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On the day he and his ex wife got divorced Osamu decided he would never be married again. He tried it. It didn't work out. He felt no desire to go through it all again. As usual, things didn’t shake out the way he planned. A certain someone had to come around and make him rethink his plans for a bachelor’s life.
And so Osamu Nozaki, age 74, found himself sitting on a park bench, married once again. Akagi Shigeru (the man he had just gotten married to) was sitting next to him.
There was no ceremony, they had both agreed that they were too old for that kind of fuss. The whole thing had taken less than an hour, and they had just walked over to where they were sitting now. It was all very anticlimactic. Osamu knew he should be happy, when he proposed to Akagi it had been the best day of his life, but now he felt strangely anxious. What if this was a mistake? What if it ended up just like his last marriage? Why on earth had Akagi agreed to be tied down to him at all?
“Are you alright?”
Osamu snapped out of his doom spiral to see Akagi staring quizzically at him.
“...yeah, I’m fine,” he said hurriedly.
“Really? Because your face is all scrunched up like how it always is when somethings bothering you.”
Osamu instinctively tried to relax his face muscles causing Akagi to chuckle.
“Already regretting marrying me?”
“N-no!!” Osamu sputtered, “no of course not why would you say that??”
“Sorry sorry I’m just teasing you,” Akagi said as he wrapped his arm around Osamu’s shoulders and pulled him closer.
Osamu sighed and let his head fall back, leaning into Akagi.
“It's just… It's a big deal.”
“Is it? All we did was sign some papers.”
Osamu frowned at him, “I know that but.. are you really sure about this?”
Akagi stared at him blankly for a few seconds until his face suddenly twisted into a smile.
“Oh I think I know what this is about.”
“You do?”
He could feel strange anxiety in his chest grow.
“Can I tell you a story?”
“Right now??”
“Humour me.”
Osamu rolled his eyes. Akagi often had roundabout ways of making points, but always got there eventually. It usually was best to hear him out.
“Alright. What is it,” he said reluctantly.
Akagi grinned, “You remember how we used to travel together?”
“How could I forget.”
“Well this one time we were at the beach and-”
“We went to the beach a lot,” Osamu said, chuckling.
“Don't interrupt,” Akagi scolded, “and this time was different.”
“My bad. Please continue.”
Akagi jumped right back into his story, “You were nervous about something. I kept catching you acting all fidgety next to me like you wanted to tell me something but kept changing your mind.”
A wave of realization hit Osamu, “oh god, don’t tell me this was when-” but Akagi quickly cut him off.
“Eventually you did work up the courage and you came up to me with something in your hands. It was a ring, light blue and slightly translucent. You practically threw it at me and said-”
“Don’t say it!!” Osamu pleaded.
“-and said ‘I hope we can always be together’.”
Osamu covered his face with his hands and groaned. “I was such an idiot back then.”
“Really? I thought it was very sweet.”
“Oh please,” he huffed, “you never even wore it.”
Akagi laughed loudly, “You aren’t wrong there. However..” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple blue ring, “I liked holding it.”
Osamu was grateful that he was sitting down at that moment because it felt like his legs were giving out.
“All this time,” he choked out, “You kept it.”
“Why wouldn’t I? It was a gift.”
“It’s just some cheap ring I got at a tourist shop…” Osamu mumbled
“Hmm I still think it’s pretty.”
Akagi slipped the ring onto his finger right next to his wedding band. He flipped his hand around to show Osamu and wiggled his fingers.
“I think they look nice together, don’t you?”
Osamu couldn’t stop himself from laughing slightly.
“Akagi, you are something else.”
Akagi grinned at that. He leaned forward kissing Osamu quickly before letting their foreheads rest against each other.
“I’m so happy I married you,” he whispered.
Any trace of anxiety Osamu was feeling melted away.
“I am too.”
And he was the happiest man on Earth.