Goddamnit! What's wrong with these stupid girls?

Gokudera scowled angrily at the bevy of squealing girls flocking in front of him and shoving beautifully-wrapped boxes in his arms. The blushing girls seemed to be ignorant on his apparent distaste on the current situation. His eyebrows creased deeper in irritation.

A few seconds and a trail of mental curses later, Gokudera managed to free himself from the girls crowding him earlier - with a colorful pile of boxes in his arms no less. He shoved the boxes inside his school bag and closed it with such vehemence. His school bag now looked deformed with the odd angles of the boxes sticking out. He ran his hand through his hair in irritation. He needs to smoke.

Gokudera found himself in his favorite smoking area at the back of the building - hidden from all the people and students around. He pulled one stick from his case and lit it up. With a long drag of nicotine, his frazzled mind suddenly seemed to have calmed a bit.

This was always the scenario during Valentine's Day. Gokudera gets attacked by girls armed by chocolates, and after surviving the cursed predicament, he smokes. Sure, he admits that he was a huge snob, but after a few years with the Tenth and the rest of the family, he is currently learning to appreciate people, especially girls. But, he was not prepared on what the university got in store for him.

He does not want to acknowledge the fact during middle school and high school, but when he started university, it started slapping him right on his face - he was a goddamn handsome man. Girls swoon when he pass by and sometimes, guys double-take to make sure he was a man. And in this cursed day alone, he had been stopped by girls countless times just to give him love letters and chocolates.

His forehead creased in irritation. His bag was now three times heavier than it was earlier because of the chocolates. He was not that fond of chocolates at the first place but it seemed like a waste to throw them away. He sighed. He now had at least a whole semester's supply of chocolates.

He was enjoying his second stick when he heard a familiar shriek bearing his name. He looked lazily at her direction.

"Gokudera-san! I finally found you!"

"What the hell do you want stupid woman?"

"Hahi! Why are you so grumpy all the time?" She muttered more to herself while approaching Gokudera in a few strides.

Che, stupid woman. He took another look drag of his cigarette before the said stick was snatched by Haru. She dropped the lit cigarette on the ground and stomped on it with disgust.

"GODDAMNIT, WOMAN!" To say that Gokudera was shocked was a huge understatement. He was beyond furious. How dare she!

"You should stop smoking, Gokudera-san! It's very dangerous!" Haru said in a knowing tone.

"You're not the one buying and smoking cigarretes, you know! You should fucking lay off my own business and mind you—"

Gokudera didn't finish his tirade as something hard was forced on his chest. He glared at it, as well as the hand holding the said box to his chest, and then to the stupid woman whom he noticed was sporting a forced smile.

"For you, Gokudera-san." Haru pushed the box on his chest once more for due emphasis. "Happy Valentine's Day." And with one last push, she stormed off.

The small silver box landed on Gokudera's pale hands as soon as Haru released her hold and walked away. He took it and brought it closer to his face. It was a small rectangular box, a bit bigger than a cigarette box, covered in plain silver foil. Gokudera stared dumbfounded on the thing on his hands. Compared to other Valentines he received that day, this was not covered in frilly pink or red heart-stamped wrapper or even heart-shaped — it was just rectangular, silver, and very plain. He frowned in disappointment. Ah, well, he thought, this is just obligatory chocolate from that crazy woman. His frown deepened at the thought of getting obligatory chocolate from Haru. But still, for reasons he cannot fathom, he is itching to open the said box. And not because this is from that crazy woman! He was just curious, very curious. Yeah, right.

He tore off the plain silver foil gently and he was once again caught staring at the rectangular object in his hand — a cigarette pack almost identical to his favorite one.

"That crazy woman, giving out cigarettes as her Valentine gift…" He sighed and was about to put Haru's gift in his bag when he caught something else written on the wrapper.

Limited Edition Chocolate Cigarettes

After a few seconds, he chuckled silently to himself and opened the box of treats. And while eating the cigarette-shaped mint-chocolates, he can't help but wonder what he will give for a certain crazy woman on White Day.


27. give

Author's Notes: This has been sitting in my hard drive for a while now and I decided to finish it. I'm out of practice and this is a very cliché story (sort of). And to continue the cliché bandwagon, the next one will be about White Day. Reviews are definitely welcome! :)