Chapter Text
“Akito,”
“Hmm?” Akito looked up from his phone with a raised brow, olive-colored eyes landing on the boy beside him.
“Come look at this.” Touya said, scooting closer. He moved his own phone in front of Akito, screen flashing brightly as a video began to play. Akito turned his attention to the screen, faint music playing alongside it as a group of brightly-dressed people began to dance. The song playing was upbeat and fast-paced, matching the energy of dancers who jumped around wildly on screen.
A minute later the video ended and Touya pulled his phone away.
“It’s cool, what song?” Akito asked looking up.
“‘Brain Fluid Explosion Girl’.” He answered. Akito hummed a low tone in response, raising his brows as he processed the name.
“D’ya wanna cover it?” He asked looking back at Touya who shrugged.
“We could, it’s kinda fast though.” Touya noted. Akito hummed again, leaning back against the wall they were sitting against.
“I think we can do it.” He said, running a hand through orange locks of hair, pushing it away from his face and revealing his forehead. Touya gave a light laugh, smiling with his eyes fixed on Akito’s face.
“I’m sure we could.” He responded thoughtfully as he too leaned back against the wall behind them. The wind blew past, its whispering sound decorating their comfortable silence.
Another minute passes and Akito looks down to fidget with a thread fraying from his jacket. He pulled at it for a bit, the fly-away eventually falling off, eliciting a satisfied expression.
“We could do the dance too.” He suggests, dropping the thread from his fingers and watching it tumble away. “It looks fun.” He finishes, looking back up to Touya who’s sitting closer now, a shoulder pressed flush to his and a focused look on his face.
“Yeah..” Touya’s voice is lowered, gaze still holding Akito’s, it sends a shiver down his spine as he stares back. “Hey, Akito..” Touya’s still looking at him, and maybe he was imagining it, but in front of him, Touya leaned ever slightly closer, egging a response.
“W-what?” Akito’s voice is shaky as he watches, time slowing when a hand with fine-trimmed nails reaches out and makes contact with his face.
Said hand is warm and oh -so sweet, the touch itself makes him anxious and his heart thumps so loudly it starts to hurt.
Those seconds stretch into something that feels like hours and the slow-growing, fuzzy-anxious feeling explodes, making him nauseous, and most of all, excited . Touya leans in, thin lips becoming the only thing Akito could concentrate on. He closed his eyes, bracing himself.
The blare of an alarm sounds, screeching like nails on chalk as it echoes throughout the room.
“Motherfu..” Akito groans as he’s pulled from the clutches of sleep at seven in the morning, words slurring groggily as he turns over to grab his phone. With an annoyed sigh he swipes at the screen, shutting the noise off as he sits up. His one eye is still half closed as he struggles to blink away the sleep-induced daze.
He sits there for a moment, stunned by early morning fatigue and stuck staring at the streaks of sunlight lining the floor of his room.
Other than the soft buzz of outdoor ambience, it’s quiet, making the Shinonome household seem empty. If he didn’t already know prior that his parents and sister were still fast asleep, he might’ve assumed so too.
Akito sits there a while longer in that silence, letting another couple minutes pass before forcing his legs out from under warm blankets and setting bare feet on the cool wooden floor.
It takes a half hour or so to get dressed, clumsily throwing on his school uniform and jacket before taking to the bathroom to fix his hair, ending the morning ritual by putting his usual piercings in.
“Akito!” A voice yells, followed by a flurry of knocks at the door. The uncalled for sound makes him jump and push the backing of his earring in too hard, pinching himself in the process. He winces,
“Fuck- Ena, what the fuck?” He bites out, an annoyed sigh following from the other side of the door.
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet and the first thing I get is a ‘what the fuck’?” She asks rhetorically, mocking his words in a lowered voice. Akito could practically hear her eyes roll. “I made toast.” She says a beat later before padding away and mumbling something about how annoying he is.
Eventually he makes his way out to the kitchen, picking up a slice of already buttered toast before stuffing it in his mouth and heading towards the door.
“Look at this asshole, making all this noise first thing in the morning. I make him breakfast and I don’t even get a ‘thank you’?” Akito turns to see his sister cocooned on the couch, munching on bread and face stuck in her phone screen. She looks up only to make a shooing motion with her hand, to which he rolls his eyes at.
“Well fuck you too.” He spits before exiting.
The walk to school is mostly uneventful. The morning air is cool as it always is and Akito is left lost in his thoughts as ‘Shanti’ plays through his headphones. He sticks his hands into his pockets as his body moves on autopilot, the repeating phrase of ‘ dismember them’ fading away into white noise. He absently recalls the foggy memories of a dream he had, vision blurring the faces of people on the street as he walked.
Conjured memories of himself and a feeling welling in his chest. There’s somebody off to his side talking softly to him in a soothing voice, mixed-cerulean hair blowing gently in afternoon wind.
They look up, the soft hum of an upbeat song playing in the background, its tune now distorted and unrecognizable in his head. Akito pursed his lips, the dream ended someway, he knew that much, but he couldn’t remember how. Its traces in his consciousness swept away by that damn alarm, anything left of it effectively squandered away by the current buzz of cars and people.
What he could recall was a semblance of that feeling, one that left the hair on your arms standing, not too dissimilar from the floaty high before a live show. Except maybe, more frantic? Hotter? Something he wanted to push far, far away and yet keep close to him all the same.
It sort of reminded him of Rad Weekend and the ache of wanting something so badly despite it being so blatantly far out of reach, a teasing burn left in its wake instead. Though this time, whether his inability to grasp it was his fault or not, he didn’t know.
With a noisy groan, he shook his head, focusing his vision on the path ahead. He was just about there anyway, and when he looked up, Akito gave into the giddy grin taking form.
His gaze landed on the boy across the street, standing leaned up against a wall nonchalantly staring off into the distance.
Touya, adorned with his subtle smile and signature split-colored hair. Akito’s strides hastened, the fast paced tune of ‘Pamela’ playing and ringing in his ears.
“Touya!” He called out, jogging closer and throwing a hand up in greeting. “Mornin’.” He says with an easy grin. Touya looks up, responding with a nod of his head.
“Hey.” His voice is soft and a little rough, likely having only recently gotten up for the day.
No other words are exchanged as two hands come into contact for a fist bump, comfortable silence settling over the two as they take off towards the school. Touya smiles, and Akito hums along to the music in his ears.
‘The rest of the walk is too short’ Akito thinks as they come upon the school gates. The buzz of students rushing in to beat the morning bell is loud and it covers up his music so he pauses it. Touya walks on ahead of him, his strides long, steps steady and even. Akito catches up quickly and throws an arm around his shoulders that startles him.
“That eager to leave me behind, eh?” He laughs, snarky grin making itself known. Touya shakes his head.
“I wouldn’t do that to you Akito, you’re my-”
“I’m just playin’ Touya.” He laughs again, pulling him down and pushing a hand through blue hair and ruffling it. Touya bats his hand away with a frown.
“Akito..” He says, tone reprimanding, but it fades away quickly, the initial frown turning into a soft smile before he shakes his head. Akito laughs again, smirk sitting on his face as he takes in Touya’s appearance.
“Sorry, sorry, here I’ll fix it.” He steps forward and reaches up, placing fingers back through soft hair. It takes less than a minute, pushing mussed up strands back into place and adjusting Touya’s bangs neatly. He hums and steps back when he’s satisfied. A warmth pulses in his chest and Akito assumes it’s pride.
“Gross, get a room you two.” The boys whip around to see An standing there, bag slung over her shoulder and hair flowing in waves just above her waist. She fake gags before giggling and Akito rolls his eyes.
“Shut up.” He says, voice lowered and almost monotone.
“You first, asshole.” She responds, snappy as she grins into it, shifting her weight onto one side. Akito squints back in annoyance as she sticks her tongue out, and Touya is standing there unaware, staring off again.
“Aren’t you on discipline committee? Stop bullying students.” Akito says, words laced with something bitter as he tilts his head back.
“And aren’t you supposed to be in class by now? I could write you up for being late.” An’s face is smug and her eyes thin, the teasing smile never faltering. Akito just frowns in response.
“She’s right, the bell’s gonna ring soon-”
“Not helping, Touya.” Akito glares back at him and An laughs loudly. He sighs annoyed that he had to deal with her nonsense so early in the day.
He’s tired so he relents, walking away and dragging Touya towards the building by the arm. He catches An waving, fingers wiggling and grinning like a cat.
Inside the building, it’s slightly warmer than the outdoor morning chill. The sound of student conversation is fading quickly as footsteps shuffle quickly to their respective classrooms. Akito’s hand is still gripping Touya’s arm who is pulling away towards the class 1-B door.
“My bad..” he says, it sounds weirdly dejected when the words come out and Akito frowns so Touya gives a soft, almost apologetic smile in response.
“See you at lunch.” Touya says before walking in. Akito hums, throwing a hand up to wave before turning away.
It feels like hours have passed to the sound of his teacher droning on about their current math lesson. Constant re-explanations of the same formulas make Akito’s head spin, the words going in one ear and out the other. When the words stop making any remote sense he squeezes his eyes shut, inhaling before opting to doodle in his empty notebook instead.
The new focus is effective at shutting out the monotonous sound and his mind drifts to thoughts of their upcoming live event.
His first thought is the setlist. Idly recalling they had mutually agreed on doing most of the planning later today at the Weekend Garage, despite that, Akito supposed it wouldn’t hurt to get a head start.
The blank page was easily filled with the potential songs in their existing repertoire, starting with those they were most likely to perform; fan favorites including ‘Ready Steady’ and ‘Rad Dogs’ among others as well as mixing in newer songs like ‘Flyer!’.
The thoughts themselves left a smile on his face as he tapped the pencil against his lip, different scenarios flashing in his mind, each dependent on how a roaring crowd might react.
He took another breath, circling certain songs that the girls, namely An, had been adamant on performing at the next live show.
Recently, the group had been doing a lot more intense singing, their normal metered verses and rap traded for more melodic lines and intricate harmonies. It wasn’t something Akito felt was drastically above his ability, but rehearsal had become a lot more difficult when he had to focus on maintaining a separate harmony rather than a unison note. Still, he figured it was something that would come easier if he just practiced a little harder, a little later, and a little more intensely for the next few weeks or so.
He blinked, staring at pencil scratches on paper for a while before flicking his eyes up to watch as his teacher tapped idly on the board. Words fell from their mouth but landed on the blank stares of students.
Akito sighed again, his eyes falling back to the paper, eyeing how ‘Mirai’ and ‘Fragile’ were etched into the bottom of the list. Both were good songs, an easy tempo that was hard to mess up. A flowing melody line that etched itself into your skull as soon as you heard it. But since they were pushing for more group numbers now rather than split duets so he scratched the latter off.
There was something bittersweet about kicking ‘Fragile’ off the potential setlist. It was a cover that became a fan favorite of Bad Dogs when it was still just him and Touya, one of the few songs that’d followed them well into their time as Vivid Bad Squad. A song that probably wouldn’t be possible without Touya there to coach him through vocal intense choruses. A dance that wouldn’t be achievable if Touya weren’t there to help ingrain the tempo into Akito’s body.
He found himself smiling at memories of sour notes in the park, at the image of Touya’s once hilariously stiff stance as he copied Akito’s steps. He remembered himself dragging Touya by the arm through several of the clothing stores he frequented, including the one he worked at now.
Akito smiled fondly as he leaned into his hand, remembering how Touya used to dress himself then. Not terribly, just bland, consisting of monotone blocks of color like he didn’t know how to express himself, something that screamed ‘dressed-by-my-parents’ rich kid.
Back then, Akito used to relentlessly tease him about it too. Of course, that didn’t happen anymore but sometimes the baggy, black slacks and tightly buttoned collar came back to bite Touya when old pictures cropped up.
They hadn’t needed to go buy new clothes since those days, and frankly Touya didn’t really need Akito to style him anymore. Still, he wondered if he’d let him anyway. He was sure Touya had changed in the months since then, things like tanned skin from working choreo out in the sun for hours, or possible new muscle developed from the constant practice. Akito found himself wanting to know just how different he looked now. He wanted to know what he would look like wearing something a little different as they danced on stage together.
He wanted to know exactly how good he looked now.
Akito frowned, shutting off the train of thought before it went somewhere weird. Still, maybe he’d ask Touya about it, going clothes shopping that is. New clothes could be good for them.
Class ended and Akito concluded that just like every other day, he didn’t learn anything, the ramblings about their recent reading assignments reduced to white static in his memory. At least now that it was lunch period he could do something else rather than sit in a chair, mindlessly staring at the wall.
He exhaled as he stood up, walking with his hands shoved deep in his pockets towards the 1-B classroom. When he got there he leaned against the door frame peaking in,
“Oh, Shinonome, are you looking for Aoyagi?” Some kid with side swept black hair asked, blinking up at him from his seat.
“Mhm,” He hummed looking past him into the room, scanning for two-toned hair. It took less than a second to flip through faces until his eyes landed on who he was looking for.
“Touya,” He called out, leaning further in through the door. On the other side of the room, Touya looked up, neutral expression softening as he closed his notebook and stood up,
“Hey.” He meets Akito’s eyes with a grin,
“I’m starvin’, c’mon.” Touya simply nods his head, letting Akito lead them down the hall.
“Ah- Akito,” Touya stops him as they move down the line.
“What?” Akito turns to Touya to see him retracting his hand from the plates that were set out.
“I left my wallet at home.” He replies stepping back, Akito raises a brow at him, “I’ll meet you outside.” Touya finishes, his expression is as neutral as ever but the twitch of his lip says otherwise.
“I’ll pay for it then.” Akito says simply.
“You can’t-”
“It’s fine, now get your food.” He interrupts Touya as he grabs him by the wrist and drags him back into the line.
“You can’t.” It’s firmer this time around as Touya resists Akito’s grip. “It’s my fault anyway, you don’t have to pay for me.” Thin lips are tugged into a frown that makes Akito click his tongue.
“I can’t just let you not eat all day, Touya.” He says, pulling loosely at his wrist again.
“It’s fine-”
“It’s not , if you forgot something like your wallet then you probably skipped breakfast too, now c’mon.” Touya stared back at him in silence and Akito’s brows furrowed with his mouth downturned.
“I can just-” Akito rolled his eyes at him and sighed,
“Then split with me.” His words came out as a demand, like a mom scolding their child. They stared at each other for a good second before Touya released the breath he was holding.
“Fine.” He relents, expression relaxing into its normal neutral state, Akito smiles back at him before turning away and waving his hand.
“You better eat what I give you then.” He says through a grin, punching Touya lightly in the shoulder as he turns to leave.
When he comes out to find him, Akito spots Touya sitting under a tree, blankly staring down at the floor. It’d only been maybe five minutes and he was already nodding off. Akito let the grin taint his face as he watched Touya’s eyes flutter and mixed-blue hair fall into his face.
“Day’s only half-way through, you can’t sleep yet dude.” Akito said as he plopped down beside him.
“Akito..” Touya blinked up at him, expression blank save for the slightly embarrassed flush from getting caught falling asleep. Akito smiled back, setting his food down on his lap and leaning back against the tree they were sitting against.
“Come eat this, you’re hungry right?” He asked as he spooned at the plate in front of him, “It was curry today, so you’re not allowed to complain, okay?”
“This is just a pile of carrots..” Touya said dumbly as he watched Akito shovel carrot pieces to the side of the plate.
“Yeah well, they’re good for you, and I don’t want ‘em.” He replied before putting his utensil down and picking up a spare clean one.
“If they’re good for you, you should eat them-”
“I said don’t complain about it, I’m not the one skipping meals here- look there’s also rice.” He raised his voice at him, tone playful yet adamant on not letting his partner get the last word in. Touya just sighs back, reaching for the spare spoon in Akito’s hand.
“I guess,” Touya pauses, eyes on Akito’s face and watching as he shovels a spoonful of curry-soaked rice into his mouth, “Thanks.” Akito just hums back noisily and nods his head letting go of the spoon in his other hand when he feels Touya’s fingers meet his.
Except when he does that, Touya lets out a near inaudible gasp that makes Akito turn his head.
“What- oh.” He’d dropped it.
“I’ll grab another one.” Touya moved to stand up but Akito grabbed him before he could take a step,
“It’s fine just use mine, it’s probably packed inside now anyway.” Akito tugged at Touya’s sleeve who reluctantly sat back down.
“You sure?” He asked. Akito nodded back, this time holding the tray up for Touya to take, eyes fixed in front of him and hands steady to ensure nothing else got dropped this time.
“Yeah, I’m done anyway.” He smiled and Touya hummed, blinking down before taking the tray into his own lap.
“I’m not sick or anything, don’t worry.” Akito pushed at his shoulder with a laugh.
“I’m not worried about that, it's just..” Touya looked up, face deadpan and unreadable as always, “Akito seriously, these are just carrots.” Akito sputtered and laughed back, smile wide as he landed his hand in dual-toned hair to ruffle it,
“I left you rice too.” He chided, picking up the spoon and shoveling up a bite for Touya before shoving it into his face and making airplane noises, “Now be a good boy and eat your carrots hmm?” He snickered as he watched Touya roll his eyes at him.
“I could say the same thing to you..” He mumbled before grabbing Akito’s hand to pull the spoon forward into his mouth.
The movement made Akito’s heart skip a beat, watching as Touya’s eyelids fluttered closed at the same time his mouth opened, his hand gripping firmly onto Akito’s. He watched him and swallowed, throat going grainy and dry before he blinked hard. Once, twice, before shaking his head and opening his eyes.
“What?” Touya mumbled through a full mouth, releasing Akito’s hand and bringing it up to hide his chewing face.
“Nothing.” Akito blinked back, face slightly warmed and his chest feeling oddly fuzzy. Touya hummed back, slipping the spoon out of Akito’s slowly lowering hand so he could use it.
“We’re going to Weekend Garage today, right?” Touya asked after a bit, placing the tray aside after he’d cleared it. Akito hadn’t realized he’d been staring at the floor until slim fingers waved in front of him.
“Huh? Oh, yeah we’re deciding the next event’s setlist today.” He looked up at Touya who hummed and nodded, satisfied with the answer.
The bell rang out shortly after that, signifying the end of their lunch period. Touya was the first to stand, dusting himself off before lifting the leftover tray up with one hand and offering his other hand to Akito. It was a routine gesture, one that had been exchanged between the two of them dozens upon dozens of times. But for whatever reason, staring at Touya’s waiting hand today made Akito’s head fizz and his heart race. It made his throat dry, his face warm, his back sweaty and he didn’t know why.
Maybe he was getting sick.
“Akito?” Touya called out, head tilted and lips pressed together as he waited.
“Ah-yeah sorry, just thinking.” He said quickly, before taking Touya’s offered hand and pulling himself up. Not even a second after he’d gotten up, he released it quickly, dropping Touya’s hand as if it were a hot iron. “I’m going ahead, see you later?” He asked before stepping back.
“Yeah, I’ll put this away.” Touya gestured at the empty tray and Akito nodded before walking off, almost a little too quickly.
“You didn’t walk Touya back to class after lunch today, did you two break up?” An ran up behind Akito, smacking his side as she giggled.
“How the hell do you even know- nevermind.” Akito sighed, already tired of talking to her.
“Aw don’t be like that, it’s just a silly little lover’s quarrel, knowing you guys, it’ll be solved in no time.” She giggled to herself as she settled into Akito’s pace down the hallway.
“We didn’t fight, I just had to get back to class.” He rolled his eyes at her curious expression.
“Oh really? So you’re being a good little boy now? Studying properly to make your mommy proud?” Her eyes narrowed and her expression turned devilish as she teased him. Akito felt as if he was losing brain cells listening to her speak, so he shoved his headphones in, taking care to outwardly show he was going to ignore An until they made it back to her dad’s place.
He pressed play on his phone, the first thing to come up being ‘Yoru wa Honoka’ a song recommended to him by Touya with an addictive bassline and smooth vocals.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” An’s voice faded into the background as they walked, and music filled his ears.
Outside, Touya was waiting for them just before the school gates, soft, afternoon wind blowing through his hair as he leaned against the wall, book bag over his shoulder.
“Ready?” Touya asked when the two reached his side. Akito smiled up at him, raising a hand to run it through Touya’s hair.
“Yeah, how was class?” He asks. An clicks her tongue pushing hard against Akito’s shoulder.
“Ooh, Touya, how was class -uh . Did you miss me?” She mocks with a lowered voice as she rolls her eyes, “But when I ask you the same thing, you shove your earbuds in and ignore me.” An sticks her bottom lip out in mock pout before sticking her tongue out as Akito pulls a face at her. Touya beside them stifles a laugh into his hand, the light twitch of his expression wrinkling his eyes at their corners. “It’s funny- laugh , doofus.” An says as she rolls her eyes again, muttering something the other two can’t quite hear before walking ahead of them.
Akito doesn’t even try to get a last word in, simply pursing his lips before falling in step beside Touya behind her and nudging his arm.
“Well?” He asks him again, not even attempting to hide the now annoyed twinge to his voice.
“It was fine,” Touya’s face is still smiling as they walk. Granted it's not an expression that’s that different from his neutral one, but Akito finds himself staring, lost in the way the corners of Touya’s mouth are ever-so-slightly upturned.
“Akito?” The sound of Touya’s voice pulls him out of the trance, forcing him to snap his gaze away and shake it off.
“M’sorry, what?” Touya blinks back at him before repeating himself,
“I was asking how the rest of your day went.” Akito nods letting the question roll in his brain,
“It was fine, boring as always.” He looks back up at Touya whose eyes are narrowed looking back at him, “What?”
“You have a test in two weeks and you should be paying attention.” Akito rolls his eyes at Touya’s suddenly stern tone.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s a while from now anyway.” He gestures at Touya to let it go as they turn a corner. “I’ll just cram-”
“No you won’t” Touya cuts in with the shake of his head and Akito clicks his tongue.
“He’s right you won’t.” An taunts from ahead of them, tilting her head back.
“Like you’re any better.” Akito shoots back immediately. An whips her head around again to stick her tongue out as she stops before the door to Weekend Garage and brings her hand to the handle, wiggling her fingers in a way that makes her painted nails visible.
“Except I am, I got two more right than you did on the English assessment last month, remember?” The bell above the door chimes as she swings the door open and steps in, followed by Ken’s voice echoing out as he greets her from inside.
“Whatever, my math averages are still better than yours.” Akito catches the door with a hand before it slams in his face, “Also, shouldn’t you be acing English tests anyway, your dad speaks the damn language doesn’t he?” An’s face falls at the mention of Ken and Akito lets the wide smirk overtake him when he catches her dad behind the counter with his own twitching grin, half-heartedly covering it up with a hand.
“Do you kids want anything to eat while you wait for Kohane?” He says, smiling as he leans his hip into the side of the counter.
“Dad, you’re not allowed to make fun of me, English is so hard you’ve even told me so.” She pouts and Ken laughs again, the raspy baritone of his voice playfully taunting his daughter as her face turns red.
“I want a parfait!” Akito steps in, voice loud as he drags a stool from its place tucked under the counter. An quickly turns her head, shaking off the flush from her face,
“God, you have such a sweet tooth it’s almost unsettling.” Akito punches her arm which gets him a jab in return.
“Alright, two parfaits, what about you Touya?” Ken asks as he turns away.
“Ahh I’m good-”
“Touya wants an omelet!” Akito cuts in over him.
“Dad, I never said I wanted anything,” An says as she leans over the counter. Ken laughs again and Touya’s mouth is agape as he squints before eventually moving to sit next to Akito.
“If Kohane were here she wouldn’t bully me.” An says as she moves toward the speaker system at the end of the counter. She plugs her phone in before rapidly tapping at the screen. “I’m changing the song!” She says before clicking again in a dramatic gesture. Akito rolls his eyes.
The music playing pauses abruptly. Smooth, atmospheric jazz stopping mid-phrase. A second later it switches, an upbeat tone and bubbly melody playing that’s instantly recognizable as ‘Ai Dee’.
“Don’t you get sick of listening to this type of stuff?” Akito lands his elbow on the counter, resting his head in his hand as he glares in An’s direction.
“Just because my playlist isn’t all over the place like yours, doesn’t mean my taste is bad,” She turns and makes her way to the seat beside Touya, “You don’t talk Touya down for only listening to Eve.”
“Is that bad?” Touya asks, his brows furrowed in the center as he tilts his head. An coughs into her hand and Akito shakes his head.
“N-no it’s fine, I don’t mind.” He responds quickly.
“Akito just doesn’t like the ‘uppity pop stuff’ as he would probably call it.” An interjects and nudges Touya in the shoulder from where she sits. He accepts her answer, nodding minutely. Akito catches An snickering, mouthing the words ‘safe’ to which he shoots her a look for.
“Alright you three, two parfaits, one with extra cream, and an omelet.” Ken sets the food down with a grin, cups and plates clicking softly on the counter in front of them.
Akito eyes the sweet treat, the glass cup piled high with yogurt, cream, and fruit, a layer of granola sitting pretty in the middle of it. The pile rises higher than the one given to An, proving that Ken really did put extra cream into his.
“How can you even eat so much of that stuff?” An asks with exaggerated disgust.
“Fuck off.” Is the only thing Akito responds with as he takes the spoon and sticks it into the monstrous pile of cream and yogurt.
It’s sweet, just the way he likes it and it melts in his mouth as soon as it hits his tongue. Akito struggles to hold in the delighted moan as he continues to shovel parfait into his mouth. He steadily makes his way through it, spoonful after spoonful until the silver spoon makes its way into the heart of the cup and a yogurt-coated slice of strawberry makes its way from spoon to eagerly waiting lips. This time the childish grin brute forces its way onto Akito’s face and he lets out an embarrassingly overjoyed squeak as the tart flavor of the fruit envelopes his taste buds.
“Can you calm down, you aren’t a little kid.” An’s staring at him with a spoon in her mouth. She shakes her head at Akito which gets her a well-deserved middle finger. “Is he like this every time you two go out to cafes?” An asks as she turns her attention to Touya who’s halfway through his meal.
“Yeah, pretty much.” He says simply.
An chokes on a mouthful of yogurt at Touya’s deadpan answer and Akito can feel his face burn. When Ken starts to laugh too, he kicks Touya’s leg.
“Ow- what did I do?” An just laughs harder while Akito slows the pace at which he’s spooning parfait into his mouth, his face turned away from the other two. “Isn’t that a compliment?” Touya asks as he sets down his fork and pushes his empty plate away.
“What do you mean by compliment? ” Akito mumbles around the spoon in his mouth, face still flushed to his ears.
“It’s cute.” He responds, completely serious.
At that, Akito’s eyes widened and his hand clenched tightly around the spoon’s handle, his knuckles going white as he pulls it slowly from his mouth. He felt like his stomach dropped and his heart stopped at the same time, face burning as his ears rang.
He’s still pointedly not turning towards Touya or even responding, trying (and failing) to slow his pounding heart as he pulls at the zipper of his jacket with his other hand. After a few seconds, An starts to wheeze, heavy laughter bubbling out of her as she hits the counter with her fist,
“God, you two are unbearable to watch sometimes.” Her giggling doesn’t stop there and Akito mumbles incoherent profanities, looking down at his near-empty cup. Luckily the soft chime of the front door echoes, cutting their conversation short.
“Kohane, welcome.” Ken calls out from where he stands, “Can I get you anything?”
“Ah, no thank you,” She lets the door shut behind her as she smiles, “ Sorry I’m late you guys, I had to stop at home for a little bit.” Kohane waves her hand sheepishly before moving to her predetermined spot beside An.