Prompt: Night/Photo (2022)

"Say cheese."

Masamune snapped a photo of Ritsu on his phone, the two of them on the couch with some work they had brought home. Ritsu had been hunching over the coffee table and making edits when Masamune took out his phone to take a picture of him.

Ritsu looked up in confusion before he frowned after he realized what Masamune had just done.

"What was that for? Delete it!" Ritsu put down his pen to try to lunge forward for the phone, but Masamune kept it out of his reach, leaning away from Ritsu.

"No, it's mine now, you can't make me." Masamune said, keeping his arm outstretched as he leaned over the arm of the couch to get as much distance as he could between Ritsu and the phone.

"Why would you even take a picture of me right now?" Ritsu demanded, scooting closer to try to reach for the phone, meaning he unfortunately had to get in Masamune's bubble.

Masamune grinned at this unforseen effect, his free arm wrapping around Ritsu's waist and pulling him down to land against his chest.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Ritsu squirmed, trying to wiggle away from Masamune without falling off the couch.

Masamune's other arm came to wrap around Ritsu, putting the phone behind Ritsu's back and Ritsu attempted to twist around to grab at the device, but Masamune had a pretty tight grip on it.

"Just delete the picture, there's no way I don't look awful." Ritsu said. He knew bags were starting to accumulate under his eyes and he had run his fingers through his hair so much tonight that it was undoubtedly sticking up in weird ways. Plus, he had an unsightly habit of biting his lower lip when he was concentrating, so he was probably doing that in the picture.

"You never look awful." Masamune said, making Ritsu snort and roll his eyes.

"Liar. Now give me the phone, jerk." Ritsu managed to push himself off Masamune and get an inch or two between them.

"No." Masamune said.

"You're so annoying. Why take a picture now anyway? Shouldn't you be working?" Ritsu said, his tone approaching a scolding quality.

"I don't have any pictures from back then." Masamune said, making Ritsu pause in his complaints. "I always wished that I did, especially when you were gone. I mean, I fought with myself every other day on whether or not you were even real. Having some pictures to let me know I wasn't crazy would've been nice."

"So...you're taking pictures in case I disappear again?" Ritsu frowned.

"No-I know you're not going to do that. I wouldn't let you even if you tried." Masamune said. "But...they're still nice to have." He said. "Having pictures makes it a little easier to deal with missing you."

"Missing me? We see each other almost every day." Ritsu scoffed.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to be satisfied until we're married and living together. I love you, Onodera Ritsu, in case you somehow forgot that fact in the span of this conversation. I always want to be with you and I miss you every second that I'm not." Masamune said, looking so serious sincere that Ritsu had to avert his gaze.

"You're too much." Ritsu dismissed, his face burning red. "And you've definitely worked in the shoujo department for too long."

Masamune smiled to himself and aimed his phone at Ritsu again, snapping another picture of his beautiful, blushing face.

"Stop that! How many pictures of me do you have?!" Ritsu asked.

"More than you know." Masamune said.

"What?! That's creepy!" Ritsu exclaimed.

"Oh, please, like you have any room to talk about creepy." Masamune scoffed. "Or do we need to have another conversation about 'Oda' Rit-"

"Okay, but I never took pictures of you without your knowledge in high school!" Ritsu quickly interrupted.

"If you had a smartphone back then, would you have?"

"..."

"And let's not act like you haven't done it recently." Masamune added. "You've taken a picture or two of me when you thought I was asleep. You are just as bad, if not worse than me. The difference is that I'm not ashamed of how crazy I am about you and I will admit to it every minute of every day." He smiled a bit, reaching out to cup one of Ritsu's cheeks, feeling how warm it was under his palm.

Ritsu huffed, but didn't jerk away, his fight beginning to fizzle out.

"I love you." Masamune said, leaning in closer to press a tender kiss to his lips, not waiting for Ritsu's response because he knew it wasn't coming today. It probably wasn't coming tomorrow either. Masamune wouldn't even bet on it being this month. But he could deal, satisfied for now with the way Ritsu's slightly shaky hands reached out to cling on to him and hold him closer instead of pushing away.