pairing: ritshou
1,771 words
rating: Teen (for swearing)
chapters: 1/1
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The sun was setting, but the frustration and exhaustion on Ritsu’s face was only worsening, furrow between his brows deep and bags under his eyes manageably worse.
Shou resisted the (very tempting) urge to bother and annoy him into rest. He knew that Ritsu wouldn’t let up until he finished the assignment and knew it was done well (curse his friend’s detrimental perfectionism! Shou almost wanted to shake his fist at the sky in anger, but settled for a mental fist-shake-to-the-sky).
Shou slid off of the comfortable blue sheets of Ritsu’s frustratingly neatly-made bed, sliding over to the wheels of the desk chair his friend worked at.
“Suzuki.” A warning, but one Shou would take in stride.
He laid his legs over the wheels and draped his arms over Ritsu’s lap, mindlessly pulling at a loose thread of the latter’s sweatpants.
Ritsu pat Shou’s head with the lightest touches, before opting to just keep his hand there. Shou sat quietly, drumming his freehand absentmindedly on Ritsu’s thigh, until said friend decided to scratch lightly at Shou’s scalp.
Shou didn’t really expect to be going the ‘therapy dog’ route in this friendship but at lease the scratches felt nice. He hoped that it gave Ritsu at least some form of a mental break in his constant flow of work.
Shou moved his view fully onto the glass balcony door of Ritsu’s bedroom, and the sudden flash of lightning, very quickly followed by an inhumanly loud bang of thunder. It made them both jump in surprise, Ritsu flinching his hand away and Shou banging his knees into the metal underside of the desk chair.
Shou swore quietly under his breath at the impact, rubbing at his knees and looking up at Ritsu.
“You think Shigeo-kin’s back at it again? Making Teru all flustered?”
Ritsu rolled his eyes (albeit fondly. Shou saw the smile he was trying to hide). “Suzuki,” Ritsu breathed out, more in exasperated exhaustion than the previous kindergarten teacher warning tone.
“Ritsu,” Shou smiled up at him, picking at the sweatpant thread again.
“If I agree to get up and go to bed with you, will you stop hanging around my feet like a puppy?”
“Why of course, my liege. But I didn’t really say anything about getting up—“
“Your aura is practically trying to drag me into bed, I swear, Suzuki. You gotta keep an eye on that thing.”
“Hm,” Shou stood, tugging his shorts from where they crumpled close to his hips, “The aura wants what the aura wants!” He laid onto the bed, belly flopping with a pained oof, and crawling up to the head of the bed.
“You know it’s finals week, and i’m busier than usual,” Ritsu crawled up, following Shou, tugging off his socks and throwing them somewhere beside the bed. “I’ve told you a hundred times, plus I know you know my schedule” Ritsu pointed out. It had begun to rain sometime between point A (the desk) and point B (the bed) and Shou had failed to notice when.
“Alright, no need to flare your ego more than it already is!” Shou defended, putting his hands up in mock surrender and laughing.
Ritsu took hold of Shou’s hands in the air and used them to pull Shou to lay down properly on the bed beside Ritsu, “Yah, yah, whatever. You know it’s still true.” The rain pattered gently on the windows and balcony doors outside.
Shou kicked off his socks and followed Ritsu’s wordless request, laying beside him on the bed and turning to look him properly in the eyes. “ ‘Course I do, Ritsu. Who do you think I am? A stranger? I feel betrayed! Honestly! For you to think there was ever a chance I didn’t know you’re schedule!” Shou giggled between words, dampening the effects of his faux serious tone.
“You’re so creepy. Did you know that?” Ritsu laid an arm across Shou’s waist and tangled their legs together. “First you find my address and burn my house down—“
“That was three years ago! I’m a changed man!”
“And then you memorised my schedule just to bother me and annoy me at the worst times,” Ritsu hummed, dipping his head to lay it vaguely at Shou’s shoulder level, covering the smile on his face.
“In all fairness, I don’t mean to bother you at, like, the worst humanly possible moments—“
“And yet—“
“At least let me finish,” Shou pouted (even if his smile made it look like a weird contortion of his face, and Ritsu wasn’t even looking at him). “Plus, I do it out of love!” Shou poked Ritsu’s leg with his cold toes and made him flinch.
“Asshole,” Ritsu laughed, beginning a rather lame game of footsie. “Okay, sure, it’s out of love, whatever, I love you too, but why are your feet so damn cold??” He looked up to meet Shou’s eyes, a hint of genuine, confused concern in his eyes. It was a usual look to be directed at Shou.
“Bad circulation?”
Ritsu squinted at him, overdramatically and fully for the theatrics. Ritsu loved to humor the theatrical side of himself, and it always made Shou laugh just a little bit harder (so maybe there was an ulterior motive to the theatrics from Ritsu…)
“I don’t know, man! Leave me alone, you’re the one that looks dead on your…side?”
“Leave me alone,” Ritsu huffed, ducking his head again to laugh into Shou’s neck. It tickled.
“Seriously, Ritsu! The bags under your eyes are pushing the line between ‘a couple bad nights of sleep’ and ‘see a doctor’. And that’s coming from me!”
“They aren’t that bad…are they?” Ritsu looked up at Shou, staring into his blue eyes with dark brown ones of his own, almost black.
Shou sighed, fondly, but exasperated. “Dude. They’re pretty bad.”
Ritsu frowned and sat up to tug the blanket over them both. “Hm. You should really come over more and force me to bed.“
“I’ve been trying!” Shou laughed, pulling Ritsu in by wrapping his arms around his waist to lay back down on the bed, tucking his face into Ritsu’s chest while he giggled, “But every time I even get close to you while you’re working, you say my name like you’re going to make me spontaneously combust!”
“I really would rather not fail my finals, okay!” Shou pulled his face back and stared at Ritsu’s, listening to his quiet, bubbly laugh. It was frankly, detrimentally adorable. Really.
“Okay? And I’d really, honestly, rather share a bed with you and make sure you don’t die of sleep deprivation. Again, literally coming from me of all people, so you know it’s pretty bad.”
“Shou, you fall asleep during the day all the time.”
“Is that sleep deprivation or a weird minor form of narcolepsy? Who’s to say. However this conversation is about you!” Shou laughed mushing Ritsu’s face between his palms, making Ritsu smile-scowl. A Reaction-For-Shou exclusive!
“Schtop It,” Ritsu reciprocated the action to Shou, so Shou licked his palm. Critical thinking skills!
“Gross…” Ritsu wiped his slobbery palm on Shou’s shorts, scowling playfully down at Shou. When had Ritsu ended up looking down at Shou while he laid on his back?
He’s sure his hair looked wild and stuck out at weird angles, being mushed against the pillow and with the force of gravity.
“Seriously, Ritsu. You’re body’s going to rot right where you stand if you don’t take care of yourself a little bit during finals week. I mean, I fully, a hundred percent offer to take up the crushing weight of the job to make sure you get some sleep and smile times. I’m content with carrying that burden for this family.”
Ritsu just smiled down at him. “You’re rambling again,” Ritsu whispered before turning and flopping down onto the bed, turning his head to smile at Shou. “I appreciate it though. Thank you. I accept your offer, even though I know you secretly just want me for my comfortable bed and good dinner my parents make.”
“You know it,” Shou barred his toothiest grin, his fully natural smile (that most said looked like a grimace, or forced, but oh well!)
Ritsu hummed and tangled his and Shou’s legs together again, wrapping his arms snug around Shou, resting his hand in his hair before gently scratching, like at the desk.
Shou closed his eyes and hummed, content. “You’re welcome. By the way. Thank you for letting me take care of you, even though I know that sounded really cheesy.”
“Hm. Not too cheesy. Could be worse. Something like…thank you for caring so deeply about me and showing it in all the ways you can and making sure I know how much you care. It makes me feel…seen. And happy. And a little mushy where my stomach is inside my gut.”
Shou let out a breathy laugh, knowing he was close enough to Ritsu to know he definitely could feel it on his face. “That was cheesy. Lame,” Shou tugged on Ritsu’s free hand, clasping it gently in his own, and laying it between their heads.
“But thanks for noticing. I do really try to make sure you know how cared for you are…” Shou whispered, almost as an afterthought. Maybe it was. (They both knew it wasn’t).
“Well, I notice. I notice all of the little things you do all of the time because I pay attention to you all of the time. So, thank you. It means…a lot to me,” Ritsu huffs softly, and this time Shou felt it on his face.
“…You pay attention to me?”
Ritsu laughed, and gently knocked their joint knuckles on Shou’s forehead. The rain pelted at the window. When had it started raining so hard?
“Of course I do. I don’t think I could not pay attention to you even if I wanted to.”
“You pay attention to me.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. A reassurement.
“Always.” Ritsu kissed Shou’s forehead so lightly that he kind of felt like he made that up.
It was quiet now, the only sound the rain, and occasional thunder rolling through.
“Thank you. For paying attention to me.” Shou kissed Ritsu’s nose, as softly as he could, and without disturbing Ritsu’s motions in his hair.
“Of course.” Ritsu kissed his cheek (more of a ‘pressing his nose and lips into the soft squishy flesh of Shou’s cheek with enough kindness to be called a kiss’ but it was all the same).
Shou smiled and brought their joined hands to his mouth, and kissed Ritsu’s knuckles.
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”