Unfair
A/N: This is birthday oneshot, both for Amu's birthday (September 24th, I think) and for xxToxicMemoryxx's birthday, which was on the 24th of August, and I totally meant to upload this much, much earlier, but I've barely had enough time to sleep much less do fanfiction. Although I apologize for having to make this a belated birthday gift for her, it does kind of go with the whole theme of this story. Despite the fact that I'm completely unromantic, I was in the mood to write a meaningless, fluffy story, and since xxTMxx is my go-to gal for Amuto, I put some of that in here, too.
...Oh God, did I just use the term "go-to gal"? Kill me now.
Hopefully she'll ignore the fact that I posted this on 9/11. Totally unintentional, I swear. Today was the first time in a long time I had the chance to upload this, and I absolutely couldn't put it off any longer.
Although incredibly short and filled with nothing but meaningless fluff, enjoy! This is unbeta'd, so I'd appreciate it if people pointed out any typos I missed.
Amu wasn't sure how to react when Ikuto handed her the bag. She didn't know if she should yell at him or just forget about everything while gushing over the chocolate. It wasn't a nice gift bag, just a plastic grocery bag, but it was filled with nice stuff, and Amu liked nice stuff.
Amu figured that there was no point in refusing his apology chocolate. After all, it wasn't like the whole situation was that big of a deal. Sure, she was a bit upset at first, but they've gone through too much together already. Something like this seemed too trivial to be upset over, so she accepted the bag without saying a word, and quickly went to work inspecting its contents. He always gave her something new every time. First, it was assorted chips in every flavor (To make up for the whole "trying to steal her dreams and causing her to fall off a building and almost die" thing) and the second time it was ice cream (Because whenever your sister tries to kill the love of your life and her friend while they're eating ice cream, the best way to make up for it is to buy a bunch of ice cream bars). Now, it was chocolate, and Amu liked chocolate, except the kinds with caramel, because caramel was just gross.
"You know, you could try being normal for once and just say you're sorry verbally," Amu told the tall, dark teenager leaning against her balcony rail, glancing up at the stars, trying to see if he could make out any constellations through the city smog. She inspected one of the chocolate bars in the bag. It was caramel, and Amu wanted to chuck the thing far away, but she reconsidered the idea when she thought of all the starving kids in third-world countries who probably didn't even know what chocolate was.
Of course Ikuto would somehow manage to make her feel sad on her birthday. Granted, it may not have been his intention to make her think of starving kids while buying her chocolate from the convenience store, but it was still partly his fault.
Ikuto didn't seem to understand that quite yet. "Who said I was even apologizing for anything?" Amu shrugged and continued to dig through the grocery sack of treats, contemplating on whether or not she should offer him a chocolate bar.
"Most guys feel guilty when they forget someone's birthday." Ikuto wanted to scoff at the much younger girl, because honestly she should've known by now that he was nothing like most guys, but decided to keep his mouth shut once she handed him one of the chocolate bars he bought for her earlier.
"You don't like caramel?" he asked, looking at the label of the chocolate, wanting to change the subject quickly. Amu merely shrugged again and went back inside her room, not bothering to check to see if he was coming in with her. She somehow managed to get used to his wanderlust and his habit of going and leaving as he pleased. However, he strolled into her room like it was no big deal and leaned against her wall. This was odd, she noted. He always made a point of telling her parents whenever he was coming over. Did they know he was up here? If they did, then why would he climb up her balcony? Yoru wasn't around anymore, so it wasn't as easy for him as it was before.
Amu soon realized that she was stalling herself. She needed to keep the conversation going. It wasn't fair for her to let this go. She deserved an answer. She deserved an apology. She deserved the right to say "I forgive you." "You're not really much of a giving person," she pointed out, looking down in her lap as she made herself comfortable on her bed, despite the fact that the atmosphere in her room was anything but comfortable. She was about to go to sleep and had already brushed her teeth before he came along, making her evening take an awkward turn and start tempting her with chocolate. It was her favorite brand, though he couldn't have possibly even known that if he got her caramel. He couldn't even remember her birthday or know that she disliked caramel, yet he knew what her favorite brand of chocolate was. "You're only nice whenever you've done something bad."
Ikuto became visibly upset. "Is that what you all think of me?" Amu shrugged. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She knew that Utau thought Ikuto was awesome no matter what he did, and Tadase didn't know Ikuto as well as he used to anymore. "You over-think things too much," he muttered, looking out her window.
"Whatever!" she scoffed immaturely, immediately hating herself for acting so childish. She was fourteen now, practically a young adult, and she couldn't even come up with a better response than "whatever." "It's not like I'm forcing you to do anything. You're the one who forgets my birthday, then comes over a week later, hording a bunch of candy from the convenience store from down the street for no apparent reason because clearly you have absolutely nothing to apologize for a week after the important day you managed to forget, despite the numerous reminders you were giv-"
"Shut up, please," he told her, his face breaking out into the grin he was trying so hard to hide earlier. She huffed and allowed herself to collapse on her bed, using a pillow to cover up her red face. "I'll see you tomorrow, alright? And the day after, too, I promise." Amu peeked out from her pillow and caught his eyes looking right at her. "I'm not leaving till Thursday." Amu's face turned even redder under his intense gaze and immediately the pillow right back on her face. An entire week together? He wasn't even giving her a chance! How was any of this fair?
"Like I care," she mumbled into the pillow, wanting to run and hide in her closet when she heard him laugh again and close the window to her balcony, using his usual flighty method of saying farewell. She was so used to him making fun of her and covering up his true intentions with flirty comebacks and taunts. Hearing him be so sincere for once was too much to handle, even while he was being a stubborn jerk and trying to cover up his guilt with treat, albeit delicious and scrumptious ones.
"Oh, did Ikuto leave already?" Amu sat up quickly, nervous and on alert despite the fact that she had nothing to hide.
Some things never change, she thought to herself bitterly. "You knew he was here?" she asked, since he never came through the balcony anymore now that he was, according to him, "a grownup who needed to set a good example," that and he nearly sprained his ankle the first time he attempted to leap down her balconey after losing Yoru.
Her mother giggled as though they were sharing a funny joke. "Of course I did! He called around thirty minutes ago from the supermarket, asking me what kind of chocolate brand you liked." She gave her daughter a wink, noting how bright her cheeks got. "I guess he was really upset about missing your birthday last week. He took the week off just for you, you know."
Amu felt the need to scream. This was just so not fair.
A/N: I kept on thinking of xxTMxx while writing this entire thing and wondering what kind of Amuto she'd go for. I hope I do her justice with this. I'm terrible when it comes to fluff and romance, even though there's not much of that in here.
*If you're not a creep and I think you're totally awesome, PM the date of your birth and I might just make a oneshot or drabble for you if I consider you to be awesome enough. I personally don't consider birthdays to be different from any other day, but I just love giving people stuff, no matter what the occasion. : )