lol when did i write this? i was right when i said i wouldn't come back to it for awhile but here i am!
hope you enjoy the ending to this twoshot!
"Gokudera, your homework."
Hayato pulled out the worksheet to her, not meeting her eyes as he was doing so. "Here."
Akari's eyes creased into a smile. "Thank you!"
As Akari grabbed the paper, their fingertips made contact and immediately the two teenagers pulled away, flushed. Realizing the paper had fallen to the floor, Akari hurriedly grabbed Hayato's paper and started collecting their other classmates' homework.
"Ah... it's spring for them, isn't it?" taunted one of their classmates loudly.
"You're just salty your crush on Suzuki-san is unrequited. Shut up, dumbass."
At this, Hayato's ears perked up. Akari has... a suitor?
"Hey! How can I help my love for her? Akari-chan is literally so... perfect! She's diligent, cheerful, and so smart! And this is just my opinion but I think Akari-chan is way prettier than Kyoko-chan! I wish Akari-chan could just smile at me all day and I can eat her lunchboxes and-"
"While I appreciate the sentiment, can you hand in your homework before you broadcast your love for me to the entire class?" Akari said with a smile.
His face flushed an instant red, and he nodded, turning in his homework. "S-sorry Akari-chan!"
"Thank you!" She took the homework a little aggressively and then glowered. "Next time though, think again before you decide you want to objectify women like that again."
At that, the entire class watched her leave the classroom in awe. Hayato was not an exception.
"That was kind of hot."
Hayato could not agree more. W-wait, no he did not! No! He did not think so!
Hayato found himself grumbling in annoyance, annoyed at Akari for making him feel things he wasn't used to feeling. But right now he was more annoyed at the snot-nosed idiot who thought he had a chance with her.
So he glared at him.
N-not because he had offended Akari, of course! Because he was being loud!
"Akari-chan, do you need help with anything?"
"I'm okay, thank you!"
"Akari-chan, that looks heavy I can help!"
"I can handle myself, thank you!"
"Akari-cha-"
In an instant, Akari's pile of papers were taken from her and a certain silver-haired boy was beside her. "Where you headed?"
Akari blinked, staring at Hayato in confusion. He, however, seemed to have not realized the multitude of stares directed towards them as he just stared back at her with a frown, nudging his head towards the pile of papers. "Suzuki, where were you trying to go?"
She giggled, and started walking ahead of him. "We're heading to the teachers' office. I'm dropping off paperwork for our homeroom teacher."
He quickly strode to match her speed, and the trademark Hayato-frown rested on his face. "What you laughing to yourself about?"
"Nothing, just... you have no social awareness, huh?"
"Hah?!" He glared at her. "I'll have you know that my social awareness is the best that even Tsuna praises me constantly for it!"
"Your Tsuna is a liar." Wait... 'Tsuna'?
"How dare you call him a liar, he is the-"
Akari tuned out the rest of his lecture on the greatness of Sawada Tsunayoshi, but she smiled realizing that Hayato had finally reached the level of comfortableness with Tsuna to address him as such. The lecture was proof that he still respected him, of course, but just because you respect someone doesn't mean you can't be friends with them. Or at least, that's what Akari's belief was. She was glad that he at least remembered what she had to say about their friendship and actually considered it.
Besides that, he was cute when he talked about Tsuna. He reminded her of a puppy when he constantly fawned about Tsuna's greatness.
"Suzuki, are you listening to me? Suzuki!"
Uh oh, the puppy's angry.
"Puppy?!"
"I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Hayato grumbled, walking ahead of her. "I am never doing this again."
Akari quickly ran to catch up to him with a sheepish grin. "Gokudera, I'm sorry! You're just so cute when you talk about Sawada, what else am I supposed to focus on?"
"C-c-cute?!" His ears flushed red and although embarrassed, he turned around to face her. "You did not just call me cute!"
They both stopped in their tracks. Akari, slightly amused, just shrugged. "When I think something is cute I should refer to it as such. Why can't I? I think you're cute, Gokudera!"
"Shut up!" He averted his eyes. "I-if anything you're more-" His eyes widened, and he stopped talking before he completed his thought. "Agh, what the hell am I saying-" Hayato's eyes averted back to see Akari, and his face flushed upon her reaction as she too, had flushed upon hearing him.
Her voice turned meek. "I'm... I'm what?"
He grumbled a bit, before averting eye contact with her. "...You're more cute," he mumbled.
Having not heard what he said, she inched a little closer to him. "What?"
Hayato grumbled, frustrated, and glared at her. "I said, you're cuter-!"
Screech! The door near them slid open, and a "Hayato?" echoed throughout the hallway. The two lovebirds turned to see Tsuna, who was in obvious confusion at the flushed faces of his friends. Tsuna blinked, and then panicked. "I'm so sorry, did I interrupt something?!"
Hayato immediately protested. "N-n-no, not at all Tsuna we were just-!"
Akari attempted to change the topic. "W-what are you doing here, Sawada?"
"What do you mean?" Tsuna simply pointed at the sign next to the door. "This is our classroom. Where have you guys been?"
Akari and Hayato looked at each other, realizing that they walked past the teacher's office a while back. Which meant they were too engrossed in their conversation to realize such. Which also meant...
Tsuna looked at the papers Hayato was holding. "Didn't Suzuki-san go to turn those in a while ago? Why are they back here? Lunch is going to end soon, you know?"
Akari's eyes widened, realizing his words were right. She hurriedly took the papers from Hayato, and sprinted away, attempting a "Thank you for helping gotta go sorry see you later-!"
"I said, you're cuter-!"
It's safe to say that one thought preoccupied Akari's head the entire journey to the teacher's office.
"Akari-chan, are you making Valentine's chocolate for Gokudera-kun this year?"
Akari almost spit out the water she was drinking, choking on the drink and erupting in a fit of coughs. After she had composed herself, she cleared her throat and smiled. "Say what now?"
Akari and Kyoko were hanging out at a cafe, two weeks before Valentine's Day. The two had actually become quite close after the New Years encounter, considering Kyoko felt a new companionship towards the girl who she figured(and was right to think so) was in love. Akari also just wanted some more female friends, so she welcomed the company.
Kyoko giggled. "It's obvious! You like him, don't you?"
"I- I definitely do not-!" Akari pouted. "...I don't not like him..."
Kyoko laughed. "So you do!" She smiled. "Valentine's Day is coming up soon! You can't say you haven't thought about making him any!"
"I definitely have thought about it, it's just..." Akari sighed. "I'm so bad with my hands. I can't cook or bake anything for the life of me. I think if I gave anything I made personally to Gokudera I might just poison him, and then he'd think I did it on purpose."
Kyoko almost looked offended, grabbing Akari's hands. "That's why I'm here, silly! I can teach you if you want! I was planning to go shop for some ingredients myself after we hung out, but this is the perfect opportunity!" Kyoko's eyes almost lit ablaze with passionate fire. "We will make him fall in love with your chocolate this year! And with you, of course!"
'Though, I'm pretty sure he already does,' thought Kyoko with a smile.
Akari smiled sheepishly. "Okay... don't be too disappointed though."
"Akari-chan... did you put anything else in the chocolates while I was in the restroom?"
Akari blinked, and then beamed. "Yeah! I didn't want to burden you too much, since I'm already bothering you with you teaching me the recipe anyway, so I thought I would finish up the rest while you were gone! And since I know Gokudera often talks about training or whatever I thought I'd include protein supplements?"
Kyoko frowned, which looked unnatural on the girl's face. "Akari-chan... have you had chocolate with protein supplements in it?"
She smiled sheepishly. "I thought I'd add a personal twist to it..." She then averted her eyes to the floor in guilt. "In retrospect, I realize putting that in chocolate doesn't make any sense and might mess with the process..."
Kyoko, seeing that she had no bad intentions behind her actions, simply smiled. "It's okay! We learn through our mistakes, right? Let's start from scratch! Don't ever be ashamed to ask for help when you need it, too!"
"Yes ma'am!" Akari did a mock salute, and then the two began to prepare the ingredients for their second chocolate attempt. Akari couldn't help but look at the mess that was their first attempt at chocolate, and wondered how Kyoko knew that she had added something without tasting it herself.
And then Akari released a heavy sigh.
"What's wrong, Akari-chan?" Kyoko stopped what she was doing to place her full attention onto Akari, setting down the bowl and whisk she had been holding.
Akari pursed her lips. "It's just... will this really mean anything in the end? I don't even know if Gokudera likes sweets, and even if he does would he accept it if he found out it was honmei? I just can't help but feel like my feelings are one-sided, like what if how he treats me is just how he treats a female friend? He doesn't seem like the type to have had one before, so what if I'm reading all the signs wrong? What if I ruin our friendship with this?"
Kyoko frowned. "Akari-chan, it's not about the chocolate itself, it's about the feelings behind it, right?" She grabbed Akari's hands, holding them tightly. "This chocolate is proof that you worked your butt off for this person and it's to prove your sincerity. I think Gokudera-kun is a good person, so regardless of what he feels about you he'll still lend an ear to you. Because he's not the type of person to reject someone's hard work, right? So tell me, Akari-chan, why are you making this chocolate?"
"Why? You ask..."
"Do you want to ask him out with it? Do you simply want to let him know how you feel? Which is it?"
"I..." Akari stared at the floor. "I want to let him know how I feel. Not just that I like him, but that I'm really grateful to have gotten closer to him, I guess."
Kyoko smiled. "Then do this for yourself! Not for his response. Okay?"
Akari stared at her in awe, and then smiled back. "Thank you!"
The awaited day was here.
The day that Hayato would have to find multiple hiding spots just so he can get some alone time in peace.
Valentine's Day.
Quite frankly, if there weren't any intentions behind the chocolates themselves, Hayato would've willingly accepted the chocolates. He hated to admit it, but he was a big fan of sweets. But he knew that if he accepted the chocolate, he'd become just like the baseball idiot who led girls on. It was disrespectful to them, really.
So here Hayato was, on the school roof.
A small part of him wondered if Akari would make him any, considering that they had grown closer this year, but he felt that if she gave him giri chocolate it'd hurt more. Because he'd grown to accept that he... had feelings, for Akari.
Not that he'd do anything about it, though. Hayato's perspective on love and romance was always skewed, knowing the complexity that was his family history and his deadbeat father's treatment of his mother. He'd hate to turn out like his father, and his inexperience with love obviously didn't help either. Hayato didn't want to get a civilian involved with the mafia either, so he figured he'd just keep this crush to himself.
It's not like she reciprocated either, right?
Hayato's heart churned at the thought, but he chose to ignore it as he shut his eyes.
Hayato began to reminisce about the days where he'd eat lunch with Tsuna and his friends during middle school and lamented that they didn't continue the practice during high school. They didn't have Kyoya to let them onto forbidden grounds anymore, unfortunately. Hayato wasn't even supposed to have access to the roof in the first place, but he had his ways.
"Boo!"
Not fazed at all by the girl's attempt at scaring him, Hayato simply opened his eyes and allowed a small smile of amusement. "Nice try, Suzuki."
Lo and behold, Akari was in his vision, in a crouch by his side where he had been laying down. She instantly pouted. "It didn't work? Your eyes were totally closed the whole time, and I made sure to be super quiet! How could you tell?"
Because I'm in the mafia.
"You were too loud," he said instead. He rose, sitting up from his position and meeting her eyes. "So? How'd you get up here?"
Akari blinked, gulping at the close proximity of the boy, but she averted her eyes with a sheepish smile. "...I have my ways."
He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for a rule breaker, Miss Class Prez."
She grinned. "Who said I broke rules to get up here, Mr. Delinquent?"
He shook his head, and brought his arms behind him, shifting his weight to his arms. "What did you need from me? I made sure to turn in my homework before I came here."
Akari blinked. "Ah, right." Here goes nothing. She couldn't hold back the flush in her cheeks. "I... needed to give you something?"
His eyebrow raised again. "You couldn't wait till we were in class again?"
"No," she immediately cut in. "It has to be... it has to be given with just us two. Alone."
"O..kay." Hayato frowned. "What is it?"
Akari pursed her lips. Okay, you got this Akari. Just.. give it to him and run away! Simple enough! She reached for the cutely wrapped chocolate behind her, and then thrust it in front of his face. "This is for you!"
However, there was a silence and no motion of him accepting the chocolate that Akari realized Hayato's expression was... complicated.
He took the chocolate silently, and then nodded. "Thanks."
Akari frowned, because this wasn't how the exchange was supposed to go. Did he not have anything to say back? Why did he react like that? And then she realized she never said it was honmei.
Hayato frowned. "That's it, right? Sorry but, could you leave now?"
"Gokudera!"
Hayato blinked at the girl's serious face, giving a very intelligent "Huh?"
"I made those chocolates with Sasagawa, you see, and it was really difficult because I have a tendency to poison everything I touch but thanks to her help I was able to pull through and make something edible!"
Hayato was not following. "Okay?"
"And so I just wanted to say that I went through the trouble of making you chocolate for Valentine's Day this year because I... because I..."
Hayato scowled. "You know, for being one of the top students in our class you're being really eloquent with your words right now, aren't you-"
"Shut up! I like you, you idiot!"
His eyes widened, and in an instant Akari was standing, ready to flee. "That's all I wanted to say. Anyway, I need to go cause I told the janitor that I lost my wallet here so if I'm up here this long he's gonna suspect something-"
"Suzuki."
"And you didn't want me here anyway cause this is your safe space right? So I'm gonna head back you don't have to respond or anything okay-"
"Suzuki." Hayato grabbed Akari's arm, preventing her from physically leaving, and he turned her around so he can face her. Akari's face was bright red, alike to a tomato, and she immediately averted her eyes.
"I'm a chicken, aren't I?"
"Suzuki." She switched her gaze back to him, and she realized his ears were a similar bright red. "I... I like you too."
Her eyes widened. "You... you do?" she squeaked.
He groaned. "Yes, that's what I said."
She sat back down next to him, gripping his shoulders. "I heard that right, right? I'm not hallucinating?"
He scoffed, "Do you want me to take it back?"
She looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Can you say it again?"
He blinked, and his face flushed. "What the-? No, you heard me already! Why do you want me to repeat such an embarrassing thing-"
"Please?" she pleaded.
He bit his lip, staring at the ground. "I... I like you too, you idiot."
She beamed, and enveloped him in a big hug, and they fell to the ground. Hayato was stunned, but eventually he smiled and wrapped his arms around her. And then he remembered. Mafia. Hayato reluctantly sat up, pulling away from Akari with a frown. "Suzuki."
Obviously annoyed, she frowned at him. "What? Are you gonna say it was all a lie?"
He smiled to himself. "I wish I can say that, but unfortunately I very much like you, Suzuki."
She flushed. "W-w-why are you suddenly so open about your feelings you dumb tsundere?!"
He laughed, bringing a hand to cup her cheek. "Suzuki."
She puffed her cheeks, trying to ignore her tomato-like face. "What."
"I think it's time I told you something about myself, something that I wish I didn't have to tell you."
She rolled her eyes. "Well whatever it is, it's going to have to wait. I'm not allowed up here any longer, the janitor's gonna grow suspicious." She eyed the chocolate that she had given Hayato, and then grinned. "I promise I didn't poison it, so enjoy it a lot, okay? I worked super hard!"
Hayato tried to protest, but sighed, smiling in the end. I'll tell her another time, I guess. "I'm immune to poison anyway."
"What?!"
He simply pulled her back to him, and laid down. "Let's just stay like this a little longer."
"Gokudera, what do you mean you're immune to poison!?"
"You said you didn't wanna know."
"Is that what you were going to tell me!? That you're an assassin or something?!"
- the end!
tbh, idk how else to end it LOL but you can alr piece together what kinda story would come after i think?
hope you enjoyed this! it's been a journey no cap xD
signing off,
ally