Hanako-kun Gift Exchange 2020
This is a gift for one of the people I was assigned for the Hanako-kun Gift Exchange hosted by the lovely people over on @toiletboundwiki ! Some Akane content was requested and I’m always happy to write for our favorite spectacled vice president! Their online alias is Salty, but I wasn’t given a tumblr handle in the contact information. I hope you enjoy the piece!
Ever since the beginning of the school year, Akane had been uncomfortable in your presence. It wasn’t any fault of your own, no. He always enjoyed having you around. Seeing you brightened his day and hearing your laugh made his heart race. That was what confused him. He was in love with Aoi, after all. He’d spent countless years professing his feelings for her and they had always been a part of each other’s lives.
You, however, you were someone completely different. You were just as kind and compassionate as Aoi was, and it wasn’t a surprise that you got along with his dear childhood friend quite well. He’d known you since middle school. The two of you had been in classes together multiple times throughout the years, but it wasn’t until high school that he’d begun to put in the effort to learn more about you. Since then, not a day had gone by where he didn’t discover something about you he hadn’t known before.
It was honestly driving him nuts, and he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in quite a while. He’d convinced himself that he was in love with Aoi, right? If that was the case, why couldn’t he get you off his mind? Even while he was conversing with his childhood crush, you still lingered in his thoughts. As he made his way through the school’s hallways, he’d almost missed the sound of a sliding door opening and closing and soft footsteps against the wooden floors. Akane turned his gaze to the source of the noise and was greeted with the sight of you leaving the student council’s meeting room.
“Oh, hello Akane-kun,” you greeted him with a small wave.
“H-Hey! What are you still doing here so late?” Akane wanted to punch himself for the embarrassing voice crack he began his query with.
“Not much. Minamoto-senpai just asked me to help with some student council duties today. Pretty strange, isn’t it?” you snickered a bit and the way you covered your mouth in an attempt to hide your amusement made Akane’s heart flutter. “Shouldn’t he have asked you? You’re the vice president, after all.”
“Yeah, he really should have asked me to help,” he let an awkward chuckle escape him as he massaged the back of his neck. He could feel how clammy his palms were as he adjusted the papers in his other hand. “Sorry for the trouble. I’ll talk to him about it later.”
“It’s no problem,” you waved away his concerns with a flick of your wrist. “I’m happy to help. Besides, it gives you a bit of a break. You have enough on your plate as it is.” And there was that amazing smile again. Your eyes crinkled just enough to give them a soft, ephemeral look to them as the corners of your mouth turned upward ever so slightly. It was a warm and inviting expression. One he rarely ever say you grace anyone else with the sight of and one he could spend hours staring at if you allowed him.
“Y-Yeah, I guess if you- uh… put it that way,” Akane fumbled with his words a bit. “Thanks for your hard work.” The two of you stood in a momentary and slightly awkward silence, neither of you wanting to say goodbye to the other quite yet.
“Hey,” the spectacled vice president was the one to break the stillness after working up a bit of courage. “If you want, I can walk you home. It’s dangerous to walk home by yourself this late and we can stop by a convenience store on the way there. I can get you something there as a thank you.”
You looked surprised for a moment and he was scared he had said something wrong.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” you gave him another radiant smile with your response, and Akane let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. It was that moment in the sunset lit hallways of the school that he realized that he’d fallen in love with you. As you both made your way to the school’s entrance he decided that he’d tell you how he felt soon. And if the faint blush that dusted your cheeks wasn’t the light playing tricks on his eyes, he might be lucky enough to have his feelings returned.
