Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Amamiya, this is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Ouch, the last name? Harsh crowd.”

“I’m not being harsh ,” Goro insisted, glancing at his boyfriend from the bathroom while pulling his hair up. A few strands fell into his face despite his efforts, and after a few moments he just let the strands frame his face. “I’m being realistic. It’s embarrassing.”

“Only for you, honey,” came Ren’s voice, his words more sung than spoken and slightly muffled by the bag he was digging through. “It’ll be cute , and you know Sumi will love it. She deserves the support and attention.”

With a sigh, Goro shut off the bathroom light and made his way toward Ren. His black bag stood out against the white of the hotel room sheets, and he swore he saw some of Morgana’s cat hairs sticking to the bedding despite Ren insisting he’d cleaned the bag before they packed and left Japan. It was almost like the creature was there with them and not thousands of miles away with Futaba. He felt a slight pang in his chest, missing Morgana of all people, but Goro dutifully ignored it. He’d never admit to missing him—he had a years-long facade to keep up. 

“I never said she didn’t deserve support,” he said slowly, wincing as Ren yelled in triumph and pulled what he was looking for out of the bag. “I’m just saying you have a tendency to go… overboard. We don’t need those things .”

“How dare you call my creations things, Goro!” Ren pouted for a second and held up a bright red shirt in front of him. The shirt was gaudily decorated with Sumire’s face and name; the back said YOSHIZAWA #1 . On the bed was a black shirt that Goro knew bore the same design. The only difference was the color and the number ( YOSHIZAWA #2 ). 

“It’s ridiculous. I’m not wearing it.”

“If you want to be number one instead of number two, we can just switch.”

“That’ll mean I’m wearing bright red, which is much worse.”

“You weren’t saying that when you had that big beak on your face in the metaverse,” Ren teased, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face as Goro felt his cheeks heat up. Dammit. “Red looks good on you, honey, and it’ll be important to Sumi. Please?”

Goro wondered how he ever said no to Ren Amamiya, once upon a time. He knew for certain that denying Ren anything even before they got romantically involved had been like pulling teeth from his mouth unnumbed, but now?

“... you’re both absolutely ridiculous. Fine. Fine .”

The cheer and kiss Goro received from his boyfriend was more than worth the embarrassment. He just had to remind himself of that once they were out the door. 

——

Goro had been to a few of Sumire’s competitions since the start of their relationship (and one or two when the three of them were ‘just good friends’), but he’d never gone to an international one. He naturally figured it would be crowded and a busy day, but this…

“When they said everything in America was bigger, I didn’t think they meant the stadiums too,” Ren murmured under his breath, his hand squeezing Goro’s as they navigated their way to their seats. It wasn’t like it would be easy to lose Ren, exactly—he was wearing the bright red shirt after all—but it comforted Goro to have their hands linked together anyway. He squeezed back automatically, glancing around as if he’d be able to find Sumire in the crowd. 

Usually, he’d say that was accurate. Their girlfriend’s red hair made it as easy for her to stand out as Ren’s shirt did. Today was another level, though. 

“I hope you know where you’re going,” he said. Ren seemed to be leading them toward the gymnasts rather than toward the seating, and he frowned. “Ren, we can’t afford to distract her. She doesn’t even know we’re here —this could throw her off completely.”

“Or,” Ren said, raising an eyebrow at Goro. “It could encourage her to know two people who love her dearly are cheering her on. Come on, I think I see her.”

“How—?” Ren tugged harder on his hand, leaving Goro no choice but to follow his boyfriend toward the gymnasts. A few of the others gave them strange looks, but Sumire’s coach only looked at them with wide eyes before giving them a smile. Sumire, who had her back turned to them, took a moment to turn around; when she did, Goro felt breathless. 

She always looked wonderful in her outfits, but this time Sumire Yoshizawa looked truly stunning. Her outfit was black, sparkling slightly under the light as she moved and drawing attention to her person. The edge of her skirt was lined in red, as were the edges of the sheer parts of her outfit—the sleeves and chest. Her eyes had blue eyeshadow lightly adorning them, and her hair was held back with a blue scrunchie Ren got her a few months back. The colors were vaguely reminiscent of their metaverse outfits combined; Goro had to wonder if that was done on purpose. 

“Ren? Goro?” Sumire asked, effectively tugging Goro out of his thoughts. He pulled his attention away from her attire and focused instead on the shock that lined her face; joy, thankfully, was underneath that shock. “What are you doing here?”

“We came to see you,” Ren answered easily, leaning over the barrier to hug her when she came sprinting over to the duo. “Didn’t want to miss your big competition.”

She pulled from Ren and turned to Goro, arms automatically held out for a hug. Goro stepped in to indulge the hug, because he could reject Sumire’s whims as well as Ren's (not at all). “I thought you had work,” she went on, arms wrapping tightly around his neck. 

“I managed to get some time off after all,” he explained. “I hope the surprise isn’t disappointing.”

“Not at all!” she said quickly, pulling back and shaking her head. “I’m so glad you’re here, I—what are you wearing ?”

He didn’t bother holding back his groan as Ren posed for their girlfriend, proudly showing off their custom-made Sumire Yoshizawa merchandise. “Like it?” Ren asked. “Yusuke knows someone who designs shirts, and I couldn’t resist showing off my support for my beautiful girlfriend.”

A hand flew to Sumire’s mouth, and it didn’t take long before she broke. Her laughter filled the stadium; Goro was certain no other noise mattered when she was laughing. Tears came to her eyes, and Sumire quickly blotted them away. “I’m going to ruin my makeup because of you. I love it, Ren.” Her eyes darted to Goro, and Sumire smirked. “How’d you manage to get Goro into one?”

“He bribed me,” Goro said dryly, crossing his arms. With affection , he didn’t say, but it was clearly heard between the other two. “Now we really should find our seats. Good luck, Sumire.”

Ren leaned in again for one last hug, Goro following the motion and pressing his lips quickly to her forehead. He was pleased to see her cheeks turning red: he had caused that. “You’ll be great,” he whispered, and Sumire nodded confidently. 

“With you and Ren here, I have no doubt.”

——