[drabble] Up
Title: Up
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx )
Pairing: Inoobu
Genre: Fluff
Summary: Inoo wondered why Yabu chose to give him such a weird present.
Notes: Request for kawaiinopink .
Beta-read by Saki (shiroikazex ).
~
Inoo sighed contentedly as he leaned his head on Yabu’s shoulder.
“Thanks for the dinner,” he whispered softly, breath fogging in the cold night air.
Yabu chuckled gently.
“No problem,” he said, “it’s our anniversary, after all. It’s special~”
The park was quiet, and Inoo exhaled soundlessly as he thought back. It was their anniversary, their fifth one, as a matter of fact.
Five years since Hikaru got fed up with Yabu mourning his sorry love life and locked him alone in a room with Inoo. Five years since Daiki had told Inoo to stop being a coward and do something if he’d wanted his crush to like him back. Five years since Inoo had confessed to Yabu before hightailing it down the corridor with cheeks flaming.
Five years since they had gotten together, and Inoo had never looked back.
“Oh yeah,” Yabu spoke up suddenly, startling Inoo from his reverie, “I have a special anniversary present for you!”
He didn’t notice when Yabu had picked it up, but there was now a pink heart-shaped balloon in his hand, which he handed to Inoo.
Inoo blinked, surprised.
“It’s…cute,” he said at last, still puzzled as to why he now held a pink helium balloon.
~
“Tadaima~” Inoo called softly, as he reached home.
There was nobody in the living room, but that was normal. Aki was usually in her room, and his parents liked to sleep early. Sighing, he walked up the steps to his own room.
Some time later, he looked up from his blueprints to hear a soft knock on the door. He opened it to find himself staring into wide dark eyes.
“Aki?”
“Nii-chan, can you help me?” Aki asked, holding up her cross-stitch, “I kind of got the threads tangled and I can’t thread the needle properly and I have a gigantic knot somewhere and I’m pretty sure I stitched the flowers the wrong color-”
Inoo laughed.
“Come in, and I’ll take a look at it,” he told her, pulling the door open wider.
Aki nodded and entered the room. Inoo was shutting the door behind her when she tripped over his school bag with a surprised squeak.
The needle held loosely in her hand flew out of her grasp, and Inoo blinked dumbly as the shining silver needle pinwheeled through the air and headed for…
Bang.
The gigantic pink balloon next to Inoo’s desk burst as the needle struck it, and Aki shrieked again in surprise.
“I’m sorry!”
Inoo sighed.
“It’s fine, Aki. It’s fine.”
Aki left after he helped her untangle her threads, and Inoo knelt to carefully pick up the pieces of limp pink rubber from the floor.
His fingers brushed against something cool and metallic. Blinking in surprise, he lifted it up to the light.
In his palm lay a slim silver ring. It was simple, nothing too elaborate, just a plain thin silver band with a delicate swirl etched lightly on it. He picked up the ring, and suddenly caught sight of something engraved on the inside of the ring.
I love you. Forever and always.
~
Inoo walked into the dressing room a couple of days later, and noticed a slim silver ring on Yabu’s finger, not unlike the one he now constantly wore.
“Thank you,” he said softly to Yabu, and Yabu smiled.
“They’re promise rings,” he said, “so as long as we both keep them on it represents that our promise will never be broken.”
“What promise?”
Yabu chuckled.
“That we’ll love each other forever.”
Inoo reached for Yabu’s hand, watching as Yabu traced his fingers slowly over the silver band.
“I’ll never take it off,” he says solemnly, and Yabu beams at him.
Their fingers intertwine, two matching strips of silver sparkling together under the lights, as if to seal their promise.