"Buying Cacao, Raeger? That's odd," Otmar says cheerily from behind the counter of the General Store.
"Why do you say that?" Raeger asks, absentmindedly reaching into his apron for the gold he brought, calculating in his head for a third time whether he's really buying the right amount. It would be embarrassing for a man with his own restaurant to have to come back for more.
"Surely you get enough chocolate on Valentine's Day to last the whole year through!"
"Ah, uh," Raeger closes his eyes and sighs. It's not entirely untrue; barely 8 in the morning and he already received chocolates from several blushing girls who couldn't bring themselves to make eye contact. Just on the way to the General Store! One had been waiting at his door for god knows how long, narrowly missing being hit by the door as he had swung it open, barely managing to stammer out how far she'd come ("Don't tell me. Tropical Country?" Raeger had guessed correctly, stunning and clearly pleasing the girl. He'd left out that the hibiscuses covering her head gave it away easy) So tiring, honestly.
"You really are quite a girl magnet," Otmar grins, knowingly.
"Well, the girls don't bring cacao and that's what a chef actually needs," Raeger says, hurriedly stuffing his purchases into the bag and turning to leave.
"Speaking of chocolate, I wasn't aware you served many chocolate dishes in your restaurant, Raeger."
Raeger grits his teeth slightly before turning back to the old man and flashing a smile. "A good chef needs to shake some things up sometimes."
"Is that so? I'll believe you..." Otmar chuckles.
Raeger gives him a questioning look as he opens the door, but his confusion is quickly forgotten once he realizes he quite nearly hit yet another girl patiently waiting for him outside the shop. Really, how many times must this happen?
x/x
"Man!" Fritz says, announcing his arrival to the restaurant loudly, as always. "You are BUSY today!" he yells over to Raeger, glancing around at the full tables.
"And you're here to make me busier, are you?" Raeger says, handing Fritz a menu regardless. "Order what you want, but it'll take a while."
"Well, I don't mind, as long as you have time for me! ... Hey, anything I want? Off-menu too?" Fritz asks.
"Keep your voice down before someone hears you saying stuff like that. Yes, anything you want. Fine."
"You're the best!"
"Yes, yes," Raeger says, suddenly very interested in adjusting the sleeve of his shirt. The door chimes and he's grateful for the distraction, even if it has to be yet another group of nervously buzzing girls holding neatly wrapped packages. From behind him, Raeger hears Fritz let out an annoyed huff. He shakes his head, grinning to himself, and walks towards the newest customers.
Finally the restaurant clears. Fritz is asleep at the bar counter. Raeger leans over him. He really does look so sweet when he sleeps. You'd never guess someone who looks so peaceful could cause the headaches he does.
There's a piece of hair fallen onto Fritz's face. Without thinking, Raeger reaches out to brush it back and-
"Hi!" The sound of Melanie entering the restaurant jolts Fritz awake and Raeger pulls away quickly, like he'd been burned. The suspicious way Melanie looks at him puts him on edge.
"Hi Melanie!" Fritz says, yawning.
"Are you here to eat?" Raeger asks her, hoping to distract her from bringing up any incriminating moments she may or may not have witnessed.
"Yes," she says.
"You're in luck then! Raeger said he'd go off-menu," Fritz says "off-menu" with a disturbing amount of reverence.
"Fritz!" Raeger says, sharply.
"Ooh, of course he'd offer that to you," Melanie says, grinning. "I don't know if I'd qualify!"
Fritz frowns. "Wh-"
"You can order whatever you want," Raeger says quickly. "Both of you," he emphasizes.
Melanie giggles. "Alright! I want Pudding a la Mode!"
Fritz perks up. "Oh, that sounds good! Me too!"
Raeger looks 'round at both of them. "... Just dessert?"
Two identical pouts convince him not to argue.
While Raeger works, Fritz and Melanie swap gossip about the day's events.
"I saw Annie give chocolate to Nadi AND Klaus AND Mistel," Melanie whispers conspiratorially.
"Ooh, ambitious," Fritz says. "... But if she was going to be that generous, don't you think she could have spared some for other people ...?"
"Did you not get anything, Fritz?" Raeger asks as he sets the puddings down, taking care to keep his voice at a very neutral level of purely friendly interest. Melanie's face perks up regardless and he curses himself for even opening his mouth.
"Yeah! Again!" Fritz pouts. "Not that you'd be able to sympathize, Mr. Popular ..."
"Haha!" Melanie laughs, though not cruelly. "You're jealous, right?"
"Of course I am! You'd think he could spare at least one girl for me, right?" Fritz sighs. "So greedy, Raeger."
"Well, as long as we're discussing chocolate, I got way too much. Do you want some?" Raeger asks evenly. Melanie is staring at him. Does this girl ever stop smiling?
"Mmmm ..." Fritz seems to mull it over for a while. Raeger chews on his lip. Why does he need to consider this? "Yeah, sure! I like chocolate, no matter who it comes from."
Raeger unclenches the side of the counter he didn't know he'd been gripping. "Alright!" he says. "Let me go get something."
He pulls a carefully iced chocolate cake out of the counter fridge and lays it gently on the table. Fritz gets down to business with the cake almost immediately. Melanie gives it a longing look but politely declines when Raeger offers a piece to her.
"I should go home anyways," she says. "Bye, Fritz! Bye, Raeger! Thanks for the food! And good luck," she says the last part quickly, just as she closes the door. Raeger pretends he didn't hear it and Fritz thankfully doesn't seem like he was focusing very hard on anything that wasn't consuming cake as fast as his mortal body could take. His enthusiasm is really, truly endearing. He finishes almost regretfully fast.
"Uhm," Fritz says, looking over the counter at Raeger working. "Do you want me to help? I could ..." He frowns over at the full sink for a moment, almost like he's thinking. "I could do dishes!"
"No you can't," Raeger says quickly, remembering what exactly was left in the sink. "Thanks for offering, but you should really go home."
"Whaaat? Let me help!" Fritz says, trying his best to muscle into the kitchen.
"Don't you have a farm to take care of? You've been here for hours," Raeger says, neatly keeping Fritz at bay, who pauses suddenly.
"Ohh, I forgot to water the wheat!" he says, smacking his hand against his forehead. "Sorry Raeger! Gotta go!"
"Please don't pass out in the wheat field again," Raeger calls after him, making a mental note to have someone check the wheat field in the morning.
Satisfied Fritz is definitely gone, Raeger turns to the sink and begins to wash the dishes. Cake batter is really a pain to clean off, he thinks.
x/x
"Fritz, the restaurant is closed for events."
"I know! Can't a guy come see you just to talk?! It's like you think I only like you for your food or somethin'!"
"It's not like it's a stretch to think as much."
"Hehe, well, I do love your food ... Anyway! I got the worst news! Can you believe I didn't get asked to the Starlight Gala AGAIN?!"
"Oh? That's a shame. Well, I was asked."
"AARGH! Of course you were! Who is it?!"
"Don't yell indoors. ... There were a few girls that asked me."
"What?! What's "a few"?! You don't even know their names? Raeger, you womanizer! You cad!"
"Please keep your voice down. And don't run off again! I didn't accept any of the invitations. ... Oh, don't look so happy."
"But you're free to come with me then, right?"
"..."
"Right?"
"Fritz, don't be weird. I'm not a girl."
"Didn't say you were, man."
"Why do you want someone to go with so bad anyway? Go by yourself. Everyone is."
"Aw, fine. You're going anyway though, right? And it's almost time to go! Let's get moving!"
"... Don't grab me so hard."
x/x
At exactly 9:03pm on Spring 13, Fritz loudly enters the restaurant, arms full to bursting. It is a Wednesday.
"Fritz," Raeger says in a warning tone, like he hadn't left the door unlocked.
Fritz holds up a hand and several of the things he is carrying fall to the floor. "I know, I know! It's Wednesday! The restaurant is closed."
Raeger looks up from the salad ingredients he is preparing for tomorrow, brows slightly furrowed. "It is a Wednesday and I am closed. Why do you look so happy?"
"Well, I figured, 'Hey! Raeger won't be busy today and I need to use a kitchen today!' It was like sara... Soren... Fate! It was like fate. Anyway I really need-"
"No way."
"What? Aw, man, come on!"
"Nothin' doing, Fritz. Last time you used my kitchen you were here for hours and there is still tomato sauce ground into that wall," Raeger nods towards the far corner of the room as Fritz gapes in offended disbelief. "I need this clean for tomorrow. Go bother someone else. Or get your own kitchen! Everyone in town has one. That's why no one else tries to come here on a Wednesday, by the way."
"Hey! I did it on purpose this time!"
"How does that make it better?"
Fritz pouts and not for the first time Raeger notes how big his brown eyes are. He really is like a dog. Oh, stupid Fritz. Raeger doesn't even like dogs. He's about to relent when Fritz unexpectedly rushes up to the counter.
"Look Raeger, I don't even have that much this time! I only took one trip, even. Just one thing, please?"
"Hmmmm ..." Raeger fakes deep thought. It's a good way to avoid what he knows is Fritz's most intense and most pathetic stare. "... Alright. But never again, okay? Tell Gunther to give you a loan for the kitchen or something."
Fritz's face splits into a now-familiar sunny smile. It's too early to be reminded of summer, Raeger thinks.
"Really? I love you, man!"
"... Don't say things like that ..." Raeger mumbles uselessly into the bowl of spinach.
Fritz unloads his armful of ingredients without ceremony onto the table. A trail of thin green vegetables follows his path from the door to the kitchen counter and Raeger idly wonders if a similar trail leads all the way back to Fritz's farm. Quietly, he notes the near-empty bag settled around Fritz's shoulders and after a moment of deliberation decides to bite his tongue. Instead he leans down to clean up.
"Are these soybeans?" Raeger asks, picking one up to examine it.
"Sure are!" Fritz replies cheerily.
Returning to the counter with the now slightly-bruised soybeans in his arms Raeger glances over the rest of what Fritz brought. Eggs, flour, milk...
"... Stuff for soy milk cookies?" he asks after a beat.
"Sure is! Or will be, anyway!" Fritz responds, shelling the soybeans almost like he never realized they were gone. Raeger wordlessly returns to his half-completed prep for the next day. Fritz clearly takes the silence as an invitation, because he continues, "For White Day. I owe someone."
"I thought you said you didn't get anything," Raeger says, definitely not scrubbing the spinach harder than he needs to.
"Wellllll," Fritz says, "I guess that wasn't exactly true."
"I see," Raeger says, absolutely not chopping the spinach with more force than he needs to.
"I definitely owe them more than cookies though ..." Fritz says, more to himself and the empty room than to Raeger.
"I got it," Raeger snaps anyways. He regrets it immediately, looking up expecting to apologize to a pair of wounded puppy eyes, but Fritz instead sends him a glance that looks infuriatingly smug (or as smug as someone like him could manage, anyway) and Raeger instantly feels annoyance wash over him. Is this Fritz's method of payback for all the girls Raeger fends off at every turn? How is that fair? Did it really bother Fritz so much that he felt the need to rub in... Rub in what? Raeger stares blankly at the corner of the restaurant, unwilling to put into words what exactly is so upsetting about the present situation. He feels frustration rise to settle like a rock in his throat. ... Maybe it's not annoyance.
He looks down at the unusable mushy spinach in disgust, vaguely aware the mutilated greens aren't entirely at fault for the revulsion he's feeling. A professional chef careless enough to let his emotions get to him? Ridiculous. Shame rises at the back of his neck, barely noticeable behind the feeling steadily burning hotter since he realized what Fritz had come in to make.
You're jealous, right? says Melanie's voice in the back of his mind and suddenly the sound of Fritz's clumsy cooking beside him is overwhelming. After all the earlier fuss Raeger can't just kick the guy out of the restaurant but something else has got to give.
"I need more spinach," he announces, maybe louder than really necessary. "I'm going to go talk to Annie. Bye." He exits the restaurant in a rush, pretending not to hear Fritz yelling after, reminding him "spinach doesn't even grow in the spring, Raeger!"
The cool air outside feels unexpectedly nice on his face. His entire body is too warm. He pretends he doesn't understand why.
Fritz is wrong, of course. Annie has spinach.
"He's been doing this how many years and he still doesn't know about greenhouses?" she laughs breezily.
"He tries his best," Raeger sighs.
"We all know he does," Annie says.
"Well, I should thank you for taking such good care of him since you've come. He's a good guy, even if he's hopeless. I'm glad you're friends."
Annie giggles. "Oh, I think you take much better care of him."
"Uh, not really," Raeger says, suddenly very interested in the ground.
"You do! He's very lucky to have you," Annie says. "Anyways, he's using your kitchen?"
"Yes. For White Day, he said," Raeger pauses. "I don't suppose you'd know who he's cooking for, do you?"
Annie stares at him. "Oh, Raeger. You can really be so obtuse."
"What does that mean?" Raeger says, affronted, but Annie is already heading back into her house.
"You'll figure it out," she says. "Do try to take the right path home, it seems you haven't been paying much attention to detail lately."
x/x
Head slightly clearer, Raeger enters the restaurant. Fritz is gone but his presence is felt in the form of the disaster zone he left in his wake. Honestly, was he trying to throw the flour in from the other side of the room? How did it get on the wall like that?
Normally Fritz cleans up after himself (or attempts to) and Raeger feels ... Oh, he's not irritated. He is a little hurt. It's easier to say when Fritz isn't around. He looks over the mess in the kitchen, half-thinking about where to begin cleaning, half-telling himself to never let Fritz on the other side of the bar counter again, as if he could ever tell the too-frequent customer no.
All his strongest cleaning materials (goddess knows he'll need them) are upstairs. Raeger begins to climb the stairway when a voice calls down.
"Hey, wait! Don't come up yet,"
Raeger pauses in surprise. "Fritz?"
"Uh, yeah! What, did you think I'd leave without sayin' goodbye? Or cleaning up? How could you think that?" Fritz yells down. His voice sounds strained, like he's struggling with something.
"Don't just invite yourself into my room," Raeger responds, trying to sound annoyed. Difficult to do while also trying not to smile. He stares at his hand on the railing, concentrating on keeping his face straight.
"Just... Oof... Just wait downstairs, okay? I'm almost done."
Raeger doesn't ask why he can't come up or what, exactly, Fritz is doing in his living area. He tries not to think about what kind of mess is sitting upstairs, too. He walks back into his kitchen and resumes cleaning the spinach, gently this time. He yawns and checks the clock. Quarter to midnight. He chastises himself for letting Fritz waste so much of his precious prep time. Marian or Angela (or, goddess forbid, both) will get on his case about overworking if they see him tomorrow. Well, it's whatever, he thinks. Both of them combined are still easier to deal with than a mopey Fritz.
Just as Raeger is wrapping the finished spinach and placing it in the fridge, Fritz comes bounding down the stairs, holding a poorly wrapped, lumpy something in his hands. That explains what he was doing upstairs, then. He also looks dead tired. Raeger sighs to himself.
"Fritz, go home. I'll deal with the mess," he says.
Fritz looks round at him with wide eyes. "What? No, I can clean!"
"You look like you're about to collapse. You'll probably just make things worse."
"Aw, no! I'm fine! I-" the rest of his sentence is cut off by a wide yawn that has him nearly dropping the wrapped cookies on the ground. "Ah... Maybe I am a little tired... Wait, what time is it?"
Raeger glances up at the clock. "12:03am. You've been here exactly three hours. Go home."
"No, no, this is perfect! It's the 14th now!"
It is Raeger's turn to go wide-eyed. "Fritz, you're planning on knocking down some poor girl's door at this time? Girls don't like that. I-" he cuts himself off when he realizes Fritz had walked over and is holding the package out at him, an expectant grin on his face.
What?
Raeger frowns down at Fritz's outheld hands, mouth slightly open. A minute passes.
"... Fritz. You know I'm not a girl, right?" He says, finally.
"What does that matter, man? You gave me chocolate on Valentine's Day."
"I offered you other girls' chocolates! It's not the same thing."
"Raeger," Fritz says, serious. "I'm not stupid, you know! You left the dishes out."
"I make lots of things with chocolate in them," Raeger responds dumbly, blood rushing to his head.
"You don't serve chocolate stuff in the winter," Fritz says, now taking matters into his own hands and trying to shove the gift into Raeger's. "Besides, girls come from all over to see you. No way a cake could survive a trip from Tropical Country, I couldn't even get it to survive the trip to my farm!"
"They could have bought it from Otmar," Raeger says, staring down at Fritz repeatedly jabbing the package into his hands, unable to remember how to grasp things.
Fritz huffs in annoyance and begins to pry Raeger's fingers open himself. "I know what your cooking tastes like, man. How many times have I eaten here? Please take it, I can't have messed up your place for nothing."
Raeger's brain finally connects to his hands and he grabs hold of the cookies. The wrapping has nearly come clean off in the struggle.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew?" He asks, slowly removing what is left of the paper and ribbon.
"Well ... Jeez! I didn't think you'd be that embarrassed about it! You're always cookin' for me anyways. And, well," Fritz grins again, for the upteenth time that night. "I wanted to surprise you a little, hehe. You like soy milk cookies, right?"
Vaguely aware of how hot his face has grown once again, Raeger stares down at the cookies, then up at Fritz. He tries to keep his voice steady, slightly ashamed as he wonders where his manners had run off to. When was the last time he was so flustered to receive something? Was this what years of accepting various gifts from various girls really led up to? "Yes. This is something I like very much. Thank you, Fritz."
The expression on Fritz's face momentarily changes to something Raeger can't catch before returning to its normal grin. "You're welcome!"
Again, just being so close to Fritz is suddenly and horribly overwhelming. Raeger sets the plate down on the nearest table sharply and turns to the door, grabbing a menu as he goes.
"I need to go write on the specials board."
"Oh. Okay," Fritz sounds disappointed. Raeger mechanically turns on his heels, walks back over, picks up a cookie, and returns to the door. He swears he can somehow hear Fritz perking up.
Closing the restaurant door, Raeger steals a glance through the window and back at Fritz. Oh, why does Fritz look so happy? It's just a cookie. The inside of the restaurant fades out of focus as Raeger catches a glimpse of his own face reflected in the window. ... Oh why does he look so happy? Well, no one's ever really cooked for him before, he thinks weakly, like there's still any point in pretending.
He holds the cookie between his teeth to pick up the chalk lying on the windowsill, not paying much attention to what he begins to write on the chalkboard. As if it matters, it's not like it makes sense to write out the specials at this time anyways. He wishes Fritz would just go home and stay home indefinitely so his blood pressure could finally subside a bit. He also wishes there was a reasonable excuse to keep Fritz here longer. Because ... Because ...
"You're surprisingly cowardly, Raeger," he says, out loud. Twenty-something years and a hundred-something girls but he still can't deal with something like admitting he ... Well, that's the thing.
The door suddenly slams open and Raeger startles to his feet, teeth snapping the cookie between them in shock. Half falls uselessly to the ground and Raeger chokes down the other before he can consciously decide whether risking asphyxia is worth saving Fritz's potential hurt feelings over wasted cookies.
Fritz stands in the doorway, looking distraught.
"I'm sorry!"
"Why? What did you do?" Raeger gasps out.
"I ate them all!"
"What?"
"The cookies! I ate all the cookies! I'm sorry. "
"I was barely gone five minutes. Are you a vacuum? ... Don't answer that, I've seen you eat."
Fritz looks like he's about to burst into another round of apologies but can't manage to make the words come out. He looks like a fidgety puppy, Raeger thinks, smiling in spite of everything.
"It's okay. I'm ... Happy you made me anything at all," Raeger curses himself for stumbling, but if Fritz noticed he doesn't say anything.
"Really?" Fritz laughs, but suddenly turns serious. "Wait, no! I had to pay you back."
"I said it's okay," Raeger has changed his mind. He really wants Fritz to leave.
"No, no," Fritz says, still looking very determined. Standing on the step of the front door he is almost exactly Raeger's height and Raeger involuntarily shivers. "There's still something else I can do."
Fritz then leans forward in a very familiar, very intimate, very kiss-like manner. Realizing exactly what the "something" is, Raeger is gripped by an intense panic and his body flies into autopilot mode, whipping the menu out exactly in time to stop Fritz's lips from catching his. There is a seemingly endless pause as the menu description for Hot Cakes fills his vision and he tries to grasp the reality of the current situation.
Which is, Fritz just tried to kiss him.
What?
Raeger feels the pressure on the other side of the menu ease and Fritz speaks.
"Okay, well, I wasn't really expecting you to do that!"
I could say the same to you, Raeger thinks but doesn't manage to say.
"Uh, you dodged that really well. Do you have practice or something?" Fritz says.
Raeger does. What Raeger does not have is practice in responding to thwarted kisses that he maybe actually wanted. There is no way to play this off cooly and the only thing he can think to do is continue to hold the menu between his face and Fritz until he comes up with a good response. Or dies, maybe. Whichever comes first.
Raeger concentrates very hard on the ground at his feet. Fritz's shadow is large and distorted from the too-bright restaurant lights behind him. It looks like its fumbling with something in its bag.
"That didn't really go how I wanted it to. I guess practice doesn't actually make perfect!" Fritz laughs, as if now is the right time to laugh. "I thought I could do this smoother. And it wouldn't be here. And I wouldn't have eaten your cookies. And I wouldn't have kissed the menu instead of you. But it's okay! I, um, I really just wanted to give you this."
Raeger does not move the menu.
"Uh, Raeger? Are you looking?"
Raeger very slowly moves the menu. Cupped in Fritz's outstretched hands is a plain silver ring.
What?
Fritz opens his mouth and Raeger estimates he has exactly 0.6 seconds to save face.
"That's a nice ring, Fritz. I didn't know you were one for accessories." he says, for some reason.
Fritz freezes and looks at him in round-eyed shock. "Uh-that wasn't-"
"Okay, good night." Raeger says, surging past Fritz and shutting the door on him in a very final manner.
He staggers up the stairs in a daze, dragging himself across his room. Unable to reach his bed, he settles for collapsing onto one of his couches and groans, loudly.
Fritz knows, he knows and he tried to do something about it and ... and Raeger's response was ... Oh, it hurts to think. He literally cannot believe what he just did.
After staring at the ceiling feeling sick for what felt like an eternity, Raeger realizes he needs to go to sleep. He closes his eyes and prays to the Harvest Goddess some kind of reset button can be pressed.
x/x
Reset buttons do not exist in life. Regardless, Raeger does not see Fritz at all for almost two weeks. It's almost long enough to make him think maybe Fritz's entire existence was a maddening fever dream, some kind of Freudian delusion his mind conjured up to deal with the emotional fallout of endless lukewarm relationships and girls he couldn't get invested in if he tried.
But of course, Fritz can't really stay away for long. He comes in on a late Thursday afternoon and sits quietly at the end of the bar counter. The restaurant is busy and Fritz doesn't seem eager to order any time soon, so Raeger throws himself into working the last few hours before he's forced to confront the massive elephant in the room.
When the last table clears Raeger has no choice but to ask Fritz what he wants. He does not even know how to begin that conversation. Before he can open his mouth, Fritz suddenly spins around on his stool.
"Hi Raeger! I'm thinking I could really go for a Seafood Rice Bowl tonight!" he says brightly.
"Can you even afford that?" Raeger says, immediately distracted.
"What's that supposed to mean? When have I ever not paid you?" Fritz pouts.
"That's not the part I'm concerned about ..." Raeger says, walking into the kitchen and pulling out the cooking materials. While Raeger prepares Fritz's dinner, Fritz chatters on and on as usual, about what Nadi is up to, about what crops he thinks might survive this season, about how he thinks he might actually have a shot at winning the Harvest Festival this year.
The talking continues as Fritz eats and Raeger begins to clean and close for the night. Raeger is relieved. This is easy, he thinks to himself. This will not be a problem at all.
"Anyway, about the other night," Fritz says, leaning in and speaking in low tones, even though the restaurant is empty.
This is not easy, Raeger thinks to himself. This is most defintely a problem.
"Don't look so concerned! It's okay! I'm totally okay. I am definitely used to that. Maybe not the door slamming, which is new, or like, the not understanding what I was trying to do, which has also never happened before," Fritz says.
Raeger doesn't know how to respond, so he keeps washing the dishes. Fritz decides to keep talking.
"But it's fine! Even though I could have sworn ... I mean, I guess I misunderstood, uh ... Some things. So, I'm sorry. Are we cool? Can we still be friends?"
Raeger stops washing the dishes and looks at Fritz directly. There is sauce on Fritz's nose, which is unbearably cute. There is something melancholy on Fritz's face, which is plain unbearable. Raeger really wishes he could find some of the charm he seems to effortlessly pull out around the endless streams of women that ebb and flow through his life, but he's coming up short even on the "normal Fritz conversation" front.
What he wants to say is, no, I don't want to be friends. Please grab the ring and ask me out again.
What he does say is, "Of course we're still friends. And you have sauce on your nose, it looks ridiculous."
"Oh!" Fritz runs the back of his arm across his face, smearing the sauce over his cheek. "Did I get it?"
"It's worse! You- Fritz, don't use your arm. Grab a napkin. Goddess knows what's on your sleeve ..." Raeger says.
"I"m pretty sure I washed this shirt this week!"
"What do you mean "this week"? You probably shouldn't even be sitting on these stools then, get up please."
"Aw, I was just joking! Don't be like that, man ..."
The rest of the conversation is light, and easy, and the abnormality of the whole situation only betrays itself when Fritz finally leaves and Raeger is left alone with the uneasy sensation of leaving something incomplete.
x/x
On a sunny summer Saturday morning, Raeger waits outside the restaurant, fidgeting with a small object in his apron pocket. It is nearly noon, and the restaurant is closed. He has been waiting for a while and he hopes he doesn't have to wait much longer, because keeping the store closed for too long might give him a stress ulcer, no matter how important what he has to do today is.
After some time, he finally spies Fritz walking down the town stairs. In the time it takes for him to reach the restaurant, Fritz fails to put a single finger on a cat lounging in the sun, animatedly but incorrectly provides directions to three Rose Country tourists and, impressively, trips only once. Raeger is pleased Fritz did not pass out today. He does not have time to deal with that.
"Hi, Raeger!" Fritz says, quickly recovered from his spectacular fall. He sees the restaurant clearly closed and frowns. "Okay, I know it's not Wednesday. I have a calendar now."
"It is not a Wednesday. I have something important to do today," Raeger says.
"Oh," Fritz says, disappointed. "I guess I'll go, then. Unless you wanna whip me up somethin' real quick?" An annoyingly hopeful tone colours his last sentence. Fritz plays this game too well.
"No, I'm not cooking for you. And don't go either, I was waiting for you. Can we talk?" he asks.
"Yeah we can! What do you wanna talk about?" Fritz says.
"I have to ask you something," Raeger says, assessing the current area. Within a twenty-metre radius of them there is one girl he's never seen before but who he's certain is here to confess to him, three very annoyed-looking Rose Country tourists closing in, and one very curious, very poorly-hidden Melanie. "... Let's go somewhere else first."
They make their way through town slowly, the leisurely pace at odds with how fast Raeger's heart is beating. The casual air is comfortable, almost status quo for how they used to be, and not for the first time Raeger begins to think twice about wrecking the atmosphere around them and their relationship. Though, he muses, it's of course too late for that-he's not sure where to pin the blame; on his messy rejection, or on Fritz's messier confession. Logically, it's on himself, for falling for the guy in the first place, but he's accepted that part might have been unavoidable.
Raeger leads them up the dirt path north of town, towards the river. Fritz stopped trying to make conversation around the time they left town. Perhaps he managed to sense the mood, for once, but the silence is deafening and not at all helpful for Raeger's nerves.
"Here," Raeger says when they reach the stone bridge along the path from the farms to the town. The ideal location; romantic and picturesque should this go well, an escape route via the river should it not, and private either way.
"Uh, Raeger, this is kinda ..." Fritz says, trailing off uncharacteristically.
"Fritz, about what happened on White Day," Raeger starts. "I-"
"Woah," Fritz says, backing up slightly. "This isn't some kind of crazy revenge thing, is it? I knew you might be weird about this kind of thing but sending me to sleep with the fishes over it seems really extreme!"
"Uh, alright, that's," there is no good way to recover from a conversation turned to murder. Raeger tells himself there could have been worse starts and plows on. "... Never mind. I'm not upset about it. Actually, it made me kind of happy."
Fritz stops backing up. "It did?" he asks.
"Yeah. I, um ..." Raeger really did not think this through. What can he say? "Oh, just ... Here," he reaches into his apron pocket and recovers what he'd been playing with all morning. He hands it to Fritz, forcing himself to not look away in embarrassment.
Fritz stares down at the ring now sitting in the palm of his hand.
"... Raeger, are you serious?"
"Um, yes?" Raeger winces. "I, uh ... I don't know how to say it. I really don't know how or when or why it happened, but to tell you the truth, you end up on my mind a lot. I want you to try and come in on Wednesdays. I like talking to to you and I like it when you eat my food, even when more of it ends up on your face than in your mouth. I want to spend more time with you."
"So ... You're saying ..." Fritz says slowly, blush spreading across his face.
"Yes, I'm saying, I ..." Raeger pauses, aware that at this point his own face must nicely match the red in his apron. "Yes, I'm saying," he stops there, staring very intently to the side of Fritz's face.
Fritz grins up at him, clearly (infuriatingly) amused. "Hey Raeger, could it be you've never done this before?"
"I guess I am used to girls doing the confessing," Raeger sighs. "My other girlfriends all asked me out, now that I think about it."
"Oof, of course it's plural! I'm sorry I asked!" Fritz's face darkens momentarily but he quickly perks up as he realizes something. "Oh, but that means I'm the first person you liked enough to confess to, right?"
Raeger pushes his hair off his forehead, partly exasperated, partly embarrassed. "Yes, Fritz. I guess that's true."
"And you do like me?"
"Yes."
"And you're not going to take the ring back and tell me this was a joke?"
Raeger opts not to ask what exactly has previously happened in Fritz's romantic life to cause a question like that.
"Yes. Please. You understand I've opened the restaurant for you almost every Wednesday for I don't know how many years, right? There is no way I couldn't be in love with you."
"Oh! Good. I love you too!" The emotional sincerity is mortifying. "And," Fritz continues, "I ... Oh, here," he says, reaching deep into his pockets and unearthing a this-time familiar ring.
"You've had that on you for a month?" Raeger asks, dumbfounded, but also pleased.
"Well, yeah! I worked hard on it! I had to use Annie's Sewing Studio! And diving for materials is REALLY hard. Did you know fish can bite? I do now," Fritz says. "I mean, I guess I coulda sold it, but I was kinda hoping ..." he trails off, but the meaning is understood.
There is a very long silence where neither of them seems to know what to do but blush, and avoid eye contact, and smile.
Finally, Fritz says, "I'm still hungry."
Raeger laughs.
"I think you owe me some cookies first, don't you?"
*Cross-posted from Ao3