Chapter Text
Akutagawa wasn’t quite the boy who believed in clichés. Still, he was aware of being a stereotype himself – an arrogant kid, often angry, definitely not the one you hoped would invite you to their birthday party. He was eleven years old, though, when he changed his mind.
Just like in a poorly-written teenage romcom, Akutagawa met his soulmate by having him sit next to him in class. Well, he didn’t know he would be his soulmate yet, he realized a few months later. And that “oh” in italics moment would have marked him for the rest of his life, but at that moment, Akutagawa only knew that a pretty boy with white hair and a shy smile was showing up late on the first day of middle school. The kid had rushed in the class, panting, and every classmate had stopped chatting with each other to stare at him in perplexity. The boy nervously smiled and started looking for a free seat. Trying not to show his sweating, he threw his school bag on the first empty desk he saw, which was the one next to Akutagawa.
Akutagawa rolled his eyes and bit his tongue in annoyance: he was in the back of the class, the closest to the walls that he could. He had hoped people would have left him alone – he wasn’t exactly used to friendly behaviors directed towards him – and this kid was already apologizing for something while disposing of his school stuff on the desk.
What surprised Akutagawa, however, was that the boy suddenly stopped talking. Akutagawa didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of tilting his head and speaking, but the kid didn’t seem to mind. He just sat in silence as the teacher walked in the classroom and their experience in middle school began.
Eventually, Akutagawa spoke to the kid – who cheerfully introduced himself as Atsushi, insisting on being called by his given name. He however respected Akutagawa’s request of using his last name to be addressed. – and every day the boy did all those little things that made Akutagawa develop a sense of affection so quickly that he only noticed once they had become best friends. For example, Atsushi always brought two donuts instead of one because he had noticed that Akutagawa tended not to eat much. They would always eat their snacks during lessons, trying not to get caught by the teacher – they often got detention for doing so, especially Atsushi. And Akutagawa opened up enough to reveal his surprising – but hilarious – sense of humor, which never failed to make Atsushi giggle. His laugh sounded so pure to Akutagawa’s ears and he didn’t know if that specific effect was one of the causes or consequences of him falling in love with Atsushi.
It happened casually, on a day of early February. Akutagawa wasn’t sure of what pulled the trigger, but one day he was walking home and the realization hit him. He enjoyed Atsushi’s presence next to him. He didn’t mind it when his friend rantled about his favorite books or flowers for hours, and he actually kinda liked when Atsushi hugged him – which happened quite often. Akutagawa loved their friendship and the comforting happiness he associated with Atsushi. He felt blessed for having an angel like Atsushi by his side, and he decided he had to somehow repay him. He would be the best of friends and, hopefully, one day even something more.
***
Atsushi loved flowers. That was one of the first things about him that Akutagawa ever knew. Atsushi said that his mother was a florist and that she used to teach him things about flowers when he was a child. Akutagawa met Atsushi’s parents a few weeks after befriending him and he was not surprised at all when they turned out to be the sweetest and kindest couple ever. They immediately liked Akutagawa and always baked him cookies when he came over. Akutagawa even smiled at them sometimes. He would have never admitted it, but Atsushi’s house felt like a home.
***
Atsushi’s twelfth birthday would be on May 5th. Surprisingly, he wasn’t one who talked about it a lot. Akutagawa figured that he would be an explosion of joy, but he actually was pretty quiet about it. He still organized a small birthday party to which Akutagawa was obviously invited.
Akutagawa had spent a lot of time trying to think about the perfect gift for Atsushi. Even if they were close friends, they had known each other for a little more than six months. He had a vague idea of what Atsushi could like, but the true inspiration came to him only a few days before the party. And once he knew what to buy for his best friend’s birthday, he was sure he would have never changed his mind.
On the day of the party, Akutagawa was pretty nervous. He knew he wasn’t Atsushi’s only friend, but the idea of having to put up with other kids was kinda scary to him. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door and then waited for someone to open it. It didn’t take long for Atsushi to spread it, basically throwing himself into Akutagawa’s arms. Akutagawa was now used to it, but still enjoyed and was quite proud of being the only one who Atsushi hugged so tightly.
The party itself went well. As they walked in the house, Akutagawa recognized Atsushi’s friends and relaxed a little. They were friendly people, so he thought that spending a couple of hours with them should not be a problem. Everything went quite smooth, from the cake to the presents to the movie. Still, Akutagawa wasn’t satisfied yet.
Only after all of Atsushi’s friends were gone, Akutagawa was ready to give Atsushi his gift. Of course, the white stuffed tiger (the one that in the future would be the origin of Akutagawa's nickname for Atsushi, "Jinko") from earlier was still a present, but Akutagawa wanted to do something more special for him. So he waited for his friend to come back in the living room and silently stared at him, as Atsushi sat next to him with his soft smile. Akutagawa spoke first and handed Atsushi a bouquet of white flowers with blue undertones called Ipheions.
Atsushi was a little confused at first, so Akutagawa told him that he felt like a banal present such as a book wasn’t something he would buy for his best friend’s birthday, so he had thought about Atsushi’s other main interest and had also gotten him some pretty flowers he thought Atsushi could like. He was already starting to apologize for not knowing if Atsushi would like them when the boy suddenly hugged him, telling how sweet of him it had been.
For the first time, Akutagawa returned the hug.