Work Text:
Mika suspects that something is wrong the second he opens the door to their apartment.
Perhaps “wrong” is the wrong word. Rather, he suspects that something is off. It’s eerily silent, even though he knows Yuu and Akane are both home. For one heart-stopping second, he worries that maybe they’ve gone somewhere with telling him, but then he recalls that the door wasn’t locked. As often as Yuu forgets to lock it, Mika knows that Akane would never, so…
They must be in the apartment somewhere.
“Hello?” he calls out.
There is no response.
He sighs. He wonders if it’s some special occasion or something that he has forgotten about, but as he goes to check his phone for the date, a cry of “Happy birthday, Mika!” rings through the apartment.
In his surprise, he drops his phone.
Yuu and Akane are suddenly standing at the entrance to the kitchen, beaming at him.
“Come on,” Yuu urges. “We made you dinner!”
“And cake!” Akane chimes in.
Mika stares at them.
Their faces drop.
“Is…something wrong?” Akane asks, stepping closer to him and looking up into his eyes.
“It’s not my birthday?” he says, but it rolls out like a question, rather than a statement.
Akane frowns, then leans frowns and retrieves his phone. She straightens up, turns the device on, and flashes the screen at him.
The first day of May.
“We figured you forgot,” Yuu says, rubbing at his neck awkwardly. “You’ve been so busy lately, we really can’t blame you. But if you don’t want to—”
“N-no,” Mika says quickly. “Thank you. What did you make?”
Akane perks up immediately. “Curry!” she declares. “And chocolate cake. Come on, come on, let’s eat before it gets cold!”
Mika laughs gently, allowing the tension to fall off his shoulders. Akane grabs his hand and pulls him into the kitchen, Yuu trailing behind them.
“Okay, okay, sit down!” Akane commands, pointing at the table.
Mika complies, then watches as Akane and Yuu dish up a plate of curry for him, and then for themselves, and sit at the table with him.
They eat in silence for a moment, until their plates are mostly clean of food, and then Akane breaks the silence:
“How was work?” she inquiries.
“Terrible,” Mika says. “How was your day?”
“Boring,” Yuu says. “We’ve been waiting all day for when you would come back.”
Mika raises an eyebrow at him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he affirms. “Are you finished with that?”
Mika shrugs, pushing the dish towards Yuu. Yuu stacks it on top of his own, then gestures for Akane to slide hers over and stacks that one over top of Mika’s.
He stands up to move the dishes to the sink. Mika and Akane watch him for a moment, then turn back to face each other.
“We bought you a gift,” Akane says, but she looks somewhat embarrassed. “It, um, isn’t here yet. It was that book you kept saying you wanted, but we had to order it online, and it just didn’t make it in time.”
“You didn’t need to buy me anything.”
“What are you talking about?” Yuu says, sitting beside Mika again. “Of course we did.”
“But I don’t need anything.”
“So? It’s not about what you need. It’s about what you want.“
Mika sighs. “Well, thanks, then. But you know…I don’t want a whole lot more than this.”
Akane and Yuu laugh.
“Sap,” Akane teases.
“I’m just glad you’re happy with this.” Yuu grins. “Happy birthday, Mika.”
Mika glances between Yuu and Akane, both of whom are smiling brightly at him.
It is a very happy birthday, indeed.