Oh man. Please tell me something about w u m. I don't even know what that could be and I'm curious.
It stands for “Woke Up Married” but it’s titled that way so it looks innocuous at work. ;)
This is actually a pegoryu piece that came out of me sending this message to a group chat: “where’s the fic where Ryuji and Akira are a little older and get blackout drunk and wake up with like, tiara veils and matching cheap rings.” And then we spun out the whole fic and it was great but now there’s like, actually writing it, which is taking longer.
w u m and w u m 2 go together because I wasn’t making much progress with the first version so I took a slightly different spin on it in a new document. You can see the difference here:
Ryuji wakes up and immediately wishes he hadn’t.
His head pounds. He sits up carefully, one hand pressed over his eyes as if keeping the light out will keep the rest of it at bay. It doesn’t work; the room tilts around him and then resettles, and Ryuji breathes carefully through his nose, squeezing his eyes shut.
There’s a groan next to him, and the mattress shifts as the bed’s other occupant sits up next to him. Ryuji peeks through his fingers. He’d been with Akira last night, but he can’t remember how the night had ended; if he’d brought someone home this is about to get real awkward real fast.
It’s just Akira though, hand covering a giant yawn, and the relief puts a grin on Ryuji’s face even as his hand falls away from his eyes. Akira doesn’t look like he’s in much better shape - he’d better not be, he’d been matching Ryuji shot for shot.
Ryuji wakes up and immediately wishes he hadn’t. His head pounds, and the early morning sunlight is an assault against his eyes. He grumbles and rolls on his side, pulling the coverlet tighter around him, blinking blearily.
His eyes catch on a dark blur, which resolves into a mop of black hair over Akira’s face, dead asleep.
Ryuji is suddenly a lot more awake than he was a moment ago.
He didn’t - they didn’t - did they? Ryuji tries to think back. They were at a bar - they were at several bars, celebrating university graduation, and…he remembers Akira matching him drink for drink and shot for shot but he has no idea where they ended up or why Akira is sleeping in Ryuji’s bed or why -
Ryuji frowns, reaching out. There’s something caught in Akira’s hair, something bright against those dark half-curls; it holds fast for a moment but then it comes free in Ryuji’s hand and it’s -
Spoiler alert: it’s a tiara.
I like the second version better, myself. It’s less expository, we’re experiencing the moment along with Ryuji; it feels more alive, to me, and that’s probably the version I’ll go with when I come back to this.