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Nirei was avoiding him. Why? He didn’t know.
Yet.
Sakura had gotten used to being greeted by a cheery Good morning, Sakura-san! every time he opened the classroom doors, or even earlier at the school gates. But now his mornings were filled with silence, with the occasional nervous glance to him.
He thought they were well past the point of nerves, they had known each other for almost half a year now. Sakura thought Nirei was getting comfortable with him, but maybe he was mistaken.
With another missed greeting in the morning, Sakura shoves his hands deep in his pockets and trudges his way to the classroom. More whispers than normal are thrown at him as he walks down the hallway, his shoulders suddenly hiked all the way up to his ears.
He was used to this. Glares and whispers about his appearance, his attitude, the way he talks. The lot of it, but he hadn’t experienced it here, at Furin.
Sakura stayed silent, stewing in his own thoughts, as he used to do. What had he done to the others to garner this attention again? Has something come up about his past?
The grade captain clicks his tongue loudly, letting his wallowing turn into anger. His mixed emotions lead him to slamming open the door to 1-1 with an angry shout. But that leaves him instantly when he sees what waits for him inside.
Almost all his classmates stood around his desk, wearing weird hats with colorful tubes in their mouths. Anzai stands hovering over his desk holding some sort of pastry, a cake maybe? Suo stands off to the side smiling like he usually does, and Nirei, Kiryu, and Tsugeura all stand shocked still with their jaws hanging open.
They all stare at each other for a few moments, Sakura can feel the heat creep up his neck at his suspicions of what this is. Suo clears his throat loudly and lays a hand on Nirei’s shoulder. It seems to reboot the boy as he bolts straight up and rushes over to his captain.
“H—Happy Birthday, Sakura-san!” The blond boy says in a rush, eyes practically shining.
The heat fully envelops Sakura’s face this time, his suspicions were correct. He wasn't dumb, he knew how birthdays were celebrated. The boy had just…never had one before and if he had, he couldn't remember.
A string of stammers leaves the captain's mouth, unable to form words. Nirei was practically shining in front of him and his other classmates soon joined him. It was Suo who finally got him to stop short circuiting by crudely snapping a small birthday hat on Sakura’s head.
The elastic stings under his chin and the boy whips around instantly to the other, “What was that for, Suo?!”
Suo’s smile never leaves his face, “You weren't saying anything, Sakura-kun! I was afraid we lost you…”
Sakura was about to growl out more curses, but the other continued, “I was worried you were going to break our poor Nire-kun’s heart just standing there..”
Leave it to Suo to stir something more than he needed to. At the mention of his name, Nirei squeaks, “N–No, no, I’m fine! I didn't want to overwhelm you, Sakura-san. I'm sorry…”
Heat pools at the base of his neck and Sakura can hear Suo’s smirk get wider, “W–Whatever! What were you guys doing anyways?!”
His classmates all exchange looks with each other, from worried about upsetting Sakura to pleased grins a second later. Before he could prepare, they all shouted, “Happy Birthday, Sakura!”
“Yer all too close! I can hear you just fine!” Sakura shouts back, pushing himself through the crowd. His anger never means anything towards his classmates, it’s used to hide his embarrassment or happiness. They all know that, that’s why some melt into knowing smiles, others ramping themselves up again to tease their captain.
Sakura makes it to his desk in, mostly, one piece, staring down at the small cake-like thing sitting on top of it. He tilts his head, it looks and smells good, almost enough to shove it into his mouth right then. But he suddenly sees gold in the corner of his eye and turns towards the other boy. Nirei jumps slightly, cheeks tinged pink, “I–I uh, brought that for you! You don't have to eat it if you don't want to…”
Sakura frowns at his vice captain, making a point to flop down in his seat and take a massive bite from what he thinks is a misshapen cupcake. He chews it thoroughly, it's soft and maybe a tad too sweet, but it was good. It tasted better than any birthday cake he's had before.
Nirei opens his mouth to protest about Sakura forcing himself to eat it, but another voice interrupts them, “Nire-kun made that, you know.”
The entire classroom stills. Nirei now flushes just as bad as Sakura does on a regular basis, while the birthday boy himself looks up at Suo slowly, “Did ‘e?” he says around a mouthful of cupcake.
Suo nods so vigorously his tassel earrings jingle, “Mhm! He even took notes on what flavor you would like best!”
Nirei’s screeches and pleas go unheard as the whole class watches the exchange unfold. He tries to get Suo to shut up, but he's as slippery as ever.
Sakura dutifully nods, peeking at Nirei from the corner of his eye, “Mm. Well, it's tasty…”
It makes Nirei pause, halfway stretched out to put a hand over Suo’s mouth. Nirei can feel the smirk underneath his hand, but he turns to Sakura instead, “R—Really?”
Sakura, blush creeping up to his ears, nods once, strong and affirm. Nirei’s jitters finally explode, launching himself at his captain and engulfing him in a hug, “Happy Birthday, Sakura-san!”
“I get it—get off me!”
After the cupcake scandal, the day passes by smoothly. The whispers Sakura thought he was hearing were just excited ones, people plotting how to get the jump on him to wish him a happy birthday.
Sakura thinks he had enough jump scares for one day when the final school bell rings. Nirei is first at his side with Suo sauntering up behind him, “You two head out first, I have some things to stay back for.” Suo tells him, a hint of tease underneath his smile.
Sakura side eyes him, but doesn’t question further. Nirei, on the other hand, is turning increasingly pink, but pushes himself and Sakura out of the classroom with a shrill See you tomorrow! to his friend. He didn’t want to stay long enough for Suo to find out more about Nirei and his weird behavior to their captain.
The two walk in silence for most of their walk, choosing to drop Sakura off first because it was “his day”, according to Nirei. Sakura can feel him get more nervous every passing second, every step they take seems to make his fingers twitch.
When his apartment building comes into view, Sakura sighs heavily, making the other jump in surprise. He meant to turn to his friend and ask him what the hell was wrong with him, but a sudden pressure against his cheek stopped him.
Normally, when anything touched his face, it was pain. But this…this was entirely foreign to the boy. A blooming warmth settles in the middle of his cheek, staying there for what felt like longer than necessary. A quiet noise of parting lips snaps him back and Sakura whips around, hand gently covering his cheek.
Nirei pulled back in time to not get clipped by the offending hand and smiled nervously at the other, “S…Sorry, this day was going to be a whole lot different. I had planned so many things, but…” he trails off fidgeting with his fingers, voice lowering into a whisper, “I hope today was enough, Sakura-san. I wanted to show how important you are to me.”
He says all this without breaking eye contact with Sakura. The captain will have to curse out Suo later for making Nirei braver than he was when they first met. His face is aflame at Nirei’s confession, but he doesn’t allow himself to lash out like usual, “…is this why you were avoiding me...”
Sakura watches as Nirei’s eyes grow wide with understanding. The blond bows deep suddenly, “I was trying to figure stuff out! I’m s—“
“Quit sayin’ yer sorry!” Sakura yells, then lowers his voice when the other flinches, “‘S fine…just…unnerved me is all…”
Nirei rises from his bow and tilts his head at Sakura in a silent question. Sakura reads it, “It’s…it’s weird not seein’ you in the mornings.” He says through gritted teeth. It feels as if Nirei unraveled Sakura completely with the single affectionate kiss to his cheek earlier.
Nirei breaks out into the most blinding grin Sakura has ever seen him, “I’ll make sure it won’t happen again!” He happily shouts.
Sakura groans, “Don’t go yellin’ like that in my neighborhood!”
Nirei breaks off into a fit of giggles. He reaches up to the hand still covering Sakura’s cheek like whatever happened before will happen again, but Sakura lets him take it. Nirei cautiously intertwines their fingers, “I’ll walk you to your door?” He gently asks with a tilt of his head, one he knows Sakura can’t say no too.
“W—Whatever.”
Buzzing with energy, Nirei basically skips them to the front door of Sakura’s apartment, swinging their hands back and forth between them.
He finally lets go when the other unlocks his door and steps inside, Nirei is still all smiles when he wishes him another happy birthday for the nth time that day.
Before he steps away completely and Sakura closes his door, Nirei hears a faint, shy, “…Thank you, Nirei.”
The boy couldn’t wait to get home and write his (and Sakura's) day down in his journal.