Shuuya Nanahara had a problem.

Noriko's birthday was coming up, it was coming up fast – and Shuuya had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to get her, or if he was supposed to get her anything at all. They had gone out a few times, but his normal idea-people had offered no ideas. Shinji had snorted and asked him if he thought that Shinji ever went on enough dates with the same girl to know a girl's birthday, Yutaka had turned red and shrugged, and Sugimura had stammered for a few moments before shaking his head. Nobu had offered the best suggestion with a, "Girls like flowers, right?"

So if nothing else, he could buy her flowers. Or he could ask some girls, get some other opinions…

Which was why he was standing in front of Haruka Tanizawa and Yukie Utsumi, trying to figure out why they were laughing at him. "What? It's a real question! What am I supposed to get her?"

"Haven't you caught any of her suggestions at all?" Haruka asked. She swept her hair back with one hand and grinned. "She hasn't shut up about that stationary set for the last three weeks."

"Stationary… set?" Shuuya asked, frowning. Yukie took pity on him and put one hand over Haruka's mouth to stop her from laughing again and cleared her own throat.

"It's kind of expensive, but if you really want to get her something better than flowers, I'd go for it," Yukie said. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Here, I'll text you the address of the store. They've got a lot of sets, and I hope you know her well enough to pick one that she'll like?"

"I hope so," Shuuya said. He took a huge breath. "I'll take the guys along. We should be able to figure it out."

The girls laughed again, and Shuuya shook his head and headed off.

…

It was Saturday, the day before Noriko's birthday, and Shuuya was standing at the corner they were supposed to meet at, shifting from foot-to-foot. Nobu was with him, idly playing with his phone, Sugimura had been there twenty minutes before Shuuya and Nobu, and ten minutes after they were supposed to have gone to the store, Shinji and Yutaka showed up. Shinji was wearing ridiculous sunglasses, and when Shuuya told him so Shinji flicked his forehead and told him to shut up.

"So, are we going to make this quick so that we can grab a bite?" Shinji asked. He stretched and yawned. "I'm starved. Woke up, like half an hour ago and barely got a cup of coffee before Yutaka pulled me out the door."

"Hopefully," Shuuya said. He surveyed the guys in front of him and felt a stab of panic. They were not going to find something that Noriko liked. It just wasn't going to happen.

No. No, he wasn't going to be defeated by a stationary store.

"Let's go," Shuuya said, and they headed off. Once they were inside the store, Shuuya turned to the others. "We'll split up. Find one that we think she'll like, and then we'll meet back and see which one's the best.

"What does she want a stationary set for, anyway?" Yutaka asked. He frowned. "Does she write a lot of letters or something?"

"Poetry, I guess," Shuuya said. He slapped his palm against his forehead. "Duh. Poetry. Why didn't I get that before?"

"Let's go," Shinji said, grabbing Yutaka by the collar and dragging him away. Shuuya glanced at Nobu and Sugimura, shrugged, and headed off on his own.

Shuuya had been a little bit doubtful that there could be an entire store just full of stationary. But it was everywhere. Notebooks, envelopes, pens, loose paper – his eyes caught a really nice, leatherbound journal that he thought she would maybe like, but then there was also a pink-and-purple set with both a journal and a pen that lit up, but that was probably for five-year-olds, so he passed on that one, and eventually he could see the others waiting at the front. This concerned him a bit, because Shinji didn't look bored.

So, he grabbed a blue journal and a pack of fancy pens and headed up to the front. Shinji was grinning. It was terrifying.

"I thought this, maybe," Shuuya said, shrugging. Yutaka frowned.

"It's plain," he said. He presented one with fireworks on the cover. "Bang! That's what you need. Something with a bit of bang to it."

"Are you making this easy for me on purpose?" Shinji asked.

"Yes."

"Either way," Shinji said. He grinned again, and pulled the set that he had out from under his arm. "How about this?"

It was a notebook, probably low-quality, with a near-naked anime girl on it. Shuuya just sort of looked at him. Shinji winked.

"Yutaka spotted it," he said.

"Get it for him, then," Shuuya said. He turned to Sugimura and Nobu. "Please tell me one of you has something decent. I don't even know why I asked them to come."

"Because otherwise your life would be boring!" Yutaka offered. Shuuya ignored him. Nobu presented a leatherbound one not unlike the one that Shuuya had viewed before, but it was all over when Sugimura handed over one with a kitten on the front.

"My God, you're a genius," Shuuya breathed. "My God. If your face wasn't three feet above my head I would kiss you."

Sugimura shifted.

"This is perfect."

"Get her flowers, too," Nobu suggested.

…

Shuuya had debated bringing the guys along for moral support, but then realized that that was possibly the stupidest thing he could do, so he headed to Noriko's house alone. He had the kitten stationary set and a box of candy that, after hurriedly mass-texting the girls in class (sans Noriko, of course) he'd found was her favorite. He also held a bouquet of flowers. Nobu hadn't left him alone until he'd bought flowers.

He knocked on Noriko's door, hoping that the little brother wouldn't answer and slam the door in his face like he usually did. Thankfully, he didn't – it was Noriko, dressed in pajamas. She blushed when she saw him.

"Hey," he said. He held out the gifts. "Happy birthday."

"Come in," she said, ushering him in. They ended up in the living room. Noriko's younger brother was on the floor, playing, and Noriko's parents were sitting on the couch next to each other. Shuuya, with nowhere better to sit, sat on the floor.

Noriko sat beside him, crossing her legs.

"You're here early," she said. She was still blushing. He tried to give her the presents again.

"I wanted to make sure you got your presents right away," he said. "Or, until Nobu ate part of it."

She smiled at this and took the flowers with a look on her face that said she'd expected it but wasn't upset. All girls liked flowers. Thanks, Nobu.

She smiled at the candy, too. "These are my favorite," she said. Shuuya grinned.

"I know."

"Oh this is so cute," she said, her words coming out quicker than normal as she pulled out the kitten stationary set. "I had my eye on a stationary set, but this is so much cuter."

Thank God for Hiroki Sugimura.

She kissed him on the cheek and then sat back on her heels, smiling prettily. "Thank you," she said. Shuuya wasn't quite sure what to do with her parents a few feet away, so he just smiled. "I'm going to have to top this for your birthday, you know."

"Doubtful," Shuuya said.

"I'll hunt down Nobu and make him tell me what you want."

"Nobu's a loyal friend. He would never-"

"Mimura, then."

"Please don't listen to anything Mimura says."

She laughed, and it was probably the most adorable laugh he'd ever heard. She was the cutest thing she had ever seen, sitting on the floor in her pajamas with her hair all messed up, clutching the kitten stationary set. It was possible that was made for a younger consumer in mind, but she loved it, and that was all that mattered.

This was requested by a user on Tumblr, who wanted a birthday-themed Shuriko! This was a lot of fun to write, I must admit.