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“you’ve never had strawberry shortcake?”
kei says it calmly but tadashi, despite only knowing him for a little while, can detect the subtle shock in his tone.
“no. i’ve had other types of cake, though.”
the taller boy shakes his head in what seems to be disappointment.
they’re at kei’s house, and his mother had made cake the day before. there was only one slice left over, and when kei remembered, he almost lit up.
in all other aspects, kei was probably the most mature eleven year old on the planet, so tadashi was fascinated to see a more childlike side of him over something like cake.
suddenly, he pushes his plate over to tadashi, digging out a new fork from the drawer.
“try some. if you like it, i’ll save you a slice next time mum makes some.”
tadashi takes the fork excitedly and tries to section a piece off. his hand slips slightly, making the strawberry on top tumble off of the cake and onto the plate.
he briefly considers leaving it, but instead decides to spear the strawberry along with his section of the cake and eat it all in one go.
it’s sweet, really sweet, and tadashi is almost shocked that someone as cool as kei would be so fond of it.
“it’s good, tsukki!” he exclaims around his mouthful, turning to face the other with a smile.
when he sees kei’s expression, though, he immediately stops chewing.
kei looks crushed. it’s probably the most emotion he’s shown since tadashi first met him.
“w-what’s wrong?” tadashi stutters after swallowing, the cake feeling more like cardboard after seeing kei’s face.
“my strawberry...”
tadashi sits confused for a second, before realising that kei meant the strawberry on top. the one he’d just eaten.
“you wanted it?”
“it’s...” kei’s eyes are downcast, almost as if he’s embarrassed, “...the best part. you shouldn’t eat someone else’s.”
“you told me i could have some though?”
kei pinches the bridge of his nose.
“not the strawberry on top, that part is important,” and yep, kei definitely looks embarrassed now, cheeks flaming, “it’s the heart of the cake, yamaguchi.”
is this really happening? tadashi wonders to himself, equal parts amused and guilty, is tsukki really upset over a strawberry?
“uhm, i’m sorry tsukki?” he tries sheepishly, holding back a giggle, “i won’t do it again.”
“whatever, it’s fine,” kei mutters, in a tone that implies it’s anything but fine.
he finishes the rest of his cake grumpily, the slightest sulk in his expression.
tadashi can’t help but find it endearing.
🍓🍰🍓
“open wide, tsukki! here comes the airplane!”
“yamaguchi,” kei starts, voice low and even, “what exactly are you doing?”
tadashi waves his fork in front of kei’s face, prodding the strawberry in his direction.
“well, last time i stole your strawberry, so now you can eat mine as payback.”
the next time kei’s mother baked shortcake happened to be just a few weeks later, so kei let tadashi know.
tadashi had come over right away, finally able to set his genius apology in motion.
“i told you it was fine.”
“still,” tadashi whines, “i wanna make it up to you. you were really upset!”
“i was not upset.”
tadashi ignores him and continues hovering the strawberry in front of kei’s face.
“just eat it!”
kei groans and snatches the fork from tadashi’s hand, much to his disappointment, since he was slightly looking forward to feeding kei himself.
the pleased hum that comes from kei as he eats the strawberry makes tadashi’s disappointment go away immediately, though.
so cute! tsukki is so cute!
he’s not quite smiling but the corners of his lips are quirked ever so slightly up, in such a way that nobody would ever notice it unless they were paying entirely too much attention.
fortunately, “paying too much attention to tsukki” was tadashi’s middle name.
so he notices the tiny tiny hint of a smile, and the way kei’s eyes were shining behind his glasses.
it makes something inside tadashi feel warm and fuzzy. he ignores it.
“uh. thanks.” kei mumbles after swallowing the strawberry, averting his gaze.
“you shouldn’t thank me, tsukki! i’m just paying you back.”
kei’s cheeks glow slightly pink, and tadashi can’t help but smile when he realises it.
kei doesn’t smile back, but the pink hue on his face darkens. tadashi hopes that’s a good thing.
🍓🍰🍓
from then on, tadashi would always give his strawberry to kei whenever they had shortcake.
strawberries were nice enough, but seeing how much the blonde enjoyed eating them was just a little bit nicer.
maybe more than just a little bit, but tadashi wasn’t concerned with the semantics. either way, it was a good trade off, swapping something that made him happy for something that made him happier.
like making a profit, but with happiness, tadashi supposed.
kei, luckily, didn’t care enough to question it most of the time.
eventually though, he did.
the shortcake was store-bought this time, shared at tadashi’s house after volleyball practice.
tadashi said it was just a random treat, but he knew kei saw through the flimsy excuse.
they’d recently found out that kei’s older brother was lying about his position as the ace of karasuno volleyball team.
they’d both been affected, but tadashi knew that kei got the worst of it.
kei looked up to akiteru more than anyone else, and tadashi was worried that he might never feel the same about volleyball again.
he had a certain dullness to him ever since that day. a little more closed off, a little less motivated. a lot more mean.
tadashi hoped it wouldn’t last long.
so he stopped by a cake shop with kei on the way home, and bought him some cake to try and cheer his friend up a little.
he couldn’t exactly tell how well it was working, kei was difficult to read at the best of times, but he hoped it at least helped a little.
he didn’t speak until tadashi plopped his strawberry onto kei’s plate like usual.
“yamaguchi, do you not like strawberries?”
“i like them, why?”
“you always give the strawberry on top to me,” kei says, nudging the strawberry on his plate with his fork, “don’t keep eating strawberry shortcake if you don’t even like it.”
“no, no, i like shortcake,” tadashi insists, waving his hands around a little distressed, “so don’t worry, tsukki!”
“then why do you always give me the strawberry?” kei asks, taking a bite of his cake.
tadashi hesitates for a second, wondering if he should tell the truth or just lie.
after entirely too many seconds, kei looks up at him expectantly.
tadashi panics, and answers without thinking.
“i-i like watching you eat them!”
kei quirks an eyebrow, confusion written all over his face.
“it’s...a profit.” tadashi continues weakly.
“a profit? wh-“
“happiness profit,” tadashi stutters out, eyes scrunched closed and freckled cheeks burning.
he realises that really doesn’t clear anything up, but he feels too humiliated to even try and amend it with something that makes sense.
thankfully, kei doesn’t press any further. he just mutters under his breath about how weird tadashi is.
but when tadashi can bear to crack an eye open and look at his friend again, he’s smiling a little.
it’s the first time he’s seen kei smile since they went to that karasuno match.
it’s only a small one, not to mention it’s at tadashi’s expense.
but either way, kei is smiling.
that alone makes tadashi’s embarrassing outburst entirely worth it.
🍓🍰🍓
when they get to high school, more and more people start to tease kei.
only lighthearted teasing of course, but in middle school things were never like that.
he was so much taller than all the other kids, so no one ever tried to get a rise out of him out of fear.
tadashi didn’t either. they were friends, but he still didn’t really want to piss kei off.
it’s not as if it was particularly easy to do; kei was mean to others but rarely ever got affected by stuff himself.
in high school though, more people start to get under his skin.
and tadashi realises that an irritated kei is kind of extremely adorable.
so slowly but surely, he starts to be more bold.
“tsukki.”
kei makes a vague word of acknowledgment, not looking away from the cake on his plate.
“y’know when we were younger, and you told me that the strawberry is “the heart” of the cake?”
kei looks up then, probably wondering where tadashi is going with this.
“uh. yes?”
tadashi takes kei’s brief distraction as an opportunity to go in for the kill.
as swiftly as he can, he steals the strawberry from the top of kei’s cake and stuffs it in his mouth.
he beams the second he swallows it, taking in kei’s horrified expression.
“i stole your heart, tsukki!”
kei, sadly, is not impressed by tadashi’s pun.
he is so unimpressed, in fact, that he gets up and leaves.
tadashi tries to call after him through fits of giggles, even offers him a whole box of strawberries as a peace offering.
it’s not enough. tadashi has crossed a line that he should have known not to cross.
(17:34) yamaguchi
tsukki please come back im sorryghvhfgc
(18:52) tsukki
absolutely not. you should have learned after the first time.
(18:53) yamaguchi
we were 11 the first time !!!! i didn’t think you’d still be so serious about it ;-;
(18:57) tsukki
i’m always serious about strawberry shortcake.
tadashi giggles a little and shuts off his phone.
he knows that kei isn’t properly mad, that they’ll see each other tomorrow at school and things will be totally fine.
even so, he buys a ton of strawberries as an apology.
three boxes for kei’s shoe locker, one snuck into his bag, two on his desk at homeroom.
tadashi’s wallet is all but empty by the end, but seeing kei’s poorly-concealed delight at the sheer volume of strawberries, is worth the expenses.
happiness profit, tadashi remembers idly.
kei somehow finishes all six boxes of strawberries in the short time they have for lunch.
tadashi spends the rest of the day trying not to stare at kei’s lips, stained berry-red from the juice.
🍓🍰🍓
it’s valentine’s day, and for whatever reason, tadashi wants to give something to kei.
he’s well aware that kei doesn’t care for valentines day. countless love letters from girls that he’d essentially ignored made that much incredibly clear.
so he has to rack his brain to think of something he could give to kei that would elicit more than just an eye roll and a long-suffering sigh.
eventually, he realises that he could just bake a cake.
which, really, is easier said than done considering tadashi has the cooking skills of a toddler.
but he gives it a go anyway. after more flour on his clothes than he ever thought possible, an insane amount of fretting, and accidentally burning himself multiple times, he has something he can probably consider to be a decent cake.
(14:31) yamaguchi
i made cake tsukkiiiii!!! 🍰🍰 come over n taste test it
(14:43) tsukki
is this a valentine’s day thing?
(14:45) yamaguchi
no
ok maybe
(14:47) tsukki
ugh.
i’ll be over in 15.
“it looks...edible”
kei is peering at the shortcake suspiciously, as if it might gain sentience and bite him.
“uh. do you wanna...try some?” tadashi asks hesitantly.
he nods slowly, cutting a slice (because tadashi cannot cut evenly to save his life) and eating some.
“it’s good.” kei says after a few seconds.
if tadashi didn’t know kei well, he’d feel a little deflated at that.
but he knows that kei isn’t the type to just hand out compliments. if tsukishima kei tells you your shortcake is good, that means your shortcake is damn good.
so tadashi is satisfied with that, breathing a sigh of relief.
tadashi takes a slice for himself. before anything he takes the strawberry onto his fork.
he holds it up for kei to take as usual, but kei grabs his wrist.
he looks into tadashi’s eyes, silent and intense for a few seconds.
“yamaguchi.”
“y-yeah, tsukki?”
“who’s the cake for?”
kei’s grip on his wrist is tightening now, and tadashi can’t find it in him to reply.
the tension crackles between them. the metal of the fork digs into tadashi’s palm as he squeezes more and more tightly.
“is it someone you like?” kei tries again, brown eyes searching tadashi’s face.
“i-“ tadashi stutters, “-uh- yeah.”
“who?”
it’s sort of bizarre honestly, because kei has never cared about things like this.
even in their first year when tadashi talked about his dumb little crush on yachi, kei never responded with anything more than an “okay”.
and now, here he is, eyes burning holes into tadashi’s face over a valentine’s day gift.
of course tadashi can’t tell him, because the cake was for kei, and now he’s said he likes the person he made it for, and he can’t just lie.
so instead, he goes on the defensive.
“why are you asking?”
“i want to be with you.”
it leaves no room for interpretation. tadashi searches kei’s expression for any indication that he might be joking. he finds none.
tadashi feels a little like the world has stopped; like he could peer out the window and see someone frozen in time, or a bird hovering motionless in midair or something.
“tsukki?”
“i just wanted to say that. before you confess to whoever it is you like.”
kei’s face is redder than tadashi has ever seen it, but he doesn’t break eye contact for a second.
“ts-“
“i don’t care if you don’t like me back. i’ll get over it. i just thought i should tell you.”
and then kei loosens his grip on tadashi’s arm and steps back, looking at the ground.
tadashi’s heart is pounding so hard he can feel it in his head, there’s blood rushing in his ears and he can barely hear himself think because what the fuck what the fuck tsukki likes me back what the fuck.
eventually he manages to force some oxygen into his lungs, and faces kei.
he holds out the strawberry again.
kei smirks a little despite his situation.
“what’s this, a consolation prize?” he quips, eyeing the berry and then looking back at tadashi.
“no!” tadashi almost shouts, before realising just how unnecessarily loud he was and lowering his voice, “it’s- uh-“
the freckled boy stumbles for about five seconds, trying to find the words.
“i’m giving you my heart,” tadashi finally says, immediately feeling very stupid.
kei stares at the strawberry for a few moments, then he laughs, fucking laughs, and tadashi feels like he’s just entered heaven because kei never laughs, but he is and it’s so unbelievably lovely.
when he catches his breath he leans forward again, looking tadashi in the eyes again.
this time he’s smiling, and it’s the exact same subtle smile as when he’s eating a strawberry, and tadashi thinks that ifhe makes tsukishima kei feel the same as how he feels eating strawberries, then he’s won at life already.
he thinks for a second that kei is going to take the fork and finally eat the fucking strawberry, but he doesn’t.
kei kisses him.
kei kisses him, and he tastes like cream and sugar and every sweet thing the world has to offer.
it’s soft, unbelievably soft, and tadashi leans into it as much as he can, as much as his heart rate will allow.
he feels kei smile into the kiss, and fuck if that didn’t feel like a shot of euphoria straight into tadashi’s veins.
while it’s happening, while his face buzzes with pure joy, he thinks back to the happiness profit.
trading one thing that makes him happy for another thing that makes him happier.
but the taste of strawberry on his tongue, and on kei’s tongue, makes him realise that he’s having both things at once.
quite literally having his cake and eating it too.
or his strawberry, technically. semantics.
he giggles over his stupid realisation, and kei does too even though he has no idea what about, and they’re so ridiculous, but it’s okay. it’s so okay.
when kei pulls away his glasses are steamed up, and he averts his eyes in what tadashi assumes to be embarassment.
he eats the strawberry almost immediately after, which is relieving honestly because tadashi was afraid it might fall off the damn fork if they left it any longer.
“by the way,” kei mumbles around a full mouth, “just because we’re together, doesn’t mean i’ll ever give you my strawberries.”
tadashi scoffs jokingly, elbowing the blonde, “i know that. you love them way too much.”
“that’s one reason.”
tadashi makes a questioning noise, looking at kei.
“there’s another reason though,” kei continues, “it’s because i don’t need to.”
“well of course you don’t need t-“
“i don’t need to give you my strawberries,” kei interrupts, barely masking a smile, “because you already have my heart.”
tadashi’s cheeks heat up immediately.
kei laughs, subtle but perfect and oh so happy, at his flustered stumbling.
tadashi would give a million strawberries just to hear him laugh like that every day.