The front door of the small shop slammed open. At the doorway stood Nya, who was on her phone. When she took one step into the shop, she said goodbye to the person on the other line and hung up. Putting away her phone, Nya walked over to the cashier and cleared her throat loadly, trying to someone's attention. There was a crash in the room hidden behind the counter, followed by cursing. The shop owner walked out and over to Nya, clearly not in happiest mood.
"Whatcha want now? Need more parts for something?" He asked Nya, leaning against the counter.
"Nothing Ronin... except, I got a proposition for you." Nya told him gleefully, hoisting herself onto the counter. Ronin sighed and motioned for her to get down. She hopped off the counter and leaned on it like Ronin was before continuing. "I set you up for a date..." there was a bang, then another line of cursing from Ronin. He was now holding his hand close to him, which was in pain from jumping a bit and bumping his hand onto something.
"What?! Why?" He muttered, an angry look in his brown eye. Nya shook her head and giggled a bit.
"Cause, you're alone. You need someone. You can't be a lone wolf forever." She answered. Ronin sighed and shook his head as he muttered "You can't do that... especially without my permission".
"Well, it's not like you were gonna do anything. You're gonna thank me after tonight. You'll enjoy it." Nya told him, sliding a slip of paper across the counter before exiting the shop. With a single ring of the bell at the door, Nya was gone, leaving Ronin with the paper. He grabbed it. It was a sticky note with an address of a restaurant... a really nice restaurant... a time, and a note about asking about a resevation for Nya. There was nothing else however. Nothing about the person he was set up with. Nothing about the date... except the address of the location and a time. 6 pm tonight. With a sigh, he stuck the the sticky note on the cash register and went into the back room to clean up the mess.
A couple hours passed, and a couple hours was left before it was 6 pm. He closed his shop early and stopped by a couple of shops. He got himself a suit and a bouquet of roses. It has been awhile since he has dated anybody, and he is clearly against dating at the moment. However, he was stuck. Whoever Nya set Ronin up with was expecting someone, and Ronin felt like he needed to actually show up... even if he didn't like what he was being dragged into. After getting the suit and flowers, he stopped by his shop once again to get himself ready.
"This is dumb... why did I agree... I didn't even agree... nor did I say no..." he kept telling himself as he put on the black suit pants and the red button up shirt that came with the suit. He held up the suit jacket, but decided against wearing it. He looked into an old dusty mirror in his shop, fixing up his messy hair. He kept on going between keeping it down or putting up into a ponytail or a messy bun.
"Gotta get that cleaned..." he noted in his mind as he finished up his hair, deciding in putting his hair up into a ponytail. He sighed and ran his fingers along his thin eyebrows. "This is stupid..." he kept repeating to himself, grabbing the red roses and the sticky note with the address. He exited his shop and walked along with the crowd on the sidewalk, looking out for the restaurant. Finally, he spotted the place and pushed his way through the congested sidewalk. He entered the restaurant, feeling his heart drop into his stomach. He felt like a teenager on their first date. He felt sick and could barely believe he was going through with this. Going on a date with someone he probably doesn't even know.
Before he reached the stand where the host waited, he looked around the waiting area. He expected at least someone to come up and say something along the lines of "Oh, are you Ronin? I'm your date" or something similar to that. But everyone didn't even recognize that he was there.
"Hello. How many are in your party? Just one?" The host asked kindly. Ronin remained silent, not knowing how to answer. His eye avoided the host, and something caught his attention. The bathroom.
"E-excuse me..." he stuttered, running into the bathroom. He ran to the sink, set the flowers on the counter and ran his hands under cold water, splashing his face with the water. The date hasn't officially started, and he was already ready to back out. After turning off the faucet and wiping his now wet face, Ronin stared into the clean mirror. He sighed and gripped the edge of the counter, taking a deep breath.
"I can do this... I can do this..." he repeated to himself quietly. He told himself this until he heard the bathroom door creak open, then closed with a small bang. The humming of the guy who walked in distracted Ronin, stopping his pep-talk. He turned his a little and recognized the guy.
"Dareth?" The guy smiled and did some finger guns.
"Hey Ronin. Never thought I would see you here." Dareth said, approaching the sink next to Ronin. He ran his hands through his brown hair and fixed his brown suit, sighing happily before asking "So, what you doing here anyway?".
"For a blind date. You?"
"Oh, same. I'm guessing your date ain't here yet?" Ronin shrugged and looked back in the mirror. Dareth stopped what he was doing and looked over to him, sighing.
"Well, maybe you can go out and see. If she's not here, you can hang by my table until one of our dates show up, cause mine hasn't showed up... I think..." Dareth told Ronin. Ronin hesitantly agreed, then followed Dareth outside. The both of them walked up to the host, who asked Dareth the same questions as he asked Ronin earlier, except he said "Table for two" this time. Dareth grabbed out a sticky note, which had the same hand writing as the one on the one that Nya gave to Ronin.
"Um... well... is there a reservation for Nya?" Dareth asked, making Ronin realize something. Nya made both of them go on a date, together.
"Oh, and is he with you?" The host motioned towards Ronin. Dareth was about to answer, but Ronin beat him to it.
"Yes..." Dareth looked at Ronin, confused. The confusion soon disappeared when Ronin passed Dareth the sticky note that Nya gave him in the shop. The two then followed the host in silence, not knowing what to say. When they reached the table, they sat there awkwardly, trying to hide behind their menus. Dareth then slammed his menu onto the table and sighed.
"I can't take this. This has be some joke." Ronin shook his head and placed his menu down. "Ha, I wish. At least I'm with someone I know." He mumbled the last part, avoiding all eye contact at this point. His eye scanned over the drinks, wondering which one may make him forget about tonight. The awkward silence lingered once more, until Dareth spoke again.
"Okay, I don't know why Nya did this... but at least let's just go through this as friends. So, how are you?" Dareth said, trying to start a conversation. Ronin raised an eyebrow, now looking up from the drink menu. With a sigh, he responded with "Honestly, I don't know. You?".
Oh, I'm good. I was actually excited for this... although it hasn't been going as expected..."
"Yeah... um..." Ronin looked around and grabbed the roses from under the table and held them out to Dareth. "Got these for my date... but hope you don't mind these..." Ronin bit his lip as Dareth went to grab the bouquet, touching Ronin's fingers with his. A small and shy smile appeared on Dareth's face as he helf the roses close to him.
"Um... thanks..." he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his face becoming a bit red. He placed the roses in his lap and messed with his black tie before adding "By the way, you look nice... is that a new outfit? Also love what you done with your hair". Ronin slowly nodded.
"Thanks... and it is a new outfit, kinda last minute." Ronin chuckled nervously, soon resulting in Dareth chuckling nervously as well. Then silence returned between them until the waitress came around to take their orders. They both requested for some red wine, then decided to go ahead and order their food. When the waitress left, Dareth tried to create another conversation, starting off with asking about the shop. Soon enough, they were in a full blown conversation. The awkwardness soon disappeared, and neither of them were no longer nervous, especially when their drinks came.
"Oh man, why did this start off so awkward?" Dareth asked before nearly chugging his drink down. Ronin shrugged and laughed a bit.
"Probably cause this was supposed to be some date or whatever. Man, I was so nervous, I felt like my teenage self all over again. Surprised I didn't end up sick." Ronin took a sip of his drink.
"Ha, you probably will after this." Both of them began to giggle like idiots. They knew getting wine was probably a bad idea, but there was no turning back now. They stopped once their food was served. They ate their food, sometimes Ronin would steal a bite of Dareth's food, which would result in Dareth unsuccessfully trying to steal off of Ronin's plate. Although, in the end, Ronin gave the last quarter of his dinner to Dareth, who was still hungry after eating everything he ordered.
"Damn, you have quite the appetite." Ronin told Dareth as he finish the last of Ronin's food. He nodded and sighed in relief.
"Yeah. I can't let this good food go to waste." He then let out a burp, trying his best to hide it. "Excusez moi." He said in a fake French accent, causing the two to break down into a laughing fit.
"Oh dear first master of spinjiztu, why?" Ronin chuckled, trying to calm himself down before the check came. Fortunately, they did happen to calm down when the waitress brought the check. Ronin grabbed out his wallet and opened up the case of the check. His eye went wide once it saw the total cost of the meal.
"Um..." He looked up at Dareth, who was grabbing out his wallet as well. He debated on suggesting on splitting the check, but decided against it.
"I got it..." he muttered, grabbing out his card and placing it in with the check and put it on the edge of the table. Dareth shot Ronin a smile and put his wallet away. The waitress took the check and quickly returned with it. Ronin carefully inspected his card, making sure it was his, then put it back into his wallet. The both of them stood up and went to the front door, stepping out into the cool and dark outside.
"Well... that was..." Ronin began, but got interrupted.
"Fun." Ronin turned to Dareth, who had a big smile and held the bouquet of roses close to his chest. A warm feeling was in Ronin's chest as they walked. As they walked, Ronin felt something grab his hand. He saw from the corner of his eye that Dareth was standing closer to him. Usually, Ronin would tell whoever was doing it to not do that and escape from the person's grasp. However, this time, he let Dareth hold his hand until they reached an apartment building.
"Well this is my stop..." Dareth sighed, releasing Ronin's hand. He turned to Ronin, stepping towards him to hug him, but decided against it.
"Goodnight.." Dareth uttered, waving his hand. Ronin waved back, feeling all warmth in his heart disappear when Dareth disappeared into the building.
"Goodnight..." He whispered, turning away from the apartment. He walked back towards his shop to check on a couple things before heading home. When he entered, the lights were on inside and there was someone by the register.
"So, how was the date?" Ronin rolled his eyes, letting his hair out of the ponytail. He refused to answer, until Nya asked once more.
"It was fine. Awkward at first... you should've said it was with Dareth." Nya smirked and wrapped an arm around Ronin's shoulder.
"You wouldn't have agreed if I did. Also, notice how you didn't correct me on how it wasn't a date..." Nya said, exiting the store. Ronin sighed and shook his head. He didn't care at the moment. All he knew was that he actually had a blast after the awkward stage... and a few drinks. At least now, his relationship with Dareth has grown and he was actually happy for once.
The events of the night stuck with Ronin as he left his shop, making his way back home. With a smile and a happy memory, he returned home to head to bed.
A/N: So, this was my sister's idea. I asked her ideas for a Scruffshipping oneshot and she said a blind date and how it's awkward at first and stuff, then I decided to make a book full of Scruffshipping oneshots cause I'm in love with that ship rn, but can't draw atm. Hope you like this, there will be more in the future.