The Day Will Never Come
'The wind is vicious today…'
That was Makishima's primary thought as he climbed up the mountain, Toudou at his side.
An autumn wind, strong and unpredictable, was making itself known today, and Makishima found its foreshadowing rather irksome.
The breeze whipped his hair to and fro behind him, and it was strong enough that it was slowing their ascent, frustrating the both of them. This time, it really could be their last race, and Makishima was not going to let a little wind ruin this.
He and Toudou must have been of the same mindset, because they both stood from their saddles and began to dance at virtually the same time. Toudou was far too quiet, even for a Sleeping Beauty, and Makishima felt a weight settle in the pit of his stomach.
'I'm sorry…'
Toudou crossed their makeshift finish line mere centimeters before him, but there was no haughty cry, or any noise at all for that matter. The raven coasted for a bit, until he braked suddenly, and Makishima followed suit.
With rising concern, he dismounted his bike as Toudou did the same, only the raven didn't even use his kickstand, just dropped his bike to the ground in an unnerving show of carelessness. The weight in Makishima's gut turned sour.
He startled slightly as Toudou whirled around and practically ran at him, throwing his arms around Makishima's body, the momentum carrying Makishima backwards until he hit one of the roadside trees with a small, "Oof!"
He couldn't even find it in him to be annoyed because all at once Toudou was sobbing into his jersey collar, wailing and dampening the neon green fabric with his tears. Makishima bit his lip, just barely stopping the 'I'm sorry.' That would have most definitely upset Toudou further.
Instead, he wrapped his arms around the raven's shoulders, rubbing his back where he could and praying to whoever was listening that he wouldn't cry too, because that would just be too embarrassing. He ran one of his hands gently through Toudou's slightly wind-tangled locks. "Shhh, Jinpachi…Shhh…"
"Don't you shush me Makishima Yuusuke!" Toudou hiccupped a little, but at his tone Makishima clammed up shockingly quickly. "I have the right to be sad you know!"
His voice was breaking, and he dissolved into sobs once more, albeit quieter this time. A few minutes later, he had calmed down enough to be able to breath without hiccupping, and the first thing he did was take Makishima's face in both hands and kiss him until neither one of them could breathe.
When he finally pulled away, Makishima swiped his thumbs underneath his eyes, trying to help wipe away some of his tears, but Toudou's eyes just grew watery again, so he closed them and sniffled. "I'm going to miss you Maki-chan…I'm going to miss you so much…"
His hands came up to grasp at Makishima's, and the green-haired climber swallowed hard, an inexplicable ache forming in his chest. "You know I love you, right?" Toudou brought one of Makishima's hands to his lips, eyes still firmly shut, eyebrows furrowed.
Makishima let his breath out slowly, leaning forward until his forehead was resting against Toudou's. "Yeah, and I love you too."
Toudou whimpered a bit, and Makishima drew him close again, pressing kisses and whispers into his hair as he cried.
This wasn't supposed to be this hard. He was leaving for England tonight, in just a few hours, and that was that.
"I'll come back to visit you know." He murmured softly to the raven in his arms.
"You'd better." Makishima could hear the pout in his voice, and he smiled.
Five years had passed, God, was it five already? Five years, and Makishima was still living in England. He had just finished school a year ago, landed a job a little while after that, and finally acquired his own apartment a little while after that.
He still saw his brother on a regular basis, still went home for holidays, and he was still with Toudou.
Just thinking about the doofus made a smile appear on his face, as much as he hated to admit it, and he nearly always automatically put his hand into a certain pocket to feel around for a certain small, soft box and to trace the surface with his fingers.
Next holiday, next time he was home, for sure. He and Toudou Skyped all the time, nearly every other day now, but even Makishima wouldn't dream of doing something like…this over a video call.
Speaking of holiday's Makishima was glad he was getting a small one. Not an actual holiday, just a couple days off from work. Dealing with a bunch of people like Toudou, for the most part, no offense to him, was positively exhausting.
Makishima laid in bed for a while longer before he rolled over onto his stomach and stretched as if his life depended on it. It may have, for all the cracks he was hearing from his back and…was that his hip? Good Lord.
He sighed and heaved himself upright, his hand automatically catching the little satin-covered box on his nightstand and slipping it into his sweatpants pocket. The thought of keeping it in one place had never even occurred to Makishima. He liked to keep it with him at all times, then he always knew where it was. Besides…it marginally felt as if Toudou was somehow there with him.
He shuffled into his small kitchen, fixing himself a cup of tea. His brother had discovered an absolute triumph in the world of tea; peach. Makishima never imagined he would have such a weakness for peach flavored tea, but here he was, making no less than two cups of the steaming drink each day, mostly to replace coffee.
He was about halfway through his mug and skimming an article in the paper on a fashion show that he and his models had recently participated in when the doorbell rang. He arched an eyebrow at the clock. Who wanted anything to do with him before noon on a Saturday? He set down his mug and paper and pushed his hair back from his face, there was no point in trying to brush out that mess just yet. Whoever it was, was just going to have to deal with it.
He pulled open the door, but very nearly slammed it back shut out of reflex alone, because on the other side of the threshold, a very nervous-looking Toudou was standing there.
Makishima gaped openly at the raven. "Jinpachi?"
Toudou gave a little wave. "Hi Maki-chan."
Makishima stared at him just a few more seconds, then pulled him into his apartment by his wrist and slammed the door shut, wrapping his arms around Toudou and grinning into his hair. "How did you-? What on Earth are you doing here?" He tried to sound scolding, he really did, but he just couldn't stop smiling.
Toudou finally wrapped his arms around Makishima as well, turning his head to give the other a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm here to see you, obviously! We always talked about me coming over here for once, but it never worked out. Well, things were slow back home and I was really starting to miss you, so…here I am!"
Makishima huffed a laugh at his Toudou-esque response, pressing a thoughtless kiss into his hair before Toudou spoke up again, quieter this time. "Is it…okay?"
Makishima pulled back and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Okay? The great God of The Mountain is asking me if something is okay for once in his life?"
Toudou pouted. "I'm being serious Maki-chan! I wanted to surprise you, but I'd feel terrible if I came at a bad time…"
Makishima's smile softened, and he reached down to take Toudou's hand. "Jinpachi, it's fine. More than fine. Your timing couldn't have been better." He grinned at the raven, happier than he'd felt in a while when the other returned his smile, and they both leaned into each other for a kiss.
Makishima sighed against Toudou's lips. When was the last time he had felt an elation like this? Probably at any number of their races, or the Inter-High back in high school. Sure, he'd been excited to see Toudou when he would come home for the holiday's but this was different.
To Makishima, this felt much more special, and he knew he was probably making too big a deal out of it, but he was just so happy. Only Toudou could make him feel this way, really.
He suddenly gasped, and Toudou pulled back in question. "Maki-chan? What's the matter?"
Makishima nearly short-circuited his own brain when he remembered the little ring box sitting in his pocket. Part of him was saying that no, this wasn't the right time or the right place, but that part of him was getting smaller and smaller the longer he looked at Toudou, here before him.
Toudou, with his head tilted to the side in question, still wearing that stupidly cute white headband, his eyes sparkling with the bright sunlight that was beginning to creep over the buildings around the apartment and through the kitchen windows. Toudou, who was looking at him as if he were the eighth wonder of the world, now smiling up at him in that gentle way he did when all he wanted to do was hold Makishima in his arms forever, and be held by him in turn. Makishima indulged him.
He wrapped his long arms around Toudou's shoulders and kissed him softly, feeling Toudou's hands skim up his back to rest on his shoulder blades and pull him just a bit closer.
He ended the kiss, but didn't pull away, and Toudou rested their foreheads together, closing his eyes and smiling, and Makishima was wondering however the hell it had crossed his mind to not propose to this beautiful creature who loved him…who he loved.
This in mind, he gently disentangled himself from Toudou, and the raven looked put out for all of two seconds before he realized that Makishima was kneeling. Then he just looked stunned. His eyes widened slightly and his mouth hung open as Makishima pulled the little box from his pocket.
"Jinpachi…you and I have been together for almost seven years. I fought with you, and I laughed with you; I won against you and I lost to you. You were my best rival and my best friend, and I love you with all my heart. And…" He swallowed the emotions rising up at the back of his throat. "I honestly can't imagine what I'd do without you, and I don't want to either. So, Jinpachi…Will you marry me?"
Toudou had one hand covering his mouth, and he looked ready to cry. Makishima swallowed nervously, but almost jumped out of his skin when Toudou shrieked.
"NO WAY."
"HAAA?" Makishima shouted back, he was so dumbfounded. Oh God, what did he just do-
"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING AB-"
Toudou pulled a box very similar to Makishima's from his jacket's inside pocket.
Makishima stared for a moment. "You're kidding…"
Toudou was bright red, whether from embarrassment or frustration, he couldn't tell, but before he knew it, Makishima was bent double, gasping for breath as he laughed as he never had before.
Only he and Toudou could find themselves in a situation like this. He said as much.
Toudou huffed, crossing his arms and muttering something about Makishima stealing the show.
"Jinpachi, come on, how was I to know? If it's any consolation, I'm sorry I ruined your proposal?"
Toudou turned around with a sigh, but he was smiling. "You don't have to apologize Yuusuke, to be honest, that was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard anyone say, and I don't think even I could have said anything better."
Makishima felt the tips of his ears heating up, and he cleared his throat. "Erm. Thanks. So, are you going to answer me?"
Toudou clicked his tongue, but then he turned to Makishima with the softest eyes the other had ever seen, and he whispered. "The day where my answer wouldn't be 'yes' will never come, Yuusuke."
Makishima was definitely blushing now, but nothing could erase the smile from his face. He stepped forward and kissed Toudou on his forehead, the raven's arms coming around him as well, and they both stood together, happy to just be near one another. Toudou really could make him happy in the simplest ways…
"Yuusuke…"
"Hmm?"
"What color ring did you get?"
Makishima fished around for the little box again, opening it up and showing Toudou. "Silver."
Toudou howled. "NOOO! ARE YOU JOKING!"
"DON'T YOU EVEN TELL ME."
Toudou pulled out a ring made of rose gold.
Makishima let out a low groan. "Only we could both plan to propose and clash the ring colors to boot!"
Neither of them knew it, but that would turn out to be one of the most unforgettable aspects of their future wedding. Arakita would tease them about it for years, but neither of them ever returned the ring he had bought.
A/N
This is the idea that has kept me alive at work for the past 5 mornings I had to work.
And besides, I really wanted to write toumaki. It's not as long as the ones I've written recently, but it's not short like my other ones either ^^ I dunno, I like it though :3 Have fun with this~
