Chapter Text
To say that Youhei is ready for the date is an understatement, he's going to explode. Sure he prepared his outfit and prepared things like money (some saved and through…other means), what's getting him is that this is a date with Sakuragi. He still can't believe this is real or fake or whatever and that Sakuragi easily accepted it. Youhei checks his hair one last time, it's all in place. His outfit, as chosen by Sakuragi, is in order too.
“I don't know if I'm going to survive this,” Youhei says, as he exits his room. Sakuragi had left earlier to go to the first location, a cafe. Said it was for an authentic experience and Youhei went along with it.
“You’ll be fine,” Mokoto says as soon as Youhei enters the living room. “Acting normal can't be that hard.”
“Easy for you to say, this is nerve wracking,” Youhei says. “And technically this is a first date for me too.”
“Hanamichi was more enthusiastic than you,” Mokoto comments. “Look, don't overthink it, just have fun.”
With a sigh of defeat Youhei mumbles his goodbye and leaves the house. It's a nice day out - there's a few scattered clouds and the breeze is nice. He walks down the sidewalk passing by a few people along the way. The cafe that Youhei decided on isn't too far, so he figured it would make for a good first spot. He crosses the street heading into the commercial area.
After some more walking, Youhei ends up at the cafe, 2+2=5 . A rather strange name for an establishment, but it doesn't look sketchy at least. Inside it's decorated in cute pastel colors and the chairs are shaped like cupcakes. Youhei can't say he expected it to be this cute, but it’s charming. He see's Sakuragi sitting at a corner table menu in front of him.
“Anything look good?” Youhei asks while he sits down. Sakuragi's dressed in the outfit he picked out with an added brown overcoat. His hair is done in its usual pompadour. He looks as cute as ever.
“It's kind of expensive,” Sakuragi says. “The cheapest thing is a small sundae.” Picking up the menu Youhei confirms that everything is a bit pricey. He goes down the row of items until he lands on the specials. In a sense of irony there's a couples special, two large sundaes with toppings of your choice, and milkshakes for the price of 6000 yen. It's certainly not the cheapest thing, but Youhei has the money for it.
“Why don't we get the couples special?” Youhei asks. “Since this is supposed to be technically speaking a date.”
“But that's expensive too.”
“Don't worry about it Sakuragi, I can take care of the cost,” Youhei says, putting down the menu. He takes out his wallet and hands Sakuragi the allotted money. “It’s for you after all.”
Sakuragi doesn't say anything, he nods in response and gets up to go place their order. While he's doing that Youhei takes a better look around the cafe. There's various neon bright paintings of cute foods hanging on the walls. The color of the establishment is pink, not neon pink but still pink. Different sparkly ornaments and other trinkets litter the walls and tables. It almost feels like an art installation and not a cafe. Youhei almost doesn't see Sakuragi come back until there's a large neon pink frosting with glitter cupcake placed in front of him.
“Uh…how do I explain this…” Sakuragi says as he sits back down. His face is red Youhei notes. “The cashier said my boyfriend is very cute, so we got these cupcakes for free.” Youhei nearly falls out of his chair. It was to be expected something like would happen. How does he even respond to this? He can't show any glee at being “mistaken” for Sakuragi's boyfriend, so fuck him then.
“At least it's working?” Youhei says awkwardly. “Though we did get the couples special…so…”
“It's a little embarrassing…since we're not really you know…”
“You can stop there,” Youhei doesn't need to be reminded that none of this is real. “Let's just enjoy ourselves okay?”
They fall into casual conversation, talking about school and what the gang has been up to. Karaoke night apparently went well with no reptiles involved, but they broke one of the machines, so they have to pay for a new one. Youhei leaves out certain details like Senjougahara talking to him and instead talks about how boring his classes are. It's not much, but Sakuragi responds in jest. He talks about wanting to try some new recipes, and that Youhei will taste test for him. Of course Youhei will taste whatever food Sakuragi makes.
Soon their order arrives and it's larger than Youhei expected. The ice cream is covered in toppings, sprinkles, cereal, nuts, and chocolate drizzle. He looks at Sakuragi's and the ice cream can’t even be seen with the mountain of toppings. Youhei doesn't bother trying to guess what he picked.
“I might've gone a bit overboard,” Sakuragi says sheepishly.
“As long as you don't get sick, it's fine.”
The sundae is sickeningly sweet, but it's good. Maybe not worth 6000 yen, but it's still tasty and Youhei is happy he at least tried it. In front of him Sakuragi is very much enjoying the sugary concoction. He's happily taking big bites, getting ice cream and toppings on the side of his face. There's a big smile on his face too. Ah how Youhei would love to kiss that smile. It would taste oh so very sweet from the ice cream, and maybe even cold yet somehow warm. The softness of Sakuragi's lips against Youhei as he kisses them red until they both can't breathe.
If only Youhei wasn't such a coward, then maybe he could fulfill his delusions. He's so lost that he doesn't even notice he stopped eating his sundae, it's starting to melt.
“Everything good Youhei?” Sakuragi asks with a mouthful of sundae. His smile falters a little.
“Ah yeah, I’m fine,” Youhei says, he’s not. “As long as you're happy everything is alright.”
After they finished at the cafe, in which the staff gave them even more cupcakes for being a cute couple, Youhei felt like he was going to perish. They walk down the sidewalk with the sweets in hand. The next place Youhei and Sakuragi decided on was a fashion store. If not to look around, maybe they can find something to buy.
“I heard this place has a lot of nice floral apparel,” Youhei says when they arrive at Realign, these places have such interesting names.
“Then we better hope nothing is too expensive,” Sakuragi says, as he enters the store and Youhei follows. “I’d hate to blow our budget.”
“I told you not to worry about that,” Youhei says, the store isn't too big, but it appears to have a lot of quality designs. There's a table with shirts of what looks like an anime collaboration, and a couple of racks with regular clothes.
“Sure you have enough for…a 10,000 yen shirt,” Sakuragi holds up the shirt, it's pastel pink with a lilac pattern.
“I do,” Youhei says.ne of the guys he had a very friendly conversation with paid him a good amount. “That particular color on you though I don't know…”
Sakuragi rolls his eyes, he knows how Youhei gets a lot of his money. The shirt is put back and they go about wandering around the store. Youhei immediately finds a rack of floral apparel and gets to work on sifting through the clothes. Each shirt is actually not that bad, different colors and patterns that all work. It’ll make it tough to decide on something. After passing a blue shirt, Youhei lands on a maroon one, its short sleeves with cherry blossoms adoring it. He takes it off the rack and searches around for Sakuragi, he’s looking at pants.
“Try this on,” Youhei says as he walks over. “It's a better color in my opinion.”
“Alright, I’ll try these pants too.”
Sakuragi heads to the changing room and Youhei follows after him. He looks around the racks nearby while Sakuragi gets changed. There's more floral shirts and some collaborations for bands Youhei is familiar with. He's picking up a light blue shirt when the door to the dressing room creaks open.
“Um…Youhei? Can you come here?” Sakuragi sounds embarrassed.
“Is something wrong?” Youhei asks. “Are the clothes itchy?”
“I wish, the pants are…too small,” Sakuragi's face is red. “Couldn't get them past my butt at all.”
Youhei says nothing as he takes the pants out of Sakuragi's hands. He's very familiar with Sakuragi having too much cake as they say. Somehow Sakuragi ended up with a big butt that would make most girls seethe in jealousy. Not that Youhei has looked at it or anything, no why would he do that. Anyways, Youhei exchanges out the pants then walks back to Sakuragi.
“Let me know if these ones fit,” Youhei says as he hands the pants over. The door shuts again and a few seconds later a sound of triumph is heard.
“These fit so much better,” Sakuragi says as he exits the dressing room. “So, what do you think?”
“You look nice,” Youhei chokes out. The shirt hugs in all the right places that Youhei would rather not think too hard on, and the pants are a simple black yet nice. “This color works better on you.”
“If I say I like it you're just going to buy it aren't you?” Sakuragi asks. “Even if I protest about how much it is.”
Youhei can't protest, he's been caught. Earlier he saw the prices and it amounts to 15000 yen all together. In general money hasn't been too much of an issue for him, but he knows it is for Sakuragi. Not in a bad way, but more like spending a lot makes him nervous.
“You caught me, whatever will I do?”
“I’ll just ignore how much this costs,” Sakuragi says as he goes back into the changing room. “Should get yourself something too.”
They leave the store with bags in their hands. Youhei got himself a shirt too, white with blue daisies. Rather simple, but it caught his eyes. Meanwhile Sakuragi got the shirt, pants, and as an extra a plain simple red shirt for no extra cost. The store owner told them it was a gesture of being a cute couple. If only that were actually true and this wasn't all just a jebait. They walk a bit then come to rest at a park bench.
“We still have the amusement park to visit,” Youhei says as he sits his bags down. “Or you can pick something else if that's too much.”
“I haven't been to the amusement park in a long time,” Sakuragi says. “As long as we don't spend too much.”
“Alright, just for you I won't spend too much.” Honestly Youhei enjoys spoiling Sakuragi, but if he doesn't want that then he'll comply. The amusement park hopefully won't be too much, but if it is then a backup plan might be needed.
After a bit more rest they leave the park. Walking and chatting about what to get for lunch, if they should stop somewhere or get something at the amusement park. Sakuragi made the point that the park might be more expensive, so they agreed to stop somewhere else.
“I know where we can go,” Sakuragi chimes in. “The ramen place!”
"Okay, but don't blame me if Musashi-san chews you out again,” Youhei says as they turn on the appropriate street heading to the ramen place. “Or worse he’ll hit you with his wooden sword.”
“We aren't even ditching this time, he can't do anything,” Sakuragi says.
“Perhaps you're right.”
They chatter and walk some more until they arrive at the ramen shop, Joywave Ramen. A rather ironic name in Youhei’s opinion considering the owner is a bit on the rough side. He remembers the first time they came and Musashi hit them all with his wooden sword, zero expression on his face and scolded them for ditching class. If the food wasn't good then the place probably would've gone out of business.
As soon as they enter the shop the smell of delicious ramen fills Youhei's nose. The place isn't too big making it a rather cozy spot. Like a hawk their noise is heard because Musashi walks out from the kitchen. As always his wild hair is up in a messy bun, sticking out everywhere, and his robe a faded blue. Why he wears that to work Youhei will never know.
“You stupid punks aren't ditching again are you?” Musashi waves his wooden sword around. “Because if you are…”
“Be nice to them Musashi!” Otsu, one of the employees and friend of Musashi, says. “They aren't even in uniform, so clearly they aren't ditching.”
“You don't know that! They always come after causing trouble!”
“I can assure you we aren't ditching school,” Youhei says.
It took some explaining that they had the day off which Musashi appeared to believe well enough. They place their orders and find a seat at a table. Otsu follows them wanting to catch up on what they've been up to. Sakuragi is delighted as he explains many of their adventures in great detail. One being a fairly recent incident involving some delinquents at a basketball club. Youhei remembers it well, Noma came rushing in explaining he had messed up. He accidentally bumped into some guys and they got mad. Rather absurd, but the gang went and dealt with it anyway. Youhei doesn't want to see a single basketball for a while.
“I should hit you both for how silly that story was,” Musashi walks out with two steaming ramen bowls in hand. “You were challenged to a game and the losers had to be hit with the balls? What kind of nonsense is that!?”
“At least we didn't lose!” Sakuragi exclaims.
“We did though,” Youhei says, he eyes the bowel of ramen, it smells amazing. “Our dodgeball skills failed us at that moment.”
They fall into conversation after that while enjoying their lunch. The shop hasn't changed much though Musashi is thinking of getting another person. Otsu then proceeds to tease him about hiring his best friend, who she jokes he’s in love with. If Youhei could disappear he’d do it right now because that hit too close to home for him. Almost like Otsu knows, which sadly she does.
After a while Sakuragi gets up saying he needs to use the restroom. Leaving Youhei behind with Musashi and Otsu. He doesn't even get to say anything before they're onto him.
“You finally asked him out did you?” Musashi smirks. “About damn time you did.”
“What!? No I didn't!” Youhei’s face turns red and Otsu is giggling.
“Are you sure about that?” Otsu asks. “This doesn't look like a normal friend outing.”
Otsu really is too sharp, same with Musashi. Youhei didn't even say anything and they already figured out this is a ‘date’. Before he can make up some poor excuses Sakuragi walks back in, saving Youhei from further embarrassment.
“Hey, Musashi, can I talk to you for a second?” Sakuragi asks.
“Hm. Alright, I need a break anyways. Follow me.”
Once they leave, the only ones left are Youhei and Otsu. It's not unusual for him to chat with her alone, it happens on occasion. She's a nice girl even if she teases Youhei relentlessly.
“You aren't suitable at all.”
“Ugh leave me alone,” Youhei groans. “It's too early for this.”
“Fine,” Otsu says. “Next time you two come and are in the same place I’ll have Musashi hit you both.”
With that Otsu leaves back into the kitchen. Youhei lets out a deep sigh. He really doesn't know what he's going to do.
After lunch and an extra scolding from Musashi, they leave the restaurant. Youhei is glad to be out of there, he would've exploded from all the tension. At least the walk to the amusement park will clear his mind surely.
“I can't believe Musashi hit me,” Sakuragi complains. “Bastard.”
“What did you say to him?” Youhei asks, they turn a corner. “Please don't tell me you made fun of him for his sad love life.”
In a very rare instance Sakuragi doesn't answer. He grunts in response and continues walking. Youhei is slightly confused, it's not often he doesn't get a response from Sakuragi. One of the few times this happened was during rejection number 25. To this day Youhei still doesn't know any of the details of what occurred. Sakuragi refused to tell him no matter how much he persisted. Whatever him and Musashi talked about is perhaps another one of these instances. If Youhei ever learns the details it'll be a very long time from now.
“It doesn't matter,” Sakuragi says, the expected answer. “Let's just focus on getting to the amusement park.”
They walk the rest of the way in silence and soon they arrive at the amusement park. It's not too crowded at the moment, so they're able to pay for their tickets without waiting. The park is situated in a giant circle, with all the rides surrounding the inside with games and the concession stands.
“Where to first?” Youhei asks. “Ferris wheel, the rollercoaster, or the swings?”
“Let's save the Ferris wheel for last,” Sakuragi says. “We start with the rollercoaster!”
After a tumultuous adventure on most of the rides (the zipper ride was Youhei's least favorite). They head to the concession stands for both games and some food. Sakuragi plops down on a nearby bench leaving Youhei to stand at the concession line. Somehow he managed to survive most of their adventure not like the laughs and cheery smiles made Youhei's heart leap a thousand feet into the air or anything. He's perfectly fine, thank you. Not once did he imagine himself leaning over and kissing Sakuragi’s cheek just to feel his smile. Youhei shakes his head, but the thought persists. He orders some food then waits for a bit before walking back with the warm snacks in hand.
“They had these tortoise shaped cups,” Youhei says when he gets back. “It's filled with cherry limeade.”
“I did not see a single tortoise though,” Sakuragi takes his snacks, he sips on the drink. “Doesn't the zoo have some?”
“It's a little late for the zoo, maybe we should've planned for that too.”
After eating their hot dogs and nachos, plus a promise to visit the zoo. They make their way to the Ferris wheel. Again the line isn't long so they get into their seats that aren't exactly built for tall people. Youhei wondered why the ride operator looked very perplexed if not a little worried. Anyways, Youhei looks anywhere that isn't directly at Sakuragi. Something about a Ferris wheel makes this more awkward than it should be. The sun is setting, casting shimmers of light along the river bank.
“Thanks for today Youhei,” Sakuragi says. “I had a lot of fun even if I forgot what the original purpose of this was.”
“Was I that bad of a date?” Youhei tries to lighten the mood some.
“Considering my idea of a date was watching a movie in a snuggie I’d say you did great.”
“How is that a bad date idea?” To Youhei that sounds like a very good time.
“For a first date,” Sakuragi says. “It's a bad idea.”
“Whatever you say man.”
They argue for the remainder of the ride completely ruining the mood. By the time they get off it's already sundown, the ride operator raises an eyebrow at them on the way out. Youhei imagines they’ve seen worse than this silly argument, but likely finds it amusing.
Once they finally leave the park the argument has ceased and they're walking in silence. That is until Sakuragi spits a photo booth near the entrance.
“We should take some commemorative pictures!” Sakuragi cheerfully says. “That's what real couples do right?” Talk about a knife to the heart.
“It's not even at the…nevermind,” Youhei says. “Can you even fit in there?”
“I can make it work…maybe.”
It takes a lot of maneuvering and plenty of expletives before they squeeze themselves into the tiny booth. Sakuragi is very much squished into the corner, his arms glued to his sides and legs raised along the wall. It looks highly uncomfortable, but Youhei isn't doing much better. He's of course squished right up to Sakuragi’s side, but at least he can move his arms. Sometimes being short has its perks.
Youhei puts some money in, selects some options not really caring what they are, and confirms the selection. They make some silly faces to start off, then they poke each other in the face, and fake some punches. He glances at the machine between takes, it has one picture left.
If there was ever a time where time played a cruel joke it was now. Youhei doesn't register what’s happening until he feels a very soft and warm mouth on his. The machine camera goes off capturing the surprise on Youhei's face. There's a printing noise, but he ignores it, to focus on the fact that he's kissing Sakuragi in a photo booth of all places. Wait…oh no…
Youhei's brain catches up to him and being completely stupid and irresponsible he pushes Sakuragi away.
He runs out of the photo booth and away from the amusement park. Hand on his burning mouth.