A/N: Completely self-indulgent nonsense ShinAya as I die from study workload.
Asking for affection was absolutely out of the question. Shintaro Kisaragi was a man and a man does not ask for such things, a man has to be strong and a man has to take initiative and a man has to- ha. Haah haha. Screw gender roles, if he wanted affection from his girlfriend on his birthday then so be it.
Happy birthday to himself, right?
He just had to figure out how to ask her.
In the most dashing and attractive way possible of course, that was very important. He pulled up the collar of his red jersey, striking a quick, subtle pose in the dark screen of his phone. Good.
Quickly, the genius formed a plan in his mind, swivelling around in his seat to face aforementioned girlfriend. Ayano lay across the couch on her stomach, flipping through a comic magazine, or something of the sort. She was wearing cat socks today, and he didn't know why he observed this small detail but it was there. Cat socks.
Noticing him looking at her, she turned to him and smiled, "Yes?"
"Nothing." He cocked his head to the side, as if in deep thought. Not buying it, Ayano threw a cushion at him.
"Yes, what is it, Shintaro? Do you have something to say?"
"Not at all." He sighed, overdramatically. "It's just kinda weird. Sitting here in silence."
"You're the one who told me to be quiet!" Ayano laughed as she gently closed her book. "And since it's your birthday I said that I would do everything I could to fulfil your silly wishes, remember?"
"Ah, yeah…"
"And your first wish was that I was to be quiet."
Shintaro struggled to keep his grin off his face. "Yes, I recall…"
"That's a little rude, don't you think?" She got up from the couch, smoothing down the creases on his black hoodie that she had stolen from his closet. "Give me something I can actually do for you! It's your special day, for goodness' sake…!"
He rolled his eyes, wheeling away from her slowly. "Pfft- oi now. You should be grateful I'm not treating you like a servant or sending you home. Go away, leave me alone."
Ayano resisted the urge to push him over. "Stop that. Now be nice. I still feel really bad for not having gotten your present done in time…"
He held his hands up to her face, squishing her cheeks as she pouted. "I forgot it was my own birthday," he told her, "I don't think I would have minded."
"No, but I want to do something for you, you know?" Ayano swatted his hands away and caught them again, intertwining their fingers. "It's a day that means a lot to me… your birthday, I mean."
"Why? You happy that your boyfriend is slowly turning into an old man?"
"Shintaro, you're only nineteen!"
"Nineteen… thousand." He paused for dramatic effect, but started blushing when she laughed at him. "D-don't laugh at me!"
"… that's your attack power in that game you were playing with Takane, right?" She giggled. "Cute."
"No- that is- I'm not cute!" He sputtered, pulling her forward until she fell into his lap. "You are forbidden to call me cute."
"Cute, cute." Ayano nuzzled his shoulder, mumbling incoherently. Shintaro had half a mind to just tackle her right there – adorable, she was so adorable but no, tackling is out of the question. Tackling would lead to bad thoughts and Shintaro certainly did not want to be those thoughts in his mind while she insisted on staying here.
It wasn't like it was deliberate. There was just no-one else he could picture…
Okay. Moving on.
His girlfriend seemed to have some form of sixth sense for these sort of things though because he knew he definitely did not imagine her climbing on top of him and sending them both toppling over the side of his chair.
That kind of hurt, by the way.
"Hi." Ayano smiled sweetly, straddling his waist. "What a little mess we've gotten into, huh?"
"Yo-you-!" He tried to point at her, but his body didn't respond. "That was on purpose, wasn't it?"
She patted his face bashfully, "Good child."
"What-wh-what the hell are you doing?"
His thirst for affection had been thoroughly quenched though – if not more so – and he could still hear Ene, er, Takane chanting 'pathetic, virgin hikkiNEET' in his head over and over. He didn't have much experience with affection, okay? Shut up, inner Takane, everything is your fault.
Seeming to have enough of that for now, Ayano bent down so that her hair was in his face and he twitched violently.
"Ayano! Stop!"
"What do you want for your birthday?" she wailed comically, "I won't get off until you tell me."
"You're constricting my respiratory tract, and if you stay there, I'm going to stop breathing and die." In an instant, Ayano flew off him and Shintaro smirked in triumph. "Just kidding."
His girlfriend didn't seem to appreciate the joke. "Don't make fun of me," she said pointedly, "I'm pretty stupid, you know."
"I know."
"Shintaro!"
Seeing as he was perfectly comfortable lying on the floor and not moving ever, Ayano lay next to him and they both stared at the ceiling.
There was a moment of peace, before: "What are we looking at?"
Shintaro, ever the intelligent one, replied with, "The gateway to your soul."
"My soul says you still need to tell me what you want for your birthday."
She was stubborn, he'd give her that.
Ayano Tateyama was such a strange girl. He loved very strange people.
In any case, Shintaro had already gotten what he wanted for his birthday – and forgive him for being a sap because he did enjoy the romance genre a little too much – but all he had wanted was to spend time with her. The light-filled flower of his life that he once thought he had lost forever.
The light spoke again, softer now, "You'd think that someone who thought of himself so much would know exactly what he wanted for his birthday, right?"
"Ah, yes, I can see it now." He swept a hand out in front of his face for emphasis. "The blazing sun, birds chirping, and the ocean breeze. So I know it's another beautiful day to spend on the internet."
"Shintaro," Ayano whined, "Stop doing that, I don't want to get mad at you for something like this."
"Okay, I'm going to bed."
"Wait, what?"
True to his word, Shintaro slowly sat up and made his way to his bed. 5:30pm? Yeah, that was enough for the day. Agent Kisaragi, signing out. Flopping onto the mattress, he waved Ayano off, "Good night."
"Shintaro, you can't just- I'm still here! What do you want me to do?"
"Preferably not watch me sleep." He yawned.
"Did you really just want to spend your birthday sleeping then?"
He nodded, shifting around in his bed. It smelt so nice, and he had no idea why. His tired mind could only conjure up cat socks as the possible solution.
"Now, I'm going to sleep."
Ayano scrambled to her feet, her white skirt billowing in the sudden movement. "Then, I'll sleep with you!"
At this exclamation, his eyes shot open and his heart stopped momentarily before he remembered the context. Then he could breathe again. It didn't make it any better when his girlfriend clambered in bed behind him, wrapping her cold arms around his torso.
"Your hands are cold," he muttered irritably, breathing slowly to calm himself down.
Ayano giggled mischievously, "No, it's just because you're hot."
It took him a moment. Then he buried his face in his pillow, "Goddammit. That was smooth."
"Your skin is really smooth," she remarked, a hand prodding his stomach, "It's like you haven't seen the sun in two years!"
"Ayano, please stop."
She put her cold forehead to the base of his neck, and he shrieked. Laughing, Ayano went back to hugging him – spooning him, really, though she had ended up the bigger spoon. "Okay, okay. I'll stop. So, what do you-"
"-want for my birthday?" he finished for her. She nodded against his back.
Shintaro's voice was lower then, because somehow the intimacy was too overwhelming and he feared breaking it if he talked too loudly. Nevertheless, he continued to tease her. "Let's see… high-speed internet connection, a personal vending machine to hug, a soda can dakimakura, a couple of new anthologies…"
He could practically feel Ayano's frown on his back, and he definitely felt it when she licked his ear as revenge.
"Ah-!" Shuddering, he said, "What was that for? I'm being serious."
"Are you done yet?"
Shintaro sighed, a rare, genuine smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "Not yet. There's still one more thing."
"I can't get you a servant robot, if that's what'll make you happy." Ayano headbutted him lightly, propelling him forward so he hit the wall. "A-ah, sorry!"
"I don't – it's okay. I'm fine." Rolling onto his other side, he now lay facing the brunette, admiring her. Though he never voiced it, she had matured into a rather beautiful young woman indeed. He could still barely believe she was right here, in front of him, and his girlfriend nonetheless. Life was truly unpredictable.
"It's simple, really. What I want for my birthday."
Her eyebrows creased in confusion. ".. are you making fun of me again?"
He shook his head, leaning forward and planting a dry kiss to her nose. "All I want for my birthday is you."
There was a pause. Ayano squinted at him, rubbing her nose as the blood rushed to her face. "… in a sexual way?"
Shintaro's face went red in an instant, "No, stupid, in a romantic way! Don't make me explain it to you!"
"Ahaha, look at you, you're all red now…"
He fled to the other side of the bed, shaking a finger at her. "Sh-shut up! This is your fault! Go outside!"
"Will you go out with me?"
Shintaro facepalmed. No, ma'am, that was not the intended response.
"… we're already going out, dumbass."
She grabbed hold of his hand, ready to take off to the door. "Great! Then let's go!"
"That's not what I meant! Stop changing my words!" With his free hand, he yanked the blanket up over the two of them so that they were effectively trapped under it, and Ayano wouldn't be hauling him outside anytime soon.
"Forget I said anything." He muttered under his breath, "I'm going to bed, okay?"
Ayano nodded, raising the roof of their blanket tent as she shuffled closer to him. "I'll go to bed with you." She yawned, and pecked him lightly. "Happy birthday, Shintaro."
"Yeah, yeah, good night."
It was funny to imagine Momo's shock in the morning when she went to wake her brother up only to find Ayano falling off the bed along with him.