words | akaashi keiji

bonus 2.

"We've loved each other so long I've never been a man and not loved her."
Sarah Perry

For Mei and Akaashi, the middle of May had always been a special time. Even in high school, it had taken Akaashi until at least May to warm up even slightly. And then, their relationship had rekindled and begun anew in May.

But that was two years ago, and the initial overload of emotions and love had since settled into a much calmer, background noise.

In fact, for their first anniversary, they couldn't agree on the specific date, so it ended with them giving each other gifts weeks apart.

Akaashi was convinced that their relationship had begun in the beginning of May, when Mei was still living on Sho's couch.

But Mei believed that they only began dating at the end of May. This was because two years ago, Akaashi had woken up in a frenzy one day and had to double check with Mei that they were truly boyfriend and girlfriend. That was when they had officially had the talk.

So, they settled on the middle of May. But the topic of their anniversary still caused grumbles and eyerolls between the two.

While Mei absolutely adored and loved the man she was dating, if there was one thing she hated doing for him, it was buying gifts.

She would enjoy giving him gifts, if he accepted them like a normal person. But, with Akaashi, it became a matter of giving him something both sentimental and useful. Which basically narrowed her list of options down to zero.

So, she decided to resort to what would make her happy. She got another cat.

To be fair, the cat was a beautiful, striped orange, which she knew Akaashi loved. In fact, they still visited the old cat café often, and she had found one that looked exactly like his favorite cat at the café.

If someone asked Mei, she would thoroughly believe that she had gotten the best gift possible. After all, it can be hard to find a cat.

Along with the cat, Akaashi would receive a copy of Kōbō Abe's The Ruined Map, an MSBY Black Jackals keychain with the number 12, and a container of matcha ice cream.

All of the small gifts were hidden under beige wrapping paper, stacked one on top of the other in the small party bag Mei had stashed under the kitchen sink. But it was much harder to hide a full-grown cat, so Mei employed Jun's skills for the three days where Mei had the cat but couldn't show Akaashi.

"Keiji, you ready?" Mei whispered, lightly tapping Akaashi's sleeping form until he rolled over in bed. "Wake up, stupid."

"Damn, I'm awake." He mumbled back into the pillow, lifting his head to look at Mei. He gave her a lazy smile before moving to kiss her cheek. "Good morning, darling."

"Good morning, sexy. Hurry up and get up. I want your gift already."

"What about my gift?" He rubbed at his eyes.

Mei gave a little laugh, flicking at his forehead before turning to leave the bed.

Akaashi lifted the blanket quickly, trapping Mei's head underneath and keeping it there as he grumbled about how tired he was.

Mei thrashed her legs and arms about under the blanket, eventually growing still and faking a few snores so that Akaashi would throw the blanket off of her and shake her awake.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Wake up, Mei." He pleaded, leaving a kiss on her forehead before he slid out of bed. "I'll brush my teeth quickly."

"I'll be in the kitchen."