Happy End

The plane touched down after around 14 hours of flight. Living as an engaged couple, the last few weeks in New York had felt short. And now - after Rui had, especially since Natsuo had come to New York, excelled in her training as a chef and Natsuo had overcome his writer's block - they had finally returned to Japan. None of their friends or family knew when exactly they were arriving because they didn't want someone to pick them up, especially not their parents. Because if their parents were to pick them up they either would have to explain things in the airport or pretend not to be a couple until they got home – and neither Rui nor Natsuo were fond of those options.

They had talked about how they would reveal their relationship to their parents on the plane, but that didn't completely keep the tension at bay. Rui and Natsuo had been a couple for two years now – and they were finally going to tell their parents. Their rings seemed awfully noticeable all of a sudden, but they had decided to keep wearing them. The plan was to tell their parents right after coming home anyway. Still, their tension only grew on the way to their house – well, on the way to their parents house. Rui would keep living with Natsuo after all.

In front of the door, they looked each other into the eyes, gaining strength in the process. Determined, Natsuo rang the bell. It was evening, so their parents and Hina would probably be home. It was Natsuo's father who opened the door, but his wife stood right behind him. "Welcome home Natsuo! Welcome home Rui! It's so great to see you two again!".

After a warm welcome everyone went into the living room. It turned out Hina had a late shift at work so she wasn't here.

"You must have so much to talk about! How was your time in New York? Did you see each other from time to time? Were the people there nice?"

Rui and Natsuo sat down next to each other on the sofa. It seemed like their parents hadn't noticed their rings yet.

"We really have much to talk about. But not only about America. There's something else we'd like to tell you first." Natsuo replied.

He didn't even notice that he used the word "we", it was only natural. In the young lover's minds, they just belonged together. Of course they would say "we" when talking to other people.

Hearing his serious tone of voice and seeing both Natsuo's and Rui's serious faces, their parents, too, got serious and sat down across from them.

"What's the matter? Did something happen?" Rui's mother asked, apparently worried.

"No, don't worry, everything's fine." Rui reassured her.

Natsuo began "What we wanted to tell you is.."

"..that we are a couple" Rui finished.

They took each others hand and now sat across their parents while holding hands – step-siblings, yet obviously more than that.

It was out. They had said it. There was no turning back anymore. Somehow just that alone took a weight of their shoulders. They still didn't know how their parents would react, but they had told them. The parents didn't say anything for a moment.

"The two of you.. are a couple? Like in boyfriend/girlfriend couple?" Rui's mother finally asked.

"Like a boyfriend/girlfriend couple." Rui confirmed.

Once again there was silence. Their parents looked at each other.

"And judging from you telling us, you're serious about this? It's not just to have some fun doing something taboo and in a month it's over?" Natsuo's father asked.

"We've been together for two years now. We love each other. It definitely is serious." Natsuo answered.

Rui held up her left hand, showing her ring "We're bound and determined to stay together forever."

Upon hearing "two years" disbelief had spread across their parents faces. It turned into shock when two pair's of eyes darted from Rui's finger to Natsuo's left hand.

"You've been together for two years?"

"You're engaged?"

Both of them started at the same time. They stopped and looked at each other

"How could we not have noticed this? Don't we know our own children at all?" Rui's mother said. They just looked at the – as they now knew - engaged couple in front of them for a while. Then, after looking at each other for a moment, Natsuo's father said

"You have to understand that this is quite the shock for us. Not only have two of our children been in a relationship for two years and even got engaged without us noticing, they also are each others partner. But even so I think I speak for both of us when I say if that's what you want.. we won't stop you. You're not related by blood. If you love each other, who are we to judge!"

The End!

And with that, I've covered everything I wanted to cover.

As to how the story continues, just imagine your typical happy ending. Rui becomes a famous chef, Natsuo a sought after author. They get married, have kids and live a long and happy life. You get the idea.

I hope reading it did brighten your day just a little.

Now I know that this story is very simple, but as stated earlier, I don't like drama. I just wanted to remove the obstacles that damn manga put in the way of Rui and Natsuo leading a happy life, and that I did.

It actually got quite a bit longer than I imagined. I'm not really happy with the way I put in direct speech, for example I feel like I used the word "say" way too often and used "Natsuo" or "Rui" in every second line, but I think its readable and the meaning comes across. I'm also worried I didn't portrait Rui as well as she deserves, but I hope she didn't act too out of character. All things coniderer, I think I'm content with the result though. As I said in the beginning, I'd greatly appreciate feedback, so feel free to tell me what you thought as well.

Thanks for reading.