Chapter Text
Another yawn slips out of your mouth, your eyes still slightly bleary with sleep. The gray haze of early morning has yet to burn off and you think it matches your current headspace quite well. Your brain is a muted haze of work-related half-thoughts and trying to keep track of the idol bouncing on the balls of his feet next to you.
Despite the early hour, Niki is brimming with determined energy. His eyes are fixed onto the glass of the shop and you can see his nose twitch every so often as a whiff of baking treats escapes through a crack. While you had barely been able to pull yourself out of bed this morning and make yourself presentable, Niki had greeted you wide-awake when you had met up in front of the station. He was a man on a mission and you had agreed without fully understanding how early you had to arrive.
A line stretches out behind you and you can see why Niki had been so adamant on your meeting time to get into line. One of the local cake shops had unveiled a new chocolate ganache cake for a limited time in February and it had quickly taken the internet by storm. It was something that sold out immediately every day, so if one wanted to get a taste of it, one had to be ready to make sacrifices to their sleep schedule. You were the best producer ever, you thought, considering you had opted out of precious rest in order to accompany Niki in his quest to consume this cake.
“Nee-san~ wakey wakey they’re finally open!” Niki says to you, waving a hand in front of your face. Had you started drifting off again? You blink at him and his sunny grin, shaking your head to try and beat back the drowsiness. He quickly wipes away a bit of drool as one of the staff members comes out to open the door and begin directing the queue of customers.
“Oh finally,” you sigh out, rolling your neck as the line slowly shuffles forward. You blow into your hands to warm them up a bit as the morning air lingers in a cold sheet around you. Niki waits a half-step for you to catch up to him. The two of you had been towards the front of the line thanks to the ungodly hour you had woken up so you’re ushered into the shop before you know it.
A warm atmosphere envelops you as you step over the threshold, accompanied by a sweet fragrance that permeates through the air. You hear a longing sigh from next to you, making you glance over to see Niki in a dreamy daze as he takes deep inhalation. “It smells sooo good,” he mumbles, a hand placed on his stomach as his eyes wander over the various cakes on display. The real prize has a special place in the glass case, a decadent looking affair of deep chocolate and delicate lines of piped decoration. It certainly didn’t disappoint based on appearances.
Seeing Niki getting distracted, you gently nudge him forward. “Come on, the sooner we pay the sooner you can eat.”
He perks up immediately, trotting forward as the line moves along. The staff members are almost clinically efficient in taking and packing orders, keeping the line moving at a comfortable pace. It takes only a few more minutes for the two of you to reach the counter, the young woman at the register greeting you cheerfully. Niki quickly launches into his veritable laundry list of cake orders, the specialty cake is of course first out of his mouth, but he rattles off slices of other cakes from memory like it's an automatic response.
A light, floral vanilla chiffon decorated with pink hearts and petals for Kohaku. An elegant opera cake for HiMERU. A simple slice of honey castella for Rinne.
Even in this excitable state, Niki is still thinking of his unit. Your lips curl into a smile as you thank the staff member as they hand the large, unseemly bag to you. Without warning, Niki snatches the bag from you, “Nahaha~ let me get that for you nee-san! I can’t even see you from behind that bag,” he laughs, leading you out of the cake shop with a skip in his step. “Let’s hurry back so we can dig in!”
It’s infinitely warmer in the conference room you had taken over to indulge in your spoils from the morning. A hot can of coffee sits on the table beside the array of desserts you helped Niki unpack. The chef idol is humming away as he slices into the viral cake, a quick and precise movement that speaks volumes about his knifework. It comes off cleanly, two perfectly symmetrical slices of cake on two paper plates.
Niki slides one over to you along with a white plastic fork from the leftovers of the last company meeting held here. This is definitely going to be the most sugar you have ever consumed this early in the morning. You take another swig of your coffee to ready yourself as Niki doesn’t hesitate to stab his fork into the cake.
“Thank you for the food~!” His voice is a joyful lilt as his eyes sparkle with anticipation. His lips close around the fork, pausing only for a moment before he chews and swallows in a rapid motion. “Delicious! The ganache settled so well, the flavor is so rich and chocolate-y,” he praises, shoveling another bite into his mouth. “You try it too!”
Then, without even seeming to think about it, Niki scoots closer to you. His shoulder bumps yours as he continues to eat his cake as if to quietly urge you to join him in his feasting. You take the hint, picking up the fork to cut off a small piece from the tip of the cake. It’s a dense cake, a layer of smooth ganache cutting through as a delectable ribbon through the middle. You bring the cake to your mouth and bite down, a deep flavor slowly covering your tongue. Despite its appearance, the cake isn’t overwhelmingly sweet, instead going for that slight bitter tang of cocoa.
You nod at Niki, “It’s good!” You can already feel a food coma coming on from eating this for breakfast, but it’s hard to resist more and more bites until all that’s left are crumbs.
Well, until Niki takes care of the crumbs for you by licking the plate clean.
You really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.
“Did you want another?” Niki asks you, another wave of energy radiating off of him from a full belly.
“Uh, I probably shouldn’t,” you politely decline, “Gotta eat some real food before I get any more dessert.”
Niki nods in apparent understanding. “Hm…you’re right, lunch might taste funny if I eat too much sweet before…but one more slice can’t hurt.”
It never does for him at least, you think to yourself as he happily cuts himself another slice.
Surprisingly, he doesn’t start wolfing the food down as soon as it touches the plate. Instead, he turns to beam at you, crumbs speckled around his smiling lips. “Thanks for coming with me today~ I had fun seeing you all sleepy! Let’s go to another shop again,” he says, all bright wide-eyed hope.
It’s impossible to ward off his infectious enthusiasm, that unfair idol charm of his is working on you a little too well. “I’ll definitely go to more shops with you, but can we make it at a less cursed time of day?” You attempt to compromise, fearing the inevitable sugar crash you’re asking for right now.
Niki just laughs, bright and lively as the sunlight that starts to stream through the windows. “Being with you is what makes the food taste best~ let’s drag Kohaku-chan and HiMERU-kun with us next time too.”
You tilt your head, “No Rinne-kun?”
“No! He’s gonna eat my portion then make me pay for his!”
A small pause passes between you two. “Kohaku-kun and HiMERU-kun it is,” you agree. Still, you know the unit well enough by now that he’ll show up even if he isn’t invited. But a small warmth spreads through your chest at the thought, Niki is right, food always tastes better with company.