Disclaimer: Fic written for fun and not profit, and the characters are copyrighted to people who, sadly, are not me. (If they were copyrighted to me, there would be a lot more of this stuff in the manga, since it's fun to write. :D)
Warning: This can be taken as either incredibly slashy, or two good friends messing with people. Even I'm not sure which it's supposed to be.
Notes: Makes a lot more sense if you've seen episode 26. Though I don't think it was ever exactly made clear whether or not they actually completed that job, at least in the anime... I'm assuming they did. Somehow.
The 14 Karat Question
As was frequently the case immediately after completing a job, Ban was a wreck. Happy, because they'd gotten paid, but still a wreck.
They'd managed to find that rich woman's jewelry among all the monkey had ripped off at the onsen, and had spent the rest of the night and most of the morning nabbing what other jewelry they could find scattered around the area. Ginji had insisted that they turn it in at the front desk, but some of it had never been reported as stolen.
When they delivered it to the woman, in addition to the payment for the retrieval, she had insisted that the two of them stay and have drinks with her and some friends, all of whom were as old, rich, and haughty as she was. Not exactly Ban's idea of a good time after a sleepless night full of being attacked by howling apes, but if the woman's similarly rich friends were impressed by her satisfaction with the Get Backers, it might drum up some more business. He couldn't even dull the boredom by drinking, as Ginji had, since he had to drive back into town afterwards.
Ginji had taken advantage of the situation, however, to drink a lot of sake for mid-afternoon. Between that and the lack of sleep, he'd gone beyond sleepy to loud and half-delirious, giggling at absolutely everything. This included the box of jewelry placed in his lap, which they were taking to a secondhand jewelry shop. After all, the people at the resort had agreed that if no one had reported the jewelry lost, there was no way to find out who it belonged to - Ban and Ginji could keep it.
Normally, this would have put Ban in a good mood to endure Ginji's giddy laughter and childish playing - at the moment, Ginji had draped several jeweled necklaces around his throat and his wrists glittered with bracelets dangling every which way. However, Ban just sighed, only slightly amused. Sure, Ginji got to drink sake and run his hands through a bunch of jewelry and so on - while Mido Ban-sama, who was recovering from his wounding by a bunch of damn monkeys, couldn't drink or play with all this expensive stuff because he had to drive. With that in mind, Ginji's giggling was slightly annoying instead of just infectious.
"Ban-chan? Is this what it feels like to be a rich man?"
Ban glanced away from the road just long enough to see that Ginji had held up his hands, which held at least one gaudy ring on each finger. "More like a rich woman," he retorted, extending a finger of his own to Ginji.
Ginji just stuck another ring on the conveniently straightened finger. "Ah, perfect fit!" he proclaimed, dissolving into giggles again.
Ban shook his head in amused exasperation, and turned the corner to the street where the shop was located. "Hey, put that stuff back in the box - we're almost there."
"Can I come in too? I want to look at the jewels..."
Looking at Ginji's flushed cheeks and slightly giddy smile, Ban gave him a reluctant nod. "Just don't break anything - I don't want to have to pay for some hundred thousand yen watch because you're drunk."
Ginji nodded cheerfully. "I'll be caref... hundred thousand yen watch?" he exclaimed suddenly. "Watches can't cost that much... can they? You can get a watch anywhere for under three thousand..."
"You'd be surprised what rich people will spend their money on," Ban muttered, as he parked in a spot that was rather familiar to him.
Ban hadn't been in this store for a long time, and it looked rather different than it had the last few times he'd come. It had usually been him that did their business, while Himiko and Yamato had waited outside - the jagan came in handy when trying to resell things that came from questionable activities, after all. It was a different man behind the counter this time, and the cases were all glass now instead of the ones with just the clear tops, but the bell on the door sounded the same, and for a moment he hesitated, old memories returning at the sound. Fears and hopes and mischievous plans...
"Yes?" the man behind the counter greeted him, looking slightly puzzled as he stopped just inside the door.
After a moment, Ban shrugged, shaking himself out of the memory. He had to be confident, sell this junk like it was the damn Hope diamond - without the curse that came with that rock, of course. "Yeah, we've got a bunch of pieces we obtained from some clients who don't want them anymore," he told the man with a nod to Ginji, who was entering behind him with the box. "They're in good condition, and we just washed them." At the bottom of a spring full of monkeys, of course, but close enough, Ban figured. "For instance, this sapphire pendant..."
Trying not to be distracted by Ginji, who was buzzing around the store oohing and aahing at the various cases of sparkly jewelry to the amusement or annoyance of the shop's other customers, Ban ran through their findings piece by piece as the jeweler picked up and examined each one in turn, debating the quality and market value when he thought it might drive up the price a little. He had an awful lot of pawn shop experience, and knew how to haggle his way to an advantage.
It was like a game, really - and a game that Ban was winning rather admirably, which improved his mood drastically. He was in high spirits again, having weaseled the jeweler out of a fair amount of money, until the jeweler picked up the last ring, which he'd set aside earlier, and handed it back to Ban. "I can't take this, though."
Ban's poker face faltered. "Eh...? Why not?"
"It's fake." The jeweler tapped his fingernail on the "diamond", which gave a duller sound than the expected clink. "Cut glass, in fourteen karat gold. Costume jewelry."
Inwardly, Ban cursed; he hadn't taken the time to look closely at most of the jewelry, and the ring was pretty decently sized - he'd thought it would probably be worth a lot. It still could be, of course, and he began to reach for his glasses with a grin.
"Baaaaan-chan!" Ginji's voice rang out suddenly, distracting him. "You were close! This watch costs over seventy thousand yen! It's nice, but... seventy thousand yen! Still, it's not a hundred thousand..."
Ban sighed. That's right - he was with Ginji, not Yamato and Himiko. If he used his jagan to rip off the jeweler, he'd get all kinds of crap from Ginji about it. "Yeah, yeah," he called over his shoulder before turning back to the jeweler, leaning on the counter. "Well, nice ring anyway, isn't it? A good replica - it's gotta be worth something..."
"Not really." The jeweler was firm.
"Hmmph." Ban frowned down at it between his fingers as the jeweler began to add up the prices for the pieces he had made an offer for. "Don't suppose you know anyone who would pay money for this thing, just to get it off our hands?"
The man shook his head, and opened the register to get the money out. "Probably not. Sorry, I'm sure you can find something to do with it..."
"You think?"
Ban's muttering was cut off suddenly as Ginji popped up next to him and snatched the ring from him. "Are we keeping this one, Ban-chan?"
"I guess..."
"Good, I liked this one-"
"It's a piece of junk," Ban informed him, again turning away to accept the money from the jeweler. "Worthless."
"I like it anyway," Ginji said with a smile. "It's gold and shiny and sparkles, it looks like... like an engagement ring, I think..."
"Whatever," Ban mumbled under his breath, counting over the money just to make sure the guy wasn't ripping them off. Satisfied that the total was what he'd said it was, he stuffed the money in his wallet and turned to go. "Come on, Gin..."
He stopped short when he found Ginji in his way, giving him a barely-restrained look of glee. Something told him that something really stupid was about to happen, especially with Ginji both somewhat drunk and overly tired.
He was proven right, as Ginji took his left hand. "Ban-chan..." he began, giggling slightly. "We've been partners for so long..."
"Ginji..." Ban stared at him, having a pretty good idea what he was getting at, then around at the rest of the customers, who were peering at them curiously. He was not going to blush, he told himself, but he could feel his cheeks turning red despite his determination. "You're not going to..."
"And now that we have this ring..." Ignoring Ban's startled look and vague protest, he dropped to one knee, still holding his left hand. "My life's been so happy ever since we met, and..."
"Ginji. Ginji... Oh, for crying out loud, Ginji." The idiot was really going to do it, Ban realized, half-drawing away in exasperation.
"Ban-chan..." Ginji's eyes sparkled, as would be expected when doing something so silly - but there was a different sparkle to them too, Ban realized when he looked back. This was deeper than just horsing around, and Ban knew that of all he'd said so far, he actually meant what he'd said. What surprised Ban most was that he wasn't actually surprised at all when those big brown eyes shone up into his own and Ginji's lips parted in a big grin. "Will you... marry me, Ban-chan?"
Everyone else in the store was staring at them, not sure whether what they were looking at was for real, or some kind of joke, or just a boy who'd had too much to drink. Thoroughly distracted by the look in Ginji's eyes, Ban had forgotten about this, and himself wasn't quite sure what to do about it anyhow. Sure, he could knock Ginji on the head and drag him out by the shirt before he made a bigger idiot of himself, but that little shimmer of hope beneath the shine of merriment was something he had always had trouble saying no to...
All of a sudden, Ban remembered they had an audience, and he had just been standing there blushing in silence for too long already. And although he wasn't showing it as much as Ginji, he'd had a drink or two and no sleep either, which may have been why he got the idea he did. After all, why not take advantage of the moment...?
Schooling the smile that had crept to his lips at that look in Ginji's eyes into a cocky smirk instead, he stuck out his finger - the proper one this time - and let Ginji slide the ring on. "Yeah... let's do it." As the onlookers gawked, he grabbed the front of Ginji's shirt and pulled him to his feet, yanking him closer into a deep kiss. Ginji made a muffled sound of surprise against his lips - parted, because it was all Ban could do to keep from laughing.
"Well, thanks," he told the shopkeeper with a wave as he released a gasping Ginji. "Looks like we found something to do with it after all." He tried to keep his amusement to simply a wide grin as he also waved at the patrons, some of whom were covering their childrens' eyes, as he swaggered out the front door, half-dragging a baffled Ginji behind him.
His composure lasted only until they got into the car, Ginji still wide-eyed and boggling. "...B... Ban-chan..."
Unable to help himself any longer at the look on Ginji's face, Ban burst out laughing, and after a moment, Ginji joined in as well. "Well, I just figured," Ban explained between hoots of laughter, "if everyone's going to stare at us, why not give 'em something to stare at, huh?"
After they'd settled into a more comfortable level of amusement, Ban sighed and turned the key in the ignition. "At any rate, selling the rest of that junk got us some pretty good cash... so do we get a couple more nights in a hotel, or try to shut Paul up for awhile? Of course, we won that match at the onsen to halve our debt, so we don't owe him nearly as much anymore..."
"Ehhhh, let's give him a little anyway," Ginji suggested. "He just gave Natsumi-chan a raise, too, so he could use the money."
"Not our problem he sucks at table tennis," Ban muttered good-naturedly as he pulled out of the parking place and headed for the Honky Tonk regardless. "Bleeding heart..."
Between the lack of recent sleep and the sake, Ginji had fallen asleep, his head lolling against the window, by the time they arrived. It was easier to let him rest than to risk him doing something else stupid, Ban decided, and he slipped inside the cafe alone. Once he'd paid off a little of their tab and had a sandwich and cup of coffee with their earnings, he headed back out to the car with a bag - some takeout for Ginji - to find a hotel to crash at for the night.
Ginji stirred as the car door slammed, and he rubbed his eyes, yawning. "Ah... Ban-chan... we're here?"
"We've been here," Ban told him with a shrug. "I just got back to the car."
"Ahhhh!" That woke up Ginji quickly. "Why didn't you wake me up? I wanted dinner!"
Ban smirked and shoved the bag of takeout into his hands. "I know. It should still be hot... just don't make a big mess eating in the car, okay?"
Ginji nodded, but didn't open the bag right away. Instead, he stared at Ban, smiling slightly, as he started the engine. After a moment, Ban looked over at him sharply. "What?"
Ginji's smile widened, and he pointed at Ban's left hand on the steering wheel. "You're still wearing the ring."
Looking down in surprise, Ban discovered that indeed he was. "Heh... guess so." Well, that explained the funny look Natsumi had given him when he handed her the money - he'd snapped something at her about it being rude to act like it was a big deal and assume he and Ginji were just a couple bums who never did anything legitimately. And that, he realized in shock, explained why she'd blushed, when he'd just been talking about paying for dinner.
He shrugged, and pulled out of their usual parking place, wordlessly heading for the nearest cheap hotel. They'd gone a few blocks before Ginji laughed softly again. "Aren't you going to take it off? I won't be mad... it is sort of a lady's ring..."
Mad? Of course he wouldn't be, Ban thought. But there was still that shining hope in his eyes at the mention of the ring, and Ban hated dulling that sort of look. Not to mention, even though he would never have admitted it aloud, there was a part of him that... even sort of liked what that gesture had symbolized, even if it had just been a joke, with something as cliched as a ring.
"Eh, maybe later," he mused at last. Leaving the wheel for a moment, his left hand rested on Ginji's head, ruffling the thick hair. "After we find our honeymoon suite."
Ginji laughed, ducking his head at the touch, and the cheap ring was nearly buried in a gold no jeweler would ever know the worth of.