Hello there! This is the first chapter of my one-shot series spin-off from 'Imperfect Romance.' I think that I have about seven ideas or so. They will be either Miyuki X Ai centric only or will feature the team along with the couple, but a lot of them will be the latter. The chapters won't necessary be in order and unless specified will not necessary be connected with each other either.
I will gladly accept suggestions if you have an idea for a chapter.
This first chapter will be about Miyuki and Ai's first romantic Christmas date and the second one will be about the team properly finding out about their relationship which I know is something that you were looking forward to.
I apologize for any grammar errors beforehand.
Thanks for your support and Happy Holidays!
Disclaimer: I don't own Daiya No Ace, Yuji Terajima does. I only own my OC and this plot.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Christmas Date
If you know Miyuki Kazuya then it won't probably come as a surprise that he doesn't really particularly care for Christmas just like he doesn't particularly care for a lot of things. Which kinda annoyed his girlfriend Ai and always scolded him for 'not having a strong opinion about anything other than baseball.' Miyuki doesn't really agree with that though, at least not when it came to the holiday. In Japan, Christmas was the most romantic day of the year which is very different from America or other western countries. He has never had a girlfriend before so how was he expected to care for the holiday? Ai couldn't find amy retort to his argument which made him gloat with victory.
This year, however was different. He had a girlfriend and it was only fair that they went out on a date on this day along with the fact that they had to take advantage of the winter break. So naturally Miyuki wanted this day to be perfect. Not just because it was their first Christmas date but also because he wanted to make it up for her. Last year, he broke her heart when she confessed her feelings for him by denying that he had any feelings for her when deep inside he knew that he also felt something for her. Therefore this year he wanted to make Christmas extra special for her.
When he proposed to go on a date Ai was ecstatic much to his delight which showed him that he was already in the right path with her. He suggested to go to a french pastry baking class because she loved sweets and her favorite were macarons while he didn't know much about baking and wanted to learn just because he didn't like the idea of her being better in the kitchen than him even if it was just about baking. Miyuki was oddly competitive like that sometimes.
"Kazuya don't you think this apron looks really cute?" Ai asked as she twirled in amusement making her short flowy red skirt move with her.
Miyuki who was tying the knot on his white apron that was over his red sweater behind his back turned to see her with a smirk. She was wearing the same white apron as him but her's was frilly instead. "Who knew you could be childish sometimes?" He teased.
Ai shot him a glare and then stuck her tongue out at him. Her childish outburst making them both laugh.
"Alright, are you guys ready?" A brunette slim petite woman asked the whole class who had her hair in a neat bun wearing a chef outfit standing in the middle of the room in front of her cooking station. They all nodded to show that they were ready as Ai pushed up the sleeves of her grey sweater.
"As you may know we are going to learn how to make french macarons this evening. So listen carefully and please don't hesitate to ask any questions if you have any," She began. "First, preheat your oven to 280°F. It is of utmost importance that the oven doesn't run too hot because then the macarons will collapse." The chef instructed.
"I'm going to do it." Miyuki said as he bent down to the oven in their station and turned it on.
"Aren't you a little eager?" Ai teased him.
"I'm just trying to be a gentleman." The catcher insisted which made her giggle.
"Once you are done with that take your baking sheets and line it with parchment paper," She continued as she demonstrated her instructions. "After that you do that, pour ⅔ cup of almond flour, 1 ½ cup of confectioners' sugar, a pinch of salt, and cocoa powder if you wish to make a chocolate filling in one of the bowls that you have. Once you do that whisk it all together until they are fully incorporated and making sure that there are no lumps."
"Don't worry, I won't use cocoa powder." Ai said to Miyuki as she took a bowl and started pouring the almond flour.
"You know me so well my dear." He said with a cheeky grin as he measured the confectioner's sugar and then poured into the bowl.
"Thanks." She mumbled before adding the salt and started whisking the batter as firmly as she could.
"Hahaha. You look so concentrated." Miyuki teased pointing at her furrowed eyebrows.
"Well I have to or otherwise I might leave some lumps." She protested as she continued stirring the batter.
"I'm here you know?" He pointed out not seeing her point.
"Babe," Ai began as she stopped for a quick second. "I love you but I don't really trust your defective eyesight." She deadpanned.
"Oi! Oi! There is a reason why I wear glasses." Miyuki feigned to be offended as he pouted.
"It is alright if you are not done with your first batter because your partner can move on to the second batter," The instructor interrupted their banter. "For your second batter you will have to crack three eggs but you will only use the egg whites and not the whole egg." She warned.
The instructor waited for the couples in the room to crack the eggs knowing that just using the egg whites take a little more of time and skill.
Miyuki effortlessly took the eggs and carefully cracked them leaving the yolk inside the egg shell as he poured them into a metal bowl as some other people struggled a bit.
"After you place them in the bowl please either beat or whisk them until they form white stiff peaks. Once you see the peaks add 5 teaspoons granulated the sugar along with a teaspoon of the flavoring of your choice. It can be vanilla, almond extract, or peppermint extract and then you will beat them as well. You can also add a couple of drops of food coloring to make your macarons colorful if you wish. Also don't stop whisking until you see stiffer and glossy peaks."
"Wanna use vanilla?" Miyuki asked Ai.
"Yes, that's fine," She said as she handed it to him. "I'm also done with the batter." Ai announced.
"Good. What kind of food coloring do you want to use?" He inquired again as he lightly whisked the batter waiting for the food coloring.
Ai lightly tapped her chin as she scanned the selection of the food coloring bottles until one of them caught her eye. "What about the pink one? So we can use a raspberry filling." She suggested as she held it up to him.
"You already know my answer." The catcher shrugged his shoulders.
She rolled her eyes knowing that he didn't care so she added a couple drops to make her batter colorful.
"Let's move on to folding the ingredients together. Gently fold the almond mixture into the egg white mixture in two parts. Then fold in half of the almond mixture with your spatula until the ingredients are just combined. After you are done, add the second half of the almond mixture and fold it in until they are just combined." The chef slowly explained.
Ai gently poured the almond batter into the another bowl so Miyuki could start folding them together.
"After you are done you have to "punch" the batter in order to produce the soft chewy texture of the macaron. In order to punch the batter you have to use the back of a spatula to push down in the center of the batter, then scrape the batter from the sides to the center, and finally push down again. Keep punching the batter in this way until it begins to look loose and pudding-like in texture. You will have to do that around ten to twelve times."
Miyuki immediately started 'punching' as he was told with a determined look in his face.
Ai giggled. "Now who is the one concentrated?" She teased him again.
"Well, I don't you want to blame me if anything goes wrong with our batter." Miyuki said as he kept punching their batter.
"No. You just want to have the best macarons in the class even though this is not a competition." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"There is nothing wrong with a little competition." The catcher flashed her an arrogant smirk.
"That only applies to when you are actually competing with someone." Ai chided.
"Oh shut up." He retorted as he smeared a little of the reddish batter on her cheek.
Ai shrieked. "Stop it. You are being too immature." She reprimanded as she wiped it off with a napkin.
Miyuki just laughed at her. "Oh c'mon, there is nothing wrong with a little batter on your face." He taunted.
"You are going to get us in trouble." She whispered as she noticed the instructor sending them a glare to their way.
The chef just cleared her throat and continued with her lesson. "Now let's move to on part two which is baking the macaron halves. The first thing we have to do is to fill our pastry bags with the batter and then pipe onto the baking sheets in a careful and gentle way."
"I will fill the pastry bag." Miyuki said turning to her.
"Okay so I will hold it up to you then." Ai said as she took it.
Miyuki gently filled up the pastry bag careful not to spill the batter on the countertop.
"Once you are done, squeeze the pastry bag and pipe three inch circles of batter onto the baking sheet. Try to squeeze the exact same amount of batter for each circle, so the halves of the macaron come out to be the same size. Now hold each baking sheet about an inch over the countertop and let it drop. Do this about 3 times with each sheet since it helps the batter settle." The chef continued.
"I can pipe it onto the baking sheet." Ai offered in a casual way.
"It's okay, I can do it." He rejected her offer.
"Are you sure?" She asked again not really wanting him to do it. For some strange reason she didn't trust him doing this.
"Yes, I'm sure." The catcher insisted.
"Alright then." Ai conceded in an unconvinced tone as she handed him the pastry bag.
Miyuki leaned down and carefully squeezed it onto the baking sheet remembering the chef's instructions. However it was to no avail because ie ended up being bigger than three inch circles.
"Kazu-chan it's too big." Ai complained.
"I know, I know. Just let me do it again okay?" He said getting frazzled.
She just crossed her arms across her chest as she huffed in annoyance not really expecting him to do a better job. She just knew that he was going to mess up this part. There is a reason why she is the better baker and he needs to accept it.
He squeezed the pastry bag even gentler this time around but the circle still ended up being too big.
"You are doing it again!" Ai reprimanded once again as Miyuki groaned in frustration.
"And they are also a little too close together," The instructor said as she stopped by their station since she was checking in on everybody else. "It's important to give them space because they spread a little." She added as she left their station to see someone who had a question.
Great, now he was getting reprimanded by the instructor as well.
"Just let me do it," Ai insisted. "I'm going not going to let you mess it up." She said as she took the pastry bag from his hand.
Miyuki just stepped aside and pouted like a five year old. 'It's so easy! Why can't I do it?' He thought in frustration.
"Stop pouting and look at how it's done." She said in a haughty tone shaking him away from his thoughts.
Miyuki grumbled again but did as he was told because he wanted to figure out how she did it. He also secretly hoped for her to fail as well.
"You have to squeeze very gently," Ai said as if Miyuki wasn't doing that. But somehow she got the results that he wanted to get it. "Tada! See? It's a perfect three inch circle." She boasted as she pointed to the baking sheet.
"I did the same thing as you." He exclaimed in frustration.
"No, you didn't," She shot him down. "Otherwise your circles would be like mine and they are not." She added as she pointed to his circles and compared them to her's. While her circles were neat and small his were not even and they didn't even resembled a perfect circle.
"Whatever." The catcher reacted in a very mature way as he rolled his eyes. Besides he knew that she was not going to allow him to do it again.
Ai flawlessly filled both baking sheets even earning a compliment from the chef making Miyuki even angrier as they waited for them to rest at room temperature for fifteen minutes.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked him as she gave him a small peck on the cheek.
"No." Miyuki replied in a low sulky tone getting a small laugh from her not even batting an eyelash to her kiss.
"You know that I still love even if you can't make perfect circles," She teased. "Besides you know how to punch that batter like a boss. You looked very manly doing that." Ai giggled.
"You need to stop that." Miyuki deadpanned not amused with her words as he placed the macaron halves in the oven like the instructor previously told them during the break.
Ai laughed a little louder this time around. "Oh? So you don't like me teasing you." She taunted as she tickled.
"Stop." He said trying to stifle his laughter.
"Oh my God. Are you ticklish?" She asked in an amused tone.
"I plead the fifth." Miyuki refused to answer her question.
Ai gasped in surprise. "You totally do." She said pointing her finger at him and then tickled his stomach again.
"Stop!" He pleaded between fits of laughter as he hunched over trying to block his stomach from her with tears in his eyes.
"This is just too much fun. I can't wait to tell Kuramochi-kun this." She said with a cheeky grin.
"No!" Miyuki exclaimed widening his eyes in horror. "If he knows this then the whole team will know and they will never listen to their captain because they will be too busy tickling me." He explained dramatically.
"And then the team will overthrow the pretty boy tyrant." Ai mocked him as she let out an evil laugh.
"Very funny," He said nonchalantly as his laughter died down. "Now let's pay attention. It seems like we are going to prepare the filling now." Miyuki tried to change the subject and it worked because Ai turned to the chef almost instantly.
"For our filling we are going to pour ½ cream into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir the cream as it heats, and remove it once it begins to steam. Beware and do not let it come to a boil. While it steams your partner can fill a bowl with the filling of your choice." She instructed as she poured her own cream into the saucepan.
Miyuki followed her instructions promptly in regards with the cream because he already felt emasculated from the pastry bag debacle. While Ai prepared the filling.
"Pour the cream over your filling. Let the hot cream melt the filling for a minute or two, then use a spoon to stir the mixture together until it becomes smooth and creamy. Once it's ready please fill your clean pastry bags with the filling." She continued.
"The cream is ready." Miyuki announced.
"Okay, let's pour it in then." Ai said as she moved the bowl closer to the catcher so he could pour it in and started stirring the raspberry.
"If your filling is ready. Then place the baking sheets on the counter and gently flip them over with the spatula so they can face up and then gently pour about a teaspoon of the filling onto those macaron halves. The last thing will be to softly position the other half on top." The chef said with the lesson coming to an end.
Once it was smooth and creamy Ai filled the pastry bag with a spoon already knowing that this part was her job since Miyuki was completely useless at this stage as Miyuki placed the baking sheets on the counter. The tiny circles looking soft but firm and pink.
"Watch a master at work." Ai taunted him.
"Just do it." Miyuki said already over the situation. It was obvious that he was not meant to use the pastry bag.
Ai softly laughed at him as she gently squeezed the raspberry filling onto the macarons."There it's done!" She exclaimed as she stepped away from her marvelous work. "Wanna help me do the finishing touch?"
"It will be a honor." He rolled his eyes not pleased with her gloating.
The task was so simple that at this point he couldn't mess this up. Carefully he started taking the untouched macarons halves and gently position them as he softly pressed them together making a mini-sandwich on the right side of the baking sheet while Ai did the other half.
"Done, done, and done! They look so cute!" Ai gushed as she was in awe of the pretty pink macarons.
"Hopefully they taste as good as they look." The catcher deadpanned.
"Aren't you so positive?" She said in sarcastic tone.
"I think it's the Christmas's air." Miyuki grinned.
She just rolled her eyes and took one of them and offered it to him. "Let's find out, shall we?"
"Let's." Miyuki took the macaron from her hand and took a bite while she did the same.
"It's so good." She exclaimed as she closed her eyes in content.
"It's actually really good." He said in agreement. Miyuki was not the biggest fan of sweets but he liked fruit so he tolerated it which in his world meant that he liked it.
"I'm glad that you like them too." Ai said taking a bite of another macaron since her doctor told her to go crazy and live a little when she wounded up in the hospital.
"You know how I would like them more?" Miyuki asked in an innocent tone.
"How?" She asked in curiosity.
"If I could eat them off of you." He said in a low husky tone in her ear.
Ai's cheeks became tinted with a lovely shade of pink reminiscent of their macarons not really expecting that. "You are such a pervert Kazuya." She half-heartedly chastised.
"It's that a no? We have plenty of them you know." He continued with his teasing even though deep inside he was serious as he softly kissed her on the lips.
"Now you need to stop." She looked away after breaking the kiss.
"It's that a no?" Miyuki asked in teasing tone.
"Merry Christmas Kazuya." Ai firmly said to send him the message that she was not going to entertain that conversation any longer while blushing a little bit more.
"Merry Christmas babe." He said back as his lips curved into a smirk noticing that she didn't really shot down his idea.
Maybe Christmas isn't so bad after all.
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OMAKE:
The couple walked aimlessly through the bustling streets of Tokyo that were beaming with Christmas lights, wreaths, and red ribbons everywhere. The Christmas joy was palpable despite the cold weather as other couples walked together holding hands. Miyuki turned to Ai and smirked to himself realizing that they still don't hold hands. He didn't care and he was sure that she didn't care either.
"The Christmas lights are so pretty but I think the sky is prettier tonight." Ai mentioned as she pointed to the sky.
Miyuki looked up to see what she was referring to and lo and behold she was right. The midnight blue night sky was truly beautiful tonight. The stars were twinkling and the full moon shone brightly illuminating everything but not enough to take away from the city lights. He remembered that Sawamura once said that the stars were brighter back in his hometown and perhaps he was right. Miyuki wouldn't know since he was a city boy through and through.
Then something caught his attention. "Snowflakes." He said in a low tone as he examined them more closely as they started to fall more and more from the sky.
"You are right! It's snowing!" She gushed as she giggled and held her hand out to feel them. "We are going to have a white Christmas." Ai exclaimed as she turned to Miyuki with a bright smile across her lips.
He smiled in return. "So it seems." More distracted by the fact that Ai looked more beautiful than both the night sky and the snowflakes combined with her tinted cheeks due to the cold windy weather.
"It's just like that night," She said. "Last year."
Miyuki widened his eyes in surprise. "Do you really want to mention that day?" He asked in curiosity.
"Aside from all of that confession fiasco.. That night was pretty special to me," Ai confessed. "It was the first time that we felt so close to each other."
The catcher looked away feeling a little bit awkward as he remembered holding her tight in a warm comfortable embrace, in the middle of the street while it was snowing just like tonight. Miyuki smiled again.
"I guess it wasn't so bad either." He agreed as he took her by surprise when he pulled her closer to him and enveloped her in a tight hug.
"What are you doing?" She asked confused.
"Well, usually couples kiss under the mistletoe so I thought that maybe this could be our Christmas tradition." Miyuki explained.
Ai softened her expression at his explanation and felt her muscles relax as she wrapped her arms around his body feeling the warmth envelope her.
"That doesn't sound too bad." She said as she closed her eyes in content.
Yes, maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all.