But all she wanted to do was lie in bed, eat Kraft macaroni and cheese, and hide from the alligators.- The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Hiding From Alligators

It was a stormy day when Ritsu's mother told him she wanted to go out to eat with him and Masamune. Ritsu was slightly puzzled, since his mother's birthday party was in about a week and they'd be seeing each other again. Then again, his mother always paid when she invited him out to eat, and he still had the habit of loving anyone who would offer him free food.

It, however, hadn't been raining when Ritsu left for work that morning, and he hadn't thought to bring an umbrella with him. Fortunately, when they stepped off the subway, Ritsu looked up to see Masamune holding an umbrella over them. "You're rather bad at looking ahead, aren't you?" he asked, sounding only slightly smug as they walked to the restaurant they had chosen. At first Ritsu's mother had been adamant about a fancy restaurant that required reservations, but Ritsu had whittled down her will. He had never felt incredibly comfortable in those places despite the abundant amount of times he'd been to them when he was younger.

"I do think ahead," Ritsu said, folding his arms and having to walk briskly to keep up with Masamune.

"Having lubricant in your nightstand doesn't count." Masamune whispered it in Ritsu's ear so no one walking by heard it at least, but Ritsu still had to keep himself from pushing Masamune into a puddle. He did, after all, have the umbrella.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." They finally reached the restaurant, a simple family-style place Kisa had mentioned to Ritsu once. He and Masamune ducked into the building together, Masamune turning to close his umbrella while Ritsu talked to the hostess. The woman was giving them a rather interesting look but said nothing, instead opting for leading them to a table.

"Mother said she'd be here a little late." The booth they'd been given was right at the window on the street. Ritsu and Masamune were sitting on the same side, but Ritsu was on the inside and he'd taken to staring out the window, watching the drops of rain fall down it in increasing amounts.

"So essentially, we had time to do something before heading over here."

"I can read your mind by now and the answer would've been no."

Masamune smiled and wrapped an arm around Ritsu's shoulders, putting his lips right up to Ritsu's ear. "Wouldn't be able to face her?"

Ritsu's face turned bright red, but before he could come up with any kind of retort, a woman managed to extract herself from the table across the way. Masamune pulled away from Ritsu as she approached, though he still had his arm around his shoulders.

"Takano-san!" the woman said. "I thought that was you, but they didn't believe me."

"Good evening, Oota-san," Masamune said. "It sounds like you're having fun."

"Oh, we always do." She bowed slightly. When she saw Ritsu looking confused, she smiled. "Good evening. I'm Oota Aimi. Takano-san is a frequent visitor of the library I work at." She seemed reluctant to press on, but she did. "You wouldn't happen to be Onodera Ritsu, would you?"

"…yes?"

"Of course." Aimi grinned at that, putting her hands down on the table. "I was a junior librarian in high school. I remember you two well. You were always so cute, sitting together at your table."

Masamune didn't look the least bit surprised at this, but Ritsu blushed and went back to looking out the window. He couldn't, however, ignore the laughing coming from the table Aimi had been sitting at.

"I thought you both moved away, though." Aimi's smile had warped to a frown.

When Ritsu looked back around, it was in time for Masamune to give him a brief kiss and say, "We couldn't stay away from each other long."

"Yeah, it only took ten years," Ritsu muttered, trying to pull out of Masamune's one-armed hug but failing miserably. It didn't really help that he was mostly doing it for show. Despite that, he still found himself glancing around the restaurant, hoping his mother would show up soon. It was, Ritsu felt, the lesser of two evils.

Aimi and Masamune ended up in a conversation until a cell phone ringing interrupted them. Masamune's eye twitched when he realized it was his own, but he answered it, anyway. With Masamune distracted, Ritsu carefully removed his arm from around his shoulders. That was apparently traded for Aimi's attention, however.

"It really is good seeing you again, Onodera-san," she said, bowing. "You probably don't remember me, though."

"Er, not especially," Ritsu said, suddenly feeling bad. "To your credit, though, I kind of tried to forget most of what happened during that time."

Aimi frowned. "Not a good time in your life, huh?"

"I've had better." Ritsu smiled, not willing to elaborate. He didn't particularly enjoy sharing his life story with strangers. Masamune suddenly started yelling between them, startling them both. He frowned and stood from the booth, giving Ritsu a brief apology before going to stand under the overhang so he wouldn't cause a scene in the restaurant.

"What was that about?"

"Probably work." Ritsu actually looked at Aimi, and she seemed incredibly happy to be there. "…yes?"

"I just-" She stopped, seeing to consider her words. "When I took over the library, I always heard stories about you two. How you were always around him, staring at him and checking out books after him. Of course I thought it was kind of creepy at first, but you were such a cute little kid." Ritsu ducked his head at this, not wanting to be reminded of his adventures in stalking. "The previous members of the Literature Club that watched over the library noticed you, I guess. I was kind of sad to actually see progress only for you both to disappear."

Ritsu suddenly looked up when he heard someone clear their throat. He expected it to be Masamune, but it was his mother, standing there with her eyebrows raised and looking between Ritsu and Aimi.

"Good evening, Mother," Ritsu said, bowing and eying Aimi. The woman quickly scurried away to her table, after which a new round of laughing could be heard. This time, however, it seemed more like the giggles he constantly heard coming from the Sapphire department when he found himself over there.

"Is what she said true?" She sounded curious, though, not like she was going to give him a lecture if it was.

Ritsu ducked his head again, staring at the lines on the table. "It seemed a lot less unsettling at the time."

Masamune finally came back in, glaring at his phone like he just stared at it long enough, that would solve all his problems. It didn't, though, and he carefully slipped back into the booth, putting an arm around Ritsu.

The smile on Onodera-mama's face slightly unsettled Ritsu, so he decided to put them on a safe topic. Or, at least one less volatile than him stalking Masamune in high school. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Mother?"

"Oh! Yes." She cleared her throat and thanked the waitress when she brought over menus. "Your father and I were thinking about breeding Tsuyu and were wondering if you'd want one of her puppies. I'm sure they'd love you just as much as she does."

Masamune looked over to Ritsu in amusement, practically seeing the ellipses going through his mind as he tried to process the right answer to his mother. Finally, Ritsu took a deep breath and said, "Even if I had the time, a dog Tsuyu's size would destroy my apartment."

"Not much left to destroy," Masamune commented.

"Do you have a comment for everything?"

"Probably."