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“UGHHH!!” Tsukasa groans, throwing himself onto his bed. Today he had to suffer through hearing a bunch of confessions and people asking each other out to the Winter Formal. Toya even told him Akito had asked him!! Good for them, but…
But he wanted to ask Rui. So badly. He never gets scared or anxious like this… he’s always been able to have the confidence he needs to make wild gestures. But suddenly all that confidence vanishes when it comes to the purple haired boy. He’s become such an important aspect of his everyday life. He’s so worried that if things go wrong it’ll put a stain on their friendship.
“Tsukasa?” A voice snaps him out of his worries, he looks over to find the boy in question standing at the entrance to his room. His ‘cat’ standing right next to him. “I could hear you groaning all the way from my room. Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine…” He shoves his face back down into his bed, not wanting him to see the blush on his face.
“I don’t really believe that. What’s wrong?” He stubbornly enters and lays across the bed, poking Tsukasa till he looks up. They are now laying side by side. Nisshou hops up onto Tsukasa’s bed, as well, laying down in a corner.
“I want to ask someone to the Winter Formal…” He mumbles out. If he doesn’t say who… then maybe he can still get it off his chest.
“Oh…” Rui looks… disappointed? “Why don’t you just ask them?”
“I’m worried about what they’ll say. I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” He explains.
“Why would that happen? Just because you’re friends doesn’t mean you can’t try… if they don’t feel the same then you can just stay friends…”
“Are relationships different on the moon? Cause here it’s not that simple.”
“Hm? Well…” He thinks for a moment, “If you like someone you tell them. If they don’t feel the same way, they tell you. Then you remain friends and it’s all fine. Is that really not how it works?” Rui is surprised he has to explain, how could things be so drastically different?
“Seriously?? That seems so simple! I wish it was that easy.” He groaned.
“I don’t think I’m ever gonna understand humans…” Rui sighs.
“And I don’t think I’m ever gonna be able to ask that person out to the dance…” He scoffs.
“How about we go together instead? If you’re that nervous then you and I can go as friends.” Rui suggests.
Well. That was one way to go to the dance with your crush. But being friend zoned was… not the best feeling. “I guess we could. Alright. You and I can go.” Maybe he’ll even tell him how he feels at the dance. Maybe they could slow dance together. Maybe he could kiss him under the moonlight-
“Yay! It’s been forever since I’ve worn formal attire. You’ll have to help me pick something out.” Rui snaps him out of his thoughts.
“Yeah. For sure.”
☆
“So you get to go with him, but just as friends?” Mizuki asked for clarification, they’d begged Tsukasa to help them find a dress for the formal. They wanted it to be good enough to make Ena ‘swoon’. Tsukasa was pretty sure she’d do that even if Mizuki was wearing a trash bag, seen as how down bad the girl was for them.
They were now dress shopping, and they’d even offered to help Tsukasa find a suit to ‘whoo Rui’, as they’d put it. “Yes… but, I dunno… I really don’t want to go just as friends. I want to be so much more I just don’t know how to say it.” He sighs, a frown forming on his face as he browsed the dress options. None of them said ‘Mizuki’ to him. “I don’t know why it’s so hard to just tell him…”
“Sometimes you just gotta do it no matter how scary it is.” They say, looking at their own section of dresses, still nothing good. “Like when I asked Ena out I was terrified of what she’d say, but I took the chance. It’s like ripping off a bandaid! At the very least, you got it off your chest and it won’t bug you anymore.” They shake their head to indicate this store won’t do, the two exit the shop quickly, “Rui doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be mean about it if he didn’t feel the same way.”
“He’s not, I know that for sure. He’s truly the best person I’ve ever met, but that’s the problem…” He groans. “I can’t be content being just friends with him anymore. But it’d be so selfish of me to stop talking to him just because he rejected me! He lives in my house, so everything would just become awkward and painful for me… and he’d be unhappy, too.”
“He lives with you? I didn’t know that…” They comment.
“Oh yeah, it’s a long story but basically he has nowhere else to go and my mom wouldn’t want him living alone.” He explains briefly, “but anyways, knowing him he’d probably force himself to date me just to fix the rift forming between us.”
“You’re right… I’m sure it’ll work itself out.” A shop catches their eye. “Hey this one might have good stuff!”
“Let’s give it a try, then.”
Mizuki had a field day in that shop, trying on every single dress available in an attempt to see which was perfect. Tsukasa gave his input as well, and they eventually landed on two “Which one to pick…” They wonder aloud. Suddenly their eyes light up with mischievous intent, “Hey I’ve got an idea. Heads is that dress,” They point to a frilly pink dress, “tails is that one,” Also frilly, but more elegant and is more of a purple than a pink. “But ALSO, if I get heads, you have to tell Rui how you feel at the dance.”
“W-WHAT?! Don’t drag me into that!!” He protests.
“Re-lax~ it’ll be fine!” They assure. They reach into their pocket and pull out a coin, “you ready?”
“Fine…” They flip the coin, it flies in the air for a bit, they catch it flat on their palm and then flip it onto the back of their other hand. They slowly lift their hand, revealing a face. Heads.
“Frilly pink it is… and…” They look over to Tsukasa, who’s already bright red. “I’ll help you out, K? I’ll get everyone else to help out, too!”
Tsukasa may have short circuited after that.
☆
Saki had dragged Rui out to buy him a suit. She had insisted on fully helping him get ready. She was gonna do his hair, his nails, and find him an outfit. This was simply because her school didn’t do a winter formal, and therefore she wouldn’t get to dress up. So she’d project onto Rui, considering Tsukasa already received help from his friends.
Instead, Mizuki set up a meeting called “operation help Tsukasa confess!!” They even made a group chat for it, despite a group chat with all of them already existing. “It’d be so romantic if you snuck him away from the dance and brought him outside and confessed under the moonlight!!” Kohane gushed at the thought. Suggestions had been thrown around left and right but nothing had really stuck.
“Actually I like that!” Ena piped up, “he said he liked the night sky so it works.”
“Well to even further address his interests, you could get him a bouquet of lavenders!” Toya smiled. If Tsukasa was to get Rui a bouquet of flowers, he’d want them to be moon lilies. Not only would that be his real favorite flower, but they’d make him extremely happy. Considering they were something he hadn’t seen in two years. They may even help with the homesick feeling he often gets.
“Hmm… I’ll think about it.” He says.
“Add some flare to it, you’re a future star, aren’t you? You love the dramatics,” Akito suggests.
“Well of course it’s gonna be dramatic! Who would I be if I didn’t make this the most extravagant expression of feelings?” He laughs pridefully. After some more refining of details, the group went their separate ways. Tsukasa’s first goal was to speak to Nisshou. “Nisshou!” He called, the ‘cat’ in question came prancing out of wherever he’d been napping.
“You called?” He asked.
“Is there any way I could get my hands on moon lilies?” He got straight to the point.
Nisshou seemed taken aback, “Moon lilies? Well… they only grow on the moon. However, I can sniff them out, and sometimes moon dust will float down to other planets, acting like seeds to plant them.”
“So you could help me? No time to be waste, then. Let’s go!” He picks him up and runs outside, placing him back down.
Nisshou sighs and begins to sniff the air, immediately he’s caught on a scent. He runs off in the direction of it, “this way!” Tsukasa follows.
They run for what seems like forever, the moon lowering as they go. Finally, they reach a hill, where the moonlight seems to glow brighter. “We’ve arrived,” Nisshou says and gestures to the top of the hill.
Tsukasa slowly makes his way up, and he’s greeted with the most beautiful flowers he’s ever seen. Truly nothing could compare to these, he understands why Rui likes them so much. “I thought Rui said all moon lilies are different.”
“Well, that’s for the ones that grow after death, these are normal moon lilies. They’re still just as beautiful even if there’s many of them like that.” He answers.
“So can I pick them like normal or is there a special way to go about it?”
“The normal way, moon lilies can’t actually die since they’re supposed to symbolize what comes after death.”
“I see,” He squats down and pulls one from the ground, carefully gliding his fingertip against a petal, it’s so unbelievably soft. He picks the rest, having a total of six flowers in his hand. “It’s perfect, he’ll love it.”
“Now… to walk back.” Nisshou sighs, already not enjoying that part. They both stand in silence for a moment, before groaning at the same time.
☆
“Ehh? Tsukasa! You’re back! You were home so late Rui decided to head up to bed earlier, and… you took Nisshou with you!!” Saki scolded the second he reentered the house.
“Sorry, sorry! I had to go find something as a gift for Rui!” He explained quickly.
Her anger quickly dissipated, “For your confession? What is it? I wanna see!!” He lifts up the flowers, a proud smile upon his face. “Wow!! What kind are these? I thought lavender was his favorite, I’ve never seen these before…”
“They’re not very common, but they’re native to where he grew up! They’re his actual favorite but he just says lavender since they’re so hard to find!” He explains.
“So you went out of your way to go find some to give him?? Ahhh that’s so romantic~!!” She giggles, “I’ll have to tell the girls about this!” She runs off, pulling out her phone.
“Well… I’m tired! I’ll put these somewhere safe and then go to bed.” Tsukasa sighs before walking off to his own room, Nisshou ran up to scratch on Rui’s door till he opened it.
“Oh, there you are. I didn’t feel like waiting downstairs any longer.” Rui said as he opened the door, letting Nisshou run inside. “What were you and Tsukasa doing out so late, anyways?”
“We were looking for something.” He explained without giving any more clues.
“Hey, are you keeping secrets from me? You’re supposed to tell me everything!” He pesters.
“Who says?” He licks his paw.
“Uh, me? Your prince?”
“Thought you said yourself you weren’t a prince anymore.”
“You still call me prince anyways! That should count!!”
“Oh well, I’m gonna take a cat nap.” He stretches before curling up and closing his eyes.
“You jerk.” He crosses his arms, angrily sitting on his bed. He hates being awake all on his own. Nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. He hates thinking too hard about stuff, his overthinking too extreme. He really likes Tsukasa, so maybe he was selfish to ask him to the dance as friends. Even after he told him about his mystery crush. He should let Tsukasa ask that person, instead of going with him. He must be selfish. So extremely selfish.
“I can hear your overthinking. What’s wrong?” Nisshou asks.
“Is it selfish that I asked Tsukasa to the dance as friends even though he has someone he likes?” He flops against his bed, looking up at the ceiling.
“Why would that be selfish?”
“He really wanted to go with them, but cause of my stupid feelings and my stupid disappointment I… I asked him instead.” He groans.
“Your stupid feelings? Do you like Tsukasa?”
“Who wouldn’t like him? He’s the best…”
Nisshou simply laughs, “don’t worry too much.” Before laying back down.
“You’re no help.” He mumbles. There’s this wave of uncomfortable silence. Rui’s mind, despite Nisshou’s reassurance, is still riddled with worries. And he has all night to think about them.
☆
The week went by all too quickly, and Rui found himself sitting on the ground as Saki braided his hair from the couch to make it look nice. His nails, painted a light purple, were almost dry and once his hair was done, he’d get dressed. “You’re gonna look sooo pretty once we’re all done!” She laughed excitedly. “I really hope you have a fun time.”
“It should be fun, all of Tsukasa’s friends are gonna be there, too, so…” He trails off, thinking about how exciting the night will be.
“You know they’re your friends, too, right?” She interrupts where he’d stopped talking.
“Well, I just wouldn’t want to assume anything—“ He begins, but Saki isn’t having any of it.
“It’s not assuming! They like you! They’re your friends.” She assures.
“Well— if you’re sure…”
“I am!” She finishes up his hair, “alright, now go put the suit on.” He ran upstairs, quickly dressing up in his suit. He looked into the bathroom mirror, and the memories welled up inside him. He used to dress up in formal attire a lot, part of being a prince was attending fancy dinners and banquets and balls. But he hasn’t been able to in so long. He nearly cried at the sight. He walked down the steps, to find Tsukasa and Saki waiting for him. Tsukasa looked… beautiful. Stunning. Wonderful.
Jesus fucking christ he was so damn gay.
They left together and made the short walk to the school, which was already bustling with many people arriving. “I think Toya is here already…” Tsukasa says.
“We should find him, then.”
It wasn’t difficult to find the boy, considering how his hair stuck out. He was accompanied by his… partner. (Boyfriend? Best friend?) “Tsukasa! It’s good to see you,” Toya greets, waving them over. “And Rui, too.”
“Toya! Hey we just got here, how have things been?” Tsukasa asks.
“Oh, yeah we just got here too. Pretty good so far.” He nods with a smile.
“Have you seen anyone else?” Rui asks.
“Yeah, they’re around. An is hiding out in one of the halls since she snuck Kohane in. I think Nene is with her since she also snuck someone in.”
“ Our Nene snuck someone in? Let alone she went with someone in general?” Tsukasa seems shocked.
“More like ‘she actually showed up?’” Akito jokes. “But, yeah, she met this girl and they hit it off pretty well so she brought her.”
“That’s nice to hear.” Rui smiles.
Toya sends Tsukasa a look and gestures to the doors that lead to the courtyard. Now or never. “Ah— Rui, it’s kinda loud in here…”
“I guess you’re right. It’s not that bad though…” He sighs, the noise had been kinda overwhelming but they had just arrived and he didn’t want to spoil the night.
“How about we step out for a moment..? There’s fewer people in the courtyard, but you can still hear the music.” He offers, pointing to those same doors.
“Oh, could we?”
“Yeah!” He answers in the affirmative. “Well then, we’ll see you guys later.”
The two walk off, “D’you think he’s actually gonna get the courage to do it?” Akito asks.
“I believe in him!”
☆
“This is much better, you were right.” Rui relaxed at the quietness of the night, as well as the muted music providing ample background noise.
“Sometimes it’s nice to be on our own like this…” Tsukasa mentions. They hear the song end, and a slower one begins.
“Oh, that’s a nice song.” Rui comments idly. To Tsukasa, the atmosphere seems stiff and awkward. He knows why. Slow songs are perfect for dancing, and he wants to ask Rui to dance. He takes a deep breath,
“Hey Rui.” He finally says.
“Hm?”
“Would you… Ah, uh— could…” He holds out his hand. “M-may I have this dance..?” He’s probably bright red by now.
“Oh!” Rui feels the heat rush to his cheeks. He carefully takes the other’s hand, “sure.”
“Do you know how to dance?” Tsukasa asks much more relaxed now that the taller boy had said yes.
Rui nods, “as a prince, it’s required to know ballroom dancing. I used to practice a lot with my mom.” He laughed lightly as the two began swaying to the rhythm. “I was smaller then, so I had to stand on her toes.”
“Seems fun.” Tsukasa can’t tell if his expression is happy or sad.
“It was…” He closed his eyes and enjoyed the quiet moment between the two as they danced in sync. Neither felt as though they needed to say much more.
After a while, though, Tsukasa finally broke the comforting silence, “It’s nice like this. You and me.”
“You think?” Rui opened his eyes and smiled.
“Yeah.” He nods.
“I think so, too. You mean a lot to me, Tsukasa.” His voice is so soft, softer than anything Tsukasa had heard prior. He really likes the way it sounds, almost reserved especially for him. The song ends but they don’t let go quite yet.
Eventually, Tsukasa slips his hands out of the other’s, “There’s… something I want to tell you.” He reached into his bag he’d brought, small to not be too noticeable, but big enough to hold the bouquet. He pulls them out, “it took a while to find these but…” He offers them up, “I hope you like them.”
Rui stares in shock for a moment, before accepting them. “Are these— where—“ He seems to be at a loss for words. “Tsukasa…”
“It turns out… it’s possible for moon lilies to grow on earth, when a bit of moon dust escapes here. Nisshou has the nose to sniff them out.” Tsukasa smiles, proud of the gift and happy to see his reaction.
“Hah… wow I just— I can’t believe you did all this for me, I—“ He wraps his arms around the other, embracing him in a hug. “Thank you!!”
“There’s one more thing I’d like to say.” He breathes out. Rui lets go of the hug, but Tsukasa doesn’t let him get too far before he takes his face in his hands. “You’re really important to me, Rui. Ever since I met you, I knew you were special. I think it’s kinda funny, considering I was just monitoring the halls that day. And now I can’t imagine living a day without you by my side. You’re really one of the best things to happen to me.”
“Tsukasa…” Hs seems embarrassed by the praise. “What’s all this about..?”
“Well, the truth is I—“ He sighs, attempting to gather his thoughts. “I wanted to do this with a little more flare, since I’m such a big fan of the dramatics, but… I think I’d rather it be like this. Just you, me, and the moonlight above.” He caresses his face with his thumbs. Anxiety rises to his chest, but he pushes it down. This has to be done. “Rui, I… I really like you. Um, in a romantic sense.”
Rui’s eyes widen at the sudden confession. He really hasn’t expected that. “You… like me?” He asks dumbly, the shorter boy nods. “I—“ His face goes red, “I like you too! A-a lot!”
“Really??” Tsukasa asks.
“Yeah! I just—“ He laughs, “here I was feeling guilty about asking you to the dance because you had a crush, and yet it was me you wanted to go with!”
Tsukasa laughs as well, “ironic, isn’t it?” They share another laugh before looking deeply into each others eyes, soft smiles on both their faces. “Rui, could I… could I kiss you?”
“Yeah…” He answers, “of course you can.”
Tsukasa pulls down Rui’s face a bit, to make him more accessible, and their lips connect. It’s a magical feeling. More magical than watching Rui raise the moon or anything like that. This right here is special, it’s the best feeling in the world, to Tsukasa. They part to soon for his liking, “wow.”
Rui giggles, “I’m so happy..!”
“Yeah, me too.”
Their romantic moment was interrupted by the cheers of their friends, Mizuki came running over, tugging Ena along, excitedly yelling that they finally got together. Toya and Akito weren’t too far behind, and An and Nene left their hiding spots with Kohane and a pink haired girl following behind. “AHHH!!” An yelled, “I’m so happy for you two!”
“I’m just glad we don’t have to hear about Tsukasa’s troubles anymore…” Akito sighed.
“Shhh!!” Tsukasa began to protest, embarrassed.
“I agree, Tsukasa always gets too loud when he talks about Rui.” Nene nods.
“Which ones Tsukasa and which ones Rui?” The pink haired girl asked. Nene pointed them out for her. “Ohhhh, well, hello you two! My name is Emu Otori! WONDERHOY~ ☆”
“Wonder… hoy…?” Rui questions before whispering to Tsukasa, “is this some human greeting I don’t know about?”
“No, I don’t know what that is either.” He shakes his head.
“C’mon, you guys do it, too, WONDERHOY!” She threw her arms up, smiling brightly.
“Wonderhoy…”
“Wonderhoy…?”
The two boys followed her lead, hoping it would be enough to make her happy. “Yay!! They did it, Nene!” She latched onto the grey haired girl’s arm.
“Yeah, I saw…”
“How’d you two meet?” Tsukasa asks.
“She bumped into me and then bought me food as an apology.” She explains briefly.
“Yup!! And we’ve been bestest buds ever since!!”
“That’s wonderful, Nene,” Rui laughs.
“But anyways, I’m glad you guys finally worked things out!” Kohane smiles softly.
“Yeah, but now we’re probably gonna hear all about every amazing thing Rui does…” Ena groans, “ Oh Rui held my hand on the way to school isn’t he so amazing ??” She mocks.
“E-Ena!!! Shut up!!” Tsukasa protests, face bright red.
“You talk about me that much..?” Rui teases.
“No!!”
“Yes.” Everyone says at the same time, causing Rui to laugh.
“C’mon, you guys!! Let’s enjoy the rest of the night together.” Emu suggests, and that they do. Despite all of Tsukasa’s worries about tonight, it had turned out far better than he thought it would. And now he could spend everyday with Rui feeling even happier.