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Valentine’s Day.
As far as Akito’s concerned, all Valentine’s Day really was is just a day for the girls in his class to be more annoying than usual, and for all the guys to brag and act like total dickheads (more than usual). Aside from that, he’d be sent to the convenience store on the fifteenth by his sister to grab her some half-price chocolates, and he’d pick up a cheesecake or something while he was there, then spend the rest of the day at a livehouse somewhere. That doesn’t mean he’s not ever received chocolates before-- he’s gotten stuff from his classmates in the past out of politeness, never with any intent behind it. Or at least if there was, they were too chickenshit to actually up and tell him.
That’s partially what Akito hates about Valentine’s Day. It’s such a big farce, making chocolate for the person you like, but also for your friends, there’s different kinds if you mean it romantically or platonically or whatever. It’s just so complicated for no reason. If you like someone, don’t use something dumb like chocolate to confess to them with. Just telling them straightforwardly is so much easier.
So it’s no surprise that throughout the whole day, Akito’s more zoned out in class than ever. If he wasn’t sure he’d be caught, he’d have his earbuds in by now, but until the bell rings he’s resorted to staring out the window wishing he were somewhere else. Preferably with Toya, singing somewhere. That tends to be the ideal scenario nowadays.
He finds himself smiling. Yeah, he’d usually like to be where Toya is.
By the time his class is let out for lunch, he’s faster than usual to get to Toya’s class to find him and drag him off for lunch. It’s such a relief to be away from the bustle of the school, just the two of them in the courtyard together. He can listen to music now, finally; he hits play on a song from their last setlist as Toya starts digging into his lunch, and the two start to chatter between themselves.
“How’s your class been, Toya?” Akito asks, through a mouthful of his sandwich. “Like, with Valentine’s stuff. Mine’s been insufferable.”
“Valentine’s…” repeats Toya. “I’ve not really been bothered by it, actually.”
“For real?”
“No.” Toya’s foot taps along to the beat of the music. “I’ve not really ever… done it, either. Not given chocolates out, not on White Day either.”
Akito scoffs down the rest of his sandwich. “Not even on White Day? To pay girls back?”
Toya shook his head. “I never really had anyone to pay back. Not until this year, I guess.”
Akito, in the middle of packing up his bento, freezes. “You got something today?” The thought makes him feel… bad. Wrong, somehow.
“Yeah. From Tsukasa-senpai’s younger sister.”
Huh. Forgot that guy had a sister . “So, what, she likes you or somethin’?” He doesn’t intend for it to be, but it comes out sounding bitter. But he can't act like he doesn't know why.
Because lately, it's been kinda strange between the two of them. Not like they're growing apart or anything; the opposite, actually. Ever since the night where Toya learned to let go of his father, they've been a lot closer. Emotionally, they've been close for a long while, but now they're closer in a physical sense as well. Akito finds himself ruffling his partner's hair whenever he's overcome with feelings of pride for him, which was actually quite often. How could he not be insanely proud of Toya all the time, when he's-- well, Toya?
There's also times where they'll lean against each other on the park bench, or they'll share food freely with each other, always knowing what the other likes and doesn't like. It's like the warmth of familiarity he'd grown used to with Toya has just been lit with a spark, and now it’s begun crackling into something else.
Akito already knows where it's headed. Toya may be an idiot when it comes to his own feelings, but it didn't take a lot for Akito to realise it for himself. He likes Toya, and he probably has for a while. But Toya is impossibly difficult to read, despite knowing him better than anyone else. There's no way he'd be able to tell how Toya feels about something as complicated as this.
Which is why hearing that Toya might be on the receiving end of something romantic has such an effect on Akito. Yes, he thinks it's a dumb holiday, and yes, he thinks it's a waste of time. But to a lot of people it's not, and the idea that Toya might be interested in someone is…
“No, I don’t think so.” Toya's voice brings him out of his downward spiral. “Tsukasa-senpai passed it onto me, and he said she had made a lot for all of her friends, which… includes me.” He smiles softly as he says this, and it works to dispel some of the unpleasant feelings that had started forming in Akito's chest.
“That was nice of her, then.” he says, and nothing else.
He changes the topic after that, but later on in the day, while spacing out in class, it's still on his mind. He can barely keep up his customer-service smile when he’s confronted with cutely wrapped bags of chocolates from his classmates at the end of the day; luckily, the soccer club asked him to help out today, so he has an excuse to rush off as soon as possible.
He passes Toya by the shoe lockers as he heads out to the field, where he stops to let him know he’d be late to Weekend Garage for practise later. Toya seems to know this already, though, and he doesn’t seem surprised when Akito tells him. Instead he just nods, and wishes him luck with a smile and a wave. As he leaves, Akito sneaks a glance at his shoe locker-- there’s nothing in there. He knows he shouldn’t, but he lets out a sigh of relief anyway.
Thankfully, he’s got soccer to occupy his mind for a full hour instead.
By the time practise wraps up for the day, he’s forgotten about Valentine’s Day completely. Now he’s just looking forward to hurrying to Ken-san’s place to sing with Toya and the others, to get all the restless energy out of his system. He can already feel it bouncing around inside of him, despite just having run around for so long; he lets it carry him all the way to Weekend Garage, his pace picking up just a little bit. He would’ve skipped there if he weren’t a self respecting man.
But the usual scene isn’t what he finds when he gets there.
Instead, something catches his eye as he runs past the shop window, stopping him in his tracks.
“Is that…?” Akito mumbles. Taking a few steps back, he moves closer to the window-- he has to shield his eyes from the sun to get a good look inside, but he’d recognise who it was anywhere.
It’s Toya. Usually this wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary, since they literally meet up here almost every day. Except he’s not by the stage in the back, like where they always meet up with An and Kohane, but standing by a table a little way into the shop, holding… a bouquet of flowers. Akito doesn’t know what kind they are, except for the roses, but they’re all kinds of pink and white. Toya’s shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and he keeps glancing towards the door. Is he waiting for someone? Akito thinks. Well, he’s waiting for me, sure, but… Doesn’t look like Kohane or An are here yet either . Then it dawns on him-- what day it is, and why Toya would have something like that-- and he feels a weight in the pit of his stomach.
“Don’t tell me…”
He can’t stop himself. The cafe’s signature bell rings through the store as he rushes in. The noise gets Toya’s attention; he looks up, startled by the sudden arrival.
“Akito.” he says, a smile forming on his face. “Good job at soccer club today.”
“...Uh, yeah...” Akito replies, the door falling closed behind him with a soft click. He takes a few uncertain steps forward, shoving his hands in his pockets to try and keep calm. He doesn’t really want to confront the bouquet in Toya’s arms, but he can’t really ignore the fact it’s there. The thing’s massive-- you’d probably need to split it between two vases. So, full of trepidation, he nods to it, attempting to keep up a casual air. “What’s with the flowers?”
“Ah. Well…” Toya glances down at them, then back up at Akito. “They’re for you, actually.”
Akito blinks. “Wh… what?”
With that earnest straightforwardness that so characterised his partner, Toya continues, still wearing a calm smile. “I’ve not really done anything for Valentine’s before, but it’s a holiday where you can express how grateful you are for the people in your life, right?”
Unable to form a response with words, Akito just nods.
“I’m really grateful for you, Akito, so I wanted to do something for you. I didn’t really know what would be good, though, so I ended up having to look things up and ask some people for advice… But I figured that flowers would be a safe bet. I asked Saki-san for help with it, and she said these are supposed to represent gratitude.” Then Toya holds the bouquet out to him, and his smile turns soft. “I hope you like them.”
“I…” Akito’s mind is still trying to catch up with what’s happening around him. Toya got me flowers? On Valentine’s Day? “Toya, this is…”
“Oh, that’s not all.” says Toya, eyes wide like he’d nearly forgotten.
“It’s not!?” Akito chokes in disbelief.
“I booked a table for us for a little while.” Toya nods to the table next to them. It’s only then that Akito notices a little plaque that says ‘reserved’, placed on the table’s end. “I thought about getting candy or something, but I think you’d prefer to have cheesecake over getting some chocolates, right?”
Yeah, actually, that’s exactly right . The extent of Toya’s thoughtfulness colours Akito’s cheeks with a light pink. “Toya…”
Toya steps forward, and gently presses the bouquet into Akito’s hands. “Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m glad you’re my partner.”
Akito hates Valentine’s Day. He really, genuinely does. It’s a waste of time and a scheme made by chocolate manufacturers to sell more. It’s dumb, completely idiotic, so, so stupid.
So why is it that he feels his heart melt at Toya’s words?
He tries to fight down the full-on blaze that burns on his cheeks, both the flattery and the embarrassment making him want to sink into the floor like it was quicksand. His heart’s going faster than a bullet train, each thump inside his chest hammering home how much of an effect Toya has on him. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he thinks, his grip tightening on the stems of the flowers. Fuck!? What happens now? What do I say!? It’s so overwhelming, he can barely think straight; but there’s still one question, the answer to which this whole situation hinges upon.
“T-Toya,” he stutters out, cringing at how his voice trembles. “This isn’t… like, romantic, is it?”
Then, suddenly, Toya’s eyes go wide. His cheeks light up, and he takes a step backwards, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. Akito’s never seen him like this before. “O-Oh…”
“...Toya?” Akito asks, thoroughly confused. “Is this supposed to be romantic?”
“Um…” Toya takes a breath. “I mean, if you want it to be…?”
!?!?!??!
He didn’t mean for it to be romantic!?
“Dude, did you just accidentally ask me out?” The sheer absurdity of it makes Akito forget how embarrassed he felt, instead fixated on Toya’s side.
Toya’s gaze falls to the floor, uncharacteristically flustered. The sight in and of itself just adds to the craziness of the situation. “If you don’t want it to mean anything then it doesn’t have to.” he rushes out. “But if you want it to then that’s okay too, I mean, I wouldn’t hate that, I actually…”
Akito can’t help it-- he starts laughing. It bursts out of him, the whole thing seeming so hilarious in hindsight. We’ve really been dancing around each other for so long, and by the time one of us actually has the balls to do something, it’s completely by accident?
Toya watches him as he laughs it out, a confused expression on his face. “Um, Akito…?”
Wiping a tear from his eye, he grins. “Sorry, man, it’s just… really funny to me. That it took us this long.”
Poor Toya looks completely lost. “Does… Does that mean, you…?”
He chuckles. “You really are an idiot sometimes, you know?” Any anxiety he once had now extinguished, Akito flops down on one side of the booth table Toya reserved for them. “C’mon, let’s get our orders in. You better sweep me off my feet with this date you’ve planned.”
He watches as Toya lets Akito’s words sink in, their meaning finally dawning on him as he breathes out a laugh. “Right. I’ll do my best.” He slides into the seat across from Akito, and he’s beaming, his pure joy clear as day.
Ah, yeah. His smile really is the best .
“By the way, I expect you to be paying for everything, Partner.”
“Mm. I’ll take care of it all... Partner.”