Work Text:
"It's in your locker at work isn't it?"
Aiura smacked her head into her hands in frustration. "Gahh! How'd you even find out?!"
Saiki had at least enough shame to look away from her. "Remember when I picked you up from work so we could go eat at that restaurant?"
The fortuneteller sighed miserably. "Oh right, I should've known you'd be able to see even from outside the building." She looked at her boyfriend gloomily. "Well, that's my anniversary surprise out the frickin' window, I even worked my butt off to not think about it around you too." She pouted.
Saiki crossed their living room to give her a pat on the head to which she just frowned deeper. He then said in his dull voice, "Why do you even want it to be a surprise anyway? With your powers, you'll be able to find yours out just as easy."
His girlfriend took hold of the hand that was on top of her head and put it to her cheek. "Aw, but where's the fun in that? Just 'cause we have powers doesn't mean we have to turn into boring people who aren't surprised by anything y'know?" She then gave him a smirk. "Or at least I don't have to, you're already too far gone for that, baby."
Narrowing his eyes, he snatched his hand back and turned to leave. "Now that I think about it, maybe I'll just throw yours into a volcano. I'm sure that'll be a good surprise for you, sweetie."
Aiura gaped at him. "Hey! I was just kidding, dummy!" She yowled, scrambling off the couch to chase after her boyfriend.
"Are you really gonna do that to your gf on your first anniversary living together~?" She said as she hugged him from behind in an attempt to stop him from walking away. Obviously, the pink-haired psychic was barely phased. He continued to walk to their bedroom with her stubbornly hanging off of him like a yellow koala and once there, he unceremoniously picked her off of him and threw her on the bed.
"Oof." Aiura gasped as she landed on the mattress. She and Saiki silently stared at each other for one more second before he turned around to sit on his chair across the room.
The blonde sat up and sighed. "It's just, I've never actually surprised you on purpose before."
Saiki swiveled his chair to face her more properly.
"We've been dating for a hella long time now and a part of me thought I'd be able to do it by now." She said, crossing her arms. "Last year, I got your gift last minute to throw you off but then you instantly knew the moment you touched the box, and the year before that I messed up and accidentally thought about it and you found out when you read my mind." She leaned back and splayed herself on the bed, defeated. "Maybe surprises are just not meant to be in our relationship."
Saiki got up from his chair to sit next to her on the mattress. "It'll be a pain, but if it really means that much to you, I'll just wear my ring for the whole month." With his telekinesis, he opened his desk drawer and grabbed his ring from the inside.
Aiura hurriedly rose from her laying position and caught the ring in midair before it could land on Saiki's palm. "No, babe, you can't." She refused while looking at him seriously. "The ring may be convenient for when we go to the movies and stuff, but like, there's no way you can wear this for a whole month! You're totally crazy."
He was about to protest when she leaned in to give him a brief kiss. "Don't get me wrong, I find it totally sweet that you even suggested something like this but I know how hard it is for you when you can't read minds. I don't want you to go through that just for me, you hear?" She asked fondly.
After hearing her reasoning, Saiki's gaze softened. He questioned himself why he was still taken aback, he knew Aiura was incredibly considerate of him so it should've been obvious that she'd reject his idea. Still, it warmed his heart that she would rather force herself to not think about something around him for weeks instead of letting him wear his ring.
He reached a hand forward to brush the bangs away from her eyes, another idea popping in his head. "Then maybe next year I can just.....not look at it?"
He lightly blushed in embarrassment when Aiura simply laughed. "You have, like, super x-ray vision, remember? Even if I hid it three houses over you'll be able to see it. Like, jeez, you even found this year's gift and you weren't even looking for it." She giggled as she cupped his cheek. "I'm just sorry I'm not mentally strong enough to block off my gift thoughts from you. I promise to try harder next year."
Saiki shook his head and opened her other palm to reveal his germanium ring. "I'm serious though, if I can't wear the ring, then I can just not look at the place where you're hiding the gift. All you have to do is tell me where not to look."
Aiura nodded her head along to Saiki's plan. "That could actually work, but that's also a lot of work for you, don't you think? You won't be able to relax at all if you're too busy trying not to accidentally turn the wrong way. Too bad you couldn't just...turn your x-ray off or something."
Saiki shook his head no. "Trust me, if I could I'd turn it off forever." He muttered, still caressing her hand.
Aiura looked at him in pity. Seeing Saiki struggle with all the drawbacks from his amazing powers reminded her that some blessings are actually curses in disguise.
Aside from their impromptu heart-to-heart, the rest of their day carried on pretty normally.
That night, while Saiki was (manually) washing the dishes, he was still thinking of ways to fix their 'surprise' problem. Wearing the ring wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't so hard to know when to take it off and when to put it on. I could accidentally overhear her thoughts if I'm not too careful. Muttering a silent *tch*, he proceeded to wipe his hands before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. While he waited for his Aiura to come back from the convenience store, his thoughts drifted to his good old friend whose mind he can't read. Nendou's too stupid for me to read his mind, if Mikoto was like that... He then imagined Aiura with a chin like Nendou's, saying and doing all the idiotic stuff his best friend did when they were in high school. Yech, nevermind. He shuddered.
Just then, another thought formed in his mind. Hmm, but what if her brain was like a bug's? Then I could... At this, his brain forcibly cleared itself before he could imagine his cute girlfriend as a hideous, gross, creepy creature. Nope. Absolutely not.
He hung his head as he became more and more frustrated with the failures in his imaginary scenarios. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his germanium ring. If only there was a way I can block out just her mind from my telepathy.
Like a lightbulb going off in a dark room, Saiki's gasped when his mind suddenly brimmed with ideas that could potentially achieve the results he's been looking for. He then made a note to himself to make a phone call the day after.
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Other than the ruined surprise, their anniversary went off without a hitch. They were able to exchange gifts and kisses as they celebrated another year together.
The following weekend, the pair went to visit the mind-reader's parents per their request.
"Oh, happy anniversary you two!" Saiki's mother, Kurumi, excitedly greeted, handing Aiura a box with a big red bow on top.
"Yeah, who knew our Ku would last this long in a relatio-OW! What I meant was, I'm so happy for you, son." Said his father, Kuniharu. Still rubbing the sore spot on his arm, he pointed to the box currently in the blonde's hands. "That's from the both of us by the way."
The young woman, used to her partner's silly parents by now, simply laughed at the exchange. "You guys are like, more excited for our anniversary than we are, lol! But anyway, thank you." She put the box on the table for now.
The giddy woman squealed. "Yiee, of course! We're just so happy our Ku has found someone he wants to move in and spend his time with. And since he loves you, we'll love you just as much as we love him." The woman childishly bounced with her fists under her chin.
Aiura couldn't help but blush. Putting a hand up to her face to hide her widening smile, she took a step towards the woman. "Omg. Can I, like, hug you?" She asked shakily.
As his mother nodded eagerly and the two shared a warm embrace, the pink-haired psychic turned away from two to face his father.
Seeing the smile on his son's face, Kunihar proudly put a hand on his shoulder. "You found a good one, Kusuo."
For once, Saiki wasn't annoyed with his father's comments. "More like she found me." He joked.
Before anyone could say anything else, the door to the Saiki household opened to reveal the eldest Saiki son. "Why didn't anyone invite me to celebrate my baby bro's anniversary?"
Saiki scowled while the three other people in the house gasped in surprise. Who the hell celebrates his brother's relationship anniversary? He thought irritably. As he watched his mother run up to his big brother, he face-palmed. Oh right. "This family." He muttered dejectedly.
"Ku-kun, what are you doing here? Why didn't you call us in advance?" His mother asked, holding her arms out to Kusuke waiting for a hug.
"I'm sorry, mom. I suppose I just forgot, I did come over on a whim after all." Kusuke replied, hugging his mother sweetly.
Kuniharu held his hands up expecting a hug as well only to freeze when Kusuke walked past him. He then coughed and pretended to wave away flies that 'accidentally got inside from the open door' instead.
"Oh dear." Kurumi said while Aiura held back her laugh.
Kusuke made a beeline to Kusuo and draped his hand over his little brother's shoulders, directing him over to the stairs."Don't worry about us, I just want to talk to little Ku here in private.
While everyone else was busy downstairs, Kusuo shoved his brother's hand off him as soon as they closed the door to his room. "What are you doing here?"
Kusuke chuckled. "About that thing you asked me the other day..." Saiki narrowed his eyes. "Not. Here. I told you I'd visit you for that. Don't mention anything here or else they'll hear you."
The eldest brother sighed. "Fine, baby bro. You do know that you're asking a lot from me, right? That order of yours won't be done for a while."
Saiki wearily looked at his brother. "That's fine, as long as it's done by next year."
Kusuke put on a cheeky smile. "I do gotta ask though, did something happen for you to turn to me? He teased.
The youngest made his way to the door. "This is getting annoying. Just do your job and don't ask bothersome questions." The psychic said as he closed the door on his brother.
Kusuke let out a little laugh to himself. "Always the tsundere, little brother."
As soon as both boys had made their way down the stairs, everyone else was already seated for dinner.
"So, what were you two talking about?" Kuniharu asked as they took their seats.
"Oh nothing, I was just congratulating Kusuo on his big milestone. Who knew he'd ever move away from this house?" Kusuke joked.
Kuniharu laughed. "Ahaha, you're right. His absence definitely hit us hard the first few months eheh.....heh." He gulped as he remembered the broken figures he couldn't fix without Kusuo's help.
After dinner, everyone migrated to the living room. From her seat at the couch, Aiura watched Saiki tell his dad he could see all the broken toys in his room and Kuniharu sheepishly asking him if he could go and fix them. To which Saiki rolled his eyes and grudgingly going to do it.
"Dang, that's x-ray vision to you." She then looked adjacent to her to see Kusuke watching TV. She schooched over to get closer to him. "Hey, Kusuke." She started.
"What is it, Fortune-teller?" Kusuke turned to her sweetly.
Aiura cringed at his tone, she still wasn't completely comfortable with the super genius and she probably never will. "You're an inventor, right? You made Kusuo's hairpins?" She leaned closer. "Did you make his glasses too?"
Kusuke laughed good-naturedly. "Haha, no. The pins were mine but as for the glasses, I believe he just acquired them randomly as a kid." He then put his hand to his chin and leaned towards her as if examining her closely. "Say, about your powers, do you mind if I experi-"
"-Hey, could you, like, invent something for me?!" Aiura hurriedly interrupted, forcing him to stay on topic.
Piquing his interest, Kusuke nodded for her to continue. "Go on."
Aiura smiled. "Um, I was thinking if you could invent something like a..."
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The lively night ended with Kurumi handing out premade meals and leftovers to the couple before they could teleport back to their apartment.
"Please don't hesitate to visit us again anytime if you want more, okay?" She said, handing Aiura another tupperware container.
"Whoa, this is so much!" Aiura gasped as she struggled to juggle everything until Saiki picked most of it up with one hand. "Ah, thanks, honey." She then looked back at the woman who was wiggling in excitement from their casual interaction. "Good thing I love your cooking. I'll make sure to call you soon!"
Kurumi hugged Aiura again. "Yes! Please make sure to put Ku on the phone too, alright?" Aiura laughed. "Sure thing."
"Bye, Kusuo. Bye, Mikoto." Kuniharu yelled from his spot in the living room. "Bye, you two." Kusuke waved beside him.
As the couple waved goodbye, Saiki went to hold onto Aiura's waist so he could replace them both from his parent's bright living room to their dark kitchen.
"Wasn't that fun?" Aiura sighed as she put the containers down and stretched her arms over her head.
"Maybe a little tiresome." Saiki yawned back. Heading to restock their refrigerator with the food in his hands. He then said with a smile, "Been a while since I saw them though."
"Aww, you miss them." The blonde teased. She went to stand behind him. "Did you miss your brother too?"
Aiura stepped back when Saiki grunted and closed the fridge with a little more force than necessary. With his gentle face from just a few seconds ago turning into one of pure annoyance, he clicked his teeth. "No. I'm sure I could've stood a few more years without seeing him. Tch, I'm taking a shower."
Aiura chuckled to herself, muttering "You don't mean that." to his leaving form.
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The rest of the year passed by fairly quickly and normally for the psychic duo. If you count having a few wacky adventures with the rest of the cast, discovering new obscure powers, and saving the world a few times as normal. Though there were a few particular moments that was worth a special mention, all of them involving a specific older brother.
Aiura was brushing her hair when a notification from her phone suddenly popped up and momentarily startling both her and her boyfriend.
Picking up her phone from her side of the bed, Saiki walked over to Aiura on her vanity to hand it to her, raising a brow when she took great care to check who the message was from without accidentally showing him. Alas, it was a useless effort since with a quick read of her mind, Saiki immediately found out that the person she just got a message from was from his brother.
This was bad. Did his brother tell her his plan? "Why was Kusuke messaging you?" Saiki asked.
Aiura, fumbling to turn her phone screen off, smiled nervously at her boyfriend. "Uh, no. I was just telling him about this client I had and I wanted his input since, y'know, I wanted a perspective on...being.....an older brother?" She trailed off.
Saiki probed into her mind to find anything suspicious but all he could read was thoughts about her upcoming shifts this week.
Saiki narrowed his eyes. As annoying as it is, the longer they've been together, the better Aiura was getting at hiding her thoughts from him. He gave her a hard look for a few more seconds before sighing. "Fine. Whatever."
Honestly, he trusted Aiura pretty strongly. As long as she wasn't putting herself into anything dangerous (Who even knows what's going on in that psycho of a brother's mind), and as long as it didn't have to do about his plan getting exposed, he pretty much let her do whatever.
A month after that, Saiki was coming home from a late shift at the bookstore when the phone rang. He let Aiura answer it as he changed from his work clothes to his nightclothes but paused as soon as he heard through the wall his brother's name. Aiura opened their bedroom door to notify him. "Baby, it's Kusuke. He said he wanted to talk to you about testing somethi—woah!" Saiki snatched the phone from her hand at lightning speed and breathed angrily into the receiver.
"Kusuo, is that you?" His brother's delighted voice spilled from the phone. "You might want to speak up, baby bro." Saiki was careful not to break the phone handle as he answered his annoying brother with his physical voice. "Why are you calling? Do you remember what I told you? This is already the fifth time, you're gonna get me caught." He threatened. On the other end of the line, Kusuke just laughed. "Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice, baby bro."He teased.
Having had enough, Saiki snarled. "I'm coming over."
Aiura watched as Saiki disappeared without even putting the phone back and letting it drop to the ground. She went to pick it up when she heard Kusuke from the other line.
"That was fast, Kusuo. Did you miss m-*crash* y'know I won't be able to finish my work any faster if you break that monit-*boom* I needed that little bro-*bang* okay I get it—"
Aiura held the phone to her ear and listened to the damage being done to what was likely to be the genius's equipment. She was wondering if Kusuke was still alive when Saiki picked up his brother's phone.
"Mikoto."
His partner let out an eep at being caught listening before responding with, "Y-yeah, baby?"
"I'm gonna have to clean this up. I'll be back in a bit and make sure to put the phone down."
They both said their quick goodbyes and hung up.
"He doesn't know about the order, right? I don't think Kusuke would spill the favor I asked him, right?" She fretted the moment she was left to herself.
-----------------
The month of their anniversary was soon approaching and both of them were dispirited.
"They definitely know." The both of them unknowingly thought at the same time.
While the two were mistakenly thinking that their planned surprise was ruined for yet another year, in reality, the only information they knew about the gifts was that they had something to do with Kusuke.
The big day finally came and like they do every year, they both requested for that day off from their respective jobs so they could start their day by sleeping in together. They were enjoying each others warmth as they cuddled while the sun slowly shined on them through the window.
Aiura grinned sleepily from under Saiki's arm and was ready to go back to deep sleep until the doorbell started ringing at an annoying rate, snapping her awake.
"Urghh, hollup! I just got out of bed. It's still so early!" Aiura shoved herself off the bed while Kusuo just groaned when the bell rudely woke him up as well.
She opened the door to reveal the smiling face of none other than Saiki Kusuke. "Good morning, Psychics. Happy anniversary!"
Saiki walked up behind Aiura so he could join her in glaring at the older man.
"If I may let myself in, alright, there we go." Kusuke said nonchalantly as he squeezed past them to enter their living room. "Alrighty, let me see it."
Aiura looked at her boyfriend who just shrugged in return. "See what?"
The mad scientist just chuckled. "The presents of course."
Both psychics looked at their guest in alarm before panicking.
"Haha, don't mind him, Saiki I don't know what he's talking abou—"
"That's it."
Kusuke, who was standing in the middle of the living room, was now levitating in the air as his brother held him in something like a floating chokehold without the actual choking. "Whoa! Calm down, baby brother, I just want to be here to see both my inventions do their work for the first time." Kusuke calmly explained in the air as he recovered from the surprise of being lifted up.
Aiura did a double take. "Both?"
After being put down, Kusuke laughed. "Haha. Yes, Mikoto-chan. You weren't the only one who commissioned me."
Before she could ask any further, Kusuo flicked his brother's forehead which removed him from his home with a small *pop*.
"Kusuke?! Babe, where'd you take him?" Aiura asked as the scientist disappeared in front of her eyes.
"Greenland." Kusuo coldly replied.
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As the two sat on their bed holding up different-sized boxes, Aiura looked at the ring on Saiki's finger and smiled. He only started wearing it two days before but she still appreciated his gesture. The number of times he accidentally got frightened out of his skin by the delivery man made her feel bad though. "So you asked him to make you something too?"
Saiki nodded. "I asked if he could make something you'd really appreciate."
Aiura blushed. "Alright, how bout we open each other's gifts at the same time?"
Saiki agreed. "Alright."
Both exchanged their boxes and removed the wrap.
It took a moment before anyone could verbally react.
"It's shiny." The girl blinked.
"Looks nice." The boy replied.
In each other's boxes was a rich violet hairpin and sleek, colored tinted glasses respectively.
Aiura held up her pin to examine it in growing awe. "The design looks really cool the closer I look at it."
Saiki floated his gift up close and appreciated the matte temples of the specs. "Simple. Just how I like it." He grinned.
He put the glasses down and took the pin from her and unclipped the back. He then gestured to her hair.
Aiura giggled and leaned closer for him to put it on her. As soon as it was attached to her hair, Saiki brought over a hand mirror with his powers.
"This is so pretty!" Aiura gushed. "This is exactly the kind of style I'm into right now!" She said as she looked at the clip from every angle.
Saiki gave her a smile. "Looks good on you." While she was blushing from the compliment, he took off his ring and put it on the nightstand. Aiura quickly put her hand on his as he smiled even wider. "Hey, not yet! You'll find out what your gift does!" She warned as she tried to stop him.
Her reaction was too much for him and Saiki ended up momentarily curling into himself and laughing in enjoyment before he went back to his relaxed state.
Aiura looked at him bewildered.
"Did you just laugh? Like, a good, giddy laugh? You never giggle, like, ever..." She touched her hair insecurely. "I haven't brushed yet, does it look that silly?"
Saiki shook his head and reached for her hand. After giving it a squeeze, he said, "I can't read your mind."
With widened eyes, she breathlessly asked, "What?"
Saiki nodded towards the shiny hair clip. "That pin is designed to keep your thoughts, and just your thoughts, out of my mind-reading. I knew you wouldn't want the round spheres so I specifically asked for that design.
"WHOA, REALLY?!" Aiura asked incredulously. "That's totally awesome!"
After freaking out about it for a few minutes and Saiki watching her freak about it, she then took the glasses that were abandoned next to his lap. As excited as she was, she couldn't accept being outshined. "Here! Wear yours!" She gushed excitedly.
Saiki safely replaced his old glasses with his new ones but per Aiura's request, didn't open his eyes until her say. He waited until Aiura counted to three and on the third count he looked at her.
Like really looked at her.
Aiura was looking at him with a hopeful but giddy face. "Is it working?"
For the first time since he was in high school, Saiki Kusuo was speechless. Utterly speechless. "You're..."
His girlfriend could only giggle mischievously. "I'm what?" She pretended to pose shyly.
Saiki held onto her arm as he took in all he was seeing. Or rather, not seeing.
"You're not meat."
The soothsayer could only cackle loudly at her soulmate's ridiculous sentence. "I asked your brother to make you glasses that weaken your x-ray vision." She explained once she calmed down.
The two spent their entire morning playing with each other's gifts, checking them out, and testing their abilities. By the afternoon, they moved from their bedroom to the couch.
"So, my gift was better right?" Aiura bragged as she laid on top of his chest.
"No way."
She faked being mad by hitting her fist against his shoulder. She then laughed and looked at him with shining eyes and blushing cheeks. "Too bad you can't wear those all the time. Your brother said it'll give you a headache if you wear them for more than a few hours." She said with a sad smile. "Your powers will also probably adapt and the glasses will stop working after a while..."
Saiki pinched her side. "A few hours is already more than enough. At least you can wear yours for as long as you like." He reassured her.
She then gave him a sly smile with half-lidded eyes. "I did say that surprises were fun, but—" She took off the clip. "I still do like it when you read my mind sometimes." She cupped his cheeks. "Can you guess what I'm thinking right now?" She said as she kissed him on the lips.
The next day, they got a visit from a very persistent brother asking if the gifts he made were functional. All he got back were two thumbs up.