Work Text:
In recent months, Akito had found that losing a great portion of his free time was the tradeoff for moving up in the world of music. When the squad was nothing but a ragtag group of Vivid Street kids, they basically did as they pleased day in and day out, but things had become vastly different since they’d surpassed RAD WEEKEND.
SONIC NOTES, Lasting ECHO Fest, Illys, Embers, No.9, RUSH BEATS, Eagle Music... They were starting to get involved with all sorts of names and companies from the west. Some were great aides, others brought them monumental headaches... Either way, they had cannonballed straight into territory they hadn’t even dipped their toes in beforehand, and their daily lives had become all the more busy for it.
That being said, today would be refreshingly different. School was out for summer vacation, they didn’t have any events lined up and it would be a hot minute before their next overseas stint. But the best part? A brand new cafe was opening its doors today. It was the perfect time for Akito to just kick his feet up and relax.
...That, and take Toya on a date, of course. Trying out cafes together had been a staple of their relationship even before they were dating; something cozy and sweet they liked to share amongst themselves. It made for a great afternoon every time, and Akito was confident in his ability to ensure this one would be the same.
Akito couldn't help feeling stoked every time Toya said yes to a date – despite the fact that he'd literally never been rejected before. Call him a loser for it if you want, but it was impossible to turn off the side of himself that refused to consider Toya with anything short of the utmost reverence. Each and every date they shared made his heart go crazy enough to make you think it was their first, and he'd honestly have it no other way.
Despite all that, he also couldn't shake his habit of getting totally anxious right before the date itself… All of a sudden, a million things he hadn't even thought about morphed into objects of the utmost worry. Should he shower? Did his breath smell fine? Was his outfit stupid-looking? Was his hair too messy? Should he stop on the way and pick up a gift? Did he have enough cash on him to cover the check or should he jump straight to his card?
Seriously, you'd think he was preparing for their wedding, not a spontaneous lunch date… It was only natural to want to look your best for your boyfriend, though. As long as he had enough spare time to make it to Miyamasuzaka by noon, he could justify spending a few extra minutes – 40, to be precise – primping in the bathroom mirror.
Finally, the time for their date arrived. As they agreed over text, they'd meet in front of the arcade a couple minutes down from the cafe. It was easier to touch base at a landmark they were both familiar with before making the rest of the journey down together.
“Oi, Toya!” Akito called as he approached the arcade. Toya, previously standing in front of the entrance like a kid whose parents forgot to pick him up from school, turned to wave as his partner approached with fleeting steps.
“Hi, Akito.” Toya greeted simply, though the excitement sparkling within his silver eyes hardly took a trained eye to discern. Slung off his back was a black crossbody that had been stuffed to the brim, and it wasn't too difficult to discern the reason why.
“Lemme guess… You won too many plushies again?” Akito chuckled, to which Toya's eyes widened with surprise as though his bag wasn't visibly begging for mercy against whatever was stuffed inside.
“Only a few this time, actually.” said Toya, though when he shifted the strap to lay the bag upon his chest and pull open the zipper, there was at least a dozen inside of it. “I knew you were about to arrive, so I didn't purchase as many tokens as usual.”
“I'm surprised he hasn't put them outta business at this point…” Akito thought to himself as Toya reached into the bag and pulled out one of the many stuffed animals.
“As it happens, they're doing a collab with the cafe we're visiting today.” Toya explained, directing Akito's attention to what looked like a code printed upon the lion plushie's fur. “The arcade owner went out of his way to inform me that if we bring one of these in, we can get a free dessert.”
“And he let you take that many?” It was Akito's turn to have his eyes blown wide this time, gesturing to the other plushies within Toya's bag. Usually, this sort of event would enforce a purchase limit to avoid the wrath of resellers…
“Wasn't that nice of him?” Toya hummed, absolutely oblivious to the problem at hand as he stroked the plushie's mane. “The sign proclaimed a ‘2 per customer’ limit, but he told me to go ahead and take as many as I could win.”
“I guess so, yeah…” Akito said with an exasperated smile. Wherever they went, older folks seemed to have an affinity for Toya – always stuffing gifts into his arms and pinching his cheeks like he was their grandkid – and it seemed the owner of this arcade was the polar opposite of an exception.
“Anyway, shall we be off?”
“Yup. The place we're lookin’ for is around this corner…”
With that, the two began the walk to their destination. They hadn't seen each other since the day before yesterday, so it wasn't long before they fell into idle conversation along the way – excerpts from the latest batch of pet peeves Ena had triggered in Akito, summarized transcripts from a call between Toya and his brother, and of course the latest progress they'd made in the way of writing and practicing their music.
This was definitely what Akito needed. They hadn't even arrived at the cafe yet, but just walking along with Toya and talking about whatever mundane topic came to mind left him feeling calm like nothing else in the world could render him. Nothing could ruin this day for him now-
“AKITOOOOOO! TOYAAAAAA!”
Never mind.
“Ah...” Toya’s eyes lit up as soon as that dreadful head of peach-colored hair flew into view with all the grace of an old cartoon character. “Tsukasa-senpai, what a lovely surprise.”
“No it isn’t.” was a thought Akito chose to hide behind his grinding teeth to avoid instantly being put up for sale on adoptanaibou.com.
“Indeed! It’s always a great pleasure to run into my juniors!” Tsukasa spoke as boisterously as ever, each word punctuated by hand gestures as dramatic as they were completely unnecessary. “So what brings the two of you here today?”
“Oh, actually…” Toya began, and Akito instantly went pale as the realization that he was about to watch his whole afternoon get pushed into oncoming traffic set in. “We’re about to try out that new cafe down the street that opened today.”
Fuckkkkkkkkkk...
“Hahaha! Then this really is a wondrous coincidence!” Tsukasa's grin turned smug as he pointed in the cafe's general direction. “Rui and I were on our way to eat there ourselves! We could all dine together!”
“That certainly is lucky…” Toya contemplated the offer with a fist to his chin, to which Akito dove upon the opportunity to salvage their date while he could.
“W-well, we appreciate it, but we're actually headed there on a date…” Akito put on his best polite face as he spoke, promptly shoving his body in between the two. “We'll have to take you up some other time, Tsukasa-senpai.”
“Oh, that's quite alright!” said Tsukasa, genuinely thinking he deserved to live. “Rui and I had similar plans. We can make it a double date!”
Motherfucker.
“That sounds like a fantastic idea, Tsukasa-senpai…!” Toya visibly marveled as though the concept of a double date had never been thought of until this very moment. “Doesn't it sound fun, Akito?”
“Wh-” Akito really tried to fight it, but every ounce of rebellion inside him instantly curled up and died at the sight of Toya's glimmering look of excitement.
“K…kay… I guess it's fine-”
“HAHAHAHAHA! Then let us be off!”
“Jesus, don't yell in my ear… and quit pullin’!”
Well… Here they were. A double date with the Oddball 1-2. That was totally how Akito wanted to spend his day. Yeah. This was completely fine. He definitely wasn't contemplating throwing himself in front of the crossing next chance he got.
“Y'know, it's gonna be way harder to get a spot with this many people…” Akito chose to bring up as they rounded the corner. Hopefully, this last ditch effort would deter their senpai and they'd be left alone-
“Ah, not to worry, my dear junior!” Tsukasa proclaimed loudly, punctuating with a slap to Akito's back. “The table we reserved in advance can seat up to 20 people!”
“Why the hell did you reserve a table that huge?!”
“Hmph! You underestimate me, Akito.” Tsukasa huffed, crossing his arms and turning away as though his ego had been impaled by the comment. “I take caring for my loved ones quite seriously! And as my boyfriend, Rui especially deserves the best, doesn't he?”
“Tsukasa-senpai really is considerate.” praised Toya with a polite round of applause. Akito could only let out a defeated sigh, hardly left with any other choice than to accept what fate was clearly insistent on having in store for him.
After another minute or so of walking – though it felt eerily close to no short amount of hours from Akito's perspective – they finally made it to the cafe. As the signage came into view, Tsukasa stretched his neck out to peer through the crowd amassed at the storefront, dashing forward once he finally spotted a trio of familiar figures.
…Wait, trio?
“RUIIIII!” Tsukasa called out with the volume of a freight train, to which the boy in question simply offered a calm smile as his boyfriend slid into view. “Sorry to keep you waiting!”
“Don't be. You're precisely on time, Tsukasa-kun.” Rui assured, subsequently using the hand previously clinging onto the strap of his bag to gesture toward the two girls at his side. “I also happened to run into Mizuki and Shinonome-san on my way, so I was quite well occupied.”
“Hah?”
“Eh?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Akito immediately spit out as much venom as he could muster.
“I could ask you the same thing!” Ena huffed back, arms crossed together in a purely unintentional mirror to the position her brother had instantly assumed. “Seriously, you were gonna go to a new cafe on opening day without telling me anything?”
“Damn straight.” said Akito without shame or hesitation, though a smirk began to form on his face. “And for your information, I'm here on a date with my boyfriend.”
“Seriously, who has this little respect for their big sister?!” Ena ground her teeth so hard you could almost see sparks, thrusting a finger into Akito's face as she looked to the quartet behind them for validation.
“Yeah, big sister is right.” Akito huffed back, though considering her figure it was obvious he was poking fun at her vanity more than anything. “You sure you need to be here when you totally freaked last time you stepped on a scale?”
“You're such a brat…!” Ena growled, the war of words between them growing more and more unintelligible as they began yelling at each other like they were locked in a contest of volume.
“They're getting along as swimmingly as ever, aren't they?” Toya commented as he joined the rest of the group, though that distinct affection in his eyes didn't evaporate even slightly as he watched the two siblings argue like it was their job to do so.
“No kidding…” Mizuki snickered, watching the fight play out for just a few moments longer before turning to face her classmate. “Anyway, you two are here for the cafe's opening too, right?”
“Ah yes, of course!” Tsukasa chimed in, an expression of dramatic self-directed shock widening out his features. “I completely forgot to mention! I invited Akito and Toya for a double date!”
“Oya? Today really has been full of marvelous coincidences, then.” A cat-like smile suddenly formed on Rui's face as he glanced between his amassed band of companions. “It just so happens that I extended a similar invitation to Mizuki.”
“I see…” Toya nodded in understanding, the look on his face serious enough to make you think he was connecting the dots in a murder case. “Then you're also here on a romantic endeavor, Akiyama?”
“Well, sorta…” Mizuki chuckled, a smirk not dissimilar to Rui's earlier look forming on her face. “Ena and I were supposed to meet some friends here, but then Rui came begging for us to join him~”
“Hm… Funnily enough, the way I remember it is that you came begging for help after seeing the queue.” Rui hummed with deceptive innocence in his tone. “Fufu. Memory sure is a fickle thing, isn't it?”
“Well, in that case, it's luckier than I thought that I was able to reserve that table!” Tsukasa spoke with the utmost pride, somehow remaining oblivious to the fact that he contributed to the problem more than he was doing anything to solve it. “The more the merrier, I say! You're all perfectly welcome to join us!”
“Yay~ Tsukasa-senpai really is a cool and reliable future star~” Mizuki buttered up the blonde without relent, joining Toya and Rui in delivering his second round of applause.
“Indeed, indeed.” Rui hummed, eyes fixated on Tsukasa as he struck another pose. “So long as none of you order dishes with veggies in them, it's perfectly fine.”
“Now hold on…” Tsukasa instantly went into nagging mode with a yank upon Rui's ear. “It's one thing to avoid vegetables yourself, but who said you got to control what the whole table eats?!”
“Yoyoyo… Tsukasa-kun's such a bully…” Rui instantly put on the crocodile tears in response, punctuating his frowning words by dramatically dabbing his eye. “Can you believe I have to put up with this abuse every day, Mizuki…?”
“Poor Rui…” Mizuki offered her false sympathies with a pat upon her friend's shoulder. “I'll make sure I stay strictly carnivorous tonight, kay?”
“Sniff sniff… Thank you… At least somebody here doesn't take joy in my suffering…”
“Quit making me out like I'm some villain!!!”
Though perhaps it had less to do with the time encroaching upon their reservation slot and more that all of them were actively causing a scene to one degree or another, the hostess soon appeared to take them to their table with the utmost haste. Predictably, the place was packed wall-to-wall with customers, nearly every table apart from the one they'd reserved filled with influencers and opportunists alike.
“They seem to be handling things rather efficiently.” Toya commented as he took his seat right next to Akito, watching with a certain wonder in his eyes as the restaurant staff worked tirelessly from all corners to ensure their operation ran smoothly.
“Yeah, no kidding…” Akito huffed – as, by his count, three tables had already been cashed, bussed and resat just in the time it took for them to sit down. “Guess that's a good thing, though. Opening nights are rough no matter what industry you're in.”
At the very least, the fact that they were actually in the cafe now meant there wouldn't be any extra surprises. Akito could sit back and relax with his partner without anyone else interrupting them-
“Oh, it's Akito and Toya! Hey guys!”
“H-hello, Shinonome-kun and Aoyagi-kun…!”
Just kill him now.
“Ah… Shiraishi and Azusawa.” Toya waved as their teammates unexpectedly approached their table. “I see you're also here for the cafe opening.”
“Yup! Kohane found the menu online, and it said they serve rum raisin ice cream!” An explained, throwing an arm around her partner's shoulder as if to show off how great she was. “Plus, you can get lattes and boba tea with all sortsa toppings~”
“I see. You should join us, then.” Toya invited, too occupied with pulling out one of his garnered plushies to notice Akito's agonized groan. “You can purchase a free dessert with one of these, and I've got more than enough for everyone to have a share.”
“That's Toya for ya!” An praised, lurching over his side of the table to affectionately smack his back. “In that case, let's-”
“Ah, Nene-chan, Nene-chan! Mr. Roar's right over there!”
“Emu, you can't just barge into the dining room…!”
Was everyone they fucking knew going to show up?!
“Nene, Emu! What a pleasant surprise!” Tsukasa greeted as Emu yanked a staggering Nene toward the table with the force of a killer whale. “Of course, as your ever reliable senpai and endlessly magnanimous troupe leader, I'll be more than happy to let you sit at this table-”
“Not interested.”
“Eh?! I'm offering you a nice seat and a free dessert!”
Oh, how Akito envied Nene's ability to say no… Not that she didn't have her own weak spots when it came to Emu – in fact, having one was probably a natural consequence of being in a relationship. There wasn't much difference between a lover and a friend you happened to make out with if you weren't a little soft and gummy for them.
Still, that didn't help to keep Akito from feeling like a total loser when he thought about how readily he wrecked his whole evening just to keep Toya happy… It was like his brain automatically rearranged all his priorities in accordance with what his partner needed, even if that meant taking what was supposed to be a private date and extending it across the whole damn population of Japan.
“I… take it all of you are together, then?” chimed in the hostess who had led An and Kohane into the cafe, the ongoing spectacle doing nothing to help the extremely apparent stress she was under.
“Of course we are!” Emu decided for the group, only a mutual jump between Akito and Nene signaling their disapproval. “Everything's more fun when you do it with friends, right?”
“Hahaha! You get it, Emu!” Tsukasa spoke far louder than what you'd consider appropriate for a public dining room. “You can sit next to me, then! Don't be shy, don't be shy!”
“My condolences, Kusanagi…” Akito chuckled out awkwardly as the number of empty seats gradually went down, knowing well the feeling of going along with your partner's whims for their sake and ending up in a grave of your own making for it.
“It's alright…” Nene muttered, eyes shifting around the table as the others made idle conversation. “At least we get some dessert out of it. And it's mostly people I already know, so I should be fine-”
“Ah! Looks like Airi-chan and the others are here.” Mizuki shot up from her seat just in time to shatter both of their hopes. “I'll head up front to greet them~”
“W…what?!”
Right… Akito had nearly forgotten his sister happened to be close friends with several popular idols. That totally bode well for the fate of the evening.
When Airi and her group members rolled up to the table, things got livelier than expected. Not due to fan interference, as they'd all shown up in disguises – but because they arrived with a certain girl band in tow as well. Something about how Shizuku and Shiho coincidentally made identical plans with their respective groups, so the latter ended up suffering a fate identical to Akito no matter how hard she fought it…
Even more bewildering, though, was the sight of a short white-haired girl and the emergence of a towering head of violet beside her. That one sort of shocked Akito. From the way Ena described those two, it seemed like Kanade was a complete hermit who'd persist off cup noodles alone if left to her own devices, while Mafuyu was a complete workaholic who seldom took a moment for simple leisure… Hearsay could be a bit deceiving, it appeared.
Things hardly quieted down after that, of course. Between familiar conversations amongst close friends, prying queries between more casual acquaintances and introductions shared by those who hadn't really spoken before now, there was barely an uneventful minute at their table.
And at the center of it all? That beautiful, carefree smile lighting up Toya's face as he engaged in conversation with his friends.
Reminiscing on old times with Saki and Tsukasa… Engrossing himself as Rui explained at length the creation process of his latest invention… Beaming when Ena heaped more affection upon him than Akito had ever gotten from her in his life… Exchanging opinions with Nene about recent game announcements they were both interested in… Even when An and Mizuki threw a couple teasing remarks Akito's way, he could barely manage to act sour about it when Toya's quiet little laugh was so much louder.
A surge of pride welled up in Akito's chest – probably because if they'd done something like this a few years ago, Toya probably wouldn't have spoken much at all, let alone express his feelings as naturally as he was doing right now. Gone were the days where his emotions existed vicariously through Akito's overabundance, clearing the way for a version of Toya that could truly be happy without anything getting in his way.
“...Hm?” Toya perked up, only noticing Akito's stare once the look on his face melted into an impossibly gentle smile. “Akito? Are you alright?”
“Yup.” Akito spoke truthfully, though perhaps Toya would never understand the full extent of his reason even if he spoke it aloud. “Never been better.”
Once their meals were finished and an agreement for how to split the check was reached, faces began to disappear from the table one by one. If Akito were more philosophical, he might've found it fascinating how well their personalities and relationships made themselves apparent here – the introverts of the group packed up their free dessert to go and left early, while the more social members of the pack stayed behind to continue chatting and eating.
Most prominent of all was the fact that nearly everyone left in pairs, making it extremely apparent who came here for each other's sake. Not that Akito was any different – he stayed with Toya until their group was sanded down to the tawdry little boys’ club they'd initially started with. Tsukasa insisted on acting as host until the very end, which entailed Rui's presence up to the moment they finally left the cafe.
“Well, I'd say today was a resounding success!” Tsukasa loudly announced as they made their exit. By then, a good chunk of the crowd had dissipated, providing a much calmer atmosphere than when the staff was rushing to shove everyone in and out like they were working an assembly line.
“Indeed.” Toya agreed, satisfaction obvious in his tone. “It was a rare treat getting to see so many of our friends at once. Thank you for the opp-”
“Tsukasa-kuuuuun~” Rui suddenly flopped against his boyfriend's back with a drunkard's abandon. “Let's go home together~”
“Wh- Rui!” Tsukasa scolded, struggling to hold up the taller man's weight. “At least walk by yourself!”
“I'm afraid I can't. My batteries have run completely dry.” Rui continued his dramatics, a mighty groan forced from Tsukasa's lips when he purposefully leaned harder. “You'll have to take responsibility and carry me home~”
“There's no way I'm carrying you all the way down the block!” Tsukasa huffed from equal parts exertion and pettiness, though it seemed even he wasn't dense enough not to pick up what Rui was putting down. It probably looked more like a fight as they proceeded to stagger down the block together, but anyone acquainted could easily tell this was just a tried-and-true mating ritual between them.
“We really didn't get to be alone the whole day, huh…” Akito finally voiced his disdain aloud once their senpais were out of earshot.
“It was unexpected to end up with such a large group.” Toya nodded along, though if his unbroken smile spoke to anything, it was for precisely the opposite reason. “Still, I agree with Tsukasa-senpai. I think this was a very successful date.”
“Does it even count as one at that point…?” Akito laughed out with a casual pat to his partner’s head. Once again, his prior annoyance had been vanquished by Toya's hand in less than an instant.
“Of course it does.” Toya hummed, leaning into the touch as Akito pet his hair the way you would a dog. “You were there by my side, after all. You make everything more enjoyable just by being there.”
“Toya…” Akito murmured this time, retracting his hand to drag it over his newly reddening face until it collected into a lazy fist at his chin. This was hardly a new occurrence, but it still served to give akito a shock on occasion – how talented Toya was at matching his unspoken wavelength, and choosing the perfect words to fluster him into oblivion over it every time.
“You're way too good to me, y'know that?” he laughed as he threw his arm around Toya's shoulder, prying a grunt from the older as they began to walk along. Toya was visibly unsure of what he'd done so well, but he was never one to decline a bit of praise from his partner, so he simply soaked it in with a reciprocating chuckle.
“You know…” Toya mused, deciding to gently take from the page Rui had left scattered behind earlier. “My parents shouldn't be home. You could spend the night if you'd like.”
“Hell yeah.” was the candid response Akito smirked out, thoughts of a long-awaited reward filling every meaningful crevice of his brain as they turned the corner.