Sorry I didn't get this uploaded yesterday, guys! Here it is, though: the final chapter of Chocolates.
Disclaimer: I own Arlua and Tania and half a dozen other OCs who are only mentioned in this fic (if that) but I don't own anything or anyone that's part of the DRRR! franchise.
"So, you'll deal with me, will you?~" Izaya murmured as he followed Arlua down the street. She stalked along, refusing to look at him, a small box held in her hand. Instead of answering, she took a sharp corner with no warning, ducking down a side street before the information broker could react. He paused and blinked, then turned down the side street after her. He glanced around and found the technician standing in the shadow of a building. The box in her hand was open now, and there was something in her other hand. Something that she threw at him.
Izaya ducked to avoid said something, only for a second projectile to hit him squarely between the eyes. He let out a soft half-yelp, half-laugh of surprise, and a third projectile soared neatly into his open mouth. He choked and jerked, then paused.
Arlua watched smugly as he rolled her improvised projectile around in his mouth, tasting it carefully. She smirked as he chewed thoughtfully, his expression openly curious for once. The "projectile" was one of the chocolates she had made the day before with Tania. Her friend had made Shizuo's chocolates extra sweet, since the bodyguard was known to have an astonishing sweet tooth for a grown man, while Arlua had searched for a way to make the treats meant for Izaya with as little sweet flavor as possible, since her irritating boyfriend had often disparaged sweet things.
The result was a dark chocolate coating around a bittersweet filling. Apparently the flavor met with Izaya's approval, because he was smiling when he swallowed.
"Why, Lu-chan, you managed to make a chocolate that I like,~" he practically purred. "You never cease to amaze me, you know?~" In response, she launched another chocolate at him. Instead of dodging like she had expected, he ducked his head and caught the flying treat with his mouth. The technician blinked. She had seen him so some strange things, but this took the cake. Or the handmade candy, as it were.
"You weren't acting very amazed a minute ago," she snapped, struggling to contain her amusement and maintain her aura or irritation. "It's Valentine's Day. You're supposed to be all cutesy and stuff when I give you chocolates."
"Well, you know, technically you threw them at me, which is very untraditional and surprisingly endearing," he replied cheerfully. She scowled and held out the box, holding up her free hand to show that she wasn't going to throw anything else at him.
"Happy now?" she grumbled. When he nodded and took the box with a smirk on his face, she rolled her eyes. "You are absolutely impossible, and I refuse to forgive you for being late and messing with Shi and Tania instead of meeting me on time," she informed him haughtily. The informant's smirk just grew at her announcement, and suddenly his cheeks were tinged with a faint blush.
"Lu-chan, did you make these yourself?" he gasped, beaming at her in a very un-Izaya-like way. She frowned at him, but he sidled over to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek, holding the box of chocolates in his other hand as if it were the most valuable treasure in the world. "You're so wonderful.~ I love you so much!~"
Arlua gaped at him. What had gotten into him? Then she remembered what she had said just moments before.
"It's Valentine's Day. You're supposed to be all cutesy and stuff when I give you chocolates."
"Seriously?" she muttered. The informant, one of the most feared men in Ikebukuro, was now snuggling up to her in public and gushing random praises in her ear. "Are you having some sort of random attitude modification episode or something?"
"But Lu-chan said I should be cutesy," he protested, eyes wide and innocent, tone quivering slightly. "Don't you like it, Lu-chan? I thought this was what you wanted. I thought I should give you something, since you gave me these wonderful chocolates," he continued, the faint blush – which was certain was positive was completely fake – growing and spreading.
"You idiot, that's what White Day is for," she snapped, slightly unnerved by his sudden change in behavior.
"Wah! Lu-chan is being so mean all of a sudden!" her boyfriend exclaimed. Arlua sighed and decided to just ignore him. She started walking toward the nearest of Izaya's Ikebukuro apartments/bolt-holes, determined to get there as quickly as possible. The raven-haired man's antics were starting to embarrass her as people recognized him and began to stare, wondering at why the infamously unattached information broker would be so obviously doting on a woman as he followed her down the street, holding a box of homemade chocolates, on Valentine's Day.
"Okay, okay!" she hissed after half a block. "I'll forgive you on two conditions!" Izaya watched her earnestly, his positively love struck expression making her want to poke his cheek to check for a mask or something. When had he learned to act like a lovesick teenager? And how had he known it would strike her as so out of character as to be unnerving?
He must be getting better at predicting me, she thought, irritated. He was still watching her, waiting for her conditions.
"Yes, Lu-chan? I'll do anything for you,~" he practically cooed. Arlua scowled, and more people stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfold.
"Make that three," she amended. "One, you had better get me a good White Day present in return. Two, we're doing things my way tonight." Interest sparked in his eyes at that one, and he was tempted to drop his act and hurry her to their destination so he could find out what all that entailed. But then he controlled himself and continued to simper at her. She glared at him, fighting back a blush at all the attention they were getting from intrigued bystanders. "Three, cut the cutesy act, okay? You're embarrassing me," she muttered.
Izaya chuckled, letting his act fall away, and kissed her thoroughly – to the amazement and confusion of their still-growing audience – before replying.
"I agree to your terms, Lu-chan,~" he murmured as she blinked up at him, stunned by his actions. Since he didn't want her targeted by his enemies, he usually kept the public kissing to a minimum. Today, though, he didn't seem to care who saw what. "And I really am sorry that I upset you," he added seriously. The sudden michievious glint in her eyes made him a little nervous, but at the same time, he was eager to see what his above-humans Lu-chan was planning. After all, since she was the one person who could keep him guessing in an enjoyable manner, he decided not to even try predicting what she was up to this time.