Takao strolled out of his house, yawning at the prospect of having to pedal Shuutoku's beloved ace on his rickshaw. Usually he wouldn't mind, but today he felt half-asleep, probably as a result of watching last night's national basketball tournament on television.

However, he soon realised that his worries were quite unnecessary, much to his surprise. His sharp eyes opened wider to a shocking scene. For the first time in his life since he lost his first scissors-paper-stone match with a certain horoscope-loving tsundere and never won again, that tsundere was sitting in the rider's seat. Yes, the one and only Shin-chan.

"Get in the back," the green-haired tsundere muttered before Takao's mouth had any chance to utter anything.

"Wow! Shin-chan! Is this for real? You're gonna ride today?" Takao's half-open mouth spread into a grin. "What day is it today, for you to be so-"

Oh, right. It was Takao's own birthday today. How in the world could he have forgotten?

"Hurry up and get in the passenger seat or we will be late, you idiot!" exclaimed Midorima, whose ears were turning pinker by the moment.

Touched by the kind offer, Takao made his way without complaints to the back of the rickshaw, only to see a green coloured package in the seat.

"Eh? Shin-chan? What's this green box? Did you leave this behind yesterday or something?" Takao cluelessly asked Midorima, whose ears only turned redder.

"You idiot. That's yours," Midorima uttered barely audibly to Takao, whose mouth was now wide open in shock. On seeing Takao's amazed expression, the tsundere immediately spluttered, "I..It is not a birthday present, alright? It is your lucky item for today. I just happened to have extra is all. There's no need for you to be so amazed."

"Shin-chan…" Takao sat in the passenger seat, feeling both touched at the sudden gesture and amused at the excuse Midorima gave.

"Can I open it?"

"S..since it's yours, do what you want with it."

Biting his lips while trying not to tear the olive-green wrapper, Takao carefully unwrapped his present…only to find that it's a green soft toy. A glum-looking tortoise, in fact.

"Eh? What's this, it's so cute! And it looks familiar! It looks like…Shin-chan!" exclaimed the excited birthday boy. It was true. The tortoise had eyebrows all scrunched up together and an unbearably cute pout. It sure looked tsundere. All it lacked were glasses. It was even the same colour as Midorima's hair.

"Oi! Oi, idiot! I do NOT look like a toy tortoise! Do you hear me, idiot!" screeched Midorima in an attempt to escape the embarrassment which was slowly creeping up his face and ears. Meanwhile, Takao simply threw his head back and laughed raucously.

"This tortoise…I shall name it Midorin! Wahahaha!"

"S..shut up and sit down properly!"

Takao's ride to school had never been more enjoyable.

Whistling as he walked to the sports hall where his team practised, Takao entered the hall only to receive a streamer in his face.

"Happy Birthday!" came as a shout as Takao witnessed every member of his team wearing party hats, in particular Miyaji-senpai holding a party popper and Shin-chan holding a chocolate cake.

"You guys…" said Takao with tears in his eyes. He was so touched thus far, everyone was so nice to him today…and as if he didn't have enough of the unexpected, he received yet another surprise, this time right smack in his face.

Bright laughter filled the hall as the brown cake smashed grotesquely into the point guard's face. Before anyone knew it, the entire Shuutoku basketball team had launched into a full-blown cake fight. Midorima who first started it (on Ootsubo's request – he felt that Midorima looked most unlikely to smash Takao with cake) only wanted to escape the mess by running (for his much-cherised sanity and cleanliness) out of the hall, but no avail as Takao had already cornered him, smashing a brown mass of what used to be a delicious-looking chocolate cake into his face.

After ten full minutes of cake smashing and smearing which involved even the reserved Midorima, Ootsubo gave orders to clean up and return to practice.

In the Shuutoku washroom, everyone scrubbed furiously at their faces with soap. Soon, all the seniors left, leaving behind only Midorima, who wanted to clean his face as much as possible, and Takao, who had received the most cake impact.

"Hey, Shin-chan." Takao suddenly turned to face Midorima, who was still wiping at his face like a lunatic.

"What."

"Thank you for today. I had fun."

"..Whatever."

And the two of them went back to practice, where all of those who had fought against each other just a few minutes ago worked in perfect unison and harmony, where Midorima never missed a single one of Takao's passes, where Takao smiled in knowing that on the way home, he would be treated like a king again, even if it was for the last time in a long while.

fin.

Thank you for reading! Thank you even more for reading till the end! :) Have a good day.