Archive of Our Own ^beta

April 2025

He lay on the couch, bored, scrolling through hundreds of cat videos on social media. The screen’s cold blue light flickered across his fingers. How did they manage to make this so hard to escape? Before he even realized, he was lost in a vortex of cat videos and other useless things.

Suddenly, a notification from Twitter popped up—he refused to call it X. The quiet vibration tickled his palm. It was Ruki, obviously posting like mad.

Reita opened the tweet and started reading. He exhaled without realizing it. Ruki wrote about their 23rd‑anniversary concert, thanked the fans, and apologized for not posting until now—at the start of April.

Reita remembered very well how frustrated Ruki had been on the day of the concert. He had wanted to post backstage material, had taken a million photos and videos—enough that Reita had seriously considered hiding Ruki’s phone. He had even discussed it with Aoi, but refrained—too afraid of Ruki’s revenge.

But Ruki had not been able to post any of it—the platform had apparently had technical issues that day. That meant Reita had a moody boyfriend to deal with later at home. Fortunately, he knew how to distract him. The memory tugged his mouth into a grin.

It faded quickly as he read on. It was true—the past year had been hard. So much had happened. Koron’s death; the album recordings not going as planned; Ruki’s creative block that had lasted for months—not only in music but also in the designs for his label.

Reita had done everything he could to support him. In the end, Ruki had created a new collection that felt perfect to him. Now, one by one, the pieces were arriving at fans’ homes. It was amazing to see how happy they were. Even fans overseas had ordered.

It was a huge relief—not only had Ruki poured his heart into it, but it had also not come easy. And the title said everything—Breath. Something that had been hard for Ruki for a long time.

While Reita was lost in thought, more posts from Ruki came in: some photos, backstage videos, retweets announcing their next concerts—and then… what? A post that ended with an angry emoji and a flaming heart?

Reita sat up a little and started reading.

Also, thank you everyone for the reports that NIL has arrived! I'll go and like your posts on Instagram when I get a chance. 🤝

Also, a few band members I know or am loosely connected with have quietly bought it without saying anything — I find out about it later, but seriously, if you just tell me, I'll send it to you! So reach out! lol 😠❤️‍🔥

Reita blinked in confusion. Ruki did not… did he? He read it again, slower this time. A tiny knot formed in his stomach. He definitely meant him.

Reita threw his phone onto the couch, jumped up, and rushed to the bedroom. There he found himself in front of the colossal closet you needed when you lived with a fashionista like Ruki.

It also worked surprisingly well for hiding things. So, Reita crawled into the furthest corner, looking for the box he had hidden here a few days ago.

His heart started pounding when it was not where he had left it. Of course, it was not—not once Ruki had caught the scent.

“Damn,” he murmured.

“Are you looking for this?”

Reita jerked and banged his head on the shelf above him; he was still buried deep in the closet. “Ouch!” he cursed, rubbing his head as he crawled out and dropped onto his butt.

His gaze shifted to the door, where Ruki stood in house slippers and a white, fluffy bathrobe—a trace of citrus shower gel lingering in the air. In his hands, the bright yellow box—the unmistakable NIL package. The box Reita had been looking for. Damn.

Ruki tapped the shipping label with a finger. “Konbini. Next time.”

Reita muttered something unintelligible.

“And the closet was a bad hiding place. Way too easy,” Ruki added.

“All right, boss.” Reita rolled his eyes, grumbling.

One look at Ruki’s eyes was enough to know excuses would not work. Still, he pulled his best pout. It was worth a try. 

“Do not even try,” Ruki snapped as he stepped into the room.

“What? I am not doing anything!”

“Oh, you are. You are trying to bribe me with your pout, but it is not working.”

“Are you sure?” Reita gave it one more try.

“Yes. Pretty sure.”

Ruki shook his head and sat down on the king‑size bed, across from where Reita was still sitting on the floor. He crossed his legs, set the package beside him—very deliberately—and raised an eyebrow at Reita, waiting.

The bassist turned toward the bed and drew his legs under him, sitting cross‑legged. He shot his boyfriend one last hopeful look—but it did not help. Mercy was not in Ruki’s vocabulary. He wanted an explanation.

“Moou…” Reita sighed, letting his shoulders slump. “I wanted to support you,” he muttered.

“To support me?”

“Yeah. You have been so worried about your new collection. And I thought—”

“That it would help to just place an order?” The doubt in Ruki’s voice was unmistakable.

Reita gave a crooked grin. “Yes?”

Silence. Ruki just looked at him, and for the life of him, the bassist could not read that look. They had been together for so long, and still Ruki managed to put him in situations where he had no idea whether Ruki was about to murder him or be pleased.

Then a warm laugh filled the room, and Reita blinked in confusion.

“You are really cute sometimes, you know that?” Ruki chuckled.

“Cute?! Why?”

“Because you think a single order would help.”

The pout returned to Reita’s face—deeper than before. He huffed and stood in one fluid movement. “Someone tries to help you and gets laughed at,” he grumbled, clearly put out. He had meant well, and this was his reward—a bump on his head and a boyfriend teasing him.

Defiant as a child, he stomped past Ruki toward the door—until a hand closed around his wrist.
“And because I love your unconditional affection,” came Ruki’s low, warm voice, melting his defiance at once.

He turned and when their eyes met, the last spark of stubbornness vanished. Reita sank onto the bed beside Ruki.

“You are stupid,” he muttered, resting his head on Ruki’s shoulder.

Ruki laughed softly. “Then we have that in common.”

“Are you starting trouble again?”

Reita lifted his gaze, ready to pout again, but Ruki did not give him the chance. He leaned in and sealed their lips together in a sweet kiss, making Reita forget everything else.

“Thank you,” Ruki murmured after a moment.

“For you, always.”