A/N: Hey! *smile* So I wrote a fic for Valentine's Day, and probably the only surprising thing about this is that it isn't Linkllen. But this fandom is surprisingly lacking in Yulma fic, so... And it's trans!Alma, fairly standard for me, don't mind it. *wave*
Title: Hairclips and Perfume Bottles
Author: liketolaugh
Rating: K+
Pairings: None
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Warnings: None
Summary: Kanda and Alma go to the mall on Valentine's day. It's not a date, until suddenly it is.
Disclaimer: Like hell I own D. Gray-man.
"There's hearts and pink shit everywhere," was Kanda's greeting to Alma as he plopped himself down in front of her.
Alma raised an eyebrow at him, a smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth.
"Hello to you too, sunshine," she said with amusement, nudging her soda aside so he could set down the cup of pretzel bites. "I had an easy drive here, but Mom lectured me for a quarter of an hour first. What about you?"
Kanda rolled his eyes at her, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms with a scowl. "Tiedoll talked my ear off, but that's nothing new," he snorted, swiping one pretzel bite and chomping down on it. He chewed, swallowed, and continued, "Three people tried to get me to buy flowers from their stands or whatever."
"That's what happens when you go out on Valentine's Day," Alma said agreeably, rolling a cinnamon bite between her fingers. She gave Kanda a teasing smile and added, "So, why don't you guess what I did today, Yuu?"
Kanda sighed long-sufferingly, set the cup down, and studied her for a long moment. Finally, he said decisively, "The hairclip thing. It's a smiley today, but yesterday it was, what, a dog face?"
"Got it in one!" Alma beamed, popping the bite into her mouth. "I think I liked the dog better, though."
"Then why did you change it?" Kanda complained. Alma shrugged.
"Just trying it out, I guess," she admitted.
"Oh, hey," Kanda remembered, and as Alma tilted her head at him quizzically, he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a couple of bright yellow hairclips dotted with tiny rhinestones. "Lenalee told me to give these to you."
Alma grinned, reaching out to receive them. Kanda dropped them into her palm, and she took them back, smiling.
"Lenalee's the best," Alma said happily, carefully reaching up to pin one underneath the smiley.
"It's crooked," Kanda told her after a glance.
"Damn it," Alma muttered, and took it out again. She hesitated, and Kanda rolled his eyes.
"I'll do it," he snorted, and Alma paused, and then grinned at him.
"Thanks, Yuu!"
She scooted over, the chair screeching obnoxiously underneath her, and Kanda took the clips back and carefully put them in, one by one, alternating sides the way she liked when she wore too damn many hairclips.
As he put the last one in, he paused, sniffed, and raised his eyebrows.
"You aren't wearing the perfume," he commented, retrieving his hands and setting them back on the table, tapping against it absently. "You know, the fruity one."
Alma scooted away again and bobbed her head. "Yeah, you said it gave you a headache," she agreed, reaching up to feel the hairclips.
"Oh." Kanda considered that for a moment, and then shrugged, glancing down at his cup of pretzels. "Thanks."
Alma was laughing at him, damn her.
For a few minutes, Kanda listened as Alma chattered about the people passing by, pointing out people who were arguing or mooning or making out in the corner, while of them ate their food. Alma finished hers first, and then eyed his hopefully until he rolled his eyes, pushed the cup to the middle of the table, and went to get the stupid mayo.
Alma beamed at him when he returned. "You're the best, Yuu!" she told him, reaching for the flimsy little cup of mayo.
"Yeah, whatever," he dismissed, shifting to run his eyes over the people walking by the food court. There were a ton of couples, which wasn't a huge surprise, but… "Why is Valentine's Day such a big fucking deal, anyway?"
Alma shrugged, following his gaze. Both of them reached into the cup, and their fingers brushed. Kanda flicked his irritably at her, and she laughed as she took a pretzel and withdrew.
"People like to celebrate how much they love each other," Alma informed him. When he glanced at her, she was smiling softly at one couple in particular, holding hands and eyes locked, looking just like almost every other couple to Kanda. Alma looked back at him, and when she smiled this time, it looked a little different. "Love like that deserves celebrating, you know?"
Kanda shrugged uncomfortably. "You don't need a special fucking day to tell someone you love them," he grumbled, tapping his fingers a little harder.
"No," Alma agreed, uncharacteristically quiet, and Kanda cut his gaze back to her.
"What's with you?" he asked bluntly, frowning.
"Yuu…" Alma trailed off, and then picked up again, looking at him with an odd amount of intensity. "You know I love you, right?"
Kanda frowned harder. "Yeah? You've been fucking telling me since we were kids. How could I not know?"
"Yuu," Alma repeated firmly, "I love you." When he stared at her, she smiled, and then reached forward and grabbed his hand, tight and firm. "I'm asking you to be my Valentine, Yuu."
Kanda blinked, and looked down at their intertwined hands. It was nothing they hadn't done before, a million times, without thinking.
And then a lot of things they'd done without thinking suddenly looked different.
"Yuu?"
He looked back up, and Alma was still looking at him, brow furrowed slightly. Her hand tightened over his, a protective, possessive gesture.
He swallowed, mouth a little dry.
"Sure," he said at last.
Her expression transformed into a sunshine-and-rainbows beaming smile, and she swung around the table and tugged him into a tight, one-armed, somewhat awkward hug, their heads bumping briefly.
"Great!" Alma said cheerfully, and Kanda shoved at her.
"Get off me, you're ridiculous."
Alma laughed, but she obeyed and returned to her seat, shaking her head and still smiling. She hadn't let go of his hand. Kanda resigned himself to losing use of it for the rest of the day, because he knew Alma and knew what she was like.
Then he frowned. "Fuck, am I supposed to buy you flowers after all?" That was what you did for people on Valentine's Day, right?
Alma hadn't stopped smiling. "I don't know, if you want. Or we could walk around instead."
"Uh." Fuck, now he felt confused. "Yeah, let's do that."
They stood up and abandoned the food court, and Kanda glanced at Alma expectantly.
"Where do you think we should go first?" Alma asked, being supremely unhelpful. But her eyes were sparkling. And the clips Lenalee had gotten her looked kind of pretty.
Kanda cast a speculative gaze over the nearby stores, and then nudged her and pointed. "There. That one."
Alma followed his finger and started. "That one sells perfumes,"
"Yeah," Kanda agreed, without looking at her. "It's gonna fucking stink in there, but we can probably find one I don't hate."
Alma was silent for a few moments, and he glanced at her. When she looked back, she smiled at him warmly, and said, "Sure."
"It'll be your Valentine's gift," he added, and they moved toward it.
Just before they entered, Alma said, "I love you, Yuu."
Kanda hesitated, and then said, "Yeah." He glanced at her, hesitated again, and then said, too low for anyone nearby to make out even if they'd been listening, "I love you too."
Alma's smile lit up the room. It always did.
*grin* There's not enough Yulma in the world, for real. I'm not super familiar with the pairing or with Alma, so I'm not sure how well I did, but I'm pleased, I think. *wave* Thanks for reading, and please review!