Chocolate - noun - Fermented, roasted, shelled, and ground cacao seeds, often combined with a sweetener or flavoring agent

Ryoma scowled but accepted the chocolate with a muttered thanks, sending the girl squealing off back to her friends. Ryoma eyed the neatly wrapped package in his hands (addressed to "Ryoma-sama") and sighed.

Ryoma was from America. In America, Valentines Day was a normal holiday created by candy companies to sell lots of candy for kids to give to their friends. Not this… abomination of a holiday in which boys of all ages were ambushed around every corner, forced to take chocolate, and expected to give a return gift in a month.

On a normal, everyday basis, Ryoma could stand girls with their constant blushing, teasing or squealing. On Valentines Day, however, Ryoma wanted nothing more than to go home and go back to sleep.

Ryoma had hidden himself away on the roof during lunch so he was able to have a temporary reprieve, but apparently girls weren't to be discouraged so easily. Ryoma had opened his shoe locker to find it shoved full of chocolates. He had found his desk crammed with them too. Ryoma had no idea why he was getting so many… Shouldn't the girls be giving them to someone like Fuji, who would actually smile and thank them?

It was just as the tennis club members were arriving for their afternoon practice that Ryoma found out exactly how easy it had been for him.

Fuji and Tezuka arrived together, each carrying their bags, and each bag bulging with what Ryoma could only assume was chocolate.

"F-Fujiko! Is that all…" Eiji trailed off as he stared at the bags.

"Buchou?" Ryoma asked the other. Fuji, Ryoma could understand getting a lot of chocolate. He smiled at girls, he thanked them… he flirted. But Tezuka! Tezuka didn't flirt. He didn't smile at girls (he barely even smiled at all!), though he was too polite to not thank girls, he certainly wouldn't encourage them.

"Aa," was the only comment from their captain.

"Chocolate, though I didn't expect nearly so much," Fuji said, smiling at them.

Ryoma scowled. "Momo-senpai. Warm up with me."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time practice was over, Ryoma was in an even worse mood. All during practice, girls had lingered by the fence to gawk at them. Most of them had been carrying chocolate, and at least half of them had been eyeing Fuji. Ryoma's frown deepened. Stupid girls for interrupting practice and stupid Fuji for encouraging it.

Granted, Ryoma had received three more chocolates during their break (one of which was from Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, the girl with the hair and the wobbly knees, another from that loud girl with the pig tails and the final from some girl he had never seen before, let alone talked to), but he wasn't encouraging them with smiles. Ryoma had been right about Tezuka too. The stoic boy just thanked the girls and went about his business, his facial features staying the same as always.

Ryoma showered and changed quickly, intent on leaving before more girls could find him.

He was a bit annoyed to find Fuji waiting for him just outside the locker room doors.

"…Fuji-senpai," Ryoma greeted when it became obvious Fuji was waiting for him to speak first.

"Ryoma-kun," Fuji returned easily. Ryoma's eyebrows raised at the use of his first name. Normally Fuji called him 'Echizen' or 'Echizen-kun' or sometimes 'Ochibi-kun' or 'Ochibi-chan' when he was feeling particularly sadistic.

Ryoma stared at Fuji as he waited for the tensai to continue.

"Saa… I thought you might like some chocolate," Fuji continued with a smile.

Ryoma eyed the small box that Fuji held out for him. It was a simple white and gold box tied with a white ribbon. Even Ryoma, who was used to store bought candies in America, could tell it was homemade.

"Fuji-senpai, you really shouldn't give away the gifts you receive," Ryoma scolded, scowling first at the box, then at the bearer of the box.

The smile never left Fuji's face. Before Ryoma could react, he found the chocolate shoved into his hands and Fuji a good three steps away. He blinked.

"Ah, but I made them myself, so it's alright?" Fuji asked, his smiling face the picture of innocence.

Ryoma blinked again. He looked down at the small box. He blinked some more. Then he looked up at Fuji once more.

Slowly, Ryoma smirked.

"I suppose it's alright then. As long as you didn't put anything strange in it… like wasabi."

Fuji's smile widened and Ryoma caught a glimmer of azure eyes.

Ryoma frowned at the lack of reply and eyed the box as if he had been told it contained a bomb. Fuji chuckled.

"Maa maa, there's nothing unusual, Ryoma-kun. I promise," Fuji reassured.

Ryoma was about to retort when the locker room door burst open again and Momo, Eiji and Oishi emerged. They smiled once they saw the two shortest tennis club regulars. Momo was the first to notice the Valentine's chocolate in Ryoma's hands.

"Oi, Gaki! More chocolate? And you're only in seventh grade! By your senior year you'll have Fuji-senpai beat!" Momo teased, nudging Ryoma with his elbow. "Was she cute?"

"Nya! Go Ochibi!" Eiji interjected with an enthusiastic fist pump.

Ryoma stared passively. He didn't miss the amused look on Fuji's face as he glanced at the older boy.

"Aa. He's cute," Ryoma replied as he turned to walk away.

"Nya! Hear that? Ochibi's got a cute admirer!"

There was a pause. Ryoma sped up his pace. He was nearly out of sight by the time he heard Momo and Eiji digest exactly what Ryoma had said.

"A GUY?!?"

Distantly, Ryoma heard Oishi trying to calm them and keep them from rushing after Ryoma to get the rest of the story. He smirked as he heard more voices join in as the rest of the team emerged from the locker room.

As Ryoma walked, he tucked the box of chocolates into his pocket, separate from the chocolates that were likely getting squished in his bag.

So maybe receiving chocolates on Valentines wasn't so horrible… The girls were still damn annoying though.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Completed: February 7, 2007 (One week until Valentines!)

Posted: February 8, 2007

So I wanted to post a Valentines fic… Just your average chocolate story… I just tried to keep them in character. Did I do well?

Anyways, for me, the hardest thing is getting the names right. I know their names, but I don't know what they call each other. Like the part where Ryoma's musing on how Fuji never calls him "Ryoma-kun," I don't know if that's true or not. Lol I do know Ryoma pretty much calls everyone by their name with a -senpai at the end. Haha I try to avoid having to use specific names/nicknames in my stories when I don't know them, but for some reason, it just didn't seem to work while I was writing this.

This story was the product of ideas going straight from my head to the computer. I didn't plot it out or write it by hand during class or anything like that, so excuse any inconsistencies.

Review?