Work Text:
…How many times had he rechecked this damn sheet of paper? Akito grumbled a swear under his breath, his grip on the pen in his hand tightening. All of the letters and numbers had become a jumbled mess, and he didn’t know which answer went to which question anymore.
“I’ll just ask Touya tomorrow,” he grumbled to himself, finally admitting defeat by sliding the pen across the desk. The sound of the barrel rolling slowly and then falling with a clunk onto the floor might’ve been his last straw, though—he crumpled up the sloppily filled-out chemistry homework and stuffed it back into his backpack, heaving out a sigh. There was no way he was going to understand a single one of those formulas by the test date.
…The test. That was… when, again? He pulled out his calendar for the first time that month, it seemed. He flipped the page, opening to May, and his gaze instantly snapped to the second Tuesday of the month. How could it not? It was circled four times in bright pink highlighter, with stickers all around it, and in huge letters—
—Saki’s birthday.
Akito felt his heart drop. Fuck. Was it that soon? He could’ve sworn it was, like, last month that she—
–
“And thiiiis,” Saki picked the highlighter back up, scribbling circles around the square on the calendar, “is my birthday. Don’t you forget it, ‘kay?” She quickly added the words “SAKI-CHAN’S BIRTHDAY!!” in the middle of the space. Instead of looking smug like Akito expected her to, Saki pouted in thought for a moment. Quickly enough, her eyes lit up, and she turned to rummage through her bag—and after only a couple seconds, she pulled out a few sticker sheets and handed one to Akito. “Here! Help me decorate it a little, so we can make sure you’ll remember!”
Before Akito could object, she was already packing the small space with little stars and fruit-shaped stickers. They were bleeding into the other dates at that point, but Akito figured it probably didn’t matter. As long as she was having fun, it was fine.
“…Okay, okay, that’s enough,” he complained anyways, waving her hands off of his calendar. “I get it.”
“But you didn’t even help!” She puffed out her cheeks, pouting again (how’d she manage to look like a baby deer every time she did that?). To make things even worse, her shoulders fell, and her expression melted into one of sheer disappointment.
“Fine, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Don’t need to make that face.” Akito sighed and peeled a single sticker off of the sheet and put it on the date. May 9th, huh?
He handed the sticker sheet back to Saki, only then realising the sticker he’d placed had been in the shape of a heart.
–
Akito felt his face get hot at the memory and slammed the calendar closed, throwing it onto the ground with a thud.
…Shit. He needed to figure something out, and fast.
Akito sank into the library chair as the bell rang, signalling the start of free period. Before Touya, who had long since taken his seat next to him, could say anything, Akito pulled the ball of paper out of his bag—shame hanging on his face. He was trying to look anywhere but directly at the other boy, who Akito was sure was wearing some kind of sour, disappointed expression.
“Look,” Akito started, sinking deeper into the seat. “It got frustrating, okay?”
Touya sighed, but gave a small nod. “What matters is that you’re willing to try.”
“Yeah, I guess. Can’t fail this one.”
Touya flashed a smile and clicked his pen, the nib jutting out of the plastic barrel. “Let’s get started, then. So, this lesson focused on…”
Akito tuned Touya out almost as soon as he’d started. It wasn’t intentional or anything, but ever since he’d opened that damn calendar, he couldn’t keep his mind off of Saki’s birthday. It was only a few days away, and he’d forgotten all about it. What was he supposed to come up with in such a short period of time? A gift card? No, that’d be tacky. Some kind of accessory? No, who knows what her collection already looked like. He could make a piece of jewellery for her by hand, maybe, but… yeah, no, not happening.
“Akito.” A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you paying attention? This is important.”
“Yeah, yeah. Energy equations… and stuff.”
“Which one?”
Akito hesitated. 50-50 chance. “…Potential.”
Touya squinted just a little, but seemingly shrugged it off as he directed his attention back to the worksheet. “So, as I was saying, to calculate the potential energy of a…”
Unfortunately, Akito didn’t hear much more than that: the avalanche of thoughts surrounding Saki’s birthday drowned out anything he could’ve possibly learned from Touya’s explanation. It was way more important than the exam. He could make that up later, probably, but he couldn’t risk fumbling Saki’s birthday this year. ‘Cause he liked her. Really, really liked her. And if he fucked it up… it’d definitely disappoint her, right? He’d look like he didn’t know anything about her, or worse, didn’t care—and she wouldn’t want to go out with a dude who didn’t care. She could do better than that, and he knew she knew that. So what the hell was he supposed to do? Maybe… he could try baking something for her. He’d dabbled with that before, and wasn’t entirely insecure about his baking skills, so… it was an option. Something handmade’s always better, anyways, right?
“Akito,” Touya’s voice was a little softer this time. “What’s going on?”
Akito hesitated, but realised quickly there was no way he was getting out of this a second time. He glanced away, murmuring “Saki” under his breath.
Touya raised his eyebrows, obviously taken aback. “…‘Saki’?”
“Y’know. The Tenma one.”
“I do know, yes.” Touya looked as if he had more questions, but his lips stayed pursed shut, waiting for Akito to continue instead.
“…What’s she like?”
“Her personality?”
“No, no. Like—” Akito bit his tongue as he fumbled over his words. “—Like, food. Y’know? What’s she… what kinda’ stuff does she like?”
Touya raised his hand to his chin, thinking over it for just a moment before answering. “Desserts. Or anything sweet, really. Cakes, pastries… that sort of thing.”
Akito silently thanked him for not prying any further. He thought about it for a couple more seconds before continuing, his voice a little more timid than before. “‘S there, like… anything specific?”
Touya stopped to think again for a little while, and then shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure. Why don’t you ask Tsukasa? I’m sure he could tell you.”
Akito groaned, melting further into his seat. “Really? There isn’t anyone else?”
Touya’s lips split into a soft smile. “If you’re going to do something for Saki, he’s the one to go to. But… if you were really adverse to speaking with him, you could always ask her bandmates.”
“…And they’ll think I’m being weird, probably,” Akito muttered, dragging a hand across his face. “I’ll think about talking to Tsukasa… I guess.”
“Great. Now, will you pay attention? You’re going to need to know this, and we’re running out of time.”
“Sure… yeah. Thanks, Touya.”
Akito found himself back at his desk mere hours later, staring at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He thought it’d be a good idea to make a list of ideas—it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with something himself, right? He wouldn’t actually have to talk to Tsukasa… right? Right?
“Sweets, huh…?” He mumbled to himself, clicking his pen a few times. “Maybe… some pancakes? …No, that’s way too simple.” A pause. “...Maybe strawberry pancakes? ...No.”
What had felt like hours had already passed, and not a single option was written on the sheet of paper: everything he’d thought of had been deemed out of the picture before he could even move to write it down.
What’d Touya say again? Cakes or pastries, right? A cake probably wouldn’t be too hard, but it’d be pretty basic. …What about a pastry? No, those were notoriously hard to make, and he didn’t have the time to perfect the technique. Maybe something like cookies would do, but something about that didn’t feel right. Akito cursed under his breath, his head hitting the desk. So much for making something perfect—at this rate, he’d have nothing to give her. Damn it.
Akito jumped in his seat as he heard the door swing open, but he didn’t turn. He had to think of something. He couldn’t get distracted—
“What the hell are you doing?” His sister’s voice was grating on his ears. “I’m busy.”
“Busy sitting in the dark?” Her footsteps inched closer. “Doing what?”
Akito quickly balled up the blank sheet of paper and shoved it in his pocket—he wouldn’t hear the end of it if she’d seen him sitting there at a loss like that. “Nothing. What do you want?”
Ena just sighed, the sound of her footsteps stopping. “Dinner’s ready. Mom and Dad are almost done.”
Akito finally turned around, a scowl visible on his face. “Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner!?”
“I did.” Ena rolled her eyes. “Should’ve checked your phone.”
Akito turned back around, hunching over his desk. “Just get out. I’ll be down later.”
Silence. No retort, but no footsteps, either—she wasn’t leaving.
“What?”
“You’re acting weird.”
Akito clicked his tongue at the remark. He’d heard that from his sister so many times he’d lost count. “Yeah, whatever,” was all he could muster up as a response.
In retaliation, Ena huffed and crossed her arms. “I mean it! What's bothering you? Just tell me now so I don’t have to stare at that stupid airheaded expression while we eat.”
Akito grumbled in defeat, rubbing the back of his neck with another click of his tongue. Guess there’s no other choice… might as well get straight to the point. “What… do girls usually like?”
“Huh!?” Ena nearly yelled in response, eyebrows furrowed and visibly shaken. “Girls? What girls like? …What does that even mean?”
Akito’s hand lingered on the back of his neck. “It means what I said,” he mumbled, refusing to look at her. “Girls. What do they like?”
Ena’s nose scrunched up. “Girls aren’t a species, dumbass. If you want to get a girl something, then just ask her what she wants.”
Akito rolled his eyes. “I can’t ask. ‘S for her birthday.”
The brunette hummed quietly, obviously trying to come up with something. “Well… does she have any siblings? Any close friends you know?” She paused, eyes narrowing as she looked straight at her brother. “—Actually, why don’t you just know what she likes? Don’t you pay attention to her?”
“You don’t have to dig into me like that, holy shit. I pay attention to her, it’s just… I don’t know what she already has. I was thinkin’ about baking her somethin’, but I don’t know what she likes.” The boy shifted in his chair in discomfort. “And I don’t wanna talk to her brother. He’s a weirdo, and he’ll probably end up telling her, anyway.”
Ena’s hands almost instantly moved to her hips. “Just ask him, stupid! It’s not that hard. You’re being stubborn. Or would you rather make her something she doesn’t like?”
“…No.”
“Glad we got that sorted out, then.” She started towards the door, stopping at the door frame. “I’m going back downstairs to finish my dinner. I’m gonna’ be watching a movie with Emu once I’m done, so don’t bug me, okay?”
“…Gross. Whatever.” The door shut with a click behind her, and Akito just sighed and slumped deep into his chair.
He was really… going to have to ask Tsukasa, wasn’t he?
05:19AM
meet me on the rooftop after school today
its important.
Akito shoved his phone in his pocket with a sigh. He hadn’t gotten a response—had Tsukasa even seen the message? He knew the guy was busy, but he thought he’d get something back, some kind of acknowledgement. He’d sent the thing before the sun rose, practically.
So, there he was, standing on his school’s rooftop alone, probably looking like a loser. But… whatever. It could be worse. He doubted anyone was looking, anyways. …Probably. Hopefully.
Before he could think about it any longer, the door slammed open, and Akito breathed in sharply. It probably should have been more of a sigh of relief—the blonde had seen the message, at least—but, fuck, he did not want to have this conversation. At all.
“You called specifically for me!?”
Tsukasa’s voice was as loud, if not louder, than ever, and Akito struggled to fight the instinctive urge to cover his ears.
The blonde continued. “—Of course you did! I’m the most reliable senpai there is!” As he waltzed over to the boy waiting for him, he let out a laugh.
Akito failed to stop himself from visibly cringing, but, luckily, Tsukasa didn’t seem to notice. “Can you keep your voice down?” Akito hissed. “I need you to keep this quiet.”
Tsukasa’s face quickly fell, a more serious expression settling on his features. “…Sure. Is something wrong?”
“Not wrong.” Akito looked away, his hand instinctively moving to rub the back of his neck. “Just… wanna ask somethin’. About Saki.”
Tsukasa’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Saki? What about Saki?”
“Nothin’ bad, I just… wanna’ know what she likes.”
“What she likes!? That’s the easiest possible question you could have presented me with! Of course you’d come to me!” Tsukasa proudly threw his hands onto his hips, a wide grin on his face. “Saki loves amusement parks like Phennyland, and cute plushies, and tea, and haircare, and makeup, and sweets, and—”
“…Stop there. The sweets part.” A pause. “Thinkin’ about making her a cake… or somethin’. What’d she like?”
“You? A cake… for Saki?” Tsukasa stopped, eyebrows furrowing again—this time in deep thought. “I appreciate the gesture for my darling little sister, but… it’s quite strange! You haven’t done anything like that for Touya, have you?”
“ …‘S different,” Akito muttered, refusing to look at the blonde. “Just… don’t think about it too hard. You’ll hurt yourself.”
Tsukasa squinted, just a little, before sighing and nodding. “Well, I can’t turn down such a kindhearted idea for the best little sister in the world!” Another grin, this time accompanied by a boisterous laugh. “What kind of cake would she like? Let’s see… why not do something unique!? A blueberry cake… with a sauce on top…” He tapped his foot, thinking for a moment. “Ah! Mango! Make it mango! You can make mango frosting for it, too!” He puffed out his chest, hands moving back to his hips, almost boasting about his choice.
“Blueberry… mango?” Akito’s nose scrunched up. “She wouldn’t want, like, red velvet, or chocolate, or somethin’?” Of course… it had to be difficult. It couldn’t just be something simple. …Not with this guy, at least.
“I’m sure she’d love something made special for her!” Tsukasa insisted. “I’ll help you make it if you find it too difficult to do alone!”
“I can make it myself,” Akito snapped back. “It’s fine.”
Tsukasa hesitated, but relented easily. “Well, if you’d like any help, just give me a call!”
“…Sure. I… gotta’ go prepare. See ya’.”
Akito nearly bolted for the door, running down the stairs—leaving Tsukasa, a puzzled expression donning his face, alone on the rooftop.
Akito dropped the grocery bags on the kitchen countertop, heaving a sigh. He’d bought everything… right? …Right?
—Well, it was too late now, anyway. Whatever he had would have to do. He took the items out of the bags, one by one: a couple packages of blueberries, a few mangoes, baking powder, vanilla extract, and some food colouring, just in case. He was sure they had enough milk, and butter, and… whatever the hell else he needed. Sugar, and flour, and eggs… yeah, definitely had all of that. Probably.
A quick look through the pantry, and through the fridge, revealed he was right. Regardless, he made a mental note to double-check next time.
He pulled out his phone, only for his lock screen to be flooded with texts from… not the blonde he wanted to see them from.
tsukasa 3:36PM
DON’T FORGET!!!!!!
Blueberry!!!!! And mango!!!!!!!!
Be SURE to make it special for my darling little sister!!!!!!
I won’t accept anything less!!!!!
tsukasa 3:51PM
You should carve it into the shape of a star!!!!!!
…Tch. Akito rolled his eyes, tapping the last message and swiping to reply.
4:02PM
im not doing that
Almost instantly, he received a text back.
tsukasa 4:02PM
Please??? For Saki!!!!!
Akito sighed, clicking his tongue.
4:05PM
it aint for saki its for you
tsukasa 4:05PM
No it’s not!!!!! She’ll love it!!!!
I PROMISE!!!!!!!
Akito stopped, thinking it over. Would she? If he was this insistent, then…
4:11PM
fine
He quickly put his phone on do not disturb after that: he didn’t need any more distractions. He pulled up the recipe he’d found on his way home and grabbed all of the listed ingredients. He slowly, carefully, measured them all out into small, separate bowls. He’d do that and then go from there.
It didn’t take him long to figure out the compote was going to be the most difficult part: it felt so involved and so precise, simmering fruit with water, sugar, and lemon juice for whatever reason on the stove, making sure to keep stirring. As easy as it seemed, it felt tedious, and required a little too much attention and focus than he’d like. And he had to do this twice. The whole thing required precision and focus, but… well, it was for the girl he liked. So maybe it didn’t matter.
In the little time he could spare with his eyes off of the stove, he grabbed his phone, threw in his earbuds, and put his favourite playlist on shuffle. Okay. You’ve got this, Akito.
…
The icing went okay—better than expected, actually—and the cake that was chilling in the freezer looked… fine. Good, even. But he was quick to remind himself it wasn’t done yet. He couldn’t get ahead of himself, or he’d slip and ruin the whole thing.
There were two bowls of icing, one mango and one blueberry, completed and sitting to the side. Might as well do both, he figured. It’d be nicer that way. Maybe he could layer both in between the layers of cake he was planning to cut… that’s what bakers did, right? He decided on an Italian meringue buttercream after finding it held up pretty well, so… it should work. Probably.
He had just finished up the mango coulis (that was a word he’d learned that day) he was planning on topping the cake with, too—he was lucky he quickly figured out that he could just put the leftover compote in a blender and call it a day. He was running out of time, after all, and he didn’t want to still be working when his parents got back from… wherever they’d gone (he didn’t care to ask). Sighing, Akito poured the coulis out of the blender and into a bowl. It wasn’t the neatest thing in the world, but that was fine.
He took the cake from the freezer and slowly, carefully removed it from the tin, and put it on a plate. He didn’t have one of those turntables he kept seeing bakers use online, but… whatever. It’s not like he needed one. He’d make it work.
Taking the sharpest knife he could find in hand, Akito slowly split the cake in half. The layers were a little uneven, with the top half a little bit thinner than the bottom, but… it was good enough. He didn’t slice into it on an angle or anything, which was what mattered. He separated the slices before taking the bowl of mango-flavoured icing and a spatula. This shouldn’t be too hard, should it?
Quickly, he realised he was wrong. Dead wrong. Just the spatula wasn’t doing anything except spreading a thin layer, and that wasn’t going to look good at all. He was trying to avoid having to do anything that could end up going horribly wrong, but it seemed like he didn’t have much of a choice.
“Piping it is,” he whispered to himself, using the spatula to scoop the icing into a plastic bag. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but he could deal with that. He cut the tip off the bag and pressed, moving his hands circles around the edge of the cake, and then slowly, carefully moving inwards until he got to the middle: then slowly, carefully smoothing it out. Not bad.
He threw it in the freezer again, and slowly started cleaning up what he could, humming to himself as he did.
“…Fruit? You went with fruit?”
Akito jumped, quickly turning around to lock eyes with his sister. Damn it.
“Yeah. Her brother said she’d like it.” He paused, taking one of his earbuds out of his ear. “Help me clean these, since you’ve apparently decided to skip today.”
“Huh!? No way,” Ena scoffed, sitting down at the table. “You made the mess yourself. I’ll just watch.” She tapped at her phone for a moment before looking back up. “And I’ll have you know I was busy drawing all day. I don’t feel like dragging myself out. I’m exhausted.”
“Whatever.” Akito clicked his tongue and turned back around, washing one of the now-empty bowls in the sink. “Y’know, you could stand to be nice for once.”
“I am nice,” Ena scoffed, voice holding just the slightest bit of sarcasm. After a second, though, she opted to change the subject. “So what’s she like?”
“What’s who like?”
The brunette rolled her eyes with a smirk. “Don’t act stupid. Your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Akito snapped, moving the bowl to the drying rack. “She’s just… a girl I know.”
“As if you’d be doing all this for ‘a girl you know’.” She clicked her tongue with a sigh. “Well, tell me about her anyway.”
Akito, realising he should probably start the second layer of icing soon, grabbed the bowl of blueberry icing and a plastic bag, repeating what he had done with the other bag. “She’s… cool. In a band.”
Ena huffed. “…That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“To you, yeah.” Akito grabbed the cake from the freezer, placing it back on the table. He picked up the blueberry icing-filled bag and began to pipe on top of the last layer, moving from inside to out this time.
“You’re… doing two layers of icing? In a row?”
“...Yeah,” Akito mumbled. “What are you, the cake police? Why does it matter?”
“It’s just weird. It’s one between layers. I guess those are thin enough to be passable, but it’s still gonna’ look strange. Probably not a great structure, either.”
“It’s fine,” the younger sibling hissed, starting to smooth out the second icing layer. “Just leave it.”
It was quiet as Akito lifted and set the top layer onto the bottom layer. Thankfully, it seemed to hold up okay. Please, God, let it stay like that. Now to put a final, thin layer of icing on the very top of the cake… right? He hesitated, but decided it’d probably be easier to do it before messing with the shape. He took the bag of mango icing and the spatula back out, piping and then smoothing a thin layer of icing over the top. It was a little uneven, sure, but not terrible.
Next, he had to… carve it, huh? Akito sighed, shaking his head. If she’d really be happy with a star, then… can’t be helped, really. He took a deep breath, and slowly sliced into the cake. Probably should’ve mapped it out first. Throwing any uncertainty out the window, though, he slowly began carving out the shape he wanted. It was a little… uneven, but it was fine. Definitely could be worse. He glanced over at Ena, who had gotten bored and was scrolling through her phone. He held back a sigh of relief: the last thing he needed was his artist sister telling him how shitty and lopsided the star looked.
Now, all he had to do was finish the top. Home stretch. Akito took the bowl of coulis and… poured it in the middle, letting it spread out a little. It wasn’t the most masterful, but it didn’t look bad—if Saki decided to ask, it was… artistic expression, or something. Yeah. He’d go with that. It still looked kind of… plain, though. Maybe… he could put in some candles, or something? No… that’d look childish.
“Put some of the leftover fruit on top.”
Akito quickly turned to look at his sister as she snapped him out of his thoughts. “Huh?”
Ena had looked up from her phone for a second, it seemed. She looked at the cake, then at Akito, then back to the cake. “You think it’s missing something, right? ‘Cause it is. Put some fruit on the top of it. You have some left over, don’t you?”
“…Yeah.” Akito opened the fridge and grabbed the two small bowls of leftover fruit. “Should I put it like… all over, or…?”
“By the looks of it, you don’t have enough to make that look good. Just put a couple pieces in the middle.” Ena sighed, looking back down to her phone. “I have some sprigs of mint in the fridge. You can use one if you want. Just one. I’m running out.”
“One?” How stingy, Akito thought, but he knew better than to complain. He made another trip back to the refrigerator and looked around for a minute. He held back a sigh when he finally found them—they were all neatly separated into tiny sprigs with just two leaves each. It’ll do, though, he thought, and gently removed one from the glass they were kept in, taking it back to place it with the fruits.
He decided to go with a handful of mangoes in the centre of the cake, with a couple blueberries in a space that was a little too big to look nice. He placed the sprig of mint on top, and then stepped back, hands on his hips, admiring his work. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad by any means.
“Not too bad,” Ena said, as if she was reading his mind.
“Yeah,” Akito agreed. “Looks like you can actually be helpful when you’re not up my ass.”
“You better be damn careful or I’m taking my mint back,” His sister retorted, looking down at her phone again. “I still think the two layers of icing in a row thing is weird, by the way.”
“It’s not,” Akito insisted, putting the cake in the refrigerator. “It’s fine.”
On his way back to his room, Akito heard Ena mutter an exasperated “I don’t know why I even try,” making him roll his eyes. What followed, though, was an even quieter “but I hope she’ll like it.”
Akito couldn’t help but smile.
May 9th. Although he’d just baked the cake the night before, it felt like the day came too quickly. Akito couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe he should’ve done something else. Gotten her a proper gift. Once a cake is eaten, it’s gone, after all—plus, he was certain she’d be getting something from her parents, too. Or her friends, even. Damn it. A wave of insecurity washed over him, but he did his best to shake it off as quickly as he could. More importantly… he had no idea when or how he was going to give Saki that cake. He’d assumed she was going to have some get-together or something, but he hadn’t heard anything yet. Not that he minded not being invited, but that left an insanely small amount of time for him to be able to see her.
…What class was he in again? He looked up from the paper he was mindlessly scribbling on, and squinted a bit at the board. Ah. English. How could he forget? There wasn’t too much time left in the period, thankfully, but there was enough for Akito not to completely disengage.
As he struggled to find the passage in the current book his class was looking at, he felt his phone buzz. He furrowed his brow a little. Who the hell was texting him?
saki 10:18AM
akito!! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
Akito blinked once. Twice. Three times. Saki? Wasn’t she in class? He fought the urge to immediately text back, asking what the hell she thought she was doing. Don’t take risks like this for me, stupid, he thought. Not worth it.
saki 10:19AM
this is a liiiiittle last minute, but i’m meeting up with my friends at nonogi park today at 4:30!!
we’re gonna hang out a bit and then go to phennyland!! ‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧
wanna join? you’re def invited!! ꒰ᐢ. ̫ .ᐢ꒱
Holy shit. Akito felt like he was about to break into a sweat. He appreciated the gesture, but… that’d be weird, right? Well, Touya would probably be there, too, so maybe it would be okay. But he wanted to give her the cake he made without anyone’s eyes directly on him. …Except for Saki’s. Obviously.
It took a couple minutes for him to figure out a response, clammy hands typing, then deleting, then typing again.
10:22AM
sure
but can i meet you there at 4
…Soon enough, his phone vibrated again. The feeling made his heart drop.
saki 10:25AM
( 〃 ❛ ₃❛)?
yeah! i can do that!!
just you and me?
Did she have to say it like that? Akito swallowed hard, wiping the palms of his hands on his pants before responding.
10:27AM
yeah
saki 10:28AM
great! i’ll see you at 4!! ♡⸜(ˆᗜˆ˵ )⸝♡
10:29AM
cool. see ya then
Akito took a deep breath and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Focusing on the lesson would get his mind off of the meeting later, and maybe score him some points with Touya, too. He picked his pencil back up, doing his best to pay attention to whatever his teacher was talking about.
…It didn’t work.
As soon as school ended, Akito bolted back home. He had less than an hour between the time he left campus and the time he decided to meet Saki, and there was so much to do: shower, pick an outfit, do his hair, grab the cake, and make it to Nonogi Park.
…Now that he thought about it, maybe that wasn’t that much. But it definitely felt like it. It was doable, sure, but he’d be cutting it close.
He picked out an outfit (something casual, but not too casual), took a shower (setting a 5-minute timer exactly), and blow-dried and styled his hair. He didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard, so he didn’t do much more than usual. He also didn’t have the time to do much more than usual, but he tried not to think about it like that. He grabbed the cake from his fridge, put it on the nicest plate he could find, and placed it in a container, throwing a fork in for good measure. He put the cake in a bag—he couldn’t spoil the surprise that easily—and made sure it was secure. Now, just to make it to the park without messing it up. He couldn’t run, but… he could walk. Quickly. And that would work, probably. He checked his phone, staring at the time. 3:46. He’d be fine.
Akito kept looking down at the cake as he walked, checking time and time again to ensure nothing had happened to it. The more he looked down at the top of it, though… it seemed kind of… familiar. The blueberry, the mango, the mint… kind of reminded him of… Saki’s bandmates. Akito’s eyes widened. That’s it! She’d love it!
He picked up his pace as he headed towards the park with a newfound anticipation.
…
saki 3:58PM
here!! ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰
i’m just sitting at a table ૮ • ﻌ - ა shouldn’t be too hard to find me!!
Saki… was early? Sure, she wasn’t that early, but… something about that made Akito’s heart pound. As he walked into the park, he found himself moving faster, gaze shifting from table to table, until he spotted her. The back of her, at least, but it was unmistakably her.
Before he even thought to call out, she turned around. Akito figured she must’ve heard his footsteps. The bright smile that emerged on her lips when they locked eyes made Akito’s heart skip a beat.
“Akito!” Saki grinned, waving him over. “C’mere, C’mere!”
“Hey.” Akito sat down across from her, resting the bag on the ground. “Thanks… for meetin’ me early.”
“Of course!” She grinned, then gasped in excitement. “Oh! Akito, look at this outfit I bought today!” The blonde jumped up, spinning around in the long, flowy black-and-white skirt. “Do you like it?”
She was really… so pretty. Ethereal, even. He blinked once, twice, before giving a slight nod. “Yeah. It suits you.” He stopped, watching her sit down. “So… you skipped class, huh?”
Saki shushed him with a smile, her finger over her lips. “Don’t say anything, okay?”
Akito rolled his eyes, unable to hold back a smile himself. “‘Kay. Secret’s safe.” A pause. “Won’t your friends know, though?”
The blonde puffed out her cheeks. “Well, yeah, but… Tsukasa and Touya can’t know, okay? So don’t tell them!”
“Okay, I won’t, I won’t. Don’t worry,” He laughed. “But, uh… before everyone else gets here, I wanted to… give ya’ somethin’.”
Saki’s eyes widened, a pink tint gracing her cheeks. “Something…? For me…!? You didn’t have to!” She reached for Akito’s hand, taking it in her own. “Just being here is a gift in itself!”
Akito felt his face heat up. His first instinct was to pull his hand away, but he didn’t—how awful would that make him look!? “Nah,” he murmured after a couple seconds. “And it’s nothin’ too great, anyway.”
“Well, can I see it!?”
Finally, Akito slowly removed his hand from Saki’s, moving it instead to take the lid off of the container from inside the bag. With just the slightest bit of hesitancy, he took the plate out and placed it on the table.
Saki’s eyes lit up in a way Akito didn’t think he’d ever forget.
“I made it myself,” Akito muttered, “so it ain’t perfect.” He took out the fork, placing it on the plate and sliding it towards the girl across from him. He looked at Saki, who was too stunned to speak, and then looked back at the cake. “And, uh… this,” he pointed to the blueberry, “reminded me of Ichika. And,” he pointed to the mango this time, “this one’s like Honami, I thought. The mint’s like Shiho, too. Thought you’d like that.” He gulped, waiting for a response.
“This… this is amazing, Akito! You really made this!? For me!?” Saki looked at Akito, eyes sparkling. “The star is so pretty, too… you really must’ve thought of Leo/Need the whole time…!”
Akito rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re givin’ me a little too much credit.”
Saki continued to grin regardless, taking the fork in her hand. “You’re the best…! Can I take a bite?”
Akito felt his face heat up. “Well, yeah… that’s what I’m givin’ it to ya’ for.”
The blonde giggled, her cheeks flushing a deeper pink. “Then… I’m gonna’ try it!”
She cut into one of the points of the star with the fork and popped the piece of the cake into her mouth. Mere seconds later, her eyes lit up for what felt like the thousandth time that minute—and Akito was unable to look away.
“It’s… good?”
“Mm-hm!” Saki nodded fervently, a smile on her face. “It’s really, reeeeally yummy! Here, Akito, you try some!” She cut another piece, stabbed it on the fork, and held it up to Akito, her other hand hovering beneath to keep it from falling.
Akito just knew his face was bright red by that point. “That’s… you don’t need to…”
Saki just inched the fork closer to his lips. “Try it, try it!”
Akito finally relented—not that he had much of a choice, with Saki pushing the fork closer and closer. …Pretty good, he thought to himself for a brief moment, before remembering that holy shit, this was an indirect kiss. She was feeding him. What the fuck. Didn’t she see anything wrong with all of that? No? He quickly pulled away, mumbling only an “‘s fine” with a full mouth.
“Fine!? It’s really, really good, Akito! Want another bite?”
Akito swallowed his food before speaking this time. “It’s for you, dummy. You eat it.”
Saki sighed, puffing her cheeks out. “Okay, okay, fiiine. But no takebacks, okay? It’s all for me now!”
“It was all for you in the first place,” Akito rolled his eyes, a smile pulling at his lips. “Just eat the damn cake before everyone else gets here and wants a piece, too.”
Instead of a giggle, or a tease back, or whatever Akito expected, Saki’s eyes softened, and she gently placed her hand on his. “Thank you, Akito. This is the best birthday gift ever.”
“A-ah, yeah…” Akito rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “…Yeah, it was nothin’.”
saki 9:02PM
akito~~!! o( > ᗜ < )o ₊˚⊹♡
i had sooooo much fun today!!
it was the best birthday EVER!!!!!! ૮꒰⸝⸝ > ̫< ⸝⸝꒱ა
so… thank you!!! thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
9:04PM
i really didnt do anything but yw
saki 9:04PM
(○ꇴ○)!?
yes you did!!!!!
i had a rlly, RLLY good time with you today!!! (๑*ᗜ*)
thank you soooo much again for the cake!!!!! ˙˚ʚ(´◡`)ɞ˚˙
9:07PM
i had fun too. it was nothin btw
saki 9:07PM
i’m rlly glad!!! (´▽`ʃƪ)♡
i couldn’t say it earlier cause tsukasa and everyone was still there, but…
would you want to hang out like that again sometime?
just me and you! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
9:12PM
yeah
id like that