Chapter 13 - Valentine's Day

White snow fluttered down from the grey sky, dancing to the ground and covered it in white heap. The dazzling sun was hiding behind the clouds, not bothering to give warmth to the people as they walked on the pavement. It was freezing cold outside, and that was why recently Eira didn't want to get out of the car and enter the citadel from the main entrance. Also, imagining to climb all the slippery stairs to the entrance in this kind of weather was already enough to discourage her.

Eira opened the door of her car after Lizette parked in the basement of the citadel. Sighing as she got out from the car, she then closed the door before fixing the position of her red muffler.

She looked at the reflection of her face from the dark car window, then smiled unwittingly as she combed her hair with her fingers. And when she was satisfied by her own appearance, she stepped away and walked toward the elevator.

Just a few steps, and Eira halted her movement as she caught Lizette furrowing her eyebrows and looking at her in wonder.

"What's wrong?" Eira frowned. "Something weird on my face?"

"I just remember that you haven't told me about this guy."

Eira shrugged and continued walking, pretending that she didn't understand what Lizette was talking about. "What guy, Liz?"

"The one that I failed to find at the New Year's party last month."

Thump.

Eira gulped. There was an unpleasant pressure on her chest as she heard Liz's words. She didn't want Liz to know about her little secret, having a crush on the marshal of crownsguard and going on a date with him to the movie a few weeks ago. For Astral's sake, Lizette would never stop teasing her if she knew about it. Also, Lizette was a crownsguard. And Eira having a crush on her superior? No, it wouldn't be fun. Not to forget to mention, this marshal was twenty-four-years older than her.

"There's no such a guy." Eira pressed the elevator button. Lucky for them no one currently used it, thus they didn't need to wait to enter the elevator.

"It's clear that you had a crush on someone. You were grinning ear to ear before the party, and then after the party. But, I didn't see you with anyone that day. Just Gladio. … Wait, you like Gladio?"

"What? No!" Quickly turning her head to face Lizette, Eira scowled. Giving a little huff, she faced her front again, to the elevator door that reflected their blurred figures.

"You only talked to him that night. … Or no? Was it the prince? You also talked to him. But, no. You weren't grinning like a girl who fell in love when you talked with him." Lizette was busy with her own speculations which annoyed the medic who pouted her lips as she heard Liz's attempt in being a love detective.

"Why are you so curious?" Eira asked.

"Come on. I never saw you fall in love with someone before. And now you love to grin like a fool in the car, always fixing your appearance when we arrived here," Lizette explained but then suddenly gasped, "Here! Oh! Okay! Clue number one, he's someone working in the citadel."

The brown-haired crownsguard was so excited, grinning widely when she found the clue without Eira telling it. On the other hand, the young woman in the topic was secretly restless because Liz's guess was right. The man she crushed on was indeed working in the citadel.

"Stop guessing," she complained, even though she knew that this particular crownsguard wouldn't give up in this guessing game.

"And, because I saw everyone who talked to you that night. And, it seems that none of them is your crush. ... Ah, one-sided love, hmm? You could only stare at him from afar..."

"Lizzie," Eira huffed, hiding half of her face behind her muffler and averted her gaze from the young woman on her right side. She could feel the mischievous gaze from Lizette, and she wasn't comfortable with it.

Didn't mean that Eira wanted to keep it secret from Lizette or any of her friends. It was just this significant other wasn't around the same age as her, plus, it was the marshal of crownsguard.

Eira was sure that her cheeks were reddened. Her face was burning now, and both of her ears were getting hot. She wished Lizette would stop talking about this matter. If only she could put a spell on her lips so she would be silenced. Well, she could, though… Yet, Eira was kind enough to refrain from casting the spell at her crownsguard.

"Okay, I didn't see the first fifteen minutes in the party when you arrived there before me. Oh! So... I guess… you talked to him before I arrived, right?" Lizette didn't give up on her guessing attempt.

The elevator stopped at their destination floor. Eira walked out before her while complaining, "Come on. Why do you suddenly talk about it again? It's a month ago."

"And I'll keep prying into it." Lizette chased her.

"Which is impolite, Lizette." Eira sped up her steps, wishing to arrive at infirmary as soon as possible so she could shoo Lizette and force her to go to the training room.

"Oh, well. I think I'll know the answer in two weeks."

"What?" Eira halted her steps, glancing at Liz in curiosity.

"In two weeks. February fourteen. Valentine's Day. Obviously, you'll make chocolates or cookies for him, right?"

The raven-haired woman parted her lips in surprise. Letting out a silent "Ooh", she then walked again in the hallway that connected the entrance hall to the infirmary.

Right. Valentine's Day. She totally forgot about it.

There was an unwritten myth in Insomnia, an ancient story about a certain Astral; Valentine, the goddess of love. Unknown sources said that there were other Astrals—not only Six—that also gave their blessing to Eos. One of them was Valentine, a gracious deity who spread love to human souls.

One day, thousand years ago, she came down to Eos. Disguising herself into a human, she then lived with them. Long story short, she fell in love with a human, and on the day where Glacian showered the Eos with snow, she confessed her feelings to the man while giving him a chocolate. Or, cookies. Or, any kind of sweet dessert to be exact.

Well, there were a lot of versions about that story. Another one said that it was the man who gave chocolate to the Goddess and she fell in love with him because of how sweet his chocolate was. And, another one said that chocolate was Valentine's favorite food. So, giving them to your crush would make the Astral give her blessing to you and help you receive the love from your crush.

Superstition. Eira didn't really believe it, though. Also, there was no solid proof regarding the existence of other Astral beside the Hexathon. Oh, right, except for an unknown Astral that gave blessing to the women in House of Heallint that made her capable of using a particular magic unrelated to the King's and his crystal.

"So, you're going to give this man a chocolate, right?" Lizette smirked as she asked, which gained a scoff from Eira.

"Okay, stop talking about me. How about you? Will you give chocolate or cookies to your significant other?"

"Me? Nah. No one worth my chocolate or cookies. And, no, there's no significant other. You know it."

Eira chuckled hearing Liz's answer.

When they finally arrived in front of the infirmary, Eira halted at the entrance to give a look at her crownsguard. She was relieved that the conversation about her crush will be over.

"Good luck for your training." She waved her hand, smiling at Lizette who smiled back at her. From her eyes, it was obvious that Lizette wasn't satisfied with the result of their conversation. But, no way Eira would reveal about her crush, right?

.

.

.

There were five visitors today, and just like usual, Eira was working in the citadel infirmary. However, between every patient, or whenever it was only her in the room, her mind would wander around and subconsciously think about Valentine's Day.

She wondered if she should make something for Cor. Perhaps, she would say that it's a gift for the other day when he accompanied her shopping after their date to cover her true intention. But, he must have known about Valentine's Day and she was afraid that it would be obvious that she had feelings for him.

However, recently Valentine's Day wasn't only about giving chocolate to someone in a romantic way. There was also something called obligatory chocolate, given to male coworkers or colleagues in expression of friendship, gratitude, or indebtedness. But, Eira was sure that even female crownsguards would never dare to give the marshal the obligatory chocolate.

Now, she was wondering whether in the past, Cor got some chocolates from his… lover. Oh, she was jealous now—toward an unknown someone from the past.

Shaking her head to ward off such a though, she sighed then continued working on her research paper. Until suddenly someone knocked the door—the infirmary entrance used double doors, and one always opened while the other was always closed

"Yo!"

"Yes?" Upon hearing a familiar voice, Eira raised her head to look at the entrance.

It was Gladio, grinning widely at her while a line of blood flowed down from his head.

"Oh, your forehead is bleeding." She quickly straightened her back and stopped working on her paper.

"Right… That Lizette." He chuckled then walked to one of the nearest beds and sat on it.

"Oh, it's Lizette? Surely she laughed after landing a hit on you." Getting up from her seat, she rushed toward Gladio to check his wound.

"Hilariously. I'm sure it's not so bad, but Cor forced me to go here and ask for treatment."

Thump!

Cor. Only a single word, a name of a certain someone she fell in love with, was enough to make her heart race. Gulping, Eira tried to maintain her composure, yet probably she failed to as she couldn't stop her voice from quivering. "Ah… Y-yes… That's wise of him."

After checking how deep Gladio's wound was, she strode quickly to the cabinet where the medics stuffed their equipment and took the things she needed to clean his wound.

"Next week is Valentine's Day, right? Wanna give chocolate to him?" Gladio asked, definitely wanting to tease Eira.

Gasping, she almost dropped her equipment. "No! Why should I?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Oh, she didn't want to see Gladio right now, but she should go there to treat his wound.

"N-no." Eira gave an awkward chuckle. The young man had already known about her secret since the New Year's party, and she knew that trying to hide it by now was a useless effort. Yet, she was still denying it.

"I won't tell anyone."

She stared at Gladio with skeptical eyes, practically glaring at him. "Can't believe you."

"And, again, I don't like the marshal in a romantic way." Eira was bad at lying, and despite her saying like that, her blushing cheeks couldn't hide the way she truly felt about the marshal.

She then began to clean Gladio's wound, with slightly trembling hands because she was sure that he would continue his tease. Seeing that it didn't need any suture, she put a band-aid on it before moving her finger to draw a magic circle.

"Hmm… I doubt that you don't like him romantically." Yet, Gladio's words interrupted her and the magic circle was shattered and disappeared as she lost her focus.

Scowling at the pair of amber eyes that was staring at her in a playful way, she grumbled—still in a slightly trembling voice—, "You want me to cast a spell or not?"

Gladio chuckled, "Okay, please heal me with your divine magic, Ms. Heallint."

She was annoyed, and clearly Gladio could see it from her face. Fortunately, he finally stopped teasing her and let her treat him peacefully. He shut his mouth, and Eira successfully chanted her spell to heal him.

"You should give him chocolate." And that was the last sentence he gave her before leaving the infirmary while laughing in amusement.

A huff escaped her lips as she returned back to her seat. First, Lizette. Now, Gladiolus. What was wrong with them? What was interesting from her love story?

Oh, wait! Gladio knew about her crush on the marshal. And now Eira was afraid that he would tell Lizette or anyone else about it. But Lizette didn't seem to know about it this morning. Perhaps it was safe to assume that Gladio could actually keep it a secret.

As she sat and wrote her report, her mind wandered again, wondering about what she should do for Valentine's Day. Without realizing, she already took her phone and typed a message to Raine and Stella.

[ Will you make some handmade chocolate or cookies? ]

Cor sat on the bench in the citadel training room, gulping his sport drink after sparring with one of his fellow crownsguard. He exhaled after, lidding his empty bottle while watching the other crownsguards who were still sparring with each other, observing their movement and noting what should they improve which he would tell later on.

It was already two months since his date with a young woman from House Heallint. The last time Cor talked with her for more than a minute was at the New Year's party. And since, it was just a small greeting in the hallway.

A week after the formal party in the citadel, there was an informal one which was being held especially only for crownsguard and crownsguard medic. Being held in their favorite izakaya that was fully booked only for this occasion. It was just a dinner, and as expected, Eira sat with her fellow medics slightly far from his seat. Thus, it was impossible to talk with her at that time.

Being in that izakaya reminded him of their first dinner. However, unfortunately it was absolutely impossible for her to sit at the same table as him at that time.

"What? You got chocolate from Chloe? That Chloe from the tax department?"

A loud voice from Cor's left side snatched his attention, stopping him from thinking about a particular young woman who piqued the marshal's interest.

"It's unbelievable!"

"Hei! You got one from that lady from that home affair dept, right?!"

"Six! I'm jealous."

There were some other crownsguard who were sitting on the bench not far from him, talking about something that slightly bugged him today. The truth was, it bugged him since this morning. Apparently today was Valentine's Day, when women in Lucis gave sweets for their significant other to confess their feelings.

Of course the marshal had knowledge about this event, he just forgot when the date was.

Not being in a relationship for a long time, also never had a relationship for more than three months, Cor never actually experienced this day. Receiving chocolate? No. Most women didn't even dare to talk to him unless for greeting or discussing things related to work.

"Did the marshal get some from his fans?"

Cor glanced to his right, looking at Gladio who took a seat at the same bench as him and gulped his sport drink. The marshal scoffed, "No such a fan."

"Oh, really? The marshal is popular. You sure no one snuck some in your desk?" Gladio chuckled then gulped his drink again.

"No." Cor stood up and threw his towel on the bench. Calling one of the crownsguard who he thought had taken enough break and chattering, the marshal asked the young man to spare him.

To be honest, Cor just wanted to avoid the conversation with Gladio regarding this chocolate-day-thing. Also his mind was currently wondering whether Eira gave chocolate to someone or not. He disliked the idea of Eira giving someone chocolate. But who was he to feel irritated by the speculation?

Ah, right. Perhaps Gladio got it from her. They were quite close, and it wasn't weird if she gave him some. The thoughts just irritated him more, and perhaps doing some sparring would make him forget about the matter.

.

.

.

No one was in the training room after Cor got out from the shower room. Not that he didn't expect it. The marshal was always the last one to leave if it wasn't Ignis or Gladiolus, and they had already left hours ago.

As he stepped outside from the warm training room, night freezing wind brushed his face, slightly startling the man for the sudden change in temperature. It was February after all, when the winter cold was still at its peak in Insomnia.

Not wearing a thick coat but his crownsguard uniform, he sped up his steps to cross the small yard to enter the hallway in the west building that connected this area to the main entrance hall. And in between, he would walk past the infirmary. The place where a certain medic who piqued his curiosity was probably still working right now.

The hallway was quiet, just like usual whenever he returned from the training room and was going to the elevator in the entrance hall. There were no voices but his own footsteps, and that wasn't weird since it was already past ten. There were some offices around here, but of course the staff were already back home. They rarely did overtime. Except for a particular medic in the infirmary.

Now the infirmary was just a few feet apart, and in less than a minute he would walk past it. But, there was something that fluttered inside his stomach. Warmth? He didn't know. He didn't quite understand it, though. And his heart? It started to beat faster than before.

Some of the infirmary windows had been closed, which prevented the man from taking a glance inside. But he could see the light coming out from the opened door, and judging by the time, the only one who stayed until this late was only Ms. Heallint.

"Ah! Marshal!" Suddenly the young woman he was thinking of dashed out from the door, looking at him in surprise.

Cor halted, startled by her sudden appearance. However, before he could even say anything, Eira ran back to the infirmary. Frowning, he wondered what that was about.

He advanced his way, stopping at the entrance to look at Eira who was taking something from her desk. Cor walked inside the infirmary, wanting to ask her about what was going on, but somehow reluctant to do so. Thus, he just waited patiently until she scurried back to him.

"Um… I… I made some chocolate… If you wouldn't mind having some," she stuttered, stretching both hands to him while holding a small black paper bag with white ribbon on its upper part.

Cor opened his mouth in amazement, not believing what he just heard, or what was currently happening. The wrinkles on his forehead multiplied, and both eyebrows crooked in confusion. He didn't even say anything and just stared at her in disbelief.

Why? How? Why did she give him chocolate? He wasn't dreaming, was he?

"Ah, I'm sorry. Do you hate sweet?" she started panicking because Cor didn't respond with anything but staring at her. She then muttered to herself which was clear enough to be heard by him, "You seemed to be enjoying the dessert whenever we had dinner so I thought you might like it…"

He blinked, finally realized that it was actually happening. "No, I don't hate sweets."

"Oh… Great.. Well, here's for you." Eira raised the bag again.

Lifting both corners of his lips, Cor finally took it. "Thanks."

He was wonderstruck, still not believing that he got chocolate today. Oh, yeah, probably Eira gave chocolates to every colleague she knew. It wouldn't be something special. Not in a romantic way, for sure. Not like those crownsguards who got it from their crushes. Eira would never have a thing for him. And the marshal shouldn't have a thing for her. This was only formality.

"Hope you'll like it." She smiled, both cheeks were red. But, Cor just thought that because it was probably cold here in this infirmary. He believed that Eira's cheeks would redden if it was too cold. The marshal was just being a denial even though he should've known that the young woman was actually blushing, and he was the cause.

Cor chuckled. "Should I take a bite now?"

"Um, no… You're driving right? It might be poisonous, because I'm the one who made it. I don't want your stomach to get upset while you're driving."

Cor raised his eyebrows then laughed softly, "Oh? You made it? And why is it poisonous?"

"Actually it's my first time making sweets. Well, it's basically just melting the dark chocolate, adding honey, and putting them into the mold. But, who knows?"

"And you're brave enough to poison the marshal with your experiment?" Cor was amused.

She giggled, "But don't worry. I've also put some potions in case your stomach is upset."

Cor laughed. "Really?"

"Yes. Oh! But I've eaten one and it's totally okay. So… just a precaution."

Soft laughters filled the air before they stopped talking and ended up in an awkward silence. Cor stared at her, admiring the way she smiled at him while her eyes were fixated on his eyes. Her eyes were alluring, which made him unable to take his gaze away from her. She was adorable.

"I… I hope you'd like it." But then Eira's voice broke the silence.

Cor blinked in surprise then nodded while clearing his throat, cursing himself for being trapped by a young maiden's charm. He chuckled in a bit awkward manner, "Yeah, sure. I'll make sure to inform you if I got poisoned."

Eira smiled, "No. I'm certain the marshal can survive the poison, because…"

"Because I'm the immortal." Cor scoffed. One rarely knew that the marshal despised his moniker.

The smile disappeared from Eira's face as she heard his answer. "Oh… Um… I'm sorry… You dislike that moniker?"

Cor gasped and stared at her in wonderment. Did he just show his feelings through his face? Or did he use an unpleasant tone as he responded to her? Oh no, he didn't mean to destroy the mood. Oh no, looked like she was feeling guilty for bringing up his moniker as a joke.

"I did. But, I think this time I need that moniker to save me?" Cor raised the paper bag and smiled at her, trying to return the smile to her face, which he did.

She lifted the corner of her lips and giggled. "Yes, I think you really need it."

The two stopped talking again for a few seconds. Just an awkward smile and fidgeting gesture.

Until finally Cor asked, "Not going home?"

"Oh! Yes. I'm about to." Eira replied.

"With Lizette?"

"No." Eira shook her head, "She said that she had some urgent matters so she left hours ago."

"Going home by taxi again?"

Eira shrugged, "Um, yes, I think so."

"I can drive you home." No, Cor didn't think much when he stated his offer. The words came out naturally, as if it was a habit. Though it was the third time he offered to drive her home like this.

"Eh?" she looked confused.

"Something wrong?"

"No." She shook her head then replied in a slightly quivering voice, "But... Um… I feel bad… I mean… You drive me home quite often… I don't want to bother you."

"It's not a big deal."

Eira parted her lips, not saying anything for a few seconds before finally smiling and replied, "Oh… Okay, then. Thank you. I… I'll get my things first."

"Sure."

Cor watched her as she giggled and rushed back to her desk. She took her handbag, and some other things and put them inside her bag in a hurry. Cor wanted to tell her no need to rush but she just finished wearing her muffler and taking her bag and scurrying back to him.

"Thanks for waiting," she said.

And at that moment he really wanted to pat her head.

"No problem."

They walked out from the infirmary. He waited for her as she locked the door, and gave another smile at her as she raised the corner of her lips when she put the purse where she kept her key into her bag.

They walked together in the hallway. Side by side. Talking about anything that came into their minds, and filling the air with soft chuckles and giggles.

For Cor, it was a pleasant night… and he loved spending the time in his car which wasn't so quiet tonight as she was there sitting on his right and talking with him with her mellifluous voice.

And the chocolate… He was sure that it would be the most delicious sweet he'd have.

Author's note: I don't know. I'm in love with this story. They're so stupid yet so cute. And Gladio is the love cupid. Maybe? Ahahaha. Btw if anyone interested in seeing the art of Cor x Eira that I made, please feel free to visit my instagram : fluoxetinehcl

If I'm not updating my fic asap, you'll probably know why.

Thank you for reading!