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it was a warm day, shu reminded himself. a little breezy. it was also valentine's day.
the first bell hadn't even rung, so he didn't really know what he was expecting when he opened his locker and pink and white packages came flooding out. for a moment he wondered how all of those letters could have possibly fit into the compartment.
casually he picks up a random package. it's a chocolate box from a luxury brand-name store, neatly wrapped in pink-and-white heart patterned paper and attached with a red envelope. he wants to appreciate the thought but all of the packages are wrapped the same way and all of the sweets are purchased from the same department store chain. he's sure that the glossy letters all say the same thing too.
it's hard not to notice valt's wide-eyed stare at his back.
---
it's in the middle of the last class when valt unwraps a heart-shaped candy and pops it into his mouth. the whole process is casual and over in a minute, but the sight of him gently fingering the light pink wrapper is burned into shu's retinas for the rest of the class.
he hopes it doesn't show on his face, how he feels a million different things, but most importantly he can't get the sound of the crinkling wrapper out of his head. somewhere in his subconscious he might actually be feeling a little murderous.
'calm down, shu.' he repeats to himself in his head. 'at the very worst it'll be a courtesy gift from a girl in this class.' he reconsiders his options. 'oh god, please don't let it be zac.'
shu goes up to the board to solve the next problem from the textbook. somehow he can pick up the sound of valt licking his lips from the end of the classroom. it sounds pleasant, sticky, and ero-
"excellent work, shu. please return to your seat for the next problem."
---
after the classroom empties, shu feels like he's going insane. no, he is going insane. he walks over to valt who strangely takes his time gathering his stuff and is about to blow up before valt steps up on his toes and kisses him on the lips, passing the moist candy from his mouth into shu's.
absentmindedly he rolls the candy around with his tongue. it was so sweet, almost saccharine. "strawberry?"
valt smiles and nods, a little embarrassed. "it's good, right?"
the candy all but dissolves in his mouth by the time he gets home. shu thinks about valt's gorgeous smile and swallows.
---
he couldn't and wouldn't tell valt that his least favorite flavor was strawberry, but somehow the candy's taste lingered behind in his mouth. even after he brushed his teeth for who knows how long, the minty toothpaste residue didn't replace it.
when he went to school the next morning, he started noticing things that he hadn't noticed before. like how the collar of valt's uniform exposed the smooth nape of his neck, or how fluffy his blue hair looked when the wind blew against it, or how his eyes were unnaturally bright.
valt didn't look like a strawberry person. maybe that was why the candy didn't exactly taste like strawberry.
but whatever the flavor was, it was growing on shu.
---
it's the first time he's actually accepted a valentine's day gift, so naturally he has to return the favor. but it's also the first time he's preparing something for white day.
somehow shu finds himself talking to zac after school in a fast food restaurant. he takes a bite out of his burger and thinks about the bread from valt's family's bakery. he knows which one he likes more.
the first thing zac does is burst into laughter. at least he expected this to happen, but it doesn't stop him from immediately regretting the excursion.
"we're in the same boat, shu." zac smiles. "sometimes i wonder what can you do, when you get put on a pedestal by everyone, and suddenly you fall for someone who's right beside you?"
shu gives himself an excuse to not say anything by taking another bite. it tastes weirder when the flavor of the candy is still imprinted into his taste buds.
zac's smile widens into a grin. "so who's the lucky girl?"
he narrows his eyes. "it doesn't matter, does it?"
"how are we going to know what she likes if i don't know who she is?"
he feels like he's misreading something, but the vague look in zac's eyes tells him that he probably knows who shu's valentine is. then again, zac seems like he knows everything. which isn't always a good thing.
shu takes the chance. "do chocolate covered strawberries sound good?"
zac sighs with his usual flourish and shrugs. "you do look like a strawberry person."
---
shu isn't that accustomed to making sweets, but it's a special occasion and he's a quick learner. melting chocolate and coating strawberries with a perfectly thin layer isn't the same as making pasta, he soon finds out.
not much time has passed, but it feels like the recipe has gone on forever. by the time he's piping different colors of icing onto the strawberries and adding the finishing touches with dragee pearls, he feels a little overwhelmed.
there are a few strawberries left over. he picks up one and bites into it; it's sweet and juicy, but shu still can't really see how he could be a strawberry person at all.
he thinks about his classmates. he sees a faint resemblance of strawberries in valt, but it's not strawberries that dominate. valt is sweet, of course, but more than sweet--he's fresh, bright, and tangy...
"oh," he says out-loud. of course.
---
zac looks at him in bewilderment. "you're giving these to me?"
"i'm redoing them. you can keep them." he doesn't want to think about the chaos that would erupt in the student population if he gave them to a girl in his class.
zac holds up the box of carefully decorated chocolate covered strawberries. "aww, shu, i never knew you felt this way towards m-"
he stops to dodge the incoming fist. shu curses his beyblade-honed reflexes.
---
one thing shu loves about valt is how he can get excited over anything. he watches the shorter boy unwrap the transparent bag of colorful iced cookies, tied with a pale yellow ribbon that shu hand-picked himself. his face is glowing bright, his cheeks are flushed--just slightly, but enough for him to notice. another thing shu loves about valt is how he switches from adorable to alluring in the span of seconds.
there are crumbs left behind on valt's lips after he devours the first cookie he fishes out. "lemon?" he asks.
"yeah." there's something oddly attractive about how valt eats. shu presses his thumb against the rim of valt's lips, noticing his reddening blush. when the crumbs start sticking to his thumb, he lifts his hand up to his mouth and licks them off.
valt blinks. "do...do you want to stay here?"
shu moves his hands against valt's back. he trails his fingertips slowly along his spine and watches valt flinch. the good type of flinching, at least.
"anywhere." he presses his lips against valt's earlobe. "i'll go anywhere with you."
---
"do i look like a strawberry person?"
valt rolls over in shu's bed, blankets sprawled across his figure. his eyes are drooping and half-open. "what??"
"a strawberry person," shu repeats, propping himself up on one arm. he sees the faint marks on valt's neck and thinks about how to hide them for the school day.
valt is silent for a moment before lifting up his hand to hide his mouth; shu realizes he's giggling.
"you're so cute, shu!"