Gravitation/General/CUSTOM + Ring
Title: He Kinda Proposed In A Taxi Cab
Author: cuethe_pulse
Fandom: Gravitation
Prompt: Table 04:04-Ring
Character/Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi
Rating: PG
Word Count: 665
Summary: He was always his grumpiest when he was trying to be sweet; and this was the moment Shuichi would sigh to their grandkids about.
Authors Notes/Disclaimer: Takes place before the end of Gravitation Vol. 12, just before Eiri and Shuichi leave for New York. Gravitation and its characters do not belong to me.
It happened in a taxi cab on the way to the airport. Shuichi still wasn’t a hundred percent sure why they were going to New York, but he was having lovely fantasies of Eiri professing his undying love for him in front of Kitazawa’s grave. It wasn’t likely, he knew, but a boy could dream. In any case, he was going away with his beloved boyfriend and that was more than enough. Of course, it would also be nice if he could coax Eiri into going to Hollywood, too. He really wanted to see Sakuma, and it was only a hop, skip, and a jump from the Big Apple anyway, right? (When Shuichi would tell this story to his grandkids, this is where Eiri would remind them that Shuichi failed high school with flying colors.)
“Hey, brat.”
“Yes, darling?” Shuichi cooed, looking up at him with impossibly doe-like eyes. Eiri seemed slightly disgusted by both the eyes and the term of endearment, but graciously chose to let them slide.
“I-have something for you.”
The hesitance in the statement went over Shuichi’s head; he was too excited at the thought of a present. Anything from his curmudgeon of a sweetheart was more precious than air.
“What is it?” Eiri’s jaw tightened in distaste and he stared somewhere beyond Shuichi, outside his window. Shuichi wished the writer didn’t have his sunglasses on; it was so hard to tell what he was thinking. “Yuki?”
“Hold on.”
The anticipation and Eiri’s aloof demeanor was killing him. His heart was hammering so hard he thought it might break out of his chest. He barely resisted the urge to bash his head against the window. (“It wouldn’t have hurt him,” Eiri would tell the children, who would look a little frightened. “Lunatics are invincible.”) Shuichi watched, with eyes wider than humanely possible, as Eiri reached into his pocket and pulled out something small, something kept hidden in his fist.
“Close your eyes.”
“But-”
“Close ‘em!” he snapped.
Shuichi instantly did so, melting a little inside. Eiri was always grumpiest when he was trying to be sweet. The singer smiled and blushed a little instinctively as Eiri took his hand, and his brow furrowed in confusion and perhaps doubt when he felt cool metal slide onto his finger. He looked down as Eiri dropped his hand, and saw the ring; his lips parted in disbelief.
“Yu-”
“I want you to wear that.” Eiri was looking out his own window now. “And I’ll wear mine. All right?”
“Okay,” Shuichi said cautiously. He sidled closer and noticed an identical ring on the writer’s finger. His heart was racing unbelievably fast. He thought he might die. Or wake up and realize it was another one of his wonderful fantasies. “But, why, Yuki? What does it mean?”
Eiri scowled and turned his face farther away; Shuichi wondered if he was really turning red or if that was just the effect of the sunlight. “It doesn’t mean anything, just-do as I say.”
“Oh, Yuki,” Shuichi gasped. Then it was true. It was real. It was the moment Shuichi had thought would only happen in his dreams. And, all right, it wasn’t happening exactly the way Shuichi dreamt, but in a way, it was better. “I-” He searched for the right words. The words that would make the moment positively movie-worthy. The words that would soften Eiri’s heart enough to make the writer smile at him. The words they would remember for the rest of their lives. “I love you.”
“Yeah?” Eiri asked, though it wasn’t really a question. He stared out the window for a moment longer, and then reached over to drape his arm loosely across Shuichi’s shoulders. “Shut up.”
(And Shuichi would sigh, “Wasn’t that romantic?” And the children would smile and nod. And at dinner they would notice that the ring on Grandpa Eiri’s finger, though it was faded and dulling and needed polishing, looked preciously familiar.)