Work Text:
Wind blew at the binds— they shook with indubitable ferocity, almost impatiently, like they too were waiting for the moment of truth.
The tension in the room was palpable .
Arisu was sitting before his laptop, eyes glued to the screen. His legs were bouncing. His fingers were trembling on the mouse. He didn’t blink.
If he did, he might miss it.
In one minute, he would find out the truth. Then he would know. It was a life-or-death situation. His heart palpitated behind his hoodie. Thump. Thump.
His boyfriend squeezed his shoulder, nails digging into the soft fabric. He swallowed, took a deep breath.
All the work had been done. The hundreds, thousands of hours couldn’t be taken back. That was fine. Because now that the bait was set?
He just had to wait to see if the mice would take it.
20 seconds.
Chishiya handed him a piping hot mug of tea. Matcha, his favorite. He barely noticed the too-bitter taste that he usually melted to.
“Relax, you got this,” Chishiya ran a hand through Arisu’s hair soothingly.
Thump. Thump.
The drink scorched his throat. Still, his gaze didn’t leave the screen.
“Three, two..” Arisu’s fingers shook as he moved the cursor to the refresh icon. Click. “One.”
The moment of truth. The screen flashed from zero, a gaping hole of failure, to a binding white, before…
Arisu’s heart sunk.
1245 downloads.
The number sat there quietly, taunting him.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
1245 was record breaking. It was astonishing how Arisu had managed this.
A history- breaking low.
“…Oh.” was all he could muster. His voice cracked, just like his dreams. Split right in the middle. Clean. Surgical. Cruel.
Any other company see that the chief game developer making a game for a Major Game Company getting less than two thousand downloads?
He’s going to get black-listed from the industry.
Tears ran down his cheeks, leaving a scorching path in its wake.
Shit.
What’d Arisu done to deserve this? He’d tried his best, he really did this time. He put in the hours and the work and—
“ Wait .” He blinked, and turned around. His boyfriend’s grip around his shoulder tightened. Chishiya spat out the word, wait , like a single bullet. His hair was tussled, and he was shivering. Not much, just a bit. Arisu still noticed. Chishiya’s gaze was fixed to his phone.
“Ryouhei,” he said hoarsely, “refresh again.” Arisu didn’t understand why. But the way he spoke, like something was amiss, got through, loud and clear.
Arisu didn’t hesitate. He immediately dragged his cursor to the refresh button. He trusted Chishiya. Click.
His eyes blew wide open. His lips quivered.
He wiped his eyes, his damp, damp eyes, a couple times. Checked again to confirm.
It was real.
“What the hell?” He asked, but a smile had broken out, ear-to-ear. His voice was still trembling, but in a good way, as if the golden, warm inexplicable feeling that had exploded inside him was threatening to burst.
“A hundred thousand downloads,” Chishiya murmured next to him, though his voice was also faltering by the edges. He sounded relieved. Arisu was suddenly so, so aware that this was real. Everything was.
Everything was.
“A hundred thousand downloads,” he repeated, looking at the gray lines that traced the numbers so simply, like the world hadn’t just ended and restarted. “What was that, earlier…?”
Chishiya was silent for a second. Then, he placed his chin atop Arisu’s head. The hand on his shoulder loosened.
“…So many people were on the App Store, that it lagged,” he murmured into Arisu’s hair, pressing a chaste kiss among the soft brown locks. “Hmm. Good job. I’m so proud of you, Mister Record-breaker. Twice.”
Arisu could die right now, and he would be the happiest man alive. Victory music, after the final level of a video game. He exhaled, turned around.
Everything was just so, so perfect right now. He’d made a game that connected to other people, like he wanted to all along. His dream had come true. He had great friends— Usagi, sweet girl, Kuina, too.
And most of all, he had someone who would actually support him. Because despite the fact Chishiya had a bad habit of thinking words as weapons, he was sweet during these moments. Like Matcha. Bitter, until you look closer.
From someone like him, the most quiet of whispers and the smallest smiles meant everything.
Arisu beamed back.
“I love you, Catty,” he announced, loud and clear, words ringing across the room. He didn’t need to whisper it— because he was proud, so proud to love the doctor that smirked his troubles away but served Arisu matcha when he needed it most.
Chishiya smiled more.
“…Love you too,” Chishiya’s eyes softened, fingers curled around his shoulder. He wasn’t shy about it either. They stared at each other for a few more seconds.
‘Almond eyes’, Arisu thought. ‘Dark, like… ink.’ He leaned closer, angling his lips upwards. Chishiya met him in the middle.
He tugged at Chishiya’s sleeves . Closer . He could smell the rose scented detergent in the fabric. Chishiya tangled his hand in Arisu’s hair, and deepened the kiss. It was getting heated and he started pulling Arisu up—
Ding .
‘You have one missed voicecall: from Pops.’
The static-warped, robotic voice announced in bone chilling coolness. Arisu blinked once, twice. His gaze slid slowly to the phone. Another Ding!
He let out a sigh, before pulling away reluctantly, and grumbling very loudly.
“What the fuck, man.”
The phone dinged again, for the third time. This time, it was a missing call from Hajime.
Arisu’s eye twitched. He considered throwing his phone across the room, but thought better of it. He exhaled, but conceded.
He called his brother back. Next to him, Chishiya was leaning against the wall, cheeks flushed, but standing calmly like they hadn’t been ready to fuck right there and then. Arisu looked at him helplessly, but he only smirked.
His brother picked up halfway through the first ring. Hopefully, this would be quick.
“Hello?”
“Hi.”
He could hear his brother take a deep breath.
“RYOUHEI,” Hajime voice screeched through the speakerphone. Likely due to sheer volume, his got cut up half away through. Arisu leaned away, grimacing. “Tell me why. I, your own brother, had to find out that you made what people are already calling the biggest game of the year through X?”
Arisu paused, fixing his shirt as his brother muttered thinly veiled threats in a honey-sweet voice. Then, he brightened, and if he had a tail, it’d be wagging.
“People are calling it the biggest game?” He grinned, and repeated the words to Chishiya. The man was biting his lips like he was trying not to laugh. He mouthed good job to Arisu.
“ That’s not the fu - no, fine, sorry, dad, I won’t swear. No, you can’t talk to him yet, give me a minute,” Hajime uttered, clearly pissed. “Anyways. Ahem. You wanna explain?”
Arisu hummed.
“Not really.”
He could visibly hear Hajime exhale.
“Why the hell not.”
He tilted his head. Whispered something in Chishiya’s ear. His boyfriend smirked, and nodded.
“It’s just… You’re kinda cockblocking me, Hajime.”
Pause.
“Ryouhei,” His brother said flatly, and Arisu could see him deadpanning in his head, “I am on speaker.”
Arisu registered the words. Great, he was looking forward to Christmas Eve Dinner. Distantly, he could hear his dad ask Hajime, what on God’s green earth is cockblocking?
Arisu heaved a sigh.
“So can I go now?”
Hajime didn’t bother responding. He hung up on Arisu. The silence spoke more volumes than whatever curses his brother probably wanted to spew at him.
He was really looking forward to Christmas Eve Dinner.
Oh. Well.
Arisu turned his phone off.
“Life’s a drag, ain’t it,” he muttered, head snapping back to look at Chishiya. He stood up. “Can I have a kiss?”
Chishiya responded by pulling Arisu in by the collar of his shirt. The chair toppled over. Neither cared enough to fix it.
This time, they kissed with no interruptions— annoying phone calls and all.
———
Later:
They both collapsed onto the bed, chests heaving up and down. Chishiya passed a cigarette to Arisu, who promptly inhaled the smoke with all-too-much enthusiasm— and proceeded to choke.
Chishiya roughly patted him on the back, and took his cigarette back. Arisu smiled sheepishly.
“So, like, I gotta say,” he sighed, propping his head up on his elbow, “I missed having sex with you more than I thought.”
“I know I’m great at sex, thanks” Chishiya responded, without skipping a beat, cigarette between his knuckles, and took a drag. Arisu snickered, and rolled over until his chin was resting on Chishiya’s bare ribs. From this angle, he could see the bruises that he mauled on his boyfriend’s shoulders.
They’d probably turn purple in the morning, but the afterglow was still lingering for now.
“You’re pretty, y’know that?”
“Of course.”
He began stroking Arisu’s hair. His fingers danced from the soft locks to his back, before halting and staying there, like they belonged. Maybe because they did.
Afterall, nobody could take care of Arisu like Chishiya did— nor could they brew him Matcha the same way.
The warm fuzzy feeling whenever Chishiya so much as uttered a praise was irreplaceable.
The fingers splayed out on his back pressed down, hard. They wanted something. Arisu could give it to them.
And he would.
He grunted, propping himself up until he was hovering over his boyfriend. His pale hair was fanned out on the pillow, and Arisu melted on the spot.
He whispered something in his boyfriend’s ear. He could hear Chishiya’s lips part, surprised, but it quickly curdled into a smirk.
“Sure,” he whispered back, amused, tossing the cigarette butt somewhere onto the floor, “I’d love to fuck you again.” He swiftly flipped their positions with one graceful movement. Chishiya’s eyes were intense, but still playful. Arisu felt his back hit the soft mattress.
Chishiya bent back down to swallow his gasp— but not before murmuring,
“ I’m so proud of you, Ryouhei. ”
—
Bonus:
“Hmmm, okay, I don’t get it,” Kuina sighed, head resting her clasped hands. “ How do you go from celebrating his achievements to going at it so hard you need a new bed frame?”
“They’re just perverse,” Usagi drawled from the sofa, where she was in the middle of a meditation pose in a poor attempt to pretend the bruises on Arisu’s neck didn’t exist. “You two aren’t real. I am dreaming. You two aren’t real. I am—“
“What is she doing?” Arisu snorted, sitting between Chishiya’s legs.
“Manifesting,” Ann deadpanned.
Kuina: Well anyways. Let’s toast Arisu for his big success.
Everyone: To Arisu!
Arisu, smiling softly:
This is the happiest I’ve been :)