Okay first and foremost, Nessie-san, to address you question: I will be the first to admit I screwed up my own timeline in this fic. Ever since I retconned it to a more sensible timeline I've been meaning to correct the discrepancies in the past chapters but didn't know how without adding in new documents in general but I finally found a way, so I'll try to get around to that soon! Sorry about the mix-ups! I developed some different ideas and things I wanted to do with it during my fixing of the timeline that also need to be addressed, after all.
So, let's put it this way: Makoto's birthday is in November. At the time of his birthday (the 17th), they did not have Akiha. We just passed Rin's birthday (February 2nd) and they've had her for a few months. So basically... They've had her for a little over two-and-a-half months. And from personal experience, the kitten I'm basing a lot of her behavior on (not the swimming, sadly) is almost ten months old and is just now getting a distinctive growth spurt. She's been pretty small for a while and is just starting to look like a cat and not a kitten! So I hope that clears up some confusion and I'll get to work on the other issues shortly!

Chapter 26- Of Chocolate and Valentines
Haruka groaned at the sound of the alarm, fully and totally ready to burrow back under his covers and ignore the steady shrill beeping. Except, he realized when he cracked an eye open, it was Thursday and he had something to do by the end of the day.
He yawned widely and slowly wormed a hand out from underneath the heavy comforter to silence the alarm. Haru sat up, braced on one arm, and rubbed at his eyes as he glanced around the cold room.
Except for his quiet rustles in the bedclothes, the house was disconcertingly quiet. The shower wasn't running. The TV wasn't on. The smell of mackerel (...or any other foodstuffs) didn't come from the kitchen.
No one else lay breathing contentedly at his side.
Well, except for the small Bobtail kitten curled up behind his knees. Akiha didn't seem disturbed by his shifting about. She simply slept on, an occasional twitch of whisker or paw denoting her state of unconsciousness, and remained blissfully ignorant of her disgruntled lonely owner.
Haru sighed, acknowledging that he wouldn't have company this morning of any sort. He crawled out of the bed- which always seemed far too big when it was only him in it- and his feet found the chilly floorboards. He grimaced and poked around for his house slippers, finding them at last knocked halfway under the bed and in disarray. He cast a disparaging look back at Akiha- now in a full-blown dreaming twitch fit- and slid them out from underneath the bed with yet another sigh. He was setting out his training gear for his morning run (Rin's orders) when his cell phone chirped its merry calling tone. He scowled at it. He always left it on silent, meaning one his lovers (Rin) had set it to make noise. Haru grumbled as he snatched it up and didn't bother to look at the name.

"What, Rin?"

"Well well, look who just woke up."

Haru rolled his eyes, now well and truly aggravated by the whole morning. "Now how could you tell?"

"Because Sassmaster Haru is a special treat that only makes his appearances in times of great disquiet or early mornings he doesn't expect."

"Fuck you," Haru replied eloquently, then frowned, realizing Rin's language was starting to rub off on him.

"Not likely." The redhead was quick to fire back.

"Why are you all out of breath, anyway?" Haru asked as he dropped his pants.

"Running."

"You don't usually run for another half hour."

"And you don't usually bother to get up this early but today we're both on a mission, huh? I got up early to stop by the library before class. They have to have a cookbook somewhere that explains how to make chocolate."

"Tonight still works for you?"

"Yeah, I'll just include your house in my regimen to make up for the lost time exercising. Mako's not gonna be around, right?"

Morose blue eyes examined the cold empty bed and the now upside down Bobtail. "...no."

"How long have we got before he comes home tonight?"

"He's taking the twins to a friend's house and then working an emergency three-hour shift. We'll have enough time."

"So he'll be skipping practice?"

"The twins are going to come over to the school. So we'll have to leave without him."

"Oh, stop sounding like a kicked puppy. Look, where's this friend's house?"

"A stop past Samezuka, I think?"

"Then bring the munchkins to practice too. I'm sure I can convince the Captain to let them stay in the lounge or something."

Haru paused halfway through zipping up his jacket. "...you won't get in trouble?"

"Who knows. Anyway when's the last time they saw him swim? Do they have any idea how sexy he looks?"

"I hope they don't find him sexy. But we know how good he looks."

Rin snorted. "True. All right, after I snatch the book I'll head back and swing by the Captain's room to see what he says."

"Rin, I've got to go if you expect me to get this run in."

A husky little laugh echoed over the connection. "Good boy. All right, I'll see you tonight."

Haru paused in the entryway, sneakers on, ready to leave but for one thing.
"...I love you, Rin."

"What's with the mushiness this morning? You're even talking more than usual."
The black-haired boy sighed internally, face calming back into impassivity, but his heart felt a little lighter for having said it.

"Lonely, are we?" Rin asked, voice uncharacteristically gentle.

"...no."

"You hesitated. Look, it's okay to be lonely. I remember lonely. It sucks. So don't feel bad for missing us when we're not around."

Haru flopped onto his back in the raised part of the entryway, smiling despite himself when a small orange-and-black spotted head poked inquisitively into his field of vision.
"Why did you two- you three- have to come to mean so much to me?" He sighed.

Rin laughed. "Because that's how it works?" Akiha crawled onto Haru's chest and curled up there, purring away. "Anyway, I love you too. And Makoto. And Akiha. Got to go, almost back. And you have a run to get started."

Haru listened to the other line until it clicked, disconnecting him from the redhead, and he glanced down at the Bobtail regarding him with big ocean-colored eyes. "Did you hear that? He loves you too, Akiha."

Haru sat a while longer, scratching her back to hear the kitten purr, and then removed her.
He had a run to get to.

School was agonizingly slow and very difficult. Makoto always knew when Haru was up to something. It meant the black-haired boy had to make every last effort to avoid his lover's eyes and dodge around questions. He mentioned the idea Rin had had about the twins to the brunette over lunch and Nagisa leapt on the idea.

"I haven't seen Ren-chan and Ran-chan in aaaaages!"

Rei rolled his eyes. "Nagisa-kun, you saw them just the other day at Rin-san's birthday party."

"Ehhh, don't be a spoilsport, Rei-chan! I want them to come watch us swim!"

Makoto finished a clump of rice and laughed. "That's not up to us at all, Nagisa. It's up to Samezuka."

Luckily Haru got the text before the end of the day and informed them of the change. Makoto stopped by his house to grab the twins along with a bigger bag than usual (his work uniform) and Ren and Ran were vibrating in their seats on the train to Iwatobi's rival school.

"We get to see Onii-chan swim!"

"And Haru-nii-chan!"

"And Nagisa, and Rei, and even Rin." Makoto added for them.

"Rin-nii-chan is there?!" The twins exclaimed, lighting up at the very prospect.

"Well of course, he goes to Samezuka."

"Rin-nii-chan!" They chorused happily.

Nagisa pouted and mumbled something sour about hero-worship under his breath and Makoto just hid a chuckle behind his hand.

Rin was waiting for them, grinning with an easy grace at the excitable twins and patting each on the head, and then sharing a softer smile with his lovers before turning a stern look on Rei.

"You've been practicing what I taught you, right?"

"Y-yes! I've followed your instructions to the letter!"

"Any improvement?" He asked his sister.

Gou nodded. "Yes! Rei-kun has bolstered his previous time by two seconds consistently all week!"

Rin aimed a shark-grin at the bespectacled boy. "Told you I could help."

"Yes, Rin-san, and I actually wanted to ask you some questions about my kick-"

"Rin."
Haru hadn't raised his voice but he didn't need to; Makoto and Rin were intimately attuned to the sound of his voice and reacted to it without much prompting. Red eyes cut away from Rei's violet and found blue.

"I needed to speak to you about something."
Rin nodded, fully aware of what the matter was, and the rest of the team headed into the natatorium, acknowledging that this discussion was between lovers.

Makoto didn't move. He stood paused halfway between Haruka and Rin, smiling gently at Rin, and it was Haru who cleared his throat uncomfortably. Makoto looked to him immediately and Haru said quietly "I need to speak to him alone."

Something seemed to break inside the gentle giant for a split second- they could see it in his eyes- before he stuffed that emotion into the same internal jar he hid all the others in (to be dealt with later and never dealt with until his boyfriends forced him to) and turned and left without a word. Rin winced, knowing Makoto was upset by them hiding things from him, but Haru grabbed his forearm and brought the redhead's attention back to the little matter of their Valentine's Day plans.

"Did you get the book?"

Rin nodded, folding his arms across his chest. "In my backpack. He's leaving with the twins after practice, right?"

"Yes. Then work. We'll have all night to make the chocolate for him. He won't be back until past dinner time so he'll... probably go straight home."
The uncomfortable set of Haru's lips hinted at his distaste of the idea of sleeping alone a second night in a row and Rin threw an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders and led him into the natatorium.

"Want me to break curfew and stay the night?"

Haru sighed. "No. I don't want you getting in trouble."

Rin smiled and snuck a nibble to the older boy's earlobe as he shoved the black-haired male into the locker room. "I'll make it up to you later."
As the door swung shut Haru turned to look at him with a dark hunger in his eyes and Rin grinned right back.
Haru would be insatiable tonight and Rin would enjoy every moment of it.

The twins were sat at the edge of the pool and kept under the watchful eye of Gou and even Seijuurou, when he was done with his own time trials. Rin and Haru and their brother wandered over from time to time to talk to them. They gushed over the pool and the swimmers and getting to watch their brother in the pool.

"Onii-chan's amaaaaazing," Ran whispered, green eyes wide and focused on her brother powering through his lane doing breaststroke.

Ren shoved her shoulder. "Are you even seeing Haru-nii-chan? He looks awesome."

Rin snorted as he left their sides to head over to Makoto's lane. The brunette spied him coming- green met red in the middle of his stroke- and for a split second a smile found his lips. Rin crouched into a ready position and waited for Makoto to hit the wall.
He pushed off, arcing above Makoto's head, and stopped thinking once he carved a path through the water.

They bid Makoto goodbye with stolen kisses and intangible touches. The twins tugged him eagerly after them and he looked back at them with longing in his eyes. They waved and called after him until he was out of sight. Then Rin circled Haru's shoulders and walked him to the station.
The ride was slow and boring- Haru started counting how many times Rin yawned until he got too bored to bother- and eventually Haru grabbed Rin's hand and forced his boyfriend to sit next to him. Rin grumbled for all of a minute before his head lolled to the side and he fell deeply asleep on Haru's shoulder. The black-haired boy hung grimly onto consciousness because he knew their stop would be coming up before too much longer and he kept the image of Makoto smiling in the forefront of his mind as the proverbial carrot dangling at the end of the stick.

Makoto would be elated to find he received chocolates from the boys he loved, Haru was sure of it.

They departed the train, Rin stumbling after his boyfriend as he rubbed his eyes, at the right stop and Haru immediately followed the winding path their lover had revealed to them on their first foray into this part of town. Rin yawned hugely as he haltingly followed after but he was eagerly keeping up to the best of his half-awake ability.

Haruka found two shops they needed- a baking goods store and a grocery store- and dragged Rin into the latter because much as he wanted to make the chocolates individual and special they needed chocolate first and foremost. Haru abruptly dumped his boyfriend to dash off to an aisle in the opposite direction of the aisle the chocolate would be in. Rin sighed quietly and waited, rolling his eyes with exasperation once he saw his boyfriend hurry back with a box of what were apparently mackerel-flavored crackers.

"Can we get what we actually came here for?"

Haru nodded, a tiny smile on his face focused on the box of fucking crackers.
"Come on," Rin growled.

They found everything they'd need for chocolate making (the selection was pretty thin but the redhead figured that was to be expected- Valentine's day was tomorrow after all) and he sighed slightly with relief. They contemplated the line-up together and just as he came to a decision Rin paused, hand still outstretched, about to grab a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
"...Haru?" He asked slowly.

The black-haired boy didn't bother to so much as glance at him. "Hmm?"

"...does Makoto like white, dark, or milk chocolate best?"

Sapphire eyes widened.
"...you don't know."

Haru's grip tightened on the box of mackerel crackers until the box started crimping, staring blankly at the shelves in front of them.
"Oh god you don't." Rin whispered, horrified.

"Just... we'll find recipes that call for more than one kind. To be safe."

They bought a lot. More than the recipes called for.
"We might mess up," Haru reasoned, looking over their choices. "Back-up."

They went to the baked goods store next, Haru smiling and pulling Rin after him.
"The hell are we here for?" The redhead mumbled.

"Something else I wanted to get. I want to make them look special."
The redhead considered that a moment before shrugging lackadaisically and wandering off in his own direction.

Ten minutes later with a package of plastic heart-shaped molds under his arm Rin found Haru looking over some taiyaki pans and felt the need to wander over to his boyfriend and sling an arm around the older boy's shoulders.

"If you put mackerel in his chocolates I will kill you and then I will let him kill you."

Haru sounded offended. "I wasn't going to."

But Rin wasn't fooled. "I saw that look of disappointment, Haru. That's gross. Chocolate-covered mackerel. Eurgh."

The black-haired boy whirled away and stalked to the checkout. "You can't hate something you haven't tried."

"Oh the hell I can't."

They made it back to Haru's just before it began to snow and immediately threw themselves into the chocolate-making process. While Haru immediately set to unearthing enough bowls for what they'd need Rin settled on stripping himself and his lover out of their winter gear. Haru let himself be undressed and wandered over to the thermostat to turn it up a tiny bit in anticipation of the coming cold. Rin grabbed one of the bowls and dumped a cup of the white chocolate chips into it, shoving it in the microwave.

"How long?"

"Just says 'until melted', Rin." Haru replied, checking the book with a quick glance. "But it also says white is the most prone to burning so take it out to stir it often."

"...burning?" Rin asked, as if this was the first time the idea of the chocolate burning had occurred to him.

"Yes, Rin. Every thirty seconds."

The redhead cast a horrified look at the microwave- counting down past the first minute and a half already- and yelped, wrenching it open.
Haru regarded the crusty mixture with a disdainful eye. "Throw it out. Redo it."

Rin groaned, long and loud. "Makoto is so lucky we love him. I wouldn't be making chocolates for just anyone..."

Another failed bowl of white later Haru told Rin to wait for a while- the younger was getting frustrated.
"Go play with Akiha. She misses you."

Rin had left reluctantly but he had left, swayed by the mention of their kitten. He found her sleeping on a shelf in Haru's dining room, curled up with her back to their middle-school trophy.

"Hey you," he whispered. Her ears flicked and she cracked big ocean-colored eyes (getting greener by the day, it seemed) to regard him. Akiha stood and stretched out her front paws- Rin tapped them both and got an offended look for his tease- then arched her back, ending with her sitting primly next to the trophy.

"Heh, you're almost eye-level with that thing, huh?"

She blinked at him.

"Hey c'mon, I was told you missed me, and here you are acting like I'm a stranger."

With another luxurious stretch- of her hindquarters this time- she walked forward and headbutted him in the nose. Rin snorted but it hadn't been hard enough to hurt and as he continued to stand there she started to rub against his nose. The purr started up noisy and only rumbled louder when he reached a hand up to scratch down her spine.

"Okay okay, apology accepted. Yes you're cute. You're also filling my nose and mouth with fur, cat, so back off!"

He was alarmed to see her stretch out to follow him as he leaned back and hastily grabbed her so she wouldn't fall to the floor. Akiha mewed gleefully and twisted around to nuzzle his nose again. He grinned and started to pet her as he made his way to the couch.

"Too cute for your own damn good, Akiha."

He flopped onto the couch on his back, the kitten standing on his chest, and ran his hands one after the other down her back, occasionally pausing to scratch at the base of her nubby tail. As Haru moved around in the kitchen and the smell of warm chocolate began to fill the house Rin offered up a small smile.

"You know your daddy will be happy about that smell, right?" He asked the kitten. "Makoto loves chocolate. I guess that's fair, the sweetest man has a sweet tooth, but still. He'll go nuts for these."

Akiha peeped in his face and brushed his nose and then hopped off the couch, headed into the kitchen.
"Haru, incoming! Tiny helper."

A grunt of acknowledgement drifted out of the kitchen. Less than a few minutes later the redhead sat up and trailed after the Bobtail to see how his boyfriend was faring with his own chocolates.
Haru's concentration didn't waver, not even when Rin pressed a kiss to the back of his neck, and neither did Akiha's. Both remained focused on the smooth swirl of chocolate in a large bowl as Haru whisked it. Rin draped himself over the black-haired boy's shoulder and Haru automatically adjusted his posture to support his boyfriend's extra weight.

"You're such a damn wizard in the kitchen. How did that happen?"

"Grandmother."

Akiha reached out and pawed the lip of the bowl. Haruka snorted, pulling it away, and Rin laughed and daubed her nose with a stolen fingertip's worth.

The kitten sneezed and licked her nose repeatedly, eventually mewing her aggravation at her owners before leaping from the counter.
"Chocolate isn't good for cats."

"A little won't kill her."

"Cook your own, would you? We don't have all night-"

"And you're still horny, hmm?"

Blue eyes flashed with irritation causing a snarky grin to light the redhead's countenance. "Hit the nail on the head?"

"...shut up." Haru slid a bowl forcefully across the counter. "Cook."

"You're so cute when you're pissy."

"Cook."

The redhead relented with a snicker and made sure to watch his chocolate much more carefully, spooning stripes of it and the melted milk chocolate into the heart-shaped molds he'd gotten.
"Hopeless romantic."

"Says the guy who dragged me to a bunch of stores for this."

Haru handed him a chopstick when Rin had made the chocolate levels even and he took it and drew swirls into the molds, drawing a random heart in some of the white chocolate that made Haru hide a laugh behind the clang of his pan mold shutting. Rin had to rinse and repeat the process twice more to get the amount of chocolates he'd wanted; halfway through his second batch Haru unearthed two massive chocolate fish, one dark, one milk.

"God, I hope we don't kill him with sweets..." Rin muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Makoto will be fine. Can you help me with these?"

"Wait, what are those? You're making him more?"

"No," the black-haired boy replied. "These are marbled truffles for the Tachibana family and your mother. For taking good care of us when..."

Rin pressed a kiss to Haru's cheek. "I understand. Sounds good. Mom'll love them."

The pair stood shoulder to shoulder, Akiha winding between their legs, and made the last batch together.

The black-haired boy was jittery the next morning, hoping Rin had managed to get the chocolates snuck into the school and onto Makoto's desk. Haru couldn't wait to see Makoto's face light up when he saw chocolates from his pair of lovers!

There was one thing he hadn't taken into proper consideration.

Haru knew Makoto was popular among females in school. He'd seen evidence of such for the last few years running; heaps of carefully, lovingly wrapped chocolate mysteriously appearing at Makoto's desk all day long. Occasionally a few girls would actually find the courage to hand him the chocolates personally... to Haru's irritation.
But then, how could anyone not adore Makoto? He was selfless, sweet, gentle, kind, giving, and an absolute demon in bed- not that the shy blushy schoolgirls knew or would ever know that.

So the black-haired teen knew to expect a load of chocolates given to his boyfriend.

Nothing quite prepared him, though, for the sight of nothing short of a literal mountain resting on the brunette's desk.

Jealousy, acrid and thick, choked his throat.

The arrangement was stacked so precariously high that some had even fallen to the floor. Haru couldn't tell and probably wouldn't be able to tell if his and Rin's had made it into the pile.

Amakata-sensei was staring at the misshapen lump of multi-colored wrappings, a dainty hand over her small mouth.
"My my, Tachibana-kun, it seems being on the swim club and winning a tournament bolstered your reputation a little, hmm?"

Blue eyes sharpened into a furious glare at the gifts then at Makoto, irrationally angry about the whole holiday now and mad at his lover for being so perfect that he had so many admirers and-
And Makoto was looking anywhere but at the chocolates, his lips twisted with discomfort and wringing his hands slightly, fidgeting.
Haruka's eyes widened abruptly, realizing: Makoto wasn't exactly thrilled about the display. In fact he was absolutely mortified. He turned to the teacher.
"...Amakata-sensei. Is there something we can put those in?"

She blinked at the black-haired boy then put a finger to her chin for a second and adopting a thinking face. After a moment her expression lit up and she hurried back to her desk, hooking the edge of a large box and dragging it out, emptying it of papers and bringing it back to the two teenage boys.
"Will this do?"

Makoto sighed his relief. "That'll be fine, Ama-chan-sensei. Thank you."

She beamed at her pupil. "Not at all! When you're done, I can hide it back under my desk, if you like!"

The brunette's smile was his again; warm and wide. "Thank you, ma'am."

With only three minutes to the bell and the growing likelihood of other students showing up Haru offered to help. They shoveled adorable package after adorable package into the box, the tips of Makoto's ears reddening at the designs on some of them. Haru was relieved to see Rin's package slide into the box with the rest. It meant both his and Rin's had made it after all.

"Oi! Found you!"
Makoto's head snapped up at the ringing call of Rin's voice echoing over the courtyard.

"Rin! What are you- you're here? Why are you here? I mean, I'm happy to see you but why-?"

Rin leaned down, unearthing a hand from his pockets, and brought Makoto in for a deep kiss. For half a second Makoto seemed to contemplate pushing his lover away but it was late enough after school and the courtyard's location was secluded enough that he eventually decided on being perfectly comfortable with kissing back. Nagisa burst into giggles but Rei and Haru politely turned away.

They broke away, half-lidded gazes flickering over swollen lips and into each other's eyes before simultaneously looking to a lightly smirking Haruka.

Makoto cleared his throat. "Wh-what are you doing here, Rin?"

Rin straightened with a roll of his eyes. "Gou."
At the Iwatobi team's confused expressions he elaborated "Valentine's Day?" and hooked his thumb over his shoulder at the spectacle of Matsuoka Gou handing a large wrapped bag of chocolate to a stunned Mikoshiba Seijuurou. "For him, I guess."

He sat heavily at the end of the benches next to Haru, pressed shoulder to shoulder with his boyfriend, and craned around to look at his friends.

"So how'd you guys make out?" When a naughty grin started to curl Nagisa's lips he cut across the blonde's attempted words with a harsh "With chocolates, dumbass!"

Nagisa put a finger to his lips, like he actually needed to think about it.
"Rei-chan got five, and two of them-" and here his easy grin turned into a slight angry grimace- "handed to him per-son-al-ly."

Rei spluttered and blushed and shoved his glasses up a little harder than necessary when Rin guffawed over that fact. "W-well you got more than twice as many, Nagisa-kun!"

Rin whistled. "Nice, Nagi. How many?"

"Mmm, well, I got eleven, and three girls came up to me with them. Inazuma-chan only gave me some because I helped set her up with Ikari-kun."

The redhead snorted. "You? Play matchmaker? That must've been fun."

"There was one fire involved."
Rin lifted his brows at the bespectacled boy's matter-of-fact statement and bit his lip to forestall the laughter, nudging his boyfriend's shoulder. "How 'bout you, babe?"

"Twenty-seven."

Rin's eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped. "...excuse me?"

"It's the 'cool beauty' effect." Nagisa said as seriously as he could manage. "I've seen it in anime."

"And none of them were given to me personally."

Makoto winced. "No, Haru, that's because you kept glaring at them when they tried and so they gave them to me instead."

Rin rolled his eyes. "God the whole school knows you two are married."

Haru scowled. "Not quite."

His lover tilted his head, confusion written across his features. "Huh?"

"Ask Mako-chan how many he got!" Nagisa crowed, clapping his hands eagerly.

Red eyes jumped from blue to green. Rin could see that Haru's bag was bulging and even the pair of first years' bags were fatter than usual but Makoto's bag seemed suspiciously empty. "Okay. Mako?"

With a heavy sigh, Makoto reached down between him and Haru, but the black-haired boy's hand reached its destination faster and yanked a large box filled to the brim and then some with chocolates out from under the bench.

Eyes wide, Rin pawed at the selection. "Holy shit, Makoto."

"And that's after he let me have so many at lunch!"

"My god. I know you're a fucking saint and all but this is..."

"Sixty. Four. That's how many girls gave him chocolate."
It wasn't hard to tell Haruka was absolutely furious- his short temper and hard tone and pinched lips and furrowed brow all gave him away- but seeing Haru so jealous was a new sight for Rin, who snickered.

"Er, but Haru, there were sixty-six when we counted-"

"I said sixty-four girls."

"Hey hey wait, you mean he hasn't even-? What the fuck, Haru, he was supposed to see them first thing!"

"They got lost," Haru growled back, gesturing at the bulging box.

Makoto winced and stood, trying to break them apart. "Hey hey hey, you two, please don't fight! I don't care about the chocolates anyway, you know I only care about- wait what do you mean? Are there- did you two- oh my god!"

Makoto sat down and began digging earnestly through the box, trying to find a pair of packages he would know on sight. Nagisa giggled.
"So Mako-chan's the girl?"

The brunette paused in his search for a second, flushing scarlet, and Rin snatched a spare package and bounced it off the bubbly blonde's head. "Shut the fuck up! No, that's not why! It's because it's a couples thing and he's the one who actually likes chocolate. I'm not a fan of sweet stuff and Haru 'only eats mackerel'."

A slender black eyebrow rose and Rei leaned around his boyfriend (who was now chowing down on the chocolates Rin had thrown) to fix Rin with a bland look.
"Was that supposed to be an impression of Haruka-senpai, Rin-san?"

"'Cus it was awful!" Nagisa added cheerfully.

Rin flushed slightly and turned a glare on the ground. "Shut up!"

"Ah!"
They all turned their attention back to Makoto, who was triumphantly holding aloft a large pair of fish-shaped chocolates wrapped in kitten-patterned clear plastic.

He grinned at his lovers. "Found one!"

And then he went back to digging. He passed over three other bags wrapped in the same plastic but paused on the fourth and held it up, grinning at the swirled chocolate hearts inside it and clutching both chosen packages to his chest, beaming at his lovers.

"I love them. Thank you so much, you two."

Embarrassed the pair both blushed and looked away.
"Th-the fish are... one is dark and the other is milk." Haru muttered.

"A-and mine are white and milk. We... umm, we weren't sure which you preferred, so we..."

"I like all kinds! I can't wait to try these, they look delicious! You two are the best."
He looked so innocently happy, hugging the chocolates, that Rin and Haru both felt their embarrassment ebb away into relieved joy.

"...I'm glad you like them." Haru said after a moment.

Gou bounced over a couple of minutes later and shoved a shopping bag in Rei's lap.
"For you guys!" She chirped.

The red-haired girl hurried to the end of the line, kissing Rin's forehead, and then she ran back to Seijuurou, who stood waiting for her with a giant goofy grin on his face. Rin scowled slightly as he watched her put her arm through his and lean against him as they walked away. Haru sighed and nudged him to stop glaring and Nagisa broke the quiet by handing out Gou's chocolates- though he forgot to hand the cards over for a moment and there was almost an incident with Rin thinking Haru had gotten him chocolates (the real issue was Rin wondering if Haru was trying to call him effeminate) until Makoto handed him his sister's card.
All in all, Rin thought as he munched on the cinnamon-spiced dark chocolate, today had gone off pretty well. Makoto seemed more than happy with the chocolates he had nestled between his thigh and Haru's and that made them happy as well.
That is, until...

"These don't actually have mackerel in them, do they?"

Haru blinked awake, azure eyes roaming the room unfocused, certain he'd heard something. He rose up on his elbow and looked over the bed- Akiha had woken and her ears were pricked toward the door- but when he shifted to go to the edge of the bed and go check out the noises the door to his bedroom opened.

"Haru-chan?"

Haru's heart did some odd maneuver where it quickened at the sound of that gentle voice and calmed again because he knew who it belonged to. He slid back under his sheets and curled up.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Makoto crawled onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Haru's waist, whispering his "No," into the older boy's shoulder.

"Why are you above the covers, idiot."

The brunette laughed softly and left Haruka's side for all of two minutes before he was back, only this time in his significantly less concealing boxers, and pressed the warmth of his body to Haru's more slender frame.
Privately thrilled to not be alone Haruka drifted away into dreams of the ocean again.

Sorry bickering Haru and Rin is one of my favorite weaknesses. Also, this chapter feels rushed too, for some reason, even though I had plenty of time to work on it... Let me know what you think, and happy Valentine's Day to every single one of my wonderful readers! I love you all, and the reviews and views and visitors I see- you all mean so much to me. Love ya!
~Raelinae