#kominato-official

To: @askalltheballers

From: @kominato-official

I hope you enjoy this ! I was interested in most of what you had preferences for and figured I’d try and craft a short little thing here. Single dads is a fave :3c

Ryousuke always expects his call first thing in the morning. It’s nothing but habit, he knows, that from the moment Kuramochi wakes up and situates himself with the world, that he’ll pick up his cell phone and dial his number. It’s actually rather sweet of him that he’s so dedicated with keeping to routine these days.

Such a worrywart, Ryousuke thinks. He’s been just fine these past few months. Kuramochi is just a little cocky over having three years of experience on a subject for once.

And without a single beat missed, there it is. At precisely five minutes to ten, Ryousuke’s phone goes off with the familiar ringtone that he’s assigned to Kuramochi’s number. He almost considers letting the cell phone ring and he’ll call back later, but that feels a little… mean. As a smirk curls on his lips, Ryousuke picks up his phone from the counter.

He answers with only a simple hum, one that he’s sure Kuramochi will never get sick of. It doesn’t take long for his voice to break through the speaker. “Ryou-san! It’s good to hear your voice. Um, well sort of. You should say ‘hey’ at least…” Rather eager of him to say, but Ryousuke humors him, at least.

“Hey.”

Kuramochi snorts. “Thanks, thanks… Seriously, how’s your day starting out? Did you get anything done?” Before Ryousuke knows it, Kuramochi switches right into his doting mode, that tone of his voice is clear; the upward inflection in it is so obviously his baby voice that Ryousuke finds himself wanting to scoff before Kuramochi even finishes his sentence.

At the most, Kuramochi spends more than ten minutes reminding Ryousuke about the exact same things that he always reminds him about. Ryousuke just hums in affirmation every now and then, at least pretending to listen to him go on and on about how a baby has a set schedule that he has to adhere to. That he knows best because of his experience with Mieko and he continues to drone on and on until Ryousuke responds with a simple: “Sure, Dad.”

Ryousuke only lucks out on that parent-tier lecture by reminding Kuramochi that he’s doting over his kid like he’s practically his father… Which, Ryousuke supposes, is probably the loosest thing he can call Kuramochi, if not an uncle or something. They’re close friends, so he wouldn’t be against letting Kuramochi take care of his son for a little bit. It is rather funny, though. Kuramochi still dresses and acts like the rough around the edges guy he is. To think that he fusses over anything that’s less than an adult is just what Ryousuke would expect after knowing him for this long.

“You’d do some good getting some fresh air today.” Ryousuke speaks plainly after a beat of a genuinely comfortable silence. It’s a simple topic that pops up in his head, moments after patting around one of the higher cabinets in his kitchen for that new can of baby formula he’d bought a few days back with Kuramochi. That idea seems to turn the wheels in Kuramochi’s head; Ryousuke can hear some distinct rustling on his side as if he were turning to lie back onto his bed.

An easygoing sigh comes from Kuramochi’s lips. “That’d be nice. Maybe I can head over to your place again today. If you’re up to doing anything, I can leave Mieko with my mom.” There’s a smile in Kuramochi’s voice. It’s so obvious.

Of course, Ryousuke isn’t against playing into his hands. It’s been a while. He’s absently preparing the bottle for his son, the measuring of the powder down to the warming of the water has easily become a habit that Ryousuke can do blindfolded. “Oh? Maybe I’ll be free…” he pauses, breathing out a chuckle at the groan that seems to have lodged itself into Kuramochi’s throat. “You can come over. Stay here a while. Just don’t take another one of your ‘naps’ and stay here after dark.”

As usual, Kuramochi laughs. A bright, full sound that leaves Ryousuke can barely ignoring how it makes his chest tighten.

They make their ‘plans’ easily. It’s all things they’ve done for the time Ryousuke has been single, of course. Three months worth of back and forths from his apartment to Kuramochi’s house, spending time with each other’s kids in between the usual ‘Hey, let’s have sex because we have nothing else planned for today’.

It’s funny. This habit has been built up so easily that anything else seems so foreign. Ryousuke wouldn’t know how to accept a drastic change because this is all he’s accustomed to now. That is a thought he continues to to linger on, all while giving Kuramochi the usual song and dance about tending to his son until Kuramochi gets here. It’s met with little resistance, even if Kuramochi takes a little longer to hang up today.

That’s all said and done. Kuramochi should be here in a few hours or so. Now that he knows he won’t be too pressed for time, Ryousuke paces himself with his morning to-do list, taking his sweet time with checking if the liquid in the bottle is warm enough in between wandering around the area between the living room and the kitchen. It isn’t a big distance by far, considering how small his apartment is to begin with, but mindlessly pacing his apartment is a habit he only picked up from Kuramochi.

There’s plenty of little habits he’s picking up. It’s not exactly bothersome, but it’s rather telling of how much time they’ve been spending together. Now, more than ever, they’re simply by each other’s side day by day. Funny, when all there is in their relationship now after nearly a decade is sleeping with one another every now and then.

Ryousuke catches himself on being too sappy, just in time for him to nearly step on one of Ryouta’s rattles and promptly kick it out of the way. He really should tidy the place up a little before Kuramochi gets here, but that thought evaporates the moment he’s striding into the former ‘guest room’ of his little apartment.

“Morning,” Ryousuke begins once he flicks the lightswitch on. Seems that Ryouta is already awake, judging by the sweet noise he makes once Ryousuke is in his line of sight. “Sorry I kept you waiting. Looks like I’ll have to wake up earlier for you, huh?”

The same routine he’s had for these past months comes to him easily now. Even if he’s become utterly used to it, living this life with only himself and Ryouta isn’t something he’d give up so easily. Ryousuke is starting to love it, these months of calm right after a rather grating relationship that only fell apart because of the little one.

But thinking about that is more than enough. Not that it bothers Ryousuke that much, but he’d rather not sit and brood over that while his son is clearly asking for his attention—attention that should be given to him before he grows fussy that he hasn’t had his breakfast yet.

For now, Ryouta just seems happy to see Ryousuke again. With only a softened grin, Ryousuke places the bottle on the small nightstand before taking Ryouta into his arms.

Just as a routine would go, Ryousuke goes about the next few hours on auto-pilot. In no way is it mindlessly like cleaning his apartment or going to a late night convenience store run would be. He pays close attention to everything he does, from playing with Ryouta to making note of what he’ll want for dinner today. All the while, Ryousuke tries to think nothing about how his eyes dart back and forth to the small clock hanging on his wall.

Kuramochi arrives just in time. Only moments after putting Ryouta down for a nap, Ryousuke heard the smooth knocks on his door. Ryousuke snorts, unlocking the door with a tease on his lips. “Didn’t I tell you where I keep the spare key?”

To that, Kuramochi widens his already present grin.

“You seemed eager to come over today,” Ryousuke begins, effectively breaking a lingering beat of silence. “I wonder why that is.” Glancing over to him, Ryousuke brings his hand over to brush back a few loose strands of hair from Kuramochi’s forehead. There’s no longer any trace of sweat slicking his skin, but the red that’s dusting his cheeks and creeping down to his chest hasn’t faded away. Rather charming that it takes this long for Kuramochi to come down from his high.

Soon, Kuramochi hums in acknowledgement with his gaze affixed to the ceiling. A smile graces his face even before he says anything. “It’s nothing. You said I should get some fresh air, so naturally, I’d come and fuck around with you.”

The lilt in his voice suggests otherwise, though Ryousuke isn’t too bothered by it to press him on what the truth really could be. Ryousuke can feel a twinge deep in his chest, as if he were reliving any piece of memories from when they were both back in their high school baseball team. God, but that was years ago. “That’s fair. Here I thought you just wanted to see me…” An easy chuckle passes his lips; the splay of his fingers in Kuramochi’s hair seems to add to this unwarranted giddiness of his.

“Huh? Wait—No, I wanted to see you, too,” Kuramochi speaks hurriedly, as if Ryousuke was seconds away from throwing him out of his apartment with nothing but the hair on his head. “Like—Why wouldn’t I? Come on…!”

Ryousuke doesn’t hold back his laugh. “Don’t be so loud, Youichi. If you wake him up, you’ll be on duty to get him back to napping.” Against his better judgement, Ryousuke snakes his free hand down to the warmth of Kuramochi’s chest, turning his body close enough for them to face each other almost directly. Of course, he adheres to a natural unspoken rule, the distance between their lips has never gotten closer throughout all the years they’ve done this.

In fact, Ryousuke finds the idea of their lips meeting after so long to be unfamiliar territory at this rate. Funny that, considering that they’ve done their fair share of kissing back in high school. But he doesn’t know. Things can change at this rate. So much has changed for Ryousuke in the past three months, he can’t say he isn’t exactly against more change.

“Ryou-san,” Kuramochi’s voice brings Ryousuke back to Earth. It’s almost unbecoming of Kuramochi to reach his hand up to cup the back of Ryousuke’s head. “It’s not like he doesn’t like me. I’d probably be able to put him back to sleep.”

“He’d probably get excited once he saw you. Or just wake up hungry. You’d want to deal with him while he’s like that?” Ryousuke finishes off his sentence with a snort, sliding out of Kuramochi’s hold and resting flat on his back. Thinking about it, maybe it would be a good idea to wake Ryouta up from his nap. Of course, it’ll run a little short than his usual naps, but Ryousuke knows he will sit around with Kuramochi for hours on end if he doesn’t tend to his son now.

Just as Ryousuke shifts in bed to sit up, Kuramochi’s voice rings in the silence of the room.

“Have you met anyone new?”

The question comes so far out of the left field that Ryousuke is genuinely stricken with silence.

There isn’t an accusatory bone in that sentence, and yet Ryousuke’s heart thrums in his chest as if Kuramochi laid all of his sins bare before him. An overreaction, sure, but this is the first time the question has been asked ever since his ex-girlfriend walked out of the picture.

Well, he isn’t sure what to say. Except for the truth, he guesses. “Not really. I mean, I’m not even looking in the first place,” he pauses. “What about you?” Ryousuke glances over his shoulder, gaze down at Kuramochi. His rather unreadable expression brings a smile to Ryousuke’s lips.

“Nah… Just me and Mieko for now.”

As another beat of silence passes between them, Ryousuke waits no longer to stand from the bed. It takes him a bit longer than he would have liked to find each piece of his clothes from where they’re strewn about on the floor, and by the time he’s finally got half a mind to slip on his sweatpants, he hears Kuramochi snicker.

“I can’t get over it.” Kuramochi says.

Ryousuke turns to face him, just in time to catch Kuramochi swinging his legs over the bed. “Over what?” Kuramochi’s intent to leave the room along with him clear is clear in his actions.

“You and Ryouta…” Is how Kuramochi starts, standing at the same time Ryousuke does. As he picks up his jeans from the floor and slips them on, he continues easily. “Your names, they’re matching. I know you didn’t really choose the name, but I can’t stop thinking about how cute your names are together.”

Noted. And ignored.

Without another word, Ryousuke snorts and steps out of the room. Of course, he expects Kuramochi to follow him like an obedient dog, and follow him he did. While Ryousuke adamantly ignored Kuramochi’s comment, it didn’t stop him from keeping up to his side and meddling into his business.

But meddling just seems like too mean a word, now that Ryousuke thinks about it. Kuramochi is just being his normal self, albeit a bit too doting. If he really was meddling, Ryousuke would find him offering to feed Ryouta annoying, his few words of advice on a baby’s daily schedule spoken with the clear experience that he has. But it’s not annoying. Ryousuke finds himself wanting Kuramochi to give him more advice on shit he already knows, just to hear him drone on and on about it.

It doesn’t take much time between the two of them to fix up a bottle for Ryouta. Most of the time spent in the kitchen was taken up mostly by Ryousuke and Kuramochi’s mutual chattering, some of the topic staying mainly on what they’ll have for lunch and dinner before straying far off into today’s weather. Being smack dab in the middle of April really has no real bearing on what’s going on outside. Nothing too wild today, only the sun breaking through a few clouds.

That’s good weather, admittedly. Maybe he should go out for a walk today. Maybe Kuramochi could come with, too.

At that thought, Ryousuke shakes it off quickly. No, he shouldn’t cling to Kuramochi so much today. There really is nothing wrong with hanging out with him every other day, especially when they spend good time together, but… There really isn’t a ‘but’. There should be no reason to hesitate with the idea of being together with him again, if it’s something he supposes he wants.

Thinking about it, the only real ‘but’ here is wondering if Kuramochi had ever thought of there being a ‘them’ again. Ryousuke has never thought of being with Kuramochi again, personally, even if it’s been so long. What he had asked earlier still crawls in his mind. It wouldn’t be out of place to wonder if Ryousuke had met anyone else, but to think that Kuramochi would ask it minutes after having sex was rather laughable, even more so how Ryousuke’s heart was racing a million miles per hour at the mere thought of dating anyone else.

That’s something to put away until later. It was silly to push the thought of clinging to Kuramochi away in the first place.

A surprisingly comfortable silence envelopes the two as they take those few steps to Ryouta’s room. Nothing to be said that needs to be said, Ryousuke supposes, but even he can see the smile that Kuramochi has on his lips. ‘Why so happy?’ he almost wants to ask. There’s no need to say anything, now that Kuramochi has roused Ryouta awake.

Ryouta has already gone to deciding that Kuramochi is one of the people he likes the most. It’s been a while since he’s already begun to smile, and he’ll definitely smile at Kuramochi more than he’ll do it for any other regular that visits him often.

It’s a little cute to think of it that way, though Ryousuke has little to no intention of speaking it outloud. He merely leans on the doorframe with his arms crossed, watching Kuramochi take his son into his arms with an ease that makes him seem like such a natural at it.

Giving him praise for that is a bit on the nose there, so Ryousuke can only bring up a little something that’s been lingering on his mind for the past few hours.

“When will you bring Mieko back to visit?” Ryousuke only speaks up after Kuramochi has already gotten Ryouta settled and eating. “Watching you two here makes me remember when you would make me do some of your work when she was his age.”

Kuramochi hums in response, cocking his head to the side. “We can do it later. Even tomorrow. She wouldn’t mind either of those days. She likes you, just, way more than me.”

Ryousuke chuckles, pushing himself off the doorframe with the intention of stepping up to the two of them. “She takes after you so much that she’d rather spend time with me than with you. I can’t put it past her.” He ends off that sentence with a rub to Kuramochi’s shoulder and leans in closer to Ryouta.

He can’t help but to shake the feeling of the four of them meeting up. It’s happened so often that it’s nothing new, but there still is a definite comfort in it. There’s little way of telling how Kuramochi feels about it, even that dumb smile of his is so unreadable because Ryousuke can’t tell if it’s directed towards Ryouta or something else. If only Ryousuke could reach up to Kuramochi’s chest and feel the beat of his heart to see if it’s racing like his is.

It’s all come so suddenly. Ryousuke has no reason to think about such things: Being together with Kuramochi again or even the significance of them spending time with one another when the most intimate they’re supposed to be is during sex. It’s come so quickly out of the blue that he’s left wandering between whether he should accept such odd feelings or reject them completely.

He swallows.

“Can we come tomorrow?” Kuramochi reiterates, a murmur muddling his voice. Even he seems unsure.

But, Ryousuke pushes his words out, the tone coloring them is void of any possible strain. “Come whenever. We’ll be here.”

‘Whenever’ to Kuramochi, meant ‘come everyday’. Ryousuke wishes he could say that it was annoying or a legitimate lack of privacy or any of the sort, but he can’t bring himself to even pretend to push away Kuramochi’s company. Each day for the past few weeks that he’s been here with Mieko hasn’t been quiet at all. The best part of it is the two of them have been a good help with Ryouta in the end. He can’t complain.

“You two live in a house by yourselves,” Ryousuke begins, moments after he’s let Kuramochi and Mieko inside. He’s already gotten dinner started, and by ‘dinner’, he means some day old leftovers. “But you like being here, in a tiny apartment. That’s not what I expect from a family like yours.”

Kuramochi barely answers, set on sitting on the couch before anything else, but Mieko talks plenty of that for him. She’s only three, but already asserting herself as her dad’s official spokesman. Or, more accurately, the one person in Kuramochi’s life that just can’t hold a secret.

“Daddy likes it here lots.”

That’s all Mieko has to say before Kuramochi is gawking at her, as if she had done something far worse than just casually mention that he likes being in Ryousuke’s small apartment. The truth itself isn’t that big of a deal, but in context, Ryousuke can safely say it leaves his face feeling a touch hot.

Not bringing attention to it, he chuckles, facing any direction but behind him. “Sounds like the truth.”

From there on, Ryousuke says nothing else. For lack of anything better to say, he simply stands there. It won’t be a bad thing if he heads back over to the two of them, though something says that he’ll be forced to answer the questions that a three year old has rattling in their minds, and he’s certain that he’s got quite a bit of time before he’s officially subjected to that.

So, he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket, glancing at the time and finally over his shoulder. “Youichi, you want to feed Ryouta this time? It’s time to get him up,” he pauses, continuing from the mental checklist he’s had memorized now for a good few weeks. “Play with him a little, too. I’ll take on the rest from there, but I think you should—”

“I wanna hold him! Can I?!”

This isn’t the first time and most certainly won’t be the last that Mieko will interrupt both him mid-sentence. But this is the first time Ryousuke has heard this little request from her mouth.

It’s quite obviously Ryousuke’s decision on that, but he swings around to face Kuramochi as if he has a say on whether or not Mieko can hold his son. Judging by Kuramochi’s furrowed brow and upturn of his lips, he must think the same.

“I mean. Can she? It’s on you.”

Ryousuke glances to the floor before answering. “Yes. Sure. Go and get him.”

Kuramochi easily does as told, though not before telling Mieko to stay put. She does as told, and Kuramochi returns with Ryouta in his arms. Just as anticipated, Ryouta is as happy as he could be; his soft little coos are all he can manage out as Kuramochi speaks to him. It’s nothing but baby talk to be sure, but no doubt that Ryouta could care less.

There’s an exchange of gazes before Kuramochi sits down on the couch, carefully adjusting Ryouta in his arms. His voice is low enough as he begins to speak to his daughter. Ryousuke can’t hear it all too well, and only makes out a few simple words that don’t mean much to him out of a full sentence. He steps back into the kitchen, set on getting drinks for Kuramochi and Mieko than to finish heating up his dinner for tonight.

In doing so, there’s a dull buzz in his head. Along with the heat of his face, Ryousuke feels as if he’s catching a cold. That isn’t the case. He knows it isn’t. There’s no telling why his feelings are erupting once more, for the first time in years. He has to keep reiterating it for himself to believe it, as if the reality of falling for Kuramochi again since high school seems impossible. As if having Kuramochi by his side now that they’re grown adults rather than standing together strong on the field has any difference to what it means for his own heart.

There is no difference. That’s clear. But why now? He can’t get a grasp on it. As if the meaningless years he’s had with his ex only happened to put a baby in his life and a means to waltz right back into Kuramochi’s arms. And that goes for Kuramochi himself. Five years he’s been with that girl and that was finished within the first year of Mieko’s life, and here he is again.

Of course, it could mean that Kuramochi is interested in him as well. It wouldn’t be crazy to assume that something new has sprouted between the two of them solely from sleeping with each other as a means to get rid of pent up energy or stress. But even then, they’ve always been such close friends. Ryousuke could be reaching.

It’s confusing, in the end. Something about how indecisiveness tugs at Ryousuke’s heart leaves him unable to do anything but smile. As the ice cubes clink in a glass he’s got in his hand, he can only smile at how genuinely confused he is. It’s been a while since he’s not known what to do.

It’s a little exciting.

“See, that’s good…! Careful, now…”

Kuramochi’s faint whispers break into Ryousuke’s thoughts, making him nearly lose track of all that’s been building up until now. With his smile still present, he peeks around the kitchen’s corner to look at the three of them. Seeing Kuramochi look so pointedly proud of himself for helping Mieko hold Ryouta so properly in his arms is… something else. If Ryousuke had a choice for himself, he really would love to see this everyday. They all really look like a family.

Taking in a soft breath, Ryousuke makes his way up to them, offering the glass in his hand to Kuramochi. It’s easy to replace his warm grin with a sharper smile, even as his eyes linger on the little ones for the briefest second. “Good job, you two. He’s sure looking happy, huh?” Unable to help himself, Ryousuke brushes his fingers over Ryouta’s cheek, smile wide on his face as he visibly reacts to the touch.

“It’s nothing. Mieko was eager to hold him for a while. Thanks for letting her do that.”

‘No problem’, Ryousuke wants to say. It doesn’t come from his lips at all, for no reason other than that meeting Kuramochi’s gaze seemed to be enough for the ‘you’re welcome’. They hold gazes for what seems like far longer than Ryousuke ever intended to before he straightens his posture, forcing his eyes to be somewhere else with a clear of his throat.

“Should play with him for a bit. I’ll get one of his little rattles for us.”

Likewise, Kuramochi averts his gaze down to Ryouta, nodding. “Y-Yeah, yeah. ‘Course.” He ends off his sentence with a breath of a laugh and his attention is no longer on Ryousuke. From there, the two of them stray off into silence for as long as it takes Ryousuke to step out of the room and look for one of Ryouta’s toys himself. Ryousuke wouldn’t exactly say that he purposefully spends a little longer inside of Ryouta’s room, but there’s a reason why he takes his time with looking for the ‘right’ toy.

Wow, he feels like a teenager again! This bashful, flustered attitude was a way he remember acting before he and Kuramochi hooked up. It’s hard to tell if it’s a good or bad thing that Kuramochi is making him feel young, but considering that he’s pretty much accepted that he’s having feelings for Kuramochi once again, there’s no telling. Watching him sit in his apartment, playing with his son, it’s enough to bring about the same smile that would happen all those years back when they would stand strong on the field together.

Running his fingers through his hair, Ryousuke wanders off into the kitchen once more with the intention of standing there and staring off into space while sneaking spoonfuls of his dinner in his mouth.

It really is no surprise that Kuramochi spent the rest of the evening here, nor is it a surprise that he seems rather hesitant to leave. That’s been a regular occurrence of late: Mieko falls asleep in Kuramochi’s lap, Ryousuke puts Ryouta to bed, and they’re officially left ‘alone’ together. That always calls for several minutes of silence before Kuramochi trudges on home with the promise to be back the next day.

For now, before Kuramochi up and leaves, he’s doing nothing but sitting there with his hand loosely resting on Mieko’s shoulder. Safe to say, the silence between them is comfortable; Ryousuke can always bet that basking in the silence of another good day with his company will be rather therapeutic in the end.

Ryousuke takes those few steps over to the couch, carefully sitting down by Kuramochi’s side. Without missing a beat, they manage to meet each other’s gaze once more. “One day, you’re both going to take the extra step and stay the night,” Ryousuke says. “You like being in here, I really don’t know why.”

To that, Kuramochi snickers. He rests his head back on the couch, a bright grin on his face. “I dunno. Just nice to be in here, I guess… A house with only the two of is feels a little too big.” And that’s that. Kuramochi says nothing else, words trailing off into nothing. He never does stop holding Ryousuke’s gaze, even as it seems clear that he has nothing to say, either.

Ryousuke takes in a breath. He doesn’t stop his fingers from finding their way to Kuramochi’s hair, threading through the locks as he’s always done. Kuramochi doesn’t mind the touch at all; he almost seems to lean into it… And lean further. Without realizing, they find themselves within the same distance as they always seem to naturally close themselves in whenever they’re in bed together.

It’s different this time, because it isn’t preceded by heavy breathing and blank minds. Right now, they’re both just sitting here after the kids fell asleep. Thinking about it that way leaves butterflies in Ryousuke’s stomach—no doubt that Kuramochi has to feel the same. His lips simply twitch, as if he’s noticed that their lips are simply centimeters apart.

“… Are you going to kiss me, Youichi?”

Without a moment’s pause, Kuramochi laughs. His warm breaths ghost on Ryousuke’s lips; it’s been six years too long since Ryousuke has focused so much on each breath Kuramochi has taken. It’s been overdue.

“I—Ah. I don’t know,” Kuramochi says. He swallows audibly, chuckles once more, waits far too long before continuing. “Is it really okay that we’re letting this happen again? We shouldn’t go too fast, Ryou-san.”

I don’t know, the same answer Kuramochi gave to him is what mirrors in Ryousuke’s head now. He doesn’t know what’s ‘okay’ right off the bat in the first place. After all, they are about to break an unspoken rule of theirs. All that he can do is to follow what the racing of his heart wants, and what is wants is Kuramochi. Plain and simple. He didn’t fight himself too much to come to that conclusion. It’s just question and answer at this point.

So, Ryousuke widens his grin, sliding his hand down from Kuramochi’s hair to his jawline. “Anything is fine with me, Youichi. It’s all happened before. This is just picking up where we left off, if you think about it.”

Kuramochi snorts, amused. As his free hand snakes up to Ryousuke’s chin, he tilts his head closer to him. Their foreheads touch seconds before their lips do; the warmth of Kuramochi’s lips is near to overwhelming, as if that heat was making up for the years that they’ve spent apart. From this simple kiss, Ryousuke is left wanting more, even as they mutually part from each other’s lips.

And, just as he used to do, Kuramochi brushes back Ryousuke’s bangs, waiting for him to speak up. That hidden away habit having only been born from each and every kiss they would both share. From kissing each other in their dorm rooms to sneaking one off near the vending machines, Ryousuke has to say that he’s missed them. Each and every one of them.

“I should get going…” Kuramochi finally manages those few words out. He speaks them in a near whisper, as if speaking any louder would change the meaning of his words.

But it’s silly to say that. Ryousuke wouldn’t stop him from going home. He’d be back tomorrow, regardless. Without any slick remark, Ryousuke nods and drops his hand from Kuramochi’s face. “Mhm. I’m sure she wouldn’t be too comfortable sleeping here for long.” Ryousuke breathes out a laugh once Kuramochi nods in understanding, as if he’d just remembered that his daughter was taking up space on his lap.

“She wouldn’t mind that. Sleeping here, at your place, I mean. She told you she liked it here.”

More like she said that both Kuramochi and her liked it here. Ryousuke keeps that part under wraps, but he grins nonetheless, glancing down at Mieko and bringing his hand to her dark hair without a second thought. The orange, bear shaped clip in her hair is one that Ryousuke had given to her on her birthday. It’s a cute touch that solidifies her fondness for him. “Definitely because she likes me plenty…” It doesn’t take Ryousuke much longer to continue.

“You should invite me back to your place sometime. I haven’t been there in weeks since you two have taken to coming here everyday. Ryouta would like getting out someplace that wouldn’t have me dropping him off at my parents or Haruichi’s place.”

Kuramochi stiffens up for a moment, as if he’d been taken by surprise from the offer. But he relaxes easily, a dumb smile creeping up on his face. “We’d like to have you both over. Maybe tomorrow, if you want,” as he speaks, he stands easily. Mieko is lucky enough that he can still carry her without a hitch, though it’s rather surprising that she hasn’t woken up at the movement. “If you want, we’d still be able to… you know.”

And Ryousuke hums pleasantly. He holds his tongue as he trails after Kuramochi, making their way to the front door without much ceremony. There’s been nothing but sex in their relationship for quite some time, it’s no stretch to assume that it’ll stay like that for a while, even if the prospect of this changing drastically is very odd to think about. There’s no telling if them kissing tonight would change anything for the better or for the worse, but Ryousuke should take any change head on.

As Ryousuke unlocks and opens the door, he meets Kuramochi’s gaze with a near silent laugh. “You know, usually fuck-buddies don’t kiss and talk about plans with their families. Looks like we’re doing this all wrong now.”

The mention of that causes Kuramochi to let out a quick laugh, barked out as if in surprise. Ryousuke follows up on that with a lingering laugh of his own, barely audible. It’s as if they both aren’t aware of how to do things any differently than how it’s handed to them. That seems right… Just par for the course for the two of them.

“I guess we’ll… figure it out, Ryou-san. Maybe I’ll just be happy with kissing you whenever I want. That’s good for a start, right?”

That kick starts Ryousuke’s heart once again. It thuds against his chest as if it were trying to break out. Ryousuke doesn’t stop himself from resting his hand on his chest, nor does he tear his gaze from Kuramochi’s eyes. “I’ll be happy with that, too.” He doesn’t usually allow himself to be so openly infatuated with someone, but he’s already dated Kuramochi once. Being a little sappy can be excused now, for the most part. “Right. So you can kiss me again right now. And… You can drop the ‘Ryou-san’, too.”

With only a breath of hesitation and the slight widening of his eyes, Kuramochi does just as Ryousuke suggests, carefully leaning in close enough for their lips to brush together. They go no further than that, and Ryousuke can safely say that there is nothing better than a soft, chaste kiss so late into the night.

“Night, Youichi.” Ryousuke speaks up after Kuramochi has slipped his shoes on and stepped out of the door. Kuramochi only has one free hand, so he offers him a tiny wave in response.

His huge smile seems loaded with relief, a significant lilt in his voice that shows Kuramochi can’t hold back whenever he’s happy and wants to jump and scream out how he really feels. But with the little girl sleeping in his arms, he can only utter four words, each word spoken quickly, clearly. “Goodnight, Ryousuke. See you.”

With that, he’s turned his back and began making his way off. Ryousuke watches Kuramochi until he makes it far enough to where he’s descending the stairs down to the ground floor of the apartments before he’s closing the door and heading back to his room until he’ll have to tend to Ryouta once more for the night.

He’ll be expecting Kuramochi’s call first thing in the morning.