[Ficolate Fic] Sweet treat for floppy_snoopi
For: floppy_snoopi
From: Cupid-san
~~♥~~
Title: New friends, future lovers?
Pairings/Characters: Ryoda, (small, small, really small Kame appearance)
Rating: PG
Warnings: May be too speedy, if I can say that. Also, there are parts from Tatsuya's POV.
Notes: For floppy_snoopi
I was really stressed while writing it, so I'm sorry if it seems too hurried.
Summary: Ryo has always been mean to Tatsuya, but when he gets the opportunity to know him, Ueda seems so nice and they start hanging out together. Their friendship is really great, but Ryo has even stronger feelings that friends shouldn't have.
Ryo sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa in Kanjani8 dressing room. He wasn’t able to write a song no matter how hard he tried. He looked at the guitar in front of him. Nothing was inspiring him, and his mind went blank as soon as he started thinking of what to write. Even when he finally could think of something, he felt as if it needed more, but he didn’t know what. The melody itself was good. Maybe it was that the guitar by itself wasn't good enough. 'Yes that's it' Ryo thought. 'What if I put some piano in?'
Ryo hurriedly got up from the sofa and went out of the dressing room. Now he needed someone that could play piano. He was going to ask the first person who could play piano for help. As he was walking around the jimusho building, searching for someone, a guy came in. He was wearing casual clothes, nothing special, just jeans and a jacket covering anything underneath it. 'Oh no, did it have to be him?' Ryo thought when he spotted him. 'But he can play the piano; it should be worth it…'
"Hey Ueda!" Ryo shouted, and the older one turned around looking confused.
"Yeah, what is it?" Tatsuya replied.
"You play piano, right?" What a stupid question to ask, of course he does.
"Yes I do, what about it?" Tatsuya said, looking confused, but Ryo was too embarrassed to tell him that he needed his help. "Need help?"
"Yeah," Ryo tried saying it as casual as possible since the two of them didn’t get along that well. They usually fought as soon as they saw each other's faces, but on the other hand they hadn't met in a long time since Ryo was in Osaka most of the time.
"Sorry, I can't now… I have a photoshot in a while…" Tatsuya had an apologetic look as he said it.
"Oh... It's okay," Ryo mumbled, clearly disappointed. Why did he feel that way? He assumed that it was because he wanted someone to play the piano part; maybe he was too desperate.
"We can meet up later." When Tatsuya said that, Ryo lit up- he was so happy.
"Sure, are you free after work?" he asked, and Tatsuya nodded. "Where should we meet?"
"Is my apartment okay? The Jimusho is creepy at night…" Tatsuya said looking around as if he was imagining how it would be like. It was true; it was really scary when it was dark.
"Sure, no problem! I'll see you later then," Ryo said. Then they bid their goodbyes, and each went to his group's dressing room. Tatsuya had told him that he'd be waiting for him in parking lot after he finished his schedule. Ryo was really excited for the evening. When the Kanjani members asked him about the reason for his excitement and he answered that he would be meeting Ueda to write his song, they didn’t believe it since his relationship with Tatsuya had always been bad. They only laughed at him when he said that they had grown up.
Ryo finished his schedule a little later than expected. The rehearsal took longer because of the members fooling around. He felt really stressed. He didn't want to make Ueda wait. He didn’t know why he wanted to look like he had changed from before, but he didn’t want to leave a bad impression. He quickly changed his clothes, said goodbye to the members and rushed to the parking lot.
Ryo saw Ueda as soon as he entered the parking lot; he was leaning against his car. Ryo's steps quickened, 'I hope that he hasn't waited for too long,' he thought. He exchanged greetings with Ueda and they drove off to Tatsuya's home. On the way they chatted about their work. It wasn’t awkward, since they were talking about something they love. The drive to Ueda's apartment wasn't that long, but it felt like it was even shorter than it actually was.
Ryo and Tatsuya got off the car, and took the elevator to the older one's floor. They approached the door, and Tatsuya opened it. As soon as the door opened, dogs jumped at him and started licking his face happily. When Ryo saw Tatsuya patting his pets and talking with them very sweetly, he smiled. Once the dogs had calmed down, they noticed the stranger that was standing at the doorway and the biggest one started barking.
"It okay sweetie, he's a friend," Tatsuya said, patting the dog. Ryo's heart fluttered- Ueda said that they were friends. He couldn't be falling for Ueda, could he? "Nishikido, why are you just standing there? Come in," Tatsuya said.
He was embarrassing himself only standing there like a statue. He took of his shoes and followed Tatsuya inside. The furniture was really nice; there was nothing untidy, but there were pieces of clothes in the corner of the room. Tatsuya took the dogs with him and went to another room, telling Ryo to wait a minute. When he came back again, the dogs were not with him anymore.
"Sorry, they can be really noisy sometimes."
"Don't worry about it," Ryo said.
"So, should we go the music room?" the taller lad said, and Ryo nodded. The room was really big, and there was a grand piano in the middle of it. There were also other instruments scattered around the place. Tatsuya went to the middle and sat in front of the piano. "Take a guitar and come sit here," he said and patted a chair right beside him. Ryo did as he was told.
"What is it that you need help with Nishikido?" Tatsuya asked, playing on the keys.
"Well, you see…" Ryo began and started searching in his bag. "…I began writing the song. but it feels like something is missing. I think it needs a piano sound in the background." He gave the sheets to Tatsuya.
"Hmm…" he said after a while. "Can you play it? I want to hear it first."
"Sure," Ryo said and started playing. He knew it by heart since he had been playing the song for so long, trying to figure out what was wrong. About half way through the song, Tatsuya started playing the piano, and it felt so synchronized. The feeling it had was gentle and very natural.
"Wow, that sounded really good!" was the only thing Ryo could say. He was stunned-
it sounded so good at the first try.
"Yeah, I actually liked it!" Tatsuya said, looking happy at the nice work. "We only need to fix it a bit here and there," he said. They started working on the song again. It went smoothly. They had no problems, and they actually got along pretty well. Ryo started wondering why he had been so mean and harsh with Ueda when they had been juniors,. Yes it was in the script, but Ryo always had to overdo it and continue also when the shooting was done. It was only written once, but Ryo had always continued doing it. Why was it? Why did he continue?
Even if sometimes Ryo wanted to stop himself, he would just say bad things to Ueda without noticing. Nowadays they didn’t meet, their groups not having any work together.
The time flew by faster than expected, and Ryo was home before he even knew it.
***********************************
Tatsuya's heart had been fluttering the whole evening. He loved Ryo. He had noticed it not so long ago. Since Ryo had focused on being a Kanjani8 member only, they almost never met. Ueda noticed how much he had missed him then. He didn't know when he started developing that love for Ryo, but by now it was almost too much to bear. No one besides Kazuya knew about it, but Kazuya was his best friend so he noticed it very fast.
When Ryo had called his name this morning, he had felt his heart beating faster. He felt so happy when Ryo didn’t insult him but wanted his help. He felt that there maybe was hope in the relationship. He was afraid that they wouldn't be able to meet since he had his schedule. He was so nervous that Ryo wouldn’t accept coming to his apartment to work, but he actually did. Tatsuya felt like he was in heaven, and the evening had gone so smoothly. They didn’t go anywhere near, not even once. Ueda went to bed with a big smile on his face.
The next morning was really hectic. Tatsuya forgot to set his alarm, so he woke up late. He quickly took a shower and brushed his teeth. He put on some random clothes and ran to his car. On his car window, there was a piece of paper, and Tatsuya took it and unfolded it.
'Thank you for your help yesterday!
As a thank you let me take you out for dinner, here is my number!
XXXXXXXX - Ryo
Tatsuya didn’t know how to react. He was too happy. He took his phone out to text Ryo, 'Oh crap! I'm late', he thought and put the cellphone and paper into his pocket. Why was the traffic so bad when one was in a hurry? When he arrived to the Jimusho, he ran to the dressing room. He had made it on time; Yuichi still hadn’t arrived yet.
"So, how did it go yesterday?" Kazuya asked running towards Ueda without even a greeting, but it didn’t matter. They were always like that.
"It was really fun," Ueda said, happy about seeing his best friend. Kazuya should know since Kazuya also tells him everything. Tatsuya mentioned everything that had happened enthusiastically, and he didn’t forget to mention the piece of paper he got this morning.
That day KAT-TUN' s schedule wasn’t too packed, so everyone got to leave early. Tatsuya remembered that he still hadn't texted Ryo, so he decided to do that. He told him that he'd had fun yesterday and that he was free anytime for the dinner. It wasn’t until an hour later that Tatsuya got an answer from Ryo.
-Are you free on Sunday evening? I know a great restaurant!-
-Sure! I'm looking forward to it!-
***********************************
Ryo was really nervous for Sunday, and the week went by faster than expected. Before Ryo could think of it, the promised day had come. He had told Tatsuya that he would come to pick him up, so he had to leave a little earlier. And as Ryo had anticipated, Tatsuya looked fabulous. He wasn't wearing anything special, but it looked amazing in Ryo's eyes. His heart was fluttering the whole time.
First Ryo drove off to the restaurant and they had dinner. They talked about a lot of stuff, but it was never awkward. Ryo felt strangely comfortable around the taller lad. There was something calming about him. There was no pressure and Ryo strangely didn’t need to worry about whether he was pleasing Tatsuya. Why would he be feeling that way? Was there any chance that Ryo was falling in love with Tatsuya?
Maybe…
After dinner, they just went to a quiet place to chat. They were sitting on a bench in a beautifully looking park. They both knew how tough it was to be an idol - sometimes you needed to just sit down, relax and enjoy the view. They had to relax from time to time. One can almost never be at ease with all the reporters that always take pictures.
Looking at the beautiful Tatsuya, Ryo was thinking that he must have fallen for the guy. But could anyone fall in love so fast? Or could it be that Ryo was already in love with him before without ever noticing it?
Did it even matter? He was in love with Tatsuya. Ryo always thought that love would always be enough; time never had any meaning.
It was a really enjoyable day; the dinner had been delicious and the place they were at was wonderful, but the man next to Ryo was the best thing of the whole day. Ryo regretted being so mean to him before, but it had already happened, so there was no use worrying about the past when the present was so much better.
The time had passed by quickly. The two of them had been sitting and chatting for more than an hour. The weather was also getting cold, and the sky was already dark so they decided that they would leave. Ryo drove Tatsuya home and went home himself. The first thing he did when he opened the door was going to the fridge to drink water. His mouth was dry after all the talking.
***********************************
Weeks went by, and Ryo and Tatsuya became good friends. They texted each other and went out a lot. Tatsuya only loved Ryo more and more the more time they spent together. People in the jimusho were really confused because the two of them always fought in the past, but they suddenly started hanging out together. It was all strange, but yet so natural to Tatsuya and Ryo.
Tatsuya was hesitating about whether he should or shouldn't tell Ryo about his feelings. Their relationship had just gotten better. Maybe it would ruin their newly born friendship, and if that happened then Tatsuya would hate himself. He didn’t want everything to go back to how it was before. It took years for them to become friends. He hated the time when they used to fight.
***********************************
Ryo and Tatsuya were together at the jimusho to Ryo was deep in thought. He was wondering if he was satisfied with their relationship. Didn’t he want to be a more important part in Tatsuya's life? Ryo really felt like he was blessed that he could even be with Tatsuya. They wouldn't even talk before, and now they were great friends. But he wanted more. Was he too greedy?
"Ryo, can you help me with something?" Tatsuya asked, red in the face.
"Sure, what is it?" Ryo questioned, curious. He wondered what Tatsuya was so embarrassed about.
"Well, you see… my niece's first birthday is coming up, so I thought that I would make her a small cake, but the thing is that I can't actually make anything edible. So I was wondering if you could help me," Tatsuya said in one breath.
"No Tatsuya, I couldn’t. I would love to!" Ryo said, laughing at the face Tatsuya made when he said 'no'. Ryo really loved being by Tatsuya's side; he loved casually saying his name, he loved everything about him. The distance between them had narrowed so much, and it made him really happy. 'Alright!' he thought. 'I'm going to confess as soon as I get the possibility!'
"Great! Are you free after work today?" Tatsuya asked, and Ryo replied with a 'Yeah.' They decided to meet up in Ryo's apartment.
Later that evening, Ryo was running around his apartment cleaning. It wasn’t the first time that Tatsuya was visiting, but Ryo couldn't help but feel nervous. The person he loved was coming over, and he wanted to look as neat as possible.
Ryo was in his room, changing into something comfortable, when the doorbell started ringing, he hurriedly put on his pants and ran to the door. He opened it and greeted the other lad with a huge smile. He was happy to see him. Tatsuya was wearing jeans and a lose top, which was occasionally showing part of his shoulder, but Tatsuya would pull it up when he noticed.
"You mentioned that your niece loved strawberries, right?" Ryo asked, confirming what he was told earlier.
"Yeah, she loves them!" Tatsuya said, remembering his cute niece.
"Then let's make a strawberry cake and to make it more fun let's make two. You make one, and I make one too!" Ryo suggested.
"But I have no idea how to make one alone!" Tatsuya whined, but Ryo managed to convince him to try at least. If he really didn't get anywhere, Ryo promised to help him.
When they finally started making the cakes, things began well. They prepared all the ingredients on the table, and they also had the recipe in front of them. But when they were supposed to mix the ingredients, Ryo noticed that Tatsuya really was bad at baking. He knocked down the egg to the floor while he was reaching for the flour. And when he wanted to put a little more flour to the batter, he happened to put too much, and the flour got all the way up to his face and hair. It was all a disaster. Ryo had to stop him before they got to the oven part because who knows what would have happened to his house.
What was supposed to be a challenge between them unfortunately ended halfway through. Ryo told Tatsuya to make the whipped cream as that didn’t seem dangerous, and indeed it went well. Ryo let the cake to bake in the oven while he prepared the strawberries. He cut them into thin slices to decorate the cake later. Tatsuya, who had nothing to do, stood beside Ryo and watched him cut while he took some of the strawberries to eat them.
"Tatsuya?"
"Yeah?" Tatsuya said, totally engrossed in the strawberries stealing.
"I don’t think you should make cake for your niece… I mean look at the floor, it's a mess" Ryo said carefully, afraid that Tatsuya would get hurt.
"I think so too," Tatsuya mumbled looking at the floor that was covered in eggs and flour.
"Maybe you could get her a doll instead, little kids love toys" Ryo suggested.
"You think so?" Tatsuya asked, and Ryo nodded.
When the cake was done, Ryo took it out from the oven. The smell was really nice. Ryo told Tatsuya to go take a bath while he decorated. He gave him a towel and clothes to change into. They would eat the cake after Tatsuya finishes showering.
Ryo cleaned the floor and then started decorating the cake. He covered it with whipped cream and then put layers of strawberries on it. Ryo looked at the cake and thought of something. He looked at the clock. It was 11:38 pm, 13th February, 22 minutes left until Valentine's day. He was going to confess tonight. He took out a small, thin triangular piece of chocolate that would fit a slice. He carved: 'I love you Ueda Tatsuya' into it and put it beneath the cake. Now he only needed to make sure that he cuts the cake and not Tatsuya.
When Tatsuya got out of the shower, he was whining that he was hungry, so Ryo made tea and prepared the cake on the table. Ryo was getting nervous as the time went. He quickly finished the tea and poured it into the cups that were settled on the table. Ryo was careful when he cut the cake because he didn’t want to ruin his small surprise.
"Itadakimasu!" both said when their pieces where on the plates. Ryo couldn’t eat; he only ate small bites because he was observing Tatsuya. He wanted to see his reaction.
"It's delicious!" Tatsuya exclaimed with happiness, eating quickly. When he got to the bottom he noticed something hard. "Eh, there's something at the bottom!" He began eating faster. When he had eaten the whole slice, he took up the chocolate, licked away the whipped cream and read the words.
He looked up at Ryo, who was dying of nervousness and said softly: "Ryo… Do you mean it?"
Ryo drank from the tea because his mouth was dry. He couldn’t back down now, could he? He put on a nervous smile, "Yes, I mean it. Ueda Tatsuya, will you be my valentine this year and all the years to come and for eternity?"
"Ryo, of course I will! I've been wishing for this for such a long time," Tatsuya said looking into Ryo's eyes.
Ryo leaned over the table, his shirt getting whipped cream on it, but he couldn’t care less. His face got close to Tatsuya's, and their lips were sealed in a kiss.
"I love you, Tatsuya."
"I love you too Ryo."
***********************************
From: Cupid-san
~~♥~~
Title: New friends, future lovers?
Pairings/Characters: Ryoda, (small, small, really small Kame appearance)
Rating: PG
Warnings: May be too speedy, if I can say that. Also, there are parts from Tatsuya's POV.
Notes: For floppy_snoopi
I was really stressed while writing it, so I'm sorry if it seems too hurried.
Summary: Ryo has always been mean to Tatsuya, but when he gets the opportunity to know him, Ueda seems so nice and they start hanging out together. Their friendship is really great, but Ryo has even stronger feelings that friends shouldn't have.
Ryo sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa in Kanjani8 dressing room. He wasn’t able to write a song no matter how hard he tried. He looked at the guitar in front of him. Nothing was inspiring him, and his mind went blank as soon as he started thinking of what to write. Even when he finally could think of something, he felt as if it needed more, but he didn’t know what. The melody itself was good. Maybe it was that the guitar by itself wasn't good enough. 'Yes that's it' Ryo thought. 'What if I put some piano in?'
Ryo hurriedly got up from the sofa and went out of the dressing room. Now he needed someone that could play piano. He was going to ask the first person who could play piano for help. As he was walking around the jimusho building, searching for someone, a guy came in. He was wearing casual clothes, nothing special, just jeans and a jacket covering anything underneath it. 'Oh no, did it have to be him?' Ryo thought when he spotted him. 'But he can play the piano; it should be worth it…'
"Hey Ueda!" Ryo shouted, and the older one turned around looking confused.
"Yeah, what is it?" Tatsuya replied.
"You play piano, right?" What a stupid question to ask, of course he does.
"Yes I do, what about it?" Tatsuya said, looking confused, but Ryo was too embarrassed to tell him that he needed his help. "Need help?"
"Yeah," Ryo tried saying it as casual as possible since the two of them didn’t get along that well. They usually fought as soon as they saw each other's faces, but on the other hand they hadn't met in a long time since Ryo was in Osaka most of the time.
"Sorry, I can't now… I have a photoshot in a while…" Tatsuya had an apologetic look as he said it.
"Oh... It's okay," Ryo mumbled, clearly disappointed. Why did he feel that way? He assumed that it was because he wanted someone to play the piano part; maybe he was too desperate.
"We can meet up later." When Tatsuya said that, Ryo lit up- he was so happy.
"Sure, are you free after work?" he asked, and Tatsuya nodded. "Where should we meet?"
"Is my apartment okay? The Jimusho is creepy at night…" Tatsuya said looking around as if he was imagining how it would be like. It was true; it was really scary when it was dark.
"Sure, no problem! I'll see you later then," Ryo said. Then they bid their goodbyes, and each went to his group's dressing room. Tatsuya had told him that he'd be waiting for him in parking lot after he finished his schedule. Ryo was really excited for the evening. When the Kanjani members asked him about the reason for his excitement and he answered that he would be meeting Ueda to write his song, they didn’t believe it since his relationship with Tatsuya had always been bad. They only laughed at him when he said that they had grown up.
Ryo finished his schedule a little later than expected. The rehearsal took longer because of the members fooling around. He felt really stressed. He didn't want to make Ueda wait. He didn’t know why he wanted to look like he had changed from before, but he didn’t want to leave a bad impression. He quickly changed his clothes, said goodbye to the members and rushed to the parking lot.
Ryo saw Ueda as soon as he entered the parking lot; he was leaning against his car. Ryo's steps quickened, 'I hope that he hasn't waited for too long,' he thought. He exchanged greetings with Ueda and they drove off to Tatsuya's home. On the way they chatted about their work. It wasn’t awkward, since they were talking about something they love. The drive to Ueda's apartment wasn't that long, but it felt like it was even shorter than it actually was.
Ryo and Tatsuya got off the car, and took the elevator to the older one's floor. They approached the door, and Tatsuya opened it. As soon as the door opened, dogs jumped at him and started licking his face happily. When Ryo saw Tatsuya patting his pets and talking with them very sweetly, he smiled. Once the dogs had calmed down, they noticed the stranger that was standing at the doorway and the biggest one started barking.
"It okay sweetie, he's a friend," Tatsuya said, patting the dog. Ryo's heart fluttered- Ueda said that they were friends. He couldn't be falling for Ueda, could he? "Nishikido, why are you just standing there? Come in," Tatsuya said.
He was embarrassing himself only standing there like a statue. He took of his shoes and followed Tatsuya inside. The furniture was really nice; there was nothing untidy, but there were pieces of clothes in the corner of the room. Tatsuya took the dogs with him and went to another room, telling Ryo to wait a minute. When he came back again, the dogs were not with him anymore.
"Sorry, they can be really noisy sometimes."
"Don't worry about it," Ryo said.
"So, should we go the music room?" the taller lad said, and Ryo nodded. The room was really big, and there was a grand piano in the middle of it. There were also other instruments scattered around the place. Tatsuya went to the middle and sat in front of the piano. "Take a guitar and come sit here," he said and patted a chair right beside him. Ryo did as he was told.
"What is it that you need help with Nishikido?" Tatsuya asked, playing on the keys.
"Well, you see…" Ryo began and started searching in his bag. "…I began writing the song. but it feels like something is missing. I think it needs a piano sound in the background." He gave the sheets to Tatsuya.
"Hmm…" he said after a while. "Can you play it? I want to hear it first."
"Sure," Ryo said and started playing. He knew it by heart since he had been playing the song for so long, trying to figure out what was wrong. About half way through the song, Tatsuya started playing the piano, and it felt so synchronized. The feeling it had was gentle and very natural.
"Wow, that sounded really good!" was the only thing Ryo could say. He was stunned-
it sounded so good at the first try.
"Yeah, I actually liked it!" Tatsuya said, looking happy at the nice work. "We only need to fix it a bit here and there," he said. They started working on the song again. It went smoothly. They had no problems, and they actually got along pretty well. Ryo started wondering why he had been so mean and harsh with Ueda when they had been juniors,. Yes it was in the script, but Ryo always had to overdo it and continue also when the shooting was done. It was only written once, but Ryo had always continued doing it. Why was it? Why did he continue?
Even if sometimes Ryo wanted to stop himself, he would just say bad things to Ueda without noticing. Nowadays they didn’t meet, their groups not having any work together.
The time flew by faster than expected, and Ryo was home before he even knew it.
***********************************
Tatsuya's heart had been fluttering the whole evening. He loved Ryo. He had noticed it not so long ago. Since Ryo had focused on being a Kanjani8 member only, they almost never met. Ueda noticed how much he had missed him then. He didn't know when he started developing that love for Ryo, but by now it was almost too much to bear. No one besides Kazuya knew about it, but Kazuya was his best friend so he noticed it very fast.
When Ryo had called his name this morning, he had felt his heart beating faster. He felt so happy when Ryo didn’t insult him but wanted his help. He felt that there maybe was hope in the relationship. He was afraid that they wouldn't be able to meet since he had his schedule. He was so nervous that Ryo wouldn’t accept coming to his apartment to work, but he actually did. Tatsuya felt like he was in heaven, and the evening had gone so smoothly. They didn’t go anywhere near, not even once. Ueda went to bed with a big smile on his face.
The next morning was really hectic. Tatsuya forgot to set his alarm, so he woke up late. He quickly took a shower and brushed his teeth. He put on some random clothes and ran to his car. On his car window, there was a piece of paper, and Tatsuya took it and unfolded it.
'Thank you for your help yesterday!
As a thank you let me take you out for dinner, here is my number!
XXXXXXXX - Ryo
Tatsuya didn’t know how to react. He was too happy. He took his phone out to text Ryo, 'Oh crap! I'm late', he thought and put the cellphone and paper into his pocket. Why was the traffic so bad when one was in a hurry? When he arrived to the Jimusho, he ran to the dressing room. He had made it on time; Yuichi still hadn’t arrived yet.
"So, how did it go yesterday?" Kazuya asked running towards Ueda without even a greeting, but it didn’t matter. They were always like that.
"It was really fun," Ueda said, happy about seeing his best friend. Kazuya should know since Kazuya also tells him everything. Tatsuya mentioned everything that had happened enthusiastically, and he didn’t forget to mention the piece of paper he got this morning.
That day KAT-TUN' s schedule wasn’t too packed, so everyone got to leave early. Tatsuya remembered that he still hadn't texted Ryo, so he decided to do that. He told him that he'd had fun yesterday and that he was free anytime for the dinner. It wasn’t until an hour later that Tatsuya got an answer from Ryo.
-Are you free on Sunday evening? I know a great restaurant!-
-Sure! I'm looking forward to it!-
***********************************
Ryo was really nervous for Sunday, and the week went by faster than expected. Before Ryo could think of it, the promised day had come. He had told Tatsuya that he would come to pick him up, so he had to leave a little earlier. And as Ryo had anticipated, Tatsuya looked fabulous. He wasn't wearing anything special, but it looked amazing in Ryo's eyes. His heart was fluttering the whole time.
First Ryo drove off to the restaurant and they had dinner. They talked about a lot of stuff, but it was never awkward. Ryo felt strangely comfortable around the taller lad. There was something calming about him. There was no pressure and Ryo strangely didn’t need to worry about whether he was pleasing Tatsuya. Why would he be feeling that way? Was there any chance that Ryo was falling in love with Tatsuya?
Maybe…
After dinner, they just went to a quiet place to chat. They were sitting on a bench in a beautifully looking park. They both knew how tough it was to be an idol - sometimes you needed to just sit down, relax and enjoy the view. They had to relax from time to time. One can almost never be at ease with all the reporters that always take pictures.
Looking at the beautiful Tatsuya, Ryo was thinking that he must have fallen for the guy. But could anyone fall in love so fast? Or could it be that Ryo was already in love with him before without ever noticing it?
Did it even matter? He was in love with Tatsuya. Ryo always thought that love would always be enough; time never had any meaning.
It was a really enjoyable day; the dinner had been delicious and the place they were at was wonderful, but the man next to Ryo was the best thing of the whole day. Ryo regretted being so mean to him before, but it had already happened, so there was no use worrying about the past when the present was so much better.
The time had passed by quickly. The two of them had been sitting and chatting for more than an hour. The weather was also getting cold, and the sky was already dark so they decided that they would leave. Ryo drove Tatsuya home and went home himself. The first thing he did when he opened the door was going to the fridge to drink water. His mouth was dry after all the talking.
***********************************
Weeks went by, and Ryo and Tatsuya became good friends. They texted each other and went out a lot. Tatsuya only loved Ryo more and more the more time they spent together. People in the jimusho were really confused because the two of them always fought in the past, but they suddenly started hanging out together. It was all strange, but yet so natural to Tatsuya and Ryo.
Tatsuya was hesitating about whether he should or shouldn't tell Ryo about his feelings. Their relationship had just gotten better. Maybe it would ruin their newly born friendship, and if that happened then Tatsuya would hate himself. He didn’t want everything to go back to how it was before. It took years for them to become friends. He hated the time when they used to fight.
***********************************
Ryo and Tatsuya were together at the jimusho to Ryo was deep in thought. He was wondering if he was satisfied with their relationship. Didn’t he want to be a more important part in Tatsuya's life? Ryo really felt like he was blessed that he could even be with Tatsuya. They wouldn't even talk before, and now they were great friends. But he wanted more. Was he too greedy?
"Ryo, can you help me with something?" Tatsuya asked, red in the face.
"Sure, what is it?" Ryo questioned, curious. He wondered what Tatsuya was so embarrassed about.
"Well, you see… my niece's first birthday is coming up, so I thought that I would make her a small cake, but the thing is that I can't actually make anything edible. So I was wondering if you could help me," Tatsuya said in one breath.
"No Tatsuya, I couldn’t. I would love to!" Ryo said, laughing at the face Tatsuya made when he said 'no'. Ryo really loved being by Tatsuya's side; he loved casually saying his name, he loved everything about him. The distance between them had narrowed so much, and it made him really happy. 'Alright!' he thought. 'I'm going to confess as soon as I get the possibility!'
"Great! Are you free after work today?" Tatsuya asked, and Ryo replied with a 'Yeah.' They decided to meet up in Ryo's apartment.
Later that evening, Ryo was running around his apartment cleaning. It wasn’t the first time that Tatsuya was visiting, but Ryo couldn't help but feel nervous. The person he loved was coming over, and he wanted to look as neat as possible.
Ryo was in his room, changing into something comfortable, when the doorbell started ringing, he hurriedly put on his pants and ran to the door. He opened it and greeted the other lad with a huge smile. He was happy to see him. Tatsuya was wearing jeans and a lose top, which was occasionally showing part of his shoulder, but Tatsuya would pull it up when he noticed.
"You mentioned that your niece loved strawberries, right?" Ryo asked, confirming what he was told earlier.
"Yeah, she loves them!" Tatsuya said, remembering his cute niece.
"Then let's make a strawberry cake and to make it more fun let's make two. You make one, and I make one too!" Ryo suggested.
"But I have no idea how to make one alone!" Tatsuya whined, but Ryo managed to convince him to try at least. If he really didn't get anywhere, Ryo promised to help him.
When they finally started making the cakes, things began well. They prepared all the ingredients on the table, and they also had the recipe in front of them. But when they were supposed to mix the ingredients, Ryo noticed that Tatsuya really was bad at baking. He knocked down the egg to the floor while he was reaching for the flour. And when he wanted to put a little more flour to the batter, he happened to put too much, and the flour got all the way up to his face and hair. It was all a disaster. Ryo had to stop him before they got to the oven part because who knows what would have happened to his house.
What was supposed to be a challenge between them unfortunately ended halfway through. Ryo told Tatsuya to make the whipped cream as that didn’t seem dangerous, and indeed it went well. Ryo let the cake to bake in the oven while he prepared the strawberries. He cut them into thin slices to decorate the cake later. Tatsuya, who had nothing to do, stood beside Ryo and watched him cut while he took some of the strawberries to eat them.
"Tatsuya?"
"Yeah?" Tatsuya said, totally engrossed in the strawberries stealing.
"I don’t think you should make cake for your niece… I mean look at the floor, it's a mess" Ryo said carefully, afraid that Tatsuya would get hurt.
"I think so too," Tatsuya mumbled looking at the floor that was covered in eggs and flour.
"Maybe you could get her a doll instead, little kids love toys" Ryo suggested.
"You think so?" Tatsuya asked, and Ryo nodded.
When the cake was done, Ryo took it out from the oven. The smell was really nice. Ryo told Tatsuya to go take a bath while he decorated. He gave him a towel and clothes to change into. They would eat the cake after Tatsuya finishes showering.
Ryo cleaned the floor and then started decorating the cake. He covered it with whipped cream and then put layers of strawberries on it. Ryo looked at the cake and thought of something. He looked at the clock. It was 11:38 pm, 13th February, 22 minutes left until Valentine's day. He was going to confess tonight. He took out a small, thin triangular piece of chocolate that would fit a slice. He carved: 'I love you Ueda Tatsuya' into it and put it beneath the cake. Now he only needed to make sure that he cuts the cake and not Tatsuya.
When Tatsuya got out of the shower, he was whining that he was hungry, so Ryo made tea and prepared the cake on the table. Ryo was getting nervous as the time went. He quickly finished the tea and poured it into the cups that were settled on the table. Ryo was careful when he cut the cake because he didn’t want to ruin his small surprise.
"Itadakimasu!" both said when their pieces where on the plates. Ryo couldn’t eat; he only ate small bites because he was observing Tatsuya. He wanted to see his reaction.
"It's delicious!" Tatsuya exclaimed with happiness, eating quickly. When he got to the bottom he noticed something hard. "Eh, there's something at the bottom!" He began eating faster. When he had eaten the whole slice, he took up the chocolate, licked away the whipped cream and read the words.
He looked up at Ryo, who was dying of nervousness and said softly: "Ryo… Do you mean it?"
Ryo drank from the tea because his mouth was dry. He couldn’t back down now, could he? He put on a nervous smile, "Yes, I mean it. Ueda Tatsuya, will you be my valentine this year and all the years to come and for eternity?"
"Ryo, of course I will! I've been wishing for this for such a long time," Tatsuya said looking into Ryo's eyes.
Ryo leaned over the table, his shirt getting whipped cream on it, but he couldn’t care less. His face got close to Tatsuya's, and their lips were sealed in a kiss.
"I love you, Tatsuya."
"I love you too Ryo."
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