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Touya walked leisurely beside Akito with another hard day of practice behind them.
It being a Friday meant they were heading home near midnight—another reason he was spending the night with Akito rather than deal with his father's admonishments. But first and foremost, the weekend meant he could spend more time with his partner, and he'd take any excuse he could to do that. (Even if they'd seen each other several times during school and then been together for almost seven hours after that.) It wasn’t like he could ever get sick of seeing Akito. They walked, hands lightly swinging in the chill of the night between them, Touya leaching the heat from Akito’s ever-warm body. They didn’t speak. Too exhausted from the hours of singing and dancing to do much more than drag their feet and dream about a bath and falling into bed together. It was nice to just listen to the quiet sounds of far-off traffic and the leaves in the wind.
They made it to the Shinonome’s porch a few minutes after the clock struck twelve. Light came from the window into the living room, so Ena was most likely downstairs and not in her room like usual. Akito fumbled with the keys as Touya waited patiently for the door to open. A few seconds later, it did, and Touya followed after Akito with a quiet ‘pardon the intrusion.’ He placed his shoes neatly on the rack next to Akito’s haphazardly toed-off sneakers and continued into the living room.
“Good evening, Ena-san. Akiyama,” he greeted, stumbling over Akiyama’s name when he realised she was also here.
He received an enthusiastic, “Hiya!” and “Hi Touya-kun,” before Akito grumbled from over in the kitchen.
“Oi.” Akito frowned, holding up a paper box. “What the hell’s this?”
“A box,” Ena scoffed. “You have eyes, don’t you?”
“No shit, a dessert box, from Snow Delights.” Akito rolled his eyes and brandished the box threateningly. “You went there and didn’t get me anything? I get you shit all the time, and you won’t even buy me a single thing.”
Touya recognised the name of the café after a moment, letting the siblings’ fight escalate without him and sharing a laughter-filled glance with Mizuki. Snow Delights was a new place that had opened temporarily—only for the month—and had quickly gone viral for its intricate desserts and winter-themed flavours. Akito had been raving about it since December started.
“I didn’t know you wanted to go!” Touya tuned back in to Ena’s single, admittedly lame, defence. Akito just raised an eyebrow, and Ena huffed and crossed her arms. “Ugh. Sorry. It was one dessert per person, anyway. I couldn’t have bought you anything even if I knew.” She sent an elbow into Mizuki’s ribs at her giggle. “You’ve still got half the month left to go! It’s fine.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “And it really was delicious…”
Akito looked one second from throwing the box or swiping the leftover cream and crumbs from inside into his mouth, so Touya made his way over and gently removed the box from his grasp, placing it back on the bench. “We will, Ena-san. We have a few free days soon, Akito. We can go then.”
Ena nodded assertively at his words and stood up, holding a hand out to help Mizuki up. “Good. Alright. We’ve gotta head off. Don’t stay up too late. Night, you two.” The two waved and moved upstairs, flicking off the overhead light and leaving only the lamp next to the kitchen for them.
Akito’s pout greeted him when he looked back at his partner, and Touya resolved to wipe it away with a kiss. “It’s fine, really. We’ll go, I promise. An and Kohane might like to go as well.”
“I know, I know.” Akito blushed, glaring. “Whatever. Let’s just go upstairs. We can make plans later, I’m beat.” He shut off the lamp and shoved the box into the bin before herding Touya out of the kitchen.
Touya smiled knowingly and slipped his hand back into Akito’s to climb the stairs. They fell into their usual routine for nights like these. He pulled out a mix of his and Akito’s clothes to change into and headed into the bathroom for a quick bath while Akito tidied his room and threw an extra pillow onto the bed. By the time he came back, hair damp and skin flushed red, the room was marginally cleaner, and the bed straightened out. Akito sat in his chair, scrolling through his phone with his pyjamas on his lap, and hopped out as Touya opened the door. Akito made sure to ruffle his hair with the towel as he passed, and Touya flopped onto the bed with a yawn to wait for Akito to finish. He passed the time by looking over their schedule for the next week. They had practice tomorrow, but Sunday was free apart from an event in the evening, so they had the entire morning and the start of the afternoon to themselves.
The door creaked open and the main light turned off, plunging him into darkness, bar the suddenly bright light from his phone. Touya reached over to the lamp above Akito’s bed to flood their half of the room with warm orange light. When he sat back properly, Akito was pressed into his side, tugging the towel around his shoulders off and sidling back to sit behind him. Touya simply placed his phone beside him and shut his eyes, letting Akito dry his hair with soft, slow ministrations. Akito always blow-dried his hair, but Touya didn’t like to, and was more than happy to let Akito play with his hair—something he seemed to enjoy more than Touya. He yawned again, the rubbing motions putting him to sleep more until he was lax against Akito and probably hindering his ability to dry his hair. Akito laughed softly into his ear and dropped the towel to instead run his fingers through the blue strands, separating the colours and straightening out his hair as best he could without a comb.
“Alright,” Akito whispered. “Come on, into bed.”
Touya groaned but sat up to allow Akito to throw the towel into the clothes hamper across the room and shuffled to get under the covers, head falling onto Akito’s chest as soon as he was lying down. “Thank you for drying my hair,” he said as he always did, and Akito just hummed. “Goodnight, Akito. Sleep well.”
“Always,” Akito huffed a laugh. “Night, Touya.”
“Hell yeah we can!” Was the resounding response to Touya’s proposal the next day.
An looked positively giddy at the idea, already imagining what desserts the café had without looking. Unlike Kohane, who took out her phone to actually look at the menu.
“It looks so fancy,” Kohane cooed. “The décor’s all wintery, they even have fake snow. Oh!” She turned the screen around to show Akito. “Cheesecake crepe!”
They could hear Akito’s stomach growl at the sight. “I know,” Akito sighed almost wistfully. “I need it right now.”
Touya pat his arm consolingly. “It’s alright, it’ll be in front of you tomorrow. We’ll go early in the day.”
“Then let’s work you up an appetite.” An jumped to her feet. “Get those dancing shoes on, boy. You gotta earn that crepe!”
Akito shot her a raised eyebrow full of so much disgust that Touya had to stifle a laugh. But he stood up anyway. “And these two don’t gotta work for it?”
“No, they’re angels and deserve everything ever,” An dismissed, completely ignoring the look to instead toss a microphone at him. “Let’s go.”
He and Kohane gave Akito matching pets, which only seemed to further rub salt in the wound. They followed An to the stage in the corner of Weekend Garage to start their final polish for tomorrow’s event. It had been a while since they’d practised regularly here, but finally, things had died down enough that they could come back to what was their second home more often, settling into a more familiar routine. Touya threw himself into it along with his partners. All thoughts of sweets were discarded to focus on pushing themselves and each other even higher. Akito took An’s threat seriously, though, and worst of all. It was actually making Akito better. He wasn’t sure how he felt about bribing him with sweets… But if it worked, it worked?
An skipped over to the bar, gratefully taking a tray with a pitcher of water and some glasses from Kotaro and brought them back, pouring them all a drink, which they all took gratefully.
“Well,” An sighed in satisfaction. “I suppose you’ve earned that pancake crepe monstrosity, Akito. Just don’t let it distract you from our performance!”
“As if,” Akito scoffed into his glass.
Kohane nodded seriously. “On the contrary, it might make him better. Like sugar power.”
“This explains… everything,” An stage-whispered. “It all makes sense. He runs on the stuff…”
“And Touya runs on coffee, yeah, yeah.” Akito nudged him, rudely bringing him into this. “But I’m normal about desserts, if you weren’t aware.”
The three of them could only look at him and shake their heads solemnly. He absolutely was not.
“Fuck you guys.”
The next morning came and Touya found himself on a street corner a few blocks from Vivid Street to wait for the others. Akito was leaning against the wall when he arrived and shot him a blinding grin. Touya met it with his own smile and wave before slipping under Akito’s waiting arm. A few minutes passed in silence before An appeared, Kohane another minute behind her. They exchanged greetings before setting off. Touya had no idea how long the line would be to get inside, but considering the popularity of the place, it would surely be another hour at minimum before they could get in. But they’d made sure to arrive early; before the café opened at ten.
Even that, apparently, wasn’t enough. Their steps faltered as they turned the corner onto the street the café sat on, two blocks away. And even without knowing where the store was, anyone would be able to tell you something was there, because the line extended down the sidewalk, ending just in front of them. At least they didn’t have to walk very far to reach the end of it… Again, Touya had expected it. But it still surprised him. At least it was a new experience he could look forward to. He certainly hadn’t participated in a line for a café or store before. (He wasn’t sure if this was something he actually wanted to experience. Even he had his limits for new things.)
“Shoulda bought a chair,” An laughed as they joined the line, immediately settling her weight onto the building behind them under the shade of the awning. “The line won’t even start moving for another ten minutes. Yikes. Remind me why we’re doing this again?”
“Because you love me,” Akito deadpanned as Kohane simply showed a photo of the elaborate menu.
An nodded sagely. “Damn. The things I do for love.”
“You’ve done worse than stand in a line for an hour.”
“Can a guy not complain?”
“You should at least wait half an hour before you start,” Touya said. “If you complain from the start, you look a little weak-willed.”
An opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut after a second. “Can’t argue with that. Start a timer.”
Kohane dutifully opened her clock app, much to Akito’s disgust. Touya sort of regretted putting a time on when An could complain now, knowing full well she would say something when that alarm went off. Standing in a line for a few hours was nothing compared to singing and dancing in a hot room for the same amount of time. An had nothing to complain about, really. But she’d moved on remarkably quickly, completely ignoring her previous stance to launch into a conversation with Kohane and Akito about sewing street clothes for worms and—
And Touya was no longer listening. He retrieved the book he’d placed in his bag, knowing he would have some time to read and at least one of them had to escape that conversation, even if Akito looked like he wanted to. (The premise of clothes kept him hooked, though.) Touya bit his lip to stifle a laugh and tuned out to focus on his book, opening it to his bookmark towards the end and settling in to the wall to read. Eventually the line actually started moving as it hit ten am and the store opened, but he just let Akito pull him along, not taking his eyes off the book. At least they’d switched topics to something more normal now. He still wasn’t going to engage, though; the mystery was just starting to unravel!
The opening bars of Bring it On suddenly chimed from Kohane’s phone, and she quickly took it out to silence it, flushing at how loud it was.
“I’m sick of standing around,” An groaned on cue. “Ughhh, let’s leaveee.”
“An-chan, the sunk-cost fallacy,” Kohane stifled a laugh.
“Nooo, foiled by the cunk-sost fallacy.”
“Not what she said,” Akito hissed in laughter. “I’ll cunk your sost.”
An smothered a snort and pushed her face into Akito’s, raising and spreading her arms to appear more intimidating. “Oh yeah? That a promise?” she asked lowly.
Akito met her move for move, shoving his forehead into hers. “It’s a threat.”
“We are in public,” Touya drawled, sending an apologetic nod to the people in front openly gawking at the insane teenagers. “Do your weird mating rituals in private, please.” He watched the red physically creep up their ears, but they didn’t move for another few seconds, not until Akito narrowed his eyes and tilted his head up to press his lips to the tip of An’s nose, which apparently meant he won.
Slowly, they drew closer and closer to the front of the line. The store was in sight now, and with Touya’s height advantage, he could see the door open and close, only ten or so metres ahead of them. Akito was practically bouncing with excitement, so much that Touya feared he might start unravelling at the seams and explode before they could get inside. He placed a hand on Akito’s shoulder, who startled at the touch and sent him a half-hearted glare, pink staining his cheeks.
“We’re nearly there, Akito. Stay calm.”
Akito shrugged his hand off and pouted. “Don’t make me sound crazy, dude.”
Touya only smiled indulgently. “I didn’t.” He got a light whack for that. “I still don’t know what you two are getting, An, Kohane,” Touya raised his voice to get the girls’ attention.
“We’re going to share a freakshake,” Kohane answered, lighting up and reaching for her phone again to find a picture. “They have insane milkshakes with ice cream and entire desserts on them.”
“Way too big for one person,” An laughed as Kohane spun the screen around, showing off an absolutely massive glass with entire doughnuts and cake slices piled on top of cream and ice cream, decorated with pocky and chunks of chocolate. Touya could feel himself getting sick just looking at it.
“Looking a little green there.” Akito nudged him. “Not gonna get one of those as well?”
H shook his head vehemently as the girls laughed again. “No thank you. That might kill me. I’ll stick with some coffee and maybe a bruschetta. They do have a few savoury things.”
“Bruce-what?”
They’d unconsciously been walking forward with the line as they spoke, and before he could answer, the people in front moved and suddenly the way forward was clear. Akito and Kohane inhaled sharply, and An let out a little cheer.
“We made it!”
The usher bowed as they stopped, finally, at the start of the line, and opened her mouth to greet them when a waiter pushed through the open door to whisper in her ear. They watched as she nodded, understanding blooming on her face, quickly followed by fear, and then resignation. The staff nodded at each other and the waiter returned inside. The usher grimaced before plastering on the most strained smile Touya had ever seen.
“I’m so, so sorry for the inconvenience.” She bowed almost in half. “But it appears we have just sold out of everything and will not be accepting any more customers for the day. My deepest apologies. May we offer you a discount voucher?”
They all froze. Touya had expected something to happen once the waiter came rushing out, but not something so… drastic. He looked at Akito, who was blinking rapidly like he couldn’t believe it, and felt disappointment fill his chest.
“Oh, no, it’s okay!” An stammered, breaking out of the shock first. “Don’t worry about it. Thank you.” She bowed her head and took Kohane’s and his hands to drag them out of the line so that the poor woman could apologise to the next hundred people behind them. Touya barely managed to grab Akito before An pulled them down the street.
They moved in a daze. He could hear the grumbles start behind them and silently prayed for the staff, but they fell into the background and into nothing as they were pulled through the streets. After a few minutes of shocked, silent walking, An pulled them into a familiar playground and unceremoniously dropped herself onto the bench, pulling the rest of them with her. They simply sat. Unsure what to say or do. That was… How on earth…
Raucous laughter filled the park, and Touya watched distantly as An doubled over, wheezing. At the sound, Akito let out a groan that sounded like a sob and buried his head in his hands on Touya’s other side. He could do nothing but look at Kohane, helpless.
“What,” Kohane started. “What are the chances of that? We were right there.” Her voice grew in pitch with each sentence. “Not even second in line? First in line?”
“It’s… It’s um.” Touya didn’t even know what to say. How unlucky could they be?
“They hate us specifically.” An straightened, wiping a tear from her eyes.
Akito’s muffled voice reverberated from the side. “I’m going to kill myse”—An tutted admonishingly, and Akito lifted his head to glare at her—“I’m going to surpass Rad Weekend.”
“You already did that.”
Akito’s eye twitched. “I’m going to kill you.”
They both jumped to their feet, An sprinting away across the grass with Akito hot on her heels. She didn’t stand a chance. Touya watched as Akito tackled An to the ground after a few seconds, the two of them falling into a heap and certainly staining their white clothes.
Kohane sighed affectionately, which he wasn’t sure was the correct response to your boyfriend and girlfriend trying to kill each other. But he sighed the same way. So he couldn’t say anything.
“Akito has soccer tomorrow, right?” Kohane turned to him after a minute of watching the other two try out noogie each other. Touya nodded, and she continued, “The two of us could try again tomorrow? It might not be as busy on a Monday. Honestly, we shouldn’t have picked the weekend for this,” she laughed. “An could distract him if we take a while.”
Touya nodded at her words. He certainly wanted to get something for Akito. He couldn’t let it end here, but they didn’t have enough free time the rest of the month to try coming together like this. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “Let’s try. I have a study period in the afternoon I could skip the last few minutes of.”
“I shouldn’t be condoning that, but it’s for a good cause. Alright. Let’s do it!”
They smiled serenely at each other, plans made, and listened to the birds chirping and their partners’ screams.
Half an hour before the bell rang, Touya silently packed up his history assignment and slipped outside the Library, hoping no one would stop or question him. It wasn’t unheard of for students to leave early, but he wasn’t very good at lying and didn’t want to even risk it. Thankfully, no stray teachers or hall monitors were roaming the hall and he escaped the school without incident. The café was only a fifteen-minute walk away, but he could cut that down to twelve if he speed-walked. Oh, the things he did for Akito.
Ten minutes later, he turned the corner onto the street with the café, hoping that the line was not as ridiculous as it had been the day before. A sigh of relief escaped him at the sight of the blessedly short line, though peering through the café windows as he passed, it seemed frantic inside. He silently joined the end of the line, only about twenty or so people in front of him and let out a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, he spotted a familiar shade of blonde hair and waved for Kohane to join him. A few people—mostly students—had already lined up behind him, so he was glad he’d decided to leave early. After all, being in front of a single person might be the difference between life and death. Or crepe and no crepe.
“Hi, Touya,” Kohane greeted as she stopped next to him, reaching over to squeeze his hand before letting go. “It looks like we can get in today!”
“Good afternoon. Yes.” Touya peered around the line—having not moved in the few minutes he’d been alone—to see a couple exiting the café. “We can only hope.”
They settled in for a slightly shorter wait. Watching several people leave with takeaway instead of sitting in meant the line moved quicker than yesterday, but it would still be at least forty minutes before they would get inside. And that was if they didn’t sell out. The time passed quickly, conversation about their day, what homework they had, and which work they had to teach their partners, interrupted by bouts of comfortable silence as the two of them were wont to do. Not like An, who had to fill every moment, or Akito, who found the silence awkward.
“Those clouds look quite dark,” Touya commented as a gust of wind rattled them, and he clutched his blazer closed.
“Yes…” Kohane trailed off. “I didn’t check the weather… did you?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t see the point, it was quite hot yesterday, I didn’t think it would be much—” Something hit his cheek and he flinched. He had half a second to mutter an “Uh-oh,” before suddenly it was raining.
And not a light drizzle either, this was near-torrential rain that had them soaked within seconds. He could barely see a metre in front of him and Kohane was nearly lost behind the sheets of water. She huddled closer, pressing into him so they could at least see each other. He squinted down at her.
“Well. This is. Uh.”
“The gods are not going to let us get this crepe, are they?” Kohane giggled, an unhinged tinge to it. “I hope it doesn’t last long.”
Around them, people were grumbling, staring up the line and the sky before ultimately deciding to leave, apparently not having as high a stake as they did in this café. A few umbrellas popped up, but they were designed for the sun, not such heavy rain, and a few blew backwards. Their owners just sighed and left. Unfortunately for the two of them, enough people in front of them were as stubborn as they were and had stayed, so they wouldn’t be skipping the line anytime soon. Another ten people still stood between them and that crepe, and the rain surely meant the customers inside wouldn’t be in a hurry to leave. The water was already pooling in the gutters, the cars driving past threatening to splash them—a few people further down the line spluttering at the dirty water thrown in their faces.
“Touya…” Kohane said after a few minutes. “Are you going to wait? It looks like it’s going to get worse.”
Touya grimaced but shook his head. The line wasn’t getting any shorter, and there were enough people between them and the door that they’d definitely catch a cold before they got there. Not to mention the crepe probably wouldn’t survive the journey back to Weekend Garage. “No… we should go. We can’t afford to get sick, come on.” He clutched her hand tightly and together they beelined across the street towards Vivid Street.
The rain was freezing, and the buildings did little to protect them, so they were soaked and shivering by the time Weekend Garage came into view. They stumbled into the warm café, dripping water all over the floor and drawing the attention of every customer inside.
“Geez, you two,” Akito’s voice called over, and they looked up to see him hurrying over, An struggling to escape the booth they were sat at behind him. “Close the door.”
They met Akito halfway, who held out a hand to prevent them from running into him and getting him even wetter— no. Akito was completely dry.
Touya couldn’t help but pout a little. “You arrived before the rain? Didn’t you have soccer?”
“Nah, they cancelled because of the rain.” Akito frowned. “Where have you two been? You’re soaked.”
Touya looked at Kohane helplessly and she met his wide-eyed gaze. It was meant to be a surprise! They couldn’t tell him.
“U-um,” Kohane stuttered, “we were in a clothing store and lost track of the time. We didn’t realise it was raining until we got out and had to sprint here!” She giggled deliriously, laugh turning into a sneeze at the end. “Sorry.”
“You didn’t see the forecast? It was all over the news last night.” An came over and handed them two towels. “Pretty sure there was an announcement at the end of the day with the bell.”
Touya blinked. Well. Maybe leaving early wasn’t a good idea. “I didn’t hear it.”
Akito shook his head with a laugh. “Alright, idiots. An, let’s warm these guys up at your house. We can practice later.”
“Inviting yourself over, huh?” An quirked an eyebrow, but she was moving to the door before Akito had even spoken.
“It’s our communal house at this point.”
“I’m ignoring you.”
“Our communal dad.”
“It’s like you don’t want to come over!” An snorted, beckoning Touya and Kohane over. “Bye, Akito!”
“Oi!”
On Wednesday, An certainly didn’t skip study to go to the café. It was fine! She had a study in the middle and then aaalll the way until the end of lunch to make it there and back. Touya had skipped a whole half an hour of his study lesson to go to the café; she could skip. The whole thing… She wasn’t a hall monitor or anything! But Kohane and Touya had tried so hard to get the crepe for Akito that they nearly got sick, she had to try herself. She’d successfully escaped school as soon as classes let out, seamlessly joining the group heading towards the soccer fields and peeling off towards the gate. She’d jogged, not wanting to waste time—and to make sure no one looked closely at her uniform and called the school on her—and made it to the café in five minutes. Now all she had to do was pray the line wasn’t long and she could preserve the crepe all… afternoon. Huh. Maybe she hadn’t thought this through. But it was fine! Rounding the corner showed there wasn’t a line! Coming in the middle of the day was a good idea! Haha. There… was no line at all. An slowed down as she approached the suspiciously empty café. There weren’t even lights on? Uh oh. A few people walked past and peered in, or stopped at the door before moving on, but An just stood on the other side of the road and narrowed her eyes. What the…? It couldn’t be closed, could it? With mounting despair, she crossed the street to look inside. A piece of paper was stuck to the inside of the glass door, and her heart sank.
Closed due to staff illness. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
“Noooo,” An moaned, pulling away from the door. Kohane was right, the gods really didn’t want them to get this damn crepe. She sighed and started the trek back to school. Empty-handed and desolate. This was the worst possible outcome! And she could have avoided it by just checking their social media. She was a fool! A buffoon! She dragged her feet back inside the school, falling into a random chair in the library to wallow in her misery for the rest of the period.
And that was where Touya found her a few minutes after lunch started, slowly packing away her textbooks because she was a good student and did actually end up studying.
“An,” Touya greeted, sitting down in the seat next to her. “What’s wrong?”
She perked up at his voice, wiping the frown from her face. He couldn’t know of her failed escapade. Or her skipping. Though it was for Akito, so he would have forgiven her. (If she had gotten the crepe, that is.) “Nothing, nothing. Just homework, you know.”
He nodded, probably expecting that answer. “I hope you used the lesson productively. But I have a favour to ask.”
She motioned for him to go on.
“Would you mind if we tried going to the café again today? It won’t rain, I promise,” Touya asked that last bit sheepishly.
She just smiled with thinly veiled disgust, fully expecting that request. “They’re closed. Staff’s sick or something.”
Touya drooped like a puppy. “Oh. I see…”
Seeing Touya looking so sad was worse than a bullet to the heart. “Guh.” Think, brain, think! If the universe had proven they weren’t meant to buy the damned crepe. They just had to get it another way. Another café might have something similar, but that felt like a copout. They were limited-edition special crepes that they could never get again. They had to find something equally as special…
“Why don’t we make them!” she blurted as soon as the genius thought struck her.
Touya blinked up at her like he was still processing her words.
“I mean, I’ve never made them, but it can’t be that hard, right?” she continued. “They’re just thin pancakes. We can do it!” Homemade crepes and cheesecake were limited enough. Especially limited if Touya blew up the kitchen.
Touya nodded vigorously. “That’s a brilliant idea, An.”
She grinned at the praise. “Practice starts at seven tonight, right? We have a few hours after school, we could try to make them before meeting up with Akito.”
“We do… but is that enough time to make the crepes and an entire cheesecake?”
Hm. Well, that was a minor flaw in her plan. If she were on her own, maybe she could make it. It would still be tight though… “Well…” she mused. “It would be easier to do in SEKAI, so maybe Meiko could make it now? It should be set by the time we need it.”
“You called?” came a robotic voice from Touya’s phone, and An screeched.
She apologised to the students suddenly looking their way as Touya hastily shoved his phone out of sight. “Meiko-san,” she hissed. “Don’t do that!”
Meiko did not look very repentant when she said, “Sorry, An. I just heard my name and wanted to see what you needed.”
Touya moved his bag to the table so he could place Meiko behind it, blocking her from any prying eyes. “I’m glad you’re here. Would you mind doing us a favour?”
“Of course, does this have anything to do with that café?”
“Yeah,” An sighed. “We’ve tried three times and still haven’t gotten in. So we’re resorting to drastic measures. Do you think we and Kohane could use your kitchen this afternoon? And uh. Could you make a cheesecake as well?” she laughed guiltily.
Meiko smiled into her hand. “You’re welcome to use the café, we can keep Akito away if he comes to SEKAI. Though why do you need a cheesecake?”
“The crepe comes with a slice inside,” Touya answered. “We would like it to be as close as possible to the real thing… but we don’t have enough time to make it and the crepes, so if you could make it now, we would be in your debt.”
An nodded, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes. “It doesn’t have to be very big! We only need one slice that’s small to fit inside.”
Meiko huffed lightly. “There’s no need for that look, An-chan. Of course I’ll do it. I’ll get started right away.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Meiko-san.” Touya bowed in his seat. “We will see you after school.”
“You’re welcome, Touya-kun. Good luck with your last classes!” With that, Meiko waved and disappeared, leaving them staring at a blank phone screen like idiots.
An let out a long breath in the silence, falling back into her chair. It was fine. They just had to make the crepes (something none of them had done), perfectly. First try. Then call over Akito before practice and surprise him. But first! She pulled out her own phone and texted Kohane the plan. Miyajou had lunch now, so she should see it…
“I hope you can teach me how to make crepes, An.” Touya’s voice had her looking up. “I hope I won't hold you back too much.”
She grinned at him. “Never. You’ll be fine! I’ll pour the actual crepes if you’re that worried about it. You’re still watching and learning, though!”
Touya nodded gratefully, sending her a blinding smile and reaching across the table to squeeze her hand resting on its surface.
Looking down at her messages, Kohane had responded with a thumbs-up emoji, and An cheered silently.
“Alrighty! Kohane’s on board.” She looked back at Touya. “I’ll meet you outside the gate after school and we can go over to SEKAI from there. Just don’t let Akito see you hanging around.”
“Shouldn’t you worry about that more than me?” Touya raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one in his class.”
She just waved him off. “I’ll go to the bathroom, it’s fine. He’ll get nothing out of me, scout’s honour.”
“You’re not a scout?”
“That you know of.”
The end-of-lunch bell drowned out Touya’s perplexed, “What?” and An laughed. She flipped her hand over to squeeze his hand and jumped out of her chair.
“See ya after school!”
As directed, Touya waited just inside the gate. Akito did pass by, but he just said he was waiting for An and wished Akito luck at work. Akito didn’t even appear suspicious. So Touya must be getting better at lying. Though it was more of a half-truth than an outright lie… Maybe he should practice.
An appeared before he could think of how and dragged him excitedly outside and into the shade of a wall to disappear into SEKAI. The courtyard outside of Crase Café was empty of any nosy Vocaloids or Akito’s, so he counted that as a win. Having the twins around may delay them too much. But with no distractions around, he and An headed towards the café.
“I thought Vivid Baking Squad was banned from the kitchen?” Kohane smiled in greeting as they walked through the door.
“It’s fine.” An extracted her hand from his and skipped over to press a kiss to Kohane’s cheek. “This is Vivid Baking Trio. A completely different thing.”
“As long as Vivid Baking Trio clean up after themselves!” Meiko laughed from behind the counter. “Can I make you some drinks before you start?”
“That’s alright, Meiko-san, thank you for the offer, though.” Touya bowed his head towards her. They were already inconveniencing her enough as it was; no need to make it worse.
“Alright.” Meiko came out from behind the bench and pulled her apron off to hang it on the hooks. “I’ll be upstairs in the roof garden if you need me. And the others are in the plaza, so don’t worry. Good luck, everyone!”
They chorused their thank yous and goodbyes after her until the door swung shut behind her.
‘Let’s get started,” An cheered and moved to take Meiko’s place. “Does anyone know what we’re actually making?”
Kohane giggled at how unprepared they were, and together they joined An behind the counter.
“According to the menu, we need the following,” Touya started, placing his phone on the counter to read the description. “Honey flavoured crepes, a slice of cheesecake, whipped cream, assorted berries, chocolate sauce, and Pocky.”
“Pocky?” An frowned. “Do we have that?”
“Meiko-san uses it in some of her desserts,” Kohane piped up. “There should be some around here somewhere.”
“Good, good. Alright.” An placed her hands on her hips and faced them like a drill sergeant. “I’ll get the ingredients for the crepes out. Kohane, can you find the Pocky and chocolate sauce? Touya, raid the fridge for whatever fruit and cream you can find.”
They saluted in sync, and An smothered a snort into her hand. “Go, my soldiers! Battle starts now!”
Resisting the urge to salute again, Touya set off towards the fridge. Meiko always left it well stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables, and everything a café could need. He was well beyond questioning where any of this stuff came from. It was a fake world spawned from their feelings with personified commercial voice banks inside. He had bigger problems than the spontaneous milk spawning. Shaking his head, he crouched to reach the crisper drawer at the bottom. Inside, he found several containers of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and even blackberries. He was pretty sure these, at least, were grown on the roof. (He hoped there wasn’t a cow up there or something). Touya took the fruit and stood, eyes searching the fridge for some cream and finding it on the third shelf next to the cheesecake Meiko had kindly made for them. There was no point removing it just yet, so he closed the fridge door with the containers stacked precariously in his arms. Turning around, he nearly bumped into Kohane, but she sidestepped at the last minute with a surprised huff. He apologised and they placed their finds on the bench next to the sink.
An had gathered all the ingredients they would need and was rummaging through a drawer for measuring cups, slamming them on the table haphazardly. “Okay, okay,” she spoke into the drawer. “Can you guys cut up the fruit? And Kohane, prepare a pan? Just don’t heat it up yet or anything. And don’t salute!”
Kohane’s arm froze halfway to her face and she swiftly moved to grab a pan like she’d always intended to. They all started on their respective jobs. Touya was happy to leave the batter to An as Kohane showed him how to wash the fruit and cut the strawberries into quarters. He’d just finished pouring the cream into a bowl when An spun around with the bowl.
“It’s ready! How ‘bout you guys?”
Touya nodded at the chopping board. “We just have to whip the cream.”
An came over and inspected their fruit with a nod. “Cool. Leave it for a sec. Let’s make crepes!”
They crowded the stove as Kohane lit the pan and dropped in some butter.
“Have you made crepes before, An-chan?” she asked.
“Nope!” An replied far too confidently. “But it’s gotta be easy. We got this.” She slid over a long and thin metal spatula thing and a ladle. She held a hand over the pan and once the butter was all melted, ladled a dollop into the pan and swirled it around.
They watched as it slowly cooked. It looked a little thick, in Touya’s opinion. Not like the few he’d seen Akito eat before.
“There’s too much batter,” Kohane echoed his thoughts.
“Ugh, I know,” An sighed. “I’ll let it cook so it doesn’t make a mess in the pan. Uh. Maybe we need some plates. A fail plate and a good plate?”
Touya ducked down and took out two large plates for her, and after another minute, An deposited the half-cooked crepe-pancake onto it. Trying again, she dipped the ladle into the batter and only half-filled it before pouring it into the pan. Now it looked too thin. A few gaps in the batter forming that An tried to fill in with more but it only made it worse. An growled and glared at the crepe, waiting for it to cook before it joined the first one. He and Kohane shared a look over her shoulders as she filled the next ladle three-quarters full. This seemed like a good batter ratio. And she successfully spun it around the pan evenly.
“Yay,” Kohane cheered quietly.
They watched with bated breath until many bubbles formed on the surface of the crepe. It must have been a cue of some sort because An took her spatula and slid it under the crepe. Or she tried to. What should have been a smooth process just ended up ripping the crepe, and what little Touya could see of the bottom was black.
An swore under her breath. “I should have added more butter.” She peeled the very burnt crepe off the pan, and now Touya could smell it. He crinkled his nose and leaned away as she threw it onto the plate. Kohane used some paper towel to wipe the pan and used a knife to add more butter. And then the process began again. An added some batter, got angry when it was undercooked trying to flip it and it folded in on itself, then handed Kohane the ladle. She nervously took it, spilling some batter on the bench trying to get it in and swirling too hard the batter ended up on the side of the pan. The next twenty minutes went like that. They tried, and failed, to make crepes. It was not, as An had said, ‘easy’ and they did not ‘got it.’
Touya sighed as they poured the last of the batter into the pan. He couldn’t believe they managed to get through the entire bowl with only two decent crepes. Not even good or great crepes. Decent ones. He held no illusion this last one would be any better and handed the spatula back to An so at least he didn’t have to mess it up. An narrowed her eyes at him but took it. She managed to flip it with only a little bit folding under itself, but ripped a hole in it trying to fix it. The spatula hit the bench with a groan and they all sighed in defeat. He would never underestimate crepes again. Kohane sullenly turned the stove off—half-cooked crepe abandoned—and laughed half-heartedly.
Tentatively, An reached out for one of the ripped crepes from the fail pile and bit into it.
“It,” An swallowed. “It’s not bad. Apart from being burnt. But it doesn’t really taste like honey.”
Kohane’s face fell. “That’s sort of an important part of it…”
“So even if we had made a good crepe, it wouldn’t have even worked,” Touya sighed. “Alright, do you think we have time to make more?"
The opening bars of Fragile interrupted any response, and Touya jolted over to his phone. He turned off the alarm and sighed again. “It’s time for practice. Akito is expecting us in ten minutes.”
An turned a baleful eye to the mess on the counter. “Yeah. I don’t uh. Think any of this is servable. Or edible. We failed, team.”
“Vivid Baking Trio needs to disband.”
“It’s okay, Kohane. We’ve still got Vivid Baking Duo to try.”
The corners of Touya’s lips twitched at that. “It’s alright. It’s disappointing, but we’ll just have to try again later. Let’s clean up and head to Weekend Garage.”
They rushed to pack up the unused fruit and cream, placing cling-wrap over the cream in the hopes they could use it later, and placed the strawberries in a bowl for the virtual singers to eat. The uncut fruit, pocky, and sauce went back to their respective homes, and An piled the dishes in the sink while Kohane got rid of their failures.
They’d just finished wiping the bench when the door opened and Meiko returned from upstairs, sending them a hopeful look as she came closer. “Did it go well?” she asked, pausing at the look on their faces. “I’ll take that as a no?”
“We failed every crepe we tried to make,” An lamented. “Why’s it so hard!?”
Touya bowed his head. “We’re so sorry for wasting your time, Meiko-san.”
“It’s no problem, Touya-kun, really.” Meiko laughed to herself. “I’m sure Akito-kun will end up eating that cheesecake either way. If Kaito doesn’t get to it first.”
“And don’t worry about the dishes or anything!” Kohane added. “We’ll come back once we’re all home and clean up.”
“You sure?” Meiko tilted her head. “I don’t mind.”
“Please. It’s the least we could do,” Touya said.
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you three. Good luck at practice.”
They chorused their thanks as they disappeared into light and returned to the real world. Touya found himself back at school with An. They had to hurry. It was already five minutes past five and Akito would be waiting. An shot him a tired and defeated grin and they took off towards Vivid Street with a brisk walk. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far to the café, and they made record time.
“We’re back!” An announced, panting, as she threw the door open, gaining Kotaro and Akito’s attention from the bar.
“Slowpokes!” Akito called back. “Why the hell am I here first? What were you doing? And where’s Kohane?”
“Here!” Another voice rang out behind Touya, and he felt Kohane run into his back, breathing heavily into his shoulder blades. “I’m here,” she muttered. “Ugh.”
Akito raised an eyebrow at the three of them. “Right. Seriously, what were you doing?” he asked again as they closed the door.
“N-nothing! Touya and I were uh. Finishing out homework!” An laughed nervously and took Touya’s arm to start dragging him to the stage. “Come on, let’s get started.”
“Hmm,” Akito hummed suspiciously and followed after them.
It was a Friday, so Touya didn’t feel as guilty about staying up as usual. Not that he ever minded his two or three am composing sessions, but his partners certainly did. But! It was Friday and he didn’t have to get up early, so it was perfectly acceptable to be on his laptop at one am with only the light of a lamp and his screen for company. He just wished his company was being nicer to him. Touya groaned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He’d been redoing this chorus for two hours, but everything he tried came out wrong, and he was getting restless. He wanted to do something—not nearly tired enough to sleep—but it seemed music was out of the question. He could possibly sing in SEKAI, but they’d practised for hours that afternoon and his throat wouldn’t thank him for it.
SEKAI did remind him he had one pressing task to do. They still had to make those crepes for Akito. The cheesecake still had a few slices left when he last checked. Akito had made no mention of the café again, so had possibly forsaken going at all. And that couldn’t stand. Decision made, Touya saved his last attempt into yet another file labelled ‘draft 10_3’ and stood up with a stretch. He took his phone from the charger and pressed play on Untitled.
Nighttime reflected the real world here, so the streets were empty as he walked towards the doors to the café. Hopefully, Meiko wouldn’t mind his late-night adventure in her kitchen. He flicked on a few of the lamps, glaring at the floor as he walked when the light blinded him momentarily. Double-checking the fridge, the cheesecake was still alive, and enough fruits were left for him to use. An had sent him the recipe she used last time at his request, so he pulled it up on his phone and rummaged through the kitchen to find everything. The process was easier than the cupcakes and other desserts he’d made since that White Day last year, but he wasn’t all too optimistic about the actual cooking.
Carefully, he measured each ingredient into the bowl until he was left with a smooth-ish batter. The last attempt had produced crepes that lacked the honey flavour they needed, so he dutifully read the ‘one tablespoon’ listed in the recipe and promptly ignored it to just squeeze the life out of the bottle. He watched the pile of honey sink into the batter before he attempted to stir it in. It was very sticky, and half the honey felt like it was on the spatula. But there was no such thing as too honey-flavoured. Probably. He just hoped it wasn’t too runny or sticky to cook. Sugar burnt easily… right? He would just have to monitor it very closely. Touya nodded to himself and set up the frying pan and plate for his certain-to-fail crepes. He made sure to add a lot of butter and put the pan on a medium-low heat. He didn’t know how he was supposed to tell how hot it was with his hand like An, so he just watched the butter until it was all melted and ladled in the three-quarters of batter he needed. It spread evenly enough, though slower than he remembered it should, on account of the half a bottle of honey. But it still spread! And that was good enough.
Unfortunately, it was a little too brown and black when he lifted the edge of the crepe with the spatula, but he flipped it anyway, only accidentally folding one edge under itself as he did. It wasn’t bad. But he wouldn’t be serving it to anyone, let alone Akito. Though even if he did manage to make the perfect crepe, there was no one around to eat it.
Suddenly, the bell for the door chimed, and Touya jumped like a cat caught eating from the counter. A laugh came from the door, and he narrowed his eyes as An made her way over, sniffing the air.
“Touya, what the hell are you doing?”
“… Making crepes,” he answered slowly. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep, so came here to get a drink or something.” She rounded the corner to stand next to him, silently taking the spatula from him and taking the now very burnt crepe off the pan. “Why are you making crepes at one am?”
Touya pouted at his crepe. “I was struggling with my music, but didn’t feel I could sleep just yet. So I thought I might as well practice.”
An laughed, “Alright, lemme at ‘em then.” She nudged him with a hip playfully and he sidestepped to give her access to the bowl. She ripped a corner off his crepe and, after pursing her lips at the colour, popped it into her mouth. She grimaced, then her eyes went wide before she spat it out into her hand and threw it into the bin. “Well,” she announced. “It’s burnt. But!” An shot him a somewhat proud look. “It actually tastes like honey. How much did you use?” She leaned around him to peer at the mess of ingredients he’d left. “… I really hope someone used the honey since I did. Touya, that’s like half the bottle.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he defended.
An laughed silently. “Well. You’re not wrong. All right. We’ll kill Akito with the sugar rush, though.”
“This thing is already bad enough, I don’t think a little too much honey will hurt.”
“True.” An shrugged and added more butter to the pan, turning the heat down a little and then adding the batter.
He watched her swirl it and let it settle, raising an eyebrow at the consistency but not saying anything, when his phone dinged. Checking it showed a message from Kohane and the time reading 1:28 am.
VBS (Vacation Bibel School) (It’s Bible) (Shut up)
Hampter > I’m assuming you’re awake ^_^
Hampter > If you’re not too busy, could you check this for me? Something’s wrong but I don’t know what.
Hampter > 1 file attached: kousenka.mp3
Hampter > Sorry if I did wake you, though <3
He smiled gently at her dedication. “Kohane is awake; she wants advice on a demo.”
An immediately perked up. “Oh? Get her to come here. Get the whole gang cooking.”
He nodded, already planning on doing so and messaged Kohane to come to SEKAI. Only a minute later the bell rang again and she appeared, hair down and glasses on, and clearly not expecting to be cooking.
“Kohaneeee,” An cooed. “Come here!”
Kohane blinked at the two of them for a moment before a smile spread on her face and she sighed good-naturedly. “What are you two doing?”
“Cooking crepes,” Touya answered as An smothered Kohane in a hug. “An, the crepes are burning again.”
An swore and spun around to the pan, simply flipping it upside down over the fail plate and letting the crepe fall out. “Why is this shit so hard? It’s just a crepe,” she fake-sobbed.
“It’s really thin,” Kohane reminded them. “We just have to watch it carefully and cook it for only a few minutes.”
Grumbling under her breath, An added more butter and batter and gave Kohane the spatula. She startled but squared her shoulders, leaning over the pan to ‘closely monitor the crepes.’ And true to her word, Kohane did flip it when the underside was a nice, crispy dark yellow, with only the barest hint of brown.
And then immediately tore it in half in the process.
They all groaned at the sight as Kohane attempted to piece it back together, ending with a broken and mashed-together oblong. They did cook it to completion, and the two girls shared the crepe with a nod.
“It actually tastes like honey!” Kohane lit up. “If we manage to make a good crepe, this batter is perfect.”
“Big ‘if,’” An sighed. “Come on, let’s get the fruit and cream and shit out. “We gotta make this crepe right. This is a personal challenge.”
He and Kohane did so, retrieving the toppings they had before and placing them on the bench like a reminder of what they were aiming for. Surely, surely this time. They could do it!
Overcooked.
Ripped.
Undercooked.
Folded in half.
Holes in them.
Too thick.
Burnt.
Touya mentally catalogued each failure with an ever-increasing frustration. It was getting late, and with every crepe, they were getting more and more tired. With that final, burnt crepe—a problem they thought they’d overcome—they all collapsed with varying degrees of drama to the floor.
“This is ridiculous,” Kohane said through a yawn, head flopping back into the cabinet behind her before An gently guided her to lie on her shoulder instead.
Touya petted her hand in her lap. “I don’t think we are meant to make crepes.”
“God hates us. Hates Akito,” An sighed. “Did we use all our skill on Rad Blast? Can’t even make a goddamn crepe?”
They all sighed in unison again and slumped into a pile, closing their eyes. It was quite late by now, and Touya was actually getting tired. He hadn’t expected much from this crepe adventure, but it was personal, now. A challenge they couldn’t lose. The batter would last in the fridge… they could try again after a little nap…
“What the fuck are you three doing?”
Touya jolted back into awareness at the familiar voice, heart thumping in his chest. He hadn’t heard the door open! What was—
Akito stared down at the three of them, arms crossed and a tired, amused expression on his face.
Kohane yelped next to him and An buried her hands in her face.
“Hiding doesn’t help, y’know,” Akito huffed. “Seriously, what the hell are you three doing at”—he checked his phone—“two am in the morning, making”—he looked at the bench, realisation slowly dawning—“crepes… oh.” Akito reached over to the failed pile and sorted through them for a mostly intact one before ripping off a piece and eating it. His eyebrows raised to his hairline as he slowly swallowed and looked down at them. “They’re honey flavoured.”
Kohan’s bottom lip wobbled as she spoke softly and full of misery, “We just… we just wanted to get you that crepe, Akito.”
They sent remorseful looks at Akito, feeling distinctly like a bucket of wet kittens looking up at him. They must have looked it, as well, because Akito doubled over in rambunctious laughter, slapping a hand to his mouth as his eyes squeezed shut, tears beading at the corners.
“It’s not that funny,” An squawked, though she was laughing too.
“It is!” Akito gasped and practically fell forward over them, laughing into Kohane’s chest and wrapping his arms around Touya and An to drag them closer to the hug. “You guys are so fucking stupid. I love you.”
“Aww,” Kohane sniffled. “We love you too, Akito. I’m sorry we keep failing to get these crepes for you.”
Akito let go and leaned back on his heels, wiping his eyes before looking at the three of them. “Keep? As in multiple attempts?”
“Kohane and I tried going on Monday, but it rained,” Touya explained. “An attemped to go on Wednesday, but the store was closed, and that afternoon we all tried making these crepes here, but we failed miserably.” He looked down sadly. “I fear you are not meant to have these crepes, Akito. I’m sorry.
Akito grinned. “That’s why you guys were wet? And late? It’s not that serious, you know. It’s just a crepe.”
“A crepe with a cheesecake in it!” An kicked at him. “We know you really want it, and we wanted to get it for you.”
Akito’s smile softened. “I know. Thank you for trying. It… means a lot.” He coughed and stood up, apparently having hit his sappiness meter. “C’mon, get up. Let’s make these things.”
“Wh— Hey, you’re not allowed to help! It’s a gift for you! …But I guess that’s ruined. Hey.” An narrowed her eyes. “Why are you even awake? Why did you come here?”
“My bullshit sensors went off,” Akito deadpanned at them before rolling his eyes. “Kohane, you messaged the group chat, not Touya. It woke me up, and I couldn’t get back to sleep so I came here and found you all on the floor. Making crepes. At two am.”
“You don’t need to remind us!”
Touya laughed to himself and accepted Akito’s hand to get to his feet. He drew Akito into a hug, taking in his warmth from bed. “You don’t have to, you know. We want to do this for you, even if we’re terrible at making crepes,” he whispered into his neck.
He could feel Akito laugh under him. “Nah. I want to. You three clearly need the help.” He pulled out of the hug to direct at An, “I mean really, crepes aren’t that hard to make.”
An raised the knife with the butter threateningly.
“Okay, crepe master,” Touya laughed. “Help us out, then.”
“Gladly.”
Akito took easy charge of the kitchen, directing Touya and Kohane back to cutting strawberries and washing fruit while he and An made good crepes. Akito’s appearance lifted their mood, and the kitchen was full of banter and laughter as they worked, tiredness forgotten for the moment. Touya cut fruit with precision as Kohane washed and dried the other berries. Several times, batter flew over to their area of the bench, and they had to dutifully ignore the fight going on at the stove. That was, until some landed in Kohane’s hair. They all froze, An whispering apologies frantically as Kohane slowly shook her head. She reached into the bowl of half-whipped cream, scooping some out on two fingers, then turned to the offending pair.
“Kohane—” An tried in vain, but she had no remorse and simply walked up to the two and smeared some onto their noses with a glare.
Touya blinked from behind her, amazed at her restraint and held up a cloth to Kohane as she came up, wiping the batter from her hair as Kohane stifled a smile and returned to whipping. He couldn’t help but laugh as An leaned forward and licked the cream off Akito’s nose. Akito recoiled and wacked her with the spatula before lunging forward and doing the same.
“Please… Please,” Touya begged. He wasn’t sure for what. Just begged.
“The toppings are all done,” Kohane announced as if nothing had happened. “How are the crepes?”
An coughed. “We have five intact crepes, somehow.”
“It’s not hard,” Akito hissed.
Kohane clapped her hands. “Then let’s make these stupid things.”
“Oh god, Kohane’s reaching her limit,” An stage-whispered.
Touya cleared the bench and laid out four plates as Akito transferred a crepe to each one. An retrieved the cheesecake and sliced a few thin pieces off, placing them next to the fruit and cream. Akito took charge again and took the sauce bottle, examining it before pulling off the lid. They didn’t have a squeeze bottle, so the chocolate wasn’t as pretty or accurate as it should be, but Akito didn’t seem to mind the extra sauce that spilled out. He looked at Touya questioningly, and he shook his head, so Akito left his crepe unsauced. As he did this, An and Kohane moved the cream into a Ziplock bag and cut out a corner to pipe with. Akito moved out of the way as he finished and allowed the girls to add the cream around the edges. Akito was then unceremoniously pushed away from the counter, not allowed to help finish his own crepe. Touya carefully arranged the fruit, leaving space for An to place the cheesecake in the middle of the others. His was left a little bare compared to the others, but he barely tolerated sugar at a normal time, let alone in the middle of the night.
Kohane and An carefully folded the crepes, making sure Akito’s was perfect, while theirs were the test crepes that ended up a little wobbly, but perfectly edible. Finally, Kohane added the stick of Pocky into the cream at the top, and they were left with four clearly homemade crepes that vaguely resembled the picture on the café’s menu.
An held out a hand for a high-five, and they obliged with muted smacks. “Alrighty.” She picked up Akito’s plate and spun around, presenting him with the crepe. “Bone apple teeth.”
Akito’s lips twitched into a fond smile. “Thank you, guys. It’s perfect.” He sat down where he was and picked up the crepe, examining it before taking a huge bite and nearly moaning.
Touya refrained from denying the praise. He knew that the fact that they had made the crepes meant more to Akito than simply going to a café for them. They took their respective plates and joined Akito back on the floor into another pile. This one complete with the four of them. They ate in silence, just taking in the late-night atmosphere and the crepes they had worked all week for.
After finishing half the crepe, Akito paused and put it down. They all stopped to look at him. “I, really—” he started. “Thank you. This is way better than going to the café. You’re all idiots, but you’re my idiots, I guess. I love you guys. Thanks.” He immediately buried himself back into the crepe, burning red and refusing eye contact.
Kohane leaned into him. “You’re welcome, Aki. We wanted to do this. We’re glad it worked out.”
“Yea—” An yawned, eyes widening in embarrassment. “We were happy too. We love you and want you to enjoy stupid crepes that hate us.”
“Truly,” Touya added on. “This is our way of thanking you for all of your hard work.”
Akito sighed into his crepe and relaxed back into the cupboards as he took the last few bites. It wasn’t long before they were all finished and shoved the plates to the side. They still had to clean up before morning, but despite the cold tiles, it was comfortable on the floor. They shuffled until they were all leaning on Akito, legs splayed into a tangle where Touya couldn’t tell where his own were and he would certainly lose feeling in his feet before long. But that wasn’t important, not compared to the way Akito sighed in happiness and lovingly stroked at any bare skin he could reach.
Touya tilted his head to rest on An’s back. He would just close his eyes for a few minutes before getting up. Only a few minutes…
Meiko came into the café the next morning to find four teenagers asleep on her floor and a mess in the kitchen. She laughed quietly, trying not to disturb them and took a large blanket from the couch in the corner of the room. She draped it over her kids and took a photo with the Polaroid camera Kohane had gotten her for her anniversary that year.
“Goodnight,” she whispered before tiptoeing to the door and flipping the sign to closed and heading out into the streets.