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Furihata stares at the bouquet of roses in Akashi’s arms.
“Is there something wrong?” Akashi asks in concern.
I’m allergic, Furihata wants to say, but ends up sneezing instead, three times in a row.
Akashi’s face falls a little. “Oh.”
Their first date, in Furihata’s opinion, is already off to a terrible start.
*
Thankfully, Akashi gets rid of the roses before Furihata’s allergy worsens. After washing his face and hunting for his allergy pills, swallowing two of them at once, Furihata manages to calm himself down enough to continue on with their date.
Akashi, looking concerned, offers to postpone their plans to another day.
“No, no, it’s alright,” Furihata says hastily. “You made all this effort and came here from Kyoto, after all.” He eyes the large car that’s parked at the side of the street in front of his apartment block, complete with tinted windows and a driver dressed in a suit, in trepidation. He’s pretty sure he’d seen a similar car in some yakuza movie. Not that he’ll mention that to Akashi, of course.
Akashi brings him to a fancy, high-class restaurant in the city. The ride there is awkward, and mostly silent, because Furihata’s too busy trying not to freak out how Akashi seems to be spending a lot of money on this date. He’s even dressed up for the occasion, complete with a coat and tie, and looks like he’s stepped out of a men’s style magazine, full of elegance and class.
It still boggles his mind that Akashi would ask him out on a date (and that he accepted was a different matter altogether, which Furihata blames his inability to speak when he’s under Akashi’s gaze).
It had happened so fast; one moment Furihata had been walking through his campus, late for class, not looking where he had been going; the next thing he knew he had crashed into another student and lost his balance.
The other student had been Akashi, apparently, whom Furihata had heard was enrolled in the same university. They’d never had the opportunity to run into each other. Until that day.
Akashi had been charming and apologetic, helping Furihata to his feet. He seemed nothing like the scary Rakuzen captain that Furihata had recalled from his high school days. Before he had realized it, Akashi was smiling and asking him out, resulting in Furihata letting out a panicked squeak.
Akashi had accepted that as a ‘yes’, and texted him the next day to tell him that he would be picking Furihata up on Friday night.
Which led to them now being seated in a corner in this bungalow-turned-restaurant, staring at a menu filled with fancy writing and words he didn’t recognize, like fricassée and quenelles, while a waiter hovered nearby.
He casts a look at their surroundings: the opulent interior, the high ceiling with chandeliers hanging from them, the stiff-necked waiters serving the other tables. The other patrons are dressed in their finest, with expensive-looking suits or elegant dresses, dripping with diamonds and jewellery.
Furihata suddenly feels very out of place, and completely under-dressed in his own clothes (which he had spent nearly an hour trying to select before barging into his brother’s room to ‘borrow’ a decent shirt and tie).
“Are you ready to order?” the waiter asks politely, and Furihata panics, his nerves taking a running leap off the cliff along with his voice.
Furihata swallows nervously. “I--I-- I’m--” he says, voice cracking slightly, “I’ll just, urm, I’ll have water.” The waiter gives him an odd look.
Akashi looks up from his menu. “You’re not hungry?”
Furihata blushes, embarrassed and uncertain of how to explain his discomfort. He glances around the room again, and at the silverware on the table, and bites his lip.
“Ahhh,” he hears Akashi say. “I should have thought of this sooner. My apologies, perhaps, we should try a different venue.”
He starts to get up from his seat, and in half-relief and half-mortification, Furihata scrambles out of his own chair and ends up knocking over the glass of water.
*
“I’m sorry,” Furihata apologizes again, for what is probably his fifth time.
The water that Furihata had spilled earlier had narrowly missed landing on Akashi, who had, by some sense of foretelling, had been out of his seat a split second before it landed.
He literally wants to burrow into a hole and hide there forever, or at least until this date is over. He can’t even escape, not yet, because Akashi has sent away the car with instructions to pick them up in a few hours, and leaving now would mean abandoning Akashi. He’s not a horrible enough person to ditch someone in the middle of a date.
Bracing himself, Furihata sneaks a glance at Akashi. Surprisingly, he doesn’t look angry.
“It’s alright, Furihata,” Akashi is saying. “If anything, I should be the one to apologize, since I was the one who urged you to leave immediately.”
“But you had everything planned,” Furihata says miserably.
“Plans change,” Akashi says calmly. “Why don’t we try something else?”
*
‘Something else’, apparently, is a tiny ramen shop down the street, tucked away between two buildings, serving hot bowls of ramen and soup to tired labourers and construction workers from the site nearby.
This time, it’s Akashi who stands out in the place, but he looks unruffled, sitting across the tiny table in the corner of the narrow shop while around them, the place begins to fill up.
He looks almost like royalty, Furihata thinks, the way he holds his chopsticks and bowl as he - quietly, and if the word could be applied, gracefully - enjoying his noodles.
Furihata is thankful that the noisy atmosphere drowns out his own loud slurps.
They talk, or, rather, Akashi does the talking at first. He asks questions of Furihata - what are his favorite books, food, and hobbies, before moving onto the topic of basketball, where Akashi manages to drag the truth from him as to why he had joined the school team back then, looking at him in amusement when he admits that his motivation was because of a girl he had liked.
He doesn’t say anything, however, and moves onto another topic, but Furihata catches the thoughtful look on his face briefly.
*
Their next stop is the fair, a small one, that happens to open up at the park nearby. They wander around the grounds, looking at the different goods being sold at the booths, and sampling some of the snacks. Furihata, to his delight, discovers that Akashi has a sweet tooth, and relishes in stopping at every snack stand just to watch the bliss on Akashi’s face as he bites into a piece of chocolate or mochi.
There are a few booths set up for games, and out of nostalgia, Furihata pauses at the one with a miniature basketball hoops.
Furihata scores the first shot, but misses the last two, laughing as the ball bounces off the rim of the plastic hoop. “It’s a lot harder than real basketball,” he admits Akashi, who nods at the man tending to the booth before stepping up to take his turn.
All three balls sink into the hoop flawlessly.
“That’s not fair,” Furihata says, pouting slightly.
Akashi smiles at him. “Which prize would you like?” he asks, gesturing at the row of soft toys placed on the shelf behind the attendant.
Furihata tries to protest, saying that Akashi had won the prize, not Furihata, but Akashi refuses to budge. Finally he relents, pointing out the oversized stuffed toy rabbit. As Akashi turns to speak to the attendant, Furihata can’t help but watch him, and wonder how anyone - or rather, how he - had ever thought of Akashi as someone cold, someone to be feared.
Suddenly, Furihata’s all too aware of the fact that he’s still staring at Akashi, and quickly looks away, biting his lower lip.
Fingers brush against his mouth, and he looks up, startled. “You shouldn’t bite your lips so often,” Akashi tells him sternly. “You’ll ruined them.”
His ears and cheeks turn hot again, and Furihata wonders if there’s a limit to the amount of blushing a person can do in a night.
Akashi hands him the oversized stuffed toy rabbit that he had won. “It’s for you,” Akashi tells him. “To replace the ruined roses earlier.” His face is slightly pink, and Furihata thinks that it’s really adorable knowing that Akashi is capable of cheesy romantic gestures like any other person.
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupts them. They leap apart, startled - even though they weren’t standing that close to begin with - and Furihata realizes that there’s another couple that’s waiting in line for their turn at the booth.
Akashi steps away, bowing slightly in his way of apology towards the couple and the booth attendant, while Furihata follows suit with words and more frantic bows, blushing all the way, before retreating with the toy rabbit in his arms.
*
It’s a shortcut from the the fair to train station, where Akashi has requested his chauffeur to meet them at. They slowly stroll through the park, enjoying the cool spring air.
“Thank you,” Furihata blurts out suddenly. “For tonight, for picking me up, for dinner and the fair. And for the present.”
“You’re welcome.” Akashi looks pleased. “Surprisingly, I enjoyed myself as well. It’s a shame we didn’t have a chance to go on the Ferris wheel.” Furihata had taken one look at the wheel, at how high it turned, and wobbled backwards into Akashi who had caught him in time.
Furihata recalls how warm Akashi’s hands were, wrapped around his arms, and he blushes slightly, biting his lower lip to distract himself.
“Again, you don’t seem to be listening to my advice,” Akashi murmurs, and Furihata’s thinking - what, advice before he feels his chin being tilted up and then Akashi’s lips are on his.
Akashi is kissing him.
Actually, really, kissing Furihata, whose mind chooses that moment to go completely blank. His hands manage to move on their own, palms flat against Akashi’s chest, the thick woolen coat soft and warm beneath them.
Finally, Akashi pulls away, swiping his thumb over Furihata’s lower lip, which is still tingling from Akashi’s kiss. “You didn’t seem to pay attention when I requested that you cease biting your lips, so I thought that a little... reminder was needed.”
“Oh.” Furihata blinks; his mind is still stuck on Akashi and kissing and he’s pretty sure his legs would have given way if he hadn’t been clinging onto Akashi’s coat the whole time.
Akashi smiles at him fondly, before taking his hand, leading him through the park.
It’s not such a terrible date, after all.