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Shu was not fond of parties.
Well. The event he was currently at couldn’t be called a party, so to speak, but having a large majority of Ensemble Square idols present in one building was still enough to be counted as such for Shu.
Originally, Shu had declined his invite when he had heard that a company event was being held for the idols to mingle. He had no reason to converse with the other idols, he found it unpleasant to be forced to stay around one area for the sake of being ‘polite’, but Mika had begged to go for the free food and Shu had an unfortunate inability to say no to him.
However, the same man who had dragged him there in the first place was now in a different corner of the room with who Shu managed to make out as Arashi and Ritsu, leaving Shu with his own company. Shu had insisted that Mika go off and see his friends, of course, it wasn’t as if his loneliness was unwarranted - but only now did he realise how he would’ve preferred it if Mika stayed by his side. Shu was an expert at keeping himself company, but being alone in such a busy occasion like this had his thoughts running. He couldn’t help but scratch his nails along the back of his hand, an anxious tic he had developed whenever he grew lost in his thoughts. He often needed grounding tactics in busy situations, where all the noise was a bit too much.
The more he thought about it, the more stressed out he became. He felt his breathing getting shallower as the noises of everyone around him started digging into his skull, every loud laugh and clink of glasses or cutlery pricking his brain and causing him to internally flinch. Shu trailed his eyes along every edge of the room and overwhelmed himself with the knowledge of the sheer amount of people present. He knew his breaths were now visibly coming out in pants, his body stuck standing rigidly where he was despite his mind screaming at him to leave the room to go somewhere quiet. He continued scratching at his hand in the meanwhile, attempting to remind himself that he was still there and that he was safe.
Shu was so caught up in his own brain that he didn’t realise that someone was sidling up next to him. Shu felt a small tap on his shoulder and jumped, a high pitched yelp escaping his mouth and he quickly span around to the offender - his body on high alert. The face he turned to was none other than Rinne Amagi, smiling sheepishly over at him.
“Amagi! Don’t place your hands on somebody without them being aware!” Shu scolded, attempting to regain his composure.
“My bad, Shu-kun. I had thought me bein here was kinda obvious, but I guess ya were even more outta it than I thought. Was gonna ask if you wanted to catch some fresh air outside? Ya seem like ya could use it.” Rinne stated, shrugging slightly and allowing his tone to be apologetic. From what Shu could observe, it wasn’t as though Rinne had purposefully scared him (which normally would be a thing Rinne would do) but instead wanted to check if he was alright. Shu wondered how he must’ve looked to anyone observing him during his moment of panic. There was admittedly a softness in Shu’s heart to the fact that Rinne stepped forward to join him when he was so obviously overwhelmed.
Shu knew that Rinne was not always the best at outwardly expressing care for others, but his actions always betrayed his emotions - as shown by Rinne quickly grabbing Shu’s hand in his as he led him out of the exhausting event room. Rinne slowly stroked his thumb back and forth on the backside of Shu’s hand as he clutched it. As embarrassing as it was, it was an extremely soothing gesture. So much so that Shu allowed Rinne to continue as they furthered their way outside (just this once though, Shu would bargain with himself).
They finally found themselves in a much quieter area. It was dark outside, except for a few dim street lamps shining a few rays of light down on them. Nobody seemed to be around, the only company the pair had was trees that scattered the path and some benches that were also littered all the way along. Rinne decisively led Shu to one of the benches and the two of them sat down.
The night air was a perfect temperature. Warm enough to be out with no layers but in no way humid. Shu was extremely prone to sweating in the smallest amount of heat, but the current environment suited him perfectly. They both sat in silence for a while and soaked in the peaceful atmosphere, eyes trailing to the trees and the few flowers that poked out of the shrubbery - barely seen in the darkness.
“Ya feelin’ a bit better now?” Rinne asked, breaking their silence. Shu did note how Rinne’s current voice seemed softer than his usual speech, and it was comforting for him to hear.
Shu didn’t always get along with Rinne. They had clashed for months and months before they had even spoken one good word to eachother. With them both being in CosPro, they frequently saw eachother in company meetings, but they chose to openly disagree with the others opinion as often as they could. However, when they were both assigned to the same circle - Craftmonster - there became even more time for them to come across eachother. Their time in this circle quickly meant that they had to cooperate when they spoke, and they soon realised they had more in common than anyone would assume. They both had sharp wit and an unexplainable passion for creativity, though displayed in different ways. They started out with small, playful debates which would lead to excitable discussions about whatever small thing piqued both their interests. Nobody would have assumed that Shu would grow comfortable in Rinne’s presence and that Rinne would be noticeably soften in the pink haired man’s company, but their friendship flourished into something that an onlooker stopped being able to understand. Shu found something comforting in the way Rinne was around him, though he would never admit it aloud.
Shu didn’t find it easy to open up to others in general, his prickly exterior having been built up since he was very young. The closeness he had built with Rinne in such a short amount of time led to other feelings clawing its way through Shu, and no matter how hard he tried to suppress these feelings they would make an impact in how he acted around Rinne. Every stupid slip of his tongue in front of the red head, every thoughtful action Rinne did, every time Rinne stared over at Shu with that one specific annoyingly attractive face he did.. it branded Shu’s mind.
Shu realised he had been ignoring Rinnes question while he was thinking, quickly turning to him apologetically.
“Ah, yes. I am feeling better now” Shu acknowledged. He stared around at his dim surroundings, anywhere but Rinne.
“Glad to hear it!” Rinne replied, grinning. He put his arms behind his head and leaned back, looking towards the night sky. Shu instinctively followed Rinne’s gaze and looked up too, gazing over at the stars.
“Mannn… I remember when I was once told that when a person dies they are born into a star. Somethin’ like that anyway. I think I would enjoy bein a star” Rinne mumbled, bringing a finger up to trace patterns in a dot-to-dot style between each star.
Shu hummed in agreement, watching Rinne’s fingers carefully as he traced patterns.
“Bein a star… with no responsibilities. Just kinda floatin’ there. I think I’d be a bright one, that's for sure” Rinne continued, almost as if to himself.
“I think I’d be lonely though. Nobody wants to be up in the sky all alone. Maybe all the stars up there talk to eachother? Whatcha think?” Rinne directed this question to Shu, his head unmoving but glancing his eyes over to the pink haired man.
“I don’t believe that stars are actually sentient beings who can speak” Shu returned.
Rinne shook his head.
“Nah. I think they could be. It’s nice to think that when I die I can like.. watch over people yknow? All up high” Rinne insisted, continuing to lazily trace patterns within the stars.
Shu stayed quiet, instead choosing to gaze intently at the sky above him.
“Shu-kun, I think we could be those stars.” Rinne declared, pointing up at two particular stars on the left of them.
“And why is that?” Shu asked, turning to look at Rinne.
“Do you see that like.. around them other smaller stars are making a heart, yeah? And then those two are so bright in the middle of them all. Kinda standin out” Rinne explained. Shu squinted up to glance at the pattern, seeing that it did in fact look how it was described.
The two of them stayed quiet, staring up at that specific area of stars in thought. Shu felt rather at peace, observing the sky and observing the possibility of his life beyond what it is now. He didn’t really believe that he would be reborn as a star, let alone such a beautiful one, but for once he cleared his mind from its usual stresses. Life would have been better if he was a star, where he did not carry the pressure of perfection on his back constantly. A life where he understood how to speak to others without seemingly missing parts of conversations he didn’t know existed, where he didn’t need to tread on eggshells to keep up his appearances. One wrong word and he is seen as rude and cold, so of course he gave up trying to be seen as approachable over time.
Funnily enough, the only time he felt like he wasn’t one step behind or ahead in a conversation was when he was talking to Rinne. His conversations with the other man felt like he wasn’t miraculously missing a social queue, but instead was on the same level with someone else. He didn’t need to tense himself with every word spoken incase of misunderstanding.. he could just speak.
“Amagi, I think I’d be pleased as a star” Shu mumbled, despite himself.
Rinne glanced over and softly smiled.
“I’d be happy as a star if I was together with ya” the red head admitted.
Shu’s heart was loud in his chest. He didn’t dare to reply, nodding slightly instead.
Rinne let out a quiet laugh.
“Man. I never thought I’d be gettin into this sappy shit” Rinne softly noted, stretching his arms behind his head in a mock yawn before looking over at Shu, accidentally making direct eye contact.
Shu diverted his eyes on instinct, he was unsure how to react. He didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing and mess up the entire situation.
“Shu-kun, ya can look at me” Rinne assured. Shu directed his eyes back up. He still felt frozen.
“Now. Ya can immediately push me away and yell at me if what I do next makes ya in any way uncomfortable” Rinne declared, slowly and softly so that Shu could take his words in.
Rinne leaned in and slowly pressed his lips onto Shu’s. Shu knew his body was rigid, brain unable to process what was happening. The kiss couldn’t have lasted for more than a few moments, but that time felt equally like a decade and like nothing to Shu.
By the time his brain had caught up, it was yelling at him to do something. With his mind screaming at him to initiate contact, but with the kiss over, Shu did the next best thing and pulled Rinne into a hug. This time Rinne froze for a moment, clearly not expecting it.
Shu attempted to quickly pull away in embarrassment but was quickly stopped as Rinne dragged him in for another hug, resting his head on Shu’s shoulder. They stayed there for a bit, wrapped up in eachother embrace. Shu had relaxed his body against Rinne, as Rinne curled himself up into Shu.
If anyone had witnessed the moment, they would have commented on how uncharacteristic everything was for the pair, but the two of them enjoyed the moment they had with one another.
When they finally drew apart, they stared at eachother until Rinne burst into a fit of laughter. Shu lightly slapped Rinne’s shoulder in embarrassment, a lighthearted scowl on his face.
“Don’t laugh!” Shu insisted.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! This just isn’t how I expected my night to go, definitely am glad for it, though. Don’t get me wrong” Rinne assured, settling down.
Shu crossed his arms and turned away with a sigh of indignation, causing Rinne to poke him on the cheek with a grin.
“Hey, Shu-kun. Whatcha say you go on a date with me some point soon, huh?” Rinne declared, looking at the other man expectantly. Shu immediately flustered and failed to respond.
“I mean.. Obviously I like ya, but ya like me too, yeah?” Rinne pointed out, giving a nonchalant shrug like it was obvious.
Shu couldn’t do anything but nod in agreement, face pink. Rinne gave a delighted gasp.
“Shu-kun! Oh I am going to spoil you on our date, trust me!” Rinne proudly stated, standing up in excitement and grabbing Shu’s hand so that he was rushed up aswell. At Shu’s confused face Rinne just grinned.
“Cmon. Do ya wanna go on a walk?” Rinne suggested. He had been caught up under the streetlamp, causing it to illuminate his giddy face.
Who was Shu to say no to an offer like that?