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Kou isn’t the least bit surprised when at two o’clock sharp on a cold Thursday afternoon, the small bell to the door of the bakery rings out. “I’ll be right there!” he calls, closing the opened oven with his foot and setting down the tray of freshly baked muffins on the stovetop to cool. He slides off the oven mitts and walks up to the front of the small bakery to greet the visitor.
Just as he expected, it’s a delivery boy. Kou notes that he can’t be any younger than him, though he looks a little worn out, his black hair sticking up under his newsboy hat and coat covered in snow. Kou sighs to himself at the thought of having to mop up the melted snow dripping off of the boy and into the floor.
“Minamoto Kou?” the boy asks, glancing down at the bouquet of flowers in his hands. It’s a beautiful arrangement, filled with peonies and lilac and white and red roses. Kou grins, congratulating himself on his choice. It looks perfect, just what the bakery needs to feel a bit more lively.
“That would be me,” he says, walking around the case displaying all the sweet treats Kou had finished baking earlier that morning. The boy, Kou notices as he gets closer, is admittedly kind of cute. His eyes are a deep yellow-orange color, and Kou can’t deny that his freckles are just a little bit adorable. And he’s shorter than him. That’s a plus.
Looking down, Kou notices a nametag. Amane Yugi. His grin grows.
Amane hesitates for a moment before handing Kou the flowers. Kou takes them, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he says, “Thanks, Amane.” Amane stares at him for a moment, seemingly put off by the use of his name.
“Ah, it’s no problem,” he says after a moment, lowering his hat just a bit to shield his eyes. “I need to get going. Um, have a good day.” Kou hardly gets a chance to say anything more or even wave before Amane is out the door, the bell ringing after him.
Kou watches the empty door frame for a minute, peering through the shop window as the boy rides off. Shaking himself out of it, Kou glances down at the flowers in his hand. He stares at the bouquet for a moment and blinks. Wait a second, Kou thinks to himself as he studies the bouquet, this feels like more flowers. And Kou is right. Later that day, when he checks back online at the receipt sent to him via email, he finds that he only ordered an arrangement with peonies, lilac, and white roses; he didn’t add the red ones.
Kou hums to himself but tries not to put too much thought into it. He’s tired at that point after a long day of work, and he’ll have to get up early the next morning in order to have everything ready by the time he needs to open the bakery. He’ll just have to figure it out later, he decides, as he lays down in his bed.
Sleep weighs like a heavy blanket on him and Kou is out cold soon enough, his last thought before drifting into a dreamless slumber being: Why add red roses?
Kou goes through the rest of his week as usual: waking up early, baking, preparing the bakery, more baking, helping customers, more baking, cleaning up, closing the bakery, going home, eating, sleeping, repeat. Same schedule as always. Not that Kou minds. He’s always been a very consistent person. Nothing can go wrong if everything stays the same.
Thursday goes exactly the same, too. He bakes muffins at noon, just like he does every Thursday, and clears out the leftover donuts from breakfast to take home to eat tomorrow morning. Of course, Kou would never eat donuts for breakfast every morning. That’s why Thursdays are special. He only takes home the extras to have on Fridays, his own little celebration of another week completed.
At exactly two, on the nose, Kou hears the bell chime. “One moment!” he calls, feeling a sense of déjà vu as he sets down the hot muffin tray and places his oven mitts on the counter. As he exits the back, Kou’s shocked to first see a familiar hat and black hair. Gold eyes meet blue, and Kou can’t help but smile when he sees that same delivery boy from last week; Amane, he remembers his name being.
“Welcome back,” Kou says, slipping off his apron over his head. When his eyes land back on Amane, he notices that he’s carrying the same arrangement of flowers as last week. Kou tilts his head in confusion. “Huh?” he asks, stepping a bit closer to look at the boy from over the display counter. “I didn’t order any more flowers. What are those?” Amane looks down at the flowers in his arms, still saying nothing. He lowers his head again, covering his eyes with the brim of his hat, and wordlessly places the bouquet on the counter next to Kou. Kou glances from Amane to the flowers, picking them up gingerly. He notices a small white tag this time sticking up from the flowers.
Kou glances back up to say his thanks, that Amane really didn’t have to, but he only watches as Amane quickly slips out the door, the bell the only sound that fills the small shop for many seconds. Kou sighs. Never mind, then. He supposes he’ll have to thank him if he ever sees him again later.
For now, Kou inspects the flowers again. He notices that, unlike last time with the number of white roses being significantly more than the red ones, the number of roses is about even this time. Carefully taking the flowers out of the packaging, Kou fills up a small vase with water for them. He makes sure to take off the small tag before placing them up on display on the counter. Once he’s finished, Kou makes his way to the back, placing the muffins on a wrack to properly cool before looking at the tag.
Kou reads it over once, twice, then laughs to himself. He supposes he’ll be seeing Amane much sooner than he had initially planned. “See you next week~” the note reads, so simple, but it still makes him smile. There’s something about Amane that’s intriguing to him. He wants to learn more. Kou finds himself happier the rest of his day with something else to look forward to. He has a feeling his Thursdays will become more exciting than his Fridays very, very soon.
At one fifty-eight the next Thursday afternoon, Kou sits at the display case instead of in the back baking his muffins as usual. He had started them early and therefore was able to get them out early, all so that he can greet Amane when (if) he comes before he runs away again.
His clock strikes two, as does the nearby bell tower, ringing and alerting him it’s time. And right on time, not fifteen seconds later, does Amane walk in through the door of the cafe, bouquet of flowers in hand. Kou lights up, smiling wide. He doesn’t know exactly why such a reaction is prompted from seeing the delivery boy, but Kou shoves that to the far corner of his mind in favor of focusing on the present instead of worrying about petty things such as that.
“Good afternoon, Amane!” he says, greeting him with a wave. Amane smiles back at him, a bit more confidence radiating off of him than the last two times. Kou’s glad. “What can I do for you?”
Amane approaches the counter, this time handing Kou the flowers directly. Kou still wonders just why the boy is going out of his way to deliver flowers to him. Flowers that he hasn’t even paid for. Someone has to pay for them, he realizes. Is it Amane? He feels bad if it is. These flowers, Kou knows, aren’t super cheap. Maybe he should tell Amane that he shouldn’t keep doing this.
But some selfish part of Kou wants Amane to continue to come back. He likes the attention, no matter how short-lived it really is. It’s nice to have someone that isn’t his family worry about him. He loves Teru and Tiara, but sometimes, Kou wishes he had some friends to talk to. Granted, he knows he has Sousuke, but Sousuke is… Sousuke. Not someone that’s so easy to confide in, no matter how much he enjoys his company.
(But, something in the back of his mind asks him, do friends really buy you flowers like this? He decides that it’s best if he ignores it.)
“Thank you!” Kou gets the chance to say this time around, grinning like an idiot. He feels a little stupid, but that worry slips away when he smells the flowers. They smell amazing. Amane watches him as he places them in the vase from last week, nodding his head when he steps back to look at them, noting that there are even more red roses this week than the last.
“It’s no problem,” Amane says to him, and the look on his face tells Kou that he means it. It makes him feel just the slightest bit less guilty, at least. “But I do need to go now.”
“Ah, wait!” Kou finds himself calling out. Amane glances back at him, freezing in his spot and looking at Kou expectantly. Kou clears his throat, asking, “Is there any way I can repay you? How about a treat? What would you like?” Amane stares at him for a moment before the corners of his lips start to turn up.
“I like donuts,” he offers with a smile, stepping back towards the counter. Kou immediately rushes to the back again. Donuts, he can do. He can skip his special Friday breakfast, for once. “You don’t have to, though!” Amane calls after him.
Kou comes back not a minute later, shaking his head. “Of course I do! You’ve been so nice to bring me flowers, it’s the least I can do. Here,” he says, taking the box in his hands and giving it to Amane. “We only really had plain left, I hope that’s alright.” Amane laughs, smiling wide. Kou feels his heart stutter in his chest, and he finally realizes why he’s been so excited about Amane coming back.
“It’s perfect, kid. Thanks,” Amane murmurs, and Kou couldn’t be happier as he watches the boy leave with a goofy smile still plastered on his face.
“Why do you keep giving me flowers?” Kou asks Amane on his fourth visit. He’s known him for a month now, he realizes, but he doesn’t really know him. He also can’t keep ignoring how generous he’s being. Amane stops eating the donut he was given and looks at Kou quizzically.
“Why are you asking?” he asks, voice bordering on teasing, which is new. Kou finds he likes it all the same. Amane is warming up to him, that’s good. But Kou reminds himself to stay on track, shaking his head.
“I don’t know,” he says, scratching his cheek awkwardly and taking a seat across from Amane. He leaves his apron on in case another customer decides to stop by. “You just really don’t have to. Is there a reason?” Immediatly, Kou regrets asking that. Amane’s smile falls and Kou scrambles to fix his mistake. “Ah, I’m sorry, it’s probably nothing.” Amane looks away, chewing his donut again.
“Yeah,” he mumbles, nearly inaudible. “Probably nothing.”
It turns into a routine: every Thursday afternoon at two, Amane brings Kou a bouquet of flowers, each week adding more and more red roses to the bunch. And every Thursday afternoon at two, Kou gives Amane the leftover donuts from that morning. Sometimes they’ll chat while Amane eats. Kou finds that Amane loves space, the moon, and wants to go there someday. He also learns that he’s the co-owner of the flower shop, yet still insisted on doing deliveries as well. It makes Kou chuckle. The way he talks about the flower shop makes his passion obvious. It’s cute.
Nearly two months after their first meeting, Amane comes in with nothing but a bouquet of red roses. It’s the first time Kou realizes just how romantic these Thursday afternoons could be perceived. He wills down a flush at the thought and takes the roses from Amane with a bright smile, just like always, and sets them carefully in the water in his vase.
While he’s arranging them so they stop clumping all to one side, Kou notices something. “Why eight roses?” he asks Amane, raising an eyebrow that furrows down with the other when the roses refuse to work with him. Amane takes a moment to answer, and Kou would have asked about it if he weren’t too preoccupied. He sticks out his tongue, concentrating on the stubborn flowers.
Once he finally gets them how he wants, Amane seems to snap out of whatever daze he was in and replies a bit too late, “Well, since this is my eighth time here,” he pauses to take the donut Kou hands him, humming happily, “I thought to use eight roses.” Kou nods, laughing.
“I didn’t realize you’ve been keeping count,” he says with a more teasing lilt in his voice. Amane just sighs, shaking his head with a smile.
“Don’t act like you haven’t either, kid. You knew exactly why there are eight roses.” Okay, so maybe Amane is right. Kou only wanted to know if it was a coincidence or not. Still, it’s nice that Amane remembers, that this is important enough to him to remember (whatever the hell this is).
“We’re the same age,” Kou huffs, wiping down the counter beside the display case to busy himself with something so that he’s still actually working. No need to get fired for something such as this.
Amane only laughs around the last of his donut. “You’re six months younger than me,” he points out. Kou loves and hates the playful look in his eyes. The guy’s become bolder, less reserved, after spending eight different occasions with Kou. This also means, much to Kou’s dismay, he’s become more of a jerk than ever.
“It’s six months!” Kou exclaims, throwing the dirty rag at Amane, which only spurs the boy’s laughing on as Kou completely misses him.
“Six months too late,” Amane coos, ducking from another rag before he’s hit. “Be careful, you’ll break something.” From the look on Amane’s face, Kou can tell he couldn’t care less if Kou breaks something.
“Asshole,” Kou murmurs as he bends over the counter to pick up the rag closest to him. “Could you grab the other one?” Maybe Kou is a bit wrong to call him an asshole, because Amane happily helps out, plucking the rag off of the ground and handing it to him without any tricks or weird comments. “Thanks.”
By the time Amane finishes the rest of his donuts and cleans up after himself, he’s nearly stopped with the teasing. Kou’s gracious of whatever god is out there to give him mercy. His Thursday afternoons are never peaceful anymore (and Kou finds he’s more than okay with that).
But Amane hesitates to leave the bakery, hand hovering over the door handle before he tentatively turns around, walking back over to the counter. Kou goes to ask what’s wrong, but Amane cuts him off before he can. “Hey, kid, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Kou notes how he looks a bit nervous, fiddling with the strap of his bag. So, softly, Kou nods his head, setting down the rag in his hand on the countertop. He doesn’t remind Amane that they’re the same age, that seems inappropriate when Amane looks so serious.
“Yeah? What’s up?” he asks, moving from behind the counter next to Amane. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, staring down at his shoes with his mouth pressed in a thin line, as if thinking for the right words to say. After another painfully long moment of silence, Amane lets out a sigh, then a breathy laugh.
“Never mind, it’s nothing,” he says, smiling up at Kou. It’s strained, doesn’t meet his eyes, but Kou doesn’t get the chance to comment on it, or even say another word, before Amane is hastily moving towards the exit. “See you next week!” he calls over his shoulder before he’s out of sight, leaving Kou alone in the bakery with a lump forming in the back of his throat.
The rest of Kou’s week moves significantly slower. He’s put in a funk, feeling off and unsteady because of what Amane said. He seemed bothered by something but still wouldn’t tell Kou what. Kou decides that come Thursday, he’ll question Amane until he gets a real answer instead of a “never mind.”
But Kou’s worry is only doubled when that Thursday at two o’clock sharp, Amane is nowhere to be seen. It’s a bit odd, but Kou wills himself to calm down. He must just be running late, he tells himself as the scent of warm muffins begins to fill the bakery. But when two-thirty hits and still no Amane, Kou starts to have his doubts. He must have scared him off, somehow, he knows it. Gosh, Kou is an idiot to think this would keep up. He’s also an idiot to have fallen so hard for a silly delivery boy. He presses his face into the glass of the display case. He’s leaving smudges but he doesn’t care. He has to clean it every day, anyway.
Kou hardly even hears the bell to the bakery ring at two thirty-five, doesn’t look up until he hears a familiar high-pitched voice snort and say, “What the hell are you doing?” Kou’s never spun around so fast in his life, flattening out his apron awkwardly. The owner of the voice only laughs, pointing a finger at Kou. “You’re a wreck, lame-o. Did your face get in a car crash, too? Bet it finally realize how dumb that earring is,” Sousuke says, snickering into his bright pink sweater sleeve. Kou blinks, surprised at the sudden appearance, before crossing his arms. He will never tell the boy, lest his ego grows any bigger, but Kou thinks that maybe Sousuke’s the person he needs to see more than anyone else, right now (besides Amane, of course).
“You’re one to talk,” Kou says, grinning when he hears the overdramatic gasp from Sousuke.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sousuke screeches, swatting Kou and huffing. “Are you blind? I’m the cutest thing you’ll ever see! And I even got dressed up for my date today! How can you say that?” Clearly upset, Sousuke turns away. Now that he thinks about it, Kou supposes he does notice, if you can really call the light makeup and braided hair “dressing up.”
But something else sticks out a bit more to Kou. “You went on a date?” he asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow. Mitsuba scoffs, rolling his eyes. It’s not that Kou doesn’t believe him, but… No, actually, that’s right, he doesn’t believe him. Since when has Sousuke been interested in dating? He’s always been saying things like, “I’m too cute to be tied down to someone,” or whatever.
Sousuke looks as if he didn’t want Kou to question that, but still nods. “Yeah, with a girl that helps run a flower shop not too far from here. Sound familiar?” Sousuke asks, being anything about subtle as to what he means. If his words wouldn’t tell Kou, then his face definitely would. There’s something all too knowing in those eyes. Kou looks away, feeling the room grow just a little warmer around him. Sousuke hums. “Thought so,” he says triumphantly before lowering Kou with a serious expression, one that Kou really can’t look away from. “She told me about flower boy. I came here to see him, but he’s obviously not here. What happened?” Kou lets out a sigh. Nothing gets past Sousuke.
“I’m not really sure,” Kou answers honestly, taking a seat at the counter. Sousuke opts to sit on top of it, waving for Kou to go on. “I think I scared him off, somehow.” Sousuke nods like he expected this all along.
“Idiot,” he says, and Kou really can’t deny that he’s right. “God, I can’t believe you kept this from me for so long. You’re supposed to be bad at hiding things!” Sousuke pauses for a moment, thinking, but it’s enough time for Kou to wonder how the hell Sousuke didn’t learn about it sooner. Not that it matters now, he supposes with a heavy heart. “You’re hopeless. Why do you look so depressed? So, little flower boy didn’t come to see you this one time. Big deal. Now, you go to him.”
Kou looks up at him, tilting his head. His earring swings with the movement. “What?”
Sousuke looks more than annoyed, like he’s trying to teach algebra to a toddler. (What the hell kind of analogy is that? Kou thinks to himself.) “I’m telling you to get your mopey head out of your ass and go to him, lame-ass earring boy,” Mitsuba says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, kicking his feet that don’t quite reach the ground. “I’ll watch this place, just go.” He points to the exit expectantly. It’s abundantly clear that he won’t take no for an answer.
“Are you sure?” Kou asks, hesitantly standing from his seat. Sousuke stands up next to him resting his hands on hips with a frown.
“Of course, I’m sure!” he exclaims, pushing Kou towards the bakery exit. “Now, go!” Kou manages to latch onto the door frame and stop himself, facing the boy before he leaves the shop with a soft smile.
“Thank you, Sousuke,” he says. Sousuke scoffs, pushing on Kou again. This time, it’s hard enough that Kou bumps into the door and lets it open a bit, cold air pouring into the shop and snow blowing into Kou’s hair.
“I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for me, or else I won’t hear the end of it from that radish.” Kou raises an eyebrow but Sousuke brushes it off, finally getting Kou out of the store. “Never mind. Now get going!” Kou nods, sliding on and pulling up the hood up his jacket that he’d managed to snatch from the counter before being pushed out.
With one last wave to Sousuke, Kou starts the trek through the snow to the flower shop. It’s cold, and Kou shivers. The snow is coming down hard and crunching under his feet. He’s just glad he wore boots today as he continues walking down the street, squinting his eyes through the bright sun reflected off of the white snow. He scans the storefronts, trying to find the flower shop. He’s never been there in person, which worries him for a moment, but he lets out a relieved sigh when he finally finds the place.
It’s much warmer inside, and Kou tries his best to kick off the snow from his boots as to not track it inside, then pulls down his hood. He’s aware of how messy his hair must look as he approaches the front counter, but he decides to put his focus on the girl in front of him, instead. She looks up from the flowers she’s attending to with bright, magenta eyes.
“Hello!” the girl greets him, cream-colored hair bobbing with her head. Kou notes how it fades into teal at the end, a unique hairstyle that he’s never seen before. “What can I do for you?” she asks. Kou notices that, like Amane, this girl also has a nametag. Yashiro Nene, it reads.
“Hi, um, I’m looking for Amane. Is he here?” Kou asks tentatively, eyes searching the small place. It’s cute, filled with colorful plants and flowers all neatly arranged. Some of them are still growing out of pots, some of them in bouquets and on display. It’s beautiful.
Nene perks up at the name, smiling brightly. “Oh, are you Minamoto Kou?” she asks, giggling to herself when Kou nods. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Yes, he’s here. Want me to go grab him?” Kou can’t help but grin.
“That would be great, thanks.” Nene nods, leaving for a moment through a door behind her. Kou can hear muffled voices behind the door, unmistakably Nene and Amane. He can’t make out what either of them is saying, and before he can lean closer to try to hear better, the talking ceases and Nene emerges with an unhappy-looking Amane in tow. Amane’s eyes widen when he sees Kou, though, and he freezes in place. Kou gives him a small wave.
“Kid?” Amane asks, brows raised. “What are you doing here?” He turns to Nene before Kou can answer that. “What is he doing here? Yashiro! You never said he was here!” Nene gives him a guilty smile.
“Oops.”
Amane chooses to ignore her, eyes landing back on Kou. “You didn’t come today so I decided to come to you. Well, my friend--uh, Sousuke--he convinced me,” Kou explains. Nene nods enthusiastically next to Amane. He looks between her and Kou before rolling his eyes and excusing himself to the back for a moment.
“He did mention that he knew you,” she says. Kou chuckles. Nene is cute, he can see why Sousuke seems to like her.
“Yeah,” Kou agrees, rubbing the back of his neck. He nearly shivers at how cold his hand is. “He told me you two talked about it on a date or something, and then yelled at me until I came over here.” Nene chuckles with him.
“Sounds about right,” she says, then stops, eyes widening a bit. “Did you say date? As in, like, a date date? Like a romantic one, not between friends, or anything?” But Amane’s back and pushing past her before Kou has a chance to respond, flickering her on the forehead before making his way over towards Kou and the exit.
“I don’t think this is what the kid came here to talk about, Yashiro. We’re going to take this outside, c’mon,” Amane says all too quickly, grabbing Kou’s hand and leading him out of the store. Kou can hear Nene talking to herself still in the flower shop as he’s dragged away. (“He never said it was a date!”)
Once outside, the cool air hits Kou in the face again, biting his cheeks. He grimaces into the cold, wondering if they can do this anywhere else. But Amane looks determined to get away from Nene, so he allows himself to be pulled through the freezing streets, snow falling all around them. Kou can see his breath as they walk in silence for a moment.
“I think we’re far enough away,” Kou says finally with a nervous laugh. Amane glances back at him, cheeks rosy from the cold.
“Yeah, alright,” he says, letting go of Kou’s hand with a breathy chuckle of his own as they continue through the snow. Kou lets his shoulder brush against Amane’s as they walk. If Amane notices, he says nothing about it. “I’m gonna guess you want to know why I wasn’t there?” he asks instead. Kou nods, pulling down his hood. The wind nips at his ears, but at least he can properly hear the boy next to him.
“If you don’t mind explaining,” Kou adds sheepishly, shoving his hands into his pockets. Amane hums.
“No, I should probably explain,” he says, voice growing quieter. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “I guess I was a little scared. Which is stupid, because now you’re going to ask, ‘Scared of what?’, right?” Kou doesn’t tell Amane that that’s exactly what he was about to ask. Amane manages to figure it out from his silence, though. “See?” he says with a small smile. But it’s sad, not like his usual one. Kou finds himself more than anything else wanting that bright smile back.
Kou takes a breath. “Amane,” he says, grabbing onto the boy’s hand and forcing him to stop. Amane looks back at him. “What’s wrong?” Kou doesn’t understand. Did he do something? Amane’s acting strange, and he doesn’t like it. He wants to help.
Amane lets Kou pulls him closer by his hand until Kou feels just a bit warmer from the proximity, and he can feel Amane’s body heat. That alone is enough to make Kou’s cheeks flare up, and he’s more thankful than ever for the cold air hiding it.
Amane stares down at their hands where Kou has them intertwined, jaw set and eyes contemplating. Kou waits. It’s hard, he’s never been the most patient person, but he knows Amane needs a moment. He still has no clue what for, and every second that passes leaves the heavy sinking feeling in his stomach to grow more and more, but he pushes past his own worries and watches Amane as he thinks.
Finally, Amane lifts his head, takes a breath. “I’m sorry,” he says. He pauses again, but Kou doesn’t dare to interrupt, just watches as the snow flutters down to the ground around them. It lands on their clothes, in their hair, and Kou has to fight back a smile when one lands right on Amane’s nose as he thinks. ”I got scared because I knew you had figured it out, and--” A confused noise forces itself from Kou’s throat, his patience only lasts for so long, and Amane cuts himself off to glance up at the other boy.
“What do you mean by that? Figured out what?” Kou can’t help but ask. He’s confused. He can hardly tell what’s going on inside of Amane’s brain most of the time. He has a feeling he wouldn’t be able to figure anything about him out if he wasn’t told directly. It doesn’t help that Kou isn’t always the brightest, either.
“Er--” Amane stutters, eyes searching Kou’s face intently. Does he not believe him? Amane must think that it’s obvious. He should be lucky Kou can be quite oblivious. “Well, with the roses and the flowers and when I just kept coming back, I thought-- I thought you…” Amane trails off, looking past Kou and into the snow-covered street. Kou furrows his brows. The flowers? He doesn’t get it. Amane brought him flowers, yeah, that just turned into part of his routine. Well, Amane gave him roses, mostly. Red roses. But that-- He can’t mean--
Kou’s thought process cuts off when he lets out a gasp, staring at Amane. He doesn’t meet his eye, just keeps staring into the street. “Those flowers, they-- You mean you--” Kou can see Amane’s cheeks darkening, even with the cold wind blowing on his skin. Eyes wide, Kou shakes his head in disbelief.
“So you like me back, then?” Kou asks, but it sounds more like a statement than a question. He sees Amane let out a breath in front of him before locking eyes with Kou.
“Yes, I--” He cuts himself off. “Did… you just say back?” Did he? Kou’s so caught up in this (honestly pretty strange) confession that he hadn’t noticed. His filter might as well be nonexistent. Kou nods hesitantly, which only leads Amane to wordlessly stare at him for a moment before chuckling. “God, this isn’t how I was planning for this to go at all--” He breaks his words off again with more laughter. Kou’s still nervous and high on whatever the hell feeling is coursing through his body and can’t help but laugh too; it’s contagious.
“What were you planning?” Kou asks after a moment, letting Amane calm himself. Amane shakes his head, still smiling.
“I don’t know, not this,” he says. “I was going to-- Hold on.” Amane stops, reaching in his coat to reveal a single red rose. Kou’s grin only grows bigger as Amane holds the flower. “Ah, this is really corny,” he hears Amane whisper to himself. Kou can’t help but laugh. “Hey! Kid, stop laughing.” Smacking him with the rose, Amane manages to get Kou to stop. Amane’s lucky he didn’t hit me with a thorn, Kou thinks to himself as Amane takes a breath. “Alright, I’ll do this on the condition that you won’t laugh,” he declares.
Kou rolls his eyes but nods. “Yes, fine, go ahead.”
“Don’t laugh,” Amane reminds him, continuing when Kou gives him a thumbs up. “Alright, okay, what I was going to do before you interrupted me--” Kou sends him a sheepish smile, “--I was going to be like, ‘I know you realized so I’ll just tell you,’ or something, and then,” Amane says, pulling his hand away from Kou. Kou would have complained if Amane hadn’t then crouched down to face Kou on one knee, holding out the rose. Kou has to fight back a laugh. Amane was right, this is beyond corny. “Don’t,” Amane says, sending him a half-hearted glare that does absolutely nothing when his face is so red. “Okay, kid, you already know this, but I’ll say it again since I got myself into this mess.” Handing him the rose, Amane places his hands on his knees for balance instead. Kou takes it gingerly, twirling it around in his fingers with a bright beam spread across his face. “I like you, Kou.” At the use of his given name instead of “kid,” Kou’s smile only grows.
“And?” Kou prompts, biting his tongue in order to keep his promise and not laugh. He’s absolutely loving this. He looks down at the rose in his hands, then at Amane, who doesn’t look quite as angry as Kou expected.
“C’mon, kid, my knees are getting wet, here,” Amane complains. Kou finally snorts, helping Amane to his feet. Amane’s smiling, laughing at himself with Kou. But, no matter how cheesy it was, Kou can’t say that he hated it.
Once’s he up, Kou pulls Amane close and, taking Kou’s hand, Amane kisses him there in the snow. It’s soft, sweet, and so warm compared to the air around them. Kou pulls the boy closer by his waist, melting into him. It’s perfect.
The moment ends too soon, though. A shrill voice cries out, causing them to separate and Kou to watch as Sousuke tries his best to run through the foot of snow towards them. “Hey, lame earring! If you’re done sucking face with flower boy, I need you to get your ass back to your store!” He’s panting by the time he reaches them, grabbing Kou by the sleeve and tugging him away.
“Sousuke?” Kou asks, watching as he’s pulled along. “What’s going on?”
“Your brother is about to murder me, that’s what’s going on! Can’t you move any faster?” he whines. Kou heaves a sigh. Of course, Teru had to stop by. Though he supposes it’s good he at least has Sousuke to come and get him, or Kou would have a lot more explaining to do than he would ever want.
“Sorry!” he calls over his shoulder to Amane, who watches him being dragged away with a laugh. “I’ll see you later!” Waving, Amane blows him a kiss before Sousuke rounds a corner and they’re out of sight. Kou sighs. He can hardly wait for later.
Donuts freshly out of the oven, Kou smiles to himself. The bell strikes two in the distance, and Kou hurries to take off his apron. The front of the store is left empty for all about five seconds before the bell to the shop rings.
“Welcome!” Kou says, clasping his hands together as Amane takes off his hat, placing it on the coat tree he insisted Kou get for the bakery. He greets his boyfriend with a smile, gifting him a kiss and a bouquet of fresh red roses.
“Are the donuts ready?” Amane asks him excitedly, giving Kou a quick hug when he nods before moving behind the counter towards the back room. Kou doesn’t even bother telling him they’re hot, he knows he won’t listen.
But Amane disappears and he can hear the sound of the baking tray rattling from the back. With a laugh, Kou follows after him. “Ah, wait!” he calls, smiling wide. “Save some for me!”