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"You really ought to visit some time, I always seem to have to go and visit you, maybe next Saturday you could, Maki-chan," Toudou leaned back on his bed, his phone to his ear as he continued to converse with his friend.
"Busy," Makishima replied from the other end, Toudou frowned to himself as the single word reply.
"Busy with what? Do you just want to avoid me, Maki-chan?" the dark-haired cyclist replied, his voice now stern. There was a pause before Toudou heard an exasperated sigh from the other end.
"No, Jinpachi, you idiot, don't you remember? My birthday," this response lead Toudou to look at his calender, it was indeed marked in bright red pen: 'Maki-chan's birthday!', exactly one week from today.
"Oh yeah, sorry I forgot Maki-chan, I can't believe it is so soon," Toudou replied, trying to hide the fact he was so embarrassed over overlooking the fact.
"Not like you to forget, anyway, I have homework to do and I can't do it with you pestering me, sho," Makishima replied from the other end.
"Of course Maki-chan, bye bye, look after yourself, I will pop over on Saturday then to wish you a happy birthday and bring your present!" Toudou then hung up. Smiling to himself for a moment before he began to panic. A present, he hadn't even bought one yet for Makishima. It was one week today and it hadn't even crossed his mind.
When Monday rolled around, Toudou had made some progress with the present buying for his friend. He had found a nice card for Makishima and also bought him some hair-grips with spiders on them which Toudou thought he would appreciate. However, it really wasn't enough. He wanted to at least buy or make him something else to show he had put some real thought in and some hairpins and a card weren't really fulfilling that. After his cycling session, he decided to consult his teammates on the issue.
"Anyone would think he was your boyfriend or something with the way you are going on about this," Arakita stated, upon Toudou's request. Toudou put a hand on his chest in an offended manner.
"Thank you for your input, I just care about my friend," he replied, "Shinkai, what do you think,?" Shinkai unwrapped an energy bar before speaking in his usual laid back manner.
"You could make him a cake."
"No, that is unhealthy and Maki-chan eats enough sweet food as it is!" Toudou replied, rejecting the suggestion.
"Give him an exciting race!" Manami called from the other side of the room.
"Or something to tell him he is strong!"
"Some dumbbells for his muscles!" after hearing Izumida's suggestion, Toudou turned to his teammates and threw them all an annoyed look.
"You are all so useless at this! I can't even tell if half of your are serious or not! I will have to find the idea myself!" he exclaimed, before he finished packing his things so he could cycle home for the evening. Why did he have such un-beautiful teammates?
Toudou played with the hairpins in his hands. Maybe they would have to do, it would have been nice to get him something else but he had no idea what.
"Why is Maki-chan so hard to buy for?" he muttered. Toudou took a moment to think about what presents he had bought him before. In their first year of high school he had bought Makishima a headband, they weren't that close back then, and Makishima didn't appreciate the gift at all. The year after, Toudou put a lot more thought into it and made him a nice card and a friendship bracelet and also bought him some new pedals for his bike to support his climbing style. However, this year Toudou was completely stumped. He had known The Peak Spider for long enough, and they had spent enough time together. Toudou had tons of photos of them together to show that, all saved in a file on his pc which he would occasionally look back at. Toudou held onto that thought for a moment, it clicked into place as an idea came to him. He smiled to himself when he realised what he was going to do. Thank you random thought. Toudou decided he would instantly make a start, he rushed to find some nice photo paper for the printer before returning to sent all the photos in that folder to print. Hopefully his Maki-chan would like his idea of a thoughtful gift.
The next day, Toudou tried to get out of practice as soon as possible so he could rush home to work on the present. He really should have started it earlier, but he knew he could make it in time if he wanted to. By this point he was in a mess with photos, card, frames, glitter and other objects and materials which he thought would fit. While working, he heard his phone buzz, he glimpsed at the caller ID to see it was Makishima. It was strange of him to phone first.
"Maki-chan?" Toudou said, picking up the phone, still holding the fancy metallic pen in his free hand.
"Uh... Jinpachi, just checking that you are coming over on Saturday still, sho?" Makishima asked from the other end. Toudou pushed a strand of dark hair from his face before talking again.
"Of course, Maki-chan, and you are going to love my present."
"Does that mean you have got me some stupid novelty gift?" Toudou took a little offence to this response, but he still managed to let out a small laugh.
"Of course not, it means it is something really special, I am working on it now."
"Uh... right, I guess I best leave you to it, sho," Makishima replied from the other end of his phone, Toudou noting his voice sounded more perky than usual.
"Of course, take care Maki-chan, see you then," he then hung up. Toudou could see why Makishima made the assumption of Toudou buying something useless, after all Toudou could tell that Makishima's fellow third years seemed like the sort to buy comedy gifts, and the first year climber was probably going to buy him some weird anime thing, it helped make Toudou all the more confident that Makishima was going to love what he was making.
"Now where did I put that purple card?" Toudou muttered to himself, returning his focus to the task at hand.
It was now Wendsday, and he had until Saturday morning. Toudou tried to get off nice and early from practice again. However, before he could his captain confronted him.
"Toudou," Fukutomi called, trying to grab his climber's attention.
"Yes?" Toudou replied, he hoped whatever the stone-face wanted would be quick.
"There is some things which need sorting this week, do you know if you will be able to stay a late after practice for the rest of the week, as I can trust you to help?" this request was Toudou's worst nightmare. He needed time to work on Makishima's present and staying late would only reduce the chance of it getting done and getting done to a high standard. Toudou wondered if he could come up with an excuse to get out of it, he couldn't say 'sorry I am too busy working on some gift for my best friend who Arakita seems to think I am gay for' and lying felt bad as well. He put on a big smile and gave his trademark point.
"Of course! Hakone's most beautiful climber is always willing to help the team!" he replied. Anyway, he was certain he could still easily get it done as he had plenty of time and he probably wasn't going to have to stay much later than usual.
"I'm behind schedule!" It was Friday evening and Toudou was stood looking at the progress with Makishima's present. Deciding to stay late was a terrible idea and he wished he had thrown a tantrum and demanded he got his own way. Fukutomi had made him stay for at least an extra hour for the last three days and as a result he hadn't been able to work on the present. Toudou bit his lip as he looked down at the mess of paper, photos and glitter in front of him. It was tomorrow, he had already sent Makishima a text reminding him he was coming. 'Keep calm, Jinpachi, you can get this done' he told himself taking a deep breath in. He was tired and needed his beauty sleep, but that wasn't going to happen until he got this done. He sat down and started going back to it, finding some glue to stick down what he had started on the previous evening. He was going to do it, and even though bags from sleep deprivation were ghastly, not getting Maki-chan's present done seemed worse. Toudou even turned his phone off so he could focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by texts from fangirls. He wasn't sure why, but the idea of Makishima smiling and being truly grateful at the present when he opened it was an idea which pleased Toudou. He wanted his friend to see how much he cared, even if Makishima didn't care as much back. By around midnight, Toudou was finally at the stage of making the final touches, when he had stuck the final paper star in place, he took a moment to step back and look at his work. While his vision may had been a little blurry from fatigue, he smiled when he knew he had done well, "Maki-chan will love it," he whispered to himself. However, he wasn't done yet, as he pulled out some glittery wrapping paper he had bought specially. He spent a good while wrapping it nicely and finishing it off with a bow, smiling at his work, he place it next to the envelope which contained the card and hairpins. Finally done, Toudou decided to get some well-earned sleep, even though that proved a challenge as he couldn't stop buzzing with excitement for the next day.
"Happy birthday to me, sho," Makishima muttered, putting yet another card which had come in the mail with the rest. Makishima felt that his birthday so far was feeling like any other one. Relatives visiting, nice cards and presents and lots of unneeded social interaction which came with it. Makishima finally had the chance to sit in his room to unwind for a few minutes before any other relatives came. Presents had been good as usual, with a few odd ones here and there. Kinjou and Tadokoro had bought him the usual novelty gift, this year a spiderman cycling helmet designed for a child. Naturally, Onoda had bought him some anime figure from some show about giant robots which he may have shown a slight interest in at some point, "where the hell is Jinpachi?" he asked himself, looking down at his phone, he had already sent a text and he hadn't come yet. He was expecting Toudou to rush over at stupid-o-clock in morning, "maybe he forgot," he muttered, running a hand through his long hair as he thought over this. The door rang again, probably another family member or something. Makishima wandered down to open it, looking at who was there.
"Jinpachi?" he said, on reaction to Toudou being stood in the doorway. Makishima raised an eyebrow as he noticed something looked off about Toudou, his violet eyes rimmed by subtle dark rims, his hair in a ponytail rather than the usual headband and an overall washed out and tired look. It was unlike his usual self, but Makishima still managed to think he looked good.
"Hey, Maki-chan, I'm not late am I?" Toudou replied, walking inside, "Happy Birthday!" he added. Makishima noticed Toudou was carrying a large parcel, there was no way he cycled with that.
"How did you get here, sho?" he asked, shutting the door behind them.
"I had to get a train, due to the present, it's a shame as I wanted to go on a birthday bike ride with you Maki-chan!" Toudou explained, Makishima nodded.
"It's fine, I don't mind, sho," Makishima replied, leading Toudou to somewhere to sit.
"Open my presents then!" Toudou called, thrusting the parcel and the envelope to Makishima. Makishima let out a sigh and gave an annoyed look.
"As insistent as ever," he muttered, opening the envelope to reveal a colourful card, "that is nice," he muttered, opening the card to read the message and giving a small smile. As he did, the hairclips fell out into his lap. Once he finished with the card he reached to pick them up, Toudou watching intently, "these are nice too," he added, smiling at the clips. Makishima did they they were very cute.
"Let me put them in for you Maki-chan!" Toudou exclaimed excitedly. His enthusiasm meant Makishima found is nigh impossible to say no.
"I guess you can, as long as you are quick, sho," he replied passing them to his friend. Toudou carefully pinned back one side of his bangs with the pins, leaving the other loose. Toudou smiled at the result, the grips suited him and seemed to fit his look.
"You look handsome, Maki-chan!" Toudou commented, "anyway, now you have to open the parcel!" he added. Makishima nodded before moving his hand over to the parcel, taking a moment to run his pale hands over the neat wrapping. It looked so nice he didn't want to tear it off. All the same, Makishima did as requested, carefully unwrapped the large parcel. Once it was unwrapped, Makishima looked over what it was. It was a board which had a collage of photos of Toudou and him, all in neat card frames and glued on, along with some other objects of importance like a plastic bike, programs from races they had been in, and some stars, circles and other shapes glued on to add character. Makishima didn't want to touch it too much as he feared the glitter would come off. In the centre of the collage was a card sign with 'Maki-chan and Todo' written in cursive. It was lovely, Makishima felt his cheeks turn pink as he looked over what Toudou had made.
"You made this?" he asked.
"Yes, Maki-chan, I was up late finishing it, is it ok then?" Toudou replied, giving a big smile to his friend. Makishima gave a nod.
"I love it," he muttered.
"We have done so many things together, look at all these photos, Maki-chan!" Toudou commented, before pointing out some individual ones, "this was the first picture we took together, we both look so young, you have especially changed and matured since then. Here is one from the festival we went to last year, and here is when we took the silly pictures in the purikura a few months ago," he stated, enthusiastically pointing at every photo. Makishima felt warmed at the effort he had put in. Without thinking, he grabbed Toudou's hands and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. After the pulled away. Makishima saw Toudou turn bright red, "M..Maki-chan?" he muttered.
"Sorry... did you not like it... I am just so thankful you gave me this amazing present, Jinpachi... and I erm... like you," he replied in an awkward tone, avoiding eye contact. Toudou let out a laugh before kissing Makishima back.
"I am glad you feel the same way Maki-chan, happy birthday!" Toudou replied. Once those words had come out of Toudou's mouth, Makishima had decided it was the best birthday ever.