Chapter Text
Morning passed like honey — slow, golden, and sweet.
Neither of them moved from the couch for hours. Rui had shifted only to pull the blanket higher, wrapping it around Torpe’s shoulders when he shivered, despite the sunlight warming the room.
The air smelled faintly of dried lavender and old parchment. Outside, someone was chopping wood. A dog barked in the distance. All of it felt far away — like it belonged to another world entirely.
Torpe belonged here.
In Rui’s arms.
Still tucked against his chest, legs tangled, his cap long abandoned on the table. His hair was a soft mess, and his face still bore the flush of last night — a red that hadn’t quite faded from his ears no matter how many times he tried to hide.
Rui, smiling faintly, pressed a kiss into his temple.
“You’re quiet this morning,” he murmured.
“I’m always quiet…”
“Mhm. But you’re also fidgety.”
“I’m not—!”
Rui reached for one of Torpe’s hands and gently laced their fingers together.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered. “Are you nervous?”
Torpe looked away. “N-not nervous. Just…”
He paused.
“Thinking.”
“About?”
“…Kissing.”
Rui raised an eyebrow, amused and fond. “Mm?”
Torpe swallowed. “…I want to try.”
That made Rui’s breath catch.
Torpe looked up at him then — all flushed cheeks and sunset-orange eyes full of nervous courage.
“I-I mean… I want to try… starting it.”
Rui tilted his head, his smile shifting into something slower, more dangerous. “Oh?”
Torpe’s ears turned red. “D-don’t look at me like that…”
“Like what?”
“Like y-you’re already planning how to ruin me…”
Rui chuckled, voice velvet. “I’m not. I’m just intrigued.”
He sat up a little, still holding Torpe close but giving him space — barely.
“Go on, then,” he said, voice warm but steady. “Try.”
Torpe bit his lip, hesitated… then leaned in.
And kissed him.
Or — tried to.
It was the most awkward, gentle, stuttering thing Rui had ever experienced. Their noses bumped. Torpe missed his mouth on the first try. His lips trembled so much it was barely a touch.
Then he pulled back, wide-eyed.
“I-I messed it up…”
Rui’s eyes fluttered open.
He stared for half a second.
Then pounced.
Not rough. Not fast. But with intent.
He grabbed the back of Torpe’s neck, leaned in, and kissed him properly — claiming the half-kiss and deepening it with a hum in his throat, until Torpe gasped and practically melted in his arms.
Rui swallowed the sound.
Their mouths moved together — sloppier now, messier, eager. Torpe kept making these tiny little noises, helpless, clinging to Rui’s shirt like he didn’t know what else to do with his hands.
Rui pulled back just far enough to murmur, “Try again.”
Torpe whimpered.
“I-I don’t think I can…”
“You can,” Rui said, licking at the corner of his mouth. “You’re doing better than you think.”
Torpe made a noise somewhere between a protest and a whine, and leaned forward again — nervous and shaky — pressing a kiss to Rui’s lower lip.
It was soft. Hesitant.
But true.
Rui met it. Opened his mouth. Drew him in.
And then it turned needy.
Sloppy.
Hands tugging at fabric.
Breath mixing between them.
Rui murmuring praise between kisses, telling Torpe he was doing so well, that he tasted so good, that he was beautiful when he blushed and pulled away only to kiss again.
Torpe was trembling, face buried in Rui’s shoulder between waves, breath hot and shaky.
“I’m g-going to pass out…”
“You’re fine,” Rui murmured, brushing his lips along Torpe’s ear. “You’re perfect.”
“You’re evil.”
“You like it.”
“Don’t,” Torpe whined, burying his face deeper. “Don’t say things like that…”
But his fingers didn’t let go.
Eventually, they collapsed against each other, worn out from nothing but kissing and laughter and too much heat pressed skin-to-skin. The blanket had half-slid to the floor. Torpe’s shirt had ridden up a little at the side.
Neither of them cared.
“You’ve ruined me,” Torpe mumbled, eyes half-lidded.
“Just catching up,” Rui said with a smug grin.
“You’re never going to let me live this down…”
“Not a chance.”
“…Do it again.”
Rui blinked. “What?”
“Just—shut up and kiss me again before I regret saying that…”
Rui smiled. And kissed him again.