Soma squirmed a little in his seat, staring intently at his friend who was not at all worked up over their little card game.

Ciel had agreed to arrange an evening to spend time together, as Soma had spent most of his vacation sulking, and it was no surprise Phantomhive had the upper hand in the game. They had spent most of it talking about how the new term was and whatnot, and most of the talking in Soma's end fell astray to talks about how Agni was nice enough to pack him lunch, and that he wondered what he must be doing at the moment.

Ciel just picked another card and scoffed.

"So may I assume, from what you're telling me, that you have developed a —what do kids call it nowadays?— erm, 'crush' on Agni? Fish." Soma gave him a baffled look. And not because Ciel almost didn't have any cards left.

"What do you mean?"

Little Ciel took a sip from the tea he had brought there and huffed, as if personally offended by the fact that Soma couldn't realise it. He set the china cup down, gently, and stared at his cards before thinking of an answer. "Well, it's pretty obvious to me that after spending time alone with him, broken-hearted as you were, you developed romantic feelings towards Agni." He finished his statement with a scowl, intent on his cards, before it turned to a smirk.

Soma's confusion only increased, if anything. Was he that into Agni that even little Ciel noticed it? Then a thought crossed his mind. "I think I'd know if I swinged that way, little Ciel." He sighed and grabbed one of the cookies that Tanaka had left them. "It's just… I have been in love with Mina half my life, it is practically impossible for me the thought that I can be in love with someone else. Moreover with someone of my same gender." It wasn't like he was homophobic or anything, even if both societies he had grown in did look down on homosexuality.

Ciel hummed and rearranged his cards. "And have you entertained the thought that maybe you could swing both ways, Kadar?" Soma looked even more baffled.

"You can swing both ways?"

Phantomhive huffed again and set his cards on the table, sure that he was the winner of the round. "Of course you can. It's called 'bisexuality'." He seemed even more infuriated after his next statement. "How else would you explain me having dated both Sebastian and Lizzy? (Not at the same time, of course, that would have been quite disastrous.)"

The college student just let out a surprised 'oh' then looked at his cards. Ciel huffed again before striding out, leaving Soma alone with his thoughts.

Surely he didn't have a crush on Agni, right? It could be anything and maybe little Ciel was wrong.

I mean, he was just really thankful for all the things he had done for him. From staying with him on the café when Sebastian and Ciel ditched them, to going to his dorm to cook him and do chores every day until he got over Mina. It's not like he spent every waking moment thinking about how much of a nice person Agni was, or how nicer it would be if he could hug him, nor did he have a nice, cozy feeling in the pit of—

Oh.

Oh.

Well damn him, he was crushing on Agni.

(Needless to say Ciel won that round [both the cards game and the Agni-issue]).

He had prayed that even with his newfound knowledge his interactions with Agni would be the same as ever. All the gods knew he prayed. Long and hard. But try as he might, when he saw Agni approaching him in the street, the first thing his mind came up was 'wow, I didn't notice that his hair looked really nice…'.

"Is something the matter, Prince Soma?" Asked Agni, the faintest trace of worry im his features. It took the young adult a couple more seconds to snap out of it and think of a proper answer to give to his friend.

"N-no! Of course not! I was just a little surprised, fancy seeing you here." He was incredibly glad his answer wasn't followed by an incredibly awkward laugh. Very glad and relieved.

Agni frowned a little, if he saw something else on Soma's appearance he didn't comment on it "...uh, I was around here shopping for groceries, mind coming with me?" He brought a small notepad to his face then showed it to Soma. "I was thinking of preparing new recipes, as you might probably get sick of me preparing curry everytime I go to your house…"

Soma was quick to wave his hands -and Agni's worry- off, "oh no, not at all, I don't think I could ever get tired of your cooking!" And how very awkward and creepy and weird that sounded! Way to go, Kadar! This way you'll surely win the inconspicuous Olympics!

Agni chuckled, for whatever reason. Did he find Soma's reactions endearing? Kali, please tell him it was a sign of endearment and not gloating? Why did he reject those behaviour-recognizing classes? "I am humbled to hear Prince Soma enjoys my food so much, but I am sure that even small variations are needed - not only for the sole purpose of enjoyment, but we must also take into account that we need multiple nutrients in order to improve certain aspects in our nutrition."

Soma blinked, trying to make sense of what Agni was saying. "If you say so!" Right then he realized he hadn't answered to his previous invitation. "And of course I'd love to go with you!" He fell into step with him, suddenly his awkwardness gone. And maybe it was because of that he had a crush on him, because he was so gentle, and understanding, and familiar and easy to be with and- "do you have any plans for Saturday?" And it's not like he was asking him out on a date or anything, it was just a friendly outing and surely Agni wouldn't think bad of it and-

"Actually, I do."

Soma tried not to feel too deflated by the rejection, he really did. But just… maybe he was over-excited by the idea of more alone-time with Agni (probably, perhaps, but…). "Oh." He let out a chuckle (this time it was weird, though), and tried to play it off. Cool-ly. "Do you mind it if I ask what it's about?"

Agni eyed him warily again, then adjusted the scarf over his shoulder. It was quite cold, after all. It almost being February and all. "It's nothing, really. It's just that the first Saturday of every month I go to the orphanage to give food and clothes." He tried a kind smile, and fortunately, it seemed to work on his face. Soma's upset-ness also seemed to lessen after his explanation.

"The orphanage?" It's not like he wasn't privy on charity events or- who was he kidding, he wasn't privy to that at all. Selfish as it may sound, he didn't really mind about that kind of stuff thanks to his upbringing (aka: he was raised with money and was never brought to those charity balls his parents had to attend for the sake of their company image, they had Mina to leave him with), so… saying that he was at loss as to what to say was kind of an understatement.

"Yes. It has been a self-imposed custom for the past couple of years, it's just that it was never brought up in our conversations, and it never did make it hard for me to see you."

Suddenly Soma noticed just how much selfish he was. In all their conversations… something like monthly visits to the orphanage was never brought up. Nor Agni's work, nor his parents, nor his life outside anything Soma-related.

Way to go, Soma.

Thus, he tried to be a little less selfish and asked, "would you mind it if I tag along?"

And he felt butterflies in his chest when Agni answered "not at all, I think the children would appreciate someone else to play with."

They agreed to meet at the Tolworth Post Office somewhere during the afternoon.

Soma started to worry he had arrived late after a couple of minutes of not seeing Agni, and right as he was about to call his phone number (which he had so graciously obtained one afternoon after saying that communication was important), he saw a car parking in front of him.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to arrive, I did bring quite a lot." He opened the co-pilot door and motioned for Soma to get in. Soma just shook his head and got inside the vehicle.

"It's no problem, really. I had arrived a couple of minutes ago and was worried about arriving late or something," it was rather stupid to think so, given that he had arrived almost half an hour early to make sure he didn't mess up the address. "How is the orphanage we're visiting called?"

"Joy Home for Children."

Soma frowned. "Wasn't that an orphanage in India?" Okay, he might have investigated a little about orphanages, and that one popped up first when he browsed 'orphanages in India'.

Agni chuckled a little in amusement, then turned the car wheel a little past Princes Ave into Ladywood Rd. "Joy Home was indeed founded in India by a doctor and her caring husband, but they have another home here in the United Kingdom."

Soma nodded offhandedly and kept staring at the road, digesting the info just given to him. "I see." Now that he thought about it, it did make sense that Agni visited an Indian orphanage.

"Look, we're here." He lifted the hand-break and unbuckled his seat-belt. "Would you mind helping me with these boxes?"

The place didn't look out of place in contrast with the rest of the houses. It was white, it had a normal-looking roof, and it didn't have a sign or anything that said this was the place. But Agni had said he came here frequently, so he trusted him.

"Ah, Agni, glad to see you here." A woman walked and greeted them, well, Agni for the most part, then seemed to finally notice Soma and… didn't make much of him. "Did you also come to volunteer?" She asked, grabbing a box from Agni's car to help them.

Soma smiled widely and followed his companion. "Yeah, Agni invited me."

The children loved Agni, that much was obvious by their reaction to his arrival.

They were all squirming around and flocking like little chicks around their mother, which… wasn't an inaccurate description at seeing how Agni was also cooing them.

He served them generous portions of curry with rice, roasted veggies and some rice. "There's more than enough for everyone," he had told them, and smiled when the kids didn't hold back.

Soma didn't do much of anything; the kids eyed him vaguely, as he was only hanging out by the sidelines.

"Prince Soma, can you pass me the box with lassi?" at this interaction, the kids seemed interested in him, and while he was pouring their beverages, they all took turns (sort of) to ask him questions.

"Are you really a prince?" "Do you have an elephant?" "Do you live in a castle?" (At least those were the ones Soma managed to catch.

"Um, no I'm not really a prince, Agni just likes to call me that; yes! But she's back in India because the law wouldn't let us have her here; and no, castles were my great-grandparents thing." he scratched the nape of his neck sheepishly, and glanced at Agni for help.

He was deemed frozen by the fond look on his eyes.

Dear Kali, not only had he fallen, but hard.

"The kids took a liking to you," Agni mentioned once they started packing their stuff back into the boxes. The kids were sent to their schooling room after eating and playing a little with the both of them.

"You think so?" He hoped so, because Agni seemed to like them a lot too.

"Of course. Did the Prince not see a couple of them cling to his back like monkeys?" At this they both laughed, and it was their easy-going interactions that prompted Soma to act boldly.

"Do you have plans for the 14th?" Agni eyed him curiously, and Soma was quick to clarify. "It's just that it would be nice hanging out with a friend on that day, don't you agree?"

Agni smiled that fond smile again, and agreed, "of course".

I'M NOT DEAD.

You probably thought this thing was on hiatus, but no. :D (I'm sorry it took so long, but school and whatnot)

I was thinking about the fact that I never mentioned when (temporarily speaking), this fic was. Now I'll say that the last part of this chapter was from February 2nd, 2013. (I wanted it to be on the same days as February 1889 because reasons)

The amount of last-minute research I did for the orphanage scene is ridiculous. I looked for orphanages in London through Google Maps because I wanted it to be somewhat real, and I just happened to really like the name of that one and I was like "yeah, sure i'll pick this one", then i click the web page and find out it was an orphanage from India. And that nearby there was a (fast food) curry restaurant, and that there was an Avenue nearby called "Princes Ave".

It was like that orphanage was made to be referenced in this fanfic.

anYWAY, I'm not sure if the place does work like an orphanage in the UK, i just needed it for plot purposes.

I'm sorry it's so short, but most of this was written in like, 3 hours. ;;

btw, this is my submission for SomAgni Valentine's day two. ;) Day one is already on my tumblr but for some reason the tagging doesn't work. :')

Next chapter: the 14th! pinky promise!

Matane!