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"Shin, you're so lucky your birthday is on the break between school years!"
Shin perks up a little at that, smiling back at his friend who seems determined to spend the entire day visiting every fun place they could reasonably visit in one April day. Hiyori had begun the day spamming Shin's cellphone with birthday text messages almost the same minute Shin rolled out of bed and kept at it until he responded back. Shin never had a friend text him for his birthday before, so it was a little shocking. And since he never had a friend like this it didn't occur to Shin that anyone would want to plan out a whole day just for him. Because of this he had no way of telling Hiyori he prefers to spend the day quietly relaxing before Hiyori sent him a text saying he was on his way to pick Shin up.
"Ahh.... yeah. Ehehe. Without you, I don't think I would have ever made such a big deal out of today. So.... thank you, Hiyori."
They started with shopping in Akihabara. It got a little embarrassing browsing around for anime figures with Hiyori watching so they eventually gravitated towards the more technological side of the area. There Shin could submerge himself in checking out the latest computers on the market. He couldn't help himself babbling to his friend about the significant advancements being made in the tech industry and how excited he was for what was yet to come. Sometimes Shin would be embarrassed about talking so passionately about his interests, but the way Hiyori quietly soaked it all in was encouraging. Unfortunately, the price tags on the computers that made his eyes sparkle were incredibly steep for a highschooler relying on a budget of birthday and new years money from relatives. Usually by the time he had the cash saved up for one thing something new would end up releasing soon after.
It was more than a little shocking when Hiyori had pulled out a credit card and bought Shin the computer parts he was so excited for on the spot. Hiyori even arranged it so they would be sent to Shin's house so they could continue their day without having to carry around their purchase. He had explained one time that since teenagers are underage to get their own cards it was more of a company card he was borrowing while he did odd jobs. How willing he was to spend that money on Shin made his head spin.
And that was only the beginning of the day.
Presently it's well past after noon and he feels exhausted from all the walking around they did. Even so, Hiyori wasn't ready to call it a day so they agreed to wind down by visiting a bathhouse. Really they should have considered their dinner plans first before a bath, but Shin hoped this would be enough to signal he's ready to go home. At Shin's words of gratitude Hiyori had scooted just a little bit closer, their fingertips touching under the water. Shin sighs, feeling relief that Hiyori isn't being overly affectionate in front of the few strangers taking a bath with them. It's the first time all day Hiyori has given Shin the chance to just sit back and relax.
Even the trip to the aquarium, as beautiful as the tanks were, was spent moving from exhibit to exhibit. Shin wouldn't have minded if they had just sat on a bench taking in the sight together for a few hours, but he could tell Hiyori quickly grew bored of these quiet moments. His eyes seldomly on the fish instead of Shin himself or looking at his cellphone while he typed away at something or someone. Since it was his birthday, Shin knew he could have asked Hiyori to sit a while with him, but after the big purchase that morning it made Shin feel greedy to even think of it. So off they went as soon as Shin had caught his breath.
Sighing in the bath quickly threatens to turn into a yawn. Hiyori pokes him on the cheek when Shin's head begins to droop. "Heyyyyy," Hiyori begins, "Shin, if you were that tired you should have said something. Once we're done here you can take a nap at my house since it's closer."
In the past year of knowing Hiyori, Shin has been over to his house many times. Even having a few sleep-overs occasionally, so Shin is familiar with the very soft guest comforter Hiyori lays out for him. It's a tempting offer, but Shin manages to mumble out his counterargument, "My house isn't that much further away. I think I'm ready to call it a night."
Hiyori's fingers touching Shin's crawl up his skin until he's able to fully squeeze Shin's hand in his own. He replies, "Aww, but I haven't given you your cake yet! It's the last thing I wanted to do, I promise! Wont you indulge this one thing? I know, I know; I already bought you lunch when we went to karaoke, but after you take a short nap we can end the night with dinner."
The reminder of dinner sends a jolt through Shin's system making him jump as he suddenly remembers, "Ah! Dinner! I.... my parents usually take me out for dinner on my birthday." That's pretty much all Shin does to celebrate his birthday most years, but he enjoys the quality time with his parents. It's saddening to think he's breaking tradition this year. He had been so busy with Hiyori all day he forgot to call them to ask when they expected him home.
"Oh, your parents were more than happy to reschedule that for tomorrow once they heard I was taking you out today! I suppose they wouldn't have told you since I wanted to surprise you this morning. Guess I forgot to mention that, soooorrrry."
Shin sinks lower into the tub as best he can still holding hands with Hiyori. Of course he would have this all planned out. A heavy feeling in Shin's gut wonders if Hiyori really spoke with his parents at all or if that's just a convenient excuse. It wouldn't be the first time he lied about getting permission from Shin's parents to keep him out late, only for Shin to get in trouble once he's home. Shin had really hoped Hiyori had learned his lesson from the last time he did that and Shin ended up grounded. At that time Hiyori had showed up after school sobbing with a bouquet of roses for his mother and a bottle of fancy looking alcohol he somehow obtained for his father. Although that was the quickest Shin has ever gotten out of trouble he wants to trust in his friend that he wouldn't want to repeat that with more lies.
In any case because they are naked in a tub right now Shin cant exactly send a text to his parents confirming with them if dinner at Hiyori's is alright with them.
And he doesn't want to disappoint Hiyori by insisting he should be going home when he should be in the clear to stay out. So against his better judgement he forces himself to ask, "Well then..... what flavor of cake did you get me?"
...
In the end Shin ended up curled up in the warmth of Hiyori's guest blanket while laying on top of his bed. Hiyori had argued that since he wasn't planning on lying down anytime soon he wasn't about to let Shin sleep on the floor. Shin also couldn't sleep on the couch downstairs because Hiyori didn't want to wake him when he came back from picking up his cake from the bakery. Like that, Shin fell to blissful unconsciousness with his nose pressed against Hiyori's pillow.
And he woke up to the sound of people talking downstairs. Many people talking. He was sleeping for roughly forty-five minutes, a bit longer than he intended expecting Hiyori to wake him, and for a minute he had no idea where he was. Hiyori's house wasn't massive, but Shin never saw anyone in the house. He asked about that once and Hiyori brushed the question aside saying his parents were busy people. So in the house there was no father, no mother, no siblings or pets. No photos of anyone on the walls except one large portrait of a man sipping red wine downstairs. It made the house feel bigger and lonelier for there to only be one person occupying it.
To hear so many voices at once now, was terrifying.
Shin scrambles around the dark room, first flipping on the light switch and then finding where he left his cellphone so he can start texting his friend, "Where are you? Who are those people downstairs?"
Does Hiyori even have his cellphone on him? There's little reason for him not too, but Shin doesn't feel like leaving the bedroom to go find him. It takes a minute, but finally Shin hears a ping getting Hiyori's reply, "Good morning, sleepyhead! Just kidding, I didn't let you sleep that long."
Another ping from Hiyori, "I'm downstairs of course, why don't you come say hello to everybody? That's the quickest way to get to know who they are!"
Shin groans at that, wrapping himself back into his blanket cocoon. Keeping only his head and hands free to continue texting he sends back, "Hiyori.... you said you were getting cake."
"The cake is downstairs waiting for you too!" is the instant reply. Shin can imagine the thin smile Hiyori must have on his face being this obtuse on purpose.
Following that they send a back and forth in quick succession.
"I don't understand how getting cake filled your house with people."
"Oh? You really don't know?"
"No, I really don't."
"Try thinking about it and hazard a guess then."
"Hiyori, take me home right now."
"Nuh-uh. You said you would stay for cake. So you are getting cake. Which is downstairs with everyone."
Shin buries his face in Hiyori's pillow. He wants to scream, but keeps texting knowing there is only one logical reason a bunch of strangers would show up with the cake, "I didn't ask for a birthday party. They don't even sound like the kids from school."
"Should I have invited them too?"
"You shouldn't have invited anyone! Look Hiyori, I appreciate everything you did for me today, but I'm really not up for a party. I'm going to go home whether you help me get a cab or not!"
"Shin."
Just the one word makes his blood turn cold. He must be getting mad. Though the blanket should have been giving Shin plenty of warmth he can't help but shiver. If Shin could summerize Hiyori in one word it would be.... intense. He may not always be the most expressive person with his emotions, but what he does feel tends to come with such an overwhelming force. It's like accidentally turning the tap on yourself at full force when you only meant to trickle the water.
Shin is in the middle of typing and retyping up an apology when he receives another message from Hiyori, "Sheesh. We're not getting anywhere like this. How about this? I'm going to count down from ten, and if you aren't down here I'm going to get you. Ten...."
"Hiyori, I'm sorry. Please just give me a minute."
"Nine...."
He tries kicking off the blanket but somehow he got so tangled up that it gets caught in his legs. He can't move!
"Eight...."
Shin puts his phone down, only hearing the notification sounds as the countdown continues. Ping, ping. He struggles even with both hands to free himself from the blanket menace.
He ends up rolling himself off the bed and landing on the floor with a thud. Ouch.
Just in time for Hiyori to swing open his bedroom door calling out, "One! Ready or not, here I come!"
Shin isn't really sure what he expected Hiyori to do once he had Shin in his sights, but it wasn't that he would sidestep Shin entirely and walk up to the vanity. There he had all sorts of combs and brushes and styling supplies laid out. It fascinates Shin when he gets the chance to see Hiyori fussing with his hair, getting that windswept tousled look just right before he's ready for the day. But for right now he picks up a thick brush and beckons Shin over.
Hiyori even vocalizes the order, "Shin, come here."
"Uhm... ahh..." words refuse to form in Shin's mind. The fall freed him from the blanket so the only thing he can do is pick himself off the floor and obey. Whatever game Hiyori was playing at here, Shin would follow along with.
He tries to sense what Hiyori is feeling, gently smiling as he guides Shin to sit on the vanity's chair. He tries to sense what Hiyori wants him to be feeling, as he pets a hand through Shin's hair and it snags. Shin says, "You want to brush my hair? Ehrm.... you don't have to do that. I can cover most of it up with my beanie."
Bad. Hiyori curls his snagged fingers and yanks them free. Not rough enough for Shin to call out that he knows he did that on purpose, but he knows Hiyori could have been kinder. He ignores Shin's pained cry when he says, "If you came down when I first told you to that would have been fine, but then I got to thinking...."
Hiyori leans forward. Fingers burshing aside hair so his breath is tickling Shin's ear enough to make him shiver for a different reason than before. He continues, "If you want to be fashionably late to your own party, why don't we doll you up? I can make you look so good."
To avoid getting his hair yanked again Shin vetoes down several responses that shoot through his head. Nervously he rubs his feet together. He doesn't want to take too long to respond so he eventually settles with, "Ehehe, if you say so. I trust you, Hiyori."
That nets Shin a positive little hum in response. What's even more of a relief is when Hiyori begins brushing Shin's hair away from the tangled disaster he let the back of his head become. Slowly the brush inches towards the mess, but the repetition of stroke after stroke through the straightened out hair strands relaxes Shin.
Shin's guard is totally down by the time Hiyori hits the first major snag in his hair. Shin remembers back when his mother used to do this so long ago, when his parents let him grow his hair out a little. She would hold the tangled hair at the base and work on brushing it from the ends back up to the top. Hiyori powers through the knots.
"Owww! Ow! Hiyori!" Shin cries out with tears beginning to cloud up his vision. He throws his hands behind his back to grab the brush, Hiyori's hand, arm, or anything that would make him stop immediately.
"Honestly, we just took a bath together. I don't know why you didn't take care of this then," Hiyori has the gall to sound exasperated as if how Shin cares for his own hair is any of his personal business. On top of that it takes embarrassingly little effort for him to get a grip on both of Shin's wrists in one of his hands while he continues brushing undisturbed.
He let his hair get messy because this week they were on break from school. Shin wasn't expecting any wild birthday plans so he was just going to hole up in his room and play around on his computer while he had the free time to do so. He was taking it easy! The only reason having perfectly brushed hair matters right now is just because Hiyori decided to make an issue out of it. It's not fair.
Shin rips his arms free of Hiyori's grip. He knows Hiyori could have put up some resistance there but allowed him freedom. Chipper as ever, Hiyori says, "Allllllllmost done!"
An empty assurance as Shin can feel how much more brushing it's going to take. Perhaps to Hiyori's perspective they are going to finish soon, but it's more than Shin wants to bear. It breaks him from tearing up to full on sobbing. He doesn't mean to do that, it's embarrassing to cry like this from something so small and stupid. He can only imagine how pathetic it makes him look to Hiyori.
But Hiyori finally stops.
There's still more to brush, Shin knows that, but Hiyori wraps his arms around Shin's shoulders in a tight hug. Shin chooses to ignore how unapologetic he sounds when Hiyori says, "Aww, was I being a little too mean? Don't cry, Shin. It's your birthday, isn't today a happy day?"
Shin can't respond. Even if he could find his voice between sobs he doesn't have anything to say.
Hiyori plants a kiss on the top of Shin's head. Kisses again at the back of his head where it's throbbing a little. The pain there will not last long, he knows. None of this will so much as leave a mark. The only thing left to Shin is to force himself to calm down so he won't have to worry about anybody downstairs noticing he cried at all and start asking embarrassing questions.
When he does quiet down, Hiyori slips the brush into Shin's hand and lets go of his embrace. "Here," he says, "you finish up. I'm going to pick out something nice for you to wear."
And just like that Shin is left staring at the brush while Hiyori digs through the closet. Hiyori could have let him do this from the start if he felt it was so important. His hair is going to get a little messed up whenever Hiyori inevitably gets him to pull off his shirt, so it's going to need fixed up again anyway.
But just like how he's going to have a party against his will, Shin can only follow the push and pull of Hiyori's whims.
He hopes the cake is worth it.