Shopping Trip
"I can't believe it," the long haired boy commented stoically. "You dragged me out, all the way here, to do some shopping?"
Saeki turned around and looked and him. Then he broke into a bright smile and scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh. Yes. But it's alright, ne Kisarazu?"
Kisarazu Ryou sighed and gave in to the situation. "You could have dragged Aoi or something. Amane. I don't know. They'd have been more enthusiastic."
"But I don't want them. They attract too much attention."
A bit flattered, Kisarazu decided to change the subject before he dwelled on the topic of him being Saeki's choice for a shopping partner. "What're you looking for anyway?"
"A ring!" Saeki said happily as they strolled through the streets.
"…..for yourself?" Kisarazu ventured, although he had a prêt-ty bad feeling about it.
"Nope!"
"Right." Kisarazu felt that it was best to remain silent from then on. He had little desire to get involved in whatever messy thing Saeki might be in.
"Aren't you going to ask me for who it is?"
Kisarazu wondered if he would get white hair from all the sighing. He gave in. "Okay, who is it?"
"My WIFE!" he happily chorused.
Kisarazu felt the Bad Feeling get worse. "Right."
"Aren't you going to ask me who my wife is?"
Kisarazu skipped the battle of wills and gave up. "Okay, who is it?"
"Fuji!" Saeki said even more exuberantly.
"Fuji Shuusuke?" Kisarazu stared at him incredulously.
"No, Fuji Yuuta. Of course Shuusuke! Yuuta's a little bit young, don't you think?"
Kisarazu decided not to point out that said Yuuta was only a year younger. He did not want to put any ideas into Saeki's head.
"…..Okay."
"We got married a while ago, so I thought it was only proper I give him a ring. You know. So we can be properly married." Saeki attempted to explain.
"Just so you know, I won't be the best man, if you're planning to make this marriage even more proper," Kisarazu deadpanned.
"Of course not!" Saeki looked appalled, and Kisarazu felt rather slighted. "You're going to be the flower girl."
Kisarazu was not Pleased.
"I'm kidding…" Saeki laughed. "Nah, this is as far as I go. It's really just an idea of mine for Fuji's birthday present this year."
"Okay."
"But we ARE married."
"….okay."
"I want to get something really nice for Fuji."
"Mm-hmm."
"We've been friends for so long. I'm amazed we're still close."
"Still in contact huh ."
"Touzen! We mail, and chat all the time…we even have a shared journal."
"And that's…"
"Our own special journal where we write to each other. You know how it can be a hassle to check mail…"
"Right…"
"And we're not always online at the same time, and to call him is so expensive…." Saeki sighed. "So I came up with the idea of sharing a journal where we can write long letters to each other so that we know what's up."
"That sounds nice." Kisarazu would have thought of trying it out himself, but then again, he wasn't paying his own phone bill. Besides, a shared journal was so lovey-dovey. Atsushi'd probably freak, he reasoned.
"Hey, jewellery shop!" Saeki pointed out and grinned. "Do you know Fuji's got really small hands? Which is why I brought you along."
"I don't have small hands. Why didn't you bring a kid along?"
"That's too small!"
Kisarazu sighed. But he didn't really regret it. That's what they were for, anyway. To keep each other company.
And besides, Atsushi's birthday was coming in a few months, and Saeki would make a good shopping partner….
xxxxxxx
"What do you think?" Kisarazu asked Saeki of the jacket he was holding up.
"It's too hot to be wearing that."
Maybe Saeki wasn't that good a shopping partner.
"I'm running outta options," Kisarazu grumbled. "His birthday is tomorrow!"
"Why'd ya make this trip so last minute?" Saeki pointed out. "I shopped for Fuji's present waaaaaaay before."
"Oh? So you did buy a ring after all. When did you?"
Saeki looked down and smiled sheepishly. "Nah, I didn't get a ring."
"Oh. Okay. How bout a necktie? It goes well with the St Rudolph uniform." Never mind the necktie was exactly the same AS the tie worn with the said uniform.
"…..it feels sad."
He felt like gripping Saeki by the shoulders and shaking him, but refrained from doing so.
"Okay." He knew he didn't even have to ask. He scanned the shop for more options as he waited for the grey-haired boy to spill.
"He has a boyfriend."
Maybe the word 'he' and 'boyfriend' caught Kisarazu's ear.
"Who does?"
"Fuji!"
"…Oh."
Saeki sighed albeit dramatically. "I don't wanna buy a ring anymore."
Kisarazu raised an eyebrow. "But you guys are good friends. Does it matter whether he's a boyfriend and all? Don't tell me- you divorced?"
"No, we didn't!" Saeki said. "We're still married. But…"he scuffed the ground with his foot. "I don't feel so good giving him a ring anymore."
"Why not?"
"Because! He's got someone else. I don't feel good still…nosing around."
"Let's get a drink," Kisarazu said resignedly.
xxxxxxxx
"I feel lonely," Saeki announced.
"…..why?"
"Well…there isn't anyone to be lovey-dovey with. Now that Fuji has a boyfriend.."
Kisarazu rolled his eyes. "I don't see why you wanna be lovey-dovey with a guy. I mean, I sure don't want anyone to get lovey-dovey with me."
"That's why you're not my wife!" Saeki retorted.
"Hey!"
But Saeki fell silent. After a while he spoke. "I miss him."
"You still talk to him."
"Yeah. But it's not the same anymore. I'm not his special one anymore."
"…."
"I read a love letter from his boyfriend. Fuji showed me."
"…."
Saeki sighed. "He's for real."
"So you liked Fuji after all."
"No! That's not what I meant," Saeki said defensively. "I'm just…sad is all. Just that things change, and people move on without you. I guess I can't get over the fact that I'm not his special one anymore. He'll have someone else to spill all his problems too, and let out his anger with. He doesn't need me."
"You know that's not true."
Saeki gave a sad smile. "And I know that's what he'll say if I ever bring this up to him."
"So he'll mean it."
"Did you know he used to have a crush on me?"
"What?"
"He told me so. But I thought it was stupid then. It seemed like a bit of a joke, and I know Fuji would never really truly consider me like that. Saa ne. I wonder if he really did have a crush on me then."
Kisarazu decided not to point out that their marriage was somewhat a joke as well. "I think he must have."
"It'll hurt more when he tells me that nothing's changed between us. Sorry I'm making you my punching bag."
"It's okay."
"I wish I could get over it."
"You will."
"…Thanks Kisarazu."
"Atsushi's going out with someone too."
"Sou ka."
"Yep."
"I know just what he needs for his birthday. Let's go!"
xxxxxxx
Kisarazu Ryou re-read the birthday note he'd written.
To: Atsushi aka dear twin brother
You're finally fourteen, and so am I. Personally I think it's too young for you to be dating. You still have tennis and school. But I think you'll be okay. I wish you all the best. It's good to see you happy and enthusiastic about new stuff. Say hello to Tachibana-san for me. Maybe we'll see each other some time. Don't piss her brother off. I hope you find this book useful. Happy birthday.
Ryou
He knew he hadn't meant all of it. Some he'd written as a joke. That wasn't so bad.
What was bad was that it didn't feel nice, hiding things from his twin. But at the same time, it didn't feel nice to tell his twin outright that he felt that Tachibana An was taking his place. It would get Atsushi confused, and mad, and then he wouldn't be happy.
He wanted him to be happy although sometimes he wished she would just disappear.
He looked at Saeki who was reading the birthday note and was adding some lame stuff at the bottom.
He figured there might be many more shopping trips after that. They had a lot more in common than they thought. It wasn't all good things, but at least it was something.
owari
A/N: This is yet again, another fic in which I express my sadness/frustration/anger/insanity etc. Yeah, this sorta happened to me. The conversation was even ripped off. I was Saeki, if you were wondering.
But I will probably end up getting the ring after all.
I didn't know whether to put this under my Unrequited series, because you may want to see it as just friendship angst, instead of unrequited love. So I just chucked it up as a one-shot.
I didn't want to post this until I got a clearer picture of Kisarazu Ryou's character. But in the end, I have a feeling I wouldn't change it anyway….so here you go.