This whole story was formerly titled "Will You?" but was originally just planned to be a short one-shot. I've since decided to make it a series, and have renamed it accordingly.

Will you?

Ryuuji hefted the overnight bag securely over his shoulder as he walked back to the apartment he shared with Rin. He'd just gotten back in town from a mission and he was exhausted and sweaty, but that wasn't why he was lagging. He fingered the velvet box tucked securely away in his pocket. He'd stored it away in a locker at the station before starting the mission, afraid of losing it, but even more afraid of Rin finding it if he left it behind. It wasn't that he was afraid Rin would say no. They'd been dating since their last year of high school and living together for almost two, and he couldn't even remember when talks about my future or your future had become talks about our future, so he was almost positive Rin would say yes, but this wasn't the first time things had gone wrong with his plans. How could he not be nervous?

He stopped in front of the old apartment building, looking up at it, trying to spot their window to see if the light was on, wondering if Rin was still awake. He'd texted him when he'd arrived back in town, but it had already been past midnight and he'd had to go through the mission debriefing and Rin's only response had been an infuriatingly short "K". He hoped Rin wasn't mad he'd missed their anniversary, but it wasn't like he'd had a choice. Ryuuji sighed, punching in his key code and entering the building, making a line for the elevator.

"Rin?" he called when he entered their apartment. The lights were low, but not off. It didn't look as if the other boy had gone to bed yet, though he may have just left a little light expecting Ryuuji's return. "I'm home. Are you awake?"

"In here," Rin called from the kitchen, and his eyes sparkled as he peaked out in to the hall to smile at Ryuuji before ducking back out of sight. Ryuuji felt a small weight lift from his shoulders.

He kicked off his shoes, dropping his bag in the hallway where it could wait until morning, and made his way towards the kitchen. He gaped at Rin as the other boy stood, holding a chair out for him, in front of a their small dining table which was laden with a candle lit dinner.

"What's this?"

"It's our anniversary dinner, duh," Rin said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But our anniversary was two days ago." Ryuuji felt a bit like an idiot for protesting. Why was he complaining?

"So?" Rin asked with a cocky little smirk. "I know you had something big planned, but work is work, so there's no use complaining." He then patted the chair he was still holding and Ryuuji finally stepped forward to take a seat. Rin kissed him on the cheek in greeting as he pushed his seat in and Ryuuji tried to get comfortable as Rin sat across from him. Rin was right. Both of them worked erratic on-call hours, so neither of them could really complain, no matter how badly he wanted to. Even though he'd made dinner reservations more than three months in advance and had even made arrangements with the wait staff to surprise Rin. This wasn't even mentioning what had gone wrong last year on Rin's birthday or on Valentines Day. There was no use complaining about it now.

The ring sat in his pocket like a lead weight, an unused reminder he took as a personal failure, and Ryuuji wondered when he'd ever get around to popping the question at this rate. He'd just have to come up with a new plan. He always did.

The table was decorated with an old, patterned tablecloth Rin had pulled out of who-knows-where. At the center of the table was a single lit candle, already dripping wax as if it had been waiting a while, and a small faux-whicker basket filled with sliced garlic bread, still steaming as if Rin had just pulled it from the oven. Two plates of pasta already sat served on either side of the table and it smelled amazing, but Ryuuji let a small laugh escape when he saw the cans of Asahi beer standing ready next to the empty wine glasses.

"What? No wine? Isn't this a special occasion?" he asked with mock surprise.

Rin stuck his tongue out. "It's not like I could just hop over to a convenience store and buy a bottle at one in the fricken' morning. They did, however, have pre-baked garlic bread," he said, gesturing with a flourish to the basket at the center of the table.

Ryuuji snorted at the display. "I'm shocked," he said, "Rin Okumura serving pre-made food?"

"Try complaining after you taste the shrimp scampi," Rin said haughtily, turning his nose up in mock indignation as he popped the top off the cans and poured both their drinks.

"As if this took you more than twenty minutes," Ryuuji teased quietly as he began to eat, but he paused half way through the first bite.

"Something wrong?"

"No, of course not," Ryuuji said quickly after swallowing the food and wiping his mouth. "I just ... I find it hard to believe that even after all these years your cooking still surprises me."

Rin beamed at the compliment, like a ray of light in the darkness, as a wide smile split his face and a light blush dusted his cheeks before he dug in to his own food.

They made light, comfortable small talk after that. Rin talked about his week and Ryuuji regaled him with all the boring details of the mission he'd been dragged away on. Most missions were tediously mundane. Contrary to popular belief, they didn't face world ending catastrophes on a day to day, or even a monthly basis. It did happen, but generally speaking, any mission that didn't require both of them was automatically classified as routine, or in Rin's words, boring as hell. Ryuuji found that funny. Given their line of work and Rin's parentage, he felt pretty safe in saying that Hell was anything but boring, but that was besides the point.

As they continued to eat, the conversation died down to a comfortable lull, and Ryuuji felt himself growing more and more drowsy as he ate. It was late. Ryuuji's day had been long and tiring, and now in the presence of excellent company and with a good meal in his belly, he would have loved nothing more than to take a quick bath and then collapse in to bed with Rin at his side.

"Say... Ryuuji?" Rin asked breaking the silence. His voice sounded almost wistful, but Ryuuji didn't catch it.

"Yeah?" he asked, barely looking up from his food.

"We've been going out for quite a few years now,"

"Six," Ryuuji interjected to specify. Leave it to him to remember the exact number without even having to think about it.

"Yeah, so..."

Ryuuji didn't register the hesitation in Rin's voice, but he looked up as the other boy pushed his chair away from the table. The wood scraped loudly across the cheap linoleum floor. He watched as Rin stood, only to swiftly kneel at his side, taking Ryuuji's hand and looking up at him with a hesitant, almost bashful, but deeply tender smile.

Ryuuji felt a seed of suspicion sprout in the pit of his stomach as he looked down at the other boy kneeling beside him. "What are you doing?" he asked flatly.

Rin's smile faltered slightly and he swallowed the lump in his throat, gritting his teeth before he continued. "I just... We've been going out for a long time and today's a pretty special day and-"

"Stop!" Ryuuji stood abruptly, cutting him off.

"Wha-? Let me finish!" Rin snapped, a pained scowl spreading across his features at Ryuuji's unexpected response.

"No!" Ryuuji said firmly, "You can't do this!" He started digging around in his pocket. Rin was ruining his plans! Carefully crafted plans that had already been ruined, again and again. Plans that had yet to be re-made, but at this rate they never would be.

"You asshole!" Rin shouted, surging to his feet and getting right up in Ryuuji's face to shout at him, practically nose to nose. "What the hell do you think I'm trying to do!?"

Ryuuji ignored him, grabbing Rin's wrist and slapping the velvet ring box in to his palm and then just waited as Rin looked down quizzically at the small object. His eyed widened and he looked back up at Ryuuji, his mouth hanging open. Ryuuji just nodded, and Rin opened the box. He stared at the contents unblinking, before snapping the box shut and looking back up at Ryuuji.

"Is this... Does this mean what I think it means?"

"Yeah."

Rin clutched the box tightly to his chest and bit his lip, before grabbing Ryuuji's head and pulling him down in to a kiss. It started hard and deep, open mouthed, but ended as a chaste brush of skin on skin as they slowly pulled apart. Ryuuji leaned his forehead against Rin's. He watched as Rin's eyes shone in the candlelight, and the other boy pulled away to brush away tears before they threatened to spill.

"Is that a yes?" Ryuuji asked quietly before unconsciously holding his breath.

Rin laughed, a quick, quiet, joyful sound echoing throughout the small, silent dining space. "Of course it's a yes, you idiot."