Mornings used to mean very little to Rui. They meant peeling himself out of his warm bed, squinting against the light, and trudging reluctantly into another day. There was nothing particularly magical about them, just a necessary evil. But that had changed. These days, mornings weren’t so bad. Because now, mornings meant Tsukasa. And waking up next to such a pretty boy? That was something worth getting up for. Rui never thought he’d look forward to something as ordinary as morning, but his star had a way of making ordinary things feel special.

So when Rui blinked awake at the hour of seven, he rolled over with a small smile, expecting to see a familiar face nestled into the blankets beside him. Instead, he was met with an empty pillow and cold blankets. His smile dropped. Blinking slowly, he sat up and rubbed his pale yellow eyes with the sleeve of his platypus pajama shirt. The room felt colder than usual, and after a moment of confusion, he realized his jacket was missing. So was Tsukasa. The only sound in the house was the soft clatter of something downstairs, the gentle hum of the stove rising through the quiet.

Rui blinked again, then let out a tiny sigh. Tsukasa had gotten up without him. Worse, he had gone downstairs, possibly to make breakfast, without a single kiss. The lavender-cyan-haired director was being neglected for a kitchen appliance. Truly a betrayal. With a slight bit of effort, Rui tossed his blankets off, standing up and sliding on his fuzzy mismatched socks to the doorway.