Chapter Text
If fanfics mimic life, Ushio might as well be living one of those moments.
“I wonder if he’ll like it…”
It wasn’t uncommon for him to make enough chocolate to feed a whole classroom. It’s not like they were for him anyway, he just liked making them, and despite all the positive feedback he always received from others, he never had more doubts about his skills than at this exact moment.
To be more precise: the only expert in chocolate is Reito, he doesn’t even come in second here, and the only reason he made extra chocolate this time…
Ushio felt his face burning, shook his head and went back to the baking bowl. He opened the bottle of mint extract he had just bought and added some to the melted chocolate.
A month passed since Kiroku helped him with his first fanbook, so it was past any excuse he could’ve made like “thank you for your help”. And of course, Muu-chan saw right through him. He hated to admit it, but his childhood friend was right.
“I can’t keep dancing around this, you say…”
While he had stopped counting the number of chocolates he had made since he started baking, he could count on his hands the number of mint chocolates he had ever made in his life. It was quite easy, since he only had done so once.
But today…
Ah, why couldn’t he do literally anything else to get close to him… It was a safe bet, since he had heard him say he liked chocolate mint cookies, but, still, wasn’t that too “out of nowhere”?
Ushio wasn’t prepared to make a straightforward confession, but once the chocolates were neatly wrapped inside a pouch and moved safely inside the pocket of his jacket, there was no turning back. At least they were not heart shaped. Ushio would not go to that extreme in terms of romantic cliché, that was the last thing he needed. Besides, fanfics weren’t fun if ReiOu kissed in the very first page.
…Not that he would mind if Kiroku wanted it, but he didn’t want to scare him away.
It was just a sign of friendship, nothing else.
Baby steps.
Which brought him to stand in front of the Toguro dormitory room.
The noise coming from inside it made him freeze. He just realized, he didn’t check Idiotake and Panda’s schedule before coming, fuck. And, of course, Buddha statue was silent as usual, which would’ve made it super awkward if he wasn’t there in the first place! He couldn’t tell these two he was looking for him! Especially not Panda. Though, maybe Idiotake was worse… He shivers just thinking about it.
He didn’t get much time to think about any of that as the door opened. Were they mind readers? He didn’t even have the time to muster the courage to knock. And, of course, with his luck being so wonderful, it just had to be Panda.
“Weren’t you supposed to have a good sense of direction? You do know this isn’t your room, right? Do you need me to call Muneuji to come pick you up?”
“It seems like your words still don’t match up to your looks, why don’t you use your poetry skills to say something smart next time?”
Idiotake was quick to intervene, pushing Panda away before the interaction grew more heated. “Ushio, my man, my guy, what’s up?! Did Chief want to talk to us?”
Too much energy, as always. Ushio almost wanted to just leave. But he saw, behind Panda, the reason he was here in the first place: Kiroku, whose back faced him as he drew something in his bed.
His heart jumped a little.
He could imagine his facial expression, the same he made when they collaborated for the fanbook. What he wouldn’t do to see it again…
“Kiroku,” Nanaki turned around “someone at the door calling for you.”
“Wha-!?” Ushio was certain he did not say he was there for him. Before he could protest, Panda whispered something into Idiotake’s ear. The latter had a huge (annoying) grin, one Ushio couldn’t miss even if he wanted to, and both left the room.
There was a sound of rustling and, before his brain could catch up to him, Buddha statue was already there, looking puzzled.
Shit! Those two idiots were going to pay for this. He couldn’t think of a proper vengeance since Kiroku was quick to walk to him.
“Do you… want something…?”
Just the sound of his voice was enough to make him sweat, and he lost any coherent thoughts that could help him at this moment. It was not the right time to be at a loss of words. Oh, Panda was so going to laugh at him later… He knew that guy was looking at this happening from a certain distance.
The more he looked at him, the more Kiroku seemed to fidget. The room was in complete silence, and it was so awkward, the tension could be cut through with a knife. And he was the one who put himself in this situation too.
Ushio fished for the pouch in his pocket.
“If it’s… a drawing request…”
“Just take this! And don’t you dare mention this to anyone else. You know what, forget about it! Bye!” Saying all in one breath, he almost threw the pouch of chocolate at Kiroku.
And just as fast, he was out of there, closing the door to his room.
That was so pathetic, he wanted to scream. Better yet, disappear entirely. What was wrong with him? Almost like if he was a dumb lovestruck teenager, who was he to laugh at Nanaki, now? That was one of the worst parts: he just downgraded himself to Panda’s level.
He threw himself on his bed.
From the corner of his vision, he saw Muu-chan working on something. Probably an upgrade to his helmet. Without taking his eyes off the project, his friend asked:
“So, did he like it?”
Face falling first on his pillow, Ushio just let out the loudest sigh of his life.
“Ask him later. Or… yeah, no, don’t. It must never be mentioned ever again.”