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It was a lazy evening, they were already in bed waiting for sleep to take them over. Valko was leaning against the headboard with her ipad propped up on one hand and her curled against her chest. They were doomscrolling through the social media when his finger clicked on a particular post.
“Mh…?” She blinked confused when what looked like a food review actually turned out to be a sponsor for a chocolate festival.
Delicacies and sweet treats from almost every part of the world were exposed in cute booths, everything chocolate-themed, ready to be tasted and enjoyed.
She didn’t need to glance up and see his face to know that he was salivating already -just like herself.
“Tomorrow you’re going to take a day off. We have a mission,” he stated, already tapping on the screen to see the place and buy the tickets.
Honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty for taking a day off for a date because the next morning, as they stood in front of what almost looked like a little chocolate village built for them and other chocolate-lovers, she felt as excited as Valko was.
Each booth offered different kinds of desserts. Brownies, mousses, lava cakes, truffles, tiramisu, profiteroles… They were really left with an embarrassing decision.
“Can we live here like… for the rest of our lives?” Valko looked around with wide, shining eyes and if there hadn’t been so many eyes around, his wolf ears and tails would’ve freely popped up from the enthusiasm.
“Yes, we can even ask if they have a chocolate fountain big enough for us to be frosted in chocolate.” She chuckled softly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Why don’t we start from that row first? Then we can turn around and see the rest of the rows.”
Valko nodded in agreement and didn’t waste any more time, leading the way towards the first booth.
Soon enough they realised that there was so much to taste that they could’ve really got lost among chocolate desserts. But luckily for them, she was used to carrying a notebook in her bag and picked it out.
“We need a rating system,” she explained as she began to write down the names of the delicacies in front of them.
“Perfect. So we can track everything down and choose our favourites,” he smiled approvingly and chose the categories together with her.
Once everything was black on white, their sweet hunt started.
Before the Belgian booth, she lost herself a moment to talk with the kind woman behind the counter and write down all the information about the pralines while having a taste of each flavour. But at some point she noticed that her boyfriend wasn’t by her side anymore.
“...Val?”
She quickly excused herself with the woman and went looking for him, finding him already three stalls away.
“Why did you suddenly disappear- oh, my God…”
As soon as she was close enough, Valko handed her the rest of the sample cups he couldn’t balance anymore between his full hands.
“I was conducting comparative research.” He justified himself like it had been the most normal thing to do.
She looked down at the six samples in each pair of hands and then raised an eyebrow at him.
“On twelve desserts?”
“I need a statistically significant sample size.”
Her lips open ready to call him out for the poor excuse he just found for his chocolate gluttony, but mulling his words over she realised that... he wasn’t completely wrong.
“There’s supposed to be a sitting area nearby,” she offered, nodding in the opposite direction so they could get comfortable and eat everything.
They had so much fun.
Everything tasted delicious, the dealers were kind and easily entertained conversations about their products. And they definitely satisfied their sweet tooth for the rest of the year… or two.
What she found endearing was the fact that Valko could pick up all the layers of scents and tastes for each dessert, surprising the chocolatiers too. It was funny for her knowing the real reason for his keen senses, and she enjoyed watching the marvelled expressions of the people listening to his comments, also because most of the time left her in awe as well.
At the taste-test of the écleairs, he sniffed at the food a couple of times before giving the best ranking for the smell. She nodded in agreement while she finished writing the different scents he had picked until-
"...there's a subtle roasted hazelnut note that appears after about three seconds." He added before going for a bite.
She stared at him for a moment -of course, he'd noticed such a detail- and then huffed in amusement as she jutted it down on her notebook.
While at another booth, a chocolatier challenged them to recognise the flavours of their cheesecake samples, and they eagerly accepted the challenge and had a bite.
She liked the dessert very much -it was perfectly balanced between sweetness and tartiness.
“I think I can taste cherries,” she took a guess about what could go so well with the dark chocolate, and the chocolatier smiled proudly.
But when Valko tasted it, he provided a more precise review:
“...cherry, roasted almond, orange peel, vanilla bean, lightly toasted oak, caramelised sugar, and whoever packaged these boxes had a golden retriever.”
Silence.
She blinked.
“...Val.”
“...Yes?”
Tilting his head in confusion, he glanced between her and the chocolatier. Didn’t he guess right? Now they could have the whole cheesecake to bring home… no?
“How…? How do you know about the dog?” The chocolatier questioned, utterly shocked.
And they had to laugh it off as a joke, because they couldn’t exactly explain to them that his sense of smell was sharper than normal.
Even if the chocolatier was slightly weirded out, he let them have the take-away cheesecake anyway.
“We were the best chocolate critics for today. They couldn’t stand any chance of our fine taste.”
“So professional that we gave five stars to everything we tasted, though...” she pointed out, chuckling softly, while she flipped through the notebook where she had noted their impressions.
Appearance, smell, sweetness, richness, “would we order it again?” categories accompanied each chocolate delicacy they had tried.
Valko shook his head and stepped closer to her, his chest pressing gently against her back while his arm enveloped her waist in a loose hug.
“That's not true... this was a 9.5,” he retorted as he reached with his free hand and pointed at the Brownie with Sichuan pepper.
“Mh... how come?” She questioned curiously because he had given the point for that treat, since she was allergic to the strong spices and passed it.
“The spiciness was... surprising, yeah. But the chocolate chip ratio was slightly off.” He explained and grinned softly when she broke into a genuine laughter.
“You're impossible!”
“I'm passionate,” he corrected her and leaned in to press a soft kiss on her temple.
She hummed softly at the kiss but her good mood dimmed slightly by the realisation that they might’ve overdid it.
“Tomorrow we're eating healthier...” she said, knowing that today had been a definitely big lapse in her diet for a whole month.
Behind her, Valko nodded in agreement but without his control, his mind wandered back to the delicacies they had treated themselves with.
“...chocolate-covered strawberries count?”
She slowly closed the notebook and tilted her head to the side to glance at him.
Then at the chocolate stands.
And back at him.
“Well, technically speaking… they are fruits.”
His eyes brighten.
“I knew you'd understand.”