WARNINGS AU, slash, many, many Ocs
Chapter 2"F—Fuji-sempai?"
Fuji Syusuke smiled at the confused and disbelieving expression on the boy's face.
When he had spotted the notice on an exchange program with the high school he knew Ryoma was now attending, he had jumped at the chance.
The odd thing was that when he returned home that day, his sister had already packed all his things and had the luggage waiting for him at the door. She had sent him on his way with a worried frown and a solemn, "Be careful. There's going to be trouble."
And the very next day, the other Seigaku regulars had come to see him off with a promise from Oishi that they would all visit during the winter break.
But back to the present.
Ryoma made his hesitant way to the dining table and sat gingerly on the edge of the seat across from Fuji.
Dinner was a tense and awkward affair with Nanjiro snickering behind his hand and his mother, cousin, and Fuji keeping up a polite conversation. Ryoma ate quickly and excused himself, followed swiftly by Fuji. The two left the kitchen and retired upstairs.
As Fuji closed the door to Ryoma's room and stood smiling as always, the younger boy was reminded of the time his sempai had appropriated—in Ryoma's opinion, stolen—the key to his house and snuck in at midnight to pester him. He suppressed a shudder at the—unpleasant—memory.
Fuji noted with amusement that Ryoma had grown taller—though he still fell short of the tensai.
Casting around for something to distract him, golden eyes landed on a book lying on his bedside table beside the red alarm clock.
"Whose book is that?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Saa, I was reading it." Fuji picked up the novel and showed it to him. "It's a play about demons, magic and romance. It's quite interesting really. You should try it."
Ryoma grunted, glancing only briefly at the book. The cover was pitch black around a beam of light that shone down upon two flowers, their emerald stems intertwined. Above, written in flowing, golden script was the title "White & Crimson Roses".
Getting up from the bed, Ryoma started to walk past his former boyfriend, muttering something about having homework.
Sapphire eyes glinted suddenly as a hand snaked up to cup the side of his face, turning his head towards the older boy as soft lips brushed lightly across his own. Then Fuji released him and Ryoma hurried to his schoolbag, blushing.
………………….
Night came too quickly.
Thankfully, for the most part, Fuji had gone to help his cousin organize the guest room. All the same, Ryoma wasn't sure—if Fuji was going to be staying in the aforementioned guest room—why his suitcase was sitting smugly beside the younger boy's desk.
Shutting his history book with a sigh, he got up and pulled the curtains on the window, pausing to peer out into the night before shutting it completely. The sky was dark, spangled with a scattering of stars like tiny gemstones in the vast expanse of velvety black.
He blinked, walking over to his bed and climbing under the covers.
Had it been his imagination or had the moon, which hung in a crescent within the heavens, been tinted with the slightest hint of red?
Sighing, he shut his eyes, wondering if he had remembered to lock his bedroom door.
There was the soft swish of swinging hinges and he shut his eyes tighter.
Apparently not.
The world was just not going to let his life be simple, was it?
Ryoma opened his eyes again, tensing as a weight settled onto the bed beside him. In the faint light of the moon filtering through the window curtains, he could distinguish only shadowy outlines of the figure.
"Fuji-sempai?" he asked uncertainly.
Arms circled his waist and pulled him against a familiar chest. "Shh, go to sleep, Ryoma."
The younger boy blinked a few more times before settling back and allowing himself to relax. Fuji, apparently, had every intention of picking up where they had left off all those years ago. And if that was the case, he had better prepare for a rough year.
"Goodnight, Syusuke."
"Goodnight, Ryoma."
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