Towa couldn't help but feel anxious as she stared down a certain first year's mailbox.
"Geez, it's just a mailbox." Crow complained as he and the rest of Towa's friends watched her take her time dropping off her love letter.
"Yeah, don't you already leave stuff in his mailbox every Free Day? Just pretend you're dropping off a request." George suggested.
"Quiet you two. Can't you see that this is different?" Angelica pointed out.
"I'd appreciate it if you guys just let me do this by myself. Can't say that your presence is helping alleviate my nerves." Towa commented as she turned around to face her friends.
"Oh please, how else would we know if you actually delivered your letter instead of chickening out again?" Angelica responded.
"Yeah, you said you were going to deliver it last week." George noted.
"And the week before that." Crow added on.
"Other factors got in the way! I'm telling you guys the truth!" Towa argued.
This had been the third week in a row that the petite student council president had tried to deliver a love letter to her personal gofer. The original plan was to drop it off at the beginning of the month, but unfortunately Sharon had been cleaning up the lobby that morning. Leaving Towa with no other choice but to delay her confession since she didn't want anyone else besides her friends to know what she was up to. Then last week when she arrived to drop it off extra early, Rean was already awake ready to receive the requests she usually left for him. Not wanting to see his live reaction to her letter, she had taken out her love letter from the pile of requests she brought with her. Now it was week three, just a few days before Valentine's Day. It was now or never.
Towa took a deep breath before turning around to face Rean's mailbox again. She closed her eyes as she walked closer to it. Imagining multiple ways of how he'd react to her letter with each step. Some were sappy, like him confessing his mutual undying love for her and marrying here then and there while she thought up baby names for the future heirs of Ymir. Others were more realistic, like gently rejecting her due to his family already arranging something for him.
She took one last deep breath before sliding her love letter into Rean's mailbox. The deed was done, soon Rean will come downstairs and open his mailbox looking for the requests she usually left him. Except he'd come face to face with an envelope containing his upperclassman's love letter. A love letter that she had poured her heart and soul into.
Perhaps a bit too much of her heart and soul Towa realized as she recalled that she'd written it over the course of a night weeks ago.
"Oh Aidios, I never proofread it! Heck, I never reread it once I was done with the first draft! I was too embarrassed at the time and just folded it into the envelope. Oh gosh, what did I even write? Did I say too much about how I envisioned our future together? Did I write about our first meeting with a bit too much detail? Even worse… how many grammatical errors are there!?" Towa muttered to herself as she imagined Rean getting creeped out by her letter and cutting all ties with her.
Angelica, George, and Crow watched on as Towa tried to open Rean's mailbox for dear life to take back her letter, confused by the sudden change in attitude.
"Why won't this open!?" Towa panicked as she struggled to pull open Rean's mailbox.
"Huh, looks like the mailboxes in Class VII's dorm were upgraded to only be able to be opened with a key." George noted as he inspected the mailbox next to Rean's.
"Oh right, we got upgrades. I guess with Jusis becoming Duke Albarea and Millium continuing her Ironblood work they needed to tighten up security, and while they were at it, they upgraded all of us." Crow recalled before chuckling to himself.
"I need to get my letter out, now!" Towa responded.
"Are you seriously getting cold feet now? C'mon, just let nature take its course." Angelica advised.
"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who poured their heart and soul into the contents inside!" Towa snapped back as she continued to try to open Rean's mailbox with her bare hands.
Suddenly everyone heard a door upstairs open, followed by footsteps nearing the stairs.
"Crap, someone woke up!" Crow alerted the others.
"Quick, let's hide in here!" George instructed as he ran inside the guest room and found that no one was currently inside.
"B-But my letter!" Towa tried to argue before Angelica grabbed her.
"Better pray to Aidios that someone other than Rean woke up and is coming downstairs." Angelica warned Towa as she dragged her into the guest room.
As the last one in, Crow slowly closed the door into the guest room. Although, he left enough room for the four of them to peak into the hallway to check who had woken up.
It was clear that luck was not on Towa's side that day.
"Who's there? Isn't it a little early to be shouting down in the lobby?" Rean questioned as he walked down the stairs. "Hmm? Huh, no one's here."
Noise in the Class VII dorm was nothing new, what with the wild bunch that made up Class VII. Still, Rean would've preferred sleeping in since Towa had already told him that there weren't going to be any requests for that Free Day yesterday.
He sensed something coming from the guest room but paid it no mind since he was still half-asleep.
"Well since I'm down here, I might as well check and see if President Towa had left anything for me. Knowing her she probably took in a last-minute request and slid it in my mailbox for me to do in her stead." Rean said to himself as he approached his mailbox and dug through his pocket for the key.
Upon opening his mailbox, Rean was met with a single envelope.
"Huh, I wonder what's inside." Rean said to himself as he opened the envelope. "Wait, I know this handwriting. No one else's looks nicer than President Towa's."
"Aidios, you cruel god…" Towa whispered as she felt her spirit leave her body as she saw Rean read through her love letter just a few feet away from her.
She couldn't really gauge his reaction. The only thing she could see from the small opening was that Rean's face had gotten just as red as his uniform.
It was only now that she exposed her feelings to him that Towa realized that she'd forgotten something. Just how were they supposed to approach each other now? She couldn't face Rean now that he knew how she felt about him, it was way too soon. She'd done all that she could, the ball was now in his court.
Days Later
It was now Valentine's Day. Much like the previous year, Towa was spending it alone in the Student Council room. Granted, this year she did try to spend it with someone. Unfortunately for her, she felt that she botched her confession to Rean and had been avoiding him since he read her confession a few days ago. Thankfully with the end of the school year approaching the Student Council's activity had slowed down drastically, allowing Towa to wallow in her self-pity by locking herself in the Student Council room without much issue.
"Ugh, he's probably getting bombarded by confessions and chocolate as we speak…" Towa complained as she began to imagine the chaos surrounding Rean in Class VII's homeroom.
"Thank you all for the chocolate everyone. I'm not really sure just how to express my gratitude. Alas, I can only love one person…. And that person is…." Rean said in her imagination as Alisa, Elliot, Laura, Machias, Emma, Jusis, Fie, Gaius, Sara, Crow, Alfin, Elise, Patrick, and Rosine all fought to hand him their respective boxes of chocolate.
"Ugh, with competition like that I feel like the odds were stacked against me. I was doomed to last place before I even thought about buying chocolates." Towa lamented as she recalled how she didn't even bother buying chocolates for Rean. "This game was rigged from the start!"
Before Towa could cry herself a river however, someone began knocking on the door.
"W-Who is it…?" Towa asked as she approached the door to unlock it.
"I-It's me, Rean." the underclassman shyly answered from the other side of the door.
Towa came to halt upon hearing Rean's voice. She couldn't fathom why he'd shown up at her door now of all times when she was sure better offers were coming straight to him.
"R-Rean!? W-What are you doing here?" Towa questioned.
"W-Well, I've been meaning to speak with you since Sunday, but I haven't been able to find you." Rean explained. "I tried asking Crow, Angelica, and George if anything had happened and where I could find you, but they all either snickered or said something cryptic."
"They mean well, but they're not very helpful sometimes." Towa commented. "But seriously, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I asked one of the other members of the Student Council if they'd seen you. She told me that you locked yourself up here to do some last-minute presidential duties." Rean explained.
"I probably shouldn't have told anyone I was in here…" Towa thought to herself.
"A-Anyway, I did come to see you for a reason." Rean continued. "I-It's about your letter."
"Sigh. I know, I know. My apologies for dropping that on you right before I leave. It was selfish of me to ruin what we had between us as an upperclassman and her underclassman." Towa replied with her pre-prepared apology.
"Don't say that type of stuff, President Towa!" Rean loudly protested.
"H-Huh?" Towa responded, caught off guard by Rean's sudden outburst.
"C-Can you please let me in?" Rean asked.
"No." Towa bluntly answered.
"Fine, you leave me no choice." Rean informed her. "P-President Towa, t-the feeling is mutual."
Towa took a step back as she tried to process what Rean had said.
"I-I'm not the best at saying how I feel, you know better than anyone how I tend to keep some of my emotions to myself." Rean admitted as he thought back to how she'd comforted him upon his return from Crossbell. "But still, I can't stand idly by while you pour your heart out to me without letting me do the same. It's not fair to you."
"R-Rean… T-This isn't fair either!" Towa argued as she began to tear up while her face became red. "C-Cornering me like this, I-I at least wrote a letter that you could read at your pace!"
"Y-You're the one who shut yourself up in that Student Council room of yours! You're always locked up inside there each day of the week, even with my help with the requests on Free Days. Don't you get tired of being in there by yourself? Aren't there things outside that catch your interest? I understand that this room is a place that you get to call your own, but you can't stay in there forever. Not just because you're graduating soon, but because no one will come around often. The others in Proto Class VII, they always meet at the Engineering Club building. Don't you get tired of being alone in here!?" Rean questioned.
"I don't, because I'm not alone in here! You stop by frequently after all. I was happy with just you coming by each Free Day to report your completed requests to me while we shared tea and stories about our friends." Towa confessed. "Why do you think I'm not letting you in now? I'd only be wasting our time having tea now of all days."
"It wouldn't!" Rean objected. "I'd love to have tea with you today! In fact, I'd love to have tea with you every day!"
"Today's Valentine's Day, you should be out having chocolate with someone you like!" Towa reminded him. "I-I don't have any chocolate in here."
"I do! I bought some Eastern inspired flavor ones that I thought you'd like!" Rean revealed. "I want to spend Valentine's Day with you, President Towa. P-Please don't act like that's such an out there proposal!"
"Because it is! You're from a noble family Rean, so much rides on the influence of who you end up with. You'll gain nothing from me even if I'd agree to a relationship with you!" Towa pointed out.
Both parties stayed silent, unsure how to handle how things have turned out. Ironically, it was now Towa's turn to be denying their own feelings while Rean pleaded for her to be honest with him.
"President Towa." Rean spoke up as he made one last request. "Please, open the door and repeat what you've just said. I promise I'll be out of your hair once you do that for me."
"Y-You're so stubborn, Rean." Towa replied.
"I learn by example. I'm currently dealing with a pretty stubborn upperclassman right now, after all." Rean noted.
With that, Towa finally unlocked the door to the Student Council room. Before her stood Rean, who had taken the special occasion to dress up in a tuxedo with House Schwarzer's crest embroidered onto the chest pocket. He was holding onto a green heart shaped box of chocolates with her name on it. Although despite the firm attitude that his voice gave off, his face betrayed him. Shining as brightly as her own, struggling to keep eye contact with her. It seemed as if he was having just as much trouble facing her as she did facing him.
"Sigh. You're from a noble family, Rean. You'll gain nothing from me even if I'd agree to a relationship with you." Towa repeated.
"President Towa, I don't care." Rean responded as he took off his blazer with House Schwarzer's crest on it and threw it on the ground. "I'll discard the Schwarzer name if I must if it'll make you comfortable being with me. You give me so much more than you even realize."
"R-Rean…?" Towa questioned as Rean walked over to her and hugged her.
"You're the person who gave me things to do here at Thors each Free Day, the person always ready to lend an ear to my silly plights as a first year here at Thors, the person whose arms were open when I was at my most vulnerable and ready to comfort me." Rean listed off as he wrapped his arms around Towa. "You might've convinced yourself that your actions meant nothing to me, but really, they meant the world to me. Just like how you mean the world to me."
Towa found herself unable to speak as Rean hugged her and exposed how he felt about her.
"That was all I wanted to say, President Towa. Please, enjoy this chocolate by yourself. I'll get out of your hair now." Rean informed Towa as he let go of her and handed her the box of chocolates.
"It's just Towa." Towa spoke up.
"Beg your pardon?" Rean questioned as he turned around to face Towa again.
"It's strange." Towa thought to herself as she chuckled while tears flowed down her face. "I knew that I'd be a crying mess if I spoke with Rean today, but I don't mind crying right now. In fact, I'm happy. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my rather small shoulders."
"P-President Towa…?" Rean worryingly asked as he watched his petite upperclassman laughing to herself while she continued to cry.
"Again, it's just Towa. There's no need for formalities between us, Rean." Towa informed him as she walked over and wrapped her arms around him. "Although, I wouldn't mind if we gave each other pet names."
"Pet names? Wait-" Rean realized before Towa pulled him down by his tie so that she could kiss him.
After a few minutes of trying to figure out the best method of kissing each other, the pair separated their lips so that they could catch their breath. Reluctantly bringing a close to their first kiss.
"I love you, R-Rean. There, I said it out loud!" Towa confessed as she looked up at her boyfriend.
"I love you too, T-Towa." Rean replied as he looked down at his girlfriend.
"Well then, how about we enjoy those chocolates that you got for me… t-together?" Towa suggested before sliding one of her hands into one of Rean's and walking him back to the Student Council room.
"Why are we here again?" Alisa questioned as she and Angelica walked up to the Student Union building's second floor.
"To make sure that things went well for Towa, obviously. Last I saw she locked herself in the Student Council room." Angelica answered. "You swear that you haven't seen Rean?"
"Not since this morning when he went out to get some expensive imported Eastern chocolates." Alisa explained.
"Oh so he did make some plans, any guesses with who?" Angelica questioned.
"Not a clue." Alisa replied before noticing something laying just outside the Student Council room.
"Oh hey, the door's open." Angelica noted as Alisa inspected what turned out to be a blazer.
"Hey wait, this crest looks familiar." Alisa commented as she came across some embroidery.
"Yeah, that's House Schwarzer's crest." Angelica explained as she looked over at the blazer Alisa was holding.
Before either Roer natives could question why a blazer belonging to Rean was left outside the Student Council room, they heard someone's voice.
"O-Ooooh R-R-Rean… I-It's so gooood…"
"I-I'm glad you're enjoying it."
"W-Wait, d-don't put your hand there! Awww…"
"Haha, I knew that would help you relax."
Alisa quickly dropped Rean's blazer as her and Angelica's pure goody two shoes image of Rean and Towa were shattered. Neither daring to see inside the Student Council room.
"Yeah, I'm heading out." Alisa informed Angelica before awkwardly walking away.
"Good job Towa, didn't think you had it in ya." Angelica said to herself before also awkwardly walking away.
"Did you hear something?" Rean questioned as he continued to headpat Towa.
"Sounded like Angie and Alisa stopped by. I guess they must've seen us." Towa concluded as Rean used his other hand to feed her another chocolate from the box he had gifted her.
"Oh man. We're never going to hear the end of it from our friends, are we?" Rean chuckled, unaware of the misunderstanding that had taken place.
"Let them talk, it's not like we have anything to hide." Towa assured Rean as she fed him some chocolate.
"I'm glad that you like the chocolates so much." Rean noted upon noticing that the box was nearly empty now.
"They were delicious." Towa informed Rean. "By the way, why did you take off your blazer anyway?"
"Oh, um, I-I thought it would be cool to do while I talked about being willing to leave my family for you." Rean shyly admitted. "Y-You know, because symbolism or something."
"You dork, I didn't know that you had an eccentric side." Towa teased as Rean began to blush.
"H-Hey!" Rean responded.
"I never said it was a bad thing. Just another thing that makes you cuter." Towa continued.
With that, the pair began to laugh. Even with so much change on the horizon for both of them, it was nice to finally take a step back and relax together.
Author's Note
Hey everyone, hope you liked the ReanTowa fluff!
This was originally posted on the other site as a one-off to celebrate Valentine's Day last year, now finally getting posted here as well. Better late than never I suppose.
Special thanks to ZetianWu for beta-reading this one-off for me!