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“Do you want this for here or to go?” The worker asked, entirely blank, as they punched Tsukasa’s total into the till.
“To go, please!” Tsukasa proclaimed, fishing through his pocket to grab his wallet. As he opened it up and sifted through his coin pocket until he had the right total, he pointed a finger at one of the takeaway boxes, “How about that pink one? I know my girlfriend would adore that!”
The worker looked in the direction he was pointing, blinking as they tiredly caught up to his enthusiasm. “Oh…yeah.” They answered, lifting one from the stack and slipping Tsukasa’s cheesecake into it. They handed it out to him like a delivery, though not one that felt entirely into it. “Have a wonderful day.”
“Thank you!” Tsukasa chirped, not being the one to comment on their poor acting. He took the box and headed for the door, but not without calling behind him. “You too!”
Tsukasa had bought Ena cheesecake.
He saw that a new treat shop had opened in the shopping district, and he wanted to get her something nice. He always did, though she said that he already gave her himself. But that didn’t feel like enough. Not that he wasn’t enough, the star in her night sky, but it felt like just giving her his love wasn’t enough to show all the love he had for her.
Even before Tsukasa had met Ena, he knew from Akito that she was a ‘stubborn’ one. That wasn’t the word that he had used, but the word that Tsukasa did. He thought that sounded much nicer; it reflected how strong-willed she also is, not just standoffish. Which… she may be, Tsukasa didn’t want to lie, but she was so much more than that.
Either way, sometimes she adamantly insisted that she couldn’t be loved, that she just wasn’t good enough. This hurt Tsukasa— not because she was insinuating he might not truthfully love her, but that there aren’t things to love about her. She would know that there are, if she ever gave him the chance to list them. But in the end, he decided that actions speak a lot louder than words, and he settled for buying her little gifts from time to time.
Though that wasn’t the only thought Tsukasa had put into his gift giving. There are some things that, when he sees them, make him think of Ena, like sweet treats and the colour pink. She’d shown him before that she thought of him a lot, too, even if that were in TikTok slideshows of a black and a ginger cat cuddling with the caption ‘us’. It always made him feel so giddy when she sent him those; he wanted to make her feel the same way.
(Her smile was always so cute.)
Not to mention, Ena had told him that she was working hard on an art piece, and he thought that she might appreciate a gift. Ena had always needed a lot of praise to function, like having a social media account had a minimum like per post goal to keep it running, and there had been countless times when she gave up on something she seemed so passionate about because she was running a little too low on attention fuel. Tsukasa hoped he would be able to give her at least a little boost with his gift.
With the cheesecake secured, he just needed to bring it to her. He knew she would be at home, most likely hauled up in her room, where she would have been for he could only imagine how long. So, he headed in the direction of the Shinonome’s household. He skipped up to their front door and knocked on it three times.
“You here for Ena?” The house’s front door opened to reveal Akito, looking a little surprised by his presence. But Ena doesn’t always tell him a lot, other than just not to bother her, though that could be for many reasons. She did tell him, however, about her relationship, and made her promise not to tell their parents. Maybe they had plans he didn’t know about. Anyway, Tsukasa nodded, and Akito sighed. “She’s in her room. Ah, but let me warn you, she’s in a bit of a mood. I don’t know what’s going on with her; she didn’t want to tell me.”
“Oh no, that’s no good.” Tsukasa shook his head, and Akito tsked like ‘no’. “Well, hopefully I may be able to cheer her up.”
Akito hummed and took a step back, allowing Tsukasa to enter. Once he had, he shut the door and stepped back in front of it like a guard. On guard, feeling a little protective. Despite everything, those siblings would fight for each other. They just don’t always recognise they’re on the same side.
“If she tells you anything, could you tell me?” Akito’s question was quiet, hushed. There didn’t seem to be anyone nearby, and he would have to shout for Ena to hear him, but he wanted the question to be between the two of them. Tsukasa and Akito turned their heads in tandem, Akito avoiding Tsukasa’s sudden gaze. “As much as I hate to say it, I’m worried about her. She’s been moodier than normal, and she yelled at me when I told her dinner was ready last night. Not that I— care or anything, but. It’s- annoying.”
Tsukasa knew what he wanted to say, that it was concerning. Ena was shutting herself away again, and for all Akito knew she could be shutting herself down with the lack of sustenance her body was getting.
Tsukasa tilted his head, confused. He wasn’t confused why Akito was concerned- anyone would be concerned- he was confused why he would suppress it. Akito glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, trying to look uncaring for the sake of their conversation, but Tsukasa knew he cared greatly. He knew it from the look in his eyes, the look of muted brotherly worry. He’d seen it in his own in the mirror during some of Saki’s long hospital stays.
And he understood. He wouldn’t have told Saki in the same way that Akito wouldn’t want to tell Ena. But Akito must know that he wouldn’t tell her, either, when he was telling him, and yet he still refused to express how truly concerned he was. Tsukasa was starting to think that stubbornness was in their family name— they both started with S, after all.
Regardless, Tsukasa could see through his mask, like pulling off the disguise of a villain, if Ena considered his concern such a bad thing. It was cracking, anyhow, as his eyebrows twitched lightly.
Akito was just trying not to break, and Tsukasa had felt that so deeply before. “I will.” Tsukasa asserted, if it gave Akito a place to start, the first piece to bring the others together. God, he just wished they would communicate, sometimes.
Akito didn’t need to guide Tsukasa to Ena’s room; he already knew where it was. Her bedroom has the door with the flower tapestry, stems climbing the wooden length like vines to a tree, and petals facing the rounded overhead lights of the hallway, approximating the sun. Ena had told him it took a lot of convincing for her dad to let her paint her door, but he had relented when she argued that if it was that bad, then they could just repaint it.
Tsukasa had always thought it looked quite nice, actually. He knocked on the door, purposely in the centre where there weren’t any flowers to crush, and admired the paintings for a few more moments before the door opened.
And showed him an even prettier flower.
Ena had a scowl on her face like she was prepared for Akito to have bothered her again, but it soon broke when she saw that it was very much not Akito before her, her eyebrows raising and her eyes widening. She very quickly became alarmed, and Tsukasa is harshly reminded that he came to her house without any sort of warning.
“Eeeh?!” Ena gawked, staring at him. Her head snapped down to what she was wearing, her overalls with more paint on them than on her mixing tray and a crusty grey shirt she’d also been sleeping in, then back up to him, in his endearingly pyjama-like clothes that made her wonder if she had even woken up. This had to be a nightmare. “Were we supposed to meet up today?!”
“I just wanted to pay you a visit!” Tsukasa raised his hands, fingers splayed out and palms to her, even though he didn’t have to defend himself. Ena’s emotions were at war with themselves, eyes twitching left and right as she played both sides. Besides, she could never truly be mad at him.
“Why now? I look terrible!” Ena paced around her room, hands in her hair, but she left the door open. Tsukasa took that as a sign that she didn’t mind him coming inside, and took a daring step over the line between the two rooms. She didn’t say anything about it, so he kept moving inside. He then stepped in front of Ena, holding her by her biceps to keep her in place. Which he did.
“Ena, you could never look terrible,” Tsukasa said, lowering his head and looking at her from the top of his eyes. He held her gaze as firmly as he held her biceps, and yet, neither of them were enough to make her squirm. She didn’t feel scrutinised when he looked at her like that; in fact, it had a slightly calming effect on her.
Ena’s hands dropped to her sides, fists unclenching like she was releasing a metaphorical weapon. The palms of her hands stung in crescents from where her fingernails had been stabbing into them. She hadn’t even noticed she was doing that. “…I look like a mess.” Her protest was much more lacking.
“You look perfect.” Tsukasa insisted, now being the one whose eyes glanced at Ena’s outfit. Ena expected he would start to grimace, but then he smiled instead. “Without a little imperfection, perfection can’t be made. You’re still working on your art project, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but…” Ena seemed more frustrated by the way her art looked than the way she did. The painting on the easel was still a work in progress, block colours over a sketch of what looked like a male with blonde hair and orange eyes. “That’s far from perfect.”
Tsukasa, looking at the painting, made the association quickly and almost looked exactly as Ena had drawn him. With a smile spread across his face, one of his bright ones that could light up a room. She started thinking that, if she captured that smile, it must not be as bad as she thought.
“Is that me?” Tsukasa cued, even if it went without saying. He wanted Ena to say it, with the same pride he was prompting for her.
“…yeah.” Ena started lamely, but she became more confident when Tsukasa nodded excitedly. “I like to use you as my muse for practicing. But— I just can't do it right.”
“Wh—“ Tsukasa blinked in amazement, looking at Ena as if she had just said the moon landing was faked. “What’s wrong with it?”
“The face is asymmetrical, one eye is bigger than the other, and it just looks so stiff!” She rambled, and Tsukasa’s smile dropped concerningly. Ena’s expression fell sequentially. Did she do that? Does she upset him? She had half the mind to apologise, before Tsukasa started speaking again.
“Ena, it’s amazing. I can always count on you to capture my essence.” Tsukasa stated, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her lovingly. She couldn’t help herself, curling against him needily. He held her close like he had accepted this part of her. "I'm so honoured that you're drawing me."
“You only say that because you’re my boyfriend,” Ena grumbled.
“Hey! I mean it!” Tsukasa objected, and she felt the way his chest puffed out, scandalised. It deflated when he laughed, and she strained a laugh with him.
He held her by her waist when she pulled away, her attention turned from him to the box tapping against her side. Tsukasa hadn’t mentioned it, so she hadn’t paid any mind to it. But now that she had, he decided to bring it up.
“Oh, I got you something.” He said, letting go of her and holding out the box to her. She took it into her hands without saying anything, pulling out the tab to see the cheesecake on its side inside it. Tsukasa saw the way her eyes lit up, and a fondness laced his eyes that she missed. “I thought you might want a treat for how hard you’ve been working.”
It was such a sweet gesture… Ena almost felt a little rotten. Sometimes she felt bad for how much she made him do, guilt wearing away at her heart. She looked up to Tsukasa with a frown, but Tsukasa kept smiling. “Is this from that new shop downtown?”
“It is.” There was a short break between his words when Ena broke away from Tsukasa’s gaze, back to the slice. It was so cute, a little strawberry slice which reminded her of him in a strange way. “I wasn’t sure if you’ve tried anything from there yet.”
“I haven’t,” Ena murmured, the flimsy box crumpling at the corners as she clenched it tightly, trying to keep her hands from shaking. “But why do I get a gift when I can’t give you anything?”
“You give me your love. Isn’t that what you say to me?” …she does say that to him, but she hadn’t really thought it applied to her. “You don’t have to give me any more than that.”
He has always had this way of playing with her heartstrings, like he directs his plays. They tug, and her chest squeezed, love for him overwhelming her.
“I should be able to at least give you a stupid painting.” She couldn’t help saying, working from her mouth before she could work through her emotions.
“It’s the thought that counts,” Tsukasa said, rubbing her shoulder kindly. “Do you want to eat that now? I think you could use a break.”
Ena nodded, in a lack of other words, and Tsukasa travelled through her house to the kitchen to retrieve a fork. He ran into Akito along the way, who looked at him with an expectant expression, and Tsukasa relayed to him that she had just been a little overworked. He asked why he’d come out, and he told him about her present. It was enough for Akito’s posture to become more relaxed, instead of how tense it was leaning against the doorframe.
Ena was sitting on her bed with the box in her lap when he returned with the fork. He sat down on the mattress beside her, long legs outstretched onto the tiles, as he handed it to her, and she immediately dug into the cheesecake.
She perked up at the first bite and looked to Tsukasa, the fork still in her mouth. She let out an approving hum, sliding the fork out of her mouth and swallowing it quickly. Before Tsukasa knew it, the fork was being held out to him with a bite-sized piece of cheesecake between the prongs, and Ena’s other hand cupping underneath it to prevent any mess.
Tsukasa leaned back curiously, but Ena inched the fork closer to him, nodding approvingly. He shifted in place and took the bite off her fork, grinning as he tasted the cheesecake’s sweetness.
“That’s so good!” He exclaimed, hand to his lips. ”You have such good taste.”
As Ena observed him, she answered. “I do.”