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“Rui, look at this!” Mizuki points at a pretty red hair bow through the windows of the shop.
The boy turns his attention to the window. “It almost looks exactly like the one you have.” Rui hums.
“Right?” Their eyes shine. “We should get it.” They begin to pull Rui toward the entrance of the store.
“Hm? But you already have yours.” Still, he lets himself get dragged along with them.
The door jingles as they enter. “Not for me. For you!”
Rui just looks confused as Mizuki heads to the display where the bow was. He wasn’t sure why he needed it but if Mizuki wants to get it for him, who is he to stop them?
He watched them as they excitedly took the bow up to the counter to buy. As they talk to the store owner, a pair of earrings catches their eye and they end up buying that as well.
Rui waits for them near the door, glancing around at the array of different accessories. This seems like the type of place Mizuki would often shop. He eyes a rose gold necklace with a sun-shaped pendant. He picks it up and fiddles with it a bit. The engravings are detailed and the back of it is smooth.
“Did you want that?” Mizuki suddenly appears next to him. They had a small baggie that held the ribbon and earrings they bought.
Rui places the necklace back on the display. “I just thought it looked nice.” He turns to them. “Are you going to tell me why you got a ribbon already identical to yours?”
“I told you it’s for you!” They take his hand in theirs and the two of them walk out of the shop, bidding a small thank you to the owner.
“Yes but, why?” Rui asks curiously.
Mizuki raises their joined hands and taps their chin. “I’m in the mood for some french fries.” They change the subject.
Rui doesn’t mind it, though. If they want him to know, they’ll tell him. “You’re always in the mood for french fries.” He chuckles.
Mizuki smiles and extends their linked hands straight in front of them. “Off we go, then!”
They both roam around trying to find a food stand for some fries. Mizuki gets sidetracked more than once by the many displays the shops have put up. Rui doesn’t have any complaints about all the stops.
Eventually, they come across a hotdog stand and decide they’ll get their fries from there. They settle down onto one of the provided benches near it. Mizuki places the large box of fries down in between them and puts their shopping bags near their feet.
“I just realized I’ve been dragging you around this whole time.” They say, plopping a fry into their mouth. “Is there anything you want to do?”
“I don’t mind.” Which is the truth. Rui is perfectly content with seeing his partner’s eyes glimmer with interest when they see a cute accessory or piece of clothing. There isn’t much Rui does anyway when he’s not with friends.
Mizuki pouts. “Aw, come on! There has to be something you wanna do.”
Rui can’t help but smile at their whining. “You’ve always been the leader of our dates. I really don’t mind.”
“I feel like it’d get annoying at some point though, right?”
At this though, Rui frowns. Mizuki got like this sometimes, doubting Rui’s enjoyment with them. It was rare they voice it but he catches the underlying meaning in their questions and nervous laughs. He wishes he could push those kinds of thoughts out of Mizuki’s head completely. They shouldn’t have to ever worry about becoming alone again. Not if he’s around.
Their eyes seem fixated on the fries all of a sudden, probably guessing Rui had figured out what they were hinting at. “…That was a stupid question. Ignore th–”
“It’s fine.” He takes a fry into his mouth and looks off into the distance before continuing. “I don’t mind because I enjoy being with you, no matter the place.”
Rui didn’t even have to look at them to know their face had gone pink.
“Ah… Ahaha! What’s with that? You’re so corny!” Mizuki tries to brush off the embarrassment with laughter and teasing. Rui looked back at them and they wore a wobbly smile on their face. The sight makes Rui smile too. Mizuki proceeds to stuff their face with fries in an attempt to calm down and disregard what had just been said.
“You’ll choke.” He smirks.
Mizuki glares instead of responding. Their mouth was too full to say anything anyway. Rui laughs and leans back into the bench and allows his partner to finish their fries. His mind wanders back to the first store they went to.
“Jeez! That was so not cute.” Mizuki huffs out once they finished… devouring the box. “Sorry about that. We should head back before it gets dark.” They resort back to their more energized self though, now feeling full off of the entire box of fries they had just eaten on their own.
Rui doesn’t really care whether or not Mizuki is cute. He likes them either way. But since he’s already said his share of ‘corny’ words, he’ll keep that to himself for now. He gets up and stretches alongside Mizuki who begins to pick the bags back up.
“Ah, that’s right.” He takes a couple of the bags to lessen their load. “So, why did you get that ribbon from the first store?” He asks as Mizuki throws away the empty box in the nearby trash can.
They tilt their head. Then a look of recognition flashes across their face. “Ah! You reminded me!” They start to dig through their bags until they find the one from that shop.
They take out the red hair bow and earrings. Rui waits for his question to be properly answered.
“Okay so these,” They hold out the earrings for Rui to grab. “I know you don’t really wear earrings that often, but I think they really suit your look!” He takes the earrings from their hands, inspecting them. They had the same sun that he had seen on that necklace. He smiles.
“And this!” They switch hands and hold out the ribbon. When Rui tries to take it as he did the earrings, Mizuki retracts their hand. “Nuh uh. I’ll put this on for you.” They put the other shopping bags down once again and wave their hand, telling Rui to lean down a little so they can reach the top of his head.
Rui, although confused, heeds their request. Mizuki starts to run their fingers through his hair, brushing some of it to the side.
“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?” He asks.
“Just hold on a second!” Mizuki gathers some of his hair and begins to tie it using the ribbon. “Okay, there.” They let go and allow Rui to stand upright.
He looks to the side to see his reflection in the mirror that was on the side of the food truck.
…He’s not quite sure this suits him. His hair is barely long enough for this. The small side ponytail causes strands of his hair to stick out oddly.
Mizuki knew that, of course, and tried to stifle their laughs. Rui connects the dots.
“You bought this to tease me?” He raises an amused eyebrow.
This makes Mizuki let their giggles turn into full-blown laughter.
“No look—!” They try to calm down enough to speak. Their laughs tone down a bit and they put their arm around Rui, looking in the mirror with him. “We match now!”
Rui loves that idea but… “Surely, you don’t expect me to wear this?”
Mizuki feigns dejection. “Rui… you wouldn’t wear it for me?”
You can tell it’s not Mizuki who works with acting between the two of them.
“Don’t be silly. I’ll wear it if you really wish. It just…” Clashes way too much with his colors. Makes his hair look weird. Doesn’t fit him at all.
Mizuki’s smile returns and they tiptoe to take the bow out. “I’m kidding! Here, let me.” They hold out their hand for Rui to take.
He complies, letting them do as they wish. Mizuki then wraps the ribbon around his wrist and ties it like they just did on his hair. “It works like this too!” They intertwine their fingers together and hold their hands up, showing off the ribbon.
Rui allows a smile to cover his features and he brings their hands up higher and places a kiss on them. “This does work.”
Mizuki’s ears heat up at the gesture but they don’t let it show too much and distract themselves by picking up the bags they had set down. Rui lets go of their hand for a bit to help them out.
Once they’ve gathered their bags, Mizuki takes his hand again. “Alright! Let’s head back now.”
Rui nods along with them as the pair begins to walk in the direction of their homes. The ribbon on his wrist feels snug and warm the whole way back.
–
The next day, Rui shows up at the shop alone. He asks the store owner for the necklace he had seen yesterday and they ring it up for him.
“Is that all?” The store owner gives him a smile
“Mhm. Thank you.” He gives one back.
As he walks out with the bag and its contents, he subconsciously starts to play around with his ribbon. When he realizes what he was doing, he smiles to himself.
They’ll have another thing to match with now that he’s bought the necklace.