Work Text:
February 13. 2:23am.
Tomoya was awake.
He mindlessly scrolled through his phone, looking at a bunch of different products in various online stores. He tried to think of something his partner would like, but that proved difficult as when Tomoya asked him what he'd like for Valentine's day, the only response he got was "Anything from you would be the greatest gift, Tomoya-kun!"
Though very flattering, it was also frustrating. Now he was stuck trying to find something to give him, and it had to be special, since it would be their first Valentine's day spent together.
Right, they were dating now.
The word "dating" made Tomoya bury his face in his pillow and let out a little groan into it, which might've been a little too loud for his roommate.
He looked at Mayoi's bed, where the boy on it was trying to hide under his blankets.
"Please, please have mercy on me! I wasn't staring at you, I wasn't!" He screeched nervously. Tomoya didn't really mind Mayoi's behavior anymore, so Tomoya responded with a reassuring grin.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm just a bit stressed, that's all. You don't need to worry about it though." Tomoya said, turning back to his phone and continuing to search for gifts he could get, as he had been doing for the past 20 minutes.
"Ah, it's Valentines Day soon, right? Are you looking something to give your partner?" Asked Mayoi.
Upon hearing that, Tomoya's eye twitched, which startled Mayoi a bit. Tomoya's definitely not mad at him, he's just not used to terms like that at all. Words like "dating," "boyfriend," "partners," and such. Even thinking about the fact that he was dating Wataru made him turn into a flustered wreck.
Tomoya eventually calmed himself down and sighed, "Yes, yeah I'm looking for a gift for Hibiki-senpai. This is our first Valentines... together... so I don't want it to be anything lame, y'know?" The brown-haired boy paused for a moment, "I could give him the lamest gift and he'd say it's the most AMAZING~ gift in the world, which is exactly why I'm so frustrated."
Mayoi nodded intently. He started to think about how to help, but Tomoya caught on eventually and interrupted him.
"Please don't try to help, I'd feel awful about it. I have to do this myself, since Hibiki-senpai's probably working hard to plan his own thing." Said Tomoya. Mayoi was still hesitant about not helping him, but he definitely didn't want to make Tomoya mad
"R-right, sorry. I'm so sorry, I should've known at least that much, please don't be maaaad! I'd die if my own roommate hated me..." Mayoi replied apologetically.
"Again, it's fine. Plus, you have your own partner to be with for Valentines, right?" Tomoya asked Mayoi, which lead the older male to turn red. He started shaking and sputtering out some syllables nervously, which clearly meant something, but Tomoya decided to leave it alone.
"Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'll just go to sleep and worry about my gift in the morning. Goodnight, Ayase-senpai." Said Tomoya. Mayoi simply responded with another goodnight.
February 13. 8:30am.
Tomoya didn't have to go to school that day, which was great since he could dedicate more time to figuring out what to do for Wataru. He gave up on looking for stuff online and was starting to think of doing something personal instead. He was sitting on his desk in the Rhythm Link office, scouring his brain for ideas.
"Tomoya-kun, are you alright? You've been staring at the same paper for a while now." Hajime asked, tapping Tomoya's shoulder.
Tomoya perked up as he came back to his senses, then adjusted his chair to fix his position before facing the blue-haired boy beside him.
"Oh, no, nothing's wrong. I'm just uh, trying to digest this document."
"Tomoya-kun, that paper has nothing ok it."
Tomoya looked back at the sheet on his table which was, indeed, a blank sheet of paper.
"Tomoya-kun," Hajime sighed, "I know you're worried about something, so please tell me what it is. I won't judge, you're my best friend after all.
No matter how comforting Hajime's words were, that couldn't change how embarrassed he was. Was he really that out of it? Maybe staying up until 2am wasn't the brightest idea.
"You're right, sorry for trying to hide it. I'm. just a bit conflicted right now, since Valentine's Day is coming up tomorrow and I still have nothing to give to Hibiki-senpai." He admitted. Tomoya looked back at his friend, "Say, what do you plan on giving your partner tomorrow?"
Hajime started blushing after Tomoya said that, but quickly gained his composure back. "I've been planning quite a lot, actually. We scheduled teatime together and I made some sweets for the occasion." Hajime started smiling as he thought of his partner. Tomoya wishes he could act as gracefully when he thinks of Wataru. Instead, he just becomes a mess.
"You could totally make him some chocolates for Valentine's, it may be a bit predictable, but it's still a sweet way to show your affection with something personal." Hajime suggested. Tomoya was immedietaly all for the idea, despite not having any particular talents in making sweets, since making chocolates is a classic for Valentine's. But somehow, Tomoya felt like he still wanted to do more.
He didn't want to continue to bother Hajime however, so after finishing the little bit of remaining work he had left, Tomoya got up from his seat and waved him goodbye to head towards the Starmony kitchen.
February 13. 10:47am.
After searching for recipes and doing some grocery shopping, Tomoya was finally prepared to make the chocolates. Wataru was doing an interview right now, so Tomoya was at least a little relieved since he wouldn't get caught anytime soon. That still didn't change the possibility of him burning the chocolates, or accidentally making them taste bad, or look bad, or-
Tomoya's overthinking was interrupted by a familiar face entering the door, holding a bag with what looked like ingredients for making sweets.
"Oh thank god, my savior is here." Tomoya whispered under his breath. He waved to Hokuto who greeted him back.
"Good morning, Tomoya. It looks like you're busy over there, so I won't bother you. Just tell me when you're done using the kitchen." Said Hokuto, who started making his way to his dorm room, which caused Tomoya to panic a bit.
"Wait!" Tomoya yelled a bit too loudly, which made Hokuto pause and look back at his junior. "Yes, what is it? Do you need help?" He asked.
"Yes, yes I do. I'm sorry to waste your time but do you have any tips for making these chocolates? I'm a bit nervous to make them since I plan to personalize them." He asked, bowing. Hokuto nodded and started to give the younger some advice,
"Well, it's just the same process as making things for ChocoFes, but if you plan to personalize them, I suggest you customize the chocolates with molds and decorations, and perhaps even organizing them to make a message of sorts," He paused for a moment before continuing.
"And though I am no expert, I do know that love is what makes cooking whole. It would be nice to be able to put your feelings for Hibiki-buchou into the chocolate, if that's possible. Oh, and never let water touch the chocolate when you're melting it."
Tomoya nodded and said his thanks to his senior, singing praises about how wonderful and kind he is, as per usual. With that, it was now Hokuto's time to leave Tomoya alone with his chocolate making business.
What Hokuto said really stuck with Tomoya. Love is important in making something for someone you love, of course. Wataru's told Tomoya that he loves him time and time again, and Tomoya's sure that if he wanted to, he'd proclaim his love for him to the whole world using a jumbotron or something. But Tomoya never really said it back.
He responded using his actions more than his words, and those actions were usually just nudging or moving closer to him. He never had the courage to fully talk about his love for him, even when Wataru confessed.
It was a bit after the closing night of a performance with Dramatica, where Tomoya was casted as the main character. He was obviously a bit tired out after the show, and sat around backstage before he would head over to talk to fans. He was just minding his own business, when Wataru appeared out of nowhere, as usual. They had a normal conversation, until Wataru brought up the story of the performance itself.
While Tomoya had been casted as the protagonist, Wataru was casted as the love interest. It wouldn't have been much of an issue if it wasn't for both of them having pent-up feelings for each other. The conversation started getting a little awkward for both of them, and Tomoya thought that Wataru knew about his stupid crush but didn't like him back. Tomoya was starting to panic a bit, until he heard what Wataru said.
"It's fine if you don't share the same feelings, Tomoya-kun, but I really do love you."
Tomoya was surprised, to say the least. After pining for Wataru for so long, this singular sentence made hundreds of worries and questions just disappear. Wataru started walking away dejectedly, but Tomoya quickly pulled him into a hug, saying a simple
"I love you, too, Hibiki-senpai."
It was a slightly awkward and very unexpected confession, but it was still super happy and relieving both of them, even with Shu's scolding when they were caught.
Remembering this, Tomoya was no extra motivated to make an effort to put all his unspoken love into these sweets, and also saying everything he's been unintentionally keeping from Wataru.
He pulled out the chocolate molds from his bag, one of which was bird shaped and the other.. also bird shaped.
He might have to put a lot more effort into talking than he thought.
February 14. 3:02pm.
Tomoya was patiently waiting for Wataru at the ES garden. Both of them knew a majority of the other idols would be going out for Valentine's day, so it would be better to stay together alone somewhere in ES before going out to eat somewhere.
It's been 2 minutes since our meeting time and he still isn't here yet, did he stand me up or something? Tomoya thought anxiously, before reassuring himself that Wataru was probably just on his way right now and would never leave him standing around like that. Right?
Tomoya was beginning to think of all possibilities as to why Wataru would be late. He might've misplaced a sock or something, or fallen down the stairs, or left him to run away and never talk to him again. So you know, nothing major would be going on.
While Tomoya was trying to calm himself down, his partner finally arrived.
He was observing Wataru head to toe as he approached him, and what Wataru brought with him was definitely a surprise.
"I'm so sorry for arriving late! I tried to get here as soon as possible, but transferring the cart without getting anything to fall over was quite a challenge! I hope you can forgive me, Tomoya-kun." He said through sniffles.
Behind Wataru was a large cart with tall pyramids of confectionary sitting on it, cupcakes, candy, chocolate, you name it, it was there. These sugary pyramids surrounded one giant card, which was about the same height as Tomoya. The card was decorated with pink glitters and a big "Open me!" in its center. The whole thing was decorated with a multitude of flowers, and to top it all off, Wataru's doves were holding up a banner above the cart, which read "♡Happy Valentine's Day ♡" With mini drawings of rabbits scattered wherever they could fit.
Tomoya was definitely impressed, and pretty surprised as well. Though he did fully expect Wataru to go all out and do something crazy for the day, it was still jarring to see it up close, and even with all the over the top preparations, it all still felt weirdly romantic.
He just stood still as he was still trying to fully take in the whole thing, but the silence led Wataru to feel a bit nervous, since he started to fiddle his fingers and look away from Tomoya, which the boy immediately caught on to.
"Hibiki-senpai, this is... really.. cool." He muttered from trying to come up with anything to say. The truth was, Tomoya was speechless. And also incredibly red. Wataru started to light up again, and walk towards his boyfriend.
"Why, thank you! I worked on this for a whole week, it was surely a challenge, but I'm so glad you like it!" Wataru beamed. "Oh, but please don't rush into eating it all, I would be all too ashamed if you ended up getting sick because of me."
Speaking of shame, Tomoya was still holding the box of chocolates he made for his partner behind his back, and wished to continue doing so, since what he made was super lame in comparison to what was in front of him. Wataru noticed this, and asked him what the matter was.
Through a sheepish grin, Tomoya got the box and held it in front of Wataru while bowing apologetically.
"I'm sorry, it's really not much compared to what you have here, but here it is." He gulped, fully expecting Wataru to take it and just say a simple thank you. Sure, he did say that Wataru would love any gift from him, but this was surely too pathetic.
Tomoya hesitated to look up to see Wataru's face, fearing that all he'd see was disappointment. Still, he took a quick peak and...
"Tomoya-kun, thank you, so, so much! I love it, it's so cute, May I open it now? It's so beautiful, just like you! Thank you again, I love you! Ah, this is truly Amazing~!" Wataru exclaimed, observing each and every corner of the box, commenting on the bow, the decorations, the drawn-on hearts, even the most mundane things, he was admiring. Tomoya was taken aback, but super relieved that his boyfriend liked the gift.
"Yes, you can open it now. The chocolates inside are..."
"Birds! And each of them are individually decorated too, is this one Jeanne? Oh, this one looks like Hokuto-kun! Tomoya-kun, this gift just keeps getting better and better, I really do love you." Wataru gushed.
Despite Tomoya's lack of artistic skill and weird smelling food dye, his partner still found the chocolates nice, which is the most important thing above all. He let out a small sigh of relief, and both sat down on the bench nearby.
They were having a casual conversation, explaining how each other's day went, what they were planning, and other normal stuff. It was comforting to be able to talk with him like this, just alone together, with nothing there to interrupt them.
While Wataru was going on about his interview, all Tomoya could think about was how much he loved him. Cheesy for sure, but it's Valentine's Day, so he wasn't allowed to be embarrassed by his feelings right now. In fact, he decided it was time to tell Wataru about them.
"Hey, Hibiki-senpai," He said, which quickly grabbed the other's attention. Tomoya took a deep breath and began;
"Lately I've noticed I haven't been the most affectionate partner. I use my actions most of the time, if not always. Even when you confessed, I just hugged you. I don't want to be like that type of person, especially with all the high praises you give me."
"I've had feelings for you for a little less than a year now, so I'd like to say the truth myself, once and for all."
"I love you.. Wataru-senpai. You're the best partner I could ever ask for. Thank you, so much."
Tomoya was finally finished talking, and with that a large amount of stress that he didn't even know he had left him. The speech was cheesy sure, and definitely stupid, but it would only be one confession out of many.
He looked up at Wataru, who just sat there completely dazed. He was blushing profusely and wasn't saying anything. For a couple of seconds, they just sat there in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence at all, in fact, it was really comforting.
Wataru opened and closed his mouth multiple times, as if he was trying to think of something to respond with, but it seemed he was too flushed to do so. Tomoya smiled and checked the time on his phone.
"Well, it's about time we leave, huh? Come on, Wataru-senpai." He said, holding his senior's hand and standing up. Wataru followed and they started walking together, hand in hand.