Chapter Text
“Wow, real calming,” Akito remarked, squinting at the first years by the game cabinets and the eyebags on the employee behind the arcade counter. “Perfect place for relaxation. Dude—”
Akito barely managed to pull Toya out of the way of two running children, their obnoxiously loud laughter echoing through the room. And judging from the dirty footprint that broke up the floor’s green squiggly lines, they weren’t being supervised very well.
“Oh. Thank you, Akito,” Toya said, brushing himself off as if this was a normal daily occurrence for him. Screw relaxing, how does Toya even manage to stay sane here?
“Yeah, no problem, man. Do you have to deal with this every time you’re here?” Akito pointed his thumb back at the kids who now had their faces pressed up against the claw machine window. Gross.
“Not usually. It appears since today is a weekend, more people are present.” Toya fiddled with his short sleeved shirt. Akito had chosen it for him because he thought he looked good in plaid, but if he knew not having long sleeves was gonna bother Toya this much, he wouldn’t have done it in the first place. “I hope that won’t ruin your day, Akito.”
“My day’s only ruined if your day is ruined.” Akito shrugged and walked over to the arcade machine, thankfully clear of arcade-goers under his age. He knocked twice against the glass and looked to Toya, who followed his step. “This one’s your favorite, right?”
Toya nodded, and Akito hated (loved) how his eyes lit up at the sight of the plushies inside. Ena’s room was already overflowing with the plushies he won, so the next natural candidate was Akito’s room, and goodness knows how many times he’s lost an earbud only for it to be hidden under one of the bears.
Toya walked to the claw machine and gently wrapped his hand around the joystick, practiced and familiar. Akito had to suppress a frown. I wish he was familiar with holding my hand.
“See any you like?” Akito propped his arm up on Toya’s shoulder and scanned the available prizes. There were a lot of cute animal plushies and some mixture of obscure game characters to even internet idols inside. However, Akito’s eyes ended up landing on the single food plushie, buried behind at least three Sonic plushies.
A stack of bubble pancakes.
“None that I’m particularly drawn to, but you seem to have a different opinion,” Toya chuckled, raising one hand to pinch Akito’s cheek. He grumbled for a bit before looking back at the pancake plushie. Judging from its position, even Toya’s math wasn’t gonna get it on the first try. In his thinking, he had failed to notice Toya still had a hold of his face.
He felt another hand on the other side of his face and before he knew it, Toya was kneading his face like dough. His hands immediately went to Toya’s wrists, but after seeing the wide smile on Toya’s face, he didn’t have the heart to stop him.
“Akito,” Toya whispered, stopping his hand motions to look Akito in the eyes. He only stared back at the most beautiful person in his life. That’s why he was completely blindsided by Toya’s next words.
“If I get that plushie in one attempt, you have to give me a kiss.”
“...”
“...”
“...Ah?”
As if he hadn’t just shattered the walls around Akito’s heart, Toya grabbed the joystick with renewed passion. He looked at his partner for confirmation.
“...Sure. Y-Yeah, why not…?” There was no way Toya was going to make it. But a small part of his mind really, really wanted him to.
Toya nodded. Then with more determination than Akito ever put into his school tests, Toya expertly directed the claw above the stack of pancakes. Ironically, Akito’s hands were shaking infinitely more than Toya’s.
“A-Ain’t it a bit too far to the right? You’ll grab the one next to to before—”
“Akito.” And holy, does that single word do things to his heart. “Trust me.”
And Toya confidently pressed the button.
Akito didn’t know what he was expecting. Toya making an absolute fool of himself and missing the plushie entirely was definitely one of the scenarios in his mind, but imagine his utter surprise when Toya hooked not one, but two plushies in a single claw grab.
“Toya, you can’t—”
And as if he wasn’t a genius enough, the accompanying plushie to the pancake plushie fell from the claw grasp, leaving enough room for the pancakes to easily slide down the retrieval tube.
“...I didn’t expect that to work.”
“YOU DIDN’T?”
Toya shook his head and scratched lightly at his cheek. Letting out a sigh, Akito grabbed Toya’s shoulders and slowly spun him towards him, making sure Toya caught sight of his
eyes. Oh, he was going to regret this, wasn’t he?
“Here’s your reward.”
Akito swiftly closed his eyes and put a small peck on Toya’s lips, ignoring how he had to go on his tiptoes to reach. Out of habit, he wiped off the kiss from his lips and immediately regretted it. Though after prying his eyes open, if he had to guess, Toya regretted it more.
His face was red from top to bottom and he was boring holes into the patterned floor. If he stared any longer, the carpet was gonna set on fire. Akito’s face, however, was one step ahead, already beginning to overheat with feelings ranging from oh god did I actually just do that to I want to do it again.
“...Akito.”
“Toya…”
Toya covered his face with both of his hands.
“I meant a kiss to the back of my hand…”
Oh.
OH.
“O-Oh my goodness, Toya, I didn’t mean—”
“Stop,” Toya urged him, holding out a hand while still covering his eyes. “It’s fine. I liked it…” To distract himself, he grabbed the pancake plushie and uncharacteristically forced it into Akito’s hands, leaving him with none to hide his blush behind. “E-Enjoy…”
“T-Thanks…” Akito buried his face into his newfound plush. This one was definitely going on his bed.
The walk back to Akito’s house was spent in comfortable silence, interlocking their pinky fingers to not get lost (which was definitely the only reason they did so). Waving goodbye and matching Akito’s faint smile as the door closed, Toya immediately pulled out his phone and dialed the perpetrator of the best day of his life.
“Shiraishi? Thank you for your advice, but… I think it worked out too well.”