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Philip wandered the convenience store, only vaguely registering Akiko’s complaints to the manager about the store being rearranged. There were liberal movements with the slipper, although the manager had yet to be bonked. Shoutarou had been working on a report and sent Akiko to get him food, which she had only agreed to “because it was a nice day out” and had dragged Philip with her.
Which led to now.
“Hey, Aki-chan, come here!” Philip called, hand to his mouth. “Look how fascinating innovation can be.”
“What, Philip-kun?” Akiko came over, tucking the slipper beneath her arm.
Philip showed her, and like he predicted, she started laughing. “Let’s get one for Shoutarou-kun, shall we?”
With a few sandwiches, some ramunes, and their surprise purchase in hand, Philip and Akiko made their way back to their base.
“Oh, finally, you’re back,” Shoutarou said dramatically in lieu of greeting.
“We are indeed, Shoutarou.”
Akiko bonked him. “You could have made your own lunch, you know. They rearranged the store! So it took longer!”
“Ouch! Stop hitting me for things that aren’t my fault!”
Philip laid out the sandwich in front of Shoutarou, placing the ramune in his hand.
“Now, now, stop shouting, you have your food. And we even found something for you.” Akiko had advised Philip on the best way to present the surprise, although he had a feeling “best” meant “most likely to make Shoutarou look half-boiled”.
Shoutarou immediately looked on guard. Philip accepted the package from Akiko, opening it so Shoutarou could see.
Shoutarou’s face went through several emotions, landing on “indignation”.
“Why did you think of me when you saw this?!” he half-shouted, gesturing to the single egg in its single tiny carton.
“Because you’re half-boiled! Unlike this egg, which needs to be cooked, I’ll go do that right now,” Akiko said, her face full of sisterly glee at seeing Shoutarou so affronted.
“Make it hard-boiled!”
Unfortunately for everyone, the egg fell on the floor, which resulted in a lot more yelling and slipper bonks and Mick trying to eat it.
Later, when everything had been cleaned up and Shoutarou was out trying to follow a hint on their latest case, Philip was absentmindedly studying the carton.
“You know, that kind of reminds me of a jewelry box,” Akiko said, not exactly startling Philip but certainly interrupting his thoughts.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, a ring box. One that you propose to people with,” Akiko said with a shrug, before she grinned. “You could propose to Shoutarou-kun with that!”
“Who’s proposing?” Watcherman came in with Santa-chan. “Where’s Shoutarou? I have a tip for him.”
“He’s out. And don’t you think that’d be cute? Philip proposing with that egg carton?” Akiko asked.
Santa-chan plucked the carton out of Philip’s hands, inspecting it. “Is that what he wants for Christmas?”
Philip took the carton back. “You’d have to speak to him about what he wants for Christmas.”
Proposal…it wasn’t like marriage meant that much when they combined every time they turned into W and they were truly one, body and soul. But still. It could be nice. And proposing with an egg carton would be original. He’d have to do it with no one else around, although he had a feeling everyone would want to be involved with the wedding.
He looked over the carton again. Maybe he could spruce it up just a tad, ask Queen and Elizabeth to make it his and Shoutarou’s colors…although painting an egg carton couldn’t be that hard. Wasn’t there a celebration in America that dealt with painting eggs? Maybe he should look into that…
Life continued, and Philip knew Shoutarou had no idea about his idea. It wasn’t like they usually needed the Driver these days, and often just Joker was enough if there was a Dopant. Akiko liked giving Shoutarou an egg from the tiny carton when she went to the store, knowing it drove him nuts. Philip was just glad he could have more opportunities to paint the carton. He ended up liking using CycloneJoker colors for the outside and the silver of Xtreme on the inside. Now all he needed was rings.
“Terui Ryuu, where did you get your rings for Aki-chan?”
“Don’t ask--wait what ?”
“The rings you got for Aki-chan,” Philip repeated patiently. “The jewelry shops I’ve been to do not have what I wish.”
Terui looked at him in shock before he smiled slightly. “How about I take you there myself?”
It didn’t take long for them to get to the shop, which offered custom made rings. Philip immediately found out why Terui had picked this place, since the person who offered their help had a sketch whipped up in less than 15 minutes after Philip had explained what he wanted. It would take a little over a month for the rings to be completed, which was fine with Philip. It would give him time to figure out how, exactly, he wanted to propose.
Philip sat at the edge of the grating, his legs swinging as he carefully pulled the ring out of the box. Terui Ryuu had handed them discreetly over earlier and given Philip an encouraging clap on the shoulder.
It was exactly what he could have ever wanted, and hopefully Shoutarou could overlook his brand loyalty just this once. With Shoutarou’s ring being black with his Joker logo, complete with a small purple gem, Philip figured it was at the very least equal to Windscale.
Mick came over, sniffing the single egg carton next to Philip, which was painted green and black, accented with yellow and purple.
“What do you think, Mick? Good enough for Shoutarou?” Philip asked, holding the ring out for Mick to sniff as well.
Mick gave the ring a rub, then walked off and started grooming himself. A typical cat answer. Not that it deterred Philip, who carefully placed the ring in the egg carton, putting the ring box in his pocket.
“What do you have there, partner?” Shoutarou asked, standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Philip smiled. “Why don’t you come up and see?”
Shoutarou looked slightly suspicious, but still came up, where Philip handed him the egg carton.
Shoutarou gave him an unimpressed look.
“Was this the reason I had to buy so much paint? Honestly, Philip…”
“Open it, Shoutarou.”
With a dramatic face that conveyed his long suffering, Shoutarou opened the carton. There were a few seconds of silence as his mouth dropped open and he looked over to Philip like he couldn’t believe his eyes. A few more seconds of silence as his mouth opened and closed while looking back and forth from the ring to Philip. It was when he turned away and pulled his fedora over his eyes that Philip stood up, putting his arms around Shoutarou’s waist and leaning against his back.
“Partner?”
“Yes.” Shoutarou’s voice was thick. “Although I always thought I’d ask you .” He turned around suddenly. “You are asking about marriage, right?”
Philip couldn’t help the chuckle he let out. “ Yes , Shoutarou. I have studied many wedding customs, which we can discuss with Aki-chan and Terui Ry--”
He was interrupted by Shoutarou kissing him, pure love shining through the kiss, even as Shoutarou’s tears got on Philip’s cheeks.
There would be slipper bonks and more tears and lots of shouting to deal with soon, but for now, Philip was content to be with his one and only partner, here in this little bubble of love, complete with matching rings.
