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Within the bustling sound of Jabberwock Island’s little festival for the Ultimates, Hajime was stationed at a vendor with bags of colorful balloons right at his fingertips. He had managed to teach himself how to somewhat properly make a balloon dog, but he wanted to expand his horizons and make a few things he knew his friends would appreciate. So far he had a wonky four-leaf clover, an asymmetrical dumbbell, and something that only vaguely looked like a crown. He was trying, though, and he would keep trying until something worked out in his favor.
“Hinata-kun, I’ve seen you huddled up behind this stand the past five times I’ve passed. Surely you can let yourself have a little bit of fun while someone else takes over?” Nagito asked, leaning against the vendor that he, indeed, had passed quite a few times now while making his rounds. Nagito was part of the decorations group, so all of his tasks had already been completed before the festival even began.
“I gotta see if I can make a cat, or a hamster—maybe a bear, Tanaka would like that, too.” Hinata continued inflating the brightly colored balloons with his small hand pump, grumbling as he put too much air in and it popped in his hands. Nagito flinched back at the sudden sound.
“Sorry… I hadn’t done that nearly all night… Here, I made a clover for you,” Hajime repented, lifting the neon rubber clover from one of the shelves behind him and holding it out like an offering of peace. Nagito accepted the gesture with open arms, still having to bite back the self-depricating thoughts bubbling in his mind. Progress is not linear, he reminds himself. Hajime’s shy smile brightened into a proud one at how easily Nagito took the gift from him.
“You said you were trying to make… A bear, Hinata-kun?” Nagito questioned as the lopsided balloon clover settled comfortably into his arms. “That seems harder than all the things you’ve made so far.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right… But I wanna make something special for all of you guys. I mean, you’re practically my classmates by now. I spend more time with you than with my own class..” Hajime begins to mumble as he focuses on twisting the balloons into… whatever shape he was trying to make right now. It was starting to look like a bright blue egg, so far. Nagito failed at suppressing a small chuckle at Hajime’s struggle, earning a non-serious glare in return. Hajime twisted more air-filled balloons onto the egg shape to make unevenly sized ears.
“That… kind of looks like a bear, Hinata,” Nagito tried to praise between muffled giggles. Hajime sighed in defeat, setting the half-assed balloon bear face off to the side with the rest of his ‘projects’. He really should have practiced more throughout the week. Nagito took in Hajime’s pitiful expression with a small frown of his own.
“Hey, I was only teasing you. They’re all lovely!” Hajime gave a small smile at that, collecting his creations and placing them on the stall’s counter to show them off. With each piece he presented, Hajime told him what it was and who it was for. He showed him the yellow crown he wanted to give Sonia, as well as the bright red dumbbell he wanted to give to Akane. Nagito didn’t have a single clue that it was a dumbbell until Hajime pointed it out to him. Hajime spoke about his attempts to make a wrench for Kazuichi, but all of his gray balloons were wasted in his many failed attempts. Hence why Akane’s dumbbell was red.
“Maybe you should stick with something you’ve actually learned how to make, Hinata-kun.” Hajime huffed at Nagito’s suggestion.
“The only thing I can make decently well are dogs…” Hajime admitted. He thought he would be able to learn at least a few more things, but balloon dogs took him far longer than he expected to properly grasp. Despite Hajime’s disappointment in his lack of quick learning, Nagito’s eyes sparkled.
“You can make dogs? I want to see one! I-If you’d like to, of course!” Even Nagito’s habit of covering up his own wants couldn’t stop the excitement in his voice as he made the request. Hajime laughed with an eyebrow raised.
“Alright, I’ll make you a dog,” he promised. Hajime took one of the green balloons from the last bag he had at the stall (many of them were either victims of failed presents, or made into dogs for other Ultimates that stopped by). He bent and twisted the balloons with much more ease than before, weaving them together almost naturally. Hajime struggled with the tail, he always did, but once the small portion at the end of the balloon inflated into a small ball with a light ‘pop’ , the dog was complete. Nagito held the small balloon animal with such care that Hajime almost teased him for treating it like a breathing creature. Almost, if he hadn’t already known the reasons behind Nagito’s attachment to dogs.
“Do you like it?” Hajime questioned, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the counter and holding his weight. Nagito’s smile almost doubled in size.
“I love it,” he muttered, holding the dog and clover close to his chest. Hajime smiled, glad that he was able to brighten up at least one of his closest friends’ day.