i Atsushi arriving before Ryûnosuke did wasn’t exactly a common occurrence, sure, but that might be the first time he did so on purpose. At least, that Gin knew of. And speaking of knowing, they were obviously in kahoots with him, so there was no need for explanations when the doorbell rang and she found his brother’s boyfriend upon opening. Quite the opposite, in fact; Gin took part of the bags he was carrying and moved away to let him enter. They had hours before Ryû came back, but also no time to lose, after all. Not when there were quite a handful of things to prepare before that. “The kitchen is yours.” It was still somewhat strange, speaking so openly in front of him, but with time it had also become less and less awkward. After all, Nakajima’s presence there had grown to become as frequent as Tachihara’s or Higuchi’s. Which were supposed to arrive in around an hour or so, by the way, with more stuff they needed as well as for actually celebrating. (Gin had talked about it with her brother prior to inviting them, and also having more hands on deck would be good.) “Say no more.” Was Atsushi’s only verbal response, since he dashed towards said kitchen, setting up everything needed for cooking in an instant. A testament to how familiar he was with the sibling’s apartment already.
ii While Atsushi baked the cake into existence, Gin busied herself with setting up the table, as well as hanging up some decorations here and there. And opening the door again when Tachihara and Higuchi arrived, bringing extra drinks, ice and paper napkins. Then, both their partners joined Ryûnosuke’s in his cake-making endeavor. “Nakahara-san says he couldn’t come up with more detours.” She also informed after some time, checking his phone. “Tell him it’s fine!” Higuchi quickly replied from the kitchen, and Gin may not admit it, but they exhaled a sigh of relief he hoped none of the rest had heard. “We’re almost done here!” They did reply indeed, then dashed into the room to help with the clean-up.
iii To be fair, the cake was still in need of some final decoration touches when Ryû walked through the door, but nothing stalling him a bit while Atsushi finished those couldn’t solve. “Happy birthday.” Given how their respective schedules had made it so this was the first time the siblings saw each other that day, they claimed the first hug over Nakajima (as if he wouldn’t have left it to them anyway). “Thank you, Gin.” Ryûnosuke didn’t doubt reciprocating, but he didn’t lose time in turning his head towards Tachihara either. “No noisy gimmicks.” “Promise.” As he said so, Michizô even raised his arms in surrender as Ichiyô giggled. That was also when Atsushi made his appearance too, not hiding the fact there was going to be a cake since he hadn’t bothered taking his apron off. Not an issue, though, since Gin figured their brother would expect a cake; it wasn’t the first time, after all. He then left a peck on Ryû’s first with his own ‘Happy birthday’, and no longer after that he was also taking his hand to lead him to the table.
for @sskkweek.bsky.social's #akubday2025: free space (ft. cake baking)
sskk & gin + tachihigugin crumbs
#bsd #sskk #gin
