Happy Valentine's Day! [drabble time]
A little short notice, but oh well. Quick drabble was quick and lots of fail like usual, but couldn't resist adding my two cents into the whole V-Day fiasco. Especially when it came to surprising a certain someone with a random combo. Happy Valentine's, Rikki, f-list. Have some random Bel80 =)
~
A light humming filled the air before a young man came to a stop outside of an old antiquity shop that had been converted this past year into a more teenage-friendly place. There were heart-shaped balloons hanging in the open window and smiling masks of all colors and designs. It was full of art, bustling with life, and Yamamoto Takeshi couldn’t stop the budding smile of his own from growing into a full-out grin of approval. A bell from above rang sharp and loud as he pushed open the door, stepping over the threshold in one fell swoop and into the store of red, white, and gold. It contrasted dramatically with the dark colors he wore and subconsciously ran a nervous hand through his hair with a laugh at the attention he had warranted from both the shop clerk and the patrons.
“Do you need some help?”
“Are you lost?”
“A baseball jock, here? What’s he playing at …?” Takeshi would have responded to that, slightly offended by the tone, but held his tongue in the end and discarded the jab at his choice in clothing. Maybe wearing a jersey to this kind of shop hadn’t been the right choice, but that wasn’t going to stop him from remembering why he was here in the first place.
“I’m … looking for a Valentine’s present,” he answered the store clerk instead, the one who had asked him if he needed any help. To be honest, he needed all the help he could get with this particular subject. “I want something special, but I don’t really know what to get this person.”
“Do you know what she likes, sweetheart?”
“He does know he’s supposed to be receiving the gifts, doesn’t he? What is he, a girl in disguise?” Flushing lightly, he continued to ignore the person making a fuss in the background and concentrated as well as he could on the sweet old lady behind the counter trying to give him advice on different matters of the heart. For a while he thought the rambling would never end, but it did and he was thrown off guard but the soft admittance of, “You really love this person, don’t you?”
He hadn’t considered that. Not Love. Love wasn’t a foreign concept, but it wasn’t one he had considered these last few months spent together. There had been many fights lately and foolish mistakes in the form of wayward words, but it all came back to reconciliation when all was said and done - which, in retrospect, had to have meant something to one of them, if not both. It wasn’t that he couldn’t say it or that he wouldn’t admit it - it was ignored because they didn’t have time for what normal people would call love. Those fights had been for a reason, those words had been exchanged for the same, and the reconciliation had only become constant because they had no one else to give them what they needed when everything was too much. That wasn’t love. Couldn’t be because he had always imagined something more, something better, and yet he wouldn’t trade what he had for the world.
“I suppose I do.” He went with the old lady’s suggestion, though, and bought the obligatory flowers and candy. It wasn’t much, didn’t feel like enough, but it would do for the time being. It was on his way out that something caught his eye. A plushie sat innocently atop one of the aisle near the back, a bit out of place with the more colorful aspects of the store. He curiously approached the odd object with a small tiara misplaced upon its head as well. It was a rabbit, he concluded when he finally picked it up. A rabbit with too long ears and an overly fluffy tail and many other strange and all sorts of details that only proved to make Takeshi laugh as he approached the counter once more to pay for the toy.
“Are you sure?”
A quick nod and smile later, and he left the shop, heading home. When someone snuck up behind him, covering his eyes, he never once lost his grin. “What are you doing here?”
“Ushishishi, the prince was bored. And wanted to see what you were up to. What this, anyway?” Noting the distaste of the other, Takeshi sighed and held out the plushie creature for the older of the two to inspect. He was thankful that his sight was at least returned, though, when the so called Prince went to snatch the object up with both hands. “… It has a tiara.” Takeshi glanced back with a small frown at the reluctant, displeased tone. “It. Has. A. Tiara.”
“Just like you,” Takeshi pointed out, back to smiling now that he realized the problem. “And just as cute.” The blade to his throat, though, made him reconsider that. “Only if you look at it from an angle! Unlike you, who’s cute all the time.”
“That’s better.” The knife removed, he leaned back into the embrace of the other. “Can’t have myself beaten by a teddy bear.”
“Bunny.”
“What?” A cutting tone of voice to accompany the obvious question. “A what?”
“A bunny. It’s a bunny.” Needless to say, princes did not like to be proven wrong.
~
A light humming filled the air before a young man came to a stop outside of an old antiquity shop that had been converted this past year into a more teenage-friendly place. There were heart-shaped balloons hanging in the open window and smiling masks of all colors and designs. It was full of art, bustling with life, and Yamamoto Takeshi couldn’t stop the budding smile of his own from growing into a full-out grin of approval. A bell from above rang sharp and loud as he pushed open the door, stepping over the threshold in one fell swoop and into the store of red, white, and gold. It contrasted dramatically with the dark colors he wore and subconsciously ran a nervous hand through his hair with a laugh at the attention he had warranted from both the shop clerk and the patrons.
“Do you need some help?”
“Are you lost?”
“A baseball jock, here? What’s he playing at …?” Takeshi would have responded to that, slightly offended by the tone, but held his tongue in the end and discarded the jab at his choice in clothing. Maybe wearing a jersey to this kind of shop hadn’t been the right choice, but that wasn’t going to stop him from remembering why he was here in the first place.
“I’m … looking for a Valentine’s present,” he answered the store clerk instead, the one who had asked him if he needed any help. To be honest, he needed all the help he could get with this particular subject. “I want something special, but I don’t really know what to get this person.”
“Do you know what she likes, sweetheart?”
“He does know he’s supposed to be receiving the gifts, doesn’t he? What is he, a girl in disguise?” Flushing lightly, he continued to ignore the person making a fuss in the background and concentrated as well as he could on the sweet old lady behind the counter trying to give him advice on different matters of the heart. For a while he thought the rambling would never end, but it did and he was thrown off guard but the soft admittance of, “You really love this person, don’t you?”
He hadn’t considered that. Not Love. Love wasn’t a foreign concept, but it wasn’t one he had considered these last few months spent together. There had been many fights lately and foolish mistakes in the form of wayward words, but it all came back to reconciliation when all was said and done - which, in retrospect, had to have meant something to one of them, if not both. It wasn’t that he couldn’t say it or that he wouldn’t admit it - it was ignored because they didn’t have time for what normal people would call love. Those fights had been for a reason, those words had been exchanged for the same, and the reconciliation had only become constant because they had no one else to give them what they needed when everything was too much. That wasn’t love. Couldn’t be because he had always imagined something more, something better, and yet he wouldn’t trade what he had for the world.
“I suppose I do.” He went with the old lady’s suggestion, though, and bought the obligatory flowers and candy. It wasn’t much, didn’t feel like enough, but it would do for the time being. It was on his way out that something caught his eye. A plushie sat innocently atop one of the aisle near the back, a bit out of place with the more colorful aspects of the store. He curiously approached the odd object with a small tiara misplaced upon its head as well. It was a rabbit, he concluded when he finally picked it up. A rabbit with too long ears and an overly fluffy tail and many other strange and all sorts of details that only proved to make Takeshi laugh as he approached the counter once more to pay for the toy.
“Are you sure?”
A quick nod and smile later, and he left the shop, heading home. When someone snuck up behind him, covering his eyes, he never once lost his grin. “What are you doing here?”
“Ushishishi, the prince was bored. And wanted to see what you were up to. What this, anyway?” Noting the distaste of the other, Takeshi sighed and held out the plushie creature for the older of the two to inspect. He was thankful that his sight was at least returned, though, when the so called Prince went to snatch the object up with both hands. “… It has a tiara.” Takeshi glanced back with a small frown at the reluctant, displeased tone. “It. Has. A. Tiara.”
“Just like you,” Takeshi pointed out, back to smiling now that he realized the problem. “And just as cute.” The blade to his throat, though, made him reconsider that. “Only if you look at it from an angle! Unlike you, who’s cute all the time.”
“That’s better.” The knife removed, he leaned back into the embrace of the other. “Can’t have myself beaten by a teddy bear.”
“Bunny.”
“What?” A cutting tone of voice to accompany the obvious question. “A what?”
“A bunny. It’s a bunny.” Needless to say, princes did not like to be proven wrong.