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Juza had forgotten his own birthday.
The realization strikes him as soon as he opens the door to the building and several people jump out at him, each person donning a colorful party hat. Their voices are jubilant, and the background reflects their excitement easily: vibrant balloons float around cheerfully, banners hang overhead, and a delicious cake sits in the center of it all.
Though Juza tries his hardest to keep his face impassive, the small smirk Banri wears lets him know the act isn't as convincing as he hoped it would be.
"Don't tell us you forgot, Hyodo." He laughs, his condescending tone annoying. Though they've been on decent terms for awhile now (maybe handcuffing them together hadn't been such a bad idea, after all), Banri remained as insufferable as always, still pouncing upon every opportunity to get underneath his skin.
Unwilling to give him a reaction, Juza keeps his expression unchanged.
"’Course not. Just didn't expect this," he replies coolly, holding Banri's gaze. An odd warmth shoots through him as Banri's smirk widens, causing him to hastily avert his gaze.
What the fuck…?
The nerves Banri's presence had recently started giving him creep up again. It was irritating; the ass was as intimidating as a sack of flour--what was there to be nervous about?
Disrupting him from his troubling thoughts, Kazunari cheers, "Happy birthday, Hyodle! Check out this sick cake Omi made for you."
As Juza approaches the crowd slowly, his mind still struggling to make sense of his reactions, Omi chuckles lightly.
"Well, you all helped, as well," he says. "I can't take the credit for this."
"I helped decorate it!" Someone announces, and Juza turns to find the triangle enthusiast from the summer troupe grinning at him.
When he glances back down at the cake, Juza isn't surprised to see the triangular sprinkles bordering its top. A smile pulls at his lips as he sees the only sentence scrawled messily across the top:
Happiest of birthing days :)
Having followed his gaze, Izumi laughs.
"We messed up with the frosting a little." She explains sheepishly, giving Citron a dry look. He makes a point to ignore her stare.
Feeling a sudden surge of love for each one of them, Juza says, "'S nice. Thanks."
"I hope the flavor came out okay." Omi smiles as he reaches out to straighten the unlit candles on the dessert. "Banri said you favored chocolate, so we went with that.”
Banri?
A choke rings out before Banri hurriedly rasps out, "I-I never told you shit."
Juza risks a glance in his direction and to his surprise, his usual arrogance has vanished, replaced by an unusual flustered expression.
Omi blinks.
"...D-Didn't you?"
"Yeah, Banny." Taichi adds, equally confused by the reaction. "You were saying how we should've settled for strawberry instead, but then we didn't have enough time to run to the store and you said-"
Taichi's eyes widen as Banri attempts to innocuously flatten his foot. When this succeeds in getting him to fall silent, Banri narrows his eyes viciously.
Asshole once again.
"I didn't contribute to this," he spits, meeting Juza's gaze only for a second. "so if you've got any issues with the cake, take it up with them."
The people around him stare at him, unimpressed. When no one speaks up, Juza shrugs. "Chocolate's great."
A strange thrill runs through him as Banri turns pink, the glare on his face lukewarm at best.
"Geez, Setzer." Kazu laughs, playfully elbowing Banri in the ribs. "Anyone would have a hard time believing how excited you were about this an hour ago."
Banri’s eyes widen, his fists clenching by his sides.
"That's because I wasn't.” He mumbles before nudging his head towards the cake. “Now shut up and cut the damn thing already; it's starting to melt."
"Fine, fine," Izumi says, her eyes glinting with mischief as she adds quietly, "You were pretty enthusiastic, though."
Shortly following this exchange, the birthday cake is lit, and the lights in the room lower. Before Juza can process the previous conversation, the people around him burst into song, the levels of enthusiasm ranging widely from person to person.
Though completely off-key, a small smile finds its way onto Juza's face; the gifts, the food, and even the pile of litter hastily shoved under the sofa--they were all evidence that the people around him had gone to great lengths to make his birthday a good one, even if he may have forgotten about it until the day of.
His eyes gravitate towards Banri again, who he finds is already watching him. The absence of his usual smugness catches Juza off guard again, and the nerves that accompany being in Banri's presence return wildly.
Juza raises a brow at him, a little confused by the gentleness in his expression.
Realizing he's been caught staring, Banri hastily narrows his eyes before looking away. With the dim lighting, Juza can't be entirely sure, but he swears he can see a light dusting of pink appearing on Banri's face.
The song is over within no time, and the lights are turned back on. The cake (which is delicious--chocolate was the perfect choice) is split amongst everyone before the group separates to find a space to sit in the crowded living room. Now that Juza thinks about it, he doesn't think he can remember a time where everyone sat down to eat together like this.
It brings another grin to his face, but he quickly fights it down.
The afternoon passes by comfortably, and by the time Sakyo disbands the gathering ("lights out by 10 pm, no exceptions."), Juza finds that he doesn't quite want the day to end.
Banri had returned to their room an hour earlier, saying something about being tired, which is why Juza isn't expecting to find him up when he returns to their dorm.
When Juza opens the door, he's startled to find Banri pacing the room restlessly.
He pauses mid stride and turns to meet Juza's questioning stare, but he doesn't say anything until Juza's settled down onto his bed.
"Here." Banri mumbles suddenly, throwing a bag at him.
Confused, Juza glances down at his lap to see the heavy item that had been chucked at him. Had the flaps of the bag not been taped down, whatever contents it contained would have spilt all over the place.
Juza gives the bag a cautious prod before asking, "What's this?"
He glances up to see Banri rolling his eyes, but the flush on his face ruins whatever indifferent vibe he was going for.
"Just open it, will you?" He mutters, meeting Juza's gaze briefly. "Or are you too much of a dumbass to manage that?"
Juza scoffs. "Shut up."
Ripping the strips of tape off of the bag, Juza half expects it to be filled with garbage. When he succeeds in popping it open, however, its contents surprise him.
"A...gift?" Juza gawks at him, the sweetness of it taking him aback. The bag nearly overflows with all of his favorite snacks; he even spots a small stuffed animal drowning in the sea of sweets.
Banri shrugs dismissively.
"Yeah, you're welcome," He says dryly, but when Juza continues to stare at him, Banri glares. "Don't look at me like that; the director forced me to get you something."
Juza returns his gaze to the gift, reaching in to gently pick up the plushie. From the corner of his eye, Juza spots Banri watching him, gauging his reaction closely.
He wasn't as much of a dumbass as Banri constantly accused him of being. Even if the director had forced him to, Banri could've easily gifted him something insignificant, like a pair of socks.
Instead, he had taken the time to fill up a large bag with his favorite things. Hell, Juza hadn't even told Banri about any of these snacks; it had all been through careful observation on his part.
Something about that sends warmth into Juza’s chest, and a soft smile spreads on his face.
Placing the stuffed animal back into the bag, Juza rises to his feet. The sudden motion causes Banri to jump, and before Juza can overthink it, he covers the short distance between them and wraps his arms around Banri tightly.
The reaction is instantaneous.
"What the fuck, Hyodo?!" Banri sputters, tensing underneath Juza's arms. "G-Get off of me, you ass."
When Banri makes no move to pry him off despite his short-lived protests, Juza relaxes against him.
"Thank you," he says quietly.
Juza feels Banri loosen a little, before his hands hesitantly wrap themselves around Juza's waist. His stomach does a flip as Banri nestles his head into his neck, and his shaky breaths send a shiver down his spine.
They stand entwined in the middle of the room, the night's serene silence broken only by the thundering of their hearts.
The implications of the embrace, of the gift and stolen glances, aren't lost on Juza, and a stupid smile erupts across his face.
After another minute, Banri whispers against his skin,
"Happy birthday, Juza."
Juza.
A small thing, but it sends his heart into overdrive.