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Kiyotaka's boots crunched heavily on the gravel path as he marched along, followed closely by Mondo, who was shoving his hands deep in his pockets to protect them from the frosty night's air and wondering where the hell his boyfriend was taking him.
The only explanation he'd been given was "I'd like you to come look at something!", which he'd assumed meant homework, right up to the point where Kiyotaka had led them outside the building, and in the direction of the Reserve Department...
Was this another attempt to convince the students there to stop their stupid protest? (Because, seriously, who in their right mind thought the school would have funded a murder of its own student council!?) He hoped not, Kiyotaka had already stressed himself out over it all enough already, to the point where he seemed to be trying to do more to stop it than the actual school!
Maybe the students had broken something and he wanted Mondo to try and fix it? That would be like him... In which case it was a good thing there was a full moon in the cloudless sky, else he probably wouldn't be able to see whatever it was clearly...
They approached the fountain on route to the reserve school, at which point Kiyotaka stopped, did an about-face and gestured to it in the same way a tour guide might present a piece of artwork...
"Please observe this fountain!" He instructed.
The fountain? It looked the same as always... The pale stone circle around the bottom was intact, and still contained a thin pillar which led up into a shelf that pooled the water coming out of the point at the top of the structure... All the water was flowing correctly as well, what was the problem exactly?
He couldn't see any graffiti or signs of damage... The stone all looked as if it had been recently cleaned... Did Kiyotaka think it looked too phallic, or something? What was he supposed to be looking at here?
He decided to 'cheat'. To sneak a quick glance over at his boyfriend to see exactly which part of it the pedantic fucker was glaring at exactly...
Except Kiyotaka wasn't glaring at all... If anything it was the complete opposite! He was smiling, but not the usual wide smile that always briefly split across his face and disappeared right after like a bolt of lightning... This was a small, subtle smile that was staying, like the light of the sun on a spring day... It had relaxed his face, smoothing over the usual crevices and frown-lines that marked his skin. Even his eyes looked different, instead of the usual fiery intensity they observed everything with there was a light glow, like a pair of red fairy lights twinkling out of the darkness as they flicked back and forth looking at... what, exactly?
Mondo looked between the fountain and his eyes for a while... Kiyotaka mostly seemed to be looking at the water as it flowed out of the top, although occasionally his eyes would drop back down to the pool of water, where the reflected moon was rippling and contorting at their feet...
Wait, the moon? Was that what he was looking at? The light of the moon shimmering in the water as it flowed from the fountain? Mondo couldn't help but chuckle softly at the realisation as he felt a smile of his own pulling at his lips. Kiyotaka hadn't wanted to deal with an insane mob or fix a problem... He'd just wanted to look at pretty lights with his boyfriend.
"What do you think?" Kiyotaka asked, almost trance-like as his eyes continued to flow over the sight of the water.
"...Beautiful..." Mondo admitted, but he wasn't talking about the fountain... He was looking at Kiyotaka, stood in an all-too-rare state of complete peace, with his pale skin and white uniform taking on a faint glow as they reflected the moonlight... He looked like an angel had manifested itself on the Earth, and was taking a brief moment to get used to the joys of the planet before moving onto its task...
Which happened all too soon, as his boyfriend turned his head towards him in response. "I agree it... Kyoudai! You aren't even looking at it!" He huffed in complaint.
"Well... You're prettier..." Mondo muttered a quiet confession.
A faint rosy glow blossomed out on his cheeks as he shuffled his feet and crossed his arms in embarrassment. "I-I am not!" He stammered.
"Yeah, ya are...! Or ya were!" Mondo tried to explain, causing Kiyotaka to exhale sharply at the contradictory statement. "It's just... Ya looked so calm and happy and... shiny and stuff..."
"Shiny!?" Kiyotaka's mouth twitched at the terrible description and Mondo wished he was better with words.
"Uhh... Like... Your skin's reflecting the moon and stuff!" Yeeeeah... Much better, great job Mondo!
"But if you observe the water in the fountain, I think you'll find it reflects the moon far better..."
"Well, ya still look better than the fountain, okay!" Shit, why couldn't he explain this!?
Kiyotaka sighed, eyebrows furrowed in consternation. "I don't understand... Father said Mother always loved sights like this but you're unaffected... As was Tsumiki..." His frown deepened as he remembered the crappy date he’d had on last year’s Valentine's Day. "Is it just my family? Are we too easily amused?"
"No! It ain't that the fountain ain't pretty... It's just your prettier... You, uhh..." He scratched the back of his head as Kiyotaka faced him and he struggled to think of an explanation. "Ya... Looked like an angel... all... glowy in the moonlight and... and I just wanted to... to grab ya and kiss ya but I didn't 'cause it was like if I touched ya you might disappear 'cause you look like you’re too good ta be true..."
"O-Oh? Ah..." His face softened into the smile again as the rose tint intensified. "I, err... I won't..."
"Uhh... Won't what?"
"I-I won't disappear..." Kiyotaka nervously extended a hand. "I-if you touch me, I mean!" It was said in an authoritative, explanatory tone, but his eyes couldn't hide the pleading behind it.
This time Mondo chuckled louder, putting his closest arm around Kiyotaka's shoulders and intertwining the other around his outstretch hand. His boyfriend relaxed and leant into him, close enough for him to lean his head down to softly kiss the side of his forehead. Kiyotaka hummed happily in response and turned to look at the fountain again.
They stayed like that for a while, Kiyotaka appreciating the warmth of his body and the shimmering fountain, while Mondo appreciated the sight of his usually wound-up lover breathing gently in the moonlight and his arms.
But all too soon the gentle breathing turned to shivers, and the moonlight was reflecting off of the mist he was breathing out into the cold air. "W-we should probably get back..." Kiyotaka admitted, shivering dejectedly.
"I'll make some cocoa to warm us up." Mondo offered, turning Kiyotaka's dejection into badly hidden glee. Togami had insisted on giving them some new samples from his fancy chocolate brand to taste test...
"Th-thank you!" Kiyotaka smiled, "This... this has all been perfect... So much better than last time..." He added, distantly.
"...I'll bring you back out again for Valentine's... We can both have our first proper Valentine's date!"
Kiyotaka murmured in agreement and pulled himself closer, as his boots crunched slightly more lightly on the gravel path back to the school.