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Akito was beyond fucked. Well, he has been since — much against his will, thank you very much — Toya had dragged him towards that dreaded Purikura booth. For eight months, he had avoided those stupid pictures. For eight months, he had avoided utter embarrassment.
“Akito, please? It's been a while since we've done something like this..” Toya cocked his head, staring at him wide-eyed, like some sort of curious bunny who was unaware of the path ahead. Except, he knew Toya was well aware of how disgraceful this whole thing was.
Sure, Akito understood it when it was Toya's birthday (with much coercion, still), since it was a special day to commemorate, of course his boyfriend wanted to preserve a memory of those precious days. But all they had done was visit the arcade, as if they hadn't been there a million times before. What was the point?
He looked back at his lover— Well. Shit. It only just registered that Toya was staring at him like that. And when his boyfriend stares like that, when his face begins to burn, when his hands turn clammy, when his throat constricts to the point that his “Well, fine…” came out in a messy stutter, he realised he was doomed. Really, there was nothing he could do. But, it's whatever. It's whatever if it's for his partner.
It took eight seconds for him to fold to Toya.
Thankfully, Toya had inserted the coins and filled in the details while Akito was grumbling over the situation, so he wouldn’t have to handle much. But, he was bracing himself for the editing afterwards, and the whole circus act of this all.
Even if this is incredibly fucking embarrassing, he wasn’t about to mess up these pictures — it’d be wasteful to do so. After one last unavoidable sigh, the two of them crammed into the machine, Akito barely ragging the curtain shut as his body barely stayed in. Jeez, it was so painfully obvious they weren’t meant to be in this place, they weren’t some cringy teenage girls. He could only hope this wouldn’t take too long so people wouldn’t see them. Hopefully so.
Despite only being seconds long, the time between each shutter of the camera felt like an egregious eternity — lengthened further by the silence of the two boys, only the shuffling of Akito thrusting himself into each cutesy (much to his dismay) position displayed on the screen. Akito knew he was going to end up taking this seriously; he’d said it once and a hundred times over for any situation, especially ones dedicated to his partner — but this would never get any less embarrassing. Every second and every shutter only made the heat in his body rise exponentially, and by the time the last image had been taken, he was on the verge of melting into a puddle. Any more of this, and he really might be liquefied.
“C’mon Toya… Let’s go already.” Akito sighed, making a brisk exit out of the booth.
“Akito,” Toya followed him, only to holler, “we still need to edit the photos.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. Fuck.
With a deeper sigh, he turned back and trudged to the tablet Toya was peering at. Unwillingly, or rather, for Toya’s sake, he picked up the stylus. He inspected every filter, but it was a really difficult choice when he had to stare at him and his boyfriend, already edited to an unrecognisable state. What more did he really need to do? He’d just pick whatever the first background there was, make some quick doodles, and then they could leave. A win for him — it was unbearable staring at a caricature of himself.
But, the heart ones looked incredibly tacky, lacking any of the romantic semblance it tried to have — besides, they only reinforced the whole childish aspect of it all. And while not childish, the frilly bows were worse. No way in hell was he going to be in a picture with frills . Did he have to explain how weird for two grown ass boys to be seen in that? Taking the pictures was already one bad thing, but this choice of background was a thing much, much worse. Either way, it was going to be a stupid background for a stupid set of pictures, he just had to choose the one. The least strange one. An incredibly difficult choice.
Well, out of the flashy and girly selections, the polka dots weren’t that bad. Sure, they were pink and that matched neither his nor Toya’s vibe, but both their images were already decimated by how ludicrous the pictures were. He wouldn’t get over that.
Akito’s learned his lesson – he won’t jump the gun to relieve himself with the thought that they were done, – his dire abhor for Purikura was birthed by the doodling step in the first place. Sighing, he watched as Toya gripped the stylus, ready to doodle his heart out like the whimsical guy he was. There was no helping it. Well, as long as he was having fun, Akito wouldn’t complain: that was the whole reason they went to the arcade in the first place.
Brows furrowed, Toya was scribbling away with all his might. They weren’t the most intricate, detailed drawings, but his innate artistic ability enhanced the adorableness of the pictures. It’s whatever, really – they suit the already established style and it was his lover’s work, so naturally, it was going to be good anyway. Especially if Toya was putting that much effort into it. He was always so serious about these things since it was just part of his personality – but, Akito could barely see the point when it came to this . They’re just photos; bad ones at that.
Finally, his boyfriend had finished and, at last, they printed the pictures. It was finally over. Pulling out his strip, Akito began to beeline for the exit, in order to avoid any more people noticing their childish adventure with the machine. People definitely already had stared, but the least he could do was to stop anyone else from seeing him there.
That was the plan, at least, but once he turned around, he noticed that his boyfriend hadn’t followed behind him.
“Toya?”
He walked back. And wow– He was enamoured by the sight of Toya.
A few meters from the booth, he found his lover gazing at his strip pensively. Eyes squinted, Toya’s face softened with a warm smile as he endlessly observed the pictures - somehow, Akito didn’t want to disturb this sight, wishing to preserve his tremendous beauty in this moment forever. Well, he feels that way about each of Toya’s smiles; his contentment was something to be cherished for eternity, even if each lasted for a moment.
“What’s got you so happy?” Akito slung an arm around his shoulder, peering over to see the source of his boyfriend’s joy, knowing damn well it was the same strip as his.
Toya turned to face him, smile still bright, “Us, being together.”
“I look fondly at the photos we took on my birthday, as it was with all my favourite people. But, it makes me equally as happy, if not more, to have one with my most favourite person in the world.” He looked up from the pictures, and stared straight into Akito’s eyes, smile gleaming even greater, “I’ll cherish these pictures forever. The same way I want to savour every second with you.”
Akito knew his cheeks were flushed, but it was inevitable when Toya said all of that . Before, he barely even vocalised his thoughts, so him giving this speech meant all the more to him. He couldn’t help but admire the romanticist that his boyfriend was, said appreciation making the heat in his face rise. What else could he do against such eloquent words?
“Yeah... I like being together too.” Akito forced out his constricting throat, opting to offer a wide grin alongside his agreement as opposed to something like the essay his boyfriend just gave.
He liked spending time with Toya, undoubtedly. Maybe, much to his reluctance to admit, Purikura wasn’t that bad if it meant quality time with his boyfriend, who was also his favourite person. And it definitely wasn’t that bad if it got Toya smiling like that.
But, no one else needed to know he liked it, and no one else needed to know he was planning to hang up those pictures either: for the memories, okay?