Archive of Our Own

Ash is the type of person that likes to sleep in late. The weekends are a blessing to him, allowing a few extra hours of rest. Plus - what's there not to love? Unconscious, an empty head, and sleep next to the love of his life - it surely can't get any better than that. The only part he hates is waking up. It's a long, slow process, and usually takes a cup of coffee until he's anywhere near alive. 

Eiji knows all this - he's slept next to Ash, opened the blinds every morning, and made those cups of coffee. On weekends, he doesn't so much as enter their room until near-midday. It's their routine they've had for years, steady and familiar.

So then why the hell is Eiji shaking him awake on a Saturday morning?

Ash groans, halfheartedly pushing away Eiji's hands. It's peaceful for a few moments, and he sighs contentedly - until there's a gust of cold air as Eiji snatches the blanket away. 

"Get up, you lazy lump!" He exclaims. "The alarm rung an hour ago and I've had time to have a shower, get dressed and ready! What have you done? Nothing!"

Alarm? Ash doesn't remember hearing an alarm. He forces his eyes open and is greeted with the sight of a very disgruntled Eiji, hands on hips. His nose is wrinkled in the way it so often is when he catches Ash doing something he shouldn't.

Like having a bowl of cereal at midnight.

Or using a shopping trolley to bump into Eiji every time he stops walking.

The sight of it always makes him smile, and today's no exception.

"Oh- is this funny to you?" 

Seeing Eiji getting increasingly more annoyed doesn't do anything to wipe the stupid grin off of his face.

"Yep."

"Really? Well, it won't be funny when I make you stay at home and eat natto instead!" Eiji crosses his arms, a triumphant look on his face.

"Wait- stay at home?" Ash rubs the sleep from his eyes. "Where are we going?"

"Ash! Did you really forget? An IQ like yours and yet you can't remember something I told you last week?" He raises his eyebrows. "Max's?"

"Oh." Now a little more awake, he's able to recall the conversation they'd had a few days ago. "Yeah."

"Good! Now get ready, we still need to bake the cake before we go." Eiji leans forward, quickly pressing a kiss against his forehead. "Lazy man. Your coffee's waiting in the kitchen. I love you."

Ash responds in kind as Eiji leaves the room.

Once he's dressed, he heads to the kitchen. Ingredients litter every available surface, with Eiji in the middle, poring over a thick book. Somehow, Ash finds his coffee buried amongst various types of flour. Sipping on the drink, he watches Eiji's furrowed brows and the hand resting on his face as he flicks through the pages. Ash sets the empty mug down in favour of wrapping his arms around Eiji's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. 

"Good morning," Eiji says, headbutting Ash gently.

"What're you doing?" 

"I'm trying to find a good recipe. What do you think they'd like?" Eiji pauses, flicking to the index page. "Hm... Chocolate? Vanilla? Is vanilla too plain? Oh! We could try that orange upside-down cake! But what if it ends badly...? Then we'd have nothing to bring!"

"I don't see why we can't just buy a cake." 

Eiji wrinkles his nose. "Because! That's like giving someone money as a gift! There's no thought behind it!"

"There's nothing wrong with money as a birthday present. I'll stand with that until the day I die."

"Of course you will! Because you're rude!" Despite his words, Eiji turns around to press a small kiss on the corner of Ash's mouth. "Rude man."

"So first I'm a lazy man, now I'm a rude man?" Ash grins. "Surely I can't be both?"

"You most definitely are." Eiji wraps his arms around Ash's neck, pulling him in closer. "But you're my lazy, rude man."

"Hm." Ash gives a soft laugh, pressing their foreheads together. "How romantic."

Eiji laughs too, giving Ash another kiss before untangling himself and picking the book back up.

"Hm... the banana bread looks a little plain, don't you think? Wait - why is there bread in the cake section?"

"Beats me." Ash shrugs. "Just choose the one with the least instructions." That meant it had to be the easiest to make, right?

"That would be..." Eiji quickly flips through the pages until he lands on a recipe titled 'Victoria Sponge'. "...This page."

Ash scans the words - there aren't too many ingredients, and the steps look fairly simple.

"Looks good to me."

"Okay, let's get started." Eiji rolls up his sleeves, before pointing in a vague direction. "Fetch me the butter, please."

Ash rushes around the kitchen, collecting all the ingredients they need and putting away the rest, leaving them with a clear workspace. 

"'Step 1. Heat the oven to-' Wait, I've already done that." Eiji rests his finger on the page as he reads. "'Grease and flour two twenty-centimetre sandwich tins.' What does that mean?"

Ash shrugs. "No idea. Aren't you supposed to be the cook in this household?"

"Cooking and baking are two very different things!" Eiji protests. "Sandwich tins... I thought we were making a cake, not sandwiches...!"

"Well, I'm sure whatever tins we have are fine." Ash bends down, opening the cupboard. A stack of tins, remarkably similar in shape and size, greet him. The label still binds them together, despite having received them years ago. He places them onto the counter. "Have we even used these before?"

"No - but we're going to now!" Eiji picks up the tins, examining them closely. "Which one is twenty centimetres...?"

"No clue. I think we have a measuring tape, though." Ash grabs it out of the draw. To Eiji's dismay, none of the tins are the right size - either too big or too small.

"We don't have enough time to buy a new one..." Eiji frowns, sighing. "If we choose the bigger ones they might end up thin and dry, but if we choose the smaller ones they could overflow... What do you think?"

"The smaller ones mean there's less chance of them coming out like shit?" Ash shrugs. "I mean, we could always set some batter aside, but there's no point wasting ingredients to make them fit bigger tins."

"Hm... you're right." Eiji moves his finger down to the next step. "'Step 2 - Place the butter, caster sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl.' Oh- we need to measure the ingredients!"

Eiji weighs out the ingredients needed before handing the right amount of butter over to Ash, who takes a knife out of the drawer. He holds the butter in his hand as he cuts slices into it.

"What are you doing!?" Eiji exclaims, grabbing a chopping board from above. "What kind of- why are you cutting into your hand? Not only is that unhygienic, but it's also dangerous! We have tools for this!"

"But-"

"No! I won't hear it!" Eiji leads his hands down to the board. "This is why I'm the one the cooks."

"Hey! I cook on Sundays!"

Eiji fixes him with a withering stare. "On Sundays, you buy a pre-made pizza base, scatter cheese all over it, then put it in the oven."

"Yeah? You like it, though." Ash smirks, and Eiji's annoyed facade falls away to reveal a bright smile.

"Absolutely! It's very nice of you." He frowns again. "But it does not make you a cook, and certainly doesn't mean you should chop butter like that."

"Well, I've already done it, so-" He goes to pick up the butter with his hands, but Eiji's scowl makes him scrape it into the bowl with a knife instead. 

"Okay, now we have to 'beat well into a creamy consistency.'" Eiji pauses, re-reading the recipe before looking up at Ash in confusion. "...Beat?"

"Like, punch it?" It sounds idiotic, but what the hell else could it mean? "Maybe it's a synonym for mix?"

"It could be." Eiji screws up his mouth, furrowing his eyebrows. "But what if it isn't?"

"Look it up."

"Why don't you, lazy man?" Eiji challenges.

"I've got butter all over my fingers." Ash wiggles his hands in Eiji's face, making him squeal. 

"Fine! I'll do it! Just keep your greasy hands away from me!" He pulls out his phone, gnawing his lip as he silently reads. After a minute or so, he looks up to where Ash is rinsing his hands. "Okay, I know this technique! It has a strange name in English, though. We need a-" He falls silent, making a spinning motion with his hand. 

"A what?" 

"Ah, what is it called...?" Eiji mumbles something in Japanese, before resuming the spinning motion, more aggressively this time. "A.. thing!"

"Not helpful."

"It's metal, and round, and has lots of long things!"

Ash tries to fight the smile growing on his face, to no avail. "The hell are you on about?"

Eiji groans, rummaging through a drawer until he pulls out said round, metal and long thing. He thrusts it in Ash's face. "This!"

"...A whisk?"

"A whisk!" Eiji repeats, beaming. "We need to use a whisk to beat the ingredients."

"How?" Ash leans in closer as he watches Eiji pick up the bowl.

"You mix it quickly, in small circles." He whisks in small, concise movements. "Like this."

Ash watches in mild fascination as the mixture gradually becomes smoother. After a few minutes, Eiji sighs, placing the whisk down and shaking his arm.

"It hurts." He pushes the bowl towards Ash. "Your turn!"

Taking the whisk, Ash pauses. He tries to replicate how Eiji had held it, but it feels strange in his grip. Hesitantly, he starts mixing. Eiji moves closer, leaning over his shoulder.

"You need to go faster!" He instructs. "Not that fast- It'll spill everywhere! And make smaller circles- Ash! Now you're just being ridiculous!"

Ash, who's resigned himself to spinning the whisk on the spot, grins. "I'm so sorry. I guess this lazy, rude man isn't very good at cooking."

"It's baking!" Eiji exclaims, wrinkling his nose. "Here - I'll make you do it myself, since you don't want to listen!"

Taking his place behind Ash, Eiji wraps his arms around his, both of their hands on the whisk. He rests his head on Ash's shoulder.

"Bet you're standing on tiptoes back there," Ash murmurs. The response he receives is a light headbutt.

"Here - you need to be constantly moving your arm," Eiji explains, beating the mixture with a practised hand. Ash replicates the motion, trying to recreate the specific feeling it had.

"Better!" Eiji exclaims, smiling. He steps back, grabbing some eggs from the counter. "Keep going! I'll crack these."

Eiji wasn't exaggerating, Ash finds - beating hurts like a bitch, especially in his forearm. He grits his teeth and keeps on pushing.

"Is it done, yet?" He whines. Eiji looks over his shoulder then smiles.

"Yes, that looks creamy!" He pauses, looking between Ash and the bowl. "...I think?"

"Should I open the cream so we can compare?" He suggests, shrugging. 

"No, there's no need for that. It should do." Turning his attention back to the book, Eiji reads the next step. "'Slowly beat in four eggs, one by one."

Ash pulls a face at the mention of beating. "Can you do the mixing? My arm hurts."

"So do mine!" Eiji rests his hands on his hips. "And I'm sure I mixed for longer."

"You're a former pole-vaulter." Ash flexes an arm, patting the muscle. "Strong arms. You can use them for longer."

"Well- that was a long time ago!"

"And so was your turn with the whisk." Ash picks up a cup, holding the first cracked egg. "Get beating, flyboy."

Eiji picks up the whisk, grumbling. (The smile pulling at the corner of his mouth is unmissable, though.) He starts mixing, and signals for Ash to pour the first egg. He gets about halfway through before Eiji promptly stops, pushing his hand back.

"Slowly, Ash, I said slowly!"

"What? That was slowly!"

"I have eyes!" Eiji crosses his arms, scrunching his nose. "I can see that you're pouring it too fast! Please be careful."

"Fine." Ash slows the stream of egg into almost a trickle as Eiji keeps mixing. They continue with the rest of the eggs with no further incident.

"Well done! You managed to listen to me, for once!" Eiji beams at Ash, who returns the gift with a dazzling smile of his own. He's too caught up in the beauty of Eiji's smile to be offended at the backhanded compliment. "Now - it says we need to 'fold in the self-raising flour and mix well.'" Eiji narrows his eyes at the page.

"Damn these stupid English terms," He mutters. 

"Uh, language."

Eiji sticks his tongue out in response. "Can you measure two hundred grams of flour while I find out what beating is, please?"

Ash does as told. Taking the bag of flour and the scale, he rests the bowl of batter on top. He tilts the bag. A puff of white emerges. Frowning, he gives it a shake. Half the contents come spilling out. 

"Ah, shit," He whispers. Eiji, who's absorbed in whatever intricate technique folding is, doesn't notice. He'll know when he looks up, though - the counter looks like it's been hit by a sizeable snowstorm. Quickly, he scrapes the flour back into the bag. Some of it falls onto the floor, and there are suspicious white trails still on the counter, but it's less of a mess. Ash brings his attention back to the scale. It reads five hundred or so grams. He's not sure he'll be able to get the flour back in the bag completely untouched by the batter.

It goes better than Ash expected - when Eiji turns to him with the correct definition of folding, the bowl contains the correct amount of flour, and the contents of the bag are only a little lumpy.

"Good job!" Eiji takes a wooden spoon from the drawer and sticks it into the mixture. "This one is fairly easy - folding is a process in which you bring the spoon around the bowl-" He brings the spoon in a circle. "-then fold the mixture collected on top." He repeats the action several more times, faster than before. "Do you understand?" 

"Yeah." Ash grins. "Has anyone told you you'd make a good teacher?"

"You have, Ash." Amusement pulls at the corner of Eiji's lips. "Many times."

"Hm. I'll say it again." Ash slings an arm around Eiji's shoulder, pressing his face against his shoulder. "You'd make a good teacher - and you're not gonna say otherwise, this time."

 Eiji's response is simply to lightly punch Ash - not that he blames him. It's hard to talk when your face is pressed against your fiance's chest. He lets go, chuckling at Eiji's flushed face and screwed up nose.

"I'm not a teacher!" He protests. 

"Why do you act like it's a bad thing? It's not." Ash grins. "I like it, at least."

"You're strange."

"No, I just love you."

"I love you, too." Eiji's face relaxes, stretching into a warm smile. "But you are strange. And distracting." He pushes the bowl towards Ash. "Your punishment is folding!"

Ash copies the movement as best as he can - it's a lot easier than beating, and needs almost no intervention from Eiji. 

"Okay! Now we just need to separate the mixture between the tins," Eiji instructs. "Here - since you already have the bowl, I'll hold the tins still while you pour."

"I thought we'd already learnt that I shouldn't be trusted with pouring." Sure, Eiji hadn't seen the flour, but he'd seen the way he'd handled the egg.

"Well, you always learn other skills incredibly quickly - how hard can it be to master pouring?" He nudges the tins towards Ash, who hesitantly tilts the bowl. The mixture slowly pours out, and Eiji uses the spoon to scrape the remains out. Overall, it's a pretty successful attempt - less than half of the batter ended up splattered across the counter.

"Okay! Now it needs to bake for..." Eiji double-checks the recipe. "...twenty minutes." He sets a timer on his phone.

"Well - it could've gone worse," Ash quips, scanning the counter. It's pretty clean, apart from a light dusting of flour, and dollops of batter, and globs of egg, and butter smears, and bowls spread haphazardly all over the place...

Okay, maybe it isn't that clean.

"It could've gone a lot better!" Eiji crosses his arms. "How come there's so much flour everywhere...?" He grabs a cloth and quickly rinses it underneath the tap. "Move all of the tools out of the way - we'll deal with them later. Right now we need to clean up this... mess."

Ash grabs a cloth himself, sweeping all the ingredients into his hand. He hip-checks Eiji a few times, who takes it as a challenge, and they end up in a vigorous battle of hip nudges. The fight arrives at a tie when the crumbs in their hand end up on the floor, making an even bigger mess. After a healthy dose of whining from both parties, the floor and counters are finally clean.

"Now - the bowls," Eiji instructs, reminding Ash that they're only halfway through. Damn. "Scrape out the extra batter into the bin, so it doesn't clog the dishwasher."

Ash peers down at the batter curiously, and wonders whether raw cake tastes how cooked cake does.

"Can you eat batter?" He wonders aloud. Eiji fixes him with a bemused expression.

"Ah... I think...?" He twists his mouth. "I'm sure there's nothing harmful inside - except the raw eggs, but it's unlikely you'll get ill from them."

"Well, if you're so sure-" Ash dips a finger into the batter, then holds it out towards Eiji. "-you should taste test it."

"Why?" Eiji frowns, though a smile teases the corner of his mouth.

"So we know if it tastes like shit?" Ash shrugs. "Wouldn't wanna bring a bad cake, right?"

"But we don't have time to make another if this one turns out badly!"

"No cake would be better than a bad cake, though."

"...Okay." Eiji starts to lean in, before pausing. "I hope you've washed your hands."

"I have," Ash lies. He washed them before they started cooking - that should be enough, right? "Why does it matter, anyway? You've done worse with other parts of my body."

"Ash!" Eiji wrinkles his nose. "That's different - hands go everywhere! I don't know where yours have been!"

Ash has too many snarky remarks he wants to make in response, so instead, he stays silent, one eyebrow raised.

"...That reaction doesn't give me a lot of confidence." Eiji leans in anyway, and Ash brings his finger closer - before swiping upwards and leaving a trail of batter across Eiji's nose.

"Wh- hey!" Eiji dips two fingers into the batter and smears it across Ash's cheek in vengeance. He reels back in surprise, a hand pressed against the compromised skin. Quickly regaining his senses, however, he plunges his hand into the mixture. Eiji pushes at his arm, half laughing and half yelling, but his fate is inevitable - he ends up with a face smeared of batter. The intense back-and-forth continues for a while, ruthless and tiring. 

By the time the timer rings, both of them have a good amount batter slathered in their hair. Eiji stops with wide eyes, not unlike a small child caught smuggling sweets. Quickly washing off his hands, he grabs an oven glove and takes both tins out. The fork stabbed into both cakes comes out clean - a sign of it being cooked thoroughly, Eiji says.

"Now we just wait for it to cool, before adding the cream and jam." Eiji puts his hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes at Ash. "While that happens, I'm going to rinse out the batter that someone wiped all over me!"

"Hey-" Ash hold up his hands in defence. "-you didn't have to be so extra."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you get away with it?"

"Yeah." Ash grins. "It was funny, though."

Eiji tries to look annoyed, but the smile on his face betrays him. "It was only a little funny."

"It was very  funny." A short giggle leaves Ash as he remembers Eiji's reaction. "The look on your face was priceless."

"And so was yours! You looked like-" Eiji stops laughing so he can raise his eyebrows, mouth pulled into an exaggerated o-shape. 

The mockery only makes Ash laugh harder. "I did not."

"You did!" Eiji wipes a glob of cake mix that sits next to his eye. He wrinkles his nose. " Ugh. I'm taking a shower. It's everywhere."

"Wait-" Ash calls after Eiji as he makes his way to the bathroom. "-I'll join you."

When they're clean and dry and only slightly smelling of batter, the two return to the cakes to find they're cool enough for the cream and jam. With an extra warning from Eiji to not make any more mess, they successfully put together the two slices of cake, load it into the car, and start the journey to Max and Jessica's.

"It's a bit wonky," Ash comments as Eiji rings the doorbell.

"It'll do." He narrows his eyes at the cake. "As long as you don't drop it."

The door is thrown open with a loud click, and the two are greeted with a grinning Max. 

"Come in, come in!" He ushers them inside with a friendly smile. "Jessica and Michael are just in the kitchen."

A string of soft patters follows an excited yell, and Michael comes barrelling straight into Ash. It takes him by surprise, and he almost stumbles. Michael babbles incoherently as he wraps his arms around Ash. 

"Wait!" He exclaims, before disappearing upstairs as quick as he'd arrived.

"Like an excited puppy, that one." Max chuckles. "He's been looking forward to seeing you all day."

Max leads them into the kitchen, where Jessica sits. Smiling at Eiji, she wraps him into a tight hug without sparing Ash so much as a glance.

"It's nice to see you too, old lady." He deadpans.

"Glad to see you haven't changed, brat." A muffled Ash! comes from Eiji as Jessica narrows her eyes. "What's that in your hands?" 

"Isn't it pretty obvious?" He holds up the cake, smirking. "Maybe you need your eyes checked. I heard sight loss is common in seniors."

Jessica releases Eiji from her arms only to grab him by the shoulders, staring him down. "Are you sure this is the one you want, Eiji? It's not too late to change your mind."

Eiji laughs lightly. "I'm sure."

Max takes the cake from Ash's hands, setting it down on the kitchen table. "It's very nice of you two to bring this, though!"

"We made it ourselves," Ash adds because there's no way in hell he's just going to let all their suffering go unaddressed. 

"Wow, really? That's impressive!" Max exclaims at the same time Jessica mumbles "Oh, Lord, he's gonna poison us all".

Michael comes racing down the stairs at that point, loudly repeating Ash's name. Pulling to a stop in front of him, he proudly displays a mess of colourful lego blocks.

"Look what I made!" He takes Ash's palm and rests the bricks on top. "It's for you."

"For me?" Ash brings it up to his face, squinting. He can sort of make out a shape, if he closes one eye, and tilts it, and- wait, no he can't. He hears the quiet giggling of everyone else behind him. "It's a...?"

"Cat!"

"Oh yeah, of course. I see it now." Ash points to a random part. "That's the tail?"

"No! That's a leg!" Michael jabs a finger at another section. "This is the tail. It's got- It's longer than the legs!"

"Ah. Guess you're right." He ruffles Michael's hair. "Thanks, kid."

Michael grins brightly, before zooming off to God-knows-where. 

"How's he been?" Ash asks, watching him go.

"He's been alright. As happy as he always is." Max grins. "Fifth grade was a little scary to him at first, but he's used to it now."

"Good." Ash nods. "He's a good kid."

"He is." Max goes to ruffle Ash's hair, but he dodges at the last second. "So are you."

"Just because I'm not an old man like you, doesn't mean that I'm a child."

"Yeah, you're right." His gaze falls on Jessica and Eiji. Both of them chatter happily, Eiji's hand in Jessica's as she fawns over his ring. "Congrats on popping the question."

"Thanks. Actually-" Ash quietly laughs to himself as he recalls that fateful day. "-funny story. We'd discussed it beforehand a few times, and decided it would be a nice idea to - y'know - get married. And so our anniversary was coming up - that's the perfect time to propose, right? Eiji insists on planning the whole thing himself, making it a big surprise - and that's fine by me. I thought - I'll just surprise him back by proposing." 

He takes a seat at the dining room table, leaning on the back of the chair. Max sits down with him. 

"So we're at this nice restaurant, and Eiji says something - I don't even remember what - but he has this big smile on his face. It was... yeah. I didn't wanna wait any longer." Ash averts his eyes, staring at the floor. "So I open the box and slide it across the table like it's a shitty drug deal, and I make this long-ass speech, as you do. Eiji starts laughing, pulling a box out of his pocket, and- He'd wanted to propose too." Ash stares at the ring on his hand; the way that the precious gem catches the light so brilliantly. A giddy sort of feeling bubbles in his chest every time he sees it, and he half expects it to disappear every time he closes his eyes.

"Aw, that's sweet!" Max grins.

"Shut up," Ash says reflexively, although he's hiding a smile.

"Hey, I mean it!" He gently elbows him. "You're lucky to have each other."

"I'm lucky to have him." Ash gives a short laugh. "Vice versa? Not so much."

"Now, what would Eiji say if he heard you?" Max lowers his voice. "I know how you feel, though. Jessica's so damn strong, and never afraid to say what's on her mind, and of course, she's beautiful. How could someone like her choose me not once, but twice?" He shakes his head. "You need to remember - we see the worst in ourselves, naturally, but everyone around us sees the best. And if Jessica saw enough good in me to love me as she does, I don't think I can be that bad."

"Hm." Ash tries to think of a witty response, but Max's thoughts had hit closer to home than he expected. Despite what Eiji tells him, over and over, every so often he feels he'll wake up seventeen again, in the shitty old apartment where he used to stay. Sometimes he thinks it's what he deserves. But he knows it's not, and Eiji will keep showing him that until the day he dies. "Thanks."

"You're welcome!"

"I guess with age comes wisdom."

"And there's the snark I was expecting." Max laughs quietly. There's a pause in the conversation, where the two simply watch Jessica and Eiji chatter animatedly.

"...Griff would be proud of you."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Ash!" Eiji's voice jolts them out of their conversation. He's holding a slice of cake, and Jessica's holding a knife. "Come get your slice!"

Ash collects his serving, stealing a quick kiss as he does so. Once everyone has their slice, they gather around the kitchen table.

"So... who's gonna be the first to try it?" Ash pokes at the cake with his fork. It's not that he doesn't have confidence in Eiji's baking skills - he doesn't have confidence in his own.

"What's with that question?" Jessica narrows her eyes. "He really is going to poison us, isn't he?"

"No one's poisoning anyone!" Eiji throws up his hands in caution. "I helped make the cake, so hopefully it won't be too terrible! Although, I don't bake very often..."

"Look, I'll try the cake, I'm sure it'll be fine!" Max bravely takes a stab at his slice, his expression unreadable as he eats. "...It's tasty!"

Ash raises an eyebrow. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not!" Max nods at his plate. "Try it yourself."

Ash does, hesitantly taking a bite - and he raises his eyebrows in pleasant surprise. It's really not that bad.

Eiji nods, trying his slice. "Hm. It's a little dense, but otherwise, it's very nice!" 

"What, like you, then?" Ash quips.

"No!" Eiji puffs out his cheeks, pouting. "You're so mean!"

"I think you boys did a lovely job," Max says, and Jessica nods in agreement. "Should we make a toast?"

"With what drinks?" Jessica challenges.

"We don't need drinks-" He holds up his plate. "-We have cake!"

"But that's not how-!" She sighs, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "Oh well. Who gives a shit?"

"To Ash and Eiji," Max announces, brandishing his slice of cake. "Congratulations on the engagement!"

Everyone laughs as they knock their plates together.