#renaoweek

[renaoweek]

Thank you everyone!

RenAo Week has come to a close, and it ends on a very happy note with all the support given and shared! We would like to send out a huge thank you to everyone who participated and enjoyed this week full of wonderful contributions! We’re so happy to see so much RenAo love in the fandom! 

Everyone’s hard work truly made the week’s success possible and we hope you all had fun reading each fanfiction and appreciating every fanart and edit. The fandom and fellow RenAo shippers are truly blessed with such amazing creators! 

But even though the week has ended, we hope that the appreciation for RenAo will continue! We look forward to seeing the love go on for these two together in the fandom :D

Also, if we happened to miss reblogging any of your posts, please feel free to message this blog to let us know! We still want to have everyone see your lovely works! 

[epiproctanwords]

A Day Without

words: 1280 pairing: RenAo rating: general summary: Ren at least has time for a kiss before he goes out for the day, right? notes: for RenAo Week day 7--Discovery!  AO3 link 

Ren was going out.

Earlier in the week, he had promised Tae that he would go help her with a patient today. He wasn’t entirely sure why she had asked him to accompany her, seeing as he still struggled with various fundamental parts of being human. Things like speaking to strangers and understanding when it was the time to say things and when it wasn’t and even just simply holding things in his hands without dropping them. And, of course, being anywhere at all without Aoba. Perhaps, he supposed, that in particular was why Tae had asked him. Aoba had to go in to work today, and Ren had to head out with her early in the morning to a faraway patient’s house and wouldn’t be back until late.

A day without Aoba.

He knew it wouldn’t be a terribly large issue. He’d spent a whole year without Aoba once. It hadn’t been easy, but it had happened. However, the mere knowledge that he could didn’t stop his anxiety from rising when the alarm clock went off in the morning, hours before the time Aoba usually set it to. Ren hurried to turn it off as not to disturb his bedmate, but as he could have predicted, Aoba didn’t even budge at the noise. Before even leaving the warmth of the sheets Ren set two more alarms for him, since he wouldn’t have anyone around to wake him for work.

Ren rose, dressed, washed his face, brushed his teeth. He could do these things on his own now, completely without help, and he was proud of these small accomplishments. It meant that Aoba could keep sleeping peacefully as he got ready to leave, Aoba could stay in bed for awhile longer without being disturbed.

He knew he had to hurry and meet Tae downstairs at the time she wanted to leave, or she’d call through the house for him, potentially waking Aoba. Even worse, she could come up here and bring her usual racket with her, which would absolutely mean rousing Aoba. Ren had to be punctual and arrive downstairs before she could even consider shouting for him, which meant he didn’t really have any time to dally.

But there was one thing he had to do before he left.

Ren went to the bedside and stood over it, dragging the sheets up into the empty space he’d recent vacated. Aoba slept on, undisturbed, his hair splayed wildly across his pillow, lips parted in deep respiration, arms spread to occupy the entire bed as though Ren had never been there at all. Leaning down over Aoba, Ren gave him a single kiss, light and quick and quiet, and then pulled back some inches and hovered to take in the loveliness that was Aoba’s face. He hadn’t retreated very far, and Aoba must have felt his presence, because in his fractionally awake state he pursed his lips as if expecting more kisses to come raining down on them. When they were not forthcoming he frowned, concerned creases showing up in his forehead, and he lifted his head a little to search for Ren tactilely, eyes still shut tight.

Ren would have to scour his memory later to think about if he had ever seen anything cuter in his entire existence. But for now he could feel his chest closing up with how warm and thrilling it felt, and the way Aoba looked right now, with his neck craned up off the pillow and a pout and seeking lips, was so rich in its simple joy it made his fingers twitch. After a moment, Aoba, apparently having given up, dropped his head back to the bed and gave a sleepy sigh, his eyes never opening, his breathing pattern turning deep and even.

Again. Ren wanted it again.

He bent down close over Aoba again, whose lips parted almost expectantly as he came near, and pressed their mouths together, slow and lingering, before drawing back again. This time, only far enough so that Aoba’s face could be in focus as he, expectedly, continued to move his lips in a wanting, hopeful manner. The unconscious frown that appeared on his face as he slipped his tongue out to run over his lips made a laugh bubble up from somewhere deep inside of Ren. He had to go, but watching Aoba tilt his head as though preparing for someone else’s nose to nudge up against his own was by far the more important thing to do right now.

One more time.

This time Ren allowed his lips to hover only centimeters from Aoba’s, feeling his breath ghosting over his face for a moment. There was an electric tickle on their surface, a magnetism that he couldn’t fight even if he wanted to, and it felt like he was vibrating subtly with the want of him. But in an instant Aoba shoved up with more force than a mostly-sleeping person should really have and crashed their mouths together, and the tingling was replaced by a full-scale buzz all through his body. Ren was only taken by surprise for a second before he allowed his tongue to trace over Aoba’s lips in a broad, wet stroke, and then reluctantly, unhurriedly, pulled away.

This time Aoba used his arms, jerkily reaching upwards as he frowned his dissatisfied frown, the cute unaware pout that made Ren’s heart flutter almost painfully. Aoba fumbled one hand against Ren’s shoulder, but the other caught in the hair at the base of his skull and tugged him downwards again. Ren missed his lips and bumped his nose against his cheek, but he quickly oriented himself against Aoba’s mouth again and buried himself there, overcome by a moment of desperate happiness.

He had to leave.

He pressed in against Aoba once, twice more, before finally detangling himself from Aoba’s snaking arms and pulling further away. In response, Aoba made a muted frustrated, needy sound in the back of his throat, and Ren had to clench his fists in the sheets to keep himself from settling over Aoba and enjoying his lips for the rest of the morning. But the sound of his breathing quickly returned to his sleeping pattern, and Ren stood up straight and turned away to leave the room.

With his hand on the door he glanced back one last time at Aoba’s dozing form on the bed. As he was about to open it, he was surprised to hear the rustling of bedsheets, and turned to watch Aoba roll over onto his stomach, then slowly squint into full, or at least partial, wakefulness and prop himself up on his elbow. Hazel eyes unfocused, he looked for Ren, and when he found him he gave a satisfied yawn.

“Heading out?” he asked around his throatful of air.

“Yes,” Ren said quietly. He could hear the quiet bustle and clang of Tae moving around downstairs in the kitchen from here.

Aoba, appearing to not quite be completely in charge of his motor controls yet, let his eyes slip shut again for a long moment, though he remained up on his elbow. “Have fun today.” And then, lethargically, like a sigh in sleep, “I’ll miss you.”

He was disheveled, his hair hanging loose around his shoulders in bed-tangled clumps, his mouth and eyelids heavy with the weight of his drowsiness. But Ren had never seen anything so beautiful.

“I love you, Aoba,” he said.

Aoba’s face flopped straight down into his pillow in response, apparently having lost the strength to continue supporting himself. And although his answer was muffled into his bedding, Ren heard the sleep-slurred words loud and clear.

“Love you too, Ren.”

[sunny-salad]

Renao Week: Day 7 Discovery

Aoba discovers that Ren is a wonderful dancer and they dance this night away.

Okay honestly I just wanted to draw a sakura themed Aoba but still 

[paper-bag-with-blush]

Renao week day 7 : Discovery Well, since I didn’t work in the end (when I started posting clean drawings...), I should at least complete the week  ヽ(ー_ー )ノ Ren discovers the tastes and textures of food as a human. In the hospital the food wasn’t that good and he had a hard time chewing and swallowing at first. So once he was home, he tasted a lot of food and discovered how sweet the famous doughnuts Aoba loved so much are.

[insanemarshmallow]

RENAO WEEK: AU

I actually chose Tokyo Ghoul as the AU XDD

Anyway, this is where Ren saves Aoba from another ghoul and he’s showing off his kagune for the first time.

And if you guys are wondering why Aoba is a one-eyed ghoul. Well since, Aoba’s canonly(Is this even a word??) a test-tube death baby. In this au, he and Sei are test-tube ghoul babies. Instead of Aoba dying after birth, scientists thought that Aoba was a failed experiment because he showed no signs of ghoul attributes. But Sei on the other hand fully showed the ghoul characteristics and everything was history from there. U w U

So then at the tender age of 18, Aoba’s ghoul traits begin to show. Then this happened haha.

[hopaiskalos]

115/365

RenAo Week, Day 7: Discovery

“Sei was one centimeter taller than you, too.” “This is much more than a centimeter, though...”

[rosemochii]

To Reason With Restraint

Title: To Reason with Restraint Pairing: Ren/Aoba Genre: Angst, a little fluff Words: 1660 Summary: He didn’t know why he found contentment in how others had fallen before his feet. He didn’t know why Aoba’s voice didn’t reach him as it had once before. He didn’t know anything. Notes: For Day 5 of RenAo Week: AU.

Based off the Reverse AllMate AU by raiyu-kun. I really love AUs where the AllMates and boyfriends switch positions, so now I’m adding to it. I don’t exactly know how past Ren would be, but I’ll take a shot. As in the AU, Aoba’s Rhyme form is that of how his dark Chiral Night style looks.

“You thought I’d let you get away with that last win, Dusk Blue?” A rhymer sneered, brows furrowed as he favored a glance to his AllMate whom was already at the ready.

“I somewhat thought so. But to find myself dragged within here once more, it would make me think differently.”

Said nickname of the man the rhymer was challenging stood at the other end of the generated field, fingers curling into fists as pools of amber would regard the other with a mixture of apathy and irritation. He would have thought the last defeat had shattered such desire to bear forth a desire to challenge again. But it seems that he was wrong.

Not much a big deal in his view. He would simply have to be crueler. He was not compared to a wolf for nothing. Animalistic moves and such were sometimes how he found his way to winning along with the aid of--

“Ren.”

The man would look to the side at his own AllMate, the indifference seeming to soften a touch. Blue hair seemed to cascade down concerned features, masked from the nose below by a black shroud. His voice was an echo, spoken through the speakers that peak from the high collar.

Aoba favored a glance towards Ren, hesitance seeming to fuel his actions at the moment as he could only take note of dark blue locks that shadow the orbs of gold he found himself so acquainted with looking to over time.

He could only wonder what was going through Ren’s mind. It was hard to figure, hard to think up a viable reason or idea. Because these days, it was hard to catch a glimpse of candidacy from the navy haired man. His actions were no longer as influential on Ren as he would have liked. He had watched as Ren gave into the coaxing tone of Desire and had caused many of his challengers to fall in how he acted.

He was Reason. And yet his sense of logic could not always captivate Ren’s sights as the inner desire that still roamed within him had. And it pained him to think of, that he would lose the other to the very thing he had possessed an AllMate body for.

But those thoughts are broken when a shout from Ren brings him to reality and he looks to see that their enemy’s AllMate, a sprightly androgynous being with wings that had sharpened edges, had flown high and was now surveying them for the given attack.

The fight drags out longer than desired by Ren, steps swift in dodging and bounding about the space as he dodged any attacks initiated. A movement would be followed by a command of attack to Aoba, whom obliged and did well in applying damage to the winged other, though he also receives damage himself.

Just when Aoba did gain his bearings on how this battle had moved, an attack is aimed directly at Ren, a bright beam of light that falls upon the man.

“Ren!”

Actions are swift as Aoba darts through the air and appears before Ren, hands already out just as he hears his master chant out the words garnering for defense. A translucent orb of blue would surround the pair, blocking off the ray of light that struck harshly with devastating strength. The weight of it had driven both the azure haired male and the man he was shielded back a few steps, though it was kept strong despite this, only a crack along the sphere a show of the power meant to harm.

The opponent simply cackled in glee of his attack, pearly whites revealed in a display of mania as he directs for another charge of power.

“Aoba. Hakai set.”

“But, are you sure you can handle this without the shield?”

“I can.” Ren affirms, piercing gaze now affixing itself upon the other. “Hakai set. Now.”

Aoba still seems unsure, it’s evident in how his hands still remain in their current position though the orb does wane in its transparency. Another firm direction from Ren would have its entirety shatter and no sooner does he take action, limbs converting into dark cannons that glow brightly with a burning ray of blue energy.

The challenger stiffens at this now, familiar with the attack as electricity sparks throughout the air. Just as he orders his AllMate to take the space above, Aoba aims directly at him and the light would blast towards the opponent whom narrowly dodges it before sending a command.

The beat of wings would summon Ren’s attention, a glance over his shoulder saving him from a near damaging move. There’s a sharp pain on his cheek, a demonstration of what would happen should the swing of wings strike him. He backs away quickly and calls Aoba back, posture already just as defensive as the one he called to.

But a sharp yell would have his vision dart to where a fallen Aoba lay, the true target of the wing attack. He clutched at his shoulder, and while he had succeeded in attacking the other AllMate as well, the lowered points had shown the extent of damage.

Another strike could end it all.

“Aoba!”

“Hahaha, look at that! Your little AllMate can’t hold his own for long, can he?”

Ren seems to ignore the man’s taunts, focused on Aoba for longer than a few seconds. But when he does give attention, it is a simple murmur of a sentence to reach the ears of those near, its directive clear.

“Shatter.”

A strike of agony would knock into the enemy, waves of pain stunning his limbs to the point that he falls to the ground.  A curse would spill over his lips, bubbling over to a screech of anguish as the pain became an unrelenting, repetitive throb of pain. Deep gulps of breath are taken, digits scrabbling for purchase as the opponent manages to look to Ren, as if inquiring upon what was the cause of this pain.

But he stops short when he catches the icy look received.

Ren’s eyes look far more brighter in this light, as if a wolf that looks to his prey with a pondering of how to pick them apart. A curl of lips would give way to a flash of sharp canines, which succeeded in sending a chill that bypassed the pain that seized the man.

“You should not have come back. It would have saved us time, and you from a terrible loss.”

“P-Please, c-come on man.”

“But you will not do this again, because this time.. I will break you.”

“D-Don’t..! Have some merc-- Augh!” The fear was far more clear as the agony grew further and took away the words that had tried to spout themselves to the air.

And just as words could be chanted to ruin the mind of the fallen adversary, he feels a weight upon his back and arms around his waist. It does well in settling the slow to burn flame within Ren, that which stewed deeply within the foundations of stern disposition. And said embraced male would turn to see Aoba, disheveled but holding a firm expression as his grip tightened.

...Of course he would want Ren to cease this.

He never liked destruction.

“Don’t do it.” He speaks softly, as Ren had expected but it still works, it still has clenched fists loosen and it still has knit brows and sharp eyes relax to a more neutral position. “You don’t need to do this. You could just win the normal way, without breaking anyone. Please.”

Aoba never did initiate touch within Rhyme, keeping a tolerable distance between them when they moved about in the area. And should it ever happen, it is a tug or a grasp or a quick brush of fingers. But a prolonged embrace, pleading in its meaning and wanting to keep away any pain that would make itself known. Many had fallen before, perhaps Aoba had enough.

“Please..”

Ren didn’t know, but he did stop and he did look to the opponent, who was getting up slowly as the pain began to ebb at a languid pace. His regard is still as cold as it had been when he first arrived within the Rhyme field, but he does not aim to harm as he initially had, merely commanding Aoba to finish this off.

They won. 

As they did in many other battles within the verse of Rhyme, they escaped with a brush of the shoulder and a shake of the head. Though this did not go as the other matches had.

Aoba, now in the body of his usual border collie self, would venture closer to Ren if only to nudge at his leg with his nose. The concern is obvious, it shines brightly in those eyes of his, tail swaying from side to side as sensors dictate as to the current well being of the other.

Once he’s sure all vital and health signs are clear and not of worry, he does back away a tinge but not before he feels a hand settle upon the top of head and rub behind his ears. It’s a nostalgic touch and Aoba can’t help but nudge against the touch of slender digits seeping into azure fur.

“Be careful next time.”

It is the only remark Ren gives before he draws his hand back and shifts them into the pocket of his jacket, moving to head out of the alley they had been caught in. Aoba follows along quietly, allowing a glance or two to the back of the other as they aimed to head home.

He notes faintly upon how even though Ren was mostly influenced by desire, his voice could still reach. And that did well in leaving a touch of relief within the other as he followed along.

He simply hopes that it does not wane over the months that may pass.

[epiproctanwords]

unbroken

words: 1089 pairing: RenAo rating: general summary: It’s a little strange that Aoba’s red string of fate leads right to the robot dog notes: written for RenAo Week Day 5--AU! also for captiiveprincess, who had been talking about a red string of fate AU where Aoba’s string evidently is connected to Ren, and it sounded fun and interesting so I wanted to explore that.  AO3 Link

Aoba doesn’t remember a whole lot from when he was young, but one thing he does remember is wondering, briefly, why everyone else’s strings crisscrossed through the air and snaked across the ground and generally went places like they had important things to do, when Aoba’s just…didn’t. No, Aoba’s was wrapped around his own pudgy finger, twice, and ended there. The other kids, with their bright red threads stretching off towards their future’s happiness, would ostracize him for it, but he was too buried in his own mind to notice. Later, things changed anyway.

He hasn’t wondered too much since then. He’s met people whose strings trail off to nothing but a few ragged fibers a foot off their hand, people who purposely don’t look at their fingers because the red of their string makes them feel things they’d rather not feel, even people with two, three strings knotted around their pinkies. There are all different kinds of people with all different kinds of strings, Aoba’s learned, and they all have situations just as strange and wonderful as his own.

Okay, maybe not all of them. Or any of them really. Because he’s pretty much the only person he’s ever met whose thread has led him straight to a robot dog.

He doesn’t think it’s really his Allmate who’s his soulmate. That just doesn’t make too much logical sense. Allmates aren’t people, and soulmates have to be people. Otherwise how can you fall in love with them? Allmates, while programmed to show emotion, really don’t feel anything. They having coding, artificial intelligence, whatever it is that tells them what reactions to display when so that they have the appearance of feeling. While they show affection, and humans can have affection back, it’s not really possible for a machine, a machine shaped like a little blue spitz, to fall for someone.

He’s some kind of glitch in the system, probably. There’s always been something wrong with is string, and he’s known it. While it doesn’t really plague him the way people worry about their day-to-day things, like if their clothes look okay or if they’ll be able to pay their bills on time or if people are talking about them behind their back, it is something that kind of always sits in a corner of his mind. Why doesn’t he have a real soulmate? Was he supposed to end up alone? There wasn’t really anything wrong with that, but why connect him to his Allmate then? And what’s wrong with him, to have made him that way?

He asks Ren about it once, asks him if he knows why they’re connected. Ren admits that he doesn’t, and immediately offers to run search on the internet for similar situations. He doesn’t have to, though. Aoba already has, at least a dozen times. He’s never come up with a satisfying explanation or found any stories from people in similar situations to his own. He figures he’s just one-of-a-kind, and that maybe, perhaps, Ren is supposed to be the most important thing in his life.

“I guess we just are soulmates, somehow,” Aoba says. He’s not sure about how the finer details of this work. He’d always assumed that a soulmate was someone, a person, who you fell in love with and had a romantic relationship with and got married to and lived out your days beside. He’s not unhappy, though. He loves Ren. Of course he loves Ren. He’s always loved Ren, and he always will. And Ren loves him back, if a robot dog is capable of love, at least.

“I’ll remain by your side so long as I function,” Ren promises, and Aoba lifts him so that their foreheads press together.

 Ren was wrong. He lied.

 Aoba’s red string doesn't connect him to the Allmate anymore. It’s still there, still attached to his pinky, bright and distracting and a little bit—a lot bit—painful. As far as he can tell it’s not it’s not broken or torn. It appears to stretch away, far away, somewhere long into the distance. Aoba tried to follow it once and found himself at the edge of the island, staring out at the dark dusk-touched sea. The string slipped into the water and disappeared, lapped at by its waves, lost in its depths. He’s considered trying to follow it further, but he doesn’t even know where to begin. Fly to the mainland, only to find that it stretches on past that? Follow it to its end to find something unimaginable? He can’t even begin to think of what could be there.

Ren is gone. He doesn’t know where he went or why, but he’s not here. But perhaps he’s somewhere? Aoba couldn’t imagine where, or what he would be doing. And maybe that’s not who’s at the end of his string at all. He’s never heard of a soulmate being replaced, but…the bottom line is that Ren vanished. Aoba’s lived his whole life thinking something was wrong with his string, after all, and he’s used to relying on that notion. This is just another weird thing in a series of weird things.

But he misses Ren. He misses how he could glance behind him and see the way their thread draped between them as Ren trotted after him on his tiny paws. He misses the way his fur felt pressed against his forehead and the way his deep voice vibrated in his little frame. He misses the way Ren’s arms felt warm and comfortable around him the single time they were finally able to hold each other. He thinks about how all this time his soulmate was exactly the person that it needed to be, and how he had never fully realized it until it was too late.

It’s disappointing, for sure. More than disappointing. The realization, along with the other pain he’s feeling, pushes at him with a persistent sense of despair.

 Aoba doesn’t expect things to change the day he gets that call on his coil. But they do.

He barely notices anything as he hurries to the hospital, but some part of his preoccupied mind realizes that there is something weird going on with his thread. It usually trails behind him or to his side or loops around in some arbitrary direction. But today, today no matter which way he turns on his path to the hospital, it’s before him.

He doesn’t know what that means yet. But he’ll finally learn how little is wrong with his red string of fate.

[klvier]

Renao Week Day 5: AU

I couldn’t think of an interesting au to use for such a long time until I rewatched Natsume Yuujinchou and realized how great it would be to cross these two over!! (it’s a great show by the way) I’d think that for this au, the book of friends was originally Sei’s, Tae is the one who’d taken Aoba in after being passed around by relatives, and Ren is, of course, Nyanko-sensei. Though, I think Ren would be more cooperative :’>

[paper-bag-with-blush]

Renao Week day 6 : Busted Actually I didn’t know what “busted” means... *sweats* I checked it, and it seems that it can either mean being caught out/discovered or broken. I chose the broken one. /o/ Imagine allmate Ren having a broken piece, Aoba and Ren look for a replacement part everywhere but it has become so rare it was difficult. They finally find it thanks to Haga-san’s help. Although the “important Ren” is now by his side, repairing the broken puppy is still meaningful to Aoba. And Ren has been in this dog for so long, it’s heartbreaking for him to see it break.

*whispers* I was out today and had no idea and only managed to sketch this and throw lazy watercolor while my nail polish was drying so I couldn’t even hold my brush properly because of the ridiculous nail protections I was wearing. orz I have no idea for the last day haha...  *lays on the floor*

[c-hrona]

RenaoWeek - “AU“

-Eh?! This human.. isn’t afraid of me?! What on earth is wrong with him?!.. His touch.. is soft.. and warm.. It feels like he is accepting me.. I never felt like this..

Ren is one of the greatest warriors of the werewolves’ tribe. They are nomads and move from one region to another of the forest to obtain food and to escape by the advance of their enemies: the humans. Ren doesn’t consider them as enemies, but he fears them and if they turn out to be too dangerous for the safety of his fellows, he kills them.

One day he hears the cry of one of those beings. Is a strange cry. He search for him, to kill him, but instead of a man he finds an infant, abandoned. Ren knows he has to kill him, but the little one, as soon as he sees the werewolf, smiles and tries to touch him. It had never happened, when humans see him, they run away in fear or try to attack him. When he picks him up and the little one touches him, Ren understands that is different and maybe...

He takes him to their camp, to the leader of the tribe, and asks if he can keeps the baby, explaining that he could become the link between them and the humans, so no one has to suffer anymore. The leader refuses, ordering indeed to kill the human. Ren protects him, and promises that if the child will prove to be a threat to the tribe, Ren will kill him and will pay with his own life his betrayal. The leader accepts, far from satisfied. That night, Ren called the little waif Aoba, and falls asleep with him in his arms.

[kuurokis]

An  AU in which Ren and Aoba meet at the library! This is my favourite RenAo fic that I’ve written so I’d really appreciate it if you took the time to read it (◡‿◡✿)

[hopaiskalos]

RenAo Week, Day 5 - Alternate Universe

Throwing his bag to the bed, Aoba gets his desktop running. Ren’s poncho-wearing avatar materializes on screen. “Welcome back, Aoba.”

[sunny-salad]

Renao week: Day 4 Birthday From the part of the birthday cds where they were messing up each others hair.

[rosemochii]

It’s Simple As That

Title: It’s Simple As That Pairing: Ren/Aoba Genre: Cuteness and Fluff Words: 608 Summary: Sometimes it was the little things that meant the most, and that meant no different in view of the pair and their love.  Notes: For Day 4 of RenAo Week: Birthday. I’m late but don’t care!

“Happy birthday, Ren!” 

The exclamation is punctuated by the added party hat that now perches upon a head of wild navy locks. It’s a cute accessory, that suits both of them well, but puzzled Ren for a moment as he looked to it and the string that is under his chin to keep it in place. 

“Ah, happy birthday, Aoba.” The former canine returns with a small smile of his own, lips curving as he noticed the large grin his lover was now greeting him with. 

Jubilation was needed and very much evident as this was the first birthday they would spend with each other. It was not as if they had not spent previous ones together, but this was the first in which Ren was human, now far more meaningful in its celebration as they sat across from one another.

A party was due later, Tae and Koujaku already having come to an agreement that it was well needed in lieu of Ren being here now. The couple had declined at first, saying that they did not need to do anything special for them. But Tae’s gaze and Koujaku’s grin accompanied by a hearty laugh and hands that ruffle both of their hair would silence their pleads. 

For now, they would relish the peace they had now. 

A small cupcake sat between them with a single candle nestled in its frosting, adding a cute charm to the party hats and the warm aura that seemed to have kindled a pleasantry between the couple as they spoke softly of the passing months and nice memories, lighting the candle along the way.

Aoba does pout as he looks to the clock, “Ah, that hippo is going to be here soon. Coming in like, ‘Ohhh Aoba, Ren~ Guess what time it is?’”

His voice deepened an octave as he impersonates his best friend, from the posture down to the cordial yet humored smile that they both knew so well from the hairdresser. 

A chuckle is roused from Ren at the imitation, “A celebration was promised after all. Well, we are enjoying the time we have now, are we not?” 

“Hehe, yeah we are.” As to follow the nod Aoba gave, a finger would raise in realization as he gestures to the treat and the candle that now drips wax onto the frosting. “Ah! We should probably make a wish now.” 

A remark of confirmation is Ren’s reply as he shuffles closer and leans over the table just as Aoba does. Though the awaited blow of the flame was not heeded to, still flickering in the silence that now fell. And in this, the man does look from the light to Aoba, whose expression seemed to take on a contemplative air in all its delicate countenance.

“Aoba? Are you going to make a wish?” Ren asks, far more curious now that he notes the thoughtful pause the other is giving. It seems to grow more so when Aoba raises his head and looks on with a smile, the edges of his eyes crinkling with affection as he spoke. 

“Let’s have lots more like this, okay?”

And now it is Ren’s turn to pause, but it is a more lighthearted manner as his puzzlement would become amiable regard. It is a simple wish, but it means quite a bit between them and an incline of the head follows suit. 

“Yes.” 

And with that agreement between the pair, gazes soft as fingers reach across the table to thread with one another, an intake of breath would be shared and the candle would be blown out, making sure to hold true to their promise. 

[klvier]

RenAo Week Day 4: Birthday

never too late to celebrate :’> happy birthday, you two nerds!