Quixen Embrace: Haise and Hide's Defiant Love

"I love you, Hide."

"I love you too, Haise."

Haise took his eyes off the road and glanced over at his boyfriend. He smiled as he saw Hide giggling to himself, staring at the stars in the sky. They had been together for almost two years now, and they were still as happy as ever.

"What are you laughing at?" asked Haise.

"Oh, nothing," said Hide. "Just thinking of how weird it is that we're driving into the city to get married."

"Yeah," said Haise with a laugh. "That is pretty funny."

They had decided to elope on a whim yesterday. The closest city was about an hour away, so they decided to take a trip there and get married. Neither of them were religious, but they still wanted to make it official. They had already picked out rings and everything. Hide was the more creative one in their relationship, and he designed the rings himself. They were both simple platinum bands that had small engravings on them - eagles for him, cats for Hide. Haise thought it was ironic that their different animal preferences matched up perfectly with their last names (Hide's last name being Ishinomori). But neither of them minded; they loved each other no matter what.

"Ooh, we're finally here!" exclaimed Hide as he saw the lights of the city appear ahead. "Let's hurry up and get this over with."

The two got out of the car and went into the nearest jewelry store. There was only one customer in front of them, buying a necklace for his girlfriend's birthday present. After a few minutes, it was finally their turn to step up to the counter. The man behind it seemed incredibly bored by everything - he didn't even bother looking up from his magazine when they entered or approached him - but he started paying attention once he noticed that they looked like homosexuals who wanted to buy a wedding ring set for each other.

A look of disgust crossed his face before he could hide it behind his fake smile again, but he quickly put on a cheerful voice and asked them what kind of rings they were looking for.

Hide pulled out his phone and showed him some pictures he had taken of rings online earlier that morning while waiting for Haise to get ready. The man frowned again when he saw Hide's cat earrings sticking out from behind his hair as he scrolled through his phone; apparently cat people weren't well-liked among bird people either, apparently not even by other cat people...

He showed them three different sets of rings (one simple gold band with a diamond in it for him, another much more intricate looking ring with engraved black diamonds on it for Hide). And then finally found one that they liked - a simple silver band with five small diamonds on it that cost 300 dollars or so all together, which surprised both of them because they didn't think gay couples would be discriminated against so much these days... Well whatever though; they were willing to pay this price just to get married today and have something tangible to show for their marriage afterward.

The man began writing down some information about their address so that he could deliver their rings tomorrow morning before work, but suddenly Hide started eyeing something else behind him - another box full of rings sitting behind the register! He quickly turned around to see if the man noticed him looking at them yet; thankfully he hadn't noticed yet... But Hide's curiosity was getting the best of him now!