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"Shinonome-kun."
Akito sighed, his hands falling to his sides in exasperation. Who could possibly be bothering him during his few precious minutes of lunch? What could this person even need from him? Why not just ask him sometime when he wasn't eating? He'd specifically asked his friends if he could eat alone on the rooftop just to have some alone time, but that was pretty much out the window now. Annoyed, he looked up from his food to glare at the intruder.
"Kamishiro-senpai?"
What did he want now? First, he'd roped him into the wedding situation and now this? He really couldn't get a break around here, could he? He should just walk away right now.
"I wanted to pay you back for helping us out with the wedding." the purple-haired boy smiled.
Ah, so that's what this was about.
"I didn't do it for you, remember? I did it for Toya. There's no need to worry about repaying me or whatever." Akito grumbled, looking back at his bento to continue eating.
"Oh, but I must. Without you we wouldn't have been able to pull everything off. Plus, you're my kouhai." Rui insisted, drawling his voice out dramatically in a way that grated on Akito's ears, "Surely there must be something I can do to repay you?"
So he was offering to do something of Akito's choice? Hey, if Rui was offering, who was he to turn it down? Maybe if his request was troublesome enough he'd even get to see the older boy's resolve crumble a little.
"Bring me cheesecake tomorrow." he stated with finality, eyebrow raised as he looked up to watch his upperclassman's reaction to his challenge.
Instead of the strained smile he was expecting, Akito was met with a wide grin. Shit, did he fall into some kind of trick?
"Is that all?" Rui asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Huh?" Akito replied, narrowing his gaze in suspicion, "Yeah. Just don't pull anything weird. I still don't fully trust you."
"Alright, that's it then. I will see you tomorrow with some cheesecake. Later, Shinonome-kun~" the taller boy winked before strutting off to his next class.
Before Akito could protest, or finish his lunch for that matter, the bell rung, signaling his own departure from the roof. What the hell was that? Akito tried his best to forget it, distracting himself with the disorder of the hallways as he returned to class.
...
In the end he did end up forgetting about the ordeal, for when Rui showed up the next day holding out a small, wrapped bento box for him, he was most confused.
"What is this?" the underclassman asked plainly, eyebrows knitted in skepticism.
"Don't tell me you forgot." Rui pouted, bringing the box back to his chest in rejection, "It's the cheesecake you asked for."
At the reminder of yesterday's ordeal, his eyes widened a fraction. For some reason Akito felt bad about forgetting. What was he thinking? This was for him after all. There was no need to feel bad.
"Uh, sorry." he apologized awkwardly, "I'll take it off your hands."
Rui handed the box to him gently, ensuring he didn't drop it. The wrapping was an intricate traditional pattern, the silky fabric sliding across Akito's fingers as he unwrapped it. As he opened the box, he was met with a singular, miniature cheesecake, garnished with various fruits and some whipped cream. A dark purple syrup had been drizzled over the slice, leading him to believe that the cheesecake was a blackberry or blueberry variant. Had Rui bought this? Had it been expensive? It looked a slightly higher quality than the cheesecake Meiko served at her cafe.
"I made it myself." Rui stated proudly, a smile accompanying his words as he looked to Akito for his reaction before reaching for his own lunch inside his bag.
To say that Akito was surprised would've been an understatement. In full honesty, Akito was expecting for Rui to pull some kind of prank or give him shitty konbini "cheesecake". Instead the upperclassman had baked one from scratch for him. He didn't know how to feel about that information. Maybe he had read Rui incorrectly?
"I- Thanks." he mumbled begrudgingly. What else was he supposed to say? The change in Rui's demeanor was too stark to take it at face value. Was there really no catch?
"I'm glad you like it." Rui chuckled lightly, taking a seat next to Akito, "Here."
The upperclassman held out a fork, clearly from his own home. Hesitantly, the shorter male took it, turning it around in his hand. This was so weird.
"Aren't you going to try it?" Rui questioned, tilting his head towards the box Akito set in his lap.
"You didn't put poison in this, did you?" Akito asked dryly, stabbing the silverware into the edge of the cake.
"Why would I do that?" Rui reassured him innocently, "Just try it."
Ignoring him, Akito broke off a small piece with the fork and brought it to his mouth. Immediately, a burst of flavor exploded in his mouth. Holy shit, had Rui really made this? The expression on his face must've conveyed how he felt because it wasn't long before the taller boy spoke up again.
"Does it taste good?" Rui asked, his grin widening.
As much as he didn't want to admit it, he answered anyways, "Yeah, it does."
The other boy laughed happily, "Well it's your payment for your hard work, so it should be."
Akito continued to pick away at the cheesecake in relative silence, bewildered at the sheer quality. Despite how much he still very much disliked the other male, he desperately wanted to know how he'd made it. He decided he would entertain Rui's antics. Just this once.
"So you made this?" he asked in between bites.
"Mhmm. You didn't specify what flavor so I just looked up a recipe online and modified it a little." Rui answered easily, "I hope you like blueberry."
"Mm." Akito hummed in agreement as he chewed on another bite of cake.
"I've actually never made a cheesecake before so I wasn't sure if it'd taste good at all." Rui added, smiling at the sight before him, "But from the way you're devouring it, I assume it's pretty good."
The comment made Akito flush with embarrassment, "Shut it."
"Sorry, sorry~" he apologized lightly with a smirk, "Don't mind me."
After a few long and slightly uncomfortable seconds, Akito attempted to continue the conversation, "So you mentioned performing shows. What are they
like?"
"Hm? Oh you're talking about my job at Phoenix Wonderland?" Rui queried, watching as Akito shoved another chunk of the sweet confection into his mouth, "Well, we typically have a pretty sizable crowd considering where we're at. It's a combination of singing, dancing, and acting, kind of like what the wedding was like in a way."
"That must require a lot of stamina to do that kind of thing all the time." Akito commented, looking down at his hands in thought, "I was pretty worn out after just that one gig and I wasn't even there for all of it to begin with."
"Ah, it is rather tiring, but you get used to it after doing it for a while. There's a certain pattern to it." Rui agreed with a sigh, "I'm sure you'd be just as good as me if you just did it more often. You mangaged to teach a lot of non-dancers how to dance in just an hour."
At the praise, Akito coughed. What was up with today? Why was Rui being so... nice? The rational part of his mind told him not to trust it but he couldn't deny the rush of happiness he'd felt just then.
"T-Thanks..." he stuttered, flustered at the older boy's words, "But I don't see myself doing anything like that in the future."
"Aw, really? What a shame." to Akito's surprise, Rui seemed genuinely disappointed, "I won't force you, but you definitely have a talent for it. Maybe you could even perform with us at Phoenix Wonderland one day."
Akito sputtered, "Are you trying to butter me up? Seriously what's up with you?"
Rui frowned, "I wouldn't lie to you about your skill, Shinonome-kun. No one else there could've done what you did. It's not easy learning choreography and teaching it to other people in under two hours."
"I guess, but I was just teaching the choreography that you gave me. It wasn't anything special." Akito mumbled, pushing the last bits of his cheesecake around with the end of his fork.
"I disagree. You took leadership over strangers and taught them something they ordinarily wouldn't understand. They even came up to me after the event and told me how easy you made it for them." Rui argued, looking the shorter boy in the eyes.
His gaze was intense, not unlike the way it was when Akito saw him taking control of the event. It was impressive, and a little frightening, how quickly his entire demeanor could change.
"I think you're giving me too much praise when you're the person who had to direct an entire cast of people you didn't know without a moments notice." Akito rebutted, finishing off the last piece of his gift from the upperclassman.
"Oh? complimenting me now? Alright, alright. Let's just say we both did a good job as a team then, hm?" Rui winked, returning back to his flamboyant character.
"Uh, sure." Akito replied plainly, not sure what else to say without letting his shock become apparent on his face.
Then suddenly, Rui was scooting closer to him. Akito had to resist the urge to jerk away.
"You have something on your face." the upperclassman noted, studying a purple stain on the other boy's face.
Blinking away his annoyance at the violation of his personal space, Akito swiped at his face with the back of his hand, attempting to rub away whatever Rui had seen.
"It's more to the left." Rui stated, still staring at Akito's face.
Akito tried again, slightly more to his left.
"No, I meant my left." Rui corrected him, now pointing to Akito's cheek.
Akito tried again, trying to ignore the uncomfortable stirring in his stomach as he moved under Rui's gaze, painfully missing the smear of blueberry syrup yet again.
"Here, just let me get it." Rui stated, shaking his head, amused.
Before he could object, Rui was wiping away at his face with his thumb. His hand was cold to the touch, sending a chill down his spine. Akito was about to yell at the older boy when his eyes locked with Rui's. Intimidated and a little weirded-out, he sat there waiting for the ordeal to finish, and just as suddenly as it had started, it ended, Rui several feet away from him again as if nothing had occurred.
Without hesitation, Rui stuck the sticky, syrup covered finger into his mouth, sucking on it and releasing it with a 'pop'.
"Hmm, it was pretty good. Very sweet." the older boy thought aloud, "No wonder you enjoyed it so quickly. I'll have to remember the recipe for next time."
Akito still hadn't comprehended what had just happened, much less the fact Rui hinted that there would be another time. This had to be some kind of weird dream.
"...Next time..?" he managed to ask, confusion written on his face from the strange sequence of events.
"Mhmm. Did you think I'd let you go so easily?" Rui smiled, lips quirking upwards in their usual fashion, "Just kidding. However, I would like to visit you during lunch again sometime. I enjoyed it."
To Akito's own surprise, he found that he wanted to eat lunch with Rui again as well, "Uh, sure. I also... enjoyed it."
As if it were listening to their conversation, the bell rang, once again cutting off their interactions. Akito was almost disappointed.
"Ah, looks like I should go now." Rui sighed, gathering his bag that he'd set down, "It was fun, Shinonome-kun. You can keep the bento and give it back to me later. Thanks for letting me have a taste."
And with that, the upperclassman left, waving over his shoulder one last time before departing down the hall. Akito stood there in shock, watching as Rui's silhouette became smaller and smaller until he was out of sight. He subconsciously rubbed his fingers across the spot where Rui had brushed off the syrup, contemplating the last twenty minutes. What was wrong with him? It was just Rui. The same Rui he used to hold strong disdain for. Nothing changed, had it?
"Hey, get to class!" a hall monitor shouted at him, snapping him from his daze-like state.
"Sorry." he replied, leaving to return to his classroom.
...
The next day he decided to eat at the rooftop again for some reason. He decided to name that reason "because he felt like it". It had nothing to do with Rui at all.