notes: a fic for established relationship aichi and ren. for tumblr user bedtimesnippets!

Aichi wakes up on a Saturday morning. The sun is already up and he can hear voices from downstairs, figuring out that his mother and Emi are already eating breakfast. After a hard week full of exams, he decides to lay in his bed for a while and wonders if it is already too late to go back sleep again. His thoughts are interrupted by a knock on his door.

"You can come in," he shouts through the closed door, expecting Emi or his mother and, well, it's a surprise to see Suzugamori Ren enter his bedroom.

"Good morning, Aichi-kun." He greets cheerfully and Aichi pulls his blankets over his body. Not really to hide but to cover himself.

"R-Ren-san?!"

"Surprise!" Ren chirps and moves towards Aichi, who gets more and more aware of his messy hair and the design of his pyjama and his morning breath. "Bet you didn't see this coming!"

"What, how, er, why are you here?"

"Idiot, of cause because I felt like visiting you. You're my most precious friend after all." He looks around and again, Aichi is super aware of the clothes on the floor and the mess on his desk. He didn't even think about cleaning his room this week until now, as he spent most of his time studying and on Friday, after his last exam for the next few months, the only thing he did was fighting his friends to make up for not fighting anyone lately.

For a moment, he's glad Ren doesn't comment on the state of his room or acts like he's surprised to see it this way, because Ren knows that it's usually not this messy. But Ren simply looks at him, his eyes full of curiosity. He reminds Aichi of a child when he's this way, but it's also sort of, maybe, just a very little bit scary. No one can tell what runs through the mind of a child. "Don't you want to get up?"

"Um, can you..?" Aichi tries. Ren shrugs.

"Sure." He turns around and Aichi gets out of his bed, stretches and taps into the bath room, where he brushes his teeth, washes his face and generally makes himself look more presentable. When he gets out again, he spots Ren sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Who let you in, anyway?"

"Your dear mother let me in and Emi-chan said she'd let me have the pleasure of waking you up today." A glint in his eyes that doesn't fit to his smile appears on Ren's face. "I like your pyjama."

Quickly, he gets up and steps closer to Aichi, who expects a kiss, maybe, or perhaps something similar, though these things are always hard to tell with Ren. Pretty much everything is hard to tell with Ren. Aichi gasps when Ren's fingers trace down his neck to meet his collar bones. He takes a step back and Ren makes a disappointed noise.

"You are pretty."

Aichi quickly does the top buttons up and turns towards the door, not wanting to look at Ren. There's something weird about getting a compliment in such a random way. He tries to ignore the new and uncomfortable feeling inside his chest. "I'm hungry."

Ren fortunately doesn't take the discussion any further and follows him into the kitchen.

Despite everything that happened between the two of them, the next few days are really awkward. Aichi often catches Ren looking at his neck with this something, an indescribable something that makes him feel glad for the fabric on his skin. On Thursday, Ren suggests to go shopping with him. Knowing exactly what the other is up to, Aichi shakes his head.

"No."

Ren whines. "I'll get you something nice to wear this summer. You don't have any plans for the weekend anyway," he raises his hand when Aichi tries to interrupt him, "I already asked your mother and she said it's okay. I'll even treat you to some food afterwards," he adds and Aichi wonders if Ren seriously thinks food will make him change his mind.

He opens his moth to say that he doesn't want to, but Ren stares at him intensely and Aichi finds his resolve wavering. "Pretty, pretty pleaseee~"

Aichi shrugs. It can't end up that bad, right. Right?

The next Saturday comes and Aichi sits next to Ren in the overcrowded bus to town. They go to a department store first, where you can buy everything from sweets over tableware to, of cause, clothing. It's where Aichi gets most of his clothing from and although Ren doesn't look happy about shopping there ("I can afford something much better for you."), Aichi convinced him to search here first, before trying some stores with "more class" as Ren calls them.

But Ren seems content for now and after a few minutes of looking through the clothes in silence, he finds something.

"How's this one, Aichi-kun?" He waves with a short-sleeved shirt in his hand. Except for the purple on top of the shoulders and on the collar, it's kept white with a simple design and it's really not something Aichi wouldn't wear.

At least until he checks the price tag. "Uh, Ren-san, aren't 8000 Yen a bit too much for a shirt?"

Ren shrugs. "I don't think it's that much money. But if you don't want it, it's okay."

"It's too expensive," Aichi repeats.

"I'm the one who pays anyway."

"We never said that," Aichi points out. Then he shakes his head. "No, I'll pay on my own."

"Then kiss me."

"Huh?"

"I said," Ren almost giggles, pausing for a second, probably thinking it's more dramatic this way. (It's not dramatic at all when you giggle like a child, Aichi wants to say.) "I said, you either kiss me or I will pay." His voice is really loud when he talks about the kiss and a few people turn around to look at them. Aichi wants to be somewhere else.

He takes a step forward to get closer to Ren and whispers. "It's fine. I can pay."

"Then at least kiss me. I didn't come here for nothing."

"Not here." The more Ren raises his voice, the quieter Aichi's voice gets. But Ren has the nerve to lean closer him.

"Am I embarrassing you? I'm so hurt, Aichi-kun. Can't you kiss it better?"

Taking a small step back, Aichi shakes his head. Ren laughs. "Okay, then it's settled. I pay. Let's go and try this shirt on!"

Together, they go to the dressing rooms. Before Aichi is in the cabin, Ren rushes past him and sits down on the small stool. Aichi follows him hesitantly, but when Ren pulls the curtain closed behind Aichi, he raises an eyebrow in question. Ren hands him the white shirt with a big smile on his face.

"Come on, Aichi-kun. Try it on!"

"Uhm, Ren-san, could you-"

"No," Ren answers bluntly before Aichi gets the chance to finish what he wanted to say. "I won't leave. I want to see how it looks on you after all."

Aichi sighs and considers taking the discussion further, but then decides against it. It's not like he could do anything to change Ren's mind. Just a few minutes ago, he rediscovered how stubborn Ren is, so there's no real way to win this. And really, they're both boys, so there's nothing to hide from Ren anyway.

Right?

Trying to think about this to calm himself down doesn't stop him from biting his lips. He hesitates for a second. Ren looks at him, now perfectly calm. There's nothing expectant or requesting in his expression. Sighing, Aichi takes the shirt from Ren and tries it on and... it actually fits well and a short glance to the mirror tells him that it doesn't look bad on Aichi but –

"Ren-san, it's practically see-through."

"That's why I wanted you to wear it." Ren says. Aichi clenches his fists and bites his lips.

"It's embarrassing..." he tries to explain softly.

"It's supposed to be this way," Ren flashes a smile. "I think it looks amazing on you." His voice is honest now and Aich's hands fumble on the top of the shirt, trying to find the top button. Ren laughs.

"It's okay. It's supposed to be this way," he repeats and gets up, turning to leave Aichi on his own in the cabin. "You can think about it, but you don't have to take it, if you don't want to."

Alone in the cabin, Aichi lets go of a breath he doesn't remember holding and slips back into his own shirt. He doesn't take the shirt he tried on.

Ren chooses the second store they enter. It's a smaller shop. Aichi never noticed it and would have walked past it if it wasn't for Ren pulling him inside. A heavy cloud of perfume and various scents are the first thing Aichi registers, which doesn't say much about this place, though, since it's really hard to register anything else in here.

Some people are probably convinced that you don't need to look at clothes when you want to buy them, or at least that's the only explanation for the darkness around them Aichi can come up with. He wonders if this says something about the quality of the clothes in here. Wanting to tell Ren about his opinion on this shop, he finds the older boy already walking further into the darkness.

In a matter of a few minutes, Ren manages to flood Aichi's arms with tons of shirts. All of them look like the same to Aichi, all of them black, long-sleeved, some of them made of leather, others with torn sleeves and holes, but mostly just plain black shirts. The pile gets bigger and bigger, so Aichi can see even less than before by the time Ren stops searching and smiles at Aichi. "You'll like at least one of them."

"I don't like wearing black."

For the first time today, Ren pouts. Though they doesn't argue much this time and a short while later, they're outside again. Aichi squints as soon as he's outside and finally surrounded by a decent amount of light. By now, it's around noon. They eat some fast food before they start shopping again. As promised, Ren pays for the food and even wants to buy Aichi ice cream. Aichi declines the offer for now, saying they can still get some when they're done.

The next store is a huge building with four floors where clothes are sorted by the type of clothes rather than by gender, which makes Aichi hesitate. They stand in front of the building plan and Aichi has to think. There are so many different terms on the plan. Does he want a t-shirt or hoodie or a pullover or a tank top? Wait, definitely not a tank top. Or really anything too revealing.

They end up on the second floor where a sign reads shirts & t-shirts and Aichi's pretty sure that they'll find something here. There are so many different kinds of shirts here, so there has to be something both he and Ren like.

He is proven to be wrong very soon. Ren seems to easily dig out the weirdest pieces of clothing that exist, starting with a green and purple striped, sleeveless shirt and ending with a short blue tank top that's covered with many glittering little stones.

For once, the look on Ren's face is very easy to read. Aichi keeps playing his games anyway, but can't find a reason why he does. It's hard to explain to himself, but the main reason seems to be that it's fun. Looking through the most ridiculous clothes he has ever seen in his life and trying to explain why he will definitely never wear them to Ren is so much more fun than it should be.

"You're not really trying to find something any more, are you?" Aichi asks after a while, when his feet start hurting from all the standing and walking around and his throat feels dry.

"No," Ren openly admits. "But I liked the white shirt you tried on first a lot. We should get it and then I'll get us ice cream. Deal?"

"It's see-through."

"That's not a problem." Ren shrugs and seemingly grabs something random from the pile of clothes. He throws the blue v-neck shirt to Aichi. "Just wear this underneath."

Aichi considers it for a moment. He wants to tell Ren that he doesn't wear v-necks or see-through shirts, but then remembers that the shirt didn't look that bad. Plus, he's free to go home as soon as Ren is satisfied, which means as soon as they buy something. And, hey, if the price doesn't matter to Ren, what's so wrong about buying it. He's not forced to ever wear it in public, it's probably enough to wear it once or twice when Ren comes over.

They buy the blue v-neck and go back to the department store they were in first. Aichi gets the white shirt and is about to walk to the checkout area, but Ren pulls him towards the dressing rooms. "You should try it on again, but this time with the blue one underneath."

He's tired and wants to go home soon, so he doesn't argue and follows Ren.

"You're staring," Aichi notices when he has put on the blue t-shirt with the white one on top of it. This time, he isn't as uncomfortable with Ren's presence as he was before, but he's not sure why. Maybe because he sort of realized that there's nothing serious to be afraid of. Maybe he stopped caring too much about it. Though he still does feel weird and wishes Ren would not insist on joining him. He hates being stared at.

"Hmm," Ren answers and his mind appears to be at a different place. Before Aichi has enough time to wonder what the other is thinking about, Ren grins. "I kind of like that. Both, I mean. The shirt and staring at you."

The blunt answer hits Aichi off-guard and he can't settle on what to say in this situation. He doesn't need to come up with anything, because there's a change in the atmosphere. This certain change that's so familiar to both of them and still feels very new and exciting every time. Aichi can sense the glint in Ren's eyes before he gets to see it. He doesn't need to see it anyway, doesn't need to see Ren any more when it's like this.

He can't put a finger on it, this feeling, this sensation, this thing between them, it's just there and that's more than enough. They don't need any words. Aichi responds by he letting his eyes do the same, not needing to prove anything to Ren or to act strong. They already know and accept each other and there's no need for such unnecessary things. The light in their eyes, the feeling of not being alone, it's something they share with each other, something no one else can understand.

It comes natural with the two of them. Ren isn't surprised when Aichi's fingers wrap around the collar of his black jacket to pull him into a standing position, there's no surprise when he presses their lips together and Aichi knows it.

There's so much he knows about Ren when they're like this, knows what he feels and what he thinks and knows that Ren knows all these things about him, too.

It's the moment when they're lips part and Ren's thought become a mystery to him again.

"You look good. Still don't want it?"

Aichi turns around to glance at himself in the mirror and after a while, turns around to face Ren.

"I'll buy it, if you let me kiss you again."