Prompt: Future/Post-Confession (2022)

Onodera Ritsu may have subconsciously believed that after he confessed all his problems would be gone. He and Masamune would somehow magically have better understandings of each other, Ritsu would never feel insecure, Masamune's jealous streak would get under control, and the two of them would never fight ever again.

Of course, that alone was ridiculous, but there were also several other speed bumps along the road.

First, there was the matter of whether or not they were going to officially announce their relationship to their coworkers. Masamune was all for it, in fact he was maybe too eager to get the news out, but Ritsu was not. Ritsu didn't see how it was anybody's business, but Masamune didn't want to pretend like their relationship was strictly professional. Not that Masamune was going to jump Ritsu's bones in front of everyone, but it would probably kill him if he couldn't hold his hand during a lunch break. Maybe that was dramatic, but it didn't make it any less true.

Ritsu had proposed a deal that they could tell the others about their relationship when they got engaged. Mostly because he hadn't expected Masamune to pop the question anytime soon, and even if he did, he hadn't expected himself to say yes. Long story short, Masamune had upgraded from boyfriend to fiance in a much shorter time than it had taken to upgrade from boss to boyfriend.

Then there was the matter of Ritsu's parents. Masamune hadn't insisted on asking their permission for their son's hand, and Ritsu hadn't either, but once they were officially engaged it seemed Masamune meeting them was unavoidable. Ritsu had dropped the news he was engaged to a man over the phone. It was impersonal, but it was safe. It kept emotional and physical distance between himself and his parents to allow them to process the news. That hadn't lasted very long though, as Ritsu could hear his mother pounding on his door just one apartment over while he hid in Masamune's home until she left. That didn't stop the endless string of calls and texts and Ritsu gave it about a week before he finally called her back.

There was a lot of yelling about how could Ritsu keep his relationship a secret, how could he tell her over the phone and not in person, how could he be ignoring her like this, mostly just a lot of outraged variations of 'how could you'. Once his mother got most of that out of her system, Ritsu offered to explain then and there over the phone or for her and his father to come over for dinner with him and his fiance and they could explain together.

Ritsu's mother had quite the watchful eye on Masamune that night, scrutinizing and criticizing in that famous passive-aggressive motherly way, but Masamune had dealt with a lot worse than a woman with a slightly snobby attitude. In the end, neither of his parents had expressed direct approval or disapproval. It was mostly confusion and maybe a little apprehension from them, but there was no yelling, no nonsense like attempting to 'forbid' Ritsu from marrying a man, so Ritsu considered it an overall success and decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if they were invited to the wedding.

Which led Ritsu to the latest obstacle: the wedding itself. Neither he or Masamune knew anything about weddings, let alone planning one. Masamune wasn't really much help either. It wasn't that he didn't care about the wedding it was just that the part he cared about most was marrying Ritsu, and he was going to be doing that no matter what.

Ritsu hadn't realized just how much went into a wedding. Of course there were the obvious things like catering, location, and their suits, but there were so many details that Ritsu swore he was going to rip his hair out. They needed to have table decorations, needed to arrange seating so no one would want to kill each other over dinner, pick out fonts and styles for invitations, pick out chairs for God's sake-

"So, are you going to come to bed anytime soon or am I doomed to spend the night alone?" Masamune asked as he shuffled into the living room. Ritsu had told him he was coming to bed 'soon' and that had been an hour ago. Masamune's patience had run out about five minutes ago and he told himself he'd stick it out, but again, that lasted all of five minutes.

"Did you know that flowers have different meanings? I mean, I knew roses symbolized love, but even the color of the rose can make it mean something different. Now we can't just worry about getting flowers that look nice, they also can't mean something terrible."

"A terrible flower?" Masamune sounded skeptical.

"They exist. Some flowers can represent hatred or greed or death. Some aren't terrible meanings, but they represent things like platonic friendship. Do you want a flower at our wedding that says we're 'just friends'?"

"Have you been researching this the whole time?" Masamune asked as he sat on the couch with him.

"It started off just comparing prices of where we could get our flowers from-"

"I thought I was in charge of budgeting stuff-"

"But it ended up spiraling into frantic googling of every possible meaning of every flower." Ritsu sighed as he set his phone down and tiredly rubbed his face. "I don't know if I can do this."

Masamune looked alarmed at that. "Are you saying you don't want to marry me?" He asked, trying not to immediately panic.

"I do want to marry you!" Ritsu clarified quickly, not about to let another misunderstanding spiral out of control. "It's just...the wedding itself. It's too much, there's so much pressure and so many little things to worry about and it's so much money-"

"Then let's not have a wedding."

Ritsu froze, the gears in his brain momentarily stopping all motion before very, very slowly picking back up.

"Not have a wedding?" He echoed.

"We don't need a wedding to get married." Masamune said. "We can have a small, private ceremony with just the two of us, or a few friends and your parents if you really want, and then we could go out to dinner or something. Big parties aren't really either of our styles and would you even be able to enjoy it? You don't love having a lot of attention on you. And I don't love other people giving you a lot of attention."

Ritsu laughed a little at that, shaking his head. "You'll never change, will you?"

"Absolutely not. I'll only get worse."

Ritsu laughed again, tugging at Masamune's heartstrings.

"Listen, whatever you want to do, we'll do. At the end of the day I only want two things: to be married to you and for you to be happy. If a big wedding won't make you happy then let's not do it." Masamune said, wrapping his arms around Ritsu and holding him tight.

Ritsu relaxed in Masamune's embrace, but hesitated to respond. Not having a wedding was an option, though it felt like an unreal one. He'd never expected to actually marry anyone, despite his mother's insistence, but he figured if he ever hit his head hard enough he might agree to marriage and a wedding would follow. But did Ritsu really want a wedding? Extended family he doesn't really talk to attempting to make awkward conversation, loud and rowdy guests who maybe had a drink or two too many, people making sappy speeches on his or Masamune's behalf, and (as Masamune had pointed out) a lot of attention on Ritsu. And that was all after the nightmare of planning the damn thing.

"Okay. Let's not have a wedding." Ritsu said, feeling as though he could finally breathe for the first time since they got engaged.

"And if in the future you change your mind and want the big reception then we can renew our vows." Masamune said.

Ritsu smiled a little. Masamune always made the things that he worried about sound so simple. "I think that's perfect."

Masamune stole a quick kiss. "Now come to bed. I'm tired and I've been waiting up for you."

Ritsu got into bed with his fiancé, shutting his eyes as Masamune held him close. He was finally able to sleep well, feeling relieved with that obstacle overcome.

Though, once the morning came Ritsu realized what the next obstacle would be: telling his mother he wouldn't be having a wedding.