you love sharing snacks with reno, but he's too shy to get fed!
feat. ichikawa reno - requested!
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it looks fuller than usual, reno thinks, as he watches you sift through a tote bag that he had shyly gifted a while ago. it's a deep blue colour with intricate patterns of white swirls all across it. he had the idea that maybe, you could think of him when you wear it as you carry around all your daily essentials whether it's with him or not. seeing you sling it over your shoulder with your usual beautiful smile, he feels the flutters in his stomach come to life.
even in moments like this, where you're sat under the shade with your legs entangled together, to him, you're something worth wearing numbers weapon 6 for. you're worth the risks if it means he can wake up to you everyday and look forward to touch your face like its the one thing he has left to treasure.
reno was so sure, so sure that he would never love again, especially after the loss of his parents. joining the sweepers was to suppress that numbness even more, force himself to erase the deep-rooted pain in his heart so he could never fall into the trap of loss again.
yet after meeting kafka, iharu, his third division comrades, after meeting you, he realised just how stupid he was to have been ready to give all of it up.
had he truly dropped into a spiral he couldn't snap out of, would he have been given the chance to call you his? to be called yours?
"reno? hey, hellooo?"
in an instant, reno blinks away from his thoughts as his pupils start to materialise the world around him into focus. he sees you, closer than he remembers, your chin resting on his shoulder as you gaze up into his eyes.
he swallows. god, he doesn't know what to do with himself when he's with you.
you lean back with a smile and reno feels himself tingle from watching how your lips curve just for him. he goes deathly silent, his fingers twitching on his knees like they're desperate to know what your hands feel like. he has it all memorised, the lines on your palm and the shape of your nails, but each touch is always so different, like he's grasping onto something new.
"i got you some snacks," you say, holding up some of reno's favourites. he recognises them from the vending machine he uses. "they were the last ones left, i had to fight for it."
"snacks?" reno repeats, knitting his brows as he watches you rip it open. "you fought for them? with who?!"
"well, iharu wanted some as well," you explain, stopping to remind yourself of the details, "but i know you like these, so i bribed him with a different snack."
reno tilts his head, a tiny bit suspicious at the way you chortle. not because he doubts you but because iharu is normally never swayed so easily, especially by food. "you bribed him? with what?"
"the shrimp crackers," you snicker. "you don't like them, so i gave that to him instead."
he pauses, but nothing specific comes to mind, so he goes back to watching you fumble through the snack packet. you pick out a large piece and hold it to his lips. "open up."
suddenly, the tips of his ears glow red as he whirls away, but you follow him, resting your palm on his leg as you slide forward.
"reno, just once!"
he splutters, his hands on your shoulders as he leans low, but you keep pushing against him until his back meets the bench. "i can eat it on my own."
"i know, but i just want to see you eat it!"
he takes a gentle hold of your wrists, his cheeks on fire. murmuring, he begins stroking your hand with his thumb, his way to distract himself. "ok, fine, but only once. it's embarrassing."
you don't miss the way he looks left and right, his nose crinkling when he spots people walking along the adjacent path. most officers are on break, but the area you're in isn't too popular. there's the occasional pair on a jog, but only the trees stay as your main company, their rustling setting the blissful mood that reno tries blending into.
he sighs, urging himself to meet your gaze, but you watch as he struggles to as if he's so timid of this special moment. you catch yourself grinning, your mind blooming in colour with so much adoration for him.
he mumbles something to himself, but it's too hushed. it's as though you have a small white puppy with its head bowed, afraid to take a step out of its usual plays.
you poke his leg. "say that again? sorry."
he sucks in a deep breath. "i said people are watching..."
"aw, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!" you exclaim, reaching out to swipe his cheek with your finger. "just this one piece, promise."
he shakily parts his lips by a fraction but when you shoot him a look, he sighs, realising that there's no way he can bring himself to say no anymore. he opens his mouth and before he knows it, he's already munching, his tastebuds exploding with the familiarity of his favourite.
you retract your hand, eyeing his reaction. you pop one in your mouth and nod in satisfaction. "it's good but too popular. it's hard to find."
as he chews, the flavour hits him like a truck. it's always been one of his childhood treats, but because he's been so busy with training and keeping in shape, he hasn't had it in ages.
"you look like you're enjoying it," you laugh, having another one. "do you want more?"
with the way his head perks up and eyes shine with the desire for more, you hold out the packet to him, happy that he's enjoying it as much as you'd anticipated.
but you don't expect him to open his mouth, wider than before. he sits like a puppy waiting to be fed, patient and with an invisible wagging tail, too. maybe the snack allowed him to take a trip down memory lane, but you're too busy laughing over how adorable he is.
"you like it so much you're too lazy to get one yourself, huh? what happened to people being around?" you tease, letting out a snort when his brows twitch, but you move as if you're on autopilot, slotting another piece through his mouth.
despite reno clearly being a grown man with complete control over his appetite, you feel like a mother, content from the joy of watching her child eat. he opens his mouth for another and this time, you chuck it in like he's a net.
"wait, i wanna try throw it properly," you say, shuffling farther away while reno straightens his posture. he angles his head a centimetre backwards and with trained precision, you toss a piece into the air and let out a whoop when it successfully lands in reno's mouth.
he snaps his head back, a contagious grin on his face as you mirror it even bigger.
"that was good," he chuckles. "my turn."
you spend the rest of the afternoon playing toss with snacks, sometimes screeching when it lands in your eye or hair, but when you can only hear reno relax, laughing his heart out besides you, your heart grows warm. maybe the tiny suffering is worth it.
when that becomes too repetitive, though, you sit hand in hand, discussing which 'this or that' topic to debate about. at first, reno suggests things like being a captain or wearing a numbers suit, which ends in him choosing the suit.
"i mean, you are wearing numbers 6," you scoff.
"it's a realistic answer."
but once that gets too boring, you blurt out ones like bald reno or hairy reno much to his complete shock, and it's his face that gets you doubling over, praying for the agony in your stomach to disappear.
"why would i be... bald?" reno questions as if he genuinely can't understand. "i have hair."
"the point is i have to choose which one i'd prefer," you sniff, wiping your eyes.
"please don't tell me you'd choose bald me."
it's definitely weird, he thinks, his mind utterly blank as he watches you hiccup between your words, too exhausted from laughing so much. if he had told his old self that someone like you was now fixed into his life, would he have believed it?
yet as weird as it may be, as weird as you can be, he would never give this up for anything in the world.
