A Promise of Always, a magi/マギ fanfic

There is a small bakery located just along the Boardwalk, overlooking the waves and the beach. A small shop, nothing too elegant or fancy, and it is a place that is relatively little known. Yet it has garnered a reputation for excellent pastries and confections. No store-bought food could ever compare; it gives even the high-end professional eateries a run for their money. A hand-painted sign in elegant letters hangs over the door next to a seashell wind chime. Sindrian Nights it reads in spiky purple script. Open the door, and there are a few wooden tables surrounded by well-crafted wooden chairs. The displays, which run along the side, are filled to the brim with cakes, cookies, cupcakes, tarts, brownies, and other sweets. A cash register huddles in the corner. The interior is pleasantly decorated with hanging flowering plants and a little bonsai tree next to the door. A few simple, Japanese-style paintings hang from the wall, all marked by the same signature. The wall behind the counter is bare, save for two large cork-board displays. One shows a calendar, phone numbers, businesses - the normal stuff to be seen in any shop. The other, however, is much more intriguing. This board is completely covered in photos. Some display beach scenery: the ocean, the sand, sunsets, sunrises. Others depict the shop in its early stages. A few pictures show customers who have, over the years, become regulars. The most common subject, however, always contains at least one of the same two people, in various pursuits: eating, walking along the beach, cooking, laughing, smiling. A few of these pictures are obviously candid, while others are undoubtedly self-taken, judging from the goofy or deadpan looks of the recipients. One of these two people is tall, with an easy-going, confident smile, a long purple ponytail, and piercing golden eyes. The other is, by contrast, shorter and more serious, with freckles and white hair. Just one glance at these pictures leaves the viewer without doubt: these two are special - to the shop, and to each other.

And their names?

Sinbad and Ja'far.

There is always music playing in the kitchens. It varies, day by day, as to what plays when. Sinbad likes his dramatic dancing music: catchy pop songs and famous rock bands in the like. And he is an expressive listener; when he is into a song, he is sashaying back and forth or playing the air drums or singing along, ponytail swinging along to his movements.

Ja'far, by contrast, likes quieter, expressive music - movie soundtracks, classical orchestras, and a lot of instrumental melodies. His habits, too, are much more subtle: humming along, or moving in sync with the flow of the song.

Of course, such a wide range leaves place for disagreement. Sinbad takes a direct approach, loudly complaining or mocking whatever soaring instrumental line is filling the room, or singing lyrics from his own favorites over top of the radio. Sometimes he even improvises his own lyrics. (Ja'far would be the first to admit that Sin doesn't have the worst singing voice ever, but when Sin's voice is covering up all the little underlying strains that Ja'far likes, well, it's not his fault if whatever object is in his hands magically finds its way to Sin's face.) Ja'far is a bit more passive-aggressive with this sort of thing. His tactics usually involve changing the station when Sin is at the counter serving customers or mucking around upstairs, then sabotaging the radio so that Sin can't change it back. Often with duck tape. Sinbad grumps but laughs, and typically the radio is back to normal by the end of the day because Sin gets his way with his oddly effective puppy dog eyes. Other times he busts out a spare radio and slowly turns up the volume to drown out Sin's music, which doesn't happen much because this ends with the kitchen being too loud to think.

However, it is this that sometimes brings out the best occasions: those times where the music overlaps just right that it sounds awesome.

And the food made then, of course, tastes even more so.

And if there is more dancing than usual going on, well, no one needs to know that.

Ja'far is usually the first one up in the morning, and the one who gets the shop - and the kitchens - ready for the day. But Sinbad is always the first to greet customers. Some days he is completely in charge of customer service.

This just might be because of Sin's tendency to leave bite marks in obvious places.

You're too kind, says Ja'far when Sinbad gives a whole fresh-baked batch of cookies, free of charge, to the little mob of children who swarm inside one day.

You love me for it, Sin replies, and Ja'far turns away with a smile.

Ja'far trumps Sinbad in both experience and learning. He went to school for culinary arts, after all. So it's not unusual for them to stay up late some nights because Ja'far is teaching Sin some new trick. Yet the shop was Sin's idea. Sin, who hadn't been the most extraordinary of cooks, but with plenty of raw talent, had decided, on a whim, to open a shop one day.

He tells Ja'far repeatedly that it was a good thing that he had agreed with this crazy plan, pushed him aside from his haphazard diagram of a shop and redesigned it without the levitating refrigerators and places for people to eat and made sure Sin was safe when repairing the run-down old building and taking charge of finding business contracts and good ingredients.

Ja'far agrees that he's glad he went along with it, although he'd never admit it out loud. With Sin's crazy luck, who'd know what would have happened... but this little shop and his irrepressible, enthusiastic, confident, cheerful partner had changed his life completely.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

Sinbad likes pulling Ja'far into dances at unexpected times. Ja'far complains, but secretly likes these times, singing and swaying and laughing in each other's arms.

Even if it has resulted in several burned cakes and at least one small fire.

Ja'far doesn't experiment much. When he cooks, it's by the book, and the only time he really gets creative is during the decorating stage.

Sinbad's the opposite. He likes trying new ideas. Since, as Ja'far always telling him, he's got crazy luck, a good portion of Sinbad's new-fangled ideas turn out amazing. Some more of his creations turn out decent.

The rest... not so much.

So he tries not to experiment all the time, as per Ja'far's request... not for the super-important orders that are due first thing in the morning, anyway. He makes no promises for the rest. Ja'far throws his hands in the air, but he allows it because that's Sin, and he secretly likes Sin's cooking better anyways.

Which is funny, because Sin's always stealing the stuff he makes, with the excuse that But Ja'far, it's so delicious I can't help myself!

But their best work - without a doubt - is the stuff they make together.

One of the quirks of the two that always amuse customers is their complete ease around each other. It's not uncommon to walk in and have Sin walking around distractedly, gesturing with his hands about some new idea and Ja'far trying to tie his ponytail back because the tie snapped and Sin's trying to get him to listen and saying No, Ja'far, my hair is beautiful, leave it alone and listen and Ja'far is determinedly pulling Sin back into the kitchen by his messy hair and telling him to stay still a moment, and yes he's listening and he'd better go check on that batch of cookies and Sin pulls him back as Ja'far turns around and loops his arms around Ja'far while still babbling about his idea despite Ja'far's half-amused half-serious quips that he's busy, thank you, and mid-sentence Sin drops a kiss on that mess of pale hair and says I love you, you know and Ja'far's blushing but he replies I love you too.

It never fails to make their customers smile.

Contrary to what most people would assume, they don't always prepare their own meals. After all, no matter how much passion goes into their cooking, there are days when they just want to flop back and do nothing. So, on those days, they order takeout; Ja'far dislikes actually eating at other places, and Sinbad can't really say he minds because they usually end up curled together on the couch in their apartment above the shop, watching television with plates of food - usually Chinese, although every once in a while Ja'far will allow Sinbad to order pizza.

Ja'far has excellent snarky commentary.

Those days, they usually end up falling asleep on the couch together, plates scattered across the coffee table and remote fallen on the floor. Because, really, it's safe and warm and comfortable, and on drowsy nights like this neither one wants to move away from the other's arms.

The rule goes that Sin always, always has to put his hair in a ponytail when he's cooking. Ja'far has threatened to cut it, before, but Sin protests and uses his puppy dog eyes. He likes his hair long, thank you.

Even during those days when he wakes up and his hair is in a tangled mess and in his eyes and he has to get Ja'far to help, which usually takes a good deal of time to tame.

But it's okay, Sinbad thinks, especially since it makes Ja'far laugh like that.

Ja'far's favorite time of the day is the early morning. He gets up first, leaving Sin slumbering in bed - he's normally not a morning person by anyone's standards - then pads down to the kitchens, still in his nightclothes, to fix a cup of tea. Ja'far likes tea - no specific kind, either; he likes to try a wide variety. Sin rolls his eyes at this, but then he can't make fun of Ja'far because he usually goes out of his way to get Ja'far new things to try. Ja'far appreciates this, a lot.

So he's down in the kitchens, and as he's waiting for his tea, he gets things ready for the oncoming day. He pulls out pans and clears the dishwasher and makes sure all of the day's urgent orders are posted up on the cork board in the kitchen that denotes who tackles what. Or at least, that's the only thing it should list, but it also shows Sin's goofy ideas and a few photos and stickers and Ja'far's washed his hands of this a while ago because even if he removed them they'd eventually make their way back. The only thing Ja'far doesn't do right away is turn on the lights (save for one of the overhead stove lights) because by now the sun's about to rise, and it's light enough that Ja'far isn't going to stumble over anything.

As the sun finally peaks its head over the horizon, Ja'far sitting on the windowsill, cradling his mug between his hands (the one Sin got him that says "best most awesome cook ever" - the grammar makes him cringe, but hey, it was a gift) and watches the sunrise with a content expression.

But his favorite part?

At this time, as he's watching the sunrise -

Inevitably, as it clears the horizon, the warmth of Sin's arms are around him, and Sin's head is resting on his.

Ja'far doesn't need to see Sin's face to know that he's smiling.

After all, Ja'far is smiling too.

Ja'far likes, if and when he has any spare time, to paint. All the artwork hanging around their little shop is by him, and he's even been asked if he'd sell some of his paintings. Sin is very proud of Ja'far for this.

Mind, he's proud of Ja'far for a lot of reasons, and tells him so every day. Ja'far just rolls his eyes and tells Sin to watch what he's doing before he turns the mixer on and splatters dough all over the counter, because if he does Ja'far is not cleaning up that mess, and stop eating those chocolate chips because they're needed for the batch of brownies Ja'far was planning on making later. Sinbad just grins back. He knows that sarcasm is sometimes Ja'far's way of hiding embarrassment.

And he knows, without being told, Ja'far is proud of him, too.

Usually, if Sin's the only one doing customer service on any particular day, it's pretty easy for the regular customers to guess why. Sin's self-satisfied grin on these days says it all, really.

So, when the day comes that Ja'far is the only one out at the register, most people are surprised. Is he sick? Did Ja'far finally tie him to a chair for leaving dirty dishes in the sink overnight? No, Ja'far responds to all these questions, Sin's perfectly fine, he's just in the back cooking for today, I'll tell him you said hi, and do you want that slice of cheesecake for here or to go? People are understandably intrigued. Ja'far doesn't do the "smug smirk" that Sin's famous for, but there's an air of amusement about him nonetheless.

Finally, at the end of the day, one of the regulars - Sharrkan - finally lets his curiosity get the better of him. He'd been popping in and out of the shop all day, but he wasn't one known for patience.

So when he waltzes up to the counter, he bluntly asks if - put simply - they had gotten especially rowdy last night, and that's why Sin was demoted to kitchen boy.

Sharrkan is not known for his subtlety either.

Ja'far, predictably, flushes bright red and hides his face in his hands, to the amusement of the handful of other people in the store. Sin, on the other hand, heard Sharrkan - either Sharrkan was especially noisy or Sin had been lurking behind the door - and called back wouldn't you like to know?

Sharrkan, of course, says maybe I do and by now Ja'far's so flustered that his face is completely hidden and his ears are bright red. Sin, of course, is not one to back down from a challenge, and comes proudly out into the main room. And the onlookers, as one, perceive that Ja'far had probably made Sin work in the kitchen all day, and hide chuckles. Sharrkan is rolling on the floor laughing, and Sin leans over the counter to look at him with raised eyebrows.

Because there, right above where Sin's shirt meets his neck, is a - quite noticeable - bite mark.

A good number of their customers have little kids, and, without an exception, all these little kids are good friends of Sinbad. It's not uncommon for Sin to have a jar of cookies on the counter just for them, and he's even come out from the counter to host some quite serious imaginary tea parties. The sight of Sin seated on the floor surrounded by a swarm of children never ceases to amuse Ja'far. Had Sin not been a cook, he thinks, he would have made a good elementary school teacher.

They even have a little box over in the corner filled with toys and Lego's, although Ja'far secretly thinks the Lego's are there more for Sin's appreciation than the kids. He's stubbed his toe or stumbled across Sin's creations more than once in the dead of night, and he wonders if Sin is building an army of them to secretly infiltrate other bakeries and steal their top-secret recipes. It's a dumb idea but it's exactly the kind of thing Sin would find exciting.

It's more unusual for Ja'far to be on play duty, but there have been times when Sin's come out of the kitchens to find Ja'far reading fairy tales to an attentive group of kindergarteners. On one memorable occasion, Ja'far broke the lens of their camera because Sin was trying to sneak pictures of this and Ja'far flung the hardcover book at his face. The kids found this hilarious, fortunately.

Ja'far watches with a fond smile as Sin waves goodbye to a pair of little twins, with whom he'd just seriously been discussing that if Tron and Iron Man were a superhero team, they would undoubtedly be the best thing ever. Afterwards, Sin comes up behind Ja'far and loops his arms around his waist, pulling Ja'far's back flush against Sin's chest. From his expression, Ja'far knows he's reminiscing and thinking, and waits patiently for Sin to order his thoughts.

Hey, Ja'far?

Hmm?

Do you... Do you think that, one day... We'd have kids of our own?

Ja'far tilts his head back to look at the expression on Sin's face: wistful, curious, eyes in the middle distance. Yes, Ja'far says, and Sin's eyes snap to Ja'far's as a surprised wonder fills his face. One day... I think we would.

And a delighted Sinbad swings Ja'far around and carries him across the kitchen.

Really, Sin, you can listen to whatever music you want, Ja'far says, But if I hear you asking me to "Call me maybe" one more time...

Sin just laughs and pantomimes singing into a microphone.

Ja'far likes waking up early on rainy mornings. Likes the quiet warmth as he open his eyes, and the feel of Sin's arms wrapped protectively around him. The rain patters down on the roof above them, but they are safe and dry and warm and he presses a kiss to Sin's forehead before settling back to sleep.

Sin has some crazy ideas sometimes.

Ja'far thinks he should be used to this by know, but he's still a little speechless when he walks down to the kitchen to the sight of Sin dressed in bright red skinny jeans and shutter glasses, lounging against the counter with a smirk on his face.

... Sin, may I ask what you are doing? he finally asks with a sigh, padding over to where Sin is sitting. Ja'far has the distinct feeling he's being set up for a pun.

Well, when I got up, I had an idea that I should wear these glasses.

Why the glasses? And what about the pants?

I look good in these pants, that's why.

Really.

You can't deny it, Ja'far. Sin's wiggling his eyebrows, and Ja'far resists the urge to facepalm.

Whatever. Yes, you do... but why the glasses?

Even with these... I'm still dazzled by your beauty.

You're a sap, Sin.

Ja'far pads out to the counter where Sin is restocking cupcakes and tells him that he's going upstairs to rest a bit because he's had a headache for a while. Sin immediately agrees that's fine and tells Ja'far to get some rest. He blows him a kiss, too.

Sin's not prepared, though, for Ja'far to stroll over to him and stand on tiptoe to place a kiss on his cheek in full view of everyone else in the room. A few people "aww" and Pisti, over at a window table, is surprised Sin doesn't melt on the spot.

Of the two of them, Ja'far is the one more likely to catch colds, and he always tends to push himself too hard when he feels a cold coming on. Of course, working in a bakery means that the ill person cannot be cooking or handling the food, so Ja'far ends up cleaning and handling smaller chores until he is wobbling on his feet from exhaustion.

Sin will have been making objections up to this point, but when he sees Ja'far like this - sniffling and clutching at the counter - he immediately makes a beeline to his love and bodily picks him up, bridal style, ignoring Ja'far's protests and squirming. He carries Ja'far up the stairs and into their bedroom, pausing to snag an extra box of tissues from the bathroom, before dumping Ja'far (gently) onto the bed. If - or rather, when - Ja'far attempts to get up, Sin is there to push him back down and slide a pillow under his head with a gentle commentary of it's okay, Ja'far, you don't have to keep pushing yourself, please rest, I'm closing up shop and then I'll be right back, just lay still and rest because he knows that Ja'far hates being sick, being useless, and waits for Ja'far's embarrassed nod before pressing a kiss to his burning forehead despite a murmured I don't want you to get sick too because of me.

Then Sin goes back down and cleans up the kitchen, briefly, pushing dirty dishes to the sink and telling customers who are eating that he is closing shop and turning off the lights. As he does this, he brews Ja'far tea, and adds a lot of honey before carefully ascending the stairs, shouldering aside the bedroom door to throw a gentle smile in Ja'far's direction. At this point, Ja'far will still be in bed - he does listen to Sin on these occasions, but only to Sin and no one else - but he will have tossed the blankets aside and will be laying on his belly with his face tilted toward the nightstand. Sin places the cup on the nightstand before carefully moving himself onto the bed so that he can maneuver Ja'far into a sitting position so that he can drink the tea. Sin knows Ja'far's embarrassed to be this helpless, but he just rubs soothing concentric circles around Ja'far's back and whispers you take care of me, let me take care of you because the former is true and Ja'far trusts him enough - always, always - to let him do the latter.

When Ja'far's finished with his tea, Sin lets him lay back down and tells him I'll be right back before going into the bathroom and filling the tub with hot water, which forms steam that clouds the mirror above the sink. He draws a smiley face, then adds another and labels them Ja'far and Sinbad with a little heart before crossing the hallway, absentmindedly throwing off his shirt. Ja'far manages a chuckle at him as he walks in, and Sin sticks his tongue out before crossing the room and pulling Ja'far's shirt off too.

A few minutes later finds them in the bathroom, and Ja'far is relaxed and docile in Sin's arms. Normally Sin would be kissing Ja'far at this point, but he's content now, to hold his lover close and sit in the quiet warmth and safety of being with the one you know and trust and love above all else. They won't talk, but they won't need to, and Ja'far's eyelids will droop closed and Sin will pick him up and wrap a towel around them and carry him back to the bedroom and curl together, falling asleep to the gentle litany of I love you, always always always, and my place is right with you.

One morning Ja'far wakes up to find that the usual overpowering warmth of Sinbad isn't by his side. A quick glance at the doorway, however, is easily enough to deduce where Sin had disappeared to: he can see the faint glow in the hallway that means the kitchen lights are on. Ja'far twists around to see what time it is, then wonders why Sin is up so early. He usually never gets up before seven o'clock, at least.

Curious, Ja'far gets up and pads down the stairs, stretching his arms above his head as he moves. He slept funny last night and his arm aches, but he forgets about that and his cold feet and the early time when he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

Sinbad is standing at the center counter with his back turned. Piled around him are dishes and ingredients and sprinkles and icing, and Sin is bent over, intent on his work. Ja'far moves quietly, not wanting to disturb him, and feels his breath catch as he views what Sin was concentrated on. It is a cake - a two tier one - but it is the precision that went into the decorating that gives Ja'far pause. Fanciful swirls and arcs and delicately iced feathers, all blending into a beautiful work of art. Ja'far's always been impressed with Sin's talent at designing, but this takes the cake - literally and metaphorically.

Sin pauses to lean back and yawn, stretching, and Ja'far takes the opportunity to move closer to his side. What's this? he asks, curious, settling a hand delicately on the counter. Sin, to his slight surprise, doesn't jump or show any sort of shock at Ja'far's appearance. Maybe he hadn't been as quiet as he'd thought.

Something special, replies Sin, carefully setting down the icing tool he'd been holding and wrapping an arm around Ja'far. That's an understatement, if he'd been up early to lavish this much attention on his work, but Ja'far doesn't say so.

How did you get up without waking me? he asks instead, leaning forward to examine the cake more closely. This isn't a strange question - Ja'far's always been the lighter sleeper. Sinbad could probably sleep though a rock concert if he wanted to.

Sin just shrugs. You must've just been tired.

Hmm. Ja'far finally looks back up at Sin, meeting those sleepy golden eyes. So what's it for? I don't remember any special orders.

You don't remember it because it's not a special order. Sin puts out his hand, letting it hover over the elaborate flower whirled at the top. Ja'far raises his eyebrows.

It's not?

Nope.

Then what is it for? Ja'far bumps his head against Sin, trying to prompt him to stop skipping around the subject and just tell him already. He looks up and blinks as he sees Sinbad smiling fondly at him.

Did you forget what day it is, Ja'far?

Concealing an impatient huff, Ja'far refocuses on the cake. Um.. It's the twenty-third. He pauses. ...The twenty-third of March.

Sin turns so that he can wrap both of his arms around Ja'far. And so it is. And do you know why the twenty-third of March is special, Ja'far?

Ja'far does know, and by now, he's remembered. An embarrassed happy blush dusts his cheeks red. Yeah. I do.

And what is it?

... It's a very important date.

It is, and so I had to do something nice for it. Sin removes his hand to rub at his head sheepishly. And why is it important?

You know why.

Ah, but I wanna hear you say it.

It's important because... today marks the date we realized something. Something special, something life-altering - in a good way. Ja'far's hands raise to tug at Sin's long purple hair. You... you said you were in love with me. And I... I realized I had fallen for you too. That I had fallen for this dorky, goofy, clumsy, kind, strong, handsome, beautiful, wonderful person, and that I wouldn't have things any other way. Ja'far glances away, embarrassed.

Sinbad gently pulls free to take Ja'far's hands in one of his, prompting Ja'far to look back. So we did. And I realized what I wanted from life, and I've been happy ever since. And I... Sin pauses, and his free hand is rifling through his pocket. Ja'far tilts his head at him, wondering at the blush that is staining the tips of Sin's ears red - Sin is hardly the kind of person to be embarrassed easily. Then his breath catches and his eyes widen as Sin kneels before him, pressing a kiss to the hands still trapped within his larger one. I've been wanting to ask this, for a while, but... Sin brings his other hand up to turn Ja'far's palms upward, and places something in his hands... a ring. A simple delicate golden band with a single stone in the center. Marry me? Stay by my side, my Ja'far?

And Ja'far, blinking away tears of happiness and wonder, replies, Always.

END

Dedicated to my wonderful girlfriend - this story is for you, love.