A/N: It's Pocky Day so I wanted to take advantage of it to write a little fluff for them! Of course, some of them ended up being more comedic than others, but that's just the way it is, hehe!
He's trying. He's really trying his absolute best here to follow the rules of the game. Kore knows this so when he breaks the stick again for the fifth time since they started playing, and goes straight for the kiss she doesn't even chide him anymore. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she just pulls him closer and lets herself melt in the kiss.
When they part, Kalim reaches out for the pack next to them and shakes it. He frowns when he hears nothing rattling inside.
"Well," Kore says. "You did eat a bunch before we started."
Kalim laughs. "That was before I knew we were going to play this game!"
"It wasn't really a game. You just went straight for the kiss each time!"
He smiles at her and squeezes her waist slightly. With her legs on either side of him, she thinks that she would have a lot of explaining to do if anybody caught them like this, but Kalim seems entirely at ease. It calms her too.
"I really did, didn't I? But every time I thought I would do better, I saw your lips and couldn't hold back, hahaha! Hm? You've gone entirely red. Did I say something weird?"
She only heard his laughter resounding around the room, as she buried her face in his neck. He brings her closer as he trails kisses along the side of her neck and she struggles to keep from giggling. His honesty was going to kill her one day and she wouldn't even mind it. After all, nothing compared to the feeling of being loved so candidly by somebody else.
"Ugh! Why are you so good at this game!" Rosa complains, a pout already forming on her face. "Aren't younger guys supposed to be timider?"
Jack simply stars in return. "It's only a one year difference..."
He doesn't add that maybe it was just that she was quite easily flustered by these sorts of things which he never really understands the purpose of, but still does because it makes her happy. Except that it wasn't really working right now, what with her crossing her arms and pouting. There are still a few crumbs in the corner of her mouth. By instinct, he licks the same spot as he stares at her. Telling her how cute that looked would only just upset her, so he refrains for now.
"Hmph! That doesn't matter! One year is still one year! So yo-you should be more bashful!"
He nods. "I'll try to keep that in mind."
That seems to appease her somewhat. His traitorous tail is already twitching in delight. She must have leaned over to grab another packet (for some reason she brought six of them) when his arm wraps around her waist to pull her closer, so he could kiss the spot he had noticed earlier. He feels his face turn red and watches her own slowly start to match his.
"We-Well," she speaks loudly and fast, crushing the packet in her grasp. "I-I think that's enough sweets for today! I'm not a big fan of them anyway, you know? A star has to keep her figure and my intake of sugar is-"
Even her lips tasted like peaches now, and if anybody asked him he wouldn't have admitted he preferred it compared to the real thing.
"What a ridiculous game," he tells her as he turns the page. Blanche gives out a hum of acknowledgement as the tip of her pen moves swiftly across the paper. "I can't understand the purpose at all."
"I think it's merely another way of gauging out who's bolder," she says. Riddle frowns as he thinks about her words. It made sense, in its own way, but surely there would be less outrageous ways to achieve the same result. He pauses. No, no matter how he thinks about it it's still a waste of time.
"Cater seemed really eager to try it out," Blanche continues. His face starts to turn red in response, as he remembers the shameless way that Cater proposed the notion to the girls of Grimmaire when they first came to the dorm. They hadn't paid him attention, but Riddle was still aghast at the thought. Walpurga Nacht was their sister school. To display that sort of indecency would look bad on not only them but the dorm and school as a whole.
"I'll make sure to properly scold him later on," he promises her. "As his Prefect, it's my responsibility to whip him in shape. So incidents like this won't happen again."
He forces himself to keep a stern face as she laughs. It is soft and muted, but in the silence of the library, he can hear it clearly. "Don't be too harsh on him. I think the girls were just as amused. To tell you the truth, they're not as proper as they might seem. Also."
She pulls out a small box from her bag and puts it next to him on the table. The tip digs a bit in his hand, but his eyes are too busy trying to make out the words on the front. He's too busy fighting off the blush that threatens to completely overtake him when her hand rests over him.
"A little break wouldn't be so bad, I think. We can count this as research into youth culture."
"I heard it's important."
FLAVOUR: Chocolate Banana
He's immediately shot down.
"'he fuck? 'hat sounds stupid," June tells him as she lifts up the prop and moves it to the left. Epel thinks he can hear Rook shouting in the distance, calling out for the 'Amazon' but if that's so, she pays it no mind. The rest of the Pomefiore students are keeping their distance from them, perhaps out of reverence (or fear) of her. Everybody except Vil, who's too busy chewing out another actor for forgetting his lines. Again.
"Ace told me about it," Epel explains. It does do much except make her grunt. The subject of Ace is not something she's interested in, after all. "Said he heard it from Cater, who saw it on MagiCam. Guess there's all sorts of trends nowadays..."
"City folk ain't got anythin' better to do," she spits out with a grimace. With narrowed eyes, she seems to survey him. The back of his neck is getting sweaty and the box in his pocket is suddenly a lot heavier. "And why'd ya bring it up, anyway? Huh? Whatcha want?"
"I- I mean, I received a box and-"
"No way." She immediately turns around, though he can see the tips of her ears turn red and her hands shaking. She really wasn't good at bluffing her way out of things. "I ain't doin' 'hat. Piss off."
He pauses. He thinks. Then after a brief moment gathers all his wits and hopes he plays it right. "If you're scared you'd lose, you can just admit it, you know?"
It works. She freezes, looks back and him with a snarl and snatches away the box he's holding now towards her. "Ya fuckin' pipsqueak - 'he fuck are ya so smug about? Huh? 'hen ya're basically the size of a fuckin' termite? I'll fuckin' teach ya what's 'hat-"
He smirks. "Sure, let's see you try. Though if you back down, it's my win. Remember that!"
She didn't seem to - or maybe it was just nerves. For such a tall girl she seemed to get flustered by the oddest things. But it suited him fine, he figured. It meant she took him seriously and didn't treat him like porcelain. He was a guy in her eyes.
FLAVOUR: Cookies and Cream
"Absolutely not," Azul says with the same tone of disgust that he might use if somebody had suggested he donate all his profits to charity. Fiddling with his glasses, he takes to wiping the lenses clean as Diana hoists herself up on his desk. He glares at her - weakly - but since it's just them in the VIP Lounge today, he doesn't voice any objections. Except those related to the packet she has in her hand. "I don't have time for this sort of frivolous things, Diana. Not to mention it would interfere with my calorie intake and just be a waste of food."
She nods, eyes trained on him as always. "I see. So you don't want to play."
"I think I made that perfectly clear."
"Mm. Then I'll go find somebody else."
He starts to smile, then pauses. "Excuse me?"
"My little sisters got me this because they said it would be fun. I don't want to waste their good wishes." She shrugs. "I wanted to do it with you, but since you don't want to, I'll look for somebody else-"
"Wait," Azul says. His face might be turning some shade of pink, but he would be loath to admit to such a thing any time soon. Besides Diana would have noticed by now. She had this annoying habit of being too observant for his liking. "I can't let you run around and scandalize the patrons of the Lounge like that."
"Or anybody else from Night Raven." Reaching over he grabs the packet and scowls at the flavour. He might as well just eat a bag of sugar instead. The effect would be the same. "If it keeps you from causing trouble, I'll play along with you. Just know that I won't go easy at all."
He swears he saw her smirks. But it's gone far too soon to be sure and he doesn't want to look like a fool by implying anything. Instead, he takes satisfaction in the knowledge that he already figured out her plan - she simply sought to fluster him a bit and edge him as well. Maybe even get him to kiss her. Well, she was sorely mistaken if she thought he would let her play out her little fantasy like that.
Their proximity is still something that leaves him rather flustered, but he manages to push past that and focus on the pace at which he's moving. He has to keep things steady, keep himself focused and only then can he-
The sound he makes when her lips capture his is something that must never leave this room. That's the only thing going through his head. That and the fact that the flavour isn't that bad. And that Diana has nice lips, even if they're a bit chapped. And that he got duped again, though he isn't that upset about it.
She licks her lips when they part and the sight almost leaves him breathless. "I lost. Can I have a rematch?"
"You-" he starts to say something but isn't sure what. When she moves to straddle him, he tries to remember if the door was locked or not. Then immediately forgets about it as the taste of artificial sugar and she becomes overwhelming.
Silver has remarked that for all the complaining and whining Sebek does in regards to the other first years, he still hangs around with them. It seems almost strange how he himself hasn't noticed it but his father did advise not to bring it up. Apparently, Sebek was still young and had a lot to learn. Judging by the way he kept ranting for half an hour about this game that Ace told them about and then for another when he noticed Silver had fallen asleep halfway through his explanations, he figured his father was right.
"Um, wa-was the game a fun o-one?" He doesn't get worried about Cassandra's tendency to stutter whenever she talks. It used to bother him a bit at first, but now he hardly paid it any mind. Besides she does it far less now than back when they first met each other. Though it seems it's only like this with him. That he does find a little odd.
"Hm, I can't really remember," he says. Taking the Mazariner she offers, he makes sure the little blanket is properly covering her legs before he bites into it. "He made it sound like it was a game of deceit. Maybe a prank?"
"Oh," she replies as she fiddles with the thermos. Cassandra made good coffee, though she herself never drank it, so he always looked forward to these picnics that they had. "That doesn't sound ve-very nice. Making fun of pe-people isn't... very good, right?"
"I guess," he says. "Though Fa- I mean, Lilia-sempai does play them on us from time to time."
She's quiet for a moment. He can see the cogs spinning inside, then her mouth moves into a grimace and he feels bad. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. "Oh, um, I suppose that fa-fairies do tend to like that so-sort of thing. They might find it no-normal after all."
"Not all fairies," he quickly adds. "I don't think it's standard for them. Or the majority. You'll be fine. I think."
"Oh, re-really?" She gives a tentative smile. "I hope to learn a lo-lot from Mister Vanrouge and Lo-Lord Draconia about fairies. Um, I think then I-I would get along better with e-everybody..."
They don't say anything for a while. Then Silver shifts slightly and feels the tip of something jabbing his thigh. It's a box Lilia had left with him when he heard that he'll see Cassandra today. He isn't sure why, but Silver does remember seeing his father smile in a mysterious, incomprehensible way.
"Lilia-sempai gave me this," he says handing her the box. She takes it and reads the lettering carefully before glancing back at him. "I'm not sure what for, but you can have it if you want to. The flavour is strange so maybe you can use it to prank people. Like he does." Yes, that makes sense. That was why he received this odd box.
This time Cassandra smiles more genuinely and it sets his heart at ease. She cradles the box close to her chest and she begins to formulate with him pranks that would require the use of the box, though he doesn't get farther than four or five sentences before he falls asleep. She leans over to touch his shoulder every time it happens and he bolts awake, grateful for her patience.
It ends up being a nice picnic again.
"I'm busy," Idia immediately replies. He doesn't even take his eyes off his console to look at her, though when she presses against him from behind he almost jumps out of his chair. Vita is grinning like a cat even when he turns back to scowl at her. "I'm close to clearing this level. Go play with somebody else."
He makes a shooing motion towards her, but quickly stops when she grabs his hand and intertwines their fingers. They're cold, like usual, and he can already tell the tips of his hair are turning pink.
"My love~ It would be most unnatural if I were to do that when you are already here. Do you not think so~?" she purrs out in the same tone she always does when she sets out to tease him. Though now that she's actually moving to sit in his lap, he figures she might actually be quite serious about it all. "After all, we are to share everything together. No?"
"I-I think we can pass on this one!" he stammers out with less confidence than he intended but doesn't move to push her off. Taking a lot at the box, his eyes narrow. "And how did you even bring this here? I never even knew they made this flavour..."
"'Tis a little secret~" she says. "But, if my beloved does not wish to engage, I shall not insist. I do not wish to scare you, after all."
He pauses. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing at all. Do ignore this slip of the tongue." She smirks and he feels himself getting heated. "I simply do not wish to cast you in an... unfavourable light."
"A coward. I understand it must be quite unbearable to fear defeat to such a degree that you would not even attempt a 'children's game'."
Idia exhales softly through his nose. When he hoists her closer, she gives out a little squeak he knows she put on for show but doesn't care about it. Not now. Getting riled up like this is doing nothing but playing in her hands, but now that he's worked up, he can't really back down. "Give me that box. And get ready to be humbled!"
He proceeds carefully, keeping eye contact though his hands are digging in her sides, and just before he thinks he'll give up she suddenly breaks off.
"Oh, no~ It seems that my nerves have gotten the best of me this time. May I try again, my love?"
"Huh? I-I mean, sure." He isn't sure why she's putting on the show, but his ego is certainly being inflated right now. He doesn't even notice that each time their lips are getting close enough to touch she breaks off but has her arms slowly wrapping around his shoulders. He thinks he's going to win and is already thinking of what victory phrases he's going to use when he beats her, but suddenly, she's not backing away when she breaks off and he feels her lips and her body pressing against his own. The chair he's in almost topples over and he's holding onto her like a lifeline, while he's marvelling at how she makes the flavour taste like candy.
When she breaks off the kiss, he moves to follow after but stops. "Congratulations, my love~ It seems that you have once again won~"
"That's-That's obvious, heh," he mutters without much conviction. Licking his lips, he wonders how many boxes she might have brought with her.
