vivienii replied to your post: vivienii replied to...
YES I HAVE READ ALL OF THOSE I think I’ve read and re-read all the aokises in the world like 5 times already and I can’t write to save my life so no writing for me. my favorite is probably bunnyhips’ Strange Infatuation :‘3 it’s on-going tho
I don’t think I read that one, but Imma look for it right now and Imma download it on my phone to read tonight when I’ll be sadly internetless
vivienii replied to your post: Things I can do:...
let me love you (ﾉ º̩̩́ Д º̩̩̀ )ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ ♥♥♥✧♥・ﾟ✧ /is so aokise deprived that i’ll probably be dead if i dont get aoki supply in like 24 hours/
pLEASE DON’T DIE FRIEND I know how it feels like to be Aokise deprived. I don’t think I can finish anything in 24 hours yet but you can always talk aokise to me
Pairing(s): AoKise, with a lot of established KagaKuro on the side
Status: Ongoing
Words: 2,528 (8,007 total)
Read on AO3 or FF.net
Notes: Sorry this took me a little bit! ;_; I was struggling with a section of this chapter, haha. I don't expect the next chapter to be as difficult. :3
ALSO, you’re all probably aware, but in case you aren’t, vivienii did this beautiful piece of art based on this fic and it makes me just about cry every time I see it ;~; I’m STILL SO OVERWHELMED THAT THIS EXISTS. ;~; Thank you ;~;
Ryouta had spent the first day of Emi's being walked in a state of what Kuroko called 'ridiculous and nonsensical hysterics', but which Ryouta preferred to call 'reasonable and justified worry' about his precious pet.
So he begged off work early – his shots had been good, and he knew it – so that he could rush home to make sure she was okay. It's just this once, he told himself as he walked. It's just because this is the first time. It'll be easier tomorrow once I know she's been okay this time.
Totally reasonable.
There's a clattering of paws and claws on the wood as he unlocks and opens the door to his apartment, and a happy puppy face to greet him when he gets inside.
"Hello!" he coos at her. "Hello baby! I'm home."
The ribbon on her collar is a little messed up from the time being worn, and there are a few burrs in her fur from her walk, but otherwise, as Ryouta pets, cuddles and fondles her ears, she's exactly the way she was when he left her here this morning.
He stands up, and goes to put his keys into the key bowl he has on the little table, and he notices it.
There's a note.
In some of the laziest, messiest handwriting he's ever seen, 'hey tell me if she's too energetic & i'll take her longer next time'.
It's this, more than anything that seems to soothe his ruffles. Of course, he trusted Kuroko, and his services, but...
He smiles, and pockets the note.
"Come on, Emi, are you hungry, baby?"
Close at his heels as he heads further inside, Emi follows, sniffing at his legs and looking up at him hopefully.
"Maybe you do need a longer walk," he says to her. "That's okay; I'll take you out for a bit, since I came home early. How does that sound? Kagamicchi and I aren't going to the gym today."
Emi, aware only that she is being spoken to, wags her tail harder, shaking her small body with the force of its swing.
"I should just answer your walker before we go, how about that?" he says. "I'll forget otherwise, won't I, baby?"
He wanders into the little study room that was next to his bedroom. Ryouta had furnished it back when he'd moved in, but even then, he'd known he'd never use it. His laptop moves with him, when he bothers to use it; more often though, he simply uses his tablet or phone.
Ryouta's just a little bit surprised to learn that he actually has stationary in here at all, to be honest. He has to laugh at himself, for bothering to stock a room he'd known he'd never use, even as he folds a piece of paper into quarters and tears it to write his response. Emi lies next to his right foot, and he can see her tail brushing back and forth over the floor, probably collecting dust as he leans over to write his response.
'She could probably stand a longer walk! Thank you!'
He signs it with a heart and a kiss, even though Emi's walker, by the looks of the scrawl, is more than likely male. He finds that he likes the idea of being in contact with this other person who will be a significant part of Emi's life. The contact itself is reassuring, giving Ryouta the impression that the person who walks Emi is a caring kind of person concerned with making sure that his darling is appropriately taken care of.
That done, he looks down at Emi and smiles.
"Let's go for a little walk huh, baby?" he says, and crouches down to pet her again. "And then we'll have dinner when we get back, and I'll brush all those knots out of your fur. How does that sound?"
She probably has no idea what he's saying but her happy face is all the response that Ryouta needs.
The notes become a thing almost without Ryouta realising.
There's a response when Ryouta gets home the next day that only says, 'better?'
Emi's definitely less energetic, but not in a sickly kind of way; in a tired out way. It makes Ryouta feel better, that she's getting the exercise she needs, and the sleepy wag of her tail as she comes to greet him, because she was dozing when he unlocked the door and thus had a delayed reaction, is really cute.
Ryouta doesn't always come home to a note on the little table he keeps his keys and Emi's lead and harness on, but that's okay. Sometimes, he gets notes that say things like 'your dog misses you, you should spend more time with her' and other things, and Ryouta would be offended if it wasn't kind of true and make him feel really guilty.
And his little girl is growing up so fast.
Ryouta's phone is full of pictures of her. And, of course, selfies with her too - he sends those to Kuroko, and the co-worker he adopted Emi from, among others. He thought about getting a professional photo taken while she was still sweet and little, but in the end he'd decided she wouldn't be well-trained enough and would be too energetic for it. He'll get a good picture of them both done when she's fully grown, because she promises to grow into a very beautiful full-grown dog, if her mother, who Nishioka has sent him a picture of, is anything to go by.
But in the mean time, while he waits, Ryouta just takes all the photos he can himself, and posts them to all his personal social network accounts.
Often it's hard to make her sleep in her fleece-lined bed on her own. She cries and cries some nights though his closed door, and it tears at his heart, because he knows how it feels to be lonely. Kuroko always tells him to stay firm, because one day she will accept it and stop crying, but one night when he's on the couch she lies on on her side in the middle of the floor and it's so funny and adorable he actually gets off to lie on the floor with her, and her small, warm body is so comforting when he slides her over the wooden floor and against him.
Ryouta takes her into his bed that evening, fur and dog-smell be damned, and she is a warm sleeping body next to his legs, and his door stays open and her bed unused from that night on.
He becomes used to finding and picking off long, golden hairs from his clothes – well, ones that clearly aren't his, anyway – and running a lint roller over himself just in case when he has something important to attend.
The notes keep coming. Things like 'she's a bit heavy cut back on how much you feed her' and 'she made a friend today'; they make Ryouta smile and feel warm, and wonder if this is what it's like to hear about the goings on of your child at school. Very occasionally, Emi is playing with a new toy when he gets home.
Ryouta stores the notes in a little box in the small study room; when it starts to get full, he buys a small white board and some markers, hangs it next to the little table and leaves a note about it being easier to communicate this way. And then he starts taking pictures of the messages left on the board for him on his phone.
He tells himself its normal for him to treasure these things because they're related to Emi and he's just a very proud, doting papa, and ignores the way that he flicks back through his photos to look at the message that said 'you should take some time for yourself too' and the warm, excited feeling he gets from it.
"Hey, Kise-kun, do you have a minute?"
Ryouta pauses, and looks back over his shoulder. It's Tajima; one of the amateur photographers he's gotten along quite well with. He's been working with one of Ryouta's favourite photographers for about six months now.
He smiles and turns around. "What can I do for you, Tajima-kun?"
Tajima smiles back at him; he's obviously nervous as he takes a deep breath in that's probably not really noticeable to most people, but Ryouta has made his life around noticing little things like this to help him leave anyone he encounters with a positive impression. His industry is a giant network; he can't afford to leave someone thinking badly of him as a person or a professional.
"I was wondering... I've been working on some more artistic photography, and I just wanted to ask if maybe you'd be willing to do some modelling for it?"
Ryouta resists the urge to frown, even though it would only be thoughtful. Something like that would be different to his commercial modelling, so it had some appeal; but at the same time, it wouldn't have the kind of pay off that his commercial modelling had; limited exposure and little monetary compensation for his time.
Still, it was something different. Something new. Ryouta always did get bored easily.
"Sounds like fun!" he says. A thought occurs to him. "But only if you take a nice picture of me with my dog."
Tajima seems surprised, but Ryouta's pretty sure an apprentice, artistic photographer doesn't have the money to spare to pay a fee for Ryouta, who doesn't really need the money anyway, but does want a nice photo of himself with his precious pet, and who is he to pass up such a neat little opportunity?
"I'm not doing it for free, after all," Ryouta adds, winking. "Here, give me your phone."
The photographer blinks, before belatedly realising he was asked for something. He fumbles for a moment before extracting his phone and passing it over.
"Just give me the details of the when and where, okay? I won't do anything involving nudity though. It's bad for my image. If you can work around that, though, I'm happy to do you the favour."
Ryouta's familiar with most kinds of phones, and he easily enters his personal number into Tajima's phone. He'd honestly prefer to give him the work number, but since this isn't really business, he doesn't think it's appropriate.
He offers the phone back with a smile, and Tajima mostly just seems really surprised that Ryouta has agreed. It takes him a moment to react, and then a deep flush spreads over his face and ears.
"Thank you very much, Kise-kun!"
Ryouta laughs. "It's fine. Just remember, no nude shots, okay? If you had one planned, you'll have to scrap it or find someone else to be your model for it."
Tajima nods as he takes his phone back from Ryouta. "Yeah, no problem, I didn't really have anything like that planned."
Ryouta nods and smiles, and then turns away with a wave. "Give my best to Hayashida-san. He looks a little busy, so I won't distract him."
Once Ryouta and Tajima have sorted out a date which suits them both over messages – or rather, Tajima had found a day free, and Ryouta had requested that day off, as it had turned out easier that way – Ryouta swings by Kuroko's place. It's a day he's usually working, so Emi's supposed to be being walked the day that he's doing the shoot for Tajima, but he's taking Emi with him, since apparently it was mostly outdoors, and Ryouta figures they can just bring her along with them. He often feels bad that she spends most of her day cooped up inside; it'll ease him a little to spend a day outside with her.
"Kurokocchi!"
There's a pause, which Ryouta would mentally attribute to Kuroko doing something akin to sighing, if he ever made such overt gestures of annoyance, and then, "Come in, Kise-kun."
Ryouta smiles at him as he looks in. "Hi! How are you doing today, Kurokocchi?"
"Fine, Kise-kun, thank you. Why are you here?"
Ryouta pouts as he comes in and sits in the comfortable arm chair. "Can't I ever just want to visit?"
"No. I'm very busy, Kise-kun; some of us are still working. Can we hurry this up?"
Ryouta looks around – Kuroko doesn't seem to be very busy, but he does look quite tired. "You should take some rest time, Kurokocchi," he says, and he's fixed with a very flat stare. "Well, you should!"
"If you don't actually have something you need to tell me, please let me get back to work."
"I was getting there! Anyway, I'm going to be doing an artistic photoshoot—"
"Kise-kun."
"—it's relevant, Kurokocchi, I promise! It's supposed to be outdoors, and I'm going to take Emi, so I just wanted to pass it on to the person who walks her! I know I could have left a note for them on the whiteboard, but I figured this was probably the kind of thing that's supposed to go through you, right?"
Kuroko sighs. "That is indeed correct, Kise-kun. Please write down the date for me." He slides over a bunch of post-it notes and a pen. After a moment, he asks, "What did you mean by the whiteboard?"
Ryotua looks up after he writes the date and surrounds it with a heart. "Oh, the person who walks Emi leaves me these cute little notes sometimes! But then I thought maybe it would be easier if we had a whiteboard to communicate over, so I bought a little one and some markers to write the notes with! Do you want to see? I have pictures, because it's really cute and I want to remember them! Except when he tells me off for not spending enough time with Emi."
Kuroko gives him a strange look. "...I think I'll be alright. Thank you for letting me know about your taking Emi out."
Ryouta smiles at him. "Try and have an early night, Kurokocchi. Your skin looks terrible."
"Thank you for your concern, Kise-kun. I'm quite alright." Kuroko returns his smile, although it is very slight. "I hope you have a good rest of the evening. Perhaps you should take your walker's advice and go spend some time with your dog."
Ryouta nods eagerly and gets up. "We should have a puppy play date again soon! When are you and Kagamicchi free again?"
"Nigou did like Emi a lot though, so it would be nice for them both to have another play date soon. But talk to Kagami-kun about it at the gym tomorrow, or message me after my working hours, and I know you know when they are, Kise-kun. You need to get out of my hair." He's still smiling, but there is steel behind his words; he really does need to work, apparently.
Ryouta beams at him. "Sounds like fun! Ah, maybe if we go to the park I can meet someone cute who likes dogs, wouldn't that be nice?"
"Please don't drag Kagami-kun and I out just so you can find a date, Kise-kun."
