Chocolate Stashes and Little Moments

Summary: Every year around the change of the season, Chizuru and Heisuke drink hot chocolate and watch old Christmas movies.

Todo Heisuke watched from the living room as his best friend since childhood moved around the kitchen, making their traditional hot chocolate. He didn't know just what she put in it to make it so magical, but it always made his taste buds sing. He knew that she would enviably take a cup to her bratty twin, but that was fine. That was a part of their tradition too, including the rented movie in the DVD player. He couldn't help but smile as he listened to her hum over the sounds of the kitchen.

Minutes passed before Chizuru declared their hot coco done. Another three minutes passed before she returned from carrying her brother a cup. Heisuke leaned back and put his arms behind his head. Kaoru had a tradition of his own this night; he would try to keep Chizuru with him for as long as he could. Heisuke shook his head and snorted.

He had never heard of a brother being so clingy. But, in a way, Heisuke understood. Chizuru was a unique girl. He had known that from the moment they had met as children. Something about her warmth drew him in. Where Kaoru was twisted and mean, Chizuru was honest and good. She was so open; she made friends everywhere she went.

Before he could get anymore lost in his thoughts, the living room door slid open again and there she was. He raised his eyebrows at the annoyed expression on her face.

"What?" Heisuke asked, not bothering to hide the amusement in his voice. Her lips pursed.

"Kaoru seems to believe that you have…intentions." She groaned, every bit the annoyed sister. Heisuke tensed. 'Fuck. Crafty little fucker.' Of course, Kaoru would be able to tell that Heisuke's feelings for his sister had changed over the years. With the way Kaoru watched over his younger sister…of course he would know. Heisuke kept his face as blank as possible, but it turned out that he did not need too. Chizuru had already moved on to the kitchen to get their mugs. She kept talking. "Don't worry, Heisuke. I told him how silly he was being." Heisuke barely concealed his flinch. "If you had feelings for me, surely you would have done something already, eh?" She laughed. God, he had never wanted to merge with the couch more.

"Hehe…Yeah," he choked out. Chizuru smiled at him as she placed his mug in front of him. He took it from her. His fingers brushed hers; and he could not stop the blush that spread over his cheeks. He folded his fingers around the mug. She sank down next to him and Heisuke grabbed the remote.

"Really?" Chizuru laughed as he pressed play. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer came up on the screen. Heisuke forgot his discomfort, his buried feelings, and defended himself.

"It's tradition!" He protested.

"We've gotten a little old for it, haven't we?" She teased him. Heisuke glared at her over the mouth of his mug. He swallowed the mouthful.

"It's a wholesome movie about friendship and holding to your beliefs. What could be bad about that?!"

"Okay, okay," she laughed. "Just press play." Heisuke couldn't wipe the pout off of his face as he pressed the button. The music filled the living room and they fell silent.

Heisuke couldn't stop glancing over at Chizuru during the movie. Despite her initial teasing, she seemed just as enraptured by the movie as she had when they were younger. He even caught her humming along to some of the songs are the rim of her cup. He smiled as that familiar warmth bloomed through his chest.

He knew that their fellow classmates and teachers would be surprised to know that Chizuru would tease him. To all of those at school, she was sweet, mild-mannered, and kind. While she was all of those things, Heisuke and Kaoru knew her. She opened up around them and revealed another side of her.

To be honest, he couldn't pinpoint the moment he realized he had developed a crush on his best friend. He couldn't even tell you the moment friendship changed to love. He didn't have a timetable. Chizuru had always been herself. She hadn't done anything different. She had just been herself.

One day, they had been eating lunch outside, he had looked over at her. Her hair had been haloed by the sun. He had been in the middle of commenting about how he had never noticed she had dark brown highlights in her black hair when he felt it hit him like a punch to the gut. He had been staring. For way too long. Chizuru had simply paused, looked confused for a second, and then laughed. After that, she had teased him for being so blind…because of course she had always had dark brown highlights. Her hair wasn't completely black.

And then…he started noticing other things about her: the different shades of brown and gold in her eyes, that little freckle that he hadn't noticed before on her neck, and the way her lips slightly quirked up at the right before she smiled. He could list all of these things about her.

But…he couldn't tell her.

He didn't know how.

One would think it would be simple; after all, they had known each other for so long. But that only made it harder. What if she didn't feel the same?

Actually, he was fairly certain she didn't. He saw the way she looked at Hijikata-sensei. Yeah. Chizuru had a rather obvious crush on their teacher. And to make matters worse, he knew that Hijikata-sensei was just waiting until Chizuru turned eighteen to try and pursue a relationship with her. Oh, he had never heard the man say it, but Heisuke wasn't blind.

He saw the looks that lingered too long and the slight softening around the man's usually hard violet eyes whenever Chizuru spoke to him one on one about a test she was genuinely concerned about. He saw the protective edge Hijikata-sensei adopted whenever the school president, Chikage Kazama, got too close to Chizuru for her comfort.

Heisuke slumped slightly on the couch and abruptly startled when he felt something touch his shoulder. He looked down to see Chizuru's head on his shoulders. His heart immediately galloped at the sight of her leaning on him. Her slightly pink lips were parted as she breathed. His lips quirked. If he was not mistaken there was a hot chocolate mustache above her lip. He bit into his index finger to keep from laughing, to keep from waking her.

Because as pathetic as it was, he would only get these little moments. So, he leaned into her so that her head would rest against his neck instead of the bone of his shoulder. He didn't dare speak in fear of waking her up.

And before long, he had fallen asleep too.

Unfortunately for both of them, they were awakened by Kaoru's squawking as he came to put his mug in the sink: "Get away from my sister!"

"Chizuru!" Heisuke whined even as Chizuru jerked awake. Now it was his turn to lay his head onto her shoulder. "Make him go away." He grumbled. The action seemed to only irritate the other half of the Yukimura twins even further. As he listened to Chizuru both attempt to calm down her brother and defend them, he hid a smirk against the collar of her shirt.

These little moments were better than nothing.

And it was always fun to rile Kaoru up.