Yeah, of course — only if I get to ask to the same of my Japanese boyfriend.

[and he's tinged very slightly pink when he goes ahead and responds in kind. it's for a lot of different reasons, but not being coy with the b word is probably the most blatant one. the instinct to obfuscate his intentions, the urge to hide what he's actually thinking, is always there, but the desire not to right now is overriding it. and it's a word he thinks Ryuji deserves to hear.]

[repeatedly, even. that was just a warmup pitch.]

[but then he's presented with a cupcake with a human heart printed right on it, not unlike one he probably had in a jar on his shelf at some point before he traded up for something even more questionable, and how was Dave Strider not on a government list somewhere?? and, well, he does seem pretty damn fascinated with the replicator's accuracy. Ryuji may or may not think he's struck out with how weirdly the cupcake turned out, but honestly, it's also just about the right level of weird for Dave.]

You ... really put a lot of thought into this, huh? [he doesn't mean it incredulously. if anything, it's surprise in his voice, swirled with the occasional pleased note. birthday dinners on a meteor or birthday gifts in the mail are one thing — having someone think of him enough to put together a space date among photographs of your hometown for no reasons he can surmise other than Ryuji was just thinking of him is ... well.]

[well, one of the other reasons why he's still flushing is probably pretty obvious now.]