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The constant rattling of the train’s wheels was audibly echoing throughout the train carriage; the handles from above that a few passengers would’ve held flowed without anything gripping them.
A couple who dressed similarly in quite the same fashion, notably in their suits, sat peacefully on one of many rows of benches. Silence comfortably responded to them both, as there were no other passengers around the carriage.
Mafioso watched the scenery outside the window shift from a small, humble village to a field full of farmers who felt driven to continue their legacies just to take care of their beloved community. He had been staring outside for quite a while now, awaiting something.
When he glanced at his side, he took notice of his beloved gambler who rested their head on his shoulder, drifting away since moments ago.
He couldn’t help but slightly curl his lip, giving a faint smile once he saw Chance’s face beneath their own fedora. They looked content, sleeping with nothing else to fear. Only his presence let them rest inside the train, feeling safe with their partner by their side.
Mafioso wished he could've joined too. Laying his head on their hat — hand inching towards the side of Chance's waist. He'd let his eyes close and drift away. But unfortunately, he was in an “I have to stay awake to ensure we don't miss our destination; otherwise we'd probably end up in a completely different town” mindset. Who could blame him? Chance probably gave him that mindset.
And as that mindset is put to good use, Mafioso sensed the familiarity of certain flowers appearing outside the train’s window. A beam of yellow filled his pupils when he looked; he sighed in content at the beautiful sight.
The sunflower fields. There truly were so many. Chance was the one who wanted to go here, actually. Insisting that Mafioso should take a little break and resonate with his kind — he chuckled at the thought. That's silly. Was it because his skin gleamed like a sunflower?
Well, even so, then that means they've finally arrived at their destination. Seems like Chance needs to wake up now; otherwise they might actually end up in an entirely different area.
“Chance.” Mafioso's voice felt soft, as if he dared not jolt his partner awake and to death. When a simple call of Chance's name didn't wake them up, Mafioso gently nudged their shoulder until they slowly blinked their eyes awake.
“Huh..?” Chance instinctively nuzzled his head against Mafioso's shoulder, lifting his shades to rub his eyes for a moment. Instead of lifting his head off, however, he simply looked up at Mafioso's face.
Mafioso glanced back at them, that same small smile returning like the time he glanced at Chance's face while they were still asleep.
Even if it was just for a moment, Chance found himself having a spark in his eye at that. Something about the sunlight entering the moving train carriage, accompanied by the occasional reflection of dust particles, and his comforting smile through it all… Waking up to that made his heart flutter in the best way. Was he really dating this man? A man who looked like he was dressing up for the 19th century? Somehow, he couldn't ask for more.
Mafioso noticed Chance mindfully staring at him, so he decided to say something.
“We're here.” His voice soft, but more clearer this time.
“...We are?” Chance replied, still feeling a little drowsy from his nap.
Mafioso gestured towards the window, encouraging Chance to have a peek and take in the scenery. “Why don't you take a look for yourself?”
Chance lifted his head off Mafioso’s shoulder to look at what he was pointing at. His eyes stung from the sudden light for a moment, but once it subsided, he watched in awe at the raw sight. The same beam of yellow reflected on his shades.
“Oh wow… It’s more beautiful than I imagined!” Chance placed both of his hands on the glass; he smiled without even knowing he was. “I picked this place?! I mean, look at it! It just keeps going too!”
“That’s the thing about fields, Chance.” Mafioso turned his head to look at Chance’s face again after looking back at the window, giving them a tease.
They glanced back at him, sarcastically annoyed. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. The size of that thing is as if we’d get lost in it!”
“What?” Mafioso chuckled. “Like corn fields?”
“I mean like– if you compare the two, then yeah, pretty much.” Chance gave a short laugh back.
“Hm... Fair. Though it seems to me it's like you're implying we're technically going to a corn field maze.” Mafioso raised an eyebrow, trying to hold back a laugh at the way Chance looked like they were fighting to not feel offended.
“Wha– babe! No we're not! A sunflower field is much more romantic than a corn field! Plus, it ain't even Halloween… yet.” Chance playfully tries to defend himself, though now the idea that a corn field maze is identical to visiting a sunflower field — both as a date — is starting to get in his head.
Mafioso shakes his head as he looks away. “Whatever you say, love.”
Still staring at the view outside, the two noticed that the train’s speed started to decrease, signaling that their departure was arriving soon. Once it came to a halt, they walked towards the exit and stepped onto the station outdoors.
Chance ran into the vast fields of sunflowers, arms wide open like he was giving each flower a high-five. He was laughing out loud, trying to savor the moment the best he could, with Mafioso just walking behind his trail, who seemed calmer than he was.
Mafioso watched them through camera lenses, as he had brought a camera with him just for this date. He captured the moment, planting this memory in a video he’d for sure never forget. Chance looked so happy, and admittedly beautiful. The clear sky that illuminated the atmosphere fit so well with everything; he could almost drown in the way this would engrave in his memory.
Mafioso noticed how Chance was a little too enthusiastic about giving high-fives to the flowers, hoping they wouldn't be too fragile with their erratic hands. “Be careful with the sunflowers now. We don't own them or anything.”
“Pft. I'm not gonna slice them in half, Maf. Come on, enjoy this moment with me!” Chance walked up to Mafioso, grabbing his hand that didn't hold the camera. With their fingers intertwined, he dragged Mafioso along with him.
“Wait– I'm still holding the camera–” Mafioso panicked at the loosened grip he had on his camera for a moment.
“Keep holding it! We're practically acting out a romantic movie right now, aren't we? It's like those tropes where you're watching a couple through a video from 5 years ago!” Chance laughed as he kept dragging Mafioso with him.
Mafioso couldn't help but laugh at Chance's banter. “Don't say it like that. You're going to make it seem like a sad backstory.” He shook his head, a smile curving up his lip despite not thinking he would do so.
“Do you want it to be?” Chance continued his banter.
“I can't predict the future, Chance.” Mafioso slightly lowered the camera from his face, his smile turning into a smirk.
Chance raised a finger at Mafioso, swinging it in a dismissive motion. “Uh uh uh. I'm not satisfied with that answer. Give me a yes or no.”
Mafioso tilts his head slightly, the camera now fully lowered to his chest. “Oh. Then— well… no?” A pause answers them both for just a few seconds.
“..Then savor the moment with me while we're still here! Yeah? And put the camera down already; you'll fill it up with more memory than actual in-brain memory.” Chance, with one finger still up, lowers Mafioso's camera even more — however, at one point, he physically couldn't anymore for some reason.
He tried to push it down further, yet when it still wouldn't budge, he realized Mafioso was purposely holding the camera firmly in place. His eyes slowly moved up towards his face, where he could see Mafioso having the same smug smile when their gazes met.
“What are you doing?” Chance questioned Mafioso's defiance.
“Savoring the moment.” Mafioso even smiled with his eyes underneath the shadow that always cast over his face. He was also still fighting Chance's finger that continued trying to bring that stupid camera down.
“Oh, you–” When Chance figured out that Mafioso was still recording, he snatched the camera out of Mafioso's hands and ran off with it. He raised it in the air to mock Mafioso into chasing him.
Mafioso, in disbelief, stood in his place as Chance grew further away in distance — almost as if he was giving them the mercy of a head start. When Chance threw their hands in the air in mockery, that's when he decided to give chase.
The two of them ran together in different directions; Chance initiating a zigzag path, like that's going to do anything when Mafioso always had them in his line of sight — who was pretty much used to this. Mafioso would occasionally almost catch Chance at certain times during this chase; however, Chance happened to also be used to getting away from his grasp. Which just annoyed Mafioso even further.
“You really like me chasing you, huh? Always like to steal my stuff?!” Mafioso playfully yelled out to Chance, while Chance only giggled like a maniac on adrenaline and fear more than a troublesome child.
“Ain’t that one of the reasons why you love me!? Hah!” Chance looked over his shoulder to see Mafioso coming closer, which only made him grin even wider at the idea that he'd be caught. (Because, in all honesty, he was starting to feel exhausted at this point.)
Mafioso scoffed, running faster because of that remark. This scared Chance to run quicker, putting them in a state of panic at the increased speed. Mafioso could tell by the way their smile curved up slightly higher.
The two were suddenly closer than ever, with Mafioso now being able to have an arm’s reach. With that in mind, Mafioso reached his hand out — he could almost grab Chance's suit from the back if Chance could just slow down for goodness sake. Meanwhile, Chance could feel his presence looming over him, so with instinct, he hugged the camera over his chest in fear that he might accidentally drop it. And one reason was that he didn't want to give it up just yet, and two… Well, generally he doesn't want to break it.
Yet, in an unfortunate turn of events… As Mafioso was finally about to catch the “running away” enthusiast, Chance tripped over an inconveniently placed rock when he thought he would simply turn his body towards Mafioso's direction.
Accompanied by the fact that Mafioso was also running a little too fast, he happened to trip on the exact same rock just from how fast everything happened.
“Agh!–” Mafioso almost face-palmed onto the ground when he caught himself with his hands just in time. The force of the fall made him shut his eyes, therefore unaware of what was in front of him.
That's when he remembered Chance also happened to trip and fall just as he did, making him worried. “Oh shit– Chance, are you...” He blurted out before opening his eyes.
When he finally had sight, he was frozen in shock to see that Chance was actually beneath him.
They both looked each other in the eye, breathing heavily from exhaustion. Awkward silence arose as they were too flustered to speak, merely blushing at the fact that they were just staring at each other willingly, and also the rather intimate positions.
Unexpectedly, Chance began to giggle at himself — his face becoming so hot that he felt the need to cover his face with one of his fists. Mafioso became confused, wondering what was so funny.
“Hey, what's up with you laughing?”
Chance paused for a moment, staring back at Mafioso. Gathering some of his composure, he realized how much brighter he looked now, with the sun right over his head. “Nothing– Maf. It's just…”
The sunflowers all around them, the way Mafioso shined in the light, the soft grass beneath where Chance lay, and the way he was just lovingly looking up at him — it reminded him of something.
“It's kind of like… I resemble a sunflower to you.” Chance finally said out loud, realizing his resemblance to a sunflower more than Mafioso himself.
“Huh? Didn't you say I was more like one?” Mafioso smiled at the irony of the change in Chance's original perspective. Back when they said he should resonate with his kind, which were the sunflowers, now technically saying that they should be the one doing so.
“Yeah, I did. But the more I think about it…” Chance began to ramble. “You know how sunflowers like looking at the sun?”
“And um.. I always liked to admire you whenever I wanted to, s-so then your skin can like– resemble the sun– and stuff.” Chance continued. “Then that would mean I'm the one who is the sunflower, right? The fact that I keep looking at you is because… ah well, you're my main source of light, and it um– keeps me going.”
“Heh, does that make sense?” Chance finished his little ramble, thinking it was all silly despite being excited about the fact that the two of them were acting out a romantic movie minutes ago, when this one he just talked about sounded like a symbolic relationship dynamic.
Mafioso was the one mindfully staring at Chance now. All of that talk suddenly made their features more intriguing to look at. From Chance being too flustered to maintain eye contact and glancing everywhere other than Mafioso's face, to how they fidgeted with their hands because they couldn't exactly hide the blush painting all over their face.
Mafioso, despite himself, began to laugh at himself too. He sat himself up, not crouching over Chance anymore but sitting on the grass. Chance lifted his back off the grass and sat down too. He looked at Mafioso for a few moments, wondering why he was laughing out of nowhere, before joining him — the two of them laughing at each other's strange (yet loved) nature.
Mafioso sighed after laughing for a good while. “Today really felt different, love. I'm glad you convinced me to go out and have this nice date with you.”
Chance fixed his fedora that was about to fall off his head, chuckling at Mafioso's endearing gratitude. “I told you this was worth more than the piles of paperwork! You're welcome.” He placed his fists on the sides of his hips, imaginary sparkles appearing around his head like the proud lover he is.
“Don't pull a ‘told you so’ over me now. Those piles of paperwork I left can still give me a consequence.” Mafioso shook his head, recognizing his arrogant gambler that always had too much pride over his accomplishments, and — jinxes.
“Hey! You still didn't tell me if my rambling made any sense, so in my defense this would be fair!” Chance huffed, crossing his arms jokingly.
“I–” Mafioso was suddenly cut off by Chance.
“AND you didn't get to kiss me earlier either."
“Chance.” Mafioso uncharacteristically stared blankly at them.
Chance immediately grew nervous by how monotone Mafioso unexpectedly became. “...Yes?”
“And where's my camera?” Mafioso threw back at them, mentioning the rather expensive camera Mafioso had brought onto this trip, which recorded their previous moments together. Alongside Chance’s ability to read this situation, he knew this was something Mafioso would not be happy to lose.
Chance frantically looked around his surroundings, trying to find the camera that just flew out of his own grasp, only to find that the camera had basically been swallowed by the sunflowers — it was not able to be found at a first glance.
“Ohh— crap."
"..." Mafioso suddenly stood up, then practically pounced towards Chance in a fury.
Chance immediately raises his hands defensively in Mafioso's direction. “HEY HEY HEY, NONONO WAIT– I'M SORRY! I'LL FIND IT, I SWEAR!–”
