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Akito really didn’t understand the buzz around February the 14th.
The aroma of chocolate in the air, the whisper-screams of guys and girls alike to their friends about their planned confessions and such, it was all too much.
To him, it was just another Tuesday.
Sure, it was kinda sweet seeing people bashfully leave chocolate on classmate’s desks, and slip notes into each other's lockers, whatever.
He just didn’t get the people who spent ages picking out the perfect gift for their crush or beloved or whatever they wanted to call it, or even counted down to Valentine’s day - who counts down to Valentine's day?
It was stupid, if you asked him.
Stupid, he thought, as he walked out of the classroom and into the corridor, and the hum of soft chatter and the shuffle of footsteps filled his ears.
Stupid, he thought, as he walked past two girls shyly holding hands, one definitely not dressed in the Kamiyama uniform, as a heart-shaped chocolate box lay forgotten next to them on the bench.
Stupid, he thought, as he sighed and unlocked his locker to reveal the stupid little plushie he’d been fretting about all weekend.
The world was over. The world was over, and Akito Shinonome was doing something dumb for Valentine’s day.
The plushie was a small shark, as he had recently learnt that Toya was partial to sea creatures through Azusawa. He would have to thank her when he next saw her.
He had a hunch that it wouldn't take long, given that it was Valentine's Day and Shiraishi was, well, Shiraishi.
He was not looking forward to having to witness their overly romantic displays of affection at their rehearsal, or maybe even sooner.
If the girl in the hallway (Kusanagi? Was that her name? He tended to forget) could sneak her Miyamasuzaka girlfriend in, Shiraishi could too. God knows she was ever-determined.
He blinked. Fuck.
He needed to refocus on the matter at hand. The matter being the miniature shark he tightly grasped.
Stupid arcade with its stupid cute shark plushie that would be perfect for Toya. Why did he even go there?
♫
Azusawa had gotten sick on the previous Friday, and then couldn’t attend practice on Saturday. And if she wasn’t attending, Shiraishi wouldn’t be either. And Toya had already said that he would be too busy to join them.
So, bored of composing music towards the evening, Akito headed up to the arcade. He usually couldn’t stand the place, but it was relatively quiet for a Saturday at an arcade, so he went inside.
He wandered around for a bit, then came across Toya’s favourite. A claw machine.
According to Shiraishi, his partner made winning look a lot easier than it really was. Akito knew that Toya was skilled at the machine, but it couldn’t be that hard, right?
Wrong. So, so wrong.
He slammed his head into the glass of the claw machine, the incessant beeping and flashing of the other arcade games taunting him.
The stupid claw wouldn’t hold onto anything for the amount of time it needed to. It would either not grab hold of anything at all, or hold onto a plushie for long enough that it got his hopes up, then dropped it right next to the chute.
Determined not to be outsmarted by a machine, he proceeded to feed the greedy thing every last penny in his wallet, the metallic clinks echoing as the arcade steadily quietened as people left.
But the spending was to no avail.
He trudged out of the arcade, his failure pounding in his head, the smell of cheap candy and unwashed carpet still lingering in his nose.
Unwilling to admit defeat, he chose to return the next day with more change and an intense determination to an arcade that was a little more busy, but the claw machine that he intended to win a plushie from was vacant.
Cracking his knuckles, he scanned the contents of the machine. It was full of various colourful animals. The usual bears, dogs, cats, and a handful of brightly-coloured sea creatures.
The sight of them triggered a thought. He sighed, and now he knew what he had to do. Toya liked sea creatures, and there were sea creatures in the machine, and Valentine’s day was coming up, and it was actually weirdly perfect.
He had recently come to terms with the fact that he was in love with Toya, and Shiraishi and Azusawa reassured him that his long-term singing partner felt the exact same way, and Shiraishi in particular insisted that Akito needed to stop being a pussy (as she put it) and just confess.
On rare occasions, she was right. This was one of those occasions.
He noticed a perfect blue shark plushie sitting relatively close to the prize chute, and he thought that it would be perfect.
On his first try, he didn’t even get the damn thing off the floor of the compartment. His second try was a little better, moving it slightly closer before dropping it.
His third try, however…he got a good grip on the shark’s head, the claw picked it up cleanly, hovered over the basket, but then disaster struck.
It fell right onto the rim of the chute. Sitting innocently, teetering between the chute and the rest of the plushies. Akito stared at it, begging for it to fall the right way, his grip on the joystick becoming unbelievably tight.
After what felt like years, the shark plushie fell neatly down the prize chute, as if there had been no struggle at all.
Akito had to stop himself from fist pumping the air or whooping out loud. He had finally done it.
With the taste of victory on his tongue, he headed home, only to immediately start freaking out.
♫
And that brought them back to today, where he stood in front of his locker wondering if he should just ditch the entire idea and just keep being best friends with Toya.
The thought of maintaining the current status quo seemed easier, less risky, even.
But he had to confess. He needed Toya to know somehow.
And if not know, when?
So he walked up to the roof, hands shaking, the shark safely tucked away in his school bag.
He remembered what Shiraishi had told him when he first admitted he was scared of what would happen if the other boy rejected him.
“One, there is no way he doesn’t like you back. Two, if he didn’t like you back, he’d be the nicest person ever about it. It’d probably deepen your friendship in some weird way. Literally anything does, with you two.”
He hated when Shiraishi was right. Toya could never reject total strangers with anything but the utmost kindness, so surely he would never be unkind to Akito even if he didn’t share his feelings.
Even so, as he climbed the last steps, he couldn’t help but wonder if the risk was worth it.
♫
As he reached the rooftop, he spotted his partner sitting on a bench near the fence.
Akito plopped down next to him like he usually would, trying not to give away that today in particular he was quite afraid of the close proximity.
The silence was overwhelmingly loud as he dug through his bag for his lunch, leftover fried rice that Ena had made the night before.
He turned to Toya, and attempted to begin a conversation. Unfortunately for him, Toya had the same idea, and decided to execute it at the exact same time.
“A-” Toya quickly closed his mouth in embarrassment.
“To-” Akito did the same. “You go first, it’s fine.” he let out an awkward chuckle. This was incredibly different to the comfortable atmosphere he was used to.
The other boy seemed to take a deep breath before beginning. Akito didn’t notice that he had a small bag of chocolate in his hand.
“Akito, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but I was never able to find the right words or moment. This is probably far from the perfect moment or the perfect confession, but I’ve come to realise that it’s okay. We’re not perfect. I should probably get straight to the point. I’ve been in love with you for a while, probably longer than I’ve known. I love everything about you, your passion, your determination, it’s all just so…beautiful? I just, I love you, Akito. Would you like to be my boyfriend?”
He held out the bag of chocolate to a now dumbfounded Akito. He took it.
“Toya, I-” he began, but Toya cut him off.
“I understand that we’ve been friends for a while, and that this might be a little strange. It would make sense for you to think slightly lower of m-” the boy solemnly began, and this time, Akito was the one doing the cutting off.
He captured his partner’s lips on his own, in a messy, but perfect kiss. It was a little awkward at first, but they found their way around it.
As they pulled away, Akito looked at the other boy and was almost startled by how stunning he was, blushing slightly pink, his eyes reflecting the sunlight.
Toya blinked in slight surprise, then smiled the most gorgeous smile Akito had ever seen.
“So, is that a yes?” he giggled.
Akito rolled his eyes, then shoved his hand into his school bag to pull out the tiny blue shark he had intended to give Toya.
“I hate you for confessing first, but yes. I’ll be your boyfriend.”
He went in for another kiss.