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November 11. It’s the same as any other day in November and in twenty-four hours it’ll be over. But today was Pocky Day. It’s not that Pocky Day was a national holiday or anything, but the date 11/11 looked like a bunch of Pocky sticks.
You found out about this in high school, your friends brought it up to you but you never had a fiery interest to take part. But every November 11, you remembered exactly what day it was. This year, you told yourself, was going to be different.
“Reigen.” You plop yourself down beside your boyfriend as he sat on the couch, reading the newspaper.
“Currently speaking, how may I help you?” His natural response. You’ve called his work a few times and were greeted with this. You teased him about it, sometimes he did it while you both were at home just to make you laugh. You did smile.
“What day is it today?” You pined, leaning towards him a little. He checked his watch.
“It is Monday, November 11, 2019, and the time is—”
“Yeah, but what day is it today?” You kept insisting. He turned his face to look at you and scrunched his nose when he saw how mischievous you looked. He put the newspaper down on the table in front of you.
“I don’t know, dear, what day is it today?” He folded his arms and cocked his eyebrows. You giggled and pulled out the Pocky box you had hidden behind you.
“Pocky Day!” He snorted.
“That’s what you’re all excited about?” He rolled his eyes. “That’s a game for horny teens, babe. We’re adults.” Your demeanor fell. You hated when he got like this, all self-righteous and self-important.
“Okay, but have you ever played it before?” You pressed. You noticed a second of hesitation before he spoke.
“Oh, plenty of times! I used to be the king of the Pocky game at school! That’s why I know it’s so childish. I’ve grown past those days.” He didn’t meet your eyes, you noticed he was tense and starting to sweat.
“You’re lying.” He shot you a dirty look.
“No, I’m not! Why would I, Reigen Arataka, ever need to lie? Do you not believe my highschool life was that exciting? I used to be quite the lady killer~.”
“I’ve seen your highschool pictures, cut the bullshit.” He froze and shrunk back into himself. He hated admitting he was wrong more than anything else which only leaves you to take a more passive approach.
“Would you wanna play with me?” You started, ripping open the box. “I mean, since you were so good at it back in the day, maybe you can show me a few things.” Even as you opened the package inside he was still reluctant, even more so as you put the cookie-end into your mouth, waiting for him.
“Ah, I don’t know. I’m rusty, you know?” He scratched the back of his neck. “I was in high school a long time ago.” Something was wrong.
“Why don’t you wanna play with me?” You asked, his eyes widened and met yours. “It’s not like I’m asking a lot, I just thought we could do something fun, you know?” Your spirits were falling and he was realizing it too.
“W-We can play!” He put his hands up in surrender, slightly panicking. “I’ll play with you, I’ll show you all the tricks I’ve learned back in high school.” He eyed the chocolate-end of the stick, but still hesitated to approach.
“But why didn’t you say that when I first asked you to?” You pressed, taking it out of your mouth until you got an answer. Whether the two of you liked it or not, you had him cornered. He realized this too, you watched him mentally decide whether to climb even farther up the wall or be honest. Once his posture fell, you knew which he decided.
“I’m nervous.” You could hardly hear him he was so quiet. He hung his head. “I really do think it’s kinda… cute but. It looks so easy, I don’t want to mess it up or get food in your mouth or something.” He paused, twisting his neck to crack a few bones. “It’s kinda embarrassing too.” You notice his red-tipped ears. “To slowly get that close to someone and having to kiss them at the end. It’s too much anticipation for me.” You could see why he felt that way but at the same time, he worked in the ghost business. You were sure he was used to anticipation by now.
“It’s going to be okay.” You promised, reaching out to take his hand. Thankfully he didn’t stop you. “It’s just a game, we don’t have to do it.”
“No.” He insisted, looking at you. “I want to do this. Reigen Arataka never backs down from a challenge, no matter how small.” You smiled, slowly putting the stick back in your mouth.
“Close your eyes and you’ll be fine.” You spoke, although difficult to pronounce your words with it between your teeth. He nodded, looking a little to determined for something so small but you didn’t question it. You began to take little bites towards the center and felt him get a little closer too. Just as you thought you reached the middle, the stick broke.
“Crap.” Reigen pushed the rest of it into his mouth and you opened your eyes. His face was rather red, he was really embarrassed. You held the box out to him. Maybe he would have a little more confidence if he was in control of the situation.
“Would you wanna try again?” He looked at the box for a few seconds, then at you. He nodded and carefully pulled a cookie out from the package and placed the cookie end between his teeth. He looked so scared and embarrassed but brave all at once. It was kinda cute.
“C’mon babe if you don’t get on the other end I’ll eat it myself.” You pouted, but quickly took ahold of the chocolate-end with your teeth and began to bite away at it. You closed your eyes and felt Reigen do the same and before you knew it, your lips touched. He instantly pulled away and upon opening your eyes, he was triumphant.
“See, I told you I was just rusty!” He declared with a mouthful of food. You chewed then pointed at him to do the same. He did, then took another. “Let’s do it again.”
And so you did it again, then one more time, followed by three more times, five more sticks gone, it felt like you both were going to go through the whole box. Each time he got more adventurous. He held the kiss longer, eventually started using his hands to hold your face which slowly started to drift downwards. Your hands were in his hair, on the back of his neck, slowly drifting down his chest and toying with the buttons on his shirt. Every time the two of you took a break to catch your breaths, he would put another stick between his teeth. You checked the box.
“Babe, that was the last stick…” You looked back at him and giggled. He frowned.
“What’s so funny?” His voice was deeper, a little rougher around the edges too. You could tell all this kissing was getting to him.
“I thought you said this game was for horny teenagers.” You insisted, he sighed through his nose.
“Y’know, sometiiimes, that’s how you make me feel. Now come here and finish what you started.” You took him up on the challenge. As you were about to bite the stick, he took it away and kissed you hard. You purred against him and pulled away to press your forehead against his. The two of you looked into each other’s eyes for a moment as you took the stick out of his hand and proceeded to pull away from him completely and eat it quick. He gasped out of shock.
“I was gonna do that!” He looked genuinely upset but you were reassured as he pulled you into his lap. Playfully, you shrugged it off and wrapped your arms around his neck.
“You snooze you lose, loser.” You won the game.