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You kicked open the door to your shared apartment with roommate Ran, arms full of all the groceries you got for the next week or two. Kicking the door closed with your foot, you glanced around not seeing them.
“Ran?” You called out. “Can you help me put these away?”
“Comin’!” You heard Ran’s voice call back from the bedroom. You made your way to the kitchen, setting the bags onto the couch with a small huff. Ran walked into the kitchen, wearing a loose white cropped shirt and some black sweatpants. It had been their day off and they were taking full advantage of it.
“Hey.” You smiled, already unpacking some of the groceries. “You want the fridge or the pantry?” You asked. The two of you had fallen into a routine when returning from shopping. One person takes the fridge/freezer filling it up with the recently bought cold and frozen contents from the store while the other takes the pantry, filling it with the remainder of the non-temperature controlled foods.
“Pantry.” Ran reply, going to grab the pantry bags. You had already separated the items into corresponding bags at the store to make it easier once you were home. So you started grabbing drinks and other things to organize into the fridge and freezer, leaving it open as you worked.
After your first bag was done you glanced behind you to see Ran had the pantry door wide open as well, already half way through the second bag.
“Oh—“ You spun around seeing that Ran had grabbed the pocky you picked up for yourself. “Wait, leave that out. I wanna eat it in a bit.” You said before turning back to finish putting away the last bags of frozen food.
Ran looked at what you were talking about. “Pocky?” Ran asked, a little confused.
“Yeah, Pocky!” You beamed, it was one of your favorite snacks that wasn’t always available in Zaun, so you grab a few whenever you find them. “Why? You wanna play the game?” You looked over your shoulder, overly raising your eyebrows in a playful manner to them.
“Game?” They asked turning the box over in their hand as if there were instructions for the game on the back of the box. Your brows halted before scrunching together.
“You’ve never heard of the pocky game?” You questioned your roommate, a confused look on your face. You finished putting the last of the food in the fridge before turning to fully face Ran.
“Not the game— I know the snack.” Ran commented, shifting the box over again in their hand. They then looked up at you. “How do you play?”
If there was anything Ran loved, it was a good game.
“Oh!” You tried to hide the devious smile that was creeping into your lips. “I can show you.” You took the pocky box out of their hand, turning to head towards the living room.
“Come meet me when you finish putting everything awayyyyy~” You sang in a singsong voice. Ran narrowed their eyes on you. You were being subtly suspicious suddenly and Ran of course had taken notice, but Ran did love the thrill of something new. They quickly went to put the rest of the groceries away before making their way into the living room.
You were sitting on the couch, TV already turned on with you flipping through the channels. The pack of strawberry pocky sat open next to you, one already dangling from your mouth.
Ran plopped next to you on the couch, grabbed the end of the pocky stick in your mouth and broke it off before eating it themselves. “So,” they said while still chewing. “What’s this game?”
You smirked softly, turning your head to hide it as you grabbed the box of pocky sticks. “It’s super easy!” You said in a bubbly tone, trying not to give away your flirtatious plan. You grabbed a single pocky stick and turned back to face Ran.
“So we both put each end of the pocky sticks in our mouths and the— don’t give me that look!” You protested as you saw Ran face quickly contort with confusion. Ran shook their head and let their face fall back to a neutral expression.
“Alright, alright, continue.” Their mechanical hand motioned for you to continue explaining the game, so you did.
“With one end in each of our mouths you have to try and eat the pocky as fast as you can- whoever gets to the middle first wins!” You smiled at your roommate.
“That—” Ran began, trying to wrap their brain around a game they’ve never played before. “That just sounds like a set up for a make out session.” You tried to keep your face as neutral as possible, your cheeks immediately heating up at the thought.
“Yeah,” you scoffed, trying to sound the opposite of how you feel. “If you’re a horny pervert like Sev.” You chuckled to yourself before gasping dramatically.
“Ugh! My own roommate thinks so lowly of me!” You dramatically flung your arm over your eyes as you leaned back on the couch. “Making me out to be a pervert! How dare!” You said as dramatically and unseriously as possible.
Ran’s loud laughter met your ears like a firecracker. It wasn’t often you could get a good laugh out of Ran, but whenever you did you never wanted it to end. Their laughter came from deep in their chest, rumbling out barking waves. Ran covered their mouth quickly as they quieted themselves down.
Ran’s laughter subsided as they plucked the pocky out of your fingers. They ate half the stick in one bite, pointed the other half at you. “I’m gonna tell Sevika you called her a horny pervert.”
“Do it, you know I’m right.” You leaned up and bit part of the pocky stick off, leaving the last bit for them to eat. They smirked at your response and chose to stay quiet, but with the expression on their face you knew they agreed with you.
“Anyways!” You sat back up straight on the couch, grabbing another piece of pocky. “Ready to play?”
“Sure.” Ran adjusted themself on the couch to be facing you more properly. “Ready whenever you are.” They replied casually.
“Alright.” You smiled and set one end of the pocky stick between your teeth. “‘Nd take dee oudder side—” you spoke through your teeth since they were holding the stick.
“Got it.” Ran replied before catching the other end of the pocky stick between their own teeth. You held up a hand with three fingers raised. Humming along you counted down each of your fingers until there were none left.
“Go!” As you said this, you quickly started eating your half of the pocky as fast as you could, easily making it to the middle first as Ran didn’t expect how serious you would take the same. Once you go to the middle, right before their lips brushed against yours, you broke the pocky stick and pulled back.
“I won!” You cheered happily as you finished the food in your mouth.
“Okay, I see.” Ran nodded, having a better understanding of the game.
“Wanna go again?” You asked, pulling out another stick of pocky.
“Yeah.” Ran said, not as nonchalant as they did before. You knew they weren’t as fiercely competitive with games as Sevika may be, but that spark of competitiveness was still there. They set their shoulders back and prepared themselves to give it their all this time.
“Okay.” You put the pocky stick back between your lips and leaned closer to Ran, who accepted the other side without hesitation.
You counted down off your fingers again, and once it hit one, Ran began munching away at their half of the pocky stick as fast as they could. You watched, following intentionally slightly slower than you did last round, just to let Ran win. Once they got to the middle, they snapped the last bit off and pulled back in victory.
“Mm!!” They hummed excited, chewing the remainder of their sweet snack. You smiled at them and clapped victoriously as they won.
“Alright, shit, now we’re even.” You said as you swallowed what was in your mouth. “One more round!” Ran nodded their head, locking in for the final round. You grabbed another pocky stick and put it between your lips.
“Ready?” You asked. Ran took the other end between their plump lips before replying.
“Ready.” You held your hand up, counting down once again. Once you got zero and signaled to go, you didn’t hold back this time. You worked your way down the pocky stick as quickly as you could, watching as Ran just as quickly ate their half. As you both were approaching the middle of the stick, you let your hand fall onto your roommates knee as a slightly distraction. It worked. You made it to the middle first, but you didn’t stop. Inching closer and closer, you closed the gap without pulling away.
You quickly let your eyes flutter closed you pressed your lips against their own. Their lips are so much softer than you ever imagined and you just wanted to stay there forever, but you pulled away after only two moments of a quick kiss and saw the shock in their eyes. Ran’s pale face quickly turned a deep shade of pink you’ve never seen in them before.
“Oh—“ you pulled back and let your fingers hover over your mouth as you feigned innocent. “Whoops! Went a little too far, sorryyy~” You couldn’t help but grin as you pulled another stick out from the pack, but this time just eating it for yourself.
Ran stared at you astonished, truly at a loss for words for a moment. “I—“ They blinked repeatedly to try and bring themselves back into their own body. “You. You did that on purpose.” They finally came to the conclusion.
“Whaat?” You grinned at them devilishly as you grabbed the pocky box and stood up off the couch. “I think you just got a little too competitive is all.”
“You definitely did that on purpose.” They repeated, more firm in their conclusion.
“Hm.” You hummed, tapping a single finger on your chin in thought. “Well then, I guess what you said before is true.”
“What?” They questioned you, brain currently scrambled from the onslaught of new conflicting information.
“Your roommate.” You broke half of a pocky stick in your mouth before offering the other half to them. They glanced from the pocky then back up to you, the blush only spreading more across their face as they took the snack from your hand. “Just may be a liiiiittle bit of a pervert.” You couldn’t contain it any longer, giggling maniacally as you walked towards your bedroom. Once you made it to your door you opened and walked in, but poked your head out to look at your roommate one last time.
“Thanks for the fun game.” You wink at Ran and shut your door, leaving Ran alone in the quiet living room as they tried to calm down their burning cheeks.
Ran sat there for a moment in silence before letting out a heavy sigh, running a hand down their face as they tried to hide their growing smile.
“Now how the hell am I supposed to top that? Clever girl…”