Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters; they belong to Takehiko Inoue. This story is purely for entertain purposes and I do not get any material or monetarial profit from it, so please don't sue.
AN: Please do not steal the plot, seriously. That's just rude. If this story or premise has been done before (as I'm about 90% sure it has been, since everything nowadays seems to have "been there, done that"), then I haven't read your story and I apologize for any similarities. I assure you, this one is purely from me - a brain fart from a couple of days ago. Also, this has SLASH. You've been warned.
Pairing: SenRu
Dear Fortune Cookie
He was annoyed, really, by all the hustling and bustling around him. Everyone was scurrying about and fanning out varying waves of emotions, ranging from thrilled to annoyed about one thing or another. The people were everywhere around him and vaguely, he felt as if an important commotion was happening when realistically, it was just the random business of everyday happening. Daily activities that everyone partook in. Being quite passive to most things by nature – save basketball, sleep, Sendoh and a several other things – Rukawa Kaede felt quite out of place waiting in the very hectic station.
He'd frowned, being reminded that there was nothing special about the day. Just at the same time, his "partner" (for lack of another word to call someone he'd been with for almost a decade, especially since "boyfriend" nowadays sounded too young and trivial to describe their relationship) had come back with some Chinese take-out. He was grinning widely, looking like he was ready to run amok. To Rukawa, he seemed part of the rushing crowd, only that Sendoh was on the really happy and excited end of the spectrum. Sendoh plopped down beside Rukawa, limbs momentarily springing in tension as he grinned ear to ear beside him. Their continued pursuit of basketball had kept them fit, although in the years succeeding High School Sendoh had been more inclined to pursue business, and by now Rukawa could beat him fairly in their once shared glorified sport. Rukawa played basketball professionally, being part of Team Japan for a good 6 years now, but their one-on-ones were now more for fun than competition. Still, it kept them fit enough to do jerky movements like the half-bouncing on a bench Sendoh just performed without any physical repercussions.
"What did you get this time?"
It was a simple enough question, and his curiosity was genuine. There was nothing exciting about Chinese take-out, at least nothing enough to warrant such a huge grin and a lively gait (or bounce) to one's movements. Sendoh's grin though, only grew wider as he fished around a separate paper bag for fortune cookies, one of which he'd (almost rudely) pushed towards Rukawa's face, palm wide open and the bright wrapper unforgiving in its colors. An eyebrow twitched, and his annoyance at the other's childish excitement was half-obvious. The other half of him was simply amused.
"I'm actually hungry. How about we start with the real food before dessert?"
"No. Here, here. Dessert first," Sendoh was still grinning, pushing the fortune cookie to Rukawa. "Aren't you curious about your fortune for the day?"
Rukawa sighed, rolled his eyes and took the damned gold-and-red wrapped cookie. Fine, his partner wanted dessert first; he wasn't going to make any fuss about it. Around them, people were still milling around, rushing, talking, laughing, and doing other things except stopping. He opened the wrapper, all the while looking (with a slight frown because he was actually really hungry) at Sendoh and broke the tanned half-tough cookie inside. He never ate the cookies because they were bland, they both knew that, but truthfully he really liked reading the fortunes inside. It was some sort of guilty pleasure they indulged in whenever they had Chinese food. The small, white curled paper was half-sticking out of the broken cookie, and Rukawa pulled on it, now neglecting the pieces and their wrapper on his lap. Focusing on his fortune, his hunger seemed to almost dissipate.
'Will you marry me?', it read, printed in that straight, bold, typical Arial font. Nothing fancy, just a small white strip of paper with small generically printed text. But my, the thought and implications made his heart beat faster.
He looked at Sendoh, eyes wide, the twitch of annoyance completely gone. Sendoh wasn't kneeling or saying anything, but he was still grinning - wider than before if possible - an opened box with silk lining was put in his direct line of vision. A ring was inside, simple and of white gold with no embellishments. This was real, Sendoh was proposing, and Rukawa didn't expect it at all. Not in their 9 years together. Not in Japan.
His eyes darted back to the paper, and he thoughtfully turned it - unsure of how to answer and sure that his throat was too constricted for him to say anything - checking if anything was printed on the backside. There it said:
Lucky word for the day: YES
Lucky numbers: 07/11
Lucky colors: Red, Blue and White
The significance of the numbers and colors were not lost on Rukawa, being their anniversary and also being their once jersey colors back in High School. Also, the color blue was a common favorite between them, if not for the color itself then for their eyes of the same family but different hues.
"So will you?" Sendoh asked loudly this time, voice almost drowning amidst the crowd ever-so-insistently moving around them. Rukawa looked at him, the ring, then back at Sendoh, twitch and frown turning upwards in a soft, very fond smile, almost easy to miss. The crowd and noise and rushing around them didn't matter. And suddenly, Rukawa thought, it was - is - apparently a special day. That, and his fondness for fortune cookies just tripled. For that moment, it was as if the excitement he felt in him encompassed even that of everyone everywhere around them all put together. Rukawa still couldn't properly talk, just gave a muffled, half-choked "Yes." and a minute nod, because really, everything was bubbling inside him even though he'd never voice it out loud. Not even with all the years, experiences and mileage they've accumulated together. His mind was rushing more than anything else, but at the same time, it was stopped and focused solely on what was between Sendoh and him.
He nodded again, this time more affirmed and visible, eyes happy and a rare ear-splitting smile forming, his stomach growling lightly to remind them of his hunger, but even that wasn't noticed by the pair. Everything stopped for them - no rushing, no bustling, no laughing, no talking, no one, no nothing. The busyness of the station was ignored, forgotten, irrelevant at that moment. All that mattered in those next minutes were just them, the broken fortune cookie and the romantic promise.
Dated: 14.02.2012
When I first wrote this short story (the very first draft was only 2 paragraphs and from years ago, and it wasn't a fortune cookie but an actual cookie), I didn't have any pair in mind. Then a few days ago, SenRu just somehow snuck up on me (for no reason, seeing as I haven't read fanfiction in months, much less watched any anime) and the story just fit. For me anyway.
You'll also find this story (although non-SenRu) but almost exactly the same in my blog. I like the SenRu version just a tiny bit more.
