Title: Little Things VI- Found
Author: Celeste
Universe: Weiss Kreuz
Theme/Topic: N/A
Rating: PG-13 (some good old boy on boy mentions. Yeah.)
Pairing: RanxKen
Spoilers: Nope
Word Count: 1,357
Time: 38 mins, minor edits.
Summary: Ken discovers something important.
Dedication: Kelly, cuz apparently I've never dedicated anything to her before. Sorry!
A/N: So yeah…I haven't started studying for my finals. Which begin on Mon. I haven't thought about my film school interview tomorrow morning at 10 am. In fact, I've only really been up for about 2 hours now. And I know I'm screwed, but some weird delay factor in my brain is kind of holding off the panic and instead, telling me to go ahead and spend my last hours alive on this earth writing fan fiction instead, which is what I did. And so I bring a quickie fluff chapter to this little series of mine, and then I will either write One Piece, HisagixAyasekawa, RenjixByakuya, or the weird AizenxGinx? rape-porn that JaB is making me go to hell for. Or I could just not write any more and go read yaoi scanslations, it's up in the air really. ;; Did I mentioned I'm screwed academically?
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

Ken finds himself… indelicate. Or something like it.

Not that he's ever wanted to be delicate, or refined, or any of those things that hint at sophistication, because he knows he's far from sophisticated. Half the time he doesn't think he even borders on polite.

And it's not that he wants those things or anything.

But there are some times, like right now for example, when he wishes that he wasn't so rough around the edges.

Or that Ran wasn't so damn aristocratic when it came to certain things.

Because he hates when the other man gives him those vaguely disappointed looks when he does the wrong thing, or says the wrong thing, or forgets which fork goes with which course when they're in one of those fancy restaurants Ran likes to take him to on special occasions like tonight.

He finds himself feeling a little bit inadequate under those long-suffering expressions of his lover's, and before long he gets a little angry, and then he feels petulant and is tempted to eat the whole meal with the same fork all the way through, including dessert, just to spite Ran.

But that's silly, when he thinks about it rationally, because you're not supposed to want to spite the person you love, even though they can be a grade-A, nose-in-the-air snob when it comes down to a select, admittedly small, category of specific things.

And Ken is trying, he really is. But he's never been anywhere near a social strata that requires three forks for one meal or a bowl full of liquid sitting on the table that isn't for drinking.

But he knows Ran likes these things a little bit, because it sort of reminds him of his life before Weiss, wealthy son of a banker that he had been. Ken thinks it's a quiet show of trust of some sort for his lover, an attempt to share with the other man the person he had been back in the time before he became an avenger.

And that's an amazing gesture on Ran's part, the kind that he's really wanted for a long time now, so Ken doesn't sit through dinner clutching one fork throughout their six-month anniversary dinner and being angry about everything like he sort of wants to. Instead he very carefully watches what the other man does while they're eating and copies him and tries very, very hard, to eat slowly and not make a mess and not say anything that will embarrass Ran in front of this crowd of suit-wearing, evening-dress clad, fur-coat having, diamond buying, limousine-driving aristocrats.

Even if it makes him feel horribly inadequate.

Because in the end, it's Ran wanting to share something with Ken from a time before that matters. It's his stoic lover opening up a little bit in his own oddball way and telling Ken that yes, this is how his life had been like once. And then it's also a sign that Ran is doing these sorts things again because he is trying to reclaim a life for himself now, one that goes beyond being a killer or an avenger or heck, even a florist. And through it all, he's trying to take Ken with him.

So Ken can't complain, really, because even though he's uncomfortable in a suit and he still doesn't quite know how to properly knot a tie and he wishes he could smother ketchup all over his fancy 4000 yen steak, this is all for Ran, and in the end, that's why he puts up with all of it in the first place, isn't it?

Even if he's absolutely certain that no matter how expensive a steak is, it'll taste better with ketchup.

But it's not about what his dinner tastes like, at least not really. It's him sitting here through this almost-torture session and doing his best and telling Ran through his actions that yes, he cares so much that he's willing to endure all this right here so that his lover can enjoy it. And that's what's important, really. He finds himself realizing things like this a little bit more with time, and it might just be him maturing or something like that, but he's discovering that Ran puts up with his messy room and his short temper and his ignorance and his snoring and his habit of breaking things for a reason.

It definitely isn't because he likes those things about Ken, if their frequent scuffles over those sorts of things are any indication.

But likewise, Ken is finding that his capacity for patience is increasing as they continue on this crazy, amazing journey of theirs together, and that like Ran, the soccer player puts up with the redhead's OCD tendencies, his sometimes unintentionally cruel way of saying things, his occasional snobbishness, his constant criticism, his anal-retentive attitude, and his ridiculous pet-peeves for a reason.

There's definitely something behind all this madness, and as Ken slowly cuts his steak even though he's starving and would like nothing more than to fork the whole thing and eat it like a giant meat-paddy on a stick, he thinks that it's got to be something big for him to be willing to put up with all of this.

He wouldn't just do these sorts of things for any old reason, after all.

Thoughtful, he eyes Ran carefully through the curtain of his bangs and wonders what all of these things he's thinking about could possibly mean. And then Ran looks up from his wine glass and catches his gaze, those amazing violet eyes looking straight back at him with a warm intensity that makes Ken's stomach flutter nervously with something other than hunger. Or maybe it's just a different kind of hunger.

And then incredibly, Ran smiles back at him. It's just a small, upward quirk of his lips, but that's all it takes to make Ken think that his lover is miraculous, sitting across from him in the warm glow of the candlelight all dressed up and perfect like he is. And the most amazing part of it all is that he's smiling at Ken even though he knows his lover is completely hopeless when it comes to any of these things.

And Ken finds himself smiling back despite his discomfort, can feel his cheeks flushing, his pulse speeding up, his thoughts jumbling, and all with just one look from that beautiful, refined man on the other side of the table.

And it hits him.

He's really in love.

And yeah, maybe he's a little slow in realizing the magnitude of something like that, but it's still important regardless, because with that, he has, without question, found the secret reason behind all of the things that he and Ran both put up with just to be together despite their different backgrounds, despite their separate experiences, or even despite something as simple as their clashing tastes and personalities. That's the secret not-secret in the end, the one big thing that's binding them together in spite of all those various things that would otherwise pull them apart.

And yeah, maybe he's been a little slow in putting words to all of this, but Ken isn't exactly like Ran when it comes to realizing the enormity of some things, and what's really important anyway is that some part of him has known all along that it was there, that it's always been there.

He's found it for sure now though, what's always been there in the first place. He's found it and now there are words to it and thoughts to it and conscious efforts to associate with it.

He's really, hopelessly in love. And Ran... Ran is really, hopelessly in love back. No one would just put up with the kind of things they put up with from each other otherwise. It's not worth it otherwise, plain and simple.

And so Ken eats his steak without ketchup and hopes that as he does, his eyes convey that he expects Ran to make it up to him later.

Because, as Ken has found, when you're this much in love, it's really all about compromise.

END