FAKE Ficlet: Bright As The Sun

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Title: Bright As The Sun

Fandom: FAKE

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Ryo, Dee, Carol, Bikky.

Rating: G

Setting: Vol. 4, Act 12.

Summary: Ryo has nurtured his sunflowers from seed to full bloom.

Word Count: 493

Written For: My own prompt ‘FAKE, Ryo, Flowers on the windowsill,’ at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

Ryo loves sunflowers; they’re such a bright and cheerful splash of colour that seeing them always lifts his spirits, even on the darkest days. They symbolise good fortune and long life, two things most everybody hopes for, and they bloom for such a long time.

He bought a tub a few weeks ago to fit on his bedroom windowsill, filled it with earth, and sowed the seeds. Since then he’s been carefully nurturing them as they’ve grown. When the first tender shoots appeared, he watched as they unfurled into small, green seedlings and slowly grew into sturdy plants. Buds gradually formed, swelled, and finally burst open like a row of miniature suns, fairly glowing against the backdrop of the brownstone building across the street from his apartment.

Every day he checks them, watering and feeding them as needed and delighting in their beauty. It’s one of the highlights of his day.

He’s watering them when Carol arrives, close to tears, sure that Bikky no longer likes her, so he sets aside his watering can and reassures her as best he can, sending her on her way looking much more cheerful. Ryo’s sure the sunflowers contributed to her improved mood because how can anyone remain unhappy when eight vivid yellow blooms are lighting up the room?

It’s only a few days later that Ryo goes to water the sunflowers on his windowsill and is shocked to find only a row of short stems. After all his patient care, his beautiful rays of sunshine are gone and his windowsill looks bleak and bare without them.

He forgives Bikky when the boy explains why he took them, but the loss still hurts, and Ryo misses his flowers terribly until Dee shows up late one evening with a pot of bedraggled looking young plants.

“I looked everywhere, but these were the only sunflowers I could get,” he explains. “I know they don’t look like much, but maybe with a bit of TLC…”

A brilliant smile lights up Ryo’s face. Who else would ever think to do what Dee has? It’s true that these sunflowers are sorry specimens compared to the ones he grew from seed, but it doesn’t matter. He cares for them with the same attentiveness that he gave the originals, and in time they bloom in a riotous display or oranges and yellows.

Ryo’s still not really sure why Dee goes to such lengths for him, or why the little things his partner does give him such a warm feeling inside, but he loves his sunflowers and shows them off proudly to Dee, thanking him again for his thoughtfulness with a kiss. The smile on Dee’s face is as bright as the sunflowers, and makes Ryo feel just as happy as they do. He knows he’s lucky to have such a good friend; he can’t imagine what his life would be like without Dee in it, and he hopes he never has to find out.

The End