Work Text:
Despite the barely done homework dangling off of Rimuru's desk, he was lying stomach-down on his bed reading his manga without a single thought in his head about finishing it. Souei had tricked him into doing all of his math homework with the promise to take him to the newly opened cat cafe if he finished all of it on time. Rimuru should have realized after all these years that he would have done that anyway. In revenge, he was going to ignore the English homework until the last second.
His phone was lying on his pillow, playing the soundtrack from his new favorite game. The jaunty music from one of the shops was one of his favorites, so he was humming quietly along. Thankfully his room had good air conditioning. This spring was hotter than the last by a lot, with the threat of summer looming over him and his long, thick hair and tendency to sweat easier than all of his friends.
How Shion and Shuna wore layers in this heat without complaint was a mystery. The two girls were certainly more fashionable than Rimuru. Him and his usual shorts and t-shirts (when he wasn't wearing his school uniform) weren't comparable to them and their constant stylish layering. Souka with her year-round scarf, too.
Rimuru startled at the sharp clattering coming from his balcony window. He looked at his alarm clock on his nightstand, smiling at the bright red 23:00 flashing at him. Setting aside his manga and turning off his music, he sat up. The clattering continued during the brief stretching he did to crack his back after his three hours spent reading.
His parents wouldn't hear the rocks at his window, not with his obnoxiously loud older brother Veldora playing his games. His shouting was still quite audible despite his door being closed for the night. And even if it wasn't, Ranga's endless puppy energy running through the house intermittently wouldn't sound any different than the noises of him sneaking out.
Once satisfied, he got up and walked to his balcony, pushing the curtains aside and sliding open the door, stepping into the slightly cooler spring nighttime air. He leaned on the metal railing to look down into the empty street below.
"Hello there, handsome stranger," he greeted, one hand on his cheek and a fond smile on his face. "You know, you could just come up," he said, locking eyes with his boyfriend, who dropped the small rock he was about to fling up at his window. "We both know you know how to climb."
"I thought I might save us both some time," Souei said, giving a loose shrug.
Even from high up, Rimuru appreciated how his form fitting white tank top left his broad shoulders and well defined muscles on display. In contrast, Rimuru was lanky and short, drowning in his loose blue shirt. He wasn't exactly the most eligible man in the world, despite what Souei always said.
In response to his teasing, Souei responded, "How would you like to come with me tonight, beautiful?"
Rimuru rolled his eyes a little at his obvious flirting, but he went back inside and slipped on his shoes, the ones he kept under his bed for nights like this, and climbed over the railing, scaling down the side of his house. He instinctually found his footing on the small grooves in the worn, white outer walls despite the limited lighting.
Souei was of course waiting below in the empty street, helping him down the last part where Rimuru had no more footholds and thus had to leap down. The landing never hurt when Souei was there. Rimuru always had the urge to jump down from the second floor to see if Souei would catch him. He would, but Rimuru wouldn't make him.
"You're late," Rimuru said, already taking Souei by the hand, letting him start their trek down the empty street. It was dark with little streetlamps to light their way, but when Souei took the lead, he never stumbled, and wouldn't let Rimuru either. He always joked that it was because Souei was secretly a cat with night vision parading as a human.
His curfew started at 9pm, and Souei was usually there to help him sneak out at 10pm, just after Rimuru's parents went to bed. Souei's family trusted him to come home safe and sound no matter how late he stayed out. Lucky him.
"Kurobe needed me to stay longer." Souei shrugged, easily keeping up with Rimuru's naturally fast walking. It wasn't hard when Rimuru was easily the shortest person in their class and Souei was one of the tallest, just behind his best friend Benimaru.
"He works you too hard." Rimuru could already feel the sweat growing on the back of his neck with the heat. "Ugh, summer is coming too soon," he muttered, pulling his thick hair to the side.
Without having to ask, Souei removed the hair tie from his wrist and handed it to him to let him tie it up in a high ponytail. Sometimes Rimuru envied Souei's shorter haircut, but he liked having long hair too much to cut it. Souei's short, beautiful navy hair standing next to Rimuru's long, light blue seemed too perfect a match to change anyway. He also would loathe to give up having Souei's gentle hands braid it during the heat. Sitting up in his room for hours after school listening to music or just talking was definitely Rimuru's favorite thing to do.
"He pays me well," Souei defended easily, far too used to Rimuru's complaints about his part-time job. "And he promised to give me one of his old swords if I picked up more hours during summer break."
Rimuru couldn't fault him for that, at least. The hardware shop owner had met Souei and immediately liked him, giving him the job helping around his shop and giving him sword training since it was a shared passion. He was a nice man, always smiling and treating his workers with nothing but kindness. That didn't mean Rimuru was happy about having all Souei's time eaten up by work.
It was time they could be spending together, after all.
"Then I'll just have to come visit you more, won't I?"
"I don't think he buys that you're a craftsman, you know." Souei held up their conjoined hands pointedly. Souei's was thicker and calloused from many months of training with swords and working with tools; Rimuru's was soft and unmarked by physical labor.
Rimuru squeezed it lightly before letting it drop back to their sides. "I think yours are rugged and handsome. Mine look like Shuna's."
Souei hummed lightly, easily following Rimuru around the corner on the path leading towards their destination. "No, hers have scars. Even she thinks yours are prettier."
He had Rimuru there. Shuna had been working with clothing since she could hold child scissors. Pricking yourself with a needle or nicking your hand was bound to happen to anyone. Shion had been dedicating herself to learning how to cook, too. She was brave enough to wear her burn scars with pride.
Rimuru read manga in his spare time. He didn't exactly like pain, and any hobby besides reading and playing games was bound to lead to that.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while, the familiar path calming after the long school day Rimuru had had. Their homeroom teacher Hakurou was nice enough to notice they were dating and seat them together when possible—Rimuru knew part of that was because Souei was his favorite student who also made sure Rimuru behaved and did his work—but he was still one of the more strict teachers.
And maybe Rimuru had goofed off a little bit too much today and gotten scolded after class. Somehow, hearing a teacher say they expected better of you was more hurtful than being yelled at. It seemed all teachers knew that. Their math teacher Rigurd was especially good at giving sad, disappointed eyes while assigning him cleaning duty as punishment. Souei always waited for him by the school gates those days.
Closer to their destination, he turned his neck up to Souei. His eyes had found a stray black cat following them along the nearby wall, but he looked down at Rimuru once he noticed. The cat quietly disappeared into the shrubbery at the same time.
"What do you think they'll have today?" Rimuru had a good idea of the general rotation of items the convenience store sold marked down during late hours. They both did. Tonight wasn't all that interesting. Still, sometimes they'd find a surprise treat, so Rimuru always kept his hopes up. They both stopped at the stoplight at the same time, standing still waiting for the electric crosswalk sign to turn white instead of the bright red. The intersection had no cars in sight, but Souei still insisted they follow the rules every time.
"Lunch was too sweet-heavy, I think," Souei said. It had been Rimuru's turn to make their school bentos, and he had thought adding candy was a good edition. "Something more filling, preferably with some vegetables, would be better."
"You and your crazy ideas of 'being healthy,' Sou." His tone was purposefully light and teasing. Souei was right, of course. It was only because of him that Rimuru didn't eat junk food constantly. But, likewise, Rimuru was the only reason Souei indulged in sweets occasionally, like everyone should.
"I think you, Ru, could stand to think about it more." Souei's tone was teasing too, and Rimuru couldn't help but laugh under his breath. Souei was stone-faced at school and at work, even scaring some classmates, or so he'd heard, but Rimuru could get him to smile and laugh when no one else could.
"I'm a growing boy who needs his snack time, thank you very much."
"Strawberry milk and a chocolate bar for a meal is hardly good for you." He'd said the same thing three days ago the moment he pulled them out of his bag. "Perhaps I should be the only one making our lunches from now on."
They'd been taking turns since they were old enough to work in the kitchen. On weeks Souei picked up more hours, Rimuru made their lunches. This week was no different. Rimuru just put in more effort for Souei's than his own.
"But then who's going to make sure you get your daily recommended amount of cookies?"
Souei gave a small laugh. He knew as well as Rimuru did that his homemade lemon cookies were his favorite treat now, thanks to Rimuru making them for them to share so often. He was useless in the kitchen otherwise, but having a sweet tooth and a knack for baking was a good combo.
"Kurobe recommends none, and I'm sorry to say, my love, but I'm more inclined to listen to him about health than you."
Rimuru mimed being stabbed, his hand pressed hard over his chest like it had started gushing blood. Souei's face curled into a faint smile at his antics, and Rimuru continued, "Going for the kill, huh? Maybe next time clean the knife before you stab me in the heart. The rust hurts."
Souei brushed their shoulders together, nudging him in fake disapproval of his playing around, and Rimuru couldn't help but laugh. "So dramatic," Souei said.
The light turned and they crossed quickly. Bright white streetlights with moths swarming around them were more prominent now that they were further from the residential areas. The lights from the store greeted them when they turned the next corner. The familiar bright green theme was blinding yet comforting. Rimuru came here with Souei all the time, so seeing their slightly obnoxious neon colors made him think of his boyfriend.
Souei pulled open the door, letting Rimuru in first. "Such a gentleman," he muttered, quietly enough that the sole worker reading a book at the counter didn't hear, but with the little amused huff Souei gave, he heard it just fine.
"What would you like tonight?" They walked towards the discounted section together, but on their way Souei stopped at the fridges, pulling open the juice section automatically.
"Hmm." Souei had his usual bittersweet black coffee with lunch, and he'd shared it with him. Rimuru supposed it was his turn to pick their drink, so he said, "Something lighter."
Despite the vague request, Souei's hands immediately found a cold can of peach juice. Rimuru nodded in approval. Souei had a soft spot for peach flavored things, same as him, so it was a good choice. Not that Souei had ever picked something he hated, though.
When they spent an entire childhood together, basically since they were both in diapers, they learned a lot about each other. No one in class made fun of them for being so close, despite Souei being the most respected, if apparently scary, boy in class—handsome and one of the best track runners, not to mention a top scorer in their exams—and Rimuru being the nerdy one reading manga in the back of the class who could barely run, let alone be on a team like Souei was.
But it was just a fact to their classmates: where Souei went, Rimuru went with him. Benimaru was about the only one who teased them, and that was only because he found it funny that Souei 'went soft' around Rimuru. Shuna scolded him whenever she heard that, saying she thought they were cute. Despite being much taller and stronger than her, Benimaru still listened to whatever his little sister said. To be fair, Shion and Shuna always seemed to be planning their wedding behind their backs. Underneath their sweet smiles, they were schemers.
Scanning the fridges with Souei's request in mind, his hands found a two pack of rainbow spring rolls. The vegetables inside taunted him—they both knew he wasn't the biggest fan of carrots, peppers, radish, and cabbage, so they weren't exactly calling his name with any kind of temptation—but at least they could agree sriracha mayo made it better.
"Found something?" Souei's smooth voice muttered in his left ear. Rimuru showed the plastic container, and Souei hummed in clear approval. "See, you can pick something healthy without me."
"Can? Yeah," Rimuru muttered back, barely holding back a smirk. "Want to? Not really. You're the healthy one, remember?"
"I'm aware, sweetheart," Souei said, slowly and sarcastically, but the nickname betrayed the fondness behind it, just like always when Rimuru gave him sass.
If Benimaru heard that word coming from Souei, he would punch his shoulder and call Souei a soft little loverboy and remind him of the times they'd clash with wooden practice swords in their backyard until they were bruised, to which Souei would respond by telling him he was coming over later to poison his food. And Benimaru would simply laugh and say Shion was already trying to do that so he didn't need to bother.
Rimuru was sure that exact scenario had happened at some point considering those two were brothers in all ways but biologically.
Souei held up two drinks for him to judge, one peach and one apple. Apparently the other one caught his eye when looking for Rimuru. He pointed at the apple and shook his head. Souei would probably come over tomorrow morning and cut some fruit, most likely apples, for him. That was almost expected on school days, because Souei knew otherwise Rimuru would skip breakfast so he could sleep in.
Souei nodded, turning to put it back, but before he could get too far, Rimuru pulled him back by his wrist. Without a single word, he tapped his lips, fluttering his eyelashes and giving his best cute puppy pleading for a treat face. Souei rolled his eyes a little, but leaned down to kiss his cheek.
"That's not what I was asking for, mister." Rimuru stuck out his bottom lip in half faux disappointment.
Souei gestured with his head to the front desk. The sound of papers turning was audible above the AC pouring refreshing, cool air into the store. Their conversation was quieter on purpose so they wouldn't annoy them, and Rimuru knew that just as well as Souei did.
"When we're not bothering the staff, you can ask again and maybe I'll give you what you want."
Souei pointedly turned away before he could see Rimuru could pout again, putting back his drink. Rimuru followed along, but in revenge grabbed a pack of strawberry pocky from the shelf. Rimuru caught up to him, hanging onto his arm with their snacks in his hand. When he put both things in Souei's hands, he sighed tiredly at the surprise addition, but shook his head and placed all of it on the checkout counter anyway.
Souei and the staff member didn't exchange many words while he paid with the yen in his wallet, merely the kind of exhausted, short pleasantries one could expect while shopping at almost midnight. Nevertheless, Souei was polite despite the obviously canned, monotone phrases the cashier had surely memorized to say to everyone, and thanked them, wished them a good night, and lowered his head in a small bow to excuse the two of them. Rimuru followed suit, letting Souei hold the door for him so he could step out into the barely tolerable heat yet again with Souei hanging onto their thin plastic bag.
Barely twenty seconds into their trek home and lit only by flickering streetlamps, Rimuru made grabby hands at Souei. "Gimmie, gimmie."
"Calm down," Souei said, shifting the bag and holding it open so Rimuru could reach for whatever he wanted so badly. "You act like I don't feed you."
"You stuff…" He faked a violent, repulsed shiver. "vegetables in my bento boxes. I don't count that as feeding me."
Souei's response was immediate, far too used to this to be surprised by his exaggerations. "It's not what you want to be fed, I think you meant to say." Rimuru gave an exaggerated disgust-filled expression. "I promise you the daikon is not trying to kill you, nor is it poison."
That was debatable in Rimuru's mind, but he shut his mouth to focus on what was more important than giving a retort. His hands found the pocky easily, but before he could pull it out to tear open the box and reach the sparkling gold inside, Souei lifted the bag out of his reach, the box falling despairingly back in.
"Hey!" Dangling high above his head, the bag seemed to taunt him the same way Souei's disappointed raised eyebrows did. "Curse you for being tall," he muttered, giving up trying to jump for it when he knew all he was doing was looking ridiculously like a child too short to reach the cookie jar from the bottom shelf.
Even Shuna was taller than him…
"Rolls first, then treats," Souei said, walking down the street with the bag still held high while he gave his hostage demands. "And that's only if you behave. If you don't, I will confiscate it until tomorrow's lunch."
The threat was half empty; Rimuru knew if he just looked sad enough Souei would give in, but he would relent just to please Souei tonight. The list of small, sometimes inconsequential sacrifices they'd made for each other over the years was long. "Fiiiiine."
Satisfied, Souei lowered the bag and pulled the spring roll pack out, opening it and handing Rimuru his. He waited until Rimuru took a bite to start eating his. Rimuru wasn't a huge fan of vegetables—Souei cutting up fresh cucumbers or roasting eggplants with honey were the only things he'd admit to liking—but he was right that the nice, spicy sriracha flavor drowned out the earthy taste. Souei himself hummed in approval of the roll he was close to finishing, clearly happy with Rimuru's choice.
Finished, Souei tucked the garbage back in the bag, letting Rimuru once again dive into it for his pocky, first pulling out the peach juice and handing it to Souei, who opened it and took a conservative sip to check the flavor. When he nodded in approval, he handed the drink to Rimuru before he could open his box. A subtle sign that he wanted Rimuru to drink something before diving right into snacks. Drinking water regularly was also a struggle, considering there were so many other, more interesting things Rimuru could do—reading manga and playing games were his go-tos despite Veldora always kicking his butt in fighting games—when he wasn't worrying about food and water and sleep and homework and every other tedious thing he wished he didn't have to do.
But unlike the roll, Rimuru enjoyed the sweet yet subtly tangy drink, the familiar fruit's taste refreshing and pleasant. He finished a good half of the drink before handing it back to Souei, who accepted it with the understanding that the rest was for him. While Souei sipped conservatively, satisfied with leaving the candy-eating to him, Rimuru tore the package open and started happily munching on his treat.
He'd tried a lot of the different flavors, and though the green tea one was good, nothing could beat strawberry. When he offered the box to Souei, he shook his head. Rimuru frowned and picked up another, eating the enjoyably crunchy stick slowly while thinking of a way to make Souei eat a little of the treat he paid for. He deserved that much, at least, no matter how much he said he liked paying for things for Rimuru, insisting it motivated him to work harder so that he could afford nice things for his boyfriend.
Approaching the stoplight again, this time turning red just as they approached it, an idea struck Rimuru.
He put the end of the pocky stick in his mouth, the strawberry side pointing out, and nudged Souei's arm. When he hummed questioningly and looked down, Rimuru stuck his face up further, wiggling the end with his lips and giving the cutest face he could. The pocky game was usually meant as an excuse to get two people to kiss, but in this case Rimuru was happy to offer a little bit of his treat while also securing the kiss he was denied earlier. Souei seemed to debate giving in to Rimuru's silent request, leery of his attempts to make sure he ate candy at least once a day.
Rimuru whined unhappily at his hesitancy, which seemed to be the thing that made Souei give in. But instead of playing Rimuru's game, he pulled the pocky out of his mouth completely, leaning down to give Rimuru a kiss like he wanted and then eating the pocky stick in its entirety almost instantly. Rimuru could see that, despite not wanting any of the candy, his face still perked up the tiniest bit from the delightful strawberry taste.
"Happy?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Rimuru couldn't help but smile. Of course Souei would do something like that, not playing by his rules yet still making him happy. "Very."
"I think if you behaved more, you'd get what you want more often."
The light turned and they started walking again. Their familiar route was coming to an end. He always hated that feeling. Same with finishing his treat and shoving his trash in the bag. Souei finished his drink and did the same, now keeping his eyes out for a trash bin.
"You sound like Hakurou," Rimuru muttered. "Or my parents. Sometimes I think they like you more than me."
A hard worker, they'd said about him. Polite and helpful, they'd added, grinning brightly while insisting Souei could come over whenever he wanted. He was sure Souei enjoyed it considering he didn't come from a rich family and didn't have much hospitality to offer to others. Some days Rimuru went over there just to get away from his family and spend time cuddling with Souei on his worn-down tatami surrounded by chipped wallpaper with the manga he brought to read together on his lap.
"They're just happy I make sure you don't spend all day reading in your room. They do love you." Souei said, softer. Rimuru was being serious about his family liking Souei more than him, and his feelings on it weren't a joke either.
Rimuru just hummed in response. The loud, obnoxious Veldora seemed to get more praise for doing almost all of the heavy lifting and house chores while still graduating soon with decent test scores despite his gaming and manga reading habits. Rimuru only had that last part. He wasn't getting scolded or yelled at or hit, but being subtly ignored at home in disappointment sometimes felt worse.
Souei's warm hand took his, squeezing it gently. "You know I love you," he said, "even if they can't see how amazing you are. If they decide you're not worth your time, then they're just going to have to be wrong because I miss every second I'm not with you."
Rimuru bumped their arms together, coiling their fingers tighter. "Charmer," he muttered, but the word came out too soft and sincere to seem sarcastic.
"Only for you, my love."
It was correct, if what Benimaru said was true. Apparently to strangers Souei was intimidating, cold, almost seeming unfeeling. Rimuru had trouble picturing the boy who fed and played with stray cats, proudly wore a frilly pink apron lovingly made by Shuna every time he cooked, and carefully braided Rimuru's hair as threatening. But he supposed he was just the lucky one Souei picked to be soft with.
Unfortunately, their journey ended shortly after Souei found a bin to toss their garbage in. The light was still on and his balcony door was still open, which meant no one had tried to check in on him only to see he was gone. That he was thankful for.
"Do we have to?" Rimuru stared up at the balcony and his empty, lonely room, then turned to Souei. "Can't you just come up and cuddle with me?"
Souei sighed in a way that got Rimuru's hopes up. He had convinced him several times before, after all. Sadly, he shook his head shortly after. "I'm sorry, Ru. But you know that we'd both just stay up all night talking if I did that, and we have school tomorrow."
"Don't remind me," Rimuru groused, thumping his head against Souei's chest. In response to his misery, Souei patted his head in an effort to comfort him while Rimuru continued whining. "I just wanna be with you instead of sitting in Rigurd's class or playing sports."
Souei gently pushed him back after a few quiet moments, grabbing his chin and tilting it up to look at him. Under the streetlights, his eyes looked like a deep twilight glow.
"I promise to be there every second I can," he said, sweet and quiet, then leaned down to press his soft lips against Rimuru's. He wrapped his arms around Souei's shoulders and nearly melted in his tender embrace. It was the easiest thing in the world to do.
After several warm, loving moments that Rimuru would give everything to make sure happened every single day, Souei pulled away, gesturing with his head to the side of his house where the familiar grooves awaited. Rimuru sighed, only slightly less disappointed thanks to their kiss, but started the task of going back to his room with Souei's help getting up. He could feel Souei's eyes on him the entire time, silently waiting below to make sure he didn't fall. When he heaved himself over the railing, he stood and waved back down at Souei to let him know he made it alright.
It was only then that Souei waved his goodbyes and turned to leave. Rimuru watched right up until Souei turned a corner on his way home, a sadness striking him the moment he disappeared.
He knew how Souei felt from the bottom of his heart.
He also missed every second he wasn't with Souei.