[Prompt] Nighttime Frights

Father Oleander was dead.

During the month of October, Rikki had gone about business as usual while also making sure to enjoy the All Sinner’s Day festivities to his heart’s content. Sure he’d seen the sensational headlines, “Mysterious Disappearances— Night Lurkers— Suspected Murders—” But so what? It hadn’t personally affected him or anyone he knew. Until now.

He wasn’t exactly religious, but even Rikki found himself visiting the church every now and then for various reasons. In the past he’d been given hush money by Mercy. He’d poured his heart out to Oleander in the confession booth. And sure, maybe he had accidentally donated all of his carats to the church before while attempting to scam them, and maybe he had cried when it happened, and maybe he was definitely still mad about it. But the point is that these were buns that he personally knew and it was hitting him hard.

Rikki had never experienced loss in this way before. This was nothing like the disappointment he felt whenever he lost all of his carats. At least he could always get those back somehow. But when a bun dies they don’t come back. You can never see them again..... right? Somewhere in the depths of his heart he was holding out hope that this was all just some kind of horrible prank. He couldn’t help but think about the fact that someone even closer to him could be next.

Luckily the buns that lived and worked at the hotel were safe. Since it was a luxury hotel it was always bustling. The lights were always on and security was pretty tight. Pretty much everyone was staying inside at night for the time being, at least until the advisory was lifted. Pepper on the other hand had completely locked himself up inside again and was refusing to come out even during the day. It really sucked, he’d just started getting more comfortable going places too. Oh well, he’ll be fine. The bun that Rikki was most worried about right now was Aki.

Aki lived alone on the outskirts of town and didn’t have much that he could use in the way of self-defense. He was too poor to afford something like a bodyguard or any weapons outside of his worn down farming tools. If someone wanted to break in and hurt him it would be pretty easy. Thanks to that Rikki had begged the hotel’s owner, who also happened to be his husband, to let Aki stay with them for the time being.

Normally he wouldn’t go out of his way like this to help other buns, especially not for free, it wasn’t in his nature. But if something were to happen to Aki all because he didn’t do anything he would never forgive himself. It was just for his own peace of mind, that’s all. That’s what he’d convinced himself.

The hotel’s chauffeur stopped the car just outside of Aki’s house and opened the passenger door for Rikki. As he stepped out he couldn’t help but notice how dark it had become. It was only 5:30 PM and yet it was already almost completely pitch-black. They should have left earlier. The days really did get seem to be getting shorter as winter approached. What if something already happened?

Rikki proceeded to knock on the front door and when he didn’t get a response within a few seconds, knocked even louder and more frantically. He had a terrible feeling that sat like a stone in his gut. His tail began to flick aggressively behind him. With sweaty palms and an increased heart rate he reached towards the doorknob but before even touching it the door swung open and his copper-haired lover appeared. A feeling of relief washed over Rikki as his tail calmed itself and he stuffed his sweat-covered hands into his pockets. He took a nice long look at the other bun.

In one arm Aki held a bag with some personal belongings; clothes, toiletries, etc. and in the other arm were his squirming imps who seemed to be thoroughly confused as to why they were being forcefully taken away from their home. Normally Aki would never handle them this roughly but he had been in a rush to get to the door.

“Ya don’t have to knock so loud, y’know. I was just gettin’ ready to come out here.” Aki reprimanded him, looking pretty annoyed.

“...Sorry.” Instead of arguing back in their usual style of banter, Rikki simply apologized and began walking back towards the car without another word. Aki stared blankly at Rikki’s back for a moment before joining him.

“...”

“......”

“..........”

The car ride back to the hotel thus far had been extremely awkward. Rikki just stared silently out the window. All of Aki’s attempts at conversation had failed. Normally it would take nothing short of a miracle to get the chatty black-haired bun to shut up, so the silence was especially daunting. Without knowing what else to do Aki just stroked Muu, the mamoo sleeping in his lap, and waited for this awkwardness to end.

He didn’t have to wait long before Rikki finally broke the silence, “Hey, Akira...” He didn’t use his nickname. Weird.

“You should close down your stall... For now, anyway.” If it weren’t for the fact that this was Rikki we’re talking about, Aki might almost think he was worried about him. But it wasn’t like him to be worried about anyone other than himself. Rikki continued to avoid eye contact.

“Already planned on it. Brought in the harvest already last month too.”

“’Kay.” Another single-word response. Aki was starting to get pissed off at this point.

“What’s yer problem? Why won’t ya look at me?”

“...” No answer.

That was the last straw. Aki grabbed ahold of Rikki’s shoulder and spun him around so they were facing each other and making direct eye contact. It was then that he saw tears spilling out of those icy-blue eyes. Aki’s normally closed eyes shot open in surprise, their rarely visible chartreuse color coming into view.

“What’re ya cryin’ for!? Don’t tell me you were actually worryin’ about me?”

“...relieved.” Rikki blushed.

“Hah?” Rikki tried to break his gaze but Aki wouldn’t let him and held his head in place.

“.....When I saw you were okay I was really relieved.” Big tear blobs started pouring out of his eyes.

“And then I couldn’t stop crying ‘cuz I realized— sniff— I REALLY CARE ABOUT YOU!!! SOB—”

Aki stared in disbelief, he was truly astonished. He felt his cheeks heat up and he blushed hard. Then Rikki blushed even harder. Now it was Aki’s turn to avoid eye contact. Knowing that somebody actually cared enough to worry about him made him happy beyond belief, but it was also embarrassing.

“Don’t go killin’ me off that easy, ya dummy. I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

Rikki’s ears perked up more than usual as he felt his usual playful attitude returning, “Sniff— Well maybe if you didn’t live all alone in the middle of nowhere like some kind of— hermit— I wouldn’t have to worry!”

“Hah!? My field is out there! What, yer expectin’ me to be a farmer in the middle of the city!? Oh yeah, I’ll just go an’ move my field to the hotel, that’ll be a real sight!”

“Hermit! Aki the hermit!!!”

“HAH!?”

In their usual fashion they playfully argued this way for a while before eventually giving it a rest and embracing each other.

“..Rikki.”

“Hm?”

“I also really, really care about’cha.” Saying this, Aki leaned in and gave Rikki a peck on the lips. Rikki attempted to return the favor but was stopped before he could. Aki pointed at the poor chauffeur who had been dutifully driving while having to listen to these two the whole time.

“Let’s save the rest for later. ‘Sides, I think we’ll be seein’ a lot of each other for a while.”

In tribute to the late Oleander, tonight they would get it on like it was their last day in Burrowgatory.