"I'll stay on the phone until you fall asleep. I don't mind."
Have fun. <3
Hi yes, thank you. I've finally finished this. Ignore the fact that it's 1 in the morning, I was determined to finish writing this before I sleep today. XD
Fluff Starters.
As you already know, I've had a fic in the works for... a week or so? And this line reminded me of a scene that will only get an off-hand mention in that fic. But I took the opportunity to expand on the scene here, because it's soft and domestic and sweet. (I know this is written as dialogue in the prompt, but I took it more as the general idea, rather than an actual line of dialogue in the fic. I feel that works better for them. This is probably going to be true for most of these prompts.)
Obligatory backstory: this is a Hiro/WPS lives AU. Akai and Rei were previously involved (mostly sexually), but they ended that when Akai went back to the US after the Black Org was brought down. Now they're... friends. We'll call them friends. It's Complicated. (They talk on the phone basically every day, and text even more often. They're closer than they've ever been. But, officially, they're not dating.)
Anyway, enjoy! Nothing to warn for here, it's tooth-rotting fluff all the way down. (And pining. So much pining.)
. ₊˚ ☎︎₊˚✧ ﾟ.
Almost as soon as his shoes are off and placed neatly by the door, Rei pulls his phone from his pocket and navigates to Akai's contact, loosening his tie as he goes. It's late – pushing one in the morning, which means it's right around noon for Akai – a time when he's not typically available, but Rei's been assured that he will be today. He's fairly certain, based on their many previous conversations, that Akai doesn't typically get Saturdays off, but somehow their schedules have lined up in such a way that he's off now. The beginnings of unwanted thoughts start to form in Rei's mind, and he abruptly pushes them away as Akai answers.
"Rei-kun," he greets, a smile in his voice. Something unfurls in Rei's chest, the tension in his shoulders slipping away. "How was the wedding?"
Unfortunately, asking about the wedding conjures up other things Rei has been trying to not think about – namely, being interrogated about why he didn't bring Akai as his date. It started with Date, who really should've been more focused on his new bride than why Rei didn't invite his long-distance friend from halfway around the world to be his plus one, commenting, "I was surprised when you said you were coming alone; we thought for sure you'd ask Akai. Could he not make it?"
"He didn't ask," Hiro answered for him. If not for the smirk, Rei would've thought that perhaps he was trying to be helpful, so that Rei didn't have to explain himself.
He did give it his best effort, though. "He's already flying over in October for his brother's wedding. Twice in just a few months is a lot to ask."
This, of course, only led to teasing from both Date and Matsuda, while Hiro, Hagi and Natalie-san offered him no help whatsoever. Thankfully, as the highlight of the event, Date and Natalie-san couldn't stay too long and ignore their other guests, so at least he got some reprieve from the harassment, but the thought stuck with him.
Should he have asked Akai? It did seem a little selfish, given that a trip to Japan requires planning and taking time off from work. In the end, for those reasons, Rei convinced himself he made the right choice.
A small part of him still wishes things were different.
"It was good to see everyone again," he answers Akai, then puts the phone on speaker and sets it on his bed so that he can change his clothes. "I see Hiro all the time, but we're so busy with work that I haven't seen the other guys in a while."
Akai's quiet hums come through from the other end of the line. "I'm glad you got some time to relax with your friends."
"They asked about you," Rei says before he can stop himself. Mentally kicking himself for even bringing it up, he steels himself for whatever Akai's response might be as he works open the buttons of his shirt and slips it off his shoulders.
Akai's voice lilts upward in obvious confusion. "Oh?"
Rei hesitates there, debating. If he tells Akai the truth about what they said, it could lead to an uncomfortable situation. "They… just wanted to know how you're doing," he lies, heart pounding in his chest. For some reason, he feels disappointed in himself. "I told them you're keeping busy with work, but seemed to be doing well otherwise."
If Akai doesn't buy into his lie, it doesn't come through in his understanding hum.
Stripped down to his underwear, his clothes put away for cleaning later, Rei debates, for half a second, going to take a shower, but the call of his bed, and his unwillingness to end the call when they've only just started talking win out. He can shower in the morning. So, he plugs his phone in to keep it from dying, crawls into bed, and places the phone next to him as he lays on his side.
"Should I let you sleep?" Akai asks, apparently having heard the shift of the mattress.
"Not sleeping yet," Rei answers, though even he can hear how groggy he's already starting to sound.
Akai huffs quietly, which Rei chooses to ignore. "Go brush your teeth, Rei-kun. I know you'll hate yourself in the morning if you don't, especially if you've been drinking."
Rei's brain stalls; he'd completely forgotten, in his exhausted, distracted state, that he missed a step in getting ready for bed. He grumbles something unintelligible, sighs, and crawls back out of bed to the sound of Akai's chuckles. He hadn't had much to drink – he doesn't drink much these days anyway, can't quite stomach it – but that's no excuse for not taking care of himself.
As he trudges his way to the bathroom, taking his phone with him, Akai says, "My coworkers have decided that I must have a secret wife in Japan."
Stumbling a little (and determinedly blaming it on the one glass of champagne he'd consumed, despite how little sense that makes), Rei nearly chokes. "What."
This reaction only seems to further Akai's amusement, because there's laughter in his voice when he answers, "I rarely go out for drinks with them after work, and they've seen me texting someone. They made assumptions."
Despite knowing it isn't true, Rei can't quite help the bubble of annoyance forming inside him. He does his best to keep it out of his tone, though he's not sure how successful of an endeavor that turns out to be. "Logic would dictate that if you have a secret wife, you'd be working toward actually being in the same country as her."
"That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Akai agrees without hesitation. "I would hate to be separated from the person I love longer than necessary."
Rei's eyes narrow – something about Akai's words ring as suspicious in his ears, but he's too tired to figure out why. Choosing to push it out of his mind – perhaps he can think about it tomorrow – he focuses, instead, on getting through his nightly routine, Akai running commentary in the meantime by telling Rei about his latest case.
If he closes his eyes, it almost feels like Akai is in the room with him, rather than in New York; his chest tightens at the thought. He concludes that there's something seriously wrong with him tonight. He'll be back to normal in the morning.
He finally finishes up and puts his toothbrush away, then trudges his way back to bed, reclaiming his earlier spot. "If I've forgotten something else, it's not important and can wait until morning," he declares, earning another soft chuckle from Akai.
"Get some sleep, Rei-kun," he urges, and Rei's heart rate speeds up in panic. He's not ready for the call to end, even though he feels his eyelids starting to droop.
"Wait," he says, before Akai can say anything else. "How… are Agent Starling and Agent Camel doing?"
He feels ridiculous even asking, as he's never asked about them before. Akai's surely confused by the sudden interest, but he hides it well. "They're good. Though, I think Camel misses your cooking. He was talking it up quite a bit the other day."
Rei snorts, pulling his blanket over himself and snuggling his head onto his pillow, the phone lying beside him. "I've only made food for him once, and it was a sandwich. Hardly a culinary masterpiece. Doesn't even count as cooking."
"That's not how he tells it."
"Insane," Rei mutters, sleep tugging at his brain as he stifles a yawn. "If he visits, I'll cook a proper meal for him. Then he can quit waxing poetic about a damn sandwich."
"I'll let him know," Akai laughs.
Rei isn't really sure what else is said after that. Akai keeps talking, and he even responds to it, but words stop making sense, and he's pretty sure most of his replies come out as mumbles, as his mind succumbs to the quiet comfort of sleep. He'll only remember in the morning, with a pinch of guilt, that he didn't end the call, meaning Akai must have.
He doesn't even get the chance to hear Akai's gentle, fond, "Good night, Rei-kun. Sleep well," but somehow, the sentiment carries through regardless, leading to the most peaceful sleep Rei's had in longer than he can remember.
"i don’t know how to stop wanting you." + "vulnerability" + "late-night phone calls"
Have fun. <3
Thank you so much for giving me this prompt. <3
I had to think for a while until I came up with an idea, but I like what I've decided on.
I also put this one on AO3
build a fic prompt list
・✿・✿・✿
They sat in Rei’s car at 3 am, silently driving through Tokyo. Shuuichi would’ve taken a taxi, but Rei insisted on driving him to the airport. He was going back to New York temporarily. Even though Shuuichi didn’t work for the FBI anymore, he was asked to help out with an old case of his. It would be nice to see Jodie, James and Camel again, but he hated leaving Rei alone.
He hadn’t seen his former FBI colleagues since the Syndicate fell two years ago. Shuuichi quit his FBI job shortly after the last big operation; he had already decided on staying in Japan many months prior. He didn’t like to see Jodie being sad about this but he wasn’t going back on his decision. His job was done; he was successful in taking down the Syndicate that destroyed so many lives, and he was finally able to figure out what happened to his father.
It wasn’t a truth he wished for, but it was a truth he expected. They killed his father shortly after he disappeared. His body was long gone, but at least they were able to finally hold a proper funeral for him. The rest of Shuuichi’s family also decided to stay in Japan, now that the country was finally safe for all of them. Shuukichi was still doing great as a professional shogi player. His love life, on the other hand? Well, that was a mess to say the least.
Masumi started university and was thriving. It was good to see her finally living the life of a normal young adult. Shuuichi’s relationship with his mother was still tense, but it was better than it had been in years. Probably also because Mary really liked his partner.
“We’ve arrived.” A quiet voice said next to him. The sound pulled Shuuichi out of his thoughts. Rei’s expression was neutral, but Shuuichi could tell that he wasn’t happy. They got out of the car and took out Shuuichi’s luggage. Rei needed to be at work in two hours, so he couldn’t stay with him. Shuuichi tried to kiss him goodbye, but Rei turned his face away. A sigh escaped Shuuichi’s mouth. “I’ll try to be back as soon as possible. It won’t take longer than three months.”
Rei opened his mouth, as if to say something, but instead he just pulled Shuuichi into a tight hug and buried his face in his shoulder. “Stay safe.” He mumbled. Shuuichi gave him a gentle kiss on top of his head and whispered back. “Always.” They stood there like that for a few more minutes, until Rei finally pulled away. Before he went inside, Shuuichi finally pulled his partner into a long kiss. “I love you and I’ll call you as soon as I’m in New York.”
With that, he turned away to make his way inside the airport. After a couple of steps, he heard Rei say, “I love you too.” It put a smile on Shuuichi’s face. They’ve been together since the day the Syndicate fell, but Rei still had trouble speaking those words out loud. It didn’t matter because Shuuichi felt loved every day, but hearing him actually say it gave him a warm feeling and made his heart flutter.
Three hours later, Shuuichi was sitting on the plane. It was going to be a cruelling 15 hours because of his long legs and the little space he had. It’s not like he hadn’t spent more time in worse spaces, but since quitting his FBI job he wasn’t really used to that anymore. Besides, his body too got older. At least he was able to get an aisle seat, which meant he could stretch his legs out a little bit.
Trying to sleep on the plane wasn’t really an option. He knew it wouldn’t work out for him, so he distracted himself with thoughts about Rei. In order to take down the Syndicate, they decided on a truce, initially Rei wasn’t happy about that, but played along for the greater good. Shuuichi never intended to tell Rei the truth about the night Scotch died, but after a long and emotional conversation they had, he realized that it wasn’t his place to keep the truth from Rei.
During the months that led up to the takedown, they grew closer and closer. The physical attraction between them had been there since their undercover days, but the actual falling in love happened during those few months. If it were up to Shuuichi, they would’ve been officially together even longer. But Rei insisted on waiting until the big downfall of the Syndicate.
Shuuichi fondly remembered their first kiss during sunset on the roof of the hospital where they were both staying, due to various injuries. Seeing the true Rei without any of his masks, smiling fondly at him, was absolutely breathtaking. In this moment, Shuuichi swore to make Rei genuinely smile as often as he could.
~
Rei arrived at work half an hour early and intended to stay as long as possible. He was a bit afraid of spending time alone without Shuuichi. It sounded ridiculous; being alone was something he was used to. But things have changed since he got together with Shuuichi. They both were fighting their demons, not surprising considering their work and experiences. But things were easier and more comfortable together. Though maybe Shuuichi had had enough of him, enough of his temper and his problems, and that’s why he decided to go back to America. Thoughts like this started to emerge as soon as Shuuichi accepted the request from the FBI. Rei demanded his brain to shut up; he didn’t want to think about that.
Rei wasn’t in a good mood, and his poor subordinates were the ones to suffer because of it, especially Kazami. “What is this?” Rei asked as he put the papers down Kazami just gave him, with a little too much force, trying to suppress the anger in his voice. Kazami cleared his throat nervously: “The vice-chief of the NPA wants to cut the funds for the Security Planning Division…” “I can read,” Rei interrupted him with an annoyed expression on his face. “This is ridiculous.” God, he hated bureaucracy.
Ever since his undercover days ended, he had to deal with that side of his work a lot more. He was not made for a job that required him to deal with bureaucracy all day. So, when an emergency call came in that required Rei to go outside and hunt down a culprit, he was secretly really glad about it.
Around 6 pm, he sent the last of his subordinates home, while Rei decided to go through a few more files. The files were not at all urgent, but Rei really didn’t want to go home. It was 9 pm when he finally decided to call it a day.
On his way home, he picked up some groceries for his dinner. Usually, when Rei cooked dinner, Shuuichi would hug him from behind and not let go, no matter what Rei said or did. Once, he came really close to stabbing Shuuichi with a knife because he was so annoyed. Rei would complain every single time his partner did that, but now he missed his warmth and Shuuichi’s stupid grin when Rei threw insults at him. Shit, Shuuichi hasn’t even been gone for a day, and Rei already misses him so much. How was he going to survive 3 months?
Trying to fall asleep was hard. He was plagued by nightmares, and Rei woke up multiple times that night until he finally gave up trying to sleep around 4 am. That’s when he noticed that Shuuichi hadn’t called him yet. His plane should’ve landed around the time Rei went home from work, and suddenly fear and anxiety started to creep in. What if something happened to the plane? But he hadn’t heard any news on that. What if Shuuichi really went to the US because he didn’t want to see Rei anymore?
Rei got up, took his phone and tried to call Shuuichi. No answer. He tried two more times, but nothing. With his thoughts starting to spiral he didn’t notice his phone ringing for the first few seconds. After the third ring, he finally perked up and took the call: “Hello?” “Rei hi, I’m so sorry that I didn’t call immediately after landing. I didn’t even have time to go to my hotel, because the FBI needed me immediately. I just checked in and got to my room.” After Shuuichi finished speaking, Rei stayed silent.
“Rei? Hello, is everything alright? I’m sorry, I know you’re probably mad...” Letting out a sigh, Rei finally answered: “I’m not mad, I was just… worried.” The last word was spoken so quietly it was barely audible. Shuuichi’s relieved voice came from the other end: “No need to be worried, everything went fine,” a yawn interrupted him, “but I think I’ll try to get some sleep. It’s only afternoon here but I haven’t slept on the plane.” After saying goodbye, Shuuichi hung up.
Rei wasn’t happy and his anxious and insecure thoughts still lingered in the back of his head, but at least he was able to hear Shuuichi’s voice again. He wondered at which point he became so dependent on the other man. Since he was already awake anyway, Rei decided to go for a run to clear his head.
~
When Shuuichi arrived at the airport in New York City, it was about 8:30 in the morning. He was tired from the flight and hoped to be able to take a short nap at his hotel before he got to work. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Jodie picked him up, and they drove to the FBI office. On the car ride, they were able to catch up a bit, and it was good to hear that Jodie was doing well.
The reason his former colleagues asked for his help was that in the two years between his cover getting blown and his return to Japan, he took on a much smaller undercover assignment. This assignment involved a small criminal gang. He was successful in getting them all arrested without them knowing that he wasn’t one of them. However, due to a mistake in the court proceedings, a few of them were able to get out of jail early, and they planned to rebuild their gang and resume their criminal activities.
Since Shuuichi already had an established cover and never lost their trust, it would be easy to get him back inside. Today, he would have to do a bunch of preparation and paperwork to start going back undercover tomorrow. He knew he had promised to call Rei as soon as he landed, but his tired brain might have forgotten and when he remembered, he was already at the FBI office and busy with work. He just hoped Rei wouldn’t be too mad. At around 2 pm he was finally able to go; an hour later, he arrived at his hotel and checked in.
Getting back into being an undercover agent was easier than expected. Compared to the Syndicate, this gang didn’t seem very dangerous, but letting his guard down was not an option. He liked to come back to Rei in one piece and preferably as soon as possible. He missed Rei’s kisses, his warmth, his cooking, his fiery temper, his snide remarks, his beautiful blue eyes and soft blond hair, his smile, his joy when he got to solve a case, and he missed hearing him talk for hours about various topics; in short, he missed Rei.
Shuuichi tried to call Rei as much as possible, but with an 11-hour time difference between their locations and both of them being very busy with their jobs, he couldn’t call very often. When he first accepted the request to help out the FBI, he didn’t think it would be so difficult to be separated from his partner. But he was wrong, very wrong. Jodie regularly asked him if he was okay, because his mood seemed constantly down, and he was not sleeping well at all. Shuuichi tried to reassure her, but after knowing him for so many years, she saw right through him.
~
Shuuichi had been back in the US for 40 days now, and Rei thought that at this point, he might as well go crazy. He worked as much as he could, and he barely slept or ate. It was getting so bad that even his subordinates started to notice and they asked him if everything was alright. Of course, Rei dismissed them. He wasn’t about to talk to them about his private life. Worst of all, his insecure thoughts never stopped. They came and went, but never went away completely, no matter how many times Shuuichi called him to tell Rei that he missed him. Which, to be fair, wasn’t a lot, since finding time for that was quite difficult.
Rei once again got home late. He didn’t have the energy to cook something, so he decided to just skip dinner tonight. It was not the first time he skipped dinner in the past 40 days, but it’s fine, he was fine. He tried to distract himself first by watching the news and then by reading a book. Though his brain was too exhausted to concentrate on reading, and he was sure he had re-read that paragraph for the fifth time now. He closed his book with a sigh and decided to put on Detective Samonji.
Rei was incredibly tired, but he refused to go to sleep. He had a day off tomorrow entirely against his will. Some of his subordinates probably said something, which made his superior force him to take at least one day off. At 2 am, he was barely able to keep his eyes open when his phone started ringing. It was Shuuichi, so he picked it up immediately.
“Hello Rei. I hope I didn’t wake you. How are you?” Shuuichi’s voice came from his phone. “You didn’t wake me, and I’m fine.” Rei’s voice sounded tired and bitter. After a short pause, Shuuichi said: “Hey, don’t give me that. What’s going on?” Nothing, nothing was going on, Rei was fine, everything was okay. That’s what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. Because he was not fine and his brain was finally tired enough not to filter his words anymore.
“Fine, you want the truth, here is the truth. Nothing is fine, because I miss you. I can’t stop thinking you took this job to get away from me. Maybe you already found someone else who doesn’t try to stab and insult you. Maybe you finally had enough and you don’t want me anymore. No matter what I tell myself I can’t stop thinking these thoughts, and I hate it. I hate everything about this situation. I’m angry at you because you’re not here, and I’m angry at myself because I can’t handle you not being here.” Angry tears started forming in the corner of Rei’s eyes.
After his rant, there was silence. Great, now he truly fucked everything up, only because his stupid, tired brain finally lost every filter it ever had. What kind of agent was he that couldn’t keep his composure only because his lover was away for some time? Rei swallowed heavily. He was about to hang up when Shuuichi finally said something.
“Rei, I literally don’t know how to stop wanting you. You mean everything to me, and I miss you so much. Nobody could ever replace you, and believe me, I hate being away from you as much as you do. I think I really annoyed Jodie with my mood constantly being down. I hope you forgive me for being away for so long. But I have to hang up now, there is somebody I need to see.” And just like that, their call ended.
Rei stared at his phone, trying to process everything Shuuichi just said. He was so distracted that he didn’t even hear the front door opening and closing. It wasn’t until Shuuichi stood smiling in the doorframe to their bedroom that Rei noticed something. He was so shocked that his phone dropped out of his hand. After a few seconds, Rei jumped up and threw himself into Shuuichi’s arms, who nearly fell backwards from the force.
Shuuichi hugged him as tightly as possible while Rei buried his face into his neck. They just stood there like that for a few minutes, until Rei took Shuuichi’s face and dragged him into a long, desperate kiss. And he didn’t stop kissing him until they both were out of breath. When they finally separated, Shuuichi said with a grin on his face: “I’m home.” A huff escaped Rei’s mouth, but he nonetheless answered: “Welcome home.”
Jo!!! I have literally been scrolling your blog like my spoiler newspaper. You have the perf balance of freaking out, predictions and acceptance of emmerdales wily ways 🤍 im so grateful for my mutuals!
I COULDNT DECIDE WHETHER TO ERASE THE PRIDE FLAG FROM THE WAITRESS OR TRY TO FIND ANOTHER CLIP BUT I WANTED TO USE THAT ONE SO I FIGURED WHAT THE HELL SHES GAY TOO 😭
IM CRYINGG 😭😭 for the record i thought sapnap being completely by himself on the greek side was really awesome
