Anzu would bring him bubble tea on occasion. To brighten his day.
Judging it by its appearance, – frothy, usually pink with little tapioca bubbles swimming on the bottom – Seto had no desire to taste the concoction Anzu brought him time and time again. Many plastic cups of the stuff with their extra thick straws sticking out from the top, sat in his refrigerator until the occasions when she would invade his home (much like how she invaded his entire life) and 'Tsk!'-ing, would throw out the full untouched cups.
But on one particular occasion, Anzu had gotten her way and dragged him to her favorite little cafe.
"Enjoy the day, Seto! I won't let you brood away in your cave/office today!"
The two went, hand in hand, Seto grumbling the whole way about all the work he could be getting done. She countered with sweet comments of feigned annoyance.
They sat at a table under a large plastic umbrella in front of the cafe. They were silent and Seto was supremely uncomfortable. Not with silence, of course. He could probably go days silent and not notice.
No, Seto was uncomfortable in general, with the situation that had brought him there. Fate or destiny or whatever had brought him to a quaint little cafe with Anzu Mazaki on a fine spring day with a faint breeze around them and the air smelling like coffee and flowers. And Seto hated that.
He was so far out of his element; Anzu and her gaggle of friends could enjoy themselves there. But not him. Seto would feel much more at home in the skyscrapers of the business district dealing with men and women triple his age, all looking for his opinion.
But what brought him there?
She did, of course.
She excused herself to go the ladies' room. Anzu gave him a smile as she stood up, her back facing the sunshine. Her was hair was loose and caught the sunlight in a way that made it shine.
He sat, looking at her half-empty cup ('Strawberry slush with boba,' she had told the cashier.) and his nearly full cup of dark, dark coffee in its cardboard cup.
Seto pulled the lid off his coffee cup and poured a packet of sweetener inside the cup. He held the lukewarm coffee in his hands and thought about every single thing that had brought him here and made him fall so horribly/wonderfully, irreversibly in love with Anzu Mazaki.
Everything about her was ridiculous. Her smile, her laugh, her cheery disposition. Her friends, who were just much too loud (and who she loved much too much), her dreams (they were all so largely unobtainable, so completely out there). Her happy go-lucky, up for anything attitude especially annoyed him. How she could completely wonderful while he was being completely terrible.
And her taste for bubble tea. Bubble tea! She was bubble tea and he was black coffee with artificial sweetener. They were complete opposites. He was quiet and brooding (not unlike the heroes of certain young adult vampire novels) and she was very loud and boisterous. He was intensely private and Anzu opened her heart to any stranger who needed a talk and a hug.
But.
Seto took a deep breath. He touched the small box sitting quietly in his jacket pocket. He loved her.
She returned, hair still shining, smile still intact. She sat back down. And then there was a gasp.
Sitting on her her bubble tea cup, hooped through the lime green straw that stuck out from the protective plastic film was a ring. A pretty little gold ring with a diamond as sparkly her personality and as large as her smile.
"Yes." And then another smile. And then a million more smiles.
He could deal with the cafe dates and the absurdity.
(And the bubble tea.)
Maybe one day, he'd try some. But for now he was content with tasting it along with a smile on her lips.
