[Team Two] Little Things

[sanadas-sanity.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhhh hello everyone~ I'm Bane and I'm new to shiritori :D
I was....a little too excited to write my first post and ended up writing this when I got home from work today?? (also cause plans this weekend and I didn't want to be rude and skip my first turn)
Not quite sure where this little AU came from, but it was fun?

“The best ones are always hard to find.”

He could feel the ache, the sigh, in Yabu’s voice from across the aisle.

"What in the world do you mean?” Hikaru asked. He thumbed his way through the rows of apples, looking for ones that were firm but looked sweet.

“The, uh, tomatoes,” Yabu said, holding up one for good measure. “It’s so difficult to tell.”

“Drop one on the ground. If it bounces then we’ll take it home,” Hikaru laughed. He grabbed another produce bag, stuffing a few granny smith applies in it for good measure.

Yabu rolled his eyes. “I’m naïve when it comes to cooking but not that much.” He placed the tomato he was holding back into the bunch. “Should I get any of these for you?”

“Nah, we had too much pasta this week,” Hikaru said, tying off the bag of apples. “You need more variety in your diet.”

“You mean that convenience store lunches aren’t perfectly nutritious?”

“Shut up and find me the eggplant,” Hikaru said. He put the apples in their cart and started pushing it farther down the produce aisle.

“Aye aye captain grumpy pants,” Yabu said.

Hikaru had to choke back after Yabu saluted him and pretended to strut down the aisle. They had made it a weekly roommate ritual where they both of them went to the grocery store and shopped for their food for that week. The usually made it their goal to try and embarrass each other, but, for some reason, Yabu seemed a little….off, and Hikaru couldn’t put his finger on why.

“What’s up with you?” Hikaru asked, swatting Yabu’s hands away from the eggplant so he could pick them himself.

“Hm? Oh, nothing,” Yabu said. “Just got my head stuck in this novel I’m working on.”

“Maybe talking through your idea might make you feel better?”

“I don’t think it will,” Yabu said, reaching for parsley, but Hikaru knocked his hand away again.

“Tell me or I’ll tickle you,” Hikaru said, readying his fingers.

“Fine, okay,” Yabu said, taking a few steps back. “It’s about that prince and princess story I was telling you. Remember it?”

It had been horribly cliché, and something straight out of a getsu9 drama. He couldn’t have forgotten it.

“Well, I think the prince might not like the princess anymore.”

Hikaru stopped in his tracks, mind momentarily forgetting what was next on his list of ingredients to buy. “What do you mean? Isn’t that the whole plot of your story?”

“Well, yeah, but as I’m writing it I’m realizing he doesn’t really love her,” Yabu continued. His words were robotic, as if every moment was spent processing them before he allowed his mouth to speak them. “I think he really loves his best friend. The one he’s known since childhood.”

“But he wasn’t interested in the princess’s friend?”

Spinach. That’s what they needed. They needed more vegetables to offset all of the potato chips and chocolate they crammed into their mouths during their weekend late name gaming sessions.

“It felt fake,” Yabu said simply. He walked along the edge of the cart, hand grasping it as if it was his only way to stay locked to the ground. “I mean, think about the two of them. The prince has always wanted to surround himself with his friend’s presence, even sharing the same tent when they go hunting. His friend’s jokes are the only thing that can cheer him up on rough days.”

Hikaru could feel his heart beating quicker, Yabu’s words familiar to his ears.

“And what about the friend?” he asked, mouth drying, struggling to form words. “What about his side of the story?”

“The friend always looks after the prince, making sure he isn’t two steps from entering the realm of the dead,” Yabu continued. He had found his way to the potatoes. “He cooks for the prince and has always been supportive, but the prince is nervous that he’s reading too much into their friendship.”

“What do you mean by that?” Hikaru asked, keeping his hands on the cart.

Yabu grabbed a sack of potatoes, depositing them in the cart with their other fresh produce. “I mean the prince has feelings for his friend, but he doesn’t know if the friend likes him back. He doesn’t want to ruin their friendship if his friend doesn’t love him back.”

“I’m sure if the two of them sat down and had a civil conversation they could work it out,” Hikaru said. He pushed the cart in the direction of the snack food, ready to load down the remaining space with chips, soda, and cheap alcohol.

“Do you think that’s a good idea though?”

“Yeah,” Hikaru nodded, keeping his eyes trained forward. He tried to ignore how fast his heart was beating in his chest. “Go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Yabu put a foot by one of the wheels of the cart, stopping it and Hikaru in their tracks.

He was close. So close. Hikaru could feel his breath reaching his face, and he froze under the scrutiny of Yabu’s careful eye.

“Hikaru?” Yabu said.

He shivered. He had never heard his name be said like that. A whisper, a gentle prayer that he longed to hear come from his best friend’s lips over and over.

“Yeah?” he whispered.

Yabu smiled. “I think I do want those tomatoes. Do you think we could have pasta on Thursday?”

Hikaru went to kick him. “I already told you we’ve had enough of it.”

“Fine, I don’t want it anymore,” Yabu said, walking off to the next aisle.

Hikaru rolled his eyes and followed after him. “You need to learn to make a decision and stick to it.”

He could hear Yabu’s laughter from across the aisle. “Hey, be nice! I already made my decision.”

Your turn talisa_ahn :D