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“So Tuesday you’ll be free after school, right?”
Chifuyu was on his back on the messy bedroom floor, legs perched on the side of the bed as a manga volume rested on his stomach, opened in the middle so he wouldn’t lose his spot, too comfortable to go find a proper bookmark. His school uniform was already half-undone, tie having been thrown into the rest of the mess as soon as he entered the door and collared shirt unbuttoned the first few buttons to show off the little purple and red marks upon his neck that he’d been hiding all day.
For only being in a relationship with a each other for a little over a month, Chifuyu had learned very quickly that Baji would take any opportunity handed to him to put those canines of his to use. And more often than not, Chifuyu’s neck and shoulders would be littered in bruises and bites that he had to hide from his classmates and own mother on the daily.
“What the hell else would I be doing after class on a Tuesday?” Baji asked gruffly, rolling his body so that he was lying on his stomach, fluffy wand still held in his hand to try and rouse Peke J from his current sleeping position on Chifuyu’s pillow. The small black cat didn’t even notice, gently snoozing without a care in the world as to his owners trying to give him attention.
Chifuyu cast his gaze upwards to Baji, narrowing his eyes as he did so. “You… you do remember what Tuesday is, right?” he asked, with a sneaking suspicion that no, he did not.
Baji met his eyes, amber swirling in quick confusion as he tried to reach for the answer. Because first of all, he had a shit memory, and secondly, no, he did not remember. But he wasn’t about to let Chifuyu think he was stupid or something. His silence must have been too long to Chifuyu, who was cutting in with a stern tone when he wasn’t given a prompt answer fast enough.
“You don’t? Baji-san, it’s Valentine’s Day! We have reservations at a special café going on. I had to pull from a lottery to even have the opportunity to get a seat!” he chastised, remembering just how many entries he had to put into the raffle, even begging for an advance on his allowance to do so. He had to deep clean both the bathroom and kitchen much to his mother’s delight and his own dismay, but it had all been in the name of love and a fun Valentine’s gift for his beloved boyfriend. Except now, said beloved boyfriend was staring at him with his head cocked and waving the cat wand over his nose.
“Stop tickling me! I told you about this three days ago!” Chifuyu yelled, knocking the red feathered wand from his face, his cheeks growing puffy, shade matching that of the cat toy.
And well, Baji kind of remembers the mention of “Lovey-dovey Cupid’s Valentine’s Café something-something” coming out of Chifuyu’s mouth that day, but he was also too enraptured with catching those pretty pink pouty lips in his own to commit any of it to memory. He basically kissed any of the details straight out of Chifuyu’s mouth before he could hear them anyway.
“I wish you’d listen to me when I talk,” Chifuyu sighed deeply, pushing himself off of the floor, book tumbling off of his stomach in the process. The noise finally alerted Peke J, who peeked an eye open at the sudden commotion, raising his head to catch Baji sliding on his stomach down off the bed. He landed with his palms on the carpet first, limbs stretching much like that of the actual cat who was now copying his motions. The rest of his body wasn’t so graceful, landing with a thump next to Chifuyu, who looked down to him, unimpressed.
Baji scrambled to push himself up on his arms, supporting his weight as he came to kiss Chifuyu full on the lips.
“I do listen to you, dummy,” he murmured in between kisses, pecking at Chifuyu’s lips over and over until the other boy gave in, relaxing enough to deepen the kiss in return.
“Yeah? You sure?” Chifuyu tried, but his breath was being sucked out as Baji’s tongue lazily lolled it’s way into his mouth. He tried his best to pull away again, line of saliva following his lips. “You gonna give me something nice for Valentine’s Day, too?”
Baji honestly had half a mind to tell the boy then and there that he’d love to gift him a few more hickeys to add to his growing collection, but refrained. Instead, he chewed on the answer as Chifuyu’s hands drifted into his hair, pulling at the hairtie to release Baji’s mane, putting strands in their appropriate places delicately with a smile.
His heart summersaulted in his chest, watching Chifuyu being so gentle with someone like him, grazing his cheeks each time he placed dark waves behind his ear. He mentally kicked himself for not even having thought about gifting this sweet angel of his something in return for Valentine’s.
In his mind, Valentine’s was a holiday that mostly girls celebrated, having been on the receiving end of bags of chocolates decorated with ribbons and sparkles by his classmates that wanted to vie for his attention for the past several years. Baji had always just shrugged them off, thanking them and eating the chocolates once he was safely at home where the girls couldn’t see which bags he was digging into.
And to be fair, he should have seen this coming.
Chifuyu loved things that other people deemed ‘girly’. He loved shoujou manga, he loved getting dressed up to go on dates to cute cafés, and taking tons of purikura to fill out a little notebook he carried around with him. He also really loved writing Baji little notes during class on his extensive collection of stationary, and small things like stickers and phone charms, even going so far as to making Baji carry a matching cartoon cat one on his own phone.
So when it came down to needing advice on how to properly gift his boyfriend something on a so-called ‘girly’ holiday, he only had one person in mind that could possibly help him.
Which is precisely why he was knocking on the front door to the Sano household at 8:22 on a Saturday morning, freezing his ass off.
Baji had expected, of course, for Emma to answer the door, already having anticipated his arrival. Or even Shinichiro, awake and getting ready for work. What he hadn’t been expecting was a five-foot-two little blonde menace to be staring at him as he opened the door.
“What’re you doin’ here?” Mikey mumbled out, messy bedhead covering his half-opened eyes as he dragged that tattered rag of a towel in his hand.
Baji was already annoyed, pushing his way inside past Mikey, “I’m here to see your sister.”
Mikey snorted, leaning against the wall in the foyer as Baji bent down to unlace his boots, “She has a boyfriend already, dingus.”
Baji’s hands stopped what they were doing as he peered up at Mikey, “So do I.”
Which wasn’t even news to any of his friends at this point. They had come out and told everyone a few days after they had gotten together, not wanting it to be a secret to anyone in their close circle. They were welcomed warmly with a few friendly teases about how they can’t go sneak off during meetings to go make out. Chifuyu’s cheeks had glowed so brightly that night, but Baji remembers so fondly the way his adorable boyfriend held his waist so tightly on the ride home, and the quiet ‘I love you’ he kissed into Baji’s mouth the second they stepped in front of their apartment.
“Oh that’s right, you’re gay now,” Mikey yawned into his towel, nonchalant about the subject as Baji stood back up to full height.
“I don’t like labels, Mikey,” he sighed, rubbing at the back of his head, watching as Mikey shrugged, knowing full well that the other boy didn’t label himself, or the eyes he constantly had focused on a certain pompadour wearing bleach blonde either. “Chifuyu has this whole thing planned after school to take me out and I haven’t done a single thing for him. So I kind of figured Emma could help me with making chocolates for him or something…”
The last part of his sentence trailed off in an embarrassed grumble. Not because he was there to learn how to make silly confectionaries, but because he had completely disregarded the fact that Chifuyu would even want to do something so cute and cheesy for someone as rough around the edges as himself. Mikey however, failed to stifle his giggles.
“Seriously? He’s making a punk-ass like you turn into a softie, Edward,” he teased, but the hint of his own soft smirk danced along his lips. If Baji hadn’t known him almost his entire life, he would have assumed the other was actually making fun of him.
“Better start acting like less of a child and ditch that gross towel if you want your own cute little blondie to be soft to, Michael,” he shot back. Mikey’s giggles turned into a full-bellied laugh, Baji grinning with pointed canines as he knew he had the other with that retort.
“Alright man, shut up! I’ll go get Emma,” he turned to head down the hall towards the bedrooms, dragging the offending piece of cloth with him, “And this comes with me. We’re a package deal!”
Black wavy hair tied back into a ponytail and green checkered aproning covering his grey sweatshirt, Baji stood ready in the Sano’s kitchen for his instructions. Emma was clattering around, gathering bowls and molds as Baji stood, unsure of how to help her.
“So, I’m going to have you start by melting the chocolate on the stove. All you have to do is make sure it doesn’t stick or burn, okay?” She passed him a saucepan that he flipped in his hand before placing it on the burner.
“Sounds easy enough.” He took the block of white chocolate, deciding that Chifuyu would likely prefer that one the most. To be honest, he never really saw Chifuyu eating sweets like candy very often. He seemed more of a cake person in Baji’s mind but the latter would probably blow up a kitchen attempting to make something that elaborate.
He dropped the entire block in, turning the burner up to high heat, figuring it would be the quickest and most efficient way to get the large chunk to begin melting. Emma busied herself with setting out the heart shaped molds and grabbing the cutting board to begin chopping the tops off of the strawberries she had splurged on.
“I think Draken will like a couple of these dipped in the chocolate, too. Does Chifuyu like strawberries?” she asked, not looking up from her handiwork. Baji turned to her, eyeing the red berries.
He had seen Chifuyu order things that already came with them before, like parfaits at the family diner, or crepes in Harajuku, but he didn’t seem to go wild for them or anything.
“Uh, I think so? I know he likes things that are lemony because he always gets that kind of soda and I hate it,” Baji replied, mentally beating his head in again for not knowing more about Chifuyu’s likes and dislikes.
Emma giggled, “Lemon chocolate sounds kind of gross. Though, I guess with white chocolate it might taste okay. Hey, make sure you stir that pot!” she gasped, as a white cloud started forming from the top of it.
Baji quickly turned to see his block had turned into a pile, bubbling up in one corner and looking a little brown around the edges. He turned the burner down, trying to whisk out the bubbles but they were already becoming a sticky, goopy mess.
“Shit! I think it burned. What do I do?!” he panicked, taking the pan off the burner completely to dump the chocolate into a bowl. It globbed out, making a disgusting noise as it hit plastic.
Emma sighed, taking the bowl away to drop into the sink. “Start over, and this time keep an eye on it!” She handed him a block of milk chocolate this time. “Cook it slow. Low and slow!”
“I don’t know what happened…” Baji whispered, mostly to himself but also to the mess of brown all over his hands and apron.
And the floor.
And the stovetop.
Emma stood aghast, with her hands on her hips, ready to absolutely blow her fuse. She swallowed her rage, breathing deeply as Baji watched with a sour look on his own face.
He had made sure to stir the pot this time AND turned down his burner. Figuring he had enough time before it would get going, he turned away to overlook what Emma had going on. She had loaded what she could salvage of the white chocolate into a piping bag, filling out the molds with stripes and polka dots that could begin cooling in the meantime.
Baji had to admit that maybe these would turn out super cute. He could just imagine the wide, sunshiny smile on Chifuyu’s face as he went to unwrap them. He’d praise Baji for doing such a great job, as if it had been planned all along, and probably give him extra sweet, chocolatey kisses, feeding him bites of his own creation in between.
His daydream was unfortunately shattered as suddenly the chocolate started boiling. Then without warning, it was boiling faster than he could stir, splattering over the stovetop. Emma had turned, yelling at him to turn off the burner, but it was already too late. When he looked away to grab a paper towel, the pot blew one big bubble that popped all over him, causing him to smack down on the handle in surprise, knocking it to the ground.
They both stood, eyes locked on the floor in shock.
“Uh, sorry? I can-“ Baji attempted to be the one to offer words first, both of them lost as to how the situation had escalated. Well, Emma was. Baji knew in the corner of his mind to blame this one on Chifuyu’s damn pink lips again.
“Just… clean it up. I think we might be done here for the day, yeah?” Emma said through what Baji assumed was gritted teeth, handing him a sponge from the edge of the sink. Baji nodded, taking it from her hands to drop down to his knees to start cleaning his mess off the floor without further words.
“Oi, Emma, we’re gonna play some games in Shinichiro’s room. Can you make us some snac- Oh God, what happened in here?”
As if he didn’t need anymore bullshit, Mikey rounded into the kitchen, Mitsuya in tow. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Baji looking like a maid, scrubbing chocolate off the floor on his hands and knees. He took two seconds worth of the picture in before bursting into a wheezing laugh. Even Mitsuya couldn’t contain his snorts, Baji growling at the sheer presence of the pair of idiots.
“Shut up, both of you! Don’t say a fucking word,” he threatened, but Mikey was beyond recovering.
“You had one simple task and you couldn’t even melt chocolate?” He was folding in on himself, slapping his knee and Baji clearly did not see what was so goddamn funny.
“Mikey, get out of the kitchen!” Emma screeched, already fed up enough with one boy for the day.
Mitsuya piped in as well as Mikey dodged a sponge in the direction of his head, “Dude, are you making Valentine’s candy? Just buy flowers at this point like I did. Better than destroying someone else’s house.”
“I didn’t want to buy flowers. I wanted to make him something on my own,” Baji grunted, standing back up to wipe his hands on the already dirtied apron. He sighed in disgust, flinging it off and at Mitsuya, who stepped out of the way as it landed at his feet.
“Look, if you want I can help you pick out some for Chifuyu? What kind of flowers does he like? Or what are his favorite colors?” Mitsuya tried, but Baji just slammed his fist on the counter.
“I don’t know! Okay? I don’t know what kind of flowers he likes! I don’t know if he likes strawberries or what his favorite color is! I guess I’m just a shitty boyfriend, okay?!” He stomped out of the kitchen, grabbing his boots at the door and hastily throwing them on.
Emma followed after, trying to stop him from leaving. “Wait, Baji-kun, we can start over. I’m not mad, I promise. Let me help?”
He shot a look over his shoulder, not wanting to be rude to her, but also knowing that he was just getting in the way of her making her boyfriend something. She could pour her love into her project, making something cute and delicious for him, while Baji struggled to get it together enough to figure out what made his own boyfriend happy.
“No, thanks.” He pulled the door behind him, sighing as he wiped chocolate from the bridge of his nose.
His barrage of sighs didn’t stop once he was home.
His lean body was tipped to the side, stuffed under the kotatsu from the waist down, lazily flipping through a magazine Chifuyu had lent him. Inside were various articles about up and coming fashion designers and what was trendy right now with teens their age. Baji wasn’t particularly interested in them, more just scanning through the pictures and pinpointing things that would make his boyfriend look adorable.
He flipped the next page, trying to make a mental note to let Chifuyu know that he should try wearing overalls one time when something caught his eye. A quiz, little bubbles of choices leading from one to another with the aptly titled headline:
Is he the one? Or is you boyfriend just a dud?
At this point, Baji decidedly had enough, tossing the magazine in the direction of the front door. He wasn’t about to let a bunch of paper start mocking him too.
Groaning, he let his body fall flat, rubbing his face into the edges of the comforter as the doorknob to the front door turned. It locked into place and the tapping of sneakers in the foyer caught his attention.
“What’s the problem, kid,” Ryoko asked, walking past him to deposit her purse into her bedroom. Baji didn’t answer, instead rolling himself further into the kotatsu. He wished so badly that he could just shove the rest of his body, head and all under it and put an end to his Valentine’s misery. Her footsteps re-entering the living room foiled his plans.
“You’re too young to be sighing like that. School kicking your ass again?” she asked, sitting across from him, stretching limbs that were tired from work. He muffled out a ‘no’ into the blanket.
“What is it then? Did you and Chifuyu get into a fight?” she pressed on, expression becoming more worried.
‘No, but we sure will on Tuesday,’ was he could think, and it stung his chest. He crawled out a little more from his spot to lay both arms on top of the table, still burying his head in them to hide his face from her.
“I’m a terrible boyfriend…”
“Since when do you have a girlfriend, Keisuke?” she questioned, news to her. She had never been one to pry too deeply into his relationships either though, having only seen Baji bring a few friends over in general in the past, partially due to their small housing. The rest of his friends beyond Chifuyu, Mikey, and Haruchiyo remained a bit of a mystery to her.
“I don’t,” Baji replied quickly, still hiding his head. The silence stretched between them before the wheels began turning in her head.
Ryoko reached towards him, placing her hand on one of his arms, “Keisuke, is it …Chifuyu?” she probed gently.
At her touch, his eyes drifted up to look at her, not sure what to expect. She had always told him that no matter what, she’d be there to accept him, their family always having just been the two of them. But he’d be damned if his heart wasn’t beating much faster than normal, like the adrenaline of a fight but in his very own living room.
When rich amber met a similar reflection in her own, he was only met with kindness, not a hint of judgement shining in those eyes. He swallowed, nodding on his arms slowly. “…Yeah.”
Ryoko squeezed his arm as his heart squeezed in his chest and for one of the first times in his life, he felt totally defeated.
He knew he didn’t have to continue. He could have left it there, unfinished on the table. But something about the generosity in her eyes made him press on. “It hasn’t been long. Maybe a month or so. But he’s so excited for Valentine’s day and I didn’t do anything for him because I didn’t even think he’d care about it. I tried making him something and it was a disaster,” he groaned again, thinking about the chocolate freckled clothes in the washing machine at that very moment.
“And then the guys kept asking me things about him that I don’t know the answer to. Like his favorite things and I feel like …maybe I’m not cut out for this romance shit,” he trailed off, embarrassed and turning his face back into his folded arms to hide the red tint in his cheeks.
Ryoko finally took her turn to speak, tone staying sympathetic, “Oh, Keisuke, you’re not bad at it. You’re young. You have plenty of time to learn things about each other as your relationship progresses. You don’t need to rush to figure it all out now.”
It was reassuring, but the core of the matter still stood that he only had three days to get his shit together and figure out what to gift Chifuyu. “What do I do?”
“For Valentine’s? Keisuke, it’s not that important of a holiday. Do you actually think he’d be upset with you for not getting him something cliché like chocolate or flowers?”
He grunted, lifting his head to shrug his shoulders, sitting up a bit more. His face still glowed under the warm overhead light. “Ugh, probably. He’s kind of a brat.”
Ryoko laughed, “As if you aren’t,” earning an eye roll from Baji. “But seriously, if you had to think, what’s something he would actually appreciate? Something that would last longer. Maybe something he could wear, like a sweater or-“
A lightbulb went off in his head as she kept listing things in the background.
Something he could keep for a long time, something he could always wear, something that would remind him of Baji anytime he looked at it.
There was only one thing in his mind that he knew Chifuyu would actually adore and keep until the end’s of the Earth.
He stood up fast, making Ryoko stop her list of things he could do to stare at him. He sloppily tied his hair up and rushed into his room to get changed out of his sweats.
“What are you doing?” she called down the hall at him. He zoomed back into the living room, leaning down to kiss the top of her head as he headed to the foyer to grab his sneakers.
“I know what to get him, but I need to go before the shop closes.” He hesitated with his hand on the knob before looking over his shoulder at her, still sitting under the kotatsu with one hand resting against her chin. “And thank you… about Chifuyu,” he said, keeping it vague, not wanting her to further embarrass him after an already mortifying day.
She just waved him out, sighing to herself as he left, footsteps echoing in the hallway outside, “Who knew young love was so serious these days.”
“Can I pleeease have my present now, Baji-san?” Chifuyu begged, placing the finished wrapper for his third cupcake on his plate. He had dressed so cutely for their date- pale pink button-down tucked into tight black pants with a chunky red cardigan, looking like Cupid himself. His blonde was even styled with a small heart shaped hair pin on the left side, showing off his undercut. Matching pink frosting covered his bottom lip and God, was Baji melting into his seat watching him poke his little tongue out to lick up the remainder from it.
He shook his head with a smile, waves moving slightly with the motion. He hadn’t taken the hint about dressing the theme, wearing his normal date attire of ripped jeans and a plain black and grey sweater. He had at least accessorized with several necklaces and rings to keep up appearances, but always letting his boyfriend be the star of the show with his fashion.
“When we get home. I want to give it to you in private,” he replied and Chifuyu’s eyes shot up. Their allotted time was running out for their spot at the café and Baji swore he watched Chifuyu jump in his seat a little.
“I think I’m ready to go home then!” He tried standing up quickly but Baji caught the sleeve to his cardigan, urging him to retake his seat.
“What’s the rush? We still have fifteen minutes. Don’t you want to stuff yourself silly while you still can?” He smiled wider, fangs on full display to Chifuyu, who gulped at the sight. And sure, he wanted to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat sweets bar they were granted access to, but now, he was thinking of asking for access to the tip of Baji’s tongue that was tracing over one of his canines with a glint directed at Chifuyu.
Face heating up at the sight, and in public no less, Chifuyu sat back down, grumbling into his sleeve something about ‘fucking tease’, making Baji bark out a laugh.
As soon as the door to Baji’s apartment closed behind them, Chifuyu was pushing Baji to untie his boots faster. He tugged on the sleeve of his sweater, “Hurry up, you’ve kept me waiting all day and made me eat so many sweets I feel like I’m going to blow up!”
Baji swatted at him as he stood, boots being placed as slowly as humanly possible on the shoe rack, making Chifuyu groan louder. “I did not make you eat two more slices of cheesecake, Chifuyu. I just reminded you to use your time wisely.” He walked down the hallway, Chifuyu still gripped onto his shirt, bumping into his heels with every step with how closely he was following.
When they made it past the threshold of Baji’s bedroom, Chifuyu was suddenly flung around, hoisted up by Baji, and dropped onto the bed.
His back hit the mattress with a giggle. “Oh? Is it finally time for my present, now?” he asked cheekily, batting his eyelashes. Baji crawled over him, leisurely leaning in towards his mouth.
His lips ghosted over Chifuyu’s, taking in the sweetness on his breath. He resisted pressing down onto them, instead reaching down to grab Chifuyu’s left hand, bringing it up to his own face. It smoothed over Baji’s right cheek, palm flat against it, Baji’s eyes watching the way his breath hitched as it slid down to graze over his lips. Baji pressed a slow kiss to it before sliding it back up towards his jaw.
Amber continued to stay locked on turquoise as Chifuyu’s mouth twitched, wanting Baji to come back down to capture his lips and make his heart stop beating as erratically as it was right now. But Baji simply kept on his slide of Chifuyu’s warm palm, reaching to his right earlobe.
His fingertip made contact with something round amidst the softness of Baji’s lobe and he gasped. Baji’s eyes alighted as he smirked, “Oh? Did you finally notice it, Chifuyu?" His lips were still dangerously close as he spoke, making Chifuyu shiver before he could answer.
“You-your ear!” He was breathless as Baji sat up straighter, still straddled over Chifuyu’s lap. He dropped Chifuyu’s hand before he could do any more touching, earning a noise of disappointment. The hairtie from around Baji’s wrist twisted itself in his black locks, high ponytail being pulled through it. As he let it fall into place, Chifuyu sat up, getting closer to inspect.
A silver hoop, three tiny circles next to each other in the center of the bottom, hung from Baji’s right earlobe. “Do you like it?” he asked, voice still dropped lower than normal, talking with such a sensual tone it made Chifuyu swallow, hard.
“B-Baji-san, this looks… so good on you. God, why have you never gotten a piercing before?” he practically groaned into Baji’s ear, letting his fingers play with the little jewel.
“Do you think it would look good on you too?” he whispered, Chifuyu’s eyes taking him in as he went into his pocket, pulling out a small red bag. He dropped it into Chifuyu’s outstretched hand, leaning forward to kiss his cheek with a “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Chifuyu didn’t hesitate to open it, taking out the matching half of the pair. He turned it in his fingers, noticing something,
“K. B.?” the inscription on the inner ring read and Chifuyu put two and two together faster than Baji could react to the strong arms wrapping themselves around his neck. He almost tipped with the force but Chifuyu just kissed him for dear life.
“Baji-san, your initials? And a match to your own? You pierced you ear for me too? Baji-san what are you trying to do to me?” He kissed him in between questions, Baji’s heart singing at the attention but he wasn’t done just yet.
He kissed Chifuyu back with a whispered, “Look at mine,” before his hands went to unclasp the earring, hissing a little as it released. He placed it into Chifuyu’s hand, next to the one he had been gifted. He picked it up, looking at the letters “C. M.” inside of it.
“I want you to be mine and only mine, Chifuyu. For me, being with you is the same as you promising me to always stick with me. Will you?” He spoke softly, with a lilt Chifuyu was still somewhat unfamiliar to. The side of the known wild man that only he got to see, cherishing it with every fiber of his being.
“Always, Baji-san. But you don’t think it’s too early for something like this…?” He reached up to unfasten his regular hoop, clasping the new one in it’s place. Baji took his own back from Chifuyu, replacing it in his ear, despite the little sting from it being fresh.
“I don’t date to just fuck around, Chifuyu. I’m serious about you.” He leaned forward again once it was secure, grasping Chifuyu’s chin in his fingers to pull him in for another sweet tasting kiss. “I want to learn more about you. I want to know things no one else does.”
Chifuyu returned the kiss, deepening it as Baji lay him down, back against the bed again. He giggled into the kiss, parting with a line connecting the two of them. Baji’s mouth left to press small kisses to his neck, hand drifting to begin unbuttoning his now wrinkling pink shirt. “What do you want to know about me?” he asked in a whisper, “I’ll tell you anything.”
Hot breath puffed against his neck as Baji released the spot he had been sucking on, coming to sit up slightly with an inquiring look on his reddening face.
“Do you like strawberries?”