Prompt: didyousayjuhaku . tumblr post/120314488479/send-me-a-ship-and-one-of-these-and-ill-write-a (remove the spaces yo)
Summary: "For the briefest moment, they make eye contact, and she knows why Ryo couldn't talk to her aloud." quick and very pointless future!verse ryuki drabble bc if there's anything i'm good at it's pumping out fics during exam season ;v;""
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Rika/Ryo
Rating: K
Warning(s): maybe a rushed ending? besides that there's nothing
Words: 955
before reading, please note that this piece is meant to be set 5 years after the battle against the D-Reaper and was written with the intent of using the dubbed ages, meaning that Rika is 17 while Ryo is 19. thank you for your time and i hope you enjoy the read! ^^
01. Things you said at 1 am
Feet shuffle around them as people gather their bags and garbage, the small thrum of chatter settling in as the movie's soundtrack fades away. Sparingly, Rika allows a quick glance to her phone - the screen is too bright in contrast to the darkly lit room, and she hastily scales it down as she takes in the time:
12:47 am.
Beside her, Ryo gathers his own garbage before straightening to look towards his own watch. A tired and worn smile tugs at his lips. "It seems to have run later than I thought - sorry about that."
Rika merely shakes her head. "Don't worry about it." After all, it's hardly like staying up late is anything new for her. His gaze flicks up to meet hers, brows furrowed as he takes in the aloof - almost challenging - stare she shoots him in return. Silently, she challenges him to say what she knows that quick glance means, she challenges him to ask whether her mother will be worried about her being out so late.
She isn't too surprised when he doesn't.
As they move toward the theatre's exit themselves, he sort of cocks his head towards her as he drops their trash into the cart laid just in front of the door. "So? What did you think of it?"
"It was good enough, I guess." She hesitates for a moment before mumbling, "The fight scenes were poorly executed though, especially considering they were obviously meant to be the focus of the movie."
He merely laughs. "Well, yes. But it's not fair to expect that everyone can fight as well as I can, Rika." His gaze meets hers as he holds out the door for her to slip through, the lights in his eyes dancing mischievously as he waits for her reply. She cocks her brow back at him.
"It was an action movie, Ryo. The fight scenes are what the budget is meant to go into, remember?"
Another small chuckle falls past his lips. "Of course, of course. But you have to admit that the plot was well-written."
"Mm. I guess so..."
They step out onto the street, and streetlights obnoxiously swarm them despite the late hour. Strangers who had just watched the very same movie they had flow out around them, moving on past what they had just experienced and onto the dull lives they knew all too well. Rika watches them in silence, knowing but ignoring the fact that Ryo's own gaze was lingering on her.
Her phone chimes.
Apathetically, she draws her phone from her pocket once more.
[12:56AM] hero boy - me
What are you thinking?
She allows herself a spare glance in his direction. He doesn't return it, pretending to be entranced by something on his phone. She snorts.
[12:56AM] me - hero boy
rn? about how much of an idiot you are, honestly.
She watches him as he reads the text, allowing her a small smile of her own as amusement dances across her companion's face.
[12:57AM] hero boy - me
No, not now. Before I texted you.
Her brow furrows after taking in the words scrawled across her phone's screen. Her hand hovers over the device as she tries to recall whatever had been dwelling on her mind while she had watched everyone else file out of the theatre they still stood in front of. She shakes her head before quickly typing a response.
[12:58AM] me - hero boy
idk. nothing really? why?
Another moment passes before her phone chimes again.
[12:58AM] hero boy - me
I just wanted to know, I guess.
A smile graces her face anew as she stuffs her phone away. "Stupid. You should just talk to me normally, you know." Ryo's own smile widens, but he doesn't look away from his phone.
"Where's the fun in that?" Rika doesn't reply, simply rolling her eyes and allowing a pained groan to fall past her lips. "Hold on, hold on. Take your phone out again."
"Really, Ryo?"
Ryo kind of tilts his head towards her, giving her the stern-teacher type look that... really shouldn't be possible when one isn't wearing stern-teacher type glasses. Begrudgingly, she complies, but not without another eye roll and a very pointed look in his direction.
It's just as she holds her phone out before her that it chimes once more.
[1:00AM] hero boy - me
I love you, you know.
And then, mere seconds after:
[1:00AM] birth giver - me
rika? is the movie over yet? are you okay? do you need back-up?
"Mom's wondering where I am." The words are rushed, forced, and she tries to focus on what she's saying rather than her racing heart. "I -"
"That's fine." The tone of Ryo's voice throws her off - she had been expecting it to be clipped, sharp, angry. Instead, his voice falls past his lips softly and carries the same playful nature that it always does. "Do you need a ride home?"
"Uh, no, that's fine. I have my bike and everything, after all." She feels like she's strangling herself. What is she supposed to do, though? She...
She can't think about it now.
Ryo nods, his painfully refreshing smile still dancing across his lips. "Fair enough. See you next week?"
Stiffly, she nods. For the briefest moment, they make eye contact, and she knows why Ryo couldn't talk to her aloud.
She watches as he walks away, pensively running her thumb along the side of her cell.
[1:03AM] me - birth giver
don't get so worked up - i'm on my way back now
And then, she breathes.
[1:04am] me - hero boy
i love you, too. dumbass.
Author's Note: looking back on this now, this piece is kind of shitty ha ha =v= it was honestly a bit of a warm-up piece that I just jotted back a couple weeks ago (maybe like, a week ago, idk bc time seems to be flowing oddly these days) to get back into the flow of writing, and more importantly, to get the feel of writing these two losers. the truth of the matter is that I have a lot of fic ideas kind of floating around for the two of them, but i want to have a better grasp on both of them before I got started on any of that. tbqh, I'm not sure I have a lot of faith in how I depicted them here, but I guess all I can do is learn from trial and error... also I already have this uploaded on my ao3 account, so there's little reason to withhold it from the crowd honestly. one of my bigger projects right now is a multi-chapter fic I'm working on for these two, so I hope to get to uploading that (as well as the next chapter of my fe:a novelization, perhaps? my old computer died so i was feeling a bit bummed out over losing the 2,000 or so words i had written for the first/second chapter, but i feel a bit more motivated now) sometime over the summer ^^ thank you again for your time~
p.s. rika would totally be that girl that lists her mom as "birth giver" in her contacts list come on now