#kuroko hiding behind a bush texting jii: it's happening!

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

ShinkenBlue with anyone of your choice, number 20?

Ahhh, wonderful! My choice of smooching partner for Ryunosuke is pretty much always going to be Takeru, and 20's my choice as well, so we will go with a number 7, the romantic kiss. And I will be honest, I actually lifted a great deal of this from an unfinished fic that I was really happy with but could never quite figure out a plot for. a person with a life

Ryunosuke takes a sip of his tea and says, "You really haven't seen any of the others since?"

Takeru shakes his head. "I'm not totally isolated, I see Kotoha fairly frequently."

They're at a cafe, and they're drinking tea and having some kind of pastries, and Takeru's going to kill Jii. The theater class had been his idea, and Takeru's been enjoying it, but having Honda-sensei walk in with a guest lecturer who'd introduced himself and then looked across the room and frozen and said, "Takeru?" hadn't been a surprise he was prepared for.

Not that he's unhappy to be seeing Ryunosuke. No, of course he's happy to be seeing one of his friends.

Jii could have warned him, though.

A nod from Ryunosuke, who's been smiling in this sort of strange, gentle surprise ever since class ended and he came over to say hello. "Kotoha, really? What's she been up to?"

“Teaching music lessons to primary school students and taking care of her sister, mostly, but she and the prin—Moth—Kaoru have gotten really close.”

“What, really?”

“Well, Moth—Kaoru’s lived a very sheltered life, she’s never gotten to have…friends. She wanted to learn how people actually live when they’re not constantly studying to defeat ancient evils, and Kotoha’s her age, so Kaoru got me to call her—”

“She didn’t want to call herself?”

“She’s very shy. And she asked if Kotoha would teach her how to go grocery shopping.”

Ryuunosuke blinks. “I bet Tanba hated that.”

Takeru grins. “He was furious. Especially because she wouldn’t let him come with them.”

There's an odd noise that Takeru realizes after a moment is Ryuunosuke stifling laughter. “I almost wish I’d gotten to see that conversation.”

“You really don’t, I think Tanba actually damaged my eardrums with all his screeching.” Takeru takes a sip of tea. “So now they meet up every few weeks to do something ‘normal’ together,” air quotes over the top of his teacup, “and sometimes we all have dinner. Last time Kotoha took her to the movies, I think.”

“That’s wonderful.” Ryunosuke reaches for the warm teapot in the middle of the table and gestures for Takeru's cup. "May I?"

“Yes, please--Kaoru’s very happy about it, I think she likes getting to be a person with a life.”

“What about you?”

Takeru frowns. “What about me what?”

Ryunosuke pauses in the middle of bending over his own cup and looks up at Takeru through his eyelashes in a way that makes Takeru feel off-balance again. “Do you like getting to be a person with a life?”

Takeru stares into the air past Ryunosuke's head for a moment before saying, "I'd like to like it. But I don't think I'm very good at it." A long, awkward pause, and then he coughs. “So, uh. What have you been up to? You said the troupe's doing well, but what about you? Do you have a, a girlfriend or anything?” Ryuunosuke makes another one of those surprised noises, and he frowns. “What, was that funny? I promise I’m not making fun of you.”

“No, no, it’s not—you thought I’d have a girlfriend?”

“Is that strange?”

“Takeru, I’m gay. I thought you knew.”

Takeru almost jumps. “What? But, I thought you and Mako—I mean, at least, I thought you were interested in Mako.”

Appropriately enough, Ryuunosuke turns briefly pink. “Mako’s an exceptional woman, but—no. I mean, even if I were interested in her like that, she wouldn’t have me. And in any case, she was clearly in love with you, which I’d…thought you reciprocated. Are you all right?”

Takeru is choking on his tea. “You thought I was…with Mako?”

Ryunosuke's turn to frown. “Weren’t you?”

“No. I mean, not that she isn’t very, she’s, she’s extremely—I wouldn’t have with any of you.” A hurt look flickers across Ryunosuke’s face, and Takeru immediately regrets his phrasing. “I mean. Look, I thought I was. Going to die. And I was lying to everyone. I wouldn’t—I couldn’t have done that to anyone. Least of all you.” He means the “you” generally, any of you, but Ryuunosuke looks away from him, cheeks reddening, and Takeru has a sudden, vivid realization of how it could have been taken. He very nearly clarifies and then…doesn't. And isn’t entirely sure of why, except that it seems important not to clarify, to let the statement be specific.

There's an awkward, shy silence in which they drink tea and eat pastries and fail to make eye contact, and then Ryunosuke says, very quietly, "I should get home, I have early rehearsals tomorrow."

Takeru blurts out, "Can I drive you? I mean, on the, like how we got here from the university, on the motorcycle."

"Yes, please." Ryunosuke's still not quite looking at him, or at least not directly, just out of the corner of his eyes. "I'd like that."

---

They pull up outside the Ikenami house, and Ryunosuke lets go of him and pulls off the spare helmet and says, "Would you like to come in?"

Takeru lifts the visor of his own helmet so he's at least audible. "I--sorry, I don't think I can, I have some kind of meeting tomorrow that I have to attend with Jii, I should get back as soon as I can." A beat, and then he twists around to look at Ryunosuke, still perched on the back of the bike. "But, um. Would you like to have dinner with me next week? Tuesday, at seven? Not at the compound, at, at a restaurant."

"I'd like that," with a shy smile. "Which restaurant? Should I meet you there?"

"I'll...I'll pick you up, it'll be a surprise," as he quietly resolves to ask Jii or Kotoha or someone for restaurant recommendations.

"That sounds very nice, then. I should be here at the house then, but if my schedule changes and I'm somewhere else then I'll text you." Ryunosuke smiles, and then his shoulders set, like he's deciding on something very serious. "I should get inside, Takeru, but--one more thing?"

Takeru blinks. "Sure, what is it?"

The thing is, Takeru's never kissed anyone. There had never seemed to be a point to it before. His job wasn’t to look for romance, just to live, and eventually die, for Shiba Kaoru. Now he's actually head of the Shiba Clan and he's taking extension classes at the university and he's trying to be a person with a life and Ryunosuke is kissing him, which is somehow both unexpected and completely reasonable, and he has no idea what to do.

He's pretty sure he makes a surprised noise, and then he relaxes and tries to follow Ryunosuke's lead. They're at a bad angle with him twisted around like this, anyway, so it doesn't last very long, and then Ryunosuke sits back a bit, red-faced, and says, "Um."

Takeru blinks several times. His own face feels pretty warm. It's not bad, though. Kissing's not bad. Kissing Ryunosuke's not bad. "I, uh. That was. I...hope I wasn't too bad at that?"

Ryunosuke stares at him and then lets out a slightly hysterical laugh. "You were fine. Please excuse me, I don't know what came over me."

"You're not excused. I mean, it's fine. I mean, no, look, I'd. Can we try that again?" Takeru shakes himself. "Maybe next week after dinner? I think I might be better at it then."

Further laughter, less hysterical and more genuine. "Yes, I'd like that."