Title: "A Birthday Gift"
Word Count: 683
Rating: PG for language
Warnings: None.
Summary: Mitsuru's birthday plus Akihiko has no present equals Shinjiro gets no sleep.
A/N: First out of a continuous series of one-shots featuring the three senpai, often in their middle-school years and often having Akihiko x Mitsuru with Shinjiro playing matchmaker (because I'm an idiot like that). Little bit of playing around with dialogue-only style.
"SHINJI!! SHINJI, WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?! SHINJIII--"
"AKI, SHUT THE HELL UP!! It's too goddamn early for you to be running around like an idiot!"
"It's late enough for me to be panicking!"
"...you? Panicking? ...who are you and what have you done with Aki?"
"Haha, very funny. You'd be worried too if you knew what tomorrow was!"
"...May eighth?"
"YES! MAY EIGHTH! Or, in other words, MITSURU'S BIRTHDAY."
"...so?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'SO'?! How the heck are you so calm about this?! Aren't you worried in the least bit about what Mitsuru's going to do to us when she finds out that we didn't get her a present?!"
"What's that supposed to mean, 'we'? I already got her a gift."
"...what?"
"Yeah, on my desk there."
"...wait a minute, this isn't that fancy tea she's always drinking, is it?"
"The one and only."
"How the hell did you manage to afford this?!"
"Some of us actually save their money instead of spending it on weapon upgrades all the time, Aki."
"Hey, not everyone can be as satisfied as you with what they have."
"Doesn't help the fact that you have less than a day to find Mitsuru a birthday present."
"How did you know about it, anyways?"
"I asked Ikutsuki-san."
"...why?"
"In case you didn't notice, Mitsuru and I kind of got off on the wrong foot, and she's the last person I want to be on the bad side of. Now are we done here? Because it's Sunday and I'd like to sleep."
"NO! Shinji, get UP! I need your help, here!"
"Aki, I swear, if you don't stop tugging at my pillow right now, I will sock you straight to kingdom come."
"Okay, okay!! I'm leaving, geez. Way to hang me out to dry..."
"..."
"What the hell do I do now, ugh..."
"..."
"Maybe she won't notice..."
"...Aki, leave."
"Yeah yeah, I got it..."
"...Aki."
"Yeah?"
"Just be honest."
"Huh?"
"..."
"Hey, don't go back to slee--"
"OUT. NOW."
"Right, leaving."
"...
...idiot."
- - -
"Yes, Father, I've received the package. ...Thank you very much, I can't begin to imagine how difficult it must have been to find an original copy of that in French... No, nothing really happened over here. ...Shinjiro gave me some tea. ...T of H Darjeeling, I don't know how he managed to afford that... ...No, I'm sure it's nothing illegal, there's no need to worry... Akihiko didn't get me anything, but I doubt he even knew when my birthday was; To tell you the truth, I was surprised enough that Shinjiro had found out... Yes, it's getting late, thank you for taking the time to call, I'm sure you're very busy. ...Yes, yes, everything's going well with SEES. ...Yes, I'll make sure to keep an eye on everything. ...Yes, thank you, Father, good night."
"Hey Mitsuru, you might want to come out here."
"Please don't knock so hard on the door, Shinjiro; I can hear you just fine."
"Yeah, whatever. Important thing is, I think Aki hurt himself heating up water."
"What, again? Good grief, you'd think he'd have learned by now...when will he grow up...?"
"Hasn't grown much in the fourteen years I've known him."
"That's very optimistic. Well, I suppose I should go see what's the matter... Lead the way, Shinjiro."
- - -
"Good grief, all that trouble for one little burn... Honestly, Akihiko, I will be elated the day you begin acting your age--hmm? What's this?
...'To Mitsuru:
Sorry that I couldn't get you anything better than this. Guess I should've taken the time to actually find out when your birthday was, huh? I guess after all those years with just Shinji, I've forgotten to take things about other people into consideration. We're friends--or, teammates, however you like to say it--and I should at least know that much about you. So sorry about this again, and...I'll get you something really good next year to make it up.
Happy birthday.
Akihiko'
...
...it looks like that joyful day came sooner than I thought."
- FIN -
...well, there you have it! The first of the Senpai-Centric one-shots that I'm writing while dying in the boredom that is summer-school (they never have the good courses, thus I am stuck in BCIS instead of Webmastering, boo-hoo). Hope you guys enjoyed it; I know I did writing it. :) As to the boys' gifts for their resident empress, Shinjiro's is a Darjeeling tea by Taylors of Harrogate, which, for a really good variety, is immensely expensive (About fifty bucks a box!!). And Akihiko's...well, I'll let you all ponder that yourselves. :);; Totally not because I was too lazy to think of something, oh no...
Thanks for reading, review if you liked it, and see you all next time!!
- Saku
