Thank you to Alwaysblu for prompting me to do a Valintene's Day ficlet, even though it's a few weeks before the actual holiday. This has been really fun, a nice break from trying to remember which characters in Attenuation know what parts of what's going on.
Disclaimer: I own only my OCs.
Arlua returned to Tania's apartment in the morning to find that her friend had already left for the day. There was a note on the door directing her to the neighboring apartment to pick up her share of the chocolates, which Tania had already put into a box for her.
After collecting the chocolates, she made her way to the park, where Izaya was supposed to meet her.
Tania waited nervously, watching Shizuo make his way toward her. They had agreed to meet down the street from the park, hoping to avoid a run-in with a certain information broker.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Shizuo greeted her, grinning. She smiled up at him, the open, joyful smile that she rarely showed to anyone else.
"Happy Valentine's Day," she replied, holding out the small box she had prepared. He blinked and took it carefully, not wanting to accidentally crush it. When he opened it, he stared from the contents to her and back.
"Did you make these yourself?" he asked softly. She nodded, a faint blush tinting her cheeks.
"Yeah. I talked Arlua into making some for the flea, too," she added, a spark of mischief in her eyes. Shizuo laughed.
"Arlua? Seriously? I didn't think she did stuff like this," he commented. Tania grinned.
"She doesn't. But this year I made her. Anyway, are you going to try them?" she inquired, nervousness returning. Her boyfriend nodded and took one of the chocolates out. He lifted it to his mouth and paused just before tasting it. "What is it?"
"Izaya," he growled, lowering the chocolate and glaring over her shoulder. Tania turned and scowled, and expression she typically reserved for the informant and other people who irritated her more than she had thought possible.
"Go away, flea. Your technician's waiting for you," the teacher snapped. Izaya smirked.
"I know.~ I was just on my way to see her, and I overheard that you had made chocolates for the monster," he said loftily. Tania started to reach for her gun, and Izaya tutted and skipped around her to snatch a chocolate from the container in Shizuo's hand. The blond's expression darkened.
"Go away, flea. I don't want you spoiling today," he snarled. Izaya just smirked and examined the candy in his hand.
"You made these yourself? I must say I'm disappointed," he mused. "They probably don't taste good." He took a bite and made a face. "See? Too sweet." Then he tossed the half-eaten chocolate back into the container and turned to skip away, ignoring the fury in Shizuo's expression and the fact that Tania had drawn her gun. He would have left, but instead he came to a halt and blinked in surprise, because Arlua was standing there, glaring at him.
"You have to go out of your way to ruin everything, don't you?" she snapped. "You were supposed to meet me ten minutes ago, and I start walking in the direction you were supposed to come from, thinking maybe you got held up by an early morning client or something, and I find you here, screwing with Tania and Shi?" The technician's voice was quiet and sharp, laced with anger.
"Lu-chan-" the information broker started. She scowled and cut him off with a glare – something Tania wished she could do, just to make the aggravating man shut up – and turned to her friends.
"I'm sorry about him. You two should go, enjoy your day together. I'll deal with the germ," Arlua said shortly. Tania nodded, forcing her scowl to fade, and turned to Shizuo.
"Come on. He's not worth it. Not today," she murmured, seeing that her boyfriend was eyeing the nearest street sign. He sighed heavily and nodded, then held a hand out to Tania. The two walked away, hand in hand, and Arlua saw Tania reach over to the container that Shizuo was holding to take out the half-eaten chocolate and throw it away. Then the teacher reached into the container again and selected another one. This one she held up to the blond's mouth, pressing it gently to his lips. He opened his mouth and took the chocolate gently, closing his lips around her fingertips for a moment, then pulling back just enough so she could retrieve her hand.
"Delicious," he murmured, savoring the treat. "That damn flea's too sour to appreciate sweet things," he commented, licking his lips. Tania blushed slightly, then stopped walking just long enough to stretch up on tiptoe to kiss him. He smiled softly at her and let go of her hand to brush a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. "I love you, Ani," he told her.
"I love you, too," she replied.
A/N: By the way, since I didn't detail how Arlua deals with Izaya, I will have at least one more section to do for this fic. Hopefully it will be up soon. I will definitely have it up by Valentine's Day though!