukasa thought for a moment. This is the perfect opportunity for him to hug Rui even more than yesterday! “Great idea, Emu! Let's do it!”
“You're on!”
A few minutes later, Rui and Nene showed up. Tsukasa and Emu quickly made their way over to hug them, staring at each other very intensely while doing so.
“Um, what are you two doing?” Nene asked, glancing back and forth between Emu and Tsukasa. She received no response.
Tsukasa squeezed Rui tighter.
Emu copied him, but she went further, and held onto one of Nene's hands.
Tsukasa decided to go even further, holding both of Rui's hands and intertwining their fingers, all while making sure their bodies remained pressed together.
Then Emu did the unthinkable. She kissed Nene's cheek. How was Tsukasa supposed to one-up that? He turned his head to Rui and glanced down at his lips. He couldn't kiss him there… right? That would surely be going too far.
He hesitated, unsure of what to do. But Rui seemed to understand what he was attempting and leaned in slightly. Tsukasa brought his hands up to cup Rui's cheeks. “Uh, is this okay?” He whispered, looking down at Rui's lips once more.
Rui nodded and their lips met for a few seconds. Tsukasa had not expected it to feel that good, and the reality of what just happened hit him. He had his very first kiss. His first kiss ever with his own director, all because of some silly made up love battle!
He looked over at Emu again with a smug expression, trying to ignore the burning sensation in his cheeks. She gaped at him in shock. “Woah! I don't think I can beat that!”
“Hahaha! I win! Did you feel my love, Rui?” He tried to sound as normal as possible after the events that just occurred. He hoped his voice wasn't shaking.
Rui stared back at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face. “Yeah… I definitely did.”
…
After… Whatever that was, the four of them had started practice like normal and pretty much pretended nothing had happened. But Tsukasa couldn't let it go. His lips had touched Rui's! They needed to talk. So as soon as practice was over, Tsukasa invited Rui to his house. Rui had agreed, and now they're walking together in silence.
It wasn't a comfortable silence though, because Tsukasa could sense that Rui wasn't as happy as he usually was. He really hoped that nothing bad was about to happen to their friendship.
They made it to Tsukasa's room, and they sat down side by side on his bed. “So… about that kiss…” Tsukasa tried to explain, but it seemed Rui already understood.
“Was it just a game you were playing with Emu-kun? You didn't mean it?” His expression was odd. Tsukasa couldn't tell what it meant. Maybe he was crazy, but he thought Rui sounded a bit… hurt.
He had to be fully honest with him. “Yes, it was a game with Emu. She challenged me to see who could give out more love, that's why we were doing that.”
“That makes sense. You were putting on a performance of sorts.” He laughed softly and dropped his gaze. “A director will always help his star with a performance.”
“Well, it wasn't… just a performance.” Tsukasa searched for the right words. He needed to admit his feelings for him. He shouldn't hide them any longer. Not after kissing him. “It was more than that.”
“What do you mean?” Rui asked quickly, looking up at him again.
Tsukasa fidgeted with his hands nervously. “Well, I… I didn't do it just for the game. I always wanted to hug you more, and… I sort of… wanted that kiss too…”
“You wanted to kiss me?” Rui sounded surprised to hear that. “Did you like it?” He asked curiously.
“Yeah… You have soft lips.” Tsukasa mumbled, embarrassed to be admitting that.
“I-I do?!” Rui stuttered, his cheeks becoming increasingly more red.
“Was it a good kiss for you?” Tsukasa needed to know. What if he was a bad kisser? A world future star can't be bad at kissing!
“Yes, it was.”
“You didn't feel pressured to kiss me, did you?” He'd never forgive himself if he made Rui feel like he was forced into something like that.
“No, of course not.” Rui quickly reassured him. “You even asked me first, remember?”
“I know, but…” Tsukasa swallowed. “Did you actually want that kiss? Or were you just trying to help me out with the game?”
“I did want it. I wouldn't have let you if I didn't.” Rui avoided eye contact again while tugging at the sleeve of his sweater.
“Would you do it again?”
Rui glanced back up at him. “Like… right now?”
Tsukasa nodded. His heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest. He'd never been so nervous in his life to see Rui moving closer to him. They looked down at each other's lips, slowly leaning in until the gap between them was closed.
Their kiss once again only lasted for a few seconds since both of them were too nervous to keep it going any longer. Then Rui reached out to hold Tsukasa's hands, staring down at them in silence for a few minutes.
“Tsukasa-kun…” He finally spoke, and his hands started to shake a little. “You really meant that kiss…?”
“I did…” Tsukasa intertwined their fingers together. “I never thought I'd end up kissing you, but it felt so nice and…” He trailed off. Is now the right time to say it?
“And…?” Rui encouraged him to keep talking. Yes… this is it.
“And… um… I like you, a lot.” Tsukasa wondered if Rui could feel how sweaty his hands were getting. He wanted him to reciprocate so badly.
Rui leaned in for a hug, hiding his face in Tsukasa's shoulder. “I like you too.” Rui's breath tickled his neck as he whispered those words. Tsukasa hugged him back for a moment, pure happiness and relief washing over him.
Then he lightly pushed Rui off his shoulder so he could kiss him again, this time with more confidence from knowing that they share the same feelings. Rui was slowly resting his hands on Tsukasa's waist, so the blonde reached his arms up to gently hold the other boy's face. This feeling of love and being so close to Rui, Tsukasa realized, was exactly what he had been longing for this whole time.
When they parted, Rui's cheeks were redder than Tsukasa had ever seen them before. But there was one last thing he needed to know. “Did you feel my love, Rui?”
He smiled. “Yeah… I definitely did.”