words | akaashi keiji

birthdays.

"I grabbed a pile of dust, and holding it up, foolishly asked for as many birthdays as the grains of dust, I forgot to ask that they be years of youth."
Ovid

"Happy birthday!"

Mei gasped dramatically, giving the people around her a small laugh as they applauded loudly.

"Thank you, all." She smiled, her eyes scanning the group and stopping when they landed on Akaashi's smiling expression. "I'm so thankful for all of you."

Akaashi stared back at her, his smile fading into only a small upturn of the corners of his lips as he gave a single nod.

Mei rolled her eyes jokingly before focusing her attention back to the rest of the group, giving them short laughs in response to their, "you're eighteen"s and "you've gotten so old"s.

"Alright, alright! Stop bombarding my friend!" Jun interrupted loudly, throwing her hands up before harshly slapping them down onto Mei's shoulders. "We'll cut this cake up and give out the slices, so scram."

Mei gave the group one more close-eyed smile, holding her breath until she finally felt Jun's finger flick the back of her neck.

"You really outdid yourself this time." She began, and Mei peeked an eye open to see only Jun, Sho, and Akaashi remained in the room as Jun sliced into the cake. "You know you don't need to invite every person you say good morning to."

"Well, this time next year we'll have graduated, so might as well."

"Or, just save your energy. You know you only want us here," Jun continued, shaking her head in disappointment but refusing to look up from the cake.

"People around school were asking me if I had plans, so I ended up making plans on the spot out of panic."

"What a people pleaser." Sho scoffed, crossing his arms as he looked toward the girl who remained in her seat at the end of the table.

"Shut it, Sho." Jun was quick to defend, stopping in her cutting of the cake to jokingly point the knife at him.

Akaashi let out a low laugh under his breath, and the three in the room quickly furrowed their brows as they looked toward him.

"What's so funny?" Sho asked immediately, leaving Akaashi to look to him with dull eyes.

"I think Akaashi sees our guardian spirits or something, because he laughs so randomly." Mei rambled, resting her chin against her palm as she watched the cake closely. "Or he secretly hates you, Sho."

"Aw, he could never. We're best buds."

Mei raised her eyebrows to Akaashi, who looked back at her for only a moment before resting his eyes back on Sho.

"Cake time!" Jun placed the largest slice in front of Mei.

• • •

After Mei's guests had left, she let out a long sigh as she fell back onto the couch in her living room, quickly turning her head to watch as Akaashi took a  seat in the loveseat beside her.

"Happy birthday, Mei." He spoke up, a bit awkwardly, but she smiled anyway, lifting herself until she sat at the end of the couch, patting the place next to her for him to join.