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“i hope this letter finds you-”
sakuya screeches.
“are you trying to write a business email?!”
riku pulls his lips into a thin line as he stares at sakuya a little scrutinisingly, almost as though he was also bracing himself to launch an insult to the younger boy until sakuya beats him to it.
“...hope this letter finds you well. there are so many other ways to do this man”
ryo snorts from the couch across riku. this is terrible. a thursday evening spent at the dorms with the kids who are involuntarily reading over riku’s letter that he so miraculously wrote on his own. with the way sakuya is mumbling to himself, shakespeare might be quite literally rolling in his grave right now at the state of riku’s sorry poetry skills.
not his fault though. spending half his time holed up in the practice room with the same song bouncing off the walls and reverberating in his ears, the only coherent phrase he could probably form right now is ‘little songbird’ and that’s not even meaningful (sion would beg to differ though). maybe. riku doesn’t know, he’s going slightly insane. okay not even slightly, he’s genuinely going insane.
sakuya pacing back and forth in the living room and riku’s heart beat going at an absurd speed of probably 150 beats per minute is definitely not helping the current dilemma at hand.
“do you have to write a letter?”
riku stares at ryo. frankly, he doesn’t know either. it’s like if he sent a text it feels too insincere, doing it face to face is way too nerve wracking and riku’s going to pass out but not saying it at all might kill riku in everyway possible. so he pretty much deduced that the best way to go about this was a letter, preferably hand written. unfortunately for riku, sakuya and ryo beg to differ.
riku thinks it’s probably a gen z thing, but he’s gen z and he doesn’t get it. or maybe they’re still kids going through their weird rebellious adolescent phase, the ‘i’m too cool for all of this shit’ sort of thing. riku sort of understands though, he’s been there, for like a total of two years. he sighs. should he really be taking advice from two satanically induced 17 year olds that spend every waking hour pestering everyone they come into contact with?
he stares at sakuya this time, who’s already staring at him. at this point riku can see the question marks popping out around sakuya’s head and those scribbles of agitation in those mangas the boys are always reading. this time riku plays with the hem of his hoodie, fingers twirling the stray strings sticking out.
“maybe you could invite him out, you guys rarely go out anymore”
riku could cry. ryo’s voice of wisdom!
but face to face? riku might really pass out but with riku’s lack of literature skills and sakuya’s disapproving noises maybe this was better than a ‘heartfelt letter’ or a business email as sakuya put it. and riku sees sakuya’s mischevious smile appear, a funny glint in his eyes and he realises that sakuya is truly in his prime of the gen z teenage rebellious phase (or maybe weird kid phase).
a clap of the hand and a squeal.
“great! this is wonderful!”
“i haven’t even said anything-”
“i have taken your previous silence to ryo’s question as an agreement”
riku shakes his head. this is really the peak of sakuya’s teenage years. if he had been born in early 2000s or late ‘90s, riku swears the boy would’ve been either a scene kid or like those twilight obsessed girls. at least they are helping, or trying to. the lack of adult voices in this current conversation would definitely be a source of concern for future maeda riku, however future maeda riku has to suck it up.
either way, sakuya has already started babbling about things riku could do, how he should say it, when is the right time, and what to wear. ryo is absentmindedly just nodding along, most probably a little too tired with sakuya’s antics to really pay attention. riku prays to the god above, or gods or whoever who’s willing to listen to him, that he’s not going to massively fuck this up.
it’s been two days and riku has already massively fucked up. technically, he hasn’t even done anything but the lack of doing anything is where he fucked up. riku’s standing outside the other dorm’s door with nothing but a bag with some rice cakes he had laying around (bad excuse). to be very honest, riku had actually forgotte the entire ‘plan’ sakuya had meticulously planned out for him.
sakuya made an entire powerpoint presentation night dedicated for this with a somewhat enthusiastic ryo by his side whose only job was to press the button to move between slides. but nonetheless, sakuya drilled the entire chronological timetable of the plan in riku’s head, which was no easy feat considering the both of them were also holed up in the practice room for the many hours of their day.
riku is sort of mumbling the plan at a whisper, sounding like an insane cult member chanting rituals to the door, casting a spell. riku gets up to the middle of the plan of walking by the han river with fishcakes in hand while chatting about deep topics when the door opens. a head pops out with a messy mop of dirty, almost orange, blond hair and black eyes widened.
“hey riku”
riku almost forgets to breathe. it’s kind of stupid though. he sees yushi everyday, riku shouldn’t be phased by how yushi looks but every time riku comes face to face with yushi, with the beautiful glow of yushi’s eyes under the lights and the soft pink cheeks that remind him of marshmellows, how could riku look away.
riku clears his throat.
“were you asleep?”
yushi stares a little incredulously at riku.
“um…”
riku falters a little, holding eye contact (especially with yushi) was definitely not one of his strongest suits. he holds up the bag of rice crackers he had in his hand, which is the sorriest excuse ever to get yushi out of the dorm but unmistakably yushi’s eyes light up a little.
“wait”
the door shuts softly and riku rocks back and forth a little while waiting. he can hear the whines of jaehee complaining that yushi’s moving around too much. yushi yells back something incomprehensible, most probably in japanese, and jaehee doesn’t reply.
the door creaks open, a lot wider this time. yushi’s managed to put himself together nicely in such a short time, but he’s panting with the widest smile on his face like he just won. riku thinks yushi’s the cutest person he’s ever seen, the faint whisker dimple that forms when yushi smiles. if a cat was ever a human, it would be yushi.
yushi tilts his head towards the direction of the elevator and riku nearly squeals, the wide eyes, the pink lips that form a faint smile and the way his small body is engulfed in the thick jackets. riku’s convinced yushi’s a cat.
alright riku’s getting immensely side tracked.
the both of them shuffle into the elevator, the shoulder paddings of their jackets pressed against each other and their fingers knocking each other clumsily as they rush to press the same button. yushi laughs a little which sends riku into a weird spiraling mess as his heart kind of starts pumping harder. riku’s palms start sweating and his finger slides off the button easily, almost not pressing it, which would’ve been embarrassing if yushi paid attention and if sakuya were here riku probably wouldn’t have heard the end of it.
a breeze hits their faces as they step out to building, the sound of cars driving past and pedestrians shuffling past. the loud hum of seoul’s nightlife that thrums in riku’s heartbeat. it’s oddly beautiful riku thinks, the funny combination of loud car honks and the steady breeze engulfing them under the starry night sky that shines bright despite the endless rows of street lights.
the bustling streets stretch a little too endlessly for the both of them and instinctively riku can feel yushi’s fingers latch onto his sleeves. it makes him smile a little as the little space within his heart grows a little more, a small nest that riku lets yushi reside in.
the river isn’t far from their dorm, it doesn’t take the both of them more than a couple of minutes of weaving through the after work crowds of seoul and the non-stop pauses at zebra crossings before they arrive. it’s surprisingly empty, a few strays here and there and riku thinks he can spot two familiar figures with newspapers in hand that look anything but inconspicuous and he chuckles to himself.
riku stands by the river taking in the watery smell and the silent contrast between the roads that were teeming with cars and bikes when yushi takes riku’s hands in his and guides riku a little further down the riverbed. where they end up is under a bridge where he can hear the honks of the cars beep at each other constantly. but weirdly yushi’s brought out a wireless bluetooth speaker from his jacket’s pocket.
riku raises his eyebrows while yushi just smiles. it’s honestly endearing to riku, even if he were the one that asked him to go out right now yushi’s already thought literaly two steps ahead. if this were anyone else riku would’ve already called him a ‘loser’ (which really doesn’t make sense but riku’s sense of humour is a bit too off-kilter) but riku settles on staying silent and feeling the heat on cheeks.
yushi starts playing some soft r&b tunes and riku hands out the rice crackers to yushi.
“why’d you ask me out here anyways?”
yushi looked at him curiously, those round eyes looking so innocent and the slight pout. riku falters, the words stuck in his throat because riku is such a sucker for cute people. and yushi is looking so earnestly that riku’s so sure his heart is going to start making his mouth ramble and all the words in his head will tumble out.
“uh, well. um you know, the stars are nice out here, very bright stars.”
riku fidgets with his fingers and the rice cracker he’s holding because aside from being terrible at holding eye contact and poetry, he is also one of the worst liars alive. it’s such a laughable quality right now since yushi’s face is completely void of emotion, probably due to riku’s inability to tell a lie.
the intensity of yushi’s stare is intimidating, his round eyes replaced with a squint and his eyebrows furrowed in such a way it makes yushi seem like he’s picking apart riku’s every move. he’s so nervous right now, riku probably thinks sakuya (who’s most definitely watching yushi and riku right now with ryo) would most likely be stifling his laugh as he makes teasing remarks. which is an awful thought to be having right now because it is not helping his case as the silence after riku’s answer is stretching a little longer than before riku answered.
“seriously riku”
riku faces away from yushi now. he’s so afraid that if he looks into yushi’s eyes he might just say anything, he might say that yushi’s eyes are so beautiful and bright that every time he looks into them he can see all the stars in the sky reflected in them. or the fact that the pretty pink lips that turn into a smile easily whenever he’s up on stage being himself, losing himself in the dances. or also the fact that sakuya’s the one that planned this and is most probably still stalking the both of them right now.
“WHAT?!”
yushi stands up.
“yushi what–”
“SAKUYA AND RYO ARE STALKING US RIGHT NOW?!”
and riku’s realised he stupidly said everything out loud. then he hears rustling somewhere behind him and yushi, screaming ensues for a bit while riku just sits there frozen, unable to process what he’s actually said and that yushi heard him. everything yushi’s saying to sakuya and ryo are muffled. riku’s more fucked now than he was before he asked yushi to come out with him to the river.
“maeda riku. earth to maeda riku”
he blinks and sees yushi’s face quite literally 5cm away, his hot breath tickling riku’s lips. riku can smell the bland rice crackers mixed in with the faint husk of yushi’s cologne along with the weird fishy water smell from the river they sat by. riku’s heart is beating faster by the second, the thumping is so loud the sound is practically vibrating off his chest.
riku pulls his lips into a strained smile and blinks rapidly. he’s trying to divert his eyesight anywhere else because yushi’s unrelenting stare is so fierce it’s practically piercing spears into riku’s eyeballs. a little gruesome but yushi’s looking a little too scary right now.
“so you say i’m pretty?”
riku sucks in a breath.
“well, technically your eyes but—”
yushi smiles really wide, teeth showing and all, his eyes twinkle even though it’s kind of dark under the bridge. happiness is oozing out of every fibre of yushi’s being, riku can practically see a tail swinging behind yushi like some sort of cat.
then yushi tumbles into riku, arms wrapping around his shoulder and they fall to the ground as yushi is laughing. it’s contagious, yushi’s laugh, so riku is laughing too, their bodies shaking with laughter. it’s funny, the ground is dirty, riku can feel rough rocks of the weird ground concrete paste that scratch on his shirt but it doesn’t matter since yushi’s flushed up against riku’s body and they are together so everything else is secondary.
their laughter dies down a little and yushi’s staring properly at riku’s face, so is riku. for the first time he can look into yushi’s beautiful starry eyes, he can map out the features of yushi’s pretty face, embedding into his memories even though he already has it all studied way before whenever riku looks into the mirror during dance practice and his eyes roam every expanse of yushi’s being, committing the way his body moves to memory.
without wasting another second, yushi plants a chaste kiss onto riku’s lips. it lasts just a second but riku can taste the stupid rice crackers he bought and then that obnoxiously overpowering smell of cologne that’s somehow mixed itself into the taste of yushi’s lips. yushi pulls back with the reddest cheeks in existence, his smile is so soft but he looks so adorable with the way his hair falls into his eyes and his eyes form a little crescent.
riku pulls yushi into a hug, burying his face into the crook of yushi’s neck and letting them rest there for a while.
“stupid riku”
“hey! who you calling stupid?!”
yushi laughs again and the vibrations send riku shaking as well.
“my boyfriend of course”