The Bet

{Gakushuu's point of view}

Gakushuu was sitting in his office, having just finished a meeting. He sighed as his phone buzzed for the hundredth time that day.

'Ace-kun, please change your mind!'

Akabane had been spamming him ever since he started the bet. Every time he didn't read one of the messages every 1 minute, Akabane would call him and whine. And every time he blocked Akabane, Akabane would find a new number to call him by. Eventually, Gakushuu gave up on a peaceful day of work. He plugged his phone into a charger and left the chat open, where Akabane would leave a message every few seconds.

The moment Gakushuu arrived back at the suite, he was immediately bombarded by Akabane. "Ace-kun! Can you lift the ban? Please? Pretty please?"

"Is this your plan of making me change my mind?" Gakushuu asked tiredly.

"Yup! By the looks of it, you're already too tired to argue with me!"

Gakushuu dragged himself back to their room, washed up quickly, and collapsed on the bed. He was just about to fall asleep when Gakushuu felt an arm sling around him and an annoying voice said, "Ace-kun! Will you please lift the ban?"

"If you don't shut up, I swear I will extend the ban!" Gakushuu was getting more and more annoyed by the moment.

"But you can only do that after the ban, Ace-kun!" Akabane said. "And I still have six whole days to convince you! I- Mph!"

Gakushuu rolled on top of Akabane, covering Akabane's mouth with a hand. "Shut up," Gakushuu groaned. "I'm trying to sleep!"

Akabane was oddly quiet for a while after that, and by the time Akabane started talking again. sleep had overtaken Gakushuu.

This was how it was for the next five days. It was currently the last day of the bet, and Akabane was more frantic than usual. He didn't leave Gakushuu alone for one moment. He had the nerve to call in Gakushuu's workplace and say that Gakushuu was calling in sick, even though Gakushuu was the boss and could make decisions for himself. Akabane wouldn't stop pestering Gakushuu at all.

Gakushuu was currently seated at the dining table in their suite, Akabane having insisted that after tasting the food he could cook, Gakushuu would surely listen to Akabane and lift the ban. Akabane walked in with two bowls of mushroom soup. "Ace-kun! Once you eat this, your heart will warm up to my wants!"

Gakushuu rolled his eyes before slowly sipping one of the bowls, aware that Akabane might have spiked the soup with some hot sauce or wasabi. To his surprise, it actually tasted delicious. It was creamy and thick, but not too thick.

"So? What do you think? Good, huh?" Akabane wore his infuriating grin.

"It's adequate," Gakushuu replied.

"Adequate? That means you like it! So, will you reconsider on the ban-"

"No," Gakushuu groaned. He was growing so weary of Akabane's constant pleas that he was starting to consider giving in, not that he would admit it.

"Ace-kun!" Akabane appeared with a chocolate cupcake. "Can you please lift the ban now?"

Gakushuu just dropped his head into his hands and tried to close out the sound of Akabane whining. Akabane, who must have counted it as a small victory, walked closer and practically shoved the cupcake down Gakushuu's throat. Gakushuu scrambled backwards but had already swallowed some of the chocolate cupcake. "How much sugar did you put in here?"

"A lot," Akabane took a bite out of his own cupcake. "I love things sweet."

"And I like things more bitter," Gakushuu muttered, drinking some water to wash down the sweetness in his mouth.

"Like your personality?" Akabane grinned.

Akabane kept on talking and pleading, but Gakushuu just looked at the clock. 7:50, 8:00, 8:30, 8:40...

Just as Gakushuu was about to give in just to stop the torment that Akabane was inflicting on him, the alarm that Gakushuu set rang. The bet had ended.