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I’m going to do it. It’s Valentine’s Day, I have no excuses, and I’ll hate myself if I never take the chance. The TV world stuff is over, and I might be able to convince my parents to let me stay for my final year. I’m just going to do it.
Souji closed the magazine he’d been flipping through. He was on his way home from school and had stopped by the bookstore - ostensibly to look for study guides so that he could get a head-start on prepping for entrance exams, but he’d stopped in front of the display of Valentine’s magazines and dessert recipe books and hadn’t moved since. Skimming an article entitled “21 Gifts That Will Make Him Yours” (the name was stupid, but the recipes were actually pretty good) he’d found something that was perfect for Yosuke, and… well, it was now or never. If he missed this chance, he wasn’t sure he’d be able get his courage back up to ask the brunette out another time.
It was a surprise that he’d been able to get this far. Souji had been in love with Yosuke since the day the brunette had introduced himself with an outstretched hand and a wink, and while the TV-world nonsense they’d been through gave him some excuse as to why he hadn’t confessed, the truth was simply that he was scared. Yosuke wasn’t just his crush (more than a crush, if he had to be honest with himself, which he wasn’t always) - Yosuke was his partner, his best friend, his right hand, everything he looked forward to in a day or a week, and if he lost that, he’d be devastated. He wasn’t sure if he could even bear to stay in Inaba if he scared Yosuke away.
Buying the magazine before he could talk himself out of it, Souji slipped it into his school satchel and hurried home. He only had two days to make his preparations - probably a good thing, as he’d be too busy cooking to think about the terrifying chance he was going to take - so he immediately headed for the kitchen to see just what supplies he was going to need.
He was just deciding that he’d need a new bag of sugar (there wasn’t much left in the bag in the pantry, and some of it was clumping) when Nanako came running into the kitchen.
“Big bro! Welcome home! What are you looking for?”
She threw her arms around his waist, and Souji returned the hug with a kiss on top of her head. “Hey Nanako. I think I’m going to do some cooking, do you want to help me?” Nanako loved Yosuke almost as much as Souji did, so he knew she’d enjoy helping - and he’d be less-likely to talk himself out of the whole thing if his cousin was in on it, too.
Nanako, of course, loved helping Souji cook. Her face lit up, and she clapped her hands. “Yeah! What are we gonna make, big bro?”
“Can you keep a secret?” He knew she could, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that he was terrified.
“Of course!”
Souji swallowed. This was it, the moment of no return. Taking a deep breath, he opened the magazine up to the recipe he’d picked. “I’m gonna make this for Yosuke. For Valentine’s Day.”
Her eyes lit up at this. “Whaaat? Big bro, you’re gonna give Yosuke-nii candy? Are you gonna confess to him?”
“Yeah.” His voice was a bit faint at this, but he couldn’t back out now. Her eyes lit up again, and he surreptitiously wiped his clammy palms on his pants leg. “I’m going to go get the ingredients today - do you want to come?”
The answer, of course, was a resounding “Yes!” - Nanako would never say no to a trip to Junes.
And so they got ready to head out. Souji was already feeling more than a little nervous about the whole thing, especially given that Yosuke worked most afternoons at Junes - but he also usually worked in the electronics department. Still, the brunette helped where he was needed, and often ended up in the grocery section putting out stock, so Souji knew he was going to have to keep an eye out.
They’d just picked out the baking chocolate - Souji waffled between two different brands for far too long before deciding to go for the nicest one (he was only going to get one chance at this, and wanted it to be perfect) - when a familiar voice reached his ears, and he froze with his hand halfway to the basket.
That’s Yosuke! He sounds like he’s coming this way - I need to find a way-
“Nanako!” He crouched, his whisper hissing a little. “I think Yosuke’s on the next aisle over. I need you to distract him for me while I go grab the oranges. If I don’t find you, come to the front of the store, where the drink machines are, as soon as you can.”
Eyes shining, his little cousin nodded, giving him a thumbs’ up before running off; Souji only waited to hear the familiar voice (which still made his heart race, he was so lost) acknowledge the little girl before grabbing his basket and hurrying towards the produce.
It was two days before Valentine’s Day, and Yosuke didn’t know what to do. He was in love with Souji, Souji somehow wasn’t dating anybody, and the end of the year was coming up, fast. Even if his best friend was able to stay in Inaba (Souji had said that it was a good possibility, but Yosuke couldn’t allow himself to hope), that just meant that there would be more time for all the other girls (and guys? He was pretty sure there was at least a handful of them, too) who liked Souji to make a move on the silver-haired honours student.
Yosuke did not like that idea, not at all. While he had no faith that Souji would be at all interested in him, he’d somehow managed to convince himself that he at least had a chance - weren’t they best friends? Didn’t they do everything together? Souji went out of his way to choose Yosuke to hang out with, they had sleepovers, went to dinner together, and all kinds of things that couples normally did, and he’d never mentioned liking anyone no matter how many times Yosuke had tried to get that information.
But what the hell do I get him?
Chocolate was the easy answer - it was Valentine’s Day, after all - but what chocolate? None of the things he knew Souji liked - cats, melon, fish, books, tofu, soba - really helped him there, and he didn’t want to just grab something; it had to have meaning. It wasn’t that money was an issue - he’d been saving up and was more than happy to buy Souji a really nice gift - but first he had to know what to get.
He was still wrestling with that conundrum as he showed a customer where to find the organic buckwheat flour. No sooner had he turned around but he found his saint, his answer, his Encyclopedia Souji - Nanako was hurrying towards him, a determined look on her face. She’d barely gotten his name out before he put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hi, Nanako-chan! Having a good day?”
She nodded (there was an odd expression on her face, but he was too focused on his own thoughts to notice) and he smiled, chewing his lip for a moment. “Hey, so, I need your help, Nanako.”
Looking surprised, the little girl nodded. “Of course, Yosuke-nii!”
Face red, the brunette looked around. “Big bro isn’t nearby, is he?” When she shook her head, he crouched down so that he could talk in a lower voice - after all, Souji sometimes had the bad habit of appearing out of nowhere, and Yosuke really didn’t want him to just appear now, not when he was confiding his secret to Nanako. If he was going to do this, he wanted to do it right.
“Ummm, well… what kind of chocolates or candy does Souji like?”
For a second, Nanako looked shocked, and Yosuke wasn’t sure he blamed her. Her eyes grew wide, and she put a hand over her mouth. “Are you gonna give big bro chocolates, Yosuke-nii? Do you like him?”
She wasn’t loud - if he could be grateful for anything it was the fact that Nanako knew when she needed to keep her voice down, something that made her the complete opposite of Teddie - and after a moment, Yosuke nodded.
“Yeah, but keep this a secret between you and me, okay?”
“Okay! I won’t tell!” For some reason she was grinning at him, but for the moment, Yosuke was more concerned with her answer; every minute they talked was another minute closer to whenever Souji finally found them, since there was no way he was just going to let Nanako wander around Junes without coming to look for her, and she never did the shopping alone any more. He almost thought he was going to have to remind her again, but her look of happiness shifted to a thoughtful expression.
“Hmmm. Big bro likes, umm… dark chocolate and mint and strawberry. He likes melon but melon is weird with chocolate.”
Dark chocolate, mint, and strawberry. I can work with that. In fact, I can probably find something really nice, since those are pretty normal. Wow, partner, thanks for making this easier on me. I just hope everything else goes so well.
Realising that Nanako was still standing in front of him, waiting patiently, he shook the cobwebs out of his brain and smiled at her. “Thanks, Nanako, I think that’s exactly what I needed.” It occurred to him then that the little girl had come to find him earlier - and he hadn’t asked what she’d needed, he’d been too focused on his own issues. Biting his lip, he frowned. “But what’s up? Why are you here? Where is Souji?”
Smiling, Nanako pointed and sudden dread washed over the brunette, who whirled around; luckily, he saw Souji just heading down the aisle towards them, a smile on his face and a couple of Junes bags in his hand. “There you are. I needed to check out, and Nanako wanted to go find you instead of standing in line, so I told her I’d come looking once I was done.” He nodded, shifting his bags from hand to hand, and Yosuke raised an eyebrow.
“Dinner shopping?”
“Yeah.” A pause. “Are you working tonight?”
“Yeah, or else I'd bug you to feed me.” They all laughed.
While the brunette would have loved to have gone over to eat with them, he had things to take care of; he knew what Junes had to offer and none of it was good enough for his partner. No, he was going to need to go to Okina to get something for Souji, and if he waited until the next day, they’d be sure to be out of anything good, so he was going to have to hurry after work to catch the train and get there in time before the stores closed. Luckily, there was a chocolate shop there that Rise really liked, and they stayed open late near holidays like this - it made sense, after all, since they’d want to make money off the people that had to work late.
Souji, meanwhile, didn’t seem to notice that anything was up with the brunette, for which Yosuke was grateful - in fact, he actually seemed a little distracted. Yosuke wondered what was up, but he really didn’t have time to stop and find out, not if he was going to get the rest of the stocking done so that he could get off work in time to make it into Okina. He was just about to say something about having to get back to work when Souji looked up at the clock that hung over the checkout lanes. “Well, I wish we could hang out, but-”
While he wasn’t exactly glad to see Souji go - spending time with his best friend was always the brightest part of the day for Yosuke - right now, he had a confession to plan, so he shifted the bag of dried peas he was holding with a nod.
“Nah, man, I get it. I gotta work anyway, but I’ll text you when I get out later?” He always asked this-
“Yeah, definitely. I’ll be waiting.” - and Souji always said the same thing, it had become a ritual, something that reassured Yosuke that he still held a place of importance to the person who was most important to him. It was a little thing, but it mattered a lot, and he found himself grinning.
“Alright, partner, well - have a good dinner and I’ll talk to you later.”
And, as always, Souji smiled back - that clear, happy smile that made the brunette’s world spin just a little, and Nanako gave him a hug and a wave, and he just hoped it would be enough to bolster his courage for long enough to get through work, get to Okina, and find just the right gift to make Souji smile like that again on Valentine’s Day, hopefully while saying yes.
...oh god, I’m so head over heels for him, aren’t I?
Souji woke up early on the important day, hoping to make it to school before Yosuke so that he could leave his carefully-wrapped box of chocolates in the brunette’s locker - he went in early, sometimes, when he wanted to get in some extra studying, and just texted his partner to let him know he wouldn’t be waiting. While he normally would have felt regretful that he had to head in alone, today he knew that however bad his nerves were now, they would have been ten times as bad had Yosuke been with him. As it was, the chocolates felt like a leaden lump in his satchel, weighing him down with all of the terrifying thoughts he’d been fighting off since the night before, his hands shaking as he tucked an unsigned “please meet me after school on the floodplain” note under the ribbon. He’d tossed and turned all night, and although he’d slept fitfully, on-and-off, all of his dreams were about Yosuke, mostly about being rejected or forgetting the chocolates, dreams not designed to make him feel happy or confident the next morning.
When he got to school, he found that he was far from the first person to come early; there was no one in the locker area currently, but there were already shoes in quite a few lockers, and Souji saw the tell-tale pinks and reds and ribbons and envelopes poking out of quite a few more. Heading for the lockers that belonged to 2-2, he flipped Yosuke’s open only to freeze, heart in his throat.
Despite the brunette’s protestations that he’d never gotten anything other than the tiniest number of obligation chocolates and that there was no way he’d be getting any this year from anybody other than the girls on the IT, there was already a neat little pile of brightly-wrapped bundles in the locker. Propped beside them were at least two (Souji wasn’t going to count them) sealed envelopes, with Yosuke’s name written in cute, looping handwriting; one had pink hearts drawn around the name, and another one smelled as if it had been spritzed with perfume.
Souji felt his heart plummeting. Although Yosuke’s loud and boisterous talk of “needing a girlfriend” had tapered off around Christmas, the silver-haired boy couldn’t allow himself to believe that it was actually gone. How can I compete with perfume and cute handwriting? I’m already going out on a limb in the hopes that he would have any interest in me, whatsoever - but with at least a handful of cute girls already lining up to confess, there’s absolutely no way he’d pick me over them.
Slowly letting the locker door drop - muffling it with his hand so that there was no noise - Souji tightened his hand around his satchel strap and headed for his own locker, leaving Yosuke’s box of chocolates in the bottom of his bag. He wouldn’t throw them away here - Souji knew better than to leave any kind of evidence anywhere that someone might find it - but he’d find a way to dispose of them once he got home, without alarming Nanako. He felt a prickle stinging the back of his eyes, but he wouldn’t allow himself to give in to the disappointment; it was easy enough to convince himself that it was better this way, anyway, and the chance of Yosuke returning his affections was so slim that really, this was probably just a blessing so that he didn’t mess up his friendship.
Opening his own locker, he was greeted by the sight of his own pile of chocolates and notecards, but the sight just made him feel worse. Not only were his small daydreams of spending Valentine’s Day afternoon with Yosuke rapidly fading, but now he faced a day of having to find ways to turn down people he felt no attraction to - and given his own unrequited affections, he knew how bad it would hurt - even as he spent the day wondering what girl Yosuke would accept, who he’d be going home with. Not to mention the fact that if he carried these into the classroom, Yosuke would see them and probably start asking about them - the brunette was obsessed with finding out 1. if Souji was dating anybody and 2. if he liked anyone, and if so, who - and Souji couldn’t handle that, not right now. He made a split-second decision to leave them for now, and come back for them at lunch; at least that would give him some little time to fully wake up and get his disappointment under control.
Yosuke was perilously close to being late. He’d spent half the night after his work shift wrapping and rewrapping the all-important box of gourmet chocolates (he’d spent hours pouring over the selection, finally settling on chocolate-dipped strawberries and peppermint creams, all handmade) over and over again. First, he’d forgotten a mix CD he’d made, so he had to add that. Then, just as he’d finished tying the ribbon, he saw the note he’d written (unsigned, asking Souji to meet him at Aiya’s after school) - which should have been attached to the CD - sitting on his desk, so he had to put that in. After that, he was smoothing the corners when he realised that there were strands of fur (from Teddie’s mascot costume) stuck under the tape, so he had to re-wrap it again. After that, he was actually kind of grateful that he’d run out of wrapping paper, because he started second-guessing whether or not the CD was a stupid idea, and then he wasn’t sure if he should leave the note or sign it, and… and, well, he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, anyway.
He was changing - his normal habit when almost late was to just throw on clothes, but if he was going to confess to Souji today, he wanted to make sure he looked his best - when his phone buzzed; for a second he thought he was late, but when he saw Souji’s text, that he’d be heading into school early, Yosuke’s stomach sank. Ugh. He’s not gonna get my chocolates before class, then - if he’s already heading to school, he’ll be in class before I get there. But maybe… yeah! We’ve got PE today, so he’ll need to go to his locker to get his uniform. Okay. You can do this, Hanamura.
Finally dressed in his cleanest uniform, Souji’s chocolates safe in his bag, he rushed to school; he still had a few minutes before the first bell, so he headed for his partner’s locker first. He wasn’t surprised to see the stack of chocolates and love notes, but he still hadn’t quite realised just how badly it would unnerve him; he was holding the box of chocolates, almost ready to drop it on the top of the pile (the fact that it was the nicest box in there did little for his confidence) when his shoulders dropped and he pulled it back, staring at it with uncertain eyes.
I- I can’t. I can’t do this. Look at all of those confessions! He eyed the pile with misgivings in his heart. There’s got to be somebody in there that’s better for Souji than I am, who he’d be more interested in. I can’t compete with that, and I’m not willing to try. I care way too much for him to fuck this up.
For a second, he had to squeeze his hands, willing himself not to just run over to the nearest trash can and throw the box in; he didn’t want to see it again, much less eat anything in it, so he knew he was just going to end up taking it home and letting Teddie have it under the pretense that he’d been given it at school. Dropping it back into his bag as if it burned his fingers, he turned to his own locker.
Any other year, he would have been delighted to see the stack that awaited him. This year, he was still shocked - after all, he’d never received anything other than obligation chocolate before, and even then it was usually only because people wanted his Junes discounts - but now... now, he didn’t want it. He wasn’t interested. He’d fallen too hard, too deep for Souji Seta, and nobody was going to be able to change his mind on that, no matter how cute, no matter how many hearts they drew on their envelopes.
I can’t have him, and I don’t want anybody else. God this sucks. Now I’m gonna have to turn them all down without letting on that I like anybody else, and Souji - well, Souji’s finally going to find somebody that’s good enough for him, and then he’ll be out of my reach, too.
Oh, who am I kidding. He was never in my reach to begin with.
The day passed in a funk for both of them. Souji was surprised to see the brunette so dejected; he felt bad for not asking what was wrong, but he knew it was more than likely that he was troubled over deciding which of his confessions to accept (to be fair, the brunette would be more worried about hurting someone, since he really did have a heart of gold - one of the many reasons Souji loved him) and Souji wouldn’t be able to handle that discussion. Not today, with his hopes dying in a ribbon-wrapped box in the bottom of his satchel.
The after-school ordeal took even more out of him. He’d found a little corner on the roof - it was an unspoken rule that those lucky folks getting confessions would do their best to keep it private to avoid hurting anyone they rejected - and although he didn’t accept anyone (of course), he didn’t want to be rude to anyone, either. This meant listening to long, nervous confessions (all the while admiring them, at least objectively, for being able to do what he didn’t have the courage for) before letting them down gently. There were still tears, of course, and sad faces, and by the time he made his way for the school gates the afternoon was halfway over and he felt like shit.
Surprisingly, Yosuke was just getting to the gate at the same time as Souji. For a moment, the silver-haired boy debated turning around and pretending he’d forgotten something - he really didn’t want to hear that the brunette had a girlfriend (although, where was she?) but he was also morbidly curious, so he squared his shoulders and walked towards Yosuke, who hadn’t noticed him yet. When he got closer, he was surprised to see that Yosuke looked as worn out as he felt; he was holding an expensive-looking box of chocolates with silver wrapping paper and a nice ribbon, and Souji couldn’t stop the pang he felt at the sight.
Still, they were partners, and he was going to support his best friend.
“Hey, Yousk. That from your new girlfriend? I saw you got some confessions today.” He tried to put his friendliest expression on, but he was afraid it didn’t make it to his eyes.
It had been a long, shitty afternoon. Yosuke had never thought he’d get so many confessions - four in one day - and he’d rejected all of them, because none of them were Souji and he couldn’t imagine being with anybody but his partner. He was standing by the school gate with Souji’s chocolates in his hand, debating whether he should just trash them or risk giving them to Teddie, when he heard a familiar voice behind him that set his heart racing.
“Hey, Yousk. That from your new girlfriend? I saw you got some confessions today.”
The brunette knew he looked startled, and it took him a second to gather his thoughts and come up with a suitable lie. “Uh, no, uh- I just… I couldn’t find the person to give this back to, that’s all.” Swallowing, he looked up at Souji; for some reason, the silver-haired boy looked tired, and the sight made Yosuke’s heart hurt. If things had actually gone the way they should have that day, he would have been standing with Souji, and it would have been his right to smooth out those worry lines on his partner’s forehead.
But it hadn’t, and it wasn’t, and he couldn’t, so he just faked a grin. “What about you? You had a stack, didn’t you? I know you got called up to the roof - let’s see what you got!” He grabbed the plastic bag of goodies that Souji was holding, peeking in; he didn’t see the expression on the taller boy’s face when he did, as his attention was focused on the box at the bottom of the bag. It was bigger than all the others, and the wrapping paper was black with gold music notes, and it was tied with red ribbon that had orange hearts printed across it. Wow, it’s fancy… but it looks like something that I’d like, more than Souji would?
Still, it stood out so much from the other gifts that he had to swallow; looking up, he couldn’t quite meet Souji’s eyes as he forced a laugh. “That’s a nice box. You finally find someone who meets your standards?”
When Souji didn’t answer immediately, Yosuke focused, realising that his friend didn’t look happy - in fact, he looked a little red, and he shook his head quickly. “Oh, no, that’s something that I, uh… I found in my desk, and I don’t know who gave it to me, so I couldn’t give it back.” He took the bag back quickly, and before Yosuke could ask any more, cleared his throat. “Hey, do you want to come over for dinner? It’s been a few days, and Nanako’s going to want to give you chocolates, I know she is.”
While a small part of Yosuke’s heart wanted to follow up on the fact that Souji was obviously trying to hide something, the sense of relief at having something else to talk about was so massive that he went along with the change of subject, giving a grin that was much more natural.
“Hell yeah! Hers are probably the only ones I’ll get today that I want.” He shifted his school bag on his shoulder, not noticing the expression of sadness that flashed across Souji’s face, and they headed for the Dojimas’.
Opening the front door, Souji had just turned to ask Yosuke what he wanted for dinner when they heard footsteps hurrying out of the kitchen; both boys turned just in time to see Nanako coming out from the kitchen, holding a heart-shaped chocolate cake.
“Surprise!” She giggled at their startled faces. “Yosuke-niiiiiiii, did you like big bro’s chocolates? I helped make ‘em! And guess what, big bro? I helped Yosuke-nii decide what chocolates to get you!”
At these words, the world seemed to stand still for Souji. His first thought was oh no she’s going to give my secret away, but his second thought was wait WHAT, go back, what was that about Yosuke getting me chocolates? What the hell? How is that-
Having no answers, his thoughts snarled, and he glanced over at Yosuke to see that the brunette looked just as startled as he did, and just as embarrassed. The shorter boy’s mouth gaped for a second before he shut it, and when he met Souji’s eyes, his own looked just as confused and disbelieving. It took everything Souji had not to blurt out what is she talking about, but Nanako was still standing in front of them, still holding a cake, and her smile still glowed like a firefly.
We’ll talk this out later. Forcing a smile onto his face, he nodded. “You did great, Nanako, thank you. Did you pick this cake out all by yourself?” He recognised it, it was one of the cakes they had for sale at Junes - not a surprise, since she wasn’t allowed to use the oven yet by herself, and she hadn’t asked him for help.
“Yep!” She giggled again. “It’s for you two! Because I love you both and I’m really happy for you!”
Yosuke, meanwhile, was still stunned. Souji made chocolate for me. Souji made chocolate for me. Souji made chocolate for me. How? Why? He didn't give it to me, what-?
His musings threatened to spill over into an endless loop, but he was saved by Souji, who shot him a look, and he realised that the silver-haired boy had been talking to Nanako. Right. We can - we have to sort this out later. Swallowing his disbelief, he smiled at Nanako. “That's right! You did great, and that cake looks amazing. We should eat some!”
Souji flashed him a look of gratitude and that just made his stomach flip-flop more, and then they were eating slices of cake at the kotatsu, and somehow Yosuke was managing to eat his slice, even though his heart was racing, even though he couldn't stop looking at Souji as if trying to read his mind. He'd never been more grateful that Nanako was so cheerful and talkative; it enabled him and Souji to get through the snack without awkward, confused silence. Neither of them was as lively as usual, but somehow that was okay; the little girl seemed to accept it as new-love nerves (they kinda are, his mind whispered) and didn't seem to mind.
After what felt like hours, both boys finished their cake; Yosuke had never been more relieved than when, after waiting patiently for Nanako to finish one of her stories about school, Souji pushed himself to his feet.
“Yosuke and I are going to head up to my room, okay? We’ve got some homework to do.”
“Okay!” She beamed at them both. “I’ll put the rest of the cake away for Dad. Are we gonna have leftovers for dinner?”
Souji shot Yosuke a look, and the brunette was past the point of being able to decipher it - but there was something about it that made him blush, and then Souji was turning back to Nanako. “Probably. Whenever it’s time, go ahead and start heating things up, and we’ll be down to help.”
Barely giving the little girl time to agree, Souji looked at Yosuke, jerked his head towards the stairs, and headed up them himself; heart in his throat, the brunette followed. The door was barely closed behind him before he was unable to hold his confusion any longer.
“You made chocolate for me? I- how- why? I didn’t get it! Everything I got today had names on it!”
At this, Souji turned red. “I, um.” Hesitantly, he reached into the bag that Yosuke had grabbed from him earlier and brought out the box with the music notes that the brunette had been eyeing. “This- this is for you.” Yosuke found it being pushed into his hands; he blinked down at it before blinking up at Souji, who caught his eye, but then looked away. “I was going to leave it in your locker, but I saw the other ones, and…” His voice dropped a little. “I knew how much you’d been wanting a girlfriend and here you had all these cute letters and packages and there was no way I could compete…”
At Souji’s words - at his soft, uncertain voice - Yosuke found his head spinning as he stared at the box in his hands. Souji likes me? And he thought I’d pick anybody over him? It wasn’t like he didn’t know why Souji thought that, given how much he’d gone on about wanting a girlfriend the year before, but now… now, the thought was laughable - as if he'd ever want anybody other than Souji. He found himself chuckling, but when he looked up, he saw a hurt expression cross Souji’s face, and he threw a hand out.
“No! Souji, I wasn’t laughing at you, I just-” Face as red as his partner’s, he swung his bag around and dug through it, bringing out the really nice box he’d been holding earlier. Taking a deep breath, he thrust it towards Souji, who took it with an expression of surprise. “I didn’t make them, I’m sorry, but Nanako was right, she helped me pick them out. I just chickened out when I got to school and saw the huge pile in your locker, because I couldn’t believe somebody like me would have a chance with somebody like you…”
Souji, for his part, found the brunette’s shy confession to be one of the most amazing things he could ever have imagined, and stepped forward, chocolates forgotten, eyes only for the boy standing in front of him. “I’ve been in love with you since we first met,” he said, quietly. At these words, Yosuke’s eyes widened, and Souji drew a shaky breath, leaning forward; he put a hand on top of Yosuke’s, and the brunette squeezed it, and then they were kissing.
It was a soft kiss, bated breath and brushing lips, but it was real, and then a hand grabbed his shirt and Yosuke pulled him in closer, and it was some time before they finally separated - if only by a few paces. Then, Yosuke opened his eyes and they were hazy, and that was the most amazing thing Souji had ever seen, even if he knew that his own likely looked the same.
“I love you, too, you big doof.” The brunette was murmuring against his cheek, hand still holding onto his shirt, and Souji… Souji had never been happier. Inhaling deeply, he pressed his forehead to the brunette’s, then leaned in for another kiss.
The hesitant, exploratory kisses - which eventually gave way to hungry kisses of discovery - lasted for what felt like hours, but eventually Yosuke found himself sitting on the couch with Souji’s arm around his waist and their heads leaning together as he caught his breath. The fact that Souji Seta was in love with him, Yosuke Hanamura, blew his mind - and he sure as hell wasn’t going to question it, complain about it, or really do anything other than count his lucky stars.
He was curious about the box of chocolates - he wasn’t holding it any more, having put it on the table so that he’d have both hands free to hold onto Souji (he still couldn’t believe that his partner was really his) - so he reached out and grabbed it. Next to him, Souji cleared his throat.
“Um, it’s not much, I just-” When he trailed off, Yosuke turned to give him a grin.
“Dude, you made chocolate for me. I know how good your cooking is! Oh man, not only did I get homemade chocolate, but I got it from the coolest guy in school…” Souji was blushing by this point, and Yosuke loved it. Still, he wasn’t going to rip it open - hell no, I’m going to keep stuff in this box forever - so he carefully untied the ribbon, setting it aside (along with the note to read for later), and slipped the lid off. “Oh, man, Souji, you’re amazing!”
Inside the box were shining rows of candied orange slices - Souji had used the tiny, sweet mandarin oranges that Yosuke loved so much - and each one was dipped in dark chocolate. They looked and smelled amazing, and the brunette looked up at his boyfriend (because he’d secured that title between breathless kisses some time in the last hour) with an amazed expression on his face. He was about to say something, but before he could, Souji popped a slice into his mouth, and suddenly everything tasted like oranges and honey and dark chocolate and nothing had ever been so delicious. Once he’d savoured it, he gave a small chuckle.
“I feel bad, mine are fancy, but I got them at that place in Okina that Rise likes so much, I didn't make them myself, and-”
“And nothing, Yosuke. You got them for me, I already love them.” Souji leaned in for a kiss, licking a spot of orange off the brunette's lip, then sat back looking pleased. “Hmm, I didn’t do too badly after all. But I’m really looking forward to seeing what you picked out for me…”
Leaving Yosuke to munch on another orange slice - after which the brunette closed the box, wanting to savour his treats for as long as he could - Souji reached for his own box. He admired the ribbon and the paper, and Yosuke really wanted him to get on with it, and then he was opening the box, blinking in surprise at the CD and note. Before he could read the note, Yosuke grabbed it and put it in the box lid with a muttered, “It’s just asking you to meet me at Aiya’s” - and with a nod and a soft smile that took the brunette’s breath away, Souji set the CD aside for later, too. His eyes widened at the treats inside the box.
“These are perfect, Yosuke. Thank you.” He seemed intent on just staring so Yosuke - turning red - reached out to grab a dark-chocolate-covered strawberry and held it towards the silver-haired boy. “They’ll go bad if you don’t eat them within the next few days,” he mumbled, and Souji laughed quietly. The brunette felt soft, warm lips brush his fingers, and then the strawberry was gone, and he looked up to see how Souji liked it, but before he could gauge his boyfriend’s reaction he found a sweet, strawberry-flavoured kiss being pressed to his lips and all he could do was wrap his arms around Souji’s neck, revelling in the heady blend of Souji’s scent and the taste of chocolate.
Sure, they’d have to go downstairs soon to help Nanako with dinner... but they’d be back upstairs later for dessert, if he had anything to say about it, and Souji’s hum of happiness as he stroked the brunette’s neck said that he felt the same way.