Surprise!

"I'll send you your reward. It should get there by tomorrow at the latest, and this one is extra special! Enjoy, Reanie! 3"

'Extra special…' Those two little words managed to set off more than a few alarms in Rean's head after he heard them from Vivi. In all the time he's known her, Rean's almost always been on the lookout for whatever prank or tease Vivi would unleash on him next. And it seemed to him that those days are very far from past them as of yet.

Even still, Rean considered himself a lucky man to be in a relationship with her. Despite all the teases and pranks, Vivi was very much a very sweet girl, especially to him. And he found no small amount of comfort from her presence in their last year at Thors together.

Regardless, he was still more than a little wary regarding the picture she sent. So, Rean decided to wait until he was back in the privacy and safety of his own room in the Branch Campus Dorms before seeing what his girlfriend had sent him.

Which brings us to now, with the Branch Campus now back in Leeves and turned in for the night at the dorms. And with Rean back in his room staring at Vivi's message with the hidden attachment in it, his finger hovering over the keypad. For some reason, the instructor found himself staying his hand for a moment. Whether out of nervousness or anticipation, though, he honestly wasn't entirely sure.

Then, he took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing," he stated to himself as he pressed the confirm button and opened the attachment.

...And his mind subsequently went blank.

The picture? Vivi herself.

Wearing her vest.

…

AND NOTHING ELSE!

Granted, the way she was wearing her vest and crossed her legs ensured that she wasn't entirely baring all to him. But regardless, Vivi had basically sent her boyfriend a nude pic.

"Why didn't I realize that that was what she meant by 'extra special?!'" Rean shouted internally once he managed to get his brain working again. Yet, while his mind was racing, his body was basically frozen; eyes wide, cheeks flushed and mouth slightly open as he stared at the picture.

He stayed in that position for what seemed like an eternity to the swordsman, before a knock came upon his door, jerking him out of his stupor and causing him to fumble with his ARCUS, which resulted in him dropping it.

"Rean? Are you in there?" A familiarly kind voice called out from behind the door right before it was opened, revealing Towa. "There's something I wanted to discuss with you really-" she stopped herself, noticing Rean's ARCUS on the floor.

"Oh no."

"Huh? Rean, why's your ARCUS on the floor like that?" Towa asked as she stooped to pick it up. "You should really be more carefuuuuuAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed as she finally saw the contents of the screen, turning about as red as a Tomartian.

"I-I swear, it's not what you think Towa!" Rean stammered in a bit of a frenzy to try to explain himself and defuse the situation.

"Hey! What's goin' on in here?"

But knowing Rean's luck, that's not gonna happen. And his stomach dropped further as Randy came around to his doorway with… Irving right behind him.

"Herschel? What's with all the commotio-huh?" Rean's stoic superior cut himself off as he and Randy took in the image on the ARCUS currently in Towa's hands. Irving then leveled a very stern gaze towards Rean as one thought spiraled through the swordsman's mind.

"I. Am. SCREWED."

Then he noticed Randy put a hand on Irving's shoulder before he stepped forward and grabbed Rean's ARCUS out of Towa's grasp, shaking their coworker out of her stupor.

"Let me guess. She sent you this picture saying it was a sort of surprise and you figured you should open it by yourself. You did and got an eyeful of that and were so surprised and shaken, you didn't sense Towa outside your door, so you jumped when she knocked, causing your ARCUS to land on the floor and it just happened to slide to her feet for her to pick up." Randy rattled off quickly as he walked towards Rean placed the ARCUS in his friend's hands.

"...RANDY, I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW!" Rean shouted internally. Well, he knew he couldn't really say that aloud, so he settled for nodding vigorously.

Randy responded with a smile and a pat on Rean's shoulder before turning back to Irving and Towa. "See, guys? Just a little accident!" he said before turning back to his buddy with a wink.

"Wha…?"

But before Rean could think any further on Randy's actions, he noticed Towa let out a sigh of relief. "Right… Okay… Sorry about that, Rean." she said to her former underclassman. "Guess I kinda panicked a bit there."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Towa." Rean responded with a small, nervous chuckle before facing Irving. "I'm guessing that answers whatever questions you were going to ask me?"

His stoic superior cleared his throat before answering. "Basically, yes. Personally speaking, I'm glad to see it wasn't the worst case scenario I had in my head."

"'Worst case scenario?' What does he… Okay, why does EVERYONE have to try to make me out to be some kind of pervert in their heads all the time?!" Rean moaned in his head.

"This the first time she's done this sorta thing?" Randy asked the swordsman, getting a small nod in response. "Gotcha. Well, Rean, I gotta say… You're a lucky guy, ya know that?" he stated with a wink and a pat on the shoulder. Rean could only respond with a small chuckle and scratching the back of his head bashfully.

"No arguments there, Randy…"

"But will that be all, Schwarzer?"

...

...Oh, sweet merciful Aidios, NO.

Rean's stomach went back down to it's pit as he saw Principal Aurelia Le Guin suddenly come 'round the corner and appear in the doorway beside Irving, who didn't seem too pleased with her appearance either.

Then Towa attempted to speak up.

"Uh, princip-?"

And was promptly cut off.

"Think about it this way, Schwarzer." Aurelia began. "Your paramour seems to be a bit of a bold lady. And somewhat of an instigator, or prankster, from what you've said of her in the past. However, I must admit to wondering, does this Vivi have any real bite to her or is she all bark? So, I'll ask once more, Schwarzer. Will that be all? Will you let this slight to your honor stand?" the powerful woman finished.

"...I don't think I like where this is going." Rean whimpered internally. And it seemed that he wasn't alone in that, as Towa and even Randy looked more than a little nervous. Or at least off-put. "And 'slight to my honor?' That's a little much, isn't it?"

"...Principal, what are you saying?" Irving asked exasperatedly, clearly just about done with today.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm proposing a counteroffensive."

...WHAT?!

The Next Day…

To say Rean had trouble facing both his coworkers, particularly Linde (granted so did she, for some reason), and his class during school later would be an understatement. Especially with Musse not being able to look at him without blushing like crazy and giggling up a bloody storm. Why is that? Well, Aurelia's idea of a 'counteroffensive' involved Rean sending a fairly risque picture of himself to Vivi. Nothing as raunchy, mind, but still rather provocative, what with him being shirtless and his pants unbuttoned.

Where did Musse fit into this, though? Well, Aurelia reasoned that in order to obtain maximum effectiveness, the picture needed to be taken by someone with an… interest in the subject. And that's where Musse fit in.

And thanks to Musse's behavior, which got the attention of the rest of her classmates very quickly, poor Rean had to explain, word for word, exactly what had happened the night prior. The result?

Altina and Juna both sporting mild blushes while giving him death glares.

Kurt shooting him the most sympathetic look he could muster while clearly struggling not to laugh.

Musse… Being Musse.

And Ash falling out of his seat laughing his ass off.

Yeah, it was a long day for Rean.

Later, once class had been dismissed for the day, Rean heard his ARCUS go off. A message? Now? He opened up his ARCUS… No, not a message. Someone was calling him. Caller ID was… Vivi. Oh, boy.

He accepted the call. "He-"

"Rean, you sly devil!" Yup, he figured that was coming.

Rean chuckled before responding. "I guess you approved of that, huh?"

"Oh, you bet I did! Good Goddess, you were on my mind all day today! And for quite a bit of last night, too~" Vivi practically purred. "But I can definitely tell you had help making that, though. So what's the story there?"

Rean let out a sigh at that. "Here we go again," he groaned internally. "Well, for starters, it wasn't actually my idea," he began. Once again that day, the poor instructor had to regale someone with the events of the night prior. And by the end of it, Vivi, like Ash, was laughing her ass off. "Well, I'm glad at least a few people find it amusing."

"Oh, your principal definitely had the right idea on that one!" Vivi cracked once her laughter had died down a bit. "And tell that Musse girl that she's got a real knack for photography, too! ...Then again, something tells me that's only because you were the subject."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Rean groused. "She was a giggling mess practically the whole day today." Then another thought came to him. "Come to think of it, did you tell Linde anything about that? She's been nervous around me all day today; and granted so have I, but that's besides the point."

"I will neither confirm nor deny the possibility." ...Yeah, she told her.

After Vivi's response, there was a small beat of silence between the couple. Which was then broken by both of them chuckling warmly.

"Anyway," Vivi began once their bout of laughter had died down. "I should probably let you get back to whatever it was you were up to before I called you, huh? ...Oh, and if you ever wanna do that whole thing again, I'm always open for it~" she sang, more than managing to get Rean stiff as a board. Then she made a kissing sound. "Talk to you later, Rean, sweetie!" she said happily right before she hung up, not waiting for a response from her once-again shocked boyfriend.

Rean could only stare at his ARCUS after Vivi hung up, once more caught off guard by another one of her wisecracks. Then after a moment, he started chuckling warmly again. "Honestly, that girl…" He mused out loud. And as he gathered his papers and supplies and readied himself to head to the staff room, one thought echoed through his mind.

"She certainly is a handful sometimes… But I honestly wouldn't have her any other way."

Meanwhile…

As soon as Vivi hung up from her call with Rean, she leaned back into her office chair and smiled happily. Talking with Rean, whether in person or by ARCUS, was almost always a surefire way to improve her mood. And she was already in a good mood that day, as well.

After a small sigh of content escaped her, Vivi began thinking over the conversation she just had with her boyfriend. Or rather, the subject. She had to admit, she was more than a little surprised to see that picture in her inbox. And so soon after she sent hers, too! Especially since it had taken all of Vivi's willpower to send that picture to Rean in the first place, but she's not about to tell him that just yet. (She's got a reputation to maintain, after all).

Not that she was complaining, of course. After all, she put that picture to some very good… Personal use the night before… And that same morning, too, at that.

"New contender for favorite photo?"

Surprised by her own thought, Vivi dropped her smile. She honestly had no real idea where that thought had come from.

Wordlessly, she sat back up in her chair and reopened her ARCUS. Vivi quickly opened up her photo gallery on her device, with a quick smirk at the most recent addition, and started scrolling through the pictures.

Many of the photos were work related stuff; landscape pictures, important figures and events, and so on. With some other photos meant for Rean's reward for sending her more landscape photos from his field exercises (Hey, don't judge).

Then, Vivi found what she was looking for. Her more personal photos. Many of them pictures of herself with her coworkers or alone. But a few stuck out to her; pictures of her with Rean. Some of them from before the both of them graduated from Thors. After a moment, her gaze landed on one picture in particular.

Most folks probably wouldn't find it all that special, but that picture, and the day she took it, held a special place in Vivi's heart. It was a picture of their last date before their graduation. She had gotten some passerby to hold the camera while she and Rean stood together, and Vivi had managed to sneak in a quick kiss on his cheek as well. And he definitely noticed, what with the bright, genuine smile on his face.

Said smile was apparently infectious even through photos, as Vivi found herself smiling gently at the picture. Or more specifically, Rean's smiling face in the picture. If she was honest, seeing those kinds of smiles from him would have to be one of her favorite things, especially if she's the reason behind them (which she often was). Vivi chuckled quietly; she knows she's got it bad for him, but that's alright with her. With that, she closed her ARCUS and got herself ready to head home for the day. But not before she quietly uttered one more idle thought out loud.

"Yeah… That one's still my favorite by a long shot."

AN:

Well, this one kinda took a while to bang out. Stupid writers block combined with legit technical difficulties will do that to ya. Kinda embarrassing that it took me this long to get this down for Kiseki Rarepairs Month, but what can ya do?

Hope ya'll enjoyed this one! Because this was actually pretty damn fun to write! As for the bit with Randy, I kinda based it off of a scene I remember from a sorta older anime called School Rumble. Two words for those who've seen it: Harima's Swimsuit.

Anyway, arrivederci!
(And don't worry, I've got some more plans for my other story ;) )