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Rui’s hand found Tsukasa’s wrist before Tsukasa could even react, gentle but firm as he guided him backward until the backs of Tsukasa’s knees hit the edge of the bed. The next moment, Tsukasa’s body met the mattress with a silent thud as Rui leaned over him, one hand planted beside his head, the other ghosting down his arm like a whispered promise.
Tsukasa blinked up at him, wide-eyed and pink-cheeked. Rui’s weight hovered above him like starlight, close enough to feel, not quite touching. The space between them pulsed with the rhythm of their hearts—louder than either of them wanted to admit.
Rui’s fingers trembled as they worked their way down each button, one by one, slipping through the fabric with hesitant care. The shirt peeled back, slow and deliberate, revealing the soft sheen of Tsukasa’s skin beneath—creamy, flushed, a little damp from nerves, warmth, or both. The fabric hung loose around his shoulders, silk puddling like petals at the stem.
They both had been waiting for this.
Tsukasa sucked in a breath, as if Rui’s gaze alone had stolen it from his lungs. “What?” he demanded.
Rui didn’t answer right away. His eyes drank in every inch with quiet reverence, lips parted as if mid-prayer. His hands tugged gently at the cloth again, coaxing it down Tsukasa’s sides like he was handling something sacred. “You look…” he started, then bit down on the rest, afraid the words might shatter if spoken too loud. “Beautiful.”
Tsukasa snorted, a shaky sigh escaping with it. He turned his face to the side, pink dusting his ears. “Then stop staring and start touching,” he muttered. “Will you?”
“So bossy,” Rui murmured, a breath of a laugh tucked between his lips as he settled himself atop Tsukasa’s hips, knees sinking into the mattress on either side. He leaned in close, close enough that his nose brushed against Tsukasa’s throat.
Tsukasa swallowed hard, his breath hitching when Rui’s exhale ghosted over his skin.
“Ask nicely,” Rui spoke, lips grazing just above the frantic thrum of his pulse.
Tsukasa let out a strangled sound—somewhere between a gasp and a whimper—and his hand flew up, threading itself into Rui’s violet strands, fingers curling tight at the nape. “Please.”
“That’s more like it,” the taller hummed, mouthing along the edge of his jaw, pressing a kiss just beneath the bone. Tsukasa’s throat bobbed, caught in the quiet aftermath of it, his entire body taut with the gravity of being wanted this gently.
Rui’s lips trailed downward, brushing soft kisses along the curve of Tsukasa’s neck, down the line of his chin, then lower still—each touch lingering like he was memorizing Tsukasa’s anatomy one peck at a time. When he reached his collarbone, he pressed a kiss right in the hollow, then another, just above the heartbeat.
Tsukasa’s gasped, and before Rui could go any further, a hand caught his chin.
“Come here,” Tsukasa said, voice low and thick with something that made Rui’s heart stutter.
And then he pulled him in. It was humid but unhurried and deeply felt, less a collision of mouths and more a confession pressed between lips. Rui melted into it, fingers curling in the sheets, head swimming with the feeling of Tsukasa kissing him like he meant it; like he always had.
When they finally parted, Rui didn’t move far—just rested his forehead against Tsukasa’s, eyes half-lidded and tender with adoration. His hand slid gently down his beloved’s chest, fingertips tracing the faint dips of muscle and gentle rise and fall of his center.
“You’re warm,” he murmured, almost to himself.
“And you’re slow,” Tsukasa rasped, flicking his bangs out of his eyes with one hand before brushing Rui’s away too, tucking the stray cyan streak behind his ear with a soft, gawky touch. “You’re treating me like I’m fragile, or something.”
Rui chuckled, thumb drawing a lazy circle above Tsukasa’s heart. “Well,” he replied, “you’re very delicate. Like a fancy dessert, don’t you think?”
Tsukasa huffed, scandalized. “You’re comparing me to food now?”
“I mean it with love,” Rui cooed, leaning in to nuzzle his nose against Tsukasa’s cheek. “The kind of love you eat with a silver spoon and cry over afterward.”
“…You’re lucky I like dessert,” Tsukasa mumbled, trying and failing to hide the blush blooming across his face.
Rui returned to the blond’s collarbone, all but rushed, like each press of his mouth was marking a star in a secret constellation. “You’re trembling.”
Tsukasa scoffed, “stop narrating everything I do,” he spat, voice pitched too high to sound properly annoyed.
But Rui only laughed, brushing his nose along the slope of Tsukasa’s neck. “I can’t help it. Your heart’s beating like a hummingbird’s.” He leaned up just enough to meet Tsukasa’s eyes, aureate blinking with mischief and awe all at once. “It’s kind of adorable.”
“Do you ever shut up?”
“Not when I’m winning,” Rui grinned, before letting the shirt slip further down Tsukasa’s arm. The fabric slid off slowly, catching in the crook of his elbow for a moment. Rui’s hand paused, eyes drawn to the scattered freckles dotting Tsukasa’s shoulder—barely visible, like a dusting of gold.
Tsukasa tilted his head, suspicious. “What? Why are you staring again?”
“You have freckles,” Rui muttered, utterly charmed. “They’re like stars, like tiny constellations. You’re hiding galaxies on your skin.”
Tsukasa flushed red. “…Don’t say that.”
“Why not?” Rui leaned in, lips brushing against one. “I think it’s beautiful. I think you are beautiful.”
“You’re embarrassing.”
“Good.”
Rui’s hands drifted downward, slow and featherlight, until they reached Tsukasa’s waist. His palms rested there for a second, before gliding along the curve of it, thumbs brushing the gap just above his hips.
“Rui…” Tsukasa whined.
But he didn’t answer right away. He looked dazed, almost entranced. His thumbs brushed along Tsukasa’s sides, back and forth, like he was sculpting him out of stardust. “You’re so slim.” His fingers squeezed gently, as if committing the shape of Tsukasa to memory. “It’s like you were made to fit into the sky.”
Tsukasa blinked up at him, lips parted. “What…?”
“You look like a star. Blinding when I first saw you—and still, even now, when you’re right here. I can’t stop looking.”
Tsukasa’s squeaked, and quickly covered his face with his hands. “Y-you can’t just say things like that out loud!”
“I know.” Rui smiled, leaning down to press a kiss just above Tsukasa’s hip. “But I want you to hear them.”
Then another kiss, lower this time. One to the space where skin softened and bones peeked through. And another, where Rui felt a tremble pass through Tsukasa’s stomach, delicate and shy.
“Precious,” he whispered. “Every part of you is precious. I feel lucky just touching you.”
Rui’s hands went down, down, down, moving with that slow, meditative patience he always had when he was working on something dear—Tsukasa was no different. His hands slid along the outside of Tsukasa’s thighs, fingers splaying out as if trying to measure the entire world through the shape of him. He gave a gentle squeeze, thumbs pressing inward, as if to confirm: yes, he’s real; yes, he’s here. Yes, this is mine to love.
“Your legs are gorgeous,” Rui said, almost absentmindedly. Tsukasa jolted slightly under him, eyes widening like Rui had just recited a sonnet directly into his soul. “So strong, but so soft.”
“Rui— Ah!” Tsukasa sputtered as Rui leaned in further, smile bubbling against his skin. He pressed a kiss just above his knee, on a stray mole.
“I’m serious,” Rui stated, hushed but steady. “You carry yourself like you're floating, but right here…” his fingers squeezed the curve of Tsukasa’s inner thigh, worshipfully, “I love this part of you, too.”
Tsukasa’s hand flew to cover his mouth, cheeks crimson, thighs tensing under Rui’s touch. The taller smirked up at him from between his legs—utterly at peace, like he was kneeling before something divine, like he was home. He brushed a thumb back and forth, memorizing every reaction, every twitch, every breath. And when Tsukasa finally peeked down at him, flustered and teary-eyed, Rui just whispered, “Let me love you like this.”
But Tsukasa had only so much patience. And the way Rui’s hands caressed—like he was drawing poetry into his skin—was too much, far too much, and not nearly enough.
“Rui.” He didn’t wait for a reply. His hands shot up, gripping Rui’s collar with a needy force that made the other boy startle. He dragged him down.
It landed fierce, a little clumsy from the sheer urgency of it. A kiss of his own, with teeth knocking before it softened into something tender, lips moving in perfect, fevered synchrony. Rui’s breath hitched into Tsukasa’s mouth like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life.
Tsukasa’s grasp never faltered. He kept Rui close, almost greedy with it, the fabric of Rui’s shirt wrinkling beneath his white-knuckled fists. Rui tasted like soda candy and something sweeter—something unmistakably him , and Tsukasa thought, dizzy, I’ll never get enough of this.
When they finally pulled apart, Rui’s lips were swollen, parted ever so slightly. He hovered just above Tsukasa’s, breath mingling with his. “That desperate for me?”
Tsukasa’s apricot eyes fluttered open. “Shut up.”
But Rui only smiled. “You know, Tsukasa-kun…” His hand came up to cup Tsukasa’s face, thumb brushing the corner of his lip. “That look in your eye…” he purred, like a secret only the stars were meant to hear. “The passion that burns within your soul… that’s my favorite part of you.”
Tsukasa’s eyes widened, glossy and so impossibly full. His hands, once fisted tight in Rui’s shirt, relaxed, resting over his heart as if to feel the truth beating inside it.
They leaned in once again, slow and breathless and endlessly warm, like gravity itself was guiding them. It didn’t dazzle like a spotlight or burst like applause, but lingered like true love.
Tsukasa pulled back with the faintest laugh, too overwhelmed to speak. But his eyes? His eyes said it all.
He loved him, too.