"What…. No way…." Mahiru said looking down at this list, dropping to his knees dramatically "oh my god not again!" he whined, he thought he had it in the bag for sure this year!
"Ah looks like I've won again…" Kuro said with a smug tone looking at Mahiru's list, it was his third year in a row of winning their bet.
Every year since they started working together at Servamp high school, the teachers had a bet. Whoever got the most gifts and cards from students by the end of the year wins, and Kuro was the master.
"How?! How did you get so many?!" Mahiru said in disbelief, he had at least double what he had last year.
"I just told them my pay wage and they all felt sorry for me" he said sarcastically with a blank expression, loosening his tie since it was getting tight.
"Kurooooo" Mahiru whined, bringing around one of the chairs while Kuro sat in the teachers seat.
"Haha I bet I beat you this time big brother! I got so many! All the girls flocked to me" The energetic English Shakespeare department teacher shouted bursting into their class room.
Kuro shrugged and looked at him as if to say 'I wonder, let's find out' and looking at the numbers Kuro beat him. Yet again. He groaned and slammed his head against a wall wailing about how he was cheating.
"Yeah I already know what you want, I'll go do it now…" he said dejectedly walking out of the classroom at his loss
"Bye Lawless" Kuro said, almost laughing at their reactions. He was happy with what he had asked of Lawless, although he knew his brother would do it either way. He was pinning for it the whole time.
It was after school at the end of the semester, Mahiru didn't like to admit it but he really didn't like holidays. Being a single adult was boring, he had no one to spend it with, and he enjoyed teaching. He wasn't sure if Kuro was single, since Kuro never really talked about himself. All he could really tell was that Kuro was lazy, and really enjoyed instant ramen. He was kind though, liking to talk about his younger siblings, while Mahiru was an only child.
"It's easy just suck up to the rich kids and don't give them homework" Kuro said shrugging
Mahiru rolled his eyes at that, of course that was what Kuro would do. He barley even taught his students, just sending them material and then sleeping the whole class, it was a wonder he got the job.
"Yeah yeah alright, choose your prize by the end of tonight" Mahiru said sighing in defeat
The winner got to choose one thing they wanted from the other person, Kuro had asked for video games, one freebie for Mahiru to clean his house if someone important was coming over and manga. Mahiru thought the things he asked for were pretty predictable, but who knows with that guy.
Kuro nodded happily, slumping down on the desk and closing his eyes for a second. Mahiru called it light hibernation. He took out two apples from his bag and threw one at Kuro's head.
"Oi eat an apple, it's good for you" he said taking a bite out of his, he would occasionally bring food for Kuro since he was never bothered to bring his own, and Mahiru knew he was living off instant ramen, which couldn't be healthy.
"Don't hit me… cruel…." he whined taking the apple before continuing "Yeah yeah mum, such a stereotypical teacher… can't deal.." only teachers in movies carried apples around, but that was his simple co-worker. Very predictable. He learned after a while to stop bothering arguing with Mahiru, it was exhausting, so he just ate the apple without any complaints.
Mahiru saw him eating the apple and flashed a grin, getting out his laptop to start marking the tests he got back that day. Kuro still hadn't started marking tests from weeks, possibly years ago.
"Mm.. Hey Mahiru? I decided what I want, follow me" Kuro stated, standing up from his teacher's desk and heading for the door.
Mahiru closed his laptop, putting it in his carry around bag which Kuro called a women's handbag and followed him nervously, "Hey Kuro aren't you gonna tell me what it is? What are you making me do…" he had no idea what to expect with Kuro, the silence making it worse. He just hoped it wasn't something embarrassing like making him wear a crazy outfit. Kuro was the last person he wanted to look ridiculous in front of.
Kuro led him behind the building, the building was on a hill and the out of bounds area for students had a nice view, it was late afternoon and the place was completely empty.
"U-um… what a pain… uh… for my wish please take me out for dinner" Kuro said looking away and going a little bit red "If you don't want I can choose something else…" he finished quickly, not wanting to force him into it.
"Wait-are you asking me out" Mahiru said, his body going numb, Kuro mumbled 'maybe' into his coat just barely audible.
Mahiru felt his whole face, even body, heating up. He stuttered out incoherent words, before realizing that talking wasn't working and nodded giving him a wide happy grin. Kuro felt a very small smile curling its way onto his lips, Mahiru said yes. After almost two years of crushing on him, Mahiru said yes. Mahiru didn't even know how to react, after years of crushing on him, Kuro asked him out.
"um… Lawless works a lot of part time jobs as well as the teaching thing so the thing I asked of him was to pull some strings and get us a really cheap deal at a fancy restaurant if you said yes…" Kuro said quietly, he didn't tell Mahiru about the deal he made with his sister okami about the flowers, that could be a surprise on the day.
Kuro subtly moved his hand closer to Mahiru's, unsure of how to initiate any form of contact, Mahiru luckily noticed the movement and grabbed his hand happily. He had wanted to do that for a very long time. Kuro took a deep breath, without any words leaning over to Mahiru and gently sealing their lips.
Mahiru's eyes widened, before closing them and savouring the short moment with his own lips against Kuro's soft ones, the kiss was broken soon after and Kuro went bright red avoiding eye contact, he was about to mumble something but Mahiru kissed him again for a short second before saying
"I'll pick you up at seven" he said softly smiling at Kuro and running away as fast as his legs could take him, there was only so much he could take in one day.
Meanwhile Kuro crouched down on the floor hiding his face, he finally did it. He finally asked Shirota Mahiru out.