hello @tenshi-agerasia! i was your @valensemblestars valentine, and i was also an utter fool who decided to make things hard for myself so this drawing took a little more time than expected. i loved the garden aesthetics that flavor's tea sessions hold, so i had to choose this prompt!
i also got a little silly with the hypothetical situation after this scene below the cut
anyway, fun fact, i learned of the speedrun zine after i tried to do a little look at your profile to perhaps glean some information on your likes and i Really Hoped you didn't guess i was creating for you but i was probably pretty obvious with my timing oops -3- in any case, i hope you like this!
I don't know what you ship but if you're willing, EiRitsu with "a kiss for good morning". Or you can do a ship of your choice for the same prompt!
when it comes to me, the better question is what don't i ship because i find it hard to Not see beauty and intrigue in every fictional interpersonal relationship Plus im delusional and everything is romantic to me
never change // eiritsu 1.3k gen reminiscence based on prompt 1
I remember begging time to let this stay, to let us be, and so we have if only at her mercy. I remember feeling sick with all that went unsaid, what went unseen, though memories of back then have since bled into my dreams. It's hard to say- it's gross to say- but it just might be that I liked it better that way.
or: ritsu has a fun little nostalgia trip and a totally awesome happy time
--
His head slumped further down against his propped up arm- not an uncommon occurrence for him- but his eyes stayed open and focused. Very uncommon for Ritsu, of course, was the perfect naptime opportunity passed up. Perhaps the most uncommon for him was not being able to let that opportunity take him. To be awake against his will really should not have been possible for a practiced and skilled sleeper such as himself.
To fail at his greatest talent... Ritsu very much wanted to pretend he couldn't figure out why. Maybe a problem left unaddressed dissolves into nothing, and maybe a young man with no problem finds sleep with ease.
He wanted to stray his gaze away from the café window, to pry his attention away from what lay just outside. What should have been harsh against the eyes, bright magenta under the unfiltered sun, poured into his own so soft and dull.
Proud, flowering larkspur swayed with grace in the afternoon breeze. Up against the building's sides where the owner kept her love to share with customers and passersby alike. All purple and pink, a bright, happy sight intended to fill the heart and calm the mind.
Ritsu could feel a tinge of strain behind his eyes from how fixed remained his stare. Threads in his chest pulled tight as if trying to unravel, while clouds in his head grew heavy and hazy in the most uncomfortably conscious way.
He frowned as his coffee touched his lips. He'd ordered coffee, for fuck's sake.
The FLAVOR meet-up hadn't gone all that different from usual, not at all in a way that could warrant such a sorry after state- even if they did end up in a café, Ritsu's very least favorite place to wrongfully dignify with such a sacred ritual.
How Hajime's whole face, typically kept composed and reserved, lit up at the mention of such a cozy spot's reopening. How Hiyori was delighted to find that two other members knew the place he'd brought up. How gently excited Tatsumi seemed to stumble across another common item of interest to bond over.
"Well then," Eichi had stood up off of the couch abruptly, "what are we all still sitting here for, hm?"
Through haste and giggles, the five of them collected up all of their tea leaves for the day and shuffled out the door of Tatsumi's shared Starmony Dorm where they had initially planned to hold the gathering.
From there played out the same old catching up, the same old gossip that some preferred to pretend wasn't gossip, and the same old refreshing wave of contentment.
The group split off at the designated hour, all but one having planned carefully around arrangements for a neat and productive schedule that left no room to dawdle.
Ritsu remarked something like that he really couldn't be bothered to get up with all the warm treats he'd indulged in. Everyone decided that this was a very Ritsu thing to do, and a very Ritsu thing to say. They exchanged their farewells and let the sloth laze.
His cup met the table with a hesitant removal of the hand that had to work without a guide. Not once did his gaze falter.
He watched the flowers dance like they meant to taunt him. How blurred the rest of the world became while those joyful little larkspurs stayed sharp and clear.
Ceaseless colors, bright by nature but muted to better please the eye, wrapped around and dyed the endless stream of shapes that flew behind his eyelids while they rest shut. The shapes came in patterns, playing out like a program aired with no discernable purpose. As fast and clear as they'd started out, lines began to slow and blur shortly. Colors mixed, light swirled, and everything felt... fuzzy.
Ritsu Sakuma reluctantly flitted his eyes open to see two arms. One was his own, splayed carelessly against the tall, slightly wet grass. The other extended from a point just out of his hazy view. Adjacent to where his terrible mess of hair rested with grass and dirt ghosted a gentle hand from above.
The sensation of light tugs gave him the impression that those fingers had just been entwined with his hair before trailing softly down his face.
And when he lifted- well, rolled over- his head just enough to get a fuller perspective, the tender touch followed his cheek.
Eichi Tenshouin's fond look grew into a radiant smile rivaled only by the morning sun rising behind him.
"The whole night?" His words were chosen to chide but came out amused. "We leave you for a little afternoon nap in the garden, and you manage to sleep on campus for the whole night..."
Ritsu put on a little show with his eyes, throwing his gaze in every direction before responding with, "Looks like it~"
Sunlight hit them disproportionately, framing Eichi where he knelt in the grass like a halo from behind and thus coloring Ritsu with his warped shadow.
Far passed his waking, and his senpai still hadn't stopped petting his face. Rather than bothering to wonder why, Ritsu moved the arm he couldn't see from where it lay across his stomach to hold the back of Eichi's hand in his own. The silence that composed the space between them was, against all odds, quite comfortable. Reflecting in each's eye was the other, infinitely intimate and uncannily understanding.
Following more than enough stagnant air, Eichi breathed out a curt chuckle through his nose. "Do we think it is about time to get up?" His adoration couldn't- perhaps pointedly wouldn't- be masked, every word woven with warmth. "I'm sure your dearest Knights are wondering what you've gotten up to."
They were not. Both boys knew this.
Ritsu humored him anyway. "Hmm..." his eyes closed while he gently stroked the fingers playing in his hair with his own. "I don't kno~ow..." He barely even reopened his eyes before glancing back up through his lashes. "The garden is just so comfy that I don't see any point in moving without some kind of motivation, Ecchan~"
He was well aware of how his naturally absurd disregard for rationale captivated his senpai so. Well aware of the fact that if Eichi had been born just a little healthier, if he had been saddled with just the littlest bit less of responsibility, then his next course of action would most likely have been to lie right down next to Ritsu in the grass and let the clouds be their teachers for the day.
But, realistically, Eichi only had so much time.
He let his hand fall from his kouhai's hair, landing their now interlaced fingers in the grass just beside them. With that, he leaned off of his legs and more over Ritsu, all the while lowering himself so as to level their faces.
Ritsu blinked up at him lazily, expression unchanging- though not exactly that Eichi's expression had really changed so much since he'd woken up either.
Eichi shut his eyes this time around as he made the final move for their lips to meet. The speed at which Ritsu responded gave away his current charade of debilitating fatigue.
Similarly quick to his upper back was a supporting hand when he began to sit up- if only as an excuse not to end the kiss as Eichi started rising himself.
Amusement foiled them anyway, Eichi being unable to hold back a less than dignified snicker.
"Oh? Are you 'motivated' all of a sudden?"
Ritsu's eyes focused on a shining star, accentuated under the sunlight and framed by gorgeous larkspurs, purple and pink.
.
..
...
He could feel a faint tingling on his lips, uncomfortably unforgettable how soft, how sweet the kiss of a living corpse.
And very much more unbearable was the memory of a world no longer real. Of someone who would still look his way, but now with a wandering gaze.
Ritsu leaned back in his booth seat and looked up at the ceiling light. He hoped it could blind him if he stared long enough.
