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Valentine’s Day was a holiday Ryunosuke enjoyed much more as a child. Now it brought him nothing but stress.
When they were kids, it was all innocence - everyone was friends with everyone, and therefore everyone would get all their friends candy… and maybe their crush a little extra candy. Now, as high schoolers, Valentine’s Day was about status - who has the most friends, and who has garnered the most attention with crushes. There was a hierarchy with this, too; who would give people the tastiest handmade chocolates, home-baked cookies… the complexity made Ryunosuke’s brain hurt. All he wanted to do was get through the school day and hopefully have a better time afterwards.
When the final bell rang, his relieved sigh wracked his whole body. He’d received a few cookies and chocolates from friends, which he reciprocated with his homemade shortbread cookies. No love candies though, which was a huge weight off of Ryunosuke. He didn’t think he could ever handle hurting one of his peers (or even worse, one of his own friends) with a rejection. He took a deep breath, standing up and steeling himself. He had one final mission to accomplish by the end of today, and that was to deliver his last, uniquely-made bag of cookies. But whether it was going to be friend cookies or love cookies… that was for Ryunosuke’s resolve to decide.
Ryunosuke gathered his belongings, ready to follow through with his plan. He turned around, about to walk down the hallway, when -
“Oi, Ryunosuke!”
“Oh, h-hey, Kazuma!” Ryunosuke’s voice cracked. Who was he kidding - Ryunosuke Naruhodo notoriously had the worst luck in all the world. This plan fell apart before it even began.
“Let’s go back to my place today,” Kazuma said, and his voice indicated it wasn’t a suggestion. They strolled up to their lockers to change their shoes.
“Hah, trying to save up money since we go out so often?” Ryunosuke joked, fishing out that small yet precious bag tucked in the back.
“Something like that,” Kazuma looked off to the side, distracted. He grabbed Ryunosuke by the elbow, dragging him along. “We’re off, partner.”
“Wah- hold on, Kazuma-!” Ryunosuke barely had his jacket on, and shoved the cookies into the pocket of his uniform blazer. “What’s the rush?”
Kazuma was silent. He continued speedily along with Ryunosuke in tow, holding him tight to his side until they approached the train station, eyes darting around. “My apologies. I needed to escape prying ears.”
“Oh? It’s not like you not to say what’s on your mind,” Ryunosuke said, only half-joking.
“Hm. You’re right about that,” Kazuma replied, clearly strained by his decision. “This is more about… the delicate sensibilities of our peers.”
They stepped on the train together, luckily finding some seats and sitting beside each other.
Kazuma leaned dangerously close to Ryunosuke’s ear when he spoke his next words. “I’ve been given far too many sweet gifts today. There is no chance I’ll be able to eat them all, and I want to invite you to share them with me.”
Ryunosuke’s brain was running in outrageous speeds and directions, trying to comprehend the closeness, his words, and their implications at once. “Oh.”
“I hope you do not object. I apologize for taking so long to explain my last-minute decision, but hopefully you understand.”
Ryunosuke willed himself to calm down, elbowing Kazuma lightly with a sigh. “I swear, you’re the only person who would be this down about being so popular.”
Kazuma shook his head, smiling. “You know it’s never been anything I’ve gained intentionally.”
“And you know I’ll never turn down free food.”
“I’m glad to hear it, in this scenario at least.”
They both shared a laugh on the otherwise quiet train.
~*~
“Make yourself at home.”
“I always do,” Ryunosuke sighed, already settling himself under the kotatsu. It was still chilly despite it being mid-February.
Kazuma chuckled at the sight of his friend already comfortable on the floor, realigning their shoes in the doorway where Ryunosuke had kicked his own off lazily. “Don’t I know it,” he padded over with his schoolbag, opening it up and laying out the packages and bags of candies and cookies. Ryunosuke thought he also spotted a pastry among the bunch. Oh right, didn’t that underclassman in the student council work at a bakery?
Almost as if he was reading Ryunosuke’s mind, Kazuma commented, “I know you think I’m so popular, but it’s mostly because of all the attention I get from being a student representative.”
Ryunosuke sat up, propping up his arms on the table. He leaned his head onto his arms, mumbling, “I know that. But being a member of the student council already reveals so many endearing traits, before ever even meeting you. Kind of already gives people this image of you in their heads without you doing anything.”
Kazuma crossed his arms, thinking. “I never thought about it that way. I just assumed they simply knew my name and position well. You’re quite insightful, my friend.”
Ryunosuke shrugged. “I have my moments. Alright, so which ones do you want to eat, and I’ll take the rest.”
Humming with some uncertainty, Kazuma told him, “I’m not sure… you know I’m not all that into sweets.”
“Oh, alright,” Ryunosuke sifted through the items with his hands. “I’ll pick some out for you then.”
Kazuma leaned his chin on his hand, watching silently as Ryunosuke lifted each package and examined the contents - sometimes just by looking, also even smelling some of them. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, partner,” Kazuma assured, smiling wide.
Finally, after a few minutes, Ryunosuke had them all laid out and separated. “Alright, so these are candies, chocolates, and miscellaneous. I also split them into the ones I think were homemade and the store-bought ones. You should take the store ones, ‘cause generally the homemade ones are sweeter, but I don’t know how I feel about eating homemade food made for someone else…” Ryunosuke trailed off.
“Don’t worry, Ryunosuke. Now, I’m the one offering them to you,” Kazuma reasoned.
“I guess that makes sense.” Ryunosuke picked up one of the bags. “So sorry, whoever this was from… I promise I’ll enjoy them in Kazuma’s stead!” He popped one of the candies into his mouth. “Wow! This is actually really good!”
Kazuma was eating out of one of the chocolate boxes with mild amusement. “I’m glad I asked you to come over and help me with this.”
“No problem,” Ryunosuke replied, mouth full.
~*~
A while later, the table was covered with empty containers of candies and chocolates. They’d even shared that pastry, which they both enjoyed.
Ryunosuke was passed out, still half-under the kotatsu, his shirt partially unbuttoned and his tie loosened. Kazuma was working on something in the kitchen, silently. The oven hummed lowly as he made his way around, apparently cooking something.
A beep then sounded which signaled the timer going off on the oven, rousing Ryunosuke from his sleep. He blinked tiredly, rubbing his eyes as the telltale sound of the oven opening allowed him to smell a wonderful chocolate scent. “Woah…” He began to sit up, hearing Kazuma’s footsteps approach.
Ryunosuke stretched, but as he did, he heard something fall out of his pocket. Oh no. Not like this. He knew Kazuma was basically right in front of him now, and in a rush he stuttered out, “Okay, it’s not what you think, this isn’t a gift that I got- well, not that I didn’t get any, but I didn’t eat any of them yet… but this isn’t one of them! It was just… it’s for, uh…” His eyes trailed upwards to Kazuma who had a surprised look on his face and was holding a steaming tray of somewhat misshapen chocolates.
It was silent for a moment as the two stared at each other, heat rising in their cheeks.
“Would you-” They both started at once, then stopped.
Kazuma coughed, then started to laugh. Before long, Ryunosuke joined in, clutching his cookies, as Kazuma placed down the tray onto the table.
“Er, hope you don’t mind one more,” Ryunosuke offered, cautiously holding up his small plastic bag of cookies.
Kazuma took the bag from his hands, inspecting it, “I could say the same for you,” he motioned to the chocolate.
“Eh, I’m sure I can find some room,” Ryunosuke replied jokingly. He picked up one of he pieces and ate one.
“Ryunosuke, wait, they’re still hot-!” Kazuma tried to stop him, but it was too late. Ryunosuke’s tongue was burning, but it tasted really good, with a distinct texture of fudge. He tried to keep his mouth open to vent out some of the heat.
“‘Is really goo’,” Ryunosuke gave his friend a garbled compliment.
“Thank you,” Kazuma sighed. “Please let them cool down first. I was hoping not to wake you just yet so they’d be a reasonable temperature when you did.”
“My ba’,” Ryunosuke apologized around a mouthful of melted chocolate. “You made ‘dis, I had to ea’ i’ righ’ away.”
“Please stop talking with your mouth open.”
“I made ‘dose coogies, by ‘de way.”
Kazuma huffed a laugh. “I assumed. Thank you, partner.” He took one of them out of the cute little bag that had been tied closed with a shiny red ribbon. Each cookie was a bit smaller than his palm, shaped into perfect stars. There was white frosting and sprinkles on each as well. They were so uniform, he noted, one might think they were bought from a professional bakery. Kazuma took a bite, then his eyes lit up. “This is wonderful. Not too sweet."
“Ow. I know,” Ryunosuke said, warbling his words again.
“Why did you eat another one?!”
“‘Is yummy,” still mid-chew, Ryunosuke pouted.
Kazuma rolled his eyes, “Such a messy eater, too.”
He reached up to wipe some of the chocolate off from the corner of Ryunosuke’s lip with his thumb. Ryunosuke’s chewing paused immediately, freezing. He swallowed.
“Something wrong?” Kazuma asked, hand still on Ryunosuke’s cheek, barely a breath away.
Ryunosuke leaned forward and kissed Kazuma. After a moment of sudden, horrifying realization of what he’d done, Ryunosuke froze, to which Kazuma shifted his hand on Ryunosuke’s face, refusing to let him pull away. Oh. Alright then.
They kissed what felt like forever, but once they pulled apart from lack of breath, Ryunosuke wished it never ended.
That thought was further cemented with the next second, when Kazuma dragged his thumb across his bottom and licked it, which instantly flew to the top of Ryunosuke’s list of the hottest things he’d ever seen in his life.
“Too sweet,” muttered Kazuma, eyes darting up towards Ryunosuke, who was currently red as a tomato.
“I dunno Kazuma,” Ryunosuke breathed. “I think it’s just sweet enough.”