OC Kiss Week - Reach
This one goes out to @bottlingsound and @laprismaluna thank u for being the #1 fans of my blorbos 8')
I went through several different ideas of how to convey 'reaching' and who I wanted to be the narrator, and then recently, completely unrelated to writing oc kiss week, I thought about Rhys selling the family house and moving in with Kaito. So I decided to roll with that!
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Kaito places the mug down in front of Rhys. “You’re distracted.”
As if in testament to his distraction, Rhys actually jumps at the sudden sound. “What?”
“What do you mean what?” He nudges the mug with his elbow. “For you.”
Rhys’ gaze drops to the mug, and then he tucks the stylus back into his tablet and pushes the work aside. It is like watching him move in imperfect stop motion, the hands moving to the mug, fingers wrapping around ceramic, lifting it to his nose.
Then Rhys frowns. “Whiskey?” he accuses.
Kaito grins and shrugs as he returns to dicing the vegetables. “I didn’t think you were going to get back to work any time soon, so I figured I might as well make you a drink.”
“Hmm,” Rhys says into the depths of his mug as he takes a sip, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.
“What’s wrong?” Kaito pops a piece of carrot into his mouth, then hands one out to Rhys.
Still distracted, Rhys leans across the counter and eats it directly from Kaito’s fingers. Then he shrugs, as if to say, oh no I have a mouthful of carrot, I cannot answer.
“It can’t be that bad.”
Rhys gives another shrug and fiddles with his mug. “I’m just… thinking about selling the house.”
Kaito freezes, knife poised over the cutting board. “The one in Derry?”
This, at least, gets the glare he was aiming for and Kaito holds up his hands in defense. “I’m kidding!”
“Yeah yeah,” Rhys grumbles, rolling his eyes — but it’s not enough to hide the hint of a smirk at the worn joke. “Precious derriere, sure, I’ve heard it all before.” He spins the mug between his fingers before leaning back in the chair and running a hand through his hair. “I’ve been spending more time here now that the twins have moved out, but the nice thing was that I own the house.”
“Well I own this building,” Kaito challenges. “And my offer still stands.”
Rhys, to his surprise, flushes. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
“Rhys. Love. We’ve been dating for three years. Isn’t there some kind of rule where if I ask you to move in more than five times, you’re obligated to do so?” Kaito is rewarded with Rhys’ expression doing something complicated between frustrated and embarrassed. “I mean, I’m not trying to pressure you. I’m sure Ayn can help you find something in New Ox if you’d prefer—”
“No,” Rhys says a little sharply, then again, softer, “No.” He sighs and scrubs a hand over his face, knocking his glasses askew. “I would love to move in with you. It’s just… Everything.”
“Have you talked to the twins?”
“Liala’s called, but it’s hard to tell with Lionel. He has a terrible sleep cycle and the time zones don’t make it easy.”
Kaito is about to offer to call Lio, but quickly dismisses the idea. This is something the Darcy siblings need to talk about without his intervention. “If you need help with the property listing or anything, I’ve got some friends that can help.”
A smile softens the worry lines permanently etched into Rhys’ face. “I’ve got a realtor lined up, but if you know any buff guys that can help me move, then—”
Kaito scoffs and tosses the vegetable scraps into the compost bin with a bit more force than absolutely necessary.
Rhys laughs and reaches across the counter. “Come here.”
Kaito does, leaning in just enough that Rhys’ mug-warmed fingers can curve around his jaw and reel him in for a kiss.
“You smell like onions,” Rhys murmurs against his lips.
“I was in the middle of making curry.” Kaito kisses him again. “And you taste like whiskey and honey.”
He can feel the way Rhys’ smile takes over, and Kaito immediately regrets having to reach across the counter instead of moving around it before accepting the kiss.
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I feel like since it’s like magical realism and unlikely to happen in real life due to the fucking magic and shit… time travel or reborn in a child’s body stuff sometimes has a character like “I am having a physical or emotional response that seems more in like with my physical age than my mental age”
Like Erased all the bonding moments, or like half the scenes where Aqua in Oshi no Ko acts like a teenaged boy. And I think in these magical body swap universes it’s less a commentary on “are these people perverts” and a lot more… like more than sexual attraction causes reactions.
Like in Erased he’s constantly scolding himself for being 29, but he’s not having his heart race because he’s crushing on another kid, he’s having his heart race because he’s a human making an emotional connection with another person and that’s an intimidate thing, entirely isolated from sexuality and even romance. It doesn’t have to be that kind of thing to move you.
And that’s why Aqua can be like “I don’t actually even understand what feelings I am experiencing in this moment” because honestly he is going through puberty *again* and fucking *trauma* and he hasn’t fucking talked to *anybody* about it. This man is a boy and a mental illness terrarium, and lying is his love language. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to him. They don’t set up a genius type character like this to not have something humble him with the bitter reality of something he can’t do anything about. I’d started reading the manga.
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