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Kiibo had known of Valentine's Day. Of course, everyone did. Even if his life was sheltered he still knew of the day lovers would meet up to spend a special day together. Just them and their feelings for eachother filling their thoughts.
Not that Kiibo ever had the chance to spend the 14th of February like that. For him, it was a day for giving candy to Professor Iidabashi and occasionally the co-workers he found nice. He never had a lover to experience the day with as everyone else did, and at some points in his life, he wondered if he would even be able of share these kinds of feelings with another individual.
In the past, Kiibo never had a person he could call the target of his affection.
But now, he did.
And he was nervous as hell.
On the 12th of February, Kiibo was surfing through the internet, searching ‘Valentine's day gifts’, keeping multiple tabs open and crashing the browser several times as his punishment for trying to multitask. The majority of pages he found suggested things such as chocolate, roses, stuffed animals, candy, cake--things of which he has heard a lot of in the school hallways for the past week. He made a list and wrote down anything that sounded like a good gift, pushing the more... risque suggestions he read about into the back of his head.
He also found a page about a novel focusing on romance and astrology, and promptly sent it to Harukawa. Few minutes passed before a brief, simple message saying ‘Thanks’ popped up in the private chat, making Kiibo smile, the slightest bit proud of himself.
Back to his own issue, the question was still relevant; How could he make his and Kaede’s first Valentines together as a couple perfect?
Akamatsu, from the single year Kiibo’s known her and half of one that he’s dated her, had revealed she had simple tastes, and was okay with anything Kiibo wanted to do as long as it wasn’t too extreme. His and Kaede’s dates ranged from simple walks in the park and feeding ducks to attending festivals around town to trying out the second-most terrifying roller coasters in amusement parks. After dating each other for a couple of months, they tentatively invited themselves to each other's homes and after a surprisingly short amount of time, were completely comfortable with their dates simply being lounging around in their rooms, talking about nothing in particular, wrapped up in eachother’s arms, and from time to time having it end up in something more kept to themselves.
From the research the SHSL Robot has done, those are the most common ideas for a date, even for a Valentine's date. But he wanted it to be special this time.
After all, he loved Kaede. More than he’d ever think he could.
Kaede had been kind, respectful and patient with him while asking nothing in return, and she even returned his feelings. Kiibo knew that wasn’t really her own doing, their emotions were just like that, but he still couldn’t be happier that they shared the same feeling of affection for eachother.
Akamatsu was so generous and such a good girlfriend, being tentative with him and the progress in their relationship, backing out of doing anything he was uncomfortable with, explaining things he didn’t understand, and all-around being...
Kaede.
The robot sighed and smiled, suddenly struck by a wave of pure bliss.
And then he remembered he still had to think of where the date should be and his now-widened eyes blinked, returning to contemplate the list below him.
Places to go, places to go... Cafe, they already went to them a lot. Park, no, amusement park is out of town, garbage dump is not as romantic as Hoshi makes it sound... restaurant...?
Restaurant sounds good. They can have a small meal and order the dessert, on both their tabs--since they always argue over who should pay when they go out--and chat over--
Food.
Ah, right. He couldn’t eat. Kiibo laid his pencil down on the table. He got so excited, he forgot. Hell, even if Kaede prepares chocolates for him, he wouldn’t be able to eat them without spitting them out...
Well, it’s not like they haven’t had dates where Kaede was eating something and they just chatted. It won’t really be any different, will it?
…
The android groaned and scratched his head. Sure, this bothered him when he and the pianist just started going out but he slowly forgot about it as their outings got more varied, so...
Why is it suddenly bothering him now?
Kiibo heaved a sigh again and let his head fall down unto to the desk. He was so interested in and looking forward to spending this special day with his first lover, but… Would Kaede be satisfied? Would she be disappointed? He wasn’t over thinking things, was he? He’s over thinking. He’s gotta be. Akamatsu has been nothing but accepting of him throughout their whole relationship.
“I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself more, too!” Kaede’s words echoes through his memory, and he pulled his head up from the wooden surface, blinking up to the computer screen.
Everything was fine. She’ll like it. As long as they’re together, it’ll be okay.
He should take a break.
And Kiibo did, but when the SHSL Robot saw that his whole ‘to watch’ list was full of romance movies recommended to him by none other than Kaito, he groaned.
…
And then proceeded to watch all of them throughout the night until it was time for him to prepare for school.
=======================================================
The fateful day eventually came, and Kaede had been on Kiibo's mind just a bit more than usual, and he's already been thinking of her a lot . So maybe the change wasn't as big, but the boy couldn't help the churning feeling in his stomach as he walked to school, the purple-wrapped box feeling like a 50 kilogram weight in his bag.
When he entered the classroom, the first thing he did was look around for his girlfriend, huffing through his nose--both out of relief and disappointment--when the head of blonde hair turned out to be be simply Iruma. A few minutes later, he perked up when the blonde with one instead of two ahoges came in, looked around precisely like Kiibo did when he arrived and smiled when her eyes landed on the android, waving her hand energetically. Said android waved back, trying not to have a system failure.
Before they could even exchange two words, however, Kizakura came in and greeted everyone, signaling them to take their seats. The couple exchanged a look, and without verbal communication, agreed on meeting up later.
Everyone kept exchanging glances at each other throughout Homeroom, and when the bell rang some of the students bolted out quicker than you could say “Sakakura’s here”.
Kiibo wasn’t one to blame, though. The second the bell rang, he turned his gaze to his left to see Akamatsu gazing at him as well, and they stayed like that for a couple of seconds before laughing. Kizakura seemed to want to avoid the obvious lovey-dovey atmosphere and quickly left the room.
“Hey, so--” Kaede started...
“--Akamatsu-san, would you like to go on a date with me today!?” ...But Kiibo interrupted with a near-shout, banging his fists on his own desk. The musician’s eyes widened before softening.
“...I was gonna make small-talk first, but yeah! I wanted to ask you the same thing!” She smiled widely.
Kiibo let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and returned the smile. “So… Is it alright if we meet up at 6? There’s a restaurant in the city centre that Professor’s co-worker usually goes on dates to, so I took his advice and made reservations there!”
“I… Hold on, is it like, a really fancy restaurant? How extravagant is it?” The girls expression turned slightly worried, most likely at the possiblity of Kiibo taking them somewhere extremely expensive, and having the poor professor lose more money in favor of his son having a fancy date with his other half. She felt bad for a while after she learned Kiibo was using up all his money for her, but after meeting the older man in person and having the ‘talk’ about making Kiibo happy, Kaede let herself be indulged more, even if it’s just to make her boyfriend feel wanted and useful. After all, every moment, no matter how showy or cliche it may be that they had together was like a dream that Akamatsu didn’t want to wake up from.
“Sakamoto-san is anything but extravagant, so it is not grand, but it is classy. So you don’t need to wear anything extremely flashy or formal… U-Unless you want to, of course!!” He quickly added, waving his hands in front of him in a panic.
But the class representative simply giggled and put her hands on the boys shaking, metallic ones, effectively shutting him up. “I get what you’re saying, don’t worry! So, where should we meet up?” She sent him a reassuring smile and Kiibo caught himself staring at it a little bit too long as he recited the coordinates and directions off to the young lady, completely unaware that there were still people in the class watching them.
For the rest of the day, their hearts couldn’t stop beating.
The small pecks they gave each other at the end of school seemed to do the trick, though.
==================================================================
In a shocking twist of events, the date went really well.
Kiibo and Kaede met up at the planned spot, each arriving around 10 minutes earlier than they agreed on, but they were so caught up in how good the other looked.
Kaede had her hair tied up in a loose, messy, yet somehow still classy bun and was dressed in a slightly frilly, purple dress (due to the barrage of compliments from Kiibo she got, she’d made a mental note to thank her mother later for helping her pick something out). The SHSL Robot felt a little uncomfortable and under-dressed for the occasion, wearing only a white shirt, black jacket, tie, pants and shoes. And yet, the second Akamatsu saw him, her jaw completely dropped.
Kiibo was very handsome in general in Kaede’s eyes, from his synthetic face to the rest of his metal body, and for some reason seeing him adorning *any* clothes was…
Well, let’s just say he looks good in and can pull off about *any* outfit.
After the two finally stopped drooling over and greeted one another, Kiibo extended his arm out and the pianist smiled, taking it with giddiness.
==================================
The meal at the restaurant, despite only one of them being able to indulge in it, was very pleasant, with the place indeed being fancy, but nothing grandiose, and the atmosphere being pleasant and warm. The thing that definitely caught the girl’s eyes, though, was the circular stage and it’s set-up in the corner of the room, sticking out, yet at the same time blending in so well with the interior. Kiibo wasn’t kidding about reservations, because they got front-row seats for the amazing jazz performance.
Kaede couldn’t take her eyes off of it, while the robot couldn’t take his sight off of something else. Both were smiling like mad men either way, hands idly intertwined on the table.
After the band thanked everyone for listening and dispersed, Akamatsu turned to her date right away and started gushing about how great it was, pointing out both virtues and flaws about it as her chocolate cake was finally delivered. Kiibo’s gaze suddenly lowered to the desert, then to Kaede, back to the cake, then back to Kaede again.
Memories of the various movies he watched two nights before were coming back to his mind, reminding him of a specific scene a surprising lot of them had...
His ahoge bounced and turned into a shape of a light bulb, his gloved hand going to grab the fork on the pianist's left, suddenly interrupting her criticism to stop and wonder what the boy was doing.
“Kiibo?” She called out, curious, and she was even more confused when the robot took a small slice of the cocoa treat, lifted it up and rose his other hand up to hover below the fork, so that no crumbs fall down, and then brought the piece of cake close to Kaede’s lips.
“Kaede-san!” He started, a small smile on his face. “Say ‘aaah’!”
“Ah…” She let out unconsciously, a bit bewildered and flushed at the sudden boldness of her usually timid boyfriend, but gulped and opened her mouth. “Aaah…!”
Kiibo fed Akamatsu the treat and ever-so-slowly slid the utensil out, going to take another slice before a purple-gloved hand gently laid itself on his, halting his actions.
“Um, maybe not in front of so many people…? We can do it later…” She whispered to him, and the pang of disappointment Kiibo felt for no more than a second turned to curiosity and shyness, placing the fork in Akamatsu’s hand. “Actually, wait–” The blonde suddenly grabbed the boy’s hand just as it was about to pull away and they looked at each other. “Um. Maybe... one more for the road…?” She asked lamely. Kiibo stared at her for a moment before nodding with a smile and placing another piece of the cake in Kaede’s mouth.
And another.
And another.
And before they knew it, the whole cake was gone, and the couple resumed chatting away, oblivious to the knowing smirks the other patrons were sending them.
==================================
After once again playfully arguing who gets to pay the bill and once again deciding to split it, the two SHSL’s left the restaurant, and out of the blue, Kaede asked Kiibo if he’d like to come over to her place. She continued explaining that her parents are out of town to celebrate Valentine's Day as well, and won’t be home for a few days. Seeing this as an opportunity to give his present in a less crowded, more private space, Kiibo took up the proposition.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been over at Akamatsu’s house, and it’s not like he hasn’t already met her parents (he insisted on getting their blessing, much to the girl's embarrassment and the elders’ pleasant surprise) but it felt just as nerve wracking as the first time he did both of these. On the whole way to Kaede’s room, Kiibo couldn’t stop twiddling his fingers, the boxes in his bag feeling like a still-beating heart.
Kaede didn’t seem to be any better, constantly brushing back strands of her hair every 5.46 seconds and biting her lip.
They seated themselves on her bed, in awkward silence unlike the eager conversations they held that Friday night, until the two of them spoke up.
“So, I--”
“Kaede-san--"
Both of them stopped with a stutter and let out small laughs.
“Y-You first.” Kaede said.
“No, you first.” Kiibo shot back.
“No, you go first.” Kaede replied, a little bit more forcefully this time.
“Ladies first.”
“Robots have privilege.”
“And this robot is using his privilege to let his girlfriend speak first.”
“Kiibo-kunnn.” Akamatsu whined.
“Kaede-sannnn.” Kiibo whined in return.
They sacrificed a few seconds to pout at each other, but their faces turned to smiles pretty quickly, chuckling slightly at their own childishness.
“Alright then, I’ll go first, I guess…?” Kaede scratched her cheek with a now-uncovered finger, and the robot nodded for her to go on. The pianist knew how stubborn her other half could be, after all. She scooted slightly off the bed to reach for her purse, shuffling through it, and then putting it by the foot of the bed again when she supposedly found what she was looking for, hiding it behind her back as she turned to Kiibo.
“So… Kiibo-kun, we’ve been dating for a while, and… I know you can’t really eat chocolate and all, so I wanted to come up with something you would like that I could also make with my own hands, so I… decided to give you something close to my heart…? I know that sounds cliche as hell, but...”
As she trailed off, she looked Kiibo in the eye and, seemingly regaining her courage, presented the small CD case wrapped in turquoise paper. “I… made this piece for you. I hope you’ll like it.”
Carefully, the android took the present from the pianist's hands, unblinking. He stayed like that for a moment, just staring down at it, before Kaede heard a low whine come out of his voice box.
“Kaede-san…” Kiibo looked up at his date with bleary eyes. “Thank you so much!” He bowed low.
“Kiibo-kun! Don’t cry!” Kaede exclaimed, grabbing the robot’s chin gently so that she can see his face and started caressing his cheeks. “I mean, you’re welcome, but it’s not something to cry over…!”
The SHSL Robot laid the CD by his side and took hold of the SHSL Pianist's hands. Not to yank them away, but to simply feel her. “B-But it’s such a nice gift, made just for me…! Kaede-san, thank you so much once again!!” Kiibo finally smiled through his unshed tears and sat up on his knees to bring his forehead against Kaede’s, and wrapped his arms around her back.
The musician giggled, sing-songing a “Happy Valentine's day, Kiibo-kun~” before kissing below both of her lover’s eyelids and then gave him a proper smooch on the mouth.
When they pulled away, Kiibo pouted and looked off to the side. “Still, I can’t help but feel bad… you got me something from the heart, and I just bought some sweets…”
“Kiibo, you just took me out for possibly the most romantic date I’ve had so far in my life. Even if you didn’t give a present, I would still call this the best Valentine’s i've ever had.”
That statement alone gave Kiibo courage to get up and retrieve his violet-wrapped presents from his bag. Not one, but two , Kaede noted, suddenly feeling like a giddy child as the young man sat down again.
Kiibo hesitated for a moment before thrusting the packages in his girlfriend’s direction with a slight bow of his head. “P-Please accept them!” He half-shouted. Akamatsu let out an amused huff as she took them off his hands.
“Thank you!” She smiled brightly, making the robot’s synthetic face turn pink as she unwrapped the smaller package first.
“Are these… Divoro chocolates? Aren’t they crazy expensive!?”
“Are they? I didn’t realize…”
“I swear, Professor Iidabashi spoils you too much…” She criticized, but put the bonbon in her mouth anyway, marvelling at the taste. Seeing her smile, Kiibo smiled too, before handing her the other, rectangular box.
“Kaede-san, please open this one too!”
“I was going to, don’t worry!” The musician wiped at her mouth and took the carefully wrapped present, going layer through layer, until she finally reached the treat hidden beneath it.
Sure, Kaede’s heard of eye candy, but. She never thought she’d ever associate it with actual candy.
The top of the sweet bean jelly block was decorated to look like the keys of a piano, clearly measured and all around pleasant to the eye, the various additions on the inside making it even more beautiful. And if it turns out to be delicious, she might just end up venting all these pent up positive feelings--love, excitement, bliss, astonishment--on Kiibo, and she was already planning on giving him a lot of love that day. She just hoped he could handle it and not overheat.
“...Do you like it?” The one who has been on her thoughts this whole day brought her out of her musing and Akamatsu realized she has been dumbly staring at the dessert in her hands like a dead fish.
“Uh--Well…! I-In looks, it’s amazing…!” She praised with a wide smile and a slightly flushed face. “But I guess we’re gonna have to find out what it tastes like first, right?”
“Well, at least you.”
Oh. Right.
“I ordered it specifically for you, after all.” He smiled.
...
"Oh my god." Kaede laughed, her face red and grin wide as she scooted over to tightly hug Kiibo, burying her face in his hair. "I love you so much."
The robot perked up, returning the hug. "I love you too, Kaede-san! I'm so happy you like it!"
They gave eachother a squeeze before letting go.
“Help me get the dishes and stuff?” She gestured to the bedroom door.
“Of course!” Kiibo hopped off the bed to hold the door open for the owner of the house.
After grabbing a plate and fork, the two returned to their spot on the bed, Kaede taking a quick photo of the treat before proceeding to gobble it down with delight.
“Mmmm~ Ish delishous!” She mused with a mouthful of jelly. Kiibo wiped away the stains around her mouth with some paper towels he managed to snag from their trip to the kitchen.
“Please don’t talk with your mouth full!”
She gulped down the food, as ordered, while still smiling. “Sorry, sorry! It’s just so good!” She then made a face of annoyance, brought the place closer to her and spat out something. “Could do without the raisins, though.”
“O-Oh…” Kiibo’s face, as well as his ahoge, dropped at those words and Kaede instantly noticed.
“Aw c’mon, I still think it’s amazing! And I really appreciate you getting something like this for me!” She then leaned over and gave him another peck by the corner of his mouth. “I have the best boyfriend in the world, after all. I’m not gonna let some gross nut ruin his present for me.”
“...While I am flattered, raisins are fruits, Kaede-san. Not nuts.”
“...Wait, they aren't?”
“No, they’re dried grapes!”
“Wait, seriously?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“No!! I guess I learned something new today…”
“Why would you think raisins are nuts …?”
“Because they’re small and gross, I dunno!”
The pianist groaned and went back to her jelly, while Kiibo stared at the put-aside bag of Divoro chocolates. He then looked back at Kaede happily chewing through her delicious gift, scooping out any raisins she sees looming out of the cut pieces.
The android’s mind once again went back to the movies he watched a while ago. One of the more inappropriate ones, actually. (He was glad he was using headphones. He skipped the ‘bedroom’ scenes, but kissing can make some really suggestive sounds, especially if the kissing is only acting.)
Sucking in a deep breath and trying to ignore the sweat that started forming on his forehead, he took the little bag of bonbons while Akamatsu was distracted with another not-nut and, with a little hesitation, dropped it in his own mouth, starting to chew through it.
At that moment, he didn’t blame Kaede for having that look of pure ecstasy on her face when she ate one. The treat was delicious, not only it had chocolate covering, it also had chocolate filling, and it made his rarely-used taste buds very happy at this special occasion.
But he had to put his own thoughts away for now. Pushing the contents of the candy to the side of his cheek and under his tongue, he tapped Kaede’s shoulder, catching her attention. He gestured to his lips with a determined expression.
“Can we…?” He asked for permission as he always did, restraining himself from talking too much lest his other half notices his oddly puffed up cheek.
Thankfully, she didn’t notice, putting the half-eaten piece of the piano-shaped jelly on the bedside table and leaning in. The two of them brought their foreheads together, one hand on the other’s face, and their second hand on their partner’s hip. And then they leaned in, kissing once again for the who-knows-anymore time that day.
It started out chaste, with just a touch of lingering lips, as they usually did, but they started exchanging more, more touches of lips until Kiibo, scrunching his eyebrows together after gathering up courage, nibbled the slightest bit at his girlfriend’s bottom lip, earning him a shudder and a soft gasp from Kaede.
Shyly, the girl started giving the boy open-mouthed kisses and the robot saw a literal opening, closing his mouth for a second before returning the kiss, using his tongue to pass over the chocolate substance into Kaede’s mouth. Her eyes opened, shocked at the sudden taste of sweet cocoa out of nowhere, not to mention the use of tongue, but let Kiibo do what whatever it was he wanted to do because holy hell, that actually feels really good? Where’d he learn that?? What???
After putting all the chocolate unto Kaede’s tongue, Kiibo kissed her one, two, three more times before pulling away and licking his lips. Of course, he did that to wipe any of the filling that may have stuck to his face after that, but that definitely didn’t stop the pianist’s mind from going to other places.
‘Holy shit.’ She thought, bringing a hand to cover her mouth while ridiculously red in the face, finally remembering that the chocolate was still in her mouth and she had to gulp it down. No, Kiibo didn’t get some weird tech stuff installed that gave his tongue chocolate flavor, he seriously just did… that , whatever it was. But it was good. Crazy good, Akamatsu finally admitted to herself.
“How was that, Kaede-san? Did I do well?” Kiibo perked up, proud, eyes shining, looking expectantly at his significant other for an opinion.
Kaede, the hand on her mouth never leaving, leaned in and put--nearly slammed --her forehead against Kiibo's left shoulder, doing her best not to scream and spontaneously combust because holy shit that was really hot what the fuck .
"K-Kaede-san?" Kiibo carefully put his hands on the pianists hips. "Are you alright? Did I do something wro--"
"No!!!" Akamatsu's head suddenly shot up and interrupted the boy, startling them both. They looked at eachother with widened eyes for about two seconds, before the young woman placed her hands on Kiibo's collarbones.
"It wasn't bad at all! You just... surprised me, is all..." She explained, a stupidly large grin plastered on her even more stupidly red face. "Where did you get the idea to do that anyway?"
"Ah, I... saw a movie where they did that, and I wanted to try it out... I didn't weird you out, did I?"
"Of course not! It was..."
Attractive. Romantic. Adrenaline-inducing. Sexy. She didn't even know Kiibo could be sexy like… like that.
“...Nice.” She exhaled, smiling softly.
Close enough.
“If I’d known you’d do that, I would’ve actually made chocolates for you… well, next year, i guess.” She admitted almost shamelessly. Almost.
Kiibo blinked and then smiled in turn, going to grab another piece of chocolate and holding it up in the space between their mouths. “So then, would you like to do it again?” He asked, an uncharacteristically sly tone to his voice.
Kaede only returned the smirk and narrowed her eyes, leaning in closer. “Would I ever.”
If Kaede was being honest with herself, she had always thought the term ‘swapping spit’ was pretty gross.
But if there was ever any moment to call her out on being a hypocrite, now was the perfect time.
And as she gently pushed her significant other to lay on the bed, their lips still connected, she concluded that she wouldn’t even deny it.