BOYFRIEND (?) .ᐟ riku x GN .ᐟ reader     GENRE .ᐟ mutual pining, fluff     TW .ᐟ none     WORD COUNT .ᐟ 1.2k

Riku was, in more ways than one, confusing.

All of his friends were witnesses to it. They almost made it a warning when the two of you started knowing each other, too, that, rather than use the word ‘confusing’ as you would, Riku was indecisive. If you were confused about him, he was more confused about himself. Especially when it came to his relationship with you.

You wouldn't really call it being indecisive. In fact, it was the entire opposite. Riku was very decisive in his relationship with you. You just sometimes have to wonder if most of the things he's been doing were appropriate to the label: friends. Just friends. No benefits. No “we're both in love with each other but we're taking it slow”. You don't know who he needed to hear it from but there was something definite in his actions: he did not know the boundary between being “just friends” and being “not just friends”.

It hadn't been obvious at first.

Riku was big on hugging, much to Sakuya’s disinterest. It wasn't surprising to have him bring this habit of his to you once the two of you got comfortable with each other. And while you weren't as reciprocating as Riku was, that didn't stop him. Whenever he had the chance to be beside you, much preferably alone, he'd have an arm around you; on your shoulders, on an arm, or even around your waist, sometimes tracing a finger along exposed skin, making you visibly shiver he'd often wonder if you were cold. But Riku’s affection didn't just end with hugging.

A bit longer into your relationship, Riku got to calling you his girl. His baby. Or any other variant of those pet names. He was confident about them, too, taking every opportunity to make you turn red whenever he was near your face to whisper, “Hi, baby,” or “Did my girl miss me?” followed by a smile he'd try his best to hide, biting it in and all. And it's fine, really, you could take the hugging and the pet names, but when he started to move to kissing you was what finally got you wondering: ‘What are we?’

A kiss on the cheek. A kiss on the forehead. Kisses goodbye. Kisses hello. A kiss on your knuckles, on the palm of your hands, on the space between your neck and your shoulder. Sometimes they weren't even actual kisses, just Riku brushing his lips against exposed skin, only enough to let you feel them as they hovered around you. By then, you were sure of it: Riku liked you. Your own feelings aside, you were sure of it, too: Riku probably didn't know he liked you.

It was frustrating.

The more frustrating part was not knowing how to approach him about it. You couldn't just rely on his friends for it, it had to be from you because, hey, if that was the case, you weren't afraid to tell him you liked him, too! You just wanted him to confirm it to you first.

And he did, just not in the way you expected.

“Are we dating?”

The two of you were just out from hanging out (as Riku would have it, because friends always hung out, alone, to treat each other and hold hands) and Riku was quick to ask as you began to unlock the door to your home. The night was quiet while he walked you home but he just made it quieter. Not even the jingle of your house keys could stop the sound of Riku being as confusing as ever.

“What do you mean?” You hated how you sounded when you asked that, but you couldn't think straight. You had no idea what he was thinking about. “Like, are you asking me if we're already dating or are you asking me if I want us to be dating?”

“The first one.” Riku’s brows tightened. You could still not grasp what his question had meant until he continued, “Are we dating?”

“What?”

The confusion on your face seemed to have grounded him because then, he started turning red, looking everywhere but into your eyes. “I was talking to Yushi this morning about you because I told him we were going out tonight and he asked me why I was calling it that, ‘going out’. I asked him what he meant about that and he looked all confused and told me we weren't dating, that you told him we weren't dating. I didn't want to let it get to me but after tonight, it finally did so I just wanted to ask: are we dating? Are we not dating? And by dating I mean, are we not together?”

That's when it hit you. Quite literally. You were only supposed to cover your mouth when you started to gasp, but you ended up smacking yourself across the face. With a kiss as he brought down your hands back to your sides, that's when it hit you, figuratively, this time. Riku wasn't acting like this because he couldn't figure out how to act around you, but because he thought you two were already dating. He was decisive, he got ahead of himself. If Riku wasn't urging you on to answer him, you would've just stared at him, wondering why he even got such an idea in the first place.

“Riku…” You were at a loss for words. “We're not dating, last time I checked.”

“What were we, then?” Now, he sounded just as frustrated as you were confused. “All those dates, all those gifts𑁋 hey, I've kissed you, not on the lips, of course, but I’ve still kissed you, I wouldn't have kissed you if I knew we weren't dating. Better yet, why'd you let me kiss you if we really weren't dating? What did you think the kisses meant?”

Embarrassment was contagious because now the two of you were blushing.

“I thought you kissed me because you liked me.”

“Yeah. Obviously. I wouldn't just kiss you for the fun of it. But I also wouldn't kiss you if I knew we weren't dating.”

“Why are you telling me about this? You've never really asked me out. As far as I know, the most you've said was saying we looked cute together. That was it. Can you blame me for not knowing we were dating?”

“I thought I didn't need to say it for you to know it.”

You sighed. “That's not how dating works, Riku.”

When Riku didn't reply, you took the chance to look at him, really look at him, and the two of you just stood there, staring at each other’s eyes before Riku leaned forward and kissed your cheek, just right beside the corner of your lips. “Then, let me say it,” he whispered as he pulled away, only slightly to look at you better. “Let's go out. Let's date. Let's be together.”

You smiled, something he could only feel and not see as he gave you another kiss, and another, until it was all he could do while you didn't say anything.

“Alright, Riku.” You couldn't talk without giggling through his kisses. “We're going out. We're dating. We're together.”

Riku didn't have to hide his smile this time.

You had to invite him in after that. You couldn't just let him leave, at least, that's what Riku told you. You didn't mind, anyways. It was nice to know that you weren't wrong, even nicer to know that the air around you was cleared and, hey, you were going out. Dating. Together. You couldn't ask for anything more than that.

NOTE .ᐟ going to have to love bomb you guys because uni's starting next monday for me.