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Tadashi woke up at 5 am as he always did, barely noticing today’s date. He dressed up and went to Ainosuke's room to wake him up, as usual. Ainosuke looked at his phone and gave Tadashi a long look. But Tadashi knows they were nowhere near reconciled enough for Ainosuke to celebrate his birthday actively. And like he thought, Ainosuke didn’t say anything. He wasn’t disappointed at all. Tadashi wasn’t the kind to care about his birthday that much. He didn’t like the attention it brought to him each year, anyway. He usually only received messages or calls from his parents and sometimes some other family members, but that was about it. And this little attention was more than enough.
And so, he went on with his day: confirming today’s schedule with Ainosuke — and the latter telling him tonight's S was cancelled, something that surprised Tadashi — and then going to all the scheduled meetings. Ainosuke seemed to be in a rather bad mood, Tadashi noticed. He kept sighing whenever they were alone and gave Tadashi way more looks than usual.
“What would you like to eat for lunch, Ainosuke-sama?” Tadashi asked. They didn’t have any meetings planned for lunch, so they could eat whatever they wanted.
He looked at him before saying:
“Go ahead, Tadashi. I have something to do.”
“As you wish, Ainosuke-sama.” Tadashi didn’t protest despite being taken aback.
Tadashi went to the convenience store, bought a sandwich and strawberry milk, and then walked to the bakery. He wanted a pastry as a treat.
“Good afternoon!” The bakery employee greeted him with a smile.
Tadashi looked at the display, not fully decided on what he would buy. But Tadashi didn’t have enough time to think as other customers walked into the bakery. Tadashi waited for the employee to come back to the front before speaking.
“I will take this one.” Tadashi pointed at a piece of cheesecake.
“The usual, I see!” The employee replied as she went to retrieve the cheesecake.
Tadashi gave the money, and she put the piece of cheesecake on the counter before turning around to prepare something, telling Tadashi to wait. She turned back and gave him a package.
“Happy Birthday, sir! As a valued client, we would like to give you a free pastry! We hope you will enjoy it!”
Tadashi was again too confused to think and took the pastry with a ‘thank you’. He walked out of the bakery alongside the other clients who were looking at him with a gentle smile. He suddenly wondered how the bakery could have known about his birthday. Since he couldn’t go back in and ask about it, he just went ahead and sat to eat in the park. He gladly ate the opéra that was given to him.
“Did you eat well?” Ainosuke asked Tadashi when he was back from his longer-than-usual lunch break.
“Were you able to eat well, Ainosuke-sama?”
“Of course. But I was the one who asked you first, Tadashi.” Ainosuke said with his usual passive-aggressive tone.
Tadashi bowed.
“I did eat well, Ainosuke-sama,” he replied.
The day then went by without a hitch.
Tadashi was about to drive them both back home when Ainosuke told him to stop at Sia La Luce instead. Tadashi wondered if Ainosuke wanted to discuss something with Kojiro — or Kaoru, as they often could be found together — about S. But Tadashi noticed the restaurant lights were out, the curtains drawn, and the restaurant panel was turned on CLOSED with an excuse message for the impromptu closing. Ainosuke seemed to pay it no mind and walked around the building to knock at the restaurant's back door. They didn’t wait a minute before the door was opened to them.
“Hey, you are on time. Come in.” Kojiro said. Ainosuke only acknowledged him with a smirk as they walked behind Joe into the dark corridor to the dining room. When they walked in, all the lights went on at once and everyone jumped out from their hiding places:
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TADASHI!”
Tadashi opened his mouth in awe.
“Thank you…” He said in a small voice.
“I know you are not used to being on the receiving end of this kind of thing, but let it go, ok?” Joe comforted him.
He was indeed not used to that. Here he was, wondering why he had this weird feeling the whole day. He looked at Ainosuke, who only looked at him before going to Snow, much to Reki's dismay.
Tadashi smiled and took the drink that was offered to him. Joe apparently knew about his sweet tooth and gave him many desserts. He was, for once, happy about the attention he was given and was going to make sure to work twice as hard for Ainosuke.