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He can't believe he's doing this. It's- well, embarrassing; and if he were being honest, Quiche was never been one to get overly embarrassed over anything. He was normally shameless in his feelings and actions, Ichigo, Pai, and Tart were the main ones who had called him a lot of kind of rude descriptors for that: presumptuous, proud, brash, even creepy (and man, that one had stung and bruised his ego a lot.), but since accepting Ichigo would never love him, he'd been trying the whole 'be happy and move on', thing. And it was awful and humiliating, to like someone so much and be so sure you were the best thing for them, only to see them be made happy by someone else.
But he powered through; his planet is on the way to recovering, and they're back on Earth for a visit. The time away was nice, and good for shaking off a lot of his feelings for Ichigo. It was good for perspective, too; he feels decidedly bad about how obsessive he acted, and bad about how forgiving Ichigo is. Aoyama is even willing to at least be civil, which is also kind of nice, in a weird way. (but it doesn't really stop Quiche from sticking his tongue out at him when Ichigo isn't looking. It's all about the little victories.)
They stay at the café. Obviously, there’s not a lot of places willing to house aliens, and it’s easy when everyone at the café knows about them; it’s like hanging around with friends. He regrets not being able to befriend the mews sooner. They’re all actually pretty nice, and it’s fun, hanging out and helping around the café. They planned to stay for the entire summer. Pai wanted to do a lot of research, and spends a lot of time in libraries or in the labs with the men who run the café. Tart just wants to hang out and play with Purin, and he goes over to her house a lot to help with her siblings. Quiche is both amused and proud. Neither of those are really surprising. But Quiche really didn’t come with a goal in mind. He’d just tagged along because going to Earth again sounded nice.
Ryou had been pretty blunt when he said they would have to work if they wanted to stay at the café, practically shoving the uniform in his hands. It was something to do, and the mews did it, along with Tasuku and Aoyama, so he didn’t have a problem with it. Tart didn’t either, seeing as he was practically following Purin around (while denying he was doing that. It was pretty funny.) And Pai was happy to help in the labs rather than on the café floor most days. There was never a dull day, even with no real problems or monsters to fight lately, the café was always kind of hectic and fast paced.
It was nice; just passing the days this way. Until the problem with Ryou started.
Ryou was the same age as him, if Pai’s math was right when he’d calculated Earth’s rotation when compared to their planet’s. Ryou was also an introvert, even if he was pretty good at faking it. (Tasuku had informed him that that was because Ryou had been a ‘rich kid’ and ‘socialites’ were good at that kind of thing- socialites being people like Mint or Zakuro, who had both money and good standing in upper society. He had been learning a lot about Earth culture from Tasuku, who, having missed the fighting with the aliens entirely, had no biases or anything and was a quick friend. Plus, he had more of a sense of humor than Aoyama. Quiche appreciated him.)
Ryou wasn’t just an introvert, he was also a workaholic. And Keiichiro, who was nice if not a little overbearing, had, for some reason, decided Quiche was the perfect little gopher to take Ryou food every now and then to make sure he didn’t forget to eat. He explained if he always did it, Ryou had a tendency to get annoyed and call him a nag. Quiche got that; and honestly, he kind of liked taking the food to wherever Ryou had holed himself up at.
They talked about their mutual Ichigo problem; or talked around it, more like. Ryou wouldn’t admit he had liked her too, but it was obvious. Quiche knew that look Ryou would shoot Aoyama, that kind of frustrated wrinkle of his nose. And the look he shot at Ichigo, a kind of wistful, mournful longing. Quiche had been there. Ryou turned red when Quiche had called him out on it at first, claiming she was his staff and that would have been really unprofessional of him, what are you talking about, no I don’t, etc.
A funny thing he discovered that day while teasing Ryou about their mutual (ex)crush is that Ryou could pop out cat ears if he got embarrassed, just like Ichigo. Ryou had explained he’d taken a shot of the animal RNA DNA before giving it to the girls to make sure it wouldn’t have like, hurt them or something, even though at that stage he was pretty sure it wouldn’t have. And it explained why Ryou’s hair was turning silver at age sixteen; the DNA hadn’t been compatible, not in the way it was with the girls, so there were weird side effects. Instead of transforming and getting powers, he could turn into a cat but ran the risk of getting stuck. To go that far for his team…Quiche had to admit it was admirable.
And even as funny as it had been to see Ryou get all huffy and make him swear not to tell the girls about the cat ears, Quiche really hadn’t given much thought to the warm fluttery feeling he got in his stomach. Not at that point, anyway.
It had become routine to go have lunch with the other boy; even if Quiche thrived at café rush hours and kind of liked the attention he got from some of the customers and had fun flirting, he really wasn’t trying to get into a relationship while he tried to sort out his complicated feelings. So he liked his little food breaks with Ryou, away from anyone else. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about; Ryou would ask him about his planet, his people, and prod him about things Pai was certainly more qualified to answer- but it was flattering Ryou would ask him because, in his words, Quiche’s opinions were ‘unique’ and he needed ‘multiple sources’, anyway.
Quiche would turn it around and ask questions he’d been wondering about Earth, the culture, the foods, the fashion, the people. Ryou was good at explaining things, and the other boy was smart enough that Quiche felt confident he could follow anything he was talking about and ask the right questions.
He was occasionally kind of a smug jerk, and Quiche usually wouldn’t resist the urge to throw a pen or a fruit garnish or whatever was in reach at him and laugh at him. It felt…comfortable, like they’d always been friends. Until one morning when Quiche had the opening shift and it was just them setting up tables together, and Ryou had stood in front of a heart window to stretch, orange light pouring around him and the window framing him, and Quiche had been certain he was going to have a heart attack. Ryou shooting him a little smirk and asking if he was ‘holding his mouth open trying to catch flies’ had not helped. He had thrown a cleaning rag at Ryou, and that had at least been a little satisfying, but it hadn’t stopped the hammering of his heart.
Which is why he was where he was now, having the worst, most embarrassing conversation of his life, and missing his important Ryou Lunch Time. He wasn’t avoiding him, he was just…he had no clue what to do about this and needed some perspective.
"I have a Ryou problem." He muttered, very quietly. Even admitting it was awful, but admitting it to Aoyama? The worst. He’d dragged him over to a secluded table when the work was slow, making sure Ryou wasn't anywhere nearby before starting the conversation. Aoyama had been remarkably patient, sipping on a colorful drink while Quiche tried to figure out how to word this.
"Oh, that's why you wanted to talk! I'm glad you're over Ichigo, then."
"I'm serious!"
"So am I."
“You jumped to the conclusion I liked him really fast; all I said was I had a problem with him.” Quiche pointed out.
“Yeah, well, he seemed to be fine when I saw him earlier. I figured if it was a fight, he would have been in a bad mood. Also, your face has been all red for most of the morning, and you’ve been avoiding him. So it was a normal conclusion?”
"Putting aside your creepy observation skills,” Quiche waved a hand. “I did have a reason for talking to you about this."
“I figured; you wouldn’t unless you were desperate. So?”
“How did you get Ichigo to like you?"
"...She actually asked me out first. I think even before then, we had mutual crushes on each other. I didn't actually do much?"
At the irritated look Quiche was shooting him, he laughed. So annoying. Quiche knew he shouldn’t have asked him. He’d been thinking he must have done something insanely charming to get Ichigo to choose him over Quiche, but…seems like that hadn’t been the case- it had just been timing, maybe? Mutual crushes… he couldn’t exactly say he thought Ryou liked him back, since Ryou seemed to act the same way around everyone as far as he’d been able to tell.
"Okay, Okay. I'd say...don't be as forceful as you were with Ichigo. Here on Earth, kissing before you even talk to them, without their consent? It's shallow and creepy at best, and grounds for an assault case and a black eye at worst."
"Me and him have talked, we’ve been talking since…I mean, we eat together every day!”
“If he turned you down, what would you do or say?” Aoyama asked, and Quiche frowned. He wasn’t sure.
“I don’t want to stop eating with him or hanging out…”
“You wouldn’t try to force him, right? I just think you should prepare for rejection, so you don’t do what you did with Ichigo. I’m sure he’d still want to eat with you even just as friends if he doesn’t feel the same way.”
“You're being a pessimist about romance?"
"Nope! I'm a pessimist about a lot of things, but right now I'm just being realistic. Rejection is something you really need to work on handling. I’m surprised you aren’t talking to Tasuku about this, actually. Or have you already?"
“No, he can’t keep a secret to save his life, poor guy.” It was probably for the best Tasuku and Berry were off today; they had synced off days for dates. It was gross and he was jealous about it. Quiche shook his head. Admittedly, he’d wanted to run and tell his friend first thing, interrupting their date for his own happenings. But more than that, he’d wanted to tell Ryou. But he didn’t want to mess up the good thing they had going, either. It was a really confusing, frustrating feeling. It hadn't been like that with Ichigo at all. There had been plenty of frustration and confusion, but there had never been a baseline friendship to mess up, considering they had started as enemies.
Ichigo wandered over, tilting her head at them. Aoyama shot her a smile, and Quiche rolled his eyes at the two of them.
"You guys are being civil? Should I be concerned?"
"Always." Quiche winked. Ichigo rolled her eyes, looking at Aoyama for an explanation.
"Quiche likes Ryou and is asking for advice."
Ichigo gasped very loudly, and then even louder, started to repeat:
"Quiche likes-"
"Shhh! Don’t scream it!" Quiche yelled. She covered her mouth with a grin. Quiche shot Aoyama a look. “You didn’t have to tell her, she’s even worse with secrets than Tasuku!”
“No, I definitely did have to tell her. We don’t keep secrets. That’s another important thing; though I guess you won’t really have to explain to Ryou that you’re an alien,” Aoyama shrugged. Ichigo laughed.
“Whatever, all of your advice is garbage,” Quiche muttered.
"You should make him chocolates, like Ichigo did for Aoyama-kun," Retatsu suggested.
"Uh, no, we don't want him to get food poisoning." Mint snickered.
“Will you two mind your own business and not eavesdrop?!” He hadn’t even heard the other girls sneak up! Nothing stayed a secret too long here; he had a hate-love relationship with that fact. Normally, he liked gossiping and teasing the others about their relationships. It suddenly was a lot less fun now that he was the one being teased.
“Um, how is it our fault if you’re being super obvious?” Mint asked.
“Like you’re not with your crush on Zakuro?”
She glowered. Then, she smiled a little too calmly, which was terrifying. Mint, he'd learned, was not someone to cross. She knew how to be petty.
“Hey, Purin!” She called.
“No, no, don’t you dare-” Purin was even worse with secrets than Tasuku or Ichigo!
“Do you have those love fortunes laying around? Quiche sounds like he could use one!” She said in a sing-song voice, shooting him a vindictive little smirk before sauntering off.
"Did Purin hear that right? Who do you like? It’s gotta be one of the mews, since you always hang out here all day, right?! Well, Let Purin do a love fortune for you! Only 500 yen!"
Quiche would deny it if anyone pointed out how he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Zakuro staring down at him intently.
"Quiche. Be sincere. And take it slow. One date, something casual. And if he says no, accept it." Zakuro said. "He probably won't say no, though. I've seen the way he looks at you."
“You didn’t even know who I’m talking about,” He grumbled, crossing his arms. She just raised a brow at him, and he groaned. Okay, maybe he’d been obvious, like Mint had said. Whatever. What if…Ryou already knew? And was just pretending not to, to be polite? God, that would be embarrassing…
“Him, not a her? Ohhh- that makes sense! It must be Ry-”
“Purin, don’t yell it and embarrass him-!” Retatsu said.
“You should tell him fast, or he’ll hear it from someone else,” And he hated Aoyama for being right about that. He could actually hear Purin telling Tart very loudly, and Tart's equally loud 'he WHAT?' He dragged himself away from the table to go look for Ryou before either of the other aliens heard and tried to confront him about it. He really, really didn't want to deal with that.
Anyway, it was better to get this done right away. He hated procrastinating; he had never been a patient person. Even just waiting most of the morning to get it off his chest had been agonizing.
…
Ryou wasn’t in the basement, though. He looked upstairs, and then the kitchen. Before he could even get the question out, Keiichiro smiled at told him Ryou was outside, behind the café.
And he was, covered in black smudges and wiping at his face with a rag. He caught Quiche staring and shot him a smile.
“Hey, ready for lunch?”
"Uh, yeah, but why are you all dirty?"
"I was working on my bike." Ryou leaned back, gesturing to the bike that was in fact, a few feet away. Huh, Quiche hadn’t even noticed it. “I heard some of the commotion earlier. I guess that’d explain why you were late for lunch.”
“...What’d you hear?”
“That you like someone? It’s none of my business; but it will be if it’s one of my girls. None of them would take those feelings lightly, so as long as you’re serious and not just messing around-”
“Who said it was one of them?” Quiche figured it was now or never. So he put on an easy smile, trying to look casual about this.
“Is it not?” Ryou frowned. “Oh. That makes things even more complicated. If it’s someone outside of the café we might have to explain the things we do here; unless you were going to lie about being an alien, which, by the way, isn’t a good idea either.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t someone from the café, I just said it wasn’t any of the girls. Geez, for such a smart guy, you can be stupid sometimes. I was going to ask you to go to lunch at a different restaurant today as a date, but you’re all dirty, so that’s out the window-”
“I’m sorry, are you trying to ask me out by insulting me?” Ryou interrupted him, his eyes wide.
Ryou stared at him. Quiche held his breath, waiting for an answer.
Then, Ryou started laughing at him.
“You could have just said no!” Quiche sputtered. “I can handle a no!”
“Can you?” Ryou grinned. “I wasn’t going to say no. You haven’t had Greek food yet, have you? I can go upstairs and clean up and I’ll take you if my helmet will fit over your ears.”
“I was going to be the one taking you, actually.” Quiche said. “And I can wear your little helmet, but you wouldn’t rather me fly you?”
“Sorry, who is it again that pays you? Any money you have is from me,” Ryou said with that smirk, the one that made Quiche’s stomach do a barrel roll. “I think I’ll pass on the flying; I need to test drive the modifications I just added to my bike. Maybe next time.”
“Oh, you’re already planning next time?” Quiche shot back. He couldn’t help his own grin. Ryou hadn’t said no; he was okay with this. This was really happening.
“Yes? We’ve been having lunch dates every day.” Ryou pointed out. “This might be our first one out, but I was thinking you already liked me for a while. I was just waiting on you to say something.”
“It...took me a while to realize it,” Quiche admitted. “After Ichigo, I just... wanna make sure I get it right this time.”
“I’m not really in any rush, Quiche. We have the rest of the summer, or however long you plan on loitering around,” He joked. Quiche gave him a light shove, snickering.
“You like me loitering, obviously.”
“I do like having you around.” Ryou said, and the sincerity made whatever snark he’d been ready to shoot back die on Quiche’s lips.
"I like being around," Quiche says.
Ryou just smiled at him before going inside.
Quiche decided to wait outside, knowing full well if he went in he'd get bombarded with questions. When they get back, he'll brag about landing such a hot blond bombshell and tease Ryou in front of the others.
But for now, he just stands outside with a goofy grin on his face, letting himself feel happy about how well it went. There was no struggle, nothing to try and force. It's nice, he decided. He could get used to this.