Chapter Text
It was honestly… a pretty normal day. Nothing interesting was going on after Rui and Tsukasa's move to Missouri, of all places. Honestly, Rui only came along because Tsukasa didn't know the language very well and the blonde was willing to pay for Rui's plane ticket. … And also because Rui was so unbelievably down bad for Tsukasa, but he would never say that out loud.
The two young men were still in the midst of unpacking, trying to do their best to avoid their neighbors after Tsukasa called Rui his boyfriend, unaware that he didn't need to mention a friend's gender when talking in English. Well, at least Rui was trying to avoid the neighbors. There was no telling what Tsukasa did when he was at college and his internship. It made the inventor glad that he worked from home. While the two were trying to move their couch—with much strain from Rui—the doorbell rang. They both glanced at the door, an unsure shrug coming from Tsukasa and a raised eyebrow from Rui before the latter mumbled an “I'll get it”.
Rui shakily set down his end of the couch with a sigh, stretched his back backwards with multiple loud cracks, making Tsukasa look at him funny. The purple haired man wiped his sweat off with his shirt, doing his best not to let Tsukasa see that despite their time training back during their WonderShow, he had a very slim build. With another impatient knock at the door, Rui finally jogged over with a sigh, finally opening the door a crack. “Yes, hello?”
There was a small gaggle of people on the porch and it made Rui want to make a face but no… he's not going to make a face at the sleeve of Ritz crackers in front of him, all holding the most flavorless looking food. A woman who looked like she was about to proselytize him spoke cheerfully, seemingly already trying to push herself inside. “Hello there! You must be two who moved in recently! What were your names again? Sew Kah Sah?”
“It's… Tsukasa and Rui…” Rui cut her off as politely as he could before their names get butchered even more. He we sure to angle his body to hide the fact that he was wearing an absolutely ridiculous, poorly translated shirt that had a massive cat with laser eyes blowing the earth, with text saying “not knowing Jesus would be a cat” a full line break, “catastrophe”. The inventor glanced around at the handful of husbands and wives in front of the door before finally talking again. “Uhh… so… how can I help you…?”
Another woman with a baked good brick that didn't even look edible piped up and over excitedly pushed her way up to the front as well, making Rui lean back a little, the woman speaking far too loud for Rui's comfort. “Oh, a house warming party, of course!”
Rui's heart races. Oh God. People? In their unfinished house? While he and Tsukasa were in poorly translated Bible adjacent shirts and gym clothes respectively? He glanced back at Tsukasa, who was setting up the only two chairs they bought for their tiny table, clearly only made for two people and two people only. This was going to be a long day.