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Date, date, date, date, date . . .
The word bounces around in Ryuu’s head over and over, as if repetition will convince him that he is, in fact, lucky enough to be going on a date with Ennoshita Chikara. He knows how it happened; he just can’t believe his stupid monkey brain could manage to be smooth long enough to do it.
Taking a deep breath, he knocks on Chikara’s door and hopes his head doesn’t explode before they make it to dinner.
In his ironed-for-once khakis and lavender shirtsleeves, Ryuu feels grossly overdressed the moment Chikara slips out of the door clad in a pair of slim-fitting jeans and an oversized sweater. “Oh, you’re on time,” Chikara murmurs.
“Haha, yeah.” Ryuu grits his teeth to bite back the first stupid thing that comes to him. Instead, he pulls the flower hidden behind his back and presents it to Chikara, bent stem and all. “I don’t suppose this will convince you to forgive me.”
A crooked smile cocks up at the corner of Chikara’s lips as he tucks the orange bloom (a tiger lily, Ryuu thinks the guy at the flower shop had said) behind his ear. “I’ll let it slide.” He locks the door behind him and stops short when Ryuu offers an arm of escort. “If you think that’s going to score you extra points, you might be right.”
Ryuu waggles his brows and links his arm with Chikara’s. “Never doubted it.” And with that, the First Date begins.
Four hours later, the two of them drape against the walls of the elevator moving them up toward Chikara’s fourth floor apartment. Ryuu is usually a stair taker, but the idea of running when his belly is crammed full of sushi and excitement makes him more than a little queasy.
“Whoever invented all you can eat sushi was a genius.” A wobbly smile lingers on Chikara’s face. “Evil genius, yes, but genius nonetheless.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ryuu’s head lolls to the side and he meets Chikara’s contented gaze. “The company wasn’t bad, either. There was this cute guy sitting at my table, though. I kept forgetting about my food.”
Chikara snorts. “If I see him, I’ll make sure to tell him off for you. Nobody should get between a man and his obscene pile of nigiri.”
The elevator lurches to a stop, unsettling Ryuu’s stomach but he wills it quiet just in time for the door to open. “My hero.” He gestures toward the walkway. “After you.”
“And here I wanted to know if you remembered which door is mine.” Ryuu swallows hard when Chikara strides past him like he’s not even there, save for a pat on the cheek. “Are you coming?”
Completely out of control and not worried about it in the slightest, Ryuu follows Chikara to his door (nope, he definitely wouldn’t have picked the right one). Unable to contain his anticipation, he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet, hands behind his back and humming the main theme song for the absolutely craptastic movie they had watched.
“You’re going to haunt me for making you watch that, aren’t you?”
Ryuu beams. “If by ‘haunt’, you mean calling you back for a second date, then you know it, Chikkun.”
A hint of pink tinges Chikara’s cheeks. “Not sure if I like the nickname. I’ll get back to you on that.”
“And the second date?” Ryuu’s breath bottles up in his throat as he waits for Chikara to consent to giving him the time of day still.
His eyes fly open when deceptively strong hands press him against the hallway wall and pouty lips snare his for a warm, exhilarating kiss. “Definitely.”
With that, Chikara excuses himself, flower still tucked into his hair, and Ryuu all but runs down the stairs. Screw being nauseous; he’s excited, damn it.
Outside, he leaps into the air, heels clapping together and he whoops into the peaceful autumn evening. “Oh hell yeah.”
The sudden motion reminds him of his full stomach, and he promptly empties most of it into the bushes lining the sidewalk, but even with the acrid taste of puke in his mouth, he can’t help but saunter away from Chikara’s building. “Worth it,” he says to himself, the song still finding its way into the clear, cool night.