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“Don’t you think Rui-kun and Tsukasa-kun are pretty close?”
“They’re best friends,” nene rolls her eyes exasperatedly, though they never once leave the screen as she skillfully strikes down a member from the enemy team with the mashing of buttons, “of course they’re close.”
“No, no!” Emu suddenly flips over and flies off of Nene’s pink bean bag, landing on her feet, making Nene feel dizzy just watching her, “like.. Super heart throbbing, close close!”
Nene’s already confused smile falls and she stares at Emu for a beat, mouth hanging open as her hands fall still over her controller, “Heart throbbing..?” she mutters to herself, turning back to stare at her and Emu’s reflection on her TV screen. She faintly notices Emu scooting closer from behind.
“Yeah!” Emu exclaims right in Nene’s ear and it’s met with the clash of plastic hitting the carpeted floor and a, “Gah-! Emu!”
“Don’t you see it? Their faces get all fluffy and soft, like a kitten!” she brings her hands up to her cheeks and flutters her bright, candy pink eyes closed. Nene stares dumbly at her eyelids, hoping they’ll reveal the answer to whatever riddle Emu has challenged her with. If only Rui were here to decode.
“I think Tsukasa is more of a dog though, Emu..” Nene mumbles, hiding her lips behind her hand and chuckling softly, a faint pink dusting her cheeks, almost matching the hair color of the girl who caused it.
Emu huffs, her round cheeks puffing out as her hands ball up into fists and find themselves planted on her hips, “That’s besides the point!” She cries, her attempts at looking angry just come out as looking cute.
“Of course, of course,” Nene giggles, voices lowering to a gentle whisper, “Where were you going with this again?” She asks, trying to mask her confusion with a sweet smile, her hand reaching out to pick up the controller laying on the ground.
“I think we should try and get them together!” She claims proudly, shooting up to her feet with a triumphant pose, and mischievous glimmer in her bubblegum eyes.
“Huh!?!” Nene sputters, choking on air, “That’s where this was going?” She coughs a little bit, trying to catch her breath.
Emu’s head bobs up and down, candy pink whisps of her hair flying around frantically in tandem, “Yeah! Rui-kun always has this super heart look in his eyes, and Tsukasa-kun always laughs louder and holds his head higher!” She clasps her hands together and speaks dreamily.
Nene can’t say she disagrees. Even if Rui would never actually try to make a move on Tsukasa, she knows her childhood friend well enough to know he’s smitten. And she knows he knows that she knows, because she’ll make sly comments about the two of them, much to Rui’s dismay.
“Well.. if you have a plan, then I’ll.. help,” Nene smiles shyly, reaching out to pat Emu’s shoulder.
The shorter girl leans into the touch and beams brightly, “Yay, yay! Don’t you worry Nene-chan.. I’ll have this plan done before you can say ‘wonderhoy’!” Emu gets back on her feet in excitement again.
“Wonderhoy,” Nene whispers softly to herself, chuckling at the absurdity of her girlfriend’s antics.
“So! Magical mission: mistletoe is a go!” Emu raises one fist and whoops, bouncing her socked feet around Nene’s room.
“..Magical.. mission..?”
—
Rui stretches lazily, his eyes flittering between the board, his notes for class, the poorly concealed blueprints for a snowman robot, and the snow coating the green grass in a powdery white just beyond his classroom’s window. He purses his bottom lip and picks up his pencil. Gentle and meticulous scratching fills the quiet air, blending in with the teacher’s lecturing.
He hears someone in front of him clear his throat and he raises a brow and looks up, finding Tsukasa throwing him a poorly concealed glare. Rui’s hardened expression instantly falls and a carefree smile takes over his face. He waves one hand with no urgency, and keeps staring back at Tsukasa.
Tsukasa makes a face, both lips pursed and eyes squinted before breaking out into a smile, Rui almost chuckles quietly at the blond, before remembering the teacher would hear him.
Tsukasa tilts his head towards the board in an attempt to get him to pay attention, to which Rui only mildly considers because it’s Tsukasa asking.
Class continues on like before, Rui juggling his attention between a plethora of different things (a small fraction of which actually only interest him) until the bell chimes and he eagerly stretches back in his seat like how a cat would after first waking up. He sighs as his back pops and goes to collect his things, waiting by Tsukasa for him to finish up.
“You can go on ahead, Rui! Toya said he needed my help for a bit! I’ll head to the Wonder Stage after!”
Rui nods, “Very well then, Tsukasa-kun. I’ll see you soon,” Rui smiles, walking out the door to start his walk to the Wonder Stage.
..
Emu holds her breath as she watches Rui approach the door, expecting to see Tsukasa trailing right behind him so she can jump out and yell ‘You’re under the mistletoe!’ And smile in triumph as Rui and Tsukasa have no choice but to share a kiss! It’s a genius plan, really!
“I can’t believe you managed to convince me to skip class to witness this..” Nene groans, her forehead hitting Emu’s back with a soft thump. She’s trying to make herself as small as possible so none of her classmates see her.
Emu giggles and covers her lips with one raised finger, “They’re coming!”
She waits for her friends eagerly, but when they appear, it’s only one.
“Surprise-!” She starts, before realizing that it’s just Rui, “Only Rui-kun?” She asks, voice turning sad and her lips all pouty.
Rui doesn’t even hear Emu, and keeps walking towards the front entrance, swallowed up by the sea of students.
“Hm,” Nene hums, “Well, there’s always next time, right?” She tries to encourage the pink haired girl and lift her dampened spirits.
“Yeah.. yeah! Next time for sure!”
—
Emu has once again dragged Nene out of class a little earlier than normal (Nene really hopes her lame excuse of “I need to use the bathroom..” isn’t getting too suspicious for her teachers), to hide just out of sight from the rooftop’s door.
It’s a little chilly, so Nene huddled for warmth. Her icy breath turns the air white, and she seriously hopes that those two hurry up already!
When the rooftop door finally opens, emu springs out and once again yells:
“Surprise!”
Tsukasa shrieks and the sound of his bento hitting the floor flies through the freezing air.
There is a long moment of silence, in which Nene comes out from hiding, slowly slinking next to Emu.
“Emu!” Tsukasa yells, scrambling to pick up his lunch from the floor, luckily nothing happened besides him dropping it, but Nene can imagine he would have preferred that not to happen either way.
“Oh.. Rui-kun isn’t with you.” She pouts arms falling and going limp at her sides.
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” He yells at her, “Am I not enough for you, Emu?!” He brings his hands to his hips and taps his foot against the ground, moving a mile a minute, being very mindful of the bento in his hands.
She sighs, really playing up the theatrics and not doing anything to reassure Tsukasa, “Noooo.. it’s okay,” she doesn’t do a good job of sounding convincing. She suddenly bounces up quickly, her sadness gone in an instant, “I was just hoping you two would be together, you know!”
Tsukasa huffs and shuffles over to his and Rui’s usual spot, that Emu and Nene have been invited to many times, “The teacher caught him working on that robot in class. Really, I can’t believe how he manages to think teachers won’t say anything.” He sighs, a bit too fond and betraying his annoyed act, “So, he might be a little late today.”
“There’s always next time..” Emu leans into Nene and reassures herself, Tsukasa just raises a confused eyebrow that only grows higher the longer Emu doesn’t elaborate.
—
Attempt after attempt, nothing seems to go right! Rui and Tsukasa are somehow never in the same place at the same time right when Emu needs them to be! She’s considering giving up, but in one final attempt, she enlists Nene’s help for a plan she’s hinging on.
—
The curtain closes, but the cheers don’t die down. The four troupe mates rise from their bow, and Rui quickly jogs over to his snowman robot to flip the switch off, stopping the fall of fake snow onto their stage.
They do some brief cleanup before all going back to change. Emu and Nene are as quick as can be, as per Emu’s plan.
Emu knows it’s a little dangerous and elaborate all for some silly plan, but she climbs onto the top of the Wonder Stage and carefully ties the mistletoe right in the middle. She hops down and lands on her feet with a huff, watching as Nene sets out the little doodle she’d made beforehand.
With a deep breath that puffs up her chest, she calls out, “Rui-kun! Tsukasa-kun! We need you!” Before the two girls promptly scramble off stage.
It takes a minute or two, but eventually their dressing room door clicks open, and Emu almost squeals ‘yes!’ at the sound of two footsteps walking across the wooden flooring.
—
Rui hums and looks around for Emu and Nene, not finding any signs of them.
“Are they out here?” Tsukasa asks from behind him. Rui shakes his head and turns around to look at the star, but his shoe crumples something beneath it. He tilts his head and discovers it’s a sheet of paper. He leans down and squints, before his eyes widen in surprise and he follows the instructions on the paper.
He looks up and spots a mistletoe hanging right above him and Tsukasa.
He nudges the shorter boy with his elbow and points up. He smirks devilishly and can’t help but laugh at the blush on Tsukasa’s cheeks.
“We have to follow tradition, Tsukasa-kun.” Rui informs him, eyes glancing down to Tsukasa’s parted lips, “If you don’t mind, that is.”
A breath leaves Tsukasa’s mouth and he grins, grabbing Rui’s cheeks with his warm hands—shivering at the touch, because really, how is Rui always so cold?— and brings their faces inches apart.
For all his teasing, Rui really freezes up when it’s returned. Tsukasa feels pride at being the one to bring Rui to this state.
“Of course, Rui! I’d love nothing more!” He gives a toothy grin, that Rui eagerly responds with his own giddy grin, before smushing their lips together.
It’s unsure, neither of them really know what they’re doing, but the fact that they’re there and kissing each other is enough.
Tsukasa’s warms hands make Rui feel all light and fuzzy, his brain is filled with cotton and he eagerly dives in for another kiss when Tsukasa pulls away to breathe.
Whether or not they purposely drown out Emu’s excited cry or if they’re just so caught up in each other to hear the outside world is for them to know.