Chapter Text
Class had just finished for the day when Dess walked up to them.
“Oh, perfect,” she said. “I caught you before you went out the door. I have something I want to give you.”
She handed them a little envelope, which Clover immediately opened. Inside the envelope was a card reading, “You are cordially invited to the Holiday Ho-Ho-Home on December 22nd to celebrate the 13th birthday of December Holiday at 4 o’clock sharp. We certainly hope to see you there.”
Clover stared at it for a few moments and then looked up to Dess intending to ask a question, but she answered it before they could ask.
“My mom wrote it.”
That checked out. The handwriting and language were way too formal to have been Dess herself.
“By the way,” Dess said, “it wasn’t written down but it is intended to be an overnight. If you can stay, that is. If you have something to do in the morning with your family then don’t sweat it. But in any case, lemme know if you can be there. See ya.”
She walked away, not even letting Clover get a single word in. Granted they could barely ever speak around Dess without making their embarrassment evident through their voice. Sucks to have a crush sometimes.
Despite the setback with Dess, Clover almost managed to beat Kanako out the door today. (Dammit,) they thought while walking home. (If she hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve beaten Ko. Is the universe out to make it so you can just never win? Oh well, you got invited to Dess’s house. The 22nd… That’s a Friday this year. You wonder if that’s actually her birthday or if it was chosen for then since that’s the last day of school before break.)
(If it isn’t her actual birthday then when is it… Knowing that her younger sister is named Noelle, there’s certainly a Christmas theme… so maybe it’s actually on December 25th? Nah, that’s way too obvious. But it very well could be. Besides, not like you have any room to judge. You were named Clover because you were born on March 17th.)
“Hey, Ka-san?” Clover asked when they got home.
“Yes, what is it?” she replied.
“Are we going to do anything over winter break? A friend invited me over for an overnight after school on the 22nd.”
“No, we don’t have any plans for then. Go on ahead and spend the night.”
“Ah, thanks!”
—
Clover had spent the next two weeks getting ready, both physically and mentally. For one they needed to find a gift. The second thing they needed was a card.
Come the 21st, Clover was reviewing everything they had, since they wanted to be ready beforehand. The present was all wrapped, and preparations for staying the night were made. All that was left was the card. Clover was just staring at it in their room when they felt something on their right shoulder.
“Hey Hirai. Whatcha got?”
Clover yelped.
“GAH!! K-Kai!”
“Hm?” Kuroba’s eyes shifted downward, noticing the card. “Oh.” It was a small white envelope sealed with a red heart. “Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh.” They grinned deviously.
“U-uh... um…”
“Awwwww, my widdle baby sibwing's got a cwush on shomewone,” Kuroba teased in an overly cutesy voice.
“Sh-Shut up…” Clover started blushing.
“What's wong? Embawassed?”
Clover put their head in their hands and started making a noise, showing that they were, indeed, embarrassed.
“Oh, you sooooo are.” The noise continued. “So. Who is it?”
“...not important,” Clover mumbled.
“Uh-huh. You just don't wanna tell me, do you?”
Clover had to take a second to determine how to answer. Was it yes, they didn’t want to tell them, or no, they didn’t want to tell them.
“...no,” they ultimately decided.
“Eh, that's fair. I'd only tease you more.”
Clover basically turned into a microwave with both the noise and how much they were heating up. They might as well have, physically.
“Gotta admit, though,” Kuroba said, “a little bit surprised. I mean, I realized that I was aro-ace when I was your age. Heh, guess we're more different than we realize. Oh well, no use speculating. Have fun with youw widdle cwush, Cwover.”
“Shut up…” Clover said, head still in hands to hide their face.
“You even decorated it cartoonishly, too. Hilarious.”
“SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” Clover finally managed to find their voice.
“Alright, alright, fine,” Kuroba relented. “Dinner's ready, by the way. I won't tell Ma, Ka-san, or Kan. That's for you to do.”
Kuroba left the room.
“Ko already knows…” Clover said to themself. They looked back down at the card.
(Why did you seal it with a heart?!)