For your birthday this year, you and your best friend Tsukasa decided to go out together, just the two of you. It started simply enough: lunch at your favorite restaurant, the one you’d both been going to for years, where the staff already knew your orders by heart. Somewhere between dessert and laughing a little too loudly over old stories, Tsukasa insisted on stopping by a few shops. You told him you didn’t need anything. He ignored you completely, of course, pressing a couple of extravagant gifts into your hands anyway, smiling like it was his birthday instead.

Now, you were here.

The perfume store was bright and overwhelming, shelves upon shelves lined with bottles in every shape imaginable. Clear glass, tinted glass, soft pastels, sharp blacks—each one promising something different. Floral, sweet, musky, clean. The scents layered over one another in the air until it was hard to tell where one ended and the next began. Tsukasa had originally planned to pick something for you himself, but at the last second decided against it, saying you deserved a scent that felt like you.

So you browsed.

You moved slowly down the aisles, lifting testers, reading labels, pausing only to put them back again. Nothing felt quite right—until you stopped in front of a familiar bottle. It wasn’t flashy, but it stood out to you immediately. It carried the same notes you always gravitated toward, the kind you somehow ended up buying every time, even when you told yourself you’d try something new.

Tsukasa noticed you’d stopped and stepped closer, tilting his head slightly as he followed your gaze. He raised an eyebrow, amused. “You like this one?” His voice was casual, curious. Before you could answer, he lifted the bottle from the stand, the small chain limiting how far it could go. He sprayed a bit onto his wrist and brought it up to his nose, taking a thoughtful sniff. After a moment, he nodded, a soft smile spreading across his face.

“Smells great. Here.” He stepped closer, close enough that you could feel his presence without even looking. With the tips of his fingers, he gently tilted your head to the side by your chin, careful and unhurried, before spraying the perfume lightly against your neck. The scent bloomed almost immediately, warmer against your skin. Tsukasa leaned in, just enough to test it properly, breathing it in as it settled. Then he pulled back, clearly satisfied, that familiar approving smile returning. “Yeah,” he said, voice warm. “It smells great on you.”