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"Heinwald! Care to explain why this was in the mail - oh."
Curran stopped short once he noticed just what his partner had been inspecting before his untimely interruption - a luridly colored box, akin to the one he was holding, a drawing of two biscuit sticks crossed over a crimson heart emblazoned on its side.
"What the hell is - "
"Cupid sent them to every person in the Halidom." Heinwald rose, smoothed out his robes, and pushed up his glasses, but didn't put down the box. "I imagine this is because of what day it is."
Curran glanced at the calendar on the wall. "What does November 11th have to do with giving out free biscuits?" Not that I'm complaining, he added in his head.
"It is, apparently, a tradition for some to purchase this particular brand of treats and share them with their… partners." Heinwald held up the box as he spoke so that it was facing Curran. Now he could see the letters on it, but he couldn't say he recognized the brand.
"After further inquiring into the matter, however," the other man continued (which did nothing but add to Curran's confusion),"I have to say that the practices of those who celebrate this day are quite… interesting, to say the least."
"You mean the way people share these things with their, uh, partners." He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the giant heart on the box told Curran that whatever everyone else did on November 11th with biscuit sticks, it certainly wasn't something you would be comfortable doing with your colleague.
"Precisely," Heinwald answered. "Shall I demonstrate?"
Curran took a step back - since when had he gotten so close? - and immediately his heel hit solid wood. Did his partner (though he seemed to think he was more than that) just back him up against the wall of his own study? And did he just let him do that?
"H-Heinwald, if you think this is some sort of joke - "
Seeming to take his statement for a yes , Heinwald opened the box, slid a biscuit stick out of the packet, and (to Curran's horror) put it between his lips before giving him an expectant look.
He couldn't be doing this. He shouldn't . His partner's demonstration was enough - he completely understood what those "practices" were now - but Heinwald was looking at him as if he was actually expecting him to go on with it. And there was no way he was doing that.
Or was there? Again, he'd never dreamt - ever - of anything like this, but there was something admittedly, undeniably attractive about Heinwald that he'd never have noticed if he'd only ever continued to think of him as a partner. Was it his smooth, flowing locks? The way he'd chuckle when he mispronounced a word? Or, as he saw before him now, how the light from the desk lamp caught in his eyes, which were now half-lidded; they were drawing him closer , pulling him in -
On his own accord he took the other end in his mouth. The chocolate coating was too much for his taste - he never had much of a sweet tooth - but it was surprising, really, how desperate he suddenly found himself to reach the other end, to feel something even better than the sweetness of the treat against his lips -
The door to the study creaked open. A wave of panic gripped Curran, and without thinking he bit off his end of the biscuit and backed awkwardly into a corner, face aflame.
In came Akasha, wearing her usual enigmatic smile.
"Oh, but how nice it is to see the both of you here," she purred, her tone sultry as usual. She sounded casual enough, but her eyes - which never failed to fill Curran with a strange sense of uncomfort - were piercing as she swept the room with them. If that wasn't enough, she then held up what she'd been carrying - the same box of biscuit sticks that they had received.
"I was simply wandering around, looking for someone to join me in having some fun - so as to complement the occasion, of course." One slender finger circled the heart on the box as she spoke. "Who would have thought that that someone had been waiting for me all this while?"
For some reason, the sidelong glance she gave Heinwald after that made Curran want to grab the nearest object and crush it to bits. Tell her to get the hell out, Heinwald! he hissed, wondering why he wasn't saying anything to the priestess (who was slowly strutting towards him) before he realised that he still had about two-thirds of a biscuit stick in his mouth. His rage was then replaced by an overwhelming urge to knock his own head.
It wasn't long before Akasha closed the distance between herself and Heinwald - so much so that the biscuit stick was now the only thing separating them. Ignoring the look of alarm in his eyes (as well as the fire that had rekindled in Curran anew), she leaned in with another purr of satisfaction…
Until Curran quite literally kicked her aside, crossed the room, and claimed the kiss that was rightfully his.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her crash onto a pile of books and into the desk - and he would've laughed out loud if he wasn't sharing the first kiss of his life with - wait, he was sharing the first kiss of his life with his partner, who he thought of as nothing more than a colleague, and whose lips felt oddly good against his own, all because of some game that was apparently a tradition on November 11th??? He had never in his life felt so confused - and, strangely enough, happy. For every moment this went on that feeling of giddy happiness intensified, so much so that he was doing all he could to savour the sensation, make it last longer -
It was Heinwald who broke the kiss in the end with a shove that sent him stumbling backwards. The effect it had on his partner was remarkable - he was clutching the wall, breath coming out in quick, short gasps, his usually pale complexion flushed red.
He was so mesmerized by this that he forgot Akasha was still in the room. That was until she gave a rather uncharacteristic cough.
"It would appear that I have interrupted the two of you at a most… inconvenient time," she stammered, straightening up. "I would advise you… to lock the door… next time."
With that she hastily made for the exit, not looking back.
Silence followed her departure, but only briefly. Once his breathing returned mostly to normal, Heinwald spoke again. "That was… certainly something."
"Let's do that again," was Curran's reply.
"W-what?"
"You have no idea how that kiss made me feel. It was amazing - you were amazing. I almost wished it could've gone on forever."
Heinwald's eyes widened in surprise. "You didn't mess that up."
"Course I didn't," Curran laughed, sliding another biscuit stick out of the box. "Like you said, I don't have an articulation problem when it comes to how I actually feel. You can count on me," he drawled, placing the treat between his partner's lips as he'd done before - "to not screw this up."
Just as he had uttered that last word, the entire box slid out of his grasp and onto the floor, sending biscuit sticks rolling in all directions.