Even before Erina had made it all the way downstairs, she heard the sounds of Alice and Hisako moaning and sighing in the main kitchen. She nibbled her lower lip. Yukihira-kun was here already?
For the past three days, the diner chef had been bombarding her with his eccentric dishes, trying to make her admit defeat. Usually she was given at least a day to recover from his cooking — more than enough time to recalibrate her refined palate and stop seeing stars — but now he was relentless. She'd barely had time to properly recover from the quail egg omelette he'd served her as a midnight snack.
Steeling herself mentally, Erina entered the kitchen, feigning a bored expression. "You're here again?" she asked Yukihira when she saw him standing by the stove top.
Alice and Hisako cleared out of the room as soon as she arrived, carrying their plates with them. Erina rolled her eyes—a pair of traitors, those two.
"C'mon, Nakiri. It's too early for you to be sick of me already," he said, appraising her with an electric smile.
Erina was struck dumb by the sight of it, her heart beating double time. It was so unfair. She hadn't even tasted the dish yet, and he already had her slipping. "It's never too early to be done with your foolishness," she said, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Serve your dish, and be on your way. I have work to get done this morning."
He had the dish, an artfully plated breakfast carbonara, in front of her in seconds. "I never keep an important customer waiting," he said. "Enjoy."
Erina swallowed thickly as she gazed at the dish. It smelled heavenly, and she could tell that the homemade pasta would have a great mouthfeel. The sauce was a rich orange color that promised an unparalleled depth of flavor.
Heat prickled at the back of her neck as his golden eyes bored into her. She crossed her legs at the knees to stop them from trembling. Erina took one deep breath and then another, channeling all the poise and restraint she was expected to exhibit as the Nakiri heir, and twirled a single bite's worth of breakfast pasta onto her fork.
The flavors pulsed through her like the bass from the speakers at a night club, vibrating in her every taste bud, electrifying each nerve ending. No wonder her friends hadn't been able to keep their composure.
After the first taste, Erina set her fork down and closed her eyes for a moment before she could bring herself to look at the diner chef. "Alright," she finally said. "I accept your proposal. We'll go to the dance together."
"C'mon, Nakiri!" he started to say before he'd truly heard her. "Wait, really?"
Erina rolled her eyes at the unguarded grin spreading on his face. "Yes, really," she said, fighting down the blush that threatened to bloom across her cheeks. She stood up from the table. "Here's how this works. You will meet me at the estate at 8, and we'll take a car to the venue together. You will wear a proper suit in a color that complements my outfit. Hisako will send you a memo detailing suggested attire by the end of the day, and naturally everything will be charged to one of my expense accounts—"
"Nakiri, I'm not so broke that you have to buy my clothes."
"Oh, Yukihira-kun. When will you learn? You will always be broke compared to me," she said. "I'm heading back upstairs now. Someone has to keep the academy running, but if you have any logistical questions in advance of the event, let Hisako know."
Erina was almost out of the kitchen before he thought of any rebuttal, and for a moment she thought she was in the clear. But then he was trailing behind her, diner apron still tied around his waist.
"Wait, Nakiri, how did it taste?"
She placed her hands on her hips. "I said I'd go out with you, didn't I?"
Again, that smirk. "So does that mean delicious?"
Then, with a sigh, Erina did the only thing that might distract him for long enough to create another opening. She rose to her tip-toes with all the grace of a prima ballerina and left a lingering kiss on his face, just to the left of his lips like what the protagonist, Sachiko, had done in the latest volume of her favorite manga.
She could almost hear a distant sucking sound as Yukihira's mind went blank, the deliciousness question draining out of his eyes and replaced with something far more primal. Suddenly she wanted to kiss more him—to taste, to bite, to possess.
Surely this was not how it had gone for Sachiko.
Before she could process the warm feeling welling in her stomach, Yukihira had bridged the distance between their lips. Erina sighed into it, her lips parting slightly, not quite sure what she should be doing with her mouth. After a moment, he broke away and peppered her jawline with kisses, his soft spikes of hair tickling the skin just beneath her earlobe.
Erina backed up against the door frame with the momentum of the kisses. Yukihira's knee parted her thighs and the feel of it against her made her breath come out in quick pants. Her hips moved in a wholly unfamiliar way with the heat rising within her, hands curled up in the fabric of his shirt as she tried to pull him closer and closer still.
"You taste like honey," he murmured against the column of her throat. "Honey and amber. The food of the goods."
"The gods eat ambrosia, not amber, you plebia—" The insult died when his lips captured hers again, and Erina melted into it, letting her body speak where words fell short.
She kissed him once, twice, a thousand times until shadow appeared in the doorway. The broke apart, albeit reluctantly, to see Kurokiba in his workout clothes, waiting to enter the kitchen.
Erina's eyes went wide and she buried her face in Souma's chest, already imagining the savage teasing Alice would heap upon her as soon as she heard.
"Maybe take this to a room?" Kurokiba asked, sounding more bored than anything else. "First Hayama and Arato, now this."
Erina whirled around. "Wait, WHAT?"
"I knew it!" Yukihira said.
Kurokiba sidestepped them both and grabbed a frying pan.
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading everyone! I'm sorry this is so late! A lot has happened; basically I moved during the pandemic, started a new job, finished my grad program, ended things with a guy I'd been on and off with since my freshman year of undergrad, had to cancel not one but two international trips I had planned because of the pandemic (basically my mental health completely deteriorated and I took refuge in my comfort shows and tripped and fell back into another fandom). 2020 was really hard and I'm not all the way recovered from it yet, but I am going to try my best to finish this story.
