ds_flashfiction | For the Dating Challenge by Shayheyred

Possibly the shortest story, save a drabble, I've ever written. Also the first DS flashfic I've done in some time. Go figure.

August 18

…is their anniversary.

Not the one when they said "I do," but the one when they finally said "I don't."

Ray celebrates the date by getting laid-out-blotto-drunk at whichever bar he's chosen for that particular year. It's always a different bar, always well away from his apartment or the station, because he doesn't want pitying or disgusted looks from any bartender who might remember a hollow-eyed aging punk who rambles on about what might have been, before vomiting onto the sawdust floor and taking a header off the bar stool.

This year will be the fifth anniversary of that anniversary.

Happy fucking anniversary, Stella.

September 10

…is his birthday.

Not Raymond Anthony Vecchio's birthday or even Langoustini's, but rather the day he was reborn as the Bookman. As a natal day it's actually far more like Halloween, what with the on-going disguise and bags of nose candy the Bookman keeps around. But then every day is Halloween in Vegas. Nothing's real here. Everybody wears a mask.

Ray just wonders if he'll be able to take his off when it's over.

July 1

…is the date they reached the end of their quest and looked northward over the ocean.

…is the date Benton turned to his right and stopped in the middle of a sentence.

…is the date he saw the sun rise behind Ray Kowalski.

…is the date Benton declared independence from his past.

August 18

…is their anniversary.

They celebrate with pemmican pizza, and some good Canadian beer ("All Canadian beer is good, Ray"), and read the annual "We don't get it, but happy anniversary anyway" card from Stella and the Style Pig.

And then they say "I do" all over again.