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Chapter Text

As a successful chocolatier in Paris, people would often ask Tendou when his love for chocolates began. His answer would change every time. Sometimes, he’d tell them it was when he was five years old, when he snuck out after bedtime to eat the whole box of fancy-looking chocolates his mom brought home from Switzerland.

Other times, he’d tell them it was at a neighbor’s birthday party when he was eight, when he got into a fight with another kid and the kid punched him in the face with a chocolate ice cream cone.

Both were true events, but if Tendou were to be completely honest, it was in high school when he really got hooked on chocolates. Because in high school, Tendou discovered the wonders of Valentine’s Day.

No, not because he was popular or had countless admirers. He didn’t have a girlfriend to go on lovey dovey dates with. There weren’t any girls in school lining up to give him homemade chocolates to profess their love.

He was just your average, slightly weird-looking guy, and average guys without lovers usually hated Valentine’s Day. But not Tendou. Because on Valentine’s Day, Tendou got to taste and eat all the free chocolates his heart desired.

How?

Why, Tendou Satori was the self-appointed, and volleyball team-approved, Shiratorizawa Chocolate Taste Tester.

It started back in their first year, when their star player, Ushijima, came to the club room carrying a paper bag filled with all the Valentine’s chocolates he received. Tendou was admittedly annoyed (for reasons Tendou didn’t want to dwell on) with how popular Ushijima was with girls. However, instead of wallowing in self-pity, Tendou, being his usual self, saw this as a golden opportunity to eat free chocolates.

He had convinced Ushijima to open all his chocolate gift boxes for the whole volleyball team to see (The more accurate word was ‘eat’). Not three boxes into their chocolate tasting party, Ushijima opened a box of what could only be described as “dubiously experimental” homemade chocolates.

As soon as the misshapen morsels were revealed, Tendou warned Ushijima about them (Eep! Wakatoshi-kun, I’m pretty sure that shade of green’s not Matcha or food coloring), but Ushijima, being his usual self, told him it was rude to let a person’s gift go to waste, and took several pieces for himself before offering up the rest of the box to the other boys.

That afternoon, only Tendou and a handful of older players made it to practice, the rest of the members retiring to the dorms to be better acquainted with their toilet bowls.

And what of the remaining chocolates from Ushijima’s hoard, seeing that no one was capable, or willing, to eat any more? Well, Tendou was only happy to take them off of Ushijima’s hands.

Ushijima, still looking pale and sickly from his recent brush with food poisoning, allowed Tendou into his dorm room that night to oversee the chocolate inspection.

“Dontcha worry, these won’t go to waste. If they’re edible, I’ll eat them myself so you don’t have to,” Tendou declared selflessly.

“It would be difficult to finish all of these on my own,” Ushijima said, going slightly green in the face. “And the others don’t want any of the chocolates I offer anymore…”

“Right, right?” Tendou said with a grin.

“So we’ll just share them,” Ushijima declared, handing Tendou the paper bag of chocolates.

“Righty-o again!” Tendou said with glee. “You always come up with the best ideas.”

They settled down on Ushijima’s bedroom floor and Tendou excitedly upended the paperbag and spread the chocolates out between them.

“Whoohoo, lookit all these chocolates,” Tendou squealed in delight. There were at least a couple dozen small boxes and gift bags of chocolates between them and Tendou couldn’t wait to try them all.

“Alright, so remember, Wakatoshi-kun, store bought ones are generally safe, just make sure that they’re not opened or tampered with. Like this one,” Tendou said, fishing a small, flat box of chocolates from the pile. “Eyy, this is a good brand too! Sealed and in perfectly pristine packaging. SAFE!” Tendou declared, placing it on top of Ushijima’s bed.

Ushijima took a small, tin can of chocolates from the pile and inspected it seriously, like it was a matter of life and death. “Store bought… sealed… this one is safe too,” Ushijima concluded.

Tendou grinned. “Now you’re gettin’ the hang of it.”

Ushijima looked back at the pile and picked up a box, then placed it back down. Frowning, he turned to Tendou, “Most of these are homemade.”

“Meh, that’s to be expected,” Tendou said distractedly, tossing another box of store-bought chocolates onto Ushijima’s bed. “These are Valentine’s Day chocolates after all. This is a chance for all the girls to impress you and show you their undying loooove and affectiiooon,” Tendou said with a high pitched voice while mockingly batting his eyelashes at Ushijima.

Ushijima’s frown deepened. “So this is how they convey their feelings? Through chocolate? But they must know I cannot return their love.”

“Pshh, everybody knows you’re more in love with volleyball than you are with any living human. They get it. They just wanna show you they like you anyway,” Tendou told him.

“I see,” Ushijima nodded in understanding.

“Ah, shall we try tasting some now?” Tendou asked, picking out a nicely wrapped box from the pile. “From Mika-chan from Class 1. Oh! I know her. Tiny girl with short hair. Kinda looks like a hamster?”

Ushijima’s brows drew together in concentration. “I don’t recall what she looks like,” he said honestly.

“’Ouch! Don’t let her hear that or you’ll make her cry,” Tendou said with a chuckle. “So, d’ya wanna do the honors?” Tendou asked, offering the box to Ushijima.

Ushijima nodded. He accepted the box and carefully peeled off the dainty pink wrapper. He set the box back on the floor and lifted the lid.

As soon as the chocolates were revealed, Tendou cooed in delight. “Oooohhh, good work Mika-chan from Class 1. These look well-made,” Tendou remarked, plucking a tiny, heart shaped piece of chocolate from the box. “She’s got some skill, eh?” he said, admiring the delicate streaks of white adorning the chocolate. He popped the chocolate in his mouth, to Ushijima’s alarm.

“Wait! How do you know it’s safe to eat that?!” Ushijima asked, going green in the face again when he recalled the tainted chocolate he ate earlier.

“It’s fine, it’s fine…she definitely took her time decorating these, so I would assume she at least tasted them to see if they were edible,” Tendou explained, all while chewing the chocolate. “Mmm…the milk chocolate’s just right and creamy, but the hazelnut filling is a little too sweet,” he said, licking his lips in appreciation.

“Are you sure it’s not… dangerous?” Ushijima asked warily, taking an identical heart-shaped chocolate from the box and inspecting it closely.

“I could taste them all for you first, and if I think they’re safe, then you could start eating them,” Tendou offered, grinning with chocolate still stuck in his teeth.

“But what if you get food poisoning?” Ushijima asked in worry.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. My kappa tummy can handle a few pieces of toxic sweets,” he said, patting his stomach. “Now go on, try that one. I promise it’s safe.”

Ushijima squared his jaw and straightened his shoulders like he was preparing for battle, then popped the chocolate in his mouth. He chewed the chocolate with a grim expression on his face as Tendou watched him with wide, curious eyes.

“Sweet,” Ushijima finally said. “I like it.”

Tendou grinned. “Yay!” he said in triumph, before taking the liberty of eating another chocolate from the box. This one was almost black and shaped like a seashell. “Mmm… dark chocolate. It’s perfect…” Tendou chewed with a satisfied sigh.

Ushijima mimicked Tendou and picked the same one from the box. He chewed it with the same concentration on his face as he did the first one. “Good,” he said after a while. “A bit bitter. I like the sweeter one,” he said, quickly chasing the dark chocolate with another hazelnut heart piece.

“Oh… you like the sweeter ones huh?” Tendou said thoughtfully. “Then I’ll just take all the ones you don’t like then. That way, none of this would go to waste,” he said before he took another piece, a larger rectangular one with nuts on top, and bit half of it.

“Caramel filled, oooh you’ll love this, Wakatoshi-kun— ah yipes! It’s oozing out--” Tendou said in a panic as the caramel began to drip out of the bitten half of chocolate he was holding. He pulled his hand away from his clothes (these were new pajamas!) and turned the chocolate with the bitten side on top to stop the caramel from escaping.

When he turned to look at Ushijima, he froze in shock.

Ushijima was leaning forward, eyes closed and mouth open—waiting for Tendou to feed him the chocolate!

‘Oh, oh holy shit, dear mother of pearl, did he think--?’ Tendou thought in a panic. He looked at his hand like it had betrayed him when he realized that it did look like he was holding the chocolate out for Ushijima to eat. And Ushijima, bless his pure, innocent soul, was actually waiting for him to hand feed it to him! Like a little bird!

A thousand and one thoughts passed through Tendou’s head about all the things he could do to an ever-willing Ushijima’s lips, not a single one innocent or appropriate. But seriously, what’s a guy to do when your best friend/crush/guy-you-totally-have-the-hots-for was right there, tempting you within an inch of your sanity? Kiss them silly? Push them to the floor and divest them of all their clothing? Go all cowboy and ride that bull till morning?

No! Bad Satori! No!

A couple more seconds passed of internal panicking before Tendou decided to just fuck it... and guided his shaking hand to Ushijima’s lips to feed him the chocolate. He withdrew his hand as soon as he felt the plush softness of Ushijima’s lips on his fingers, and tried desperately to readjust and hide the growing, ahem, difficulty in between his legs.

Oblivious, as always, to Tendou’s internal struggles, Ushijima chewed the chocolate and kept his eyes closed for a few more seconds. When he opened them, he saw Tendou was already busy tearing open another box. A tiny sliver of a smile graced the corners of Ushijima’s lips, and Tendou pretended not to notice. “You’re right. I like this one the best,” Ushijima said.

“Ha ha ha ha, I’m right, right? ‘Course I’m right,” Tendou babbled awkwardly. He pretended to be entirely occupied with inspecting the box before popping the lid open. “Oh! Nama chocolate!” he gasped excitedly. “This should be good.”

----

That night, Tendou rolled around in bed unable to fall asleep. He looked at the tips of his fingers, remembering how Ushijima’s lips felt. Man, those lips would probably feel good against his own. Probably even better against some other parts of his body. Like his cock. Or ass. He wasn’t picky.

“EEeeeeEeeeeEeee!” Tendou squealed like a dying animal while hugging his pillow. Just imagining it was making him feel all tingly all over.

“SHUT UP TENDOU! MAN, GO TO SLEEP!” Semi yelled out from the adjacent room, banging the wall between them.

“AND YOU SHOULD STOP LISTENING TO ME MASTURBATE!” Tendou replied loudly.

“Eww, gross!” he heard Semi sputter.

Tendou smirked to himself. He wasn’t gonna do it, but thanks to Semi, he just got a brilliant idea.

He grabbed the half empty bottle of lube he kept under his pillow and pulled his pants down. He was already halfway there just thinking about Ushijima’s lips. This wouldn’t take long.

----

Since that Valentine’s Day, the whole volleyball club agreed that they would need a system to protect each other from the dangers of homemade Valentine’s chocolates. In an entirely selfless move, Tendou stepped up and appointed himself as the Official Shiratorizawa Chocolate Taste Tester.

It was not because he loved chocolates and would rather get them for free than buy them on his own. No, definitely not. It was because he cared for his teammates, and was especially concerned for Ushijima, the poor, innocent soul who didn’t know any better.

On the next Valentine’s Day, the boys had learned to either refuse dubious-looking chocolates, or go directly to Tendou for a chocolate taste-testing.

Even Semi, who was the team’s most popular member (he was in a rock band! And he could talk to girls like a normal person! Really, who could compete?), said ‘no’ to chocolates because his girlfriend would get jealous (he had no girlfriend, but there was a certain other setter on their team who acted like a jealous lover nonetheless).

But Ushijima, unfortunately, was still a problem, having accepted nearly double the number of chocolates than before, and still refused to let any of it go to waste.

And as part of his commitment to ensuring the quality of chocolates that their teammates ingested on this day of days, Tendou took it upon himself to personally inspect all of Ushijima’s chocolate gifts, and if necessary, take them off his hands yet again.

Thus, their Valentine’s Day tradition began.

----

Tendou’s first experience with making chocolate was during his third year in high school.

“Wait wait, hold it just like that!” Tendou stopped Ushijima after he took a bite of a chocolate truffle.

“Like this?” Ushijima asked, holding it out for Tendou to take yet another picture.

Tendou checked his phone and sighed wistfully “Ahhh, this looks so good.”

“Why are you taking so many pictures of the chocolates, Tendou?” Ushijima asked, eating the remainder of the chocolate truffle when Tendou gave him the go signal.

“Because, dear Wakatoshi-kun, this is our last Valentine’s Day together in high school. I’m not popular, like you. I will probably never get to eat this much chocolate for the rest of my life,” he said, leaning down and dramatically fake crying while he hugged the still formidably-sized mountain of chocolates on Ushijima’s bedroom floor.

“You seem to know a lot about chocolates. Why don’t you just make your own?” Ushijima suggested, saving some of the chocolate boxes that avalanched down the side of the mountain.

Tendou blinked and stared wide-eyed at Ushijima. “Make my own?”

“Mmm,” Ushijima said, making a pleasantly surprised expression when the next piece of chocolate he ate was caramel-filled—his favorite kind.

Tendou cocked his head to the side, looking down at all the homemade chocolates piled up before them, then back up at Ushijima’s pleased face as he ate another chocolate from a different box. “Make my own, huh?” Tendou said thoughtfully. “That would mean I could eat all the chocolate I want, anytime I want them. Ah, but cooking chocolate…it’s not gonna be that easy-peasy.”

“If all the girls in school can make them, why can’t you? You could probably make even better ones than these,” Ushijima told him, frowning down at a dark chocolate praline that he bit in half.

A blush crept its way up Tendou’s face, threatening to make his skin as red as his hair. If there was one thing Ushijima was good at, it was making people feel better (or worse) about themselves without really meaning to.

“Wakatoshi-kuuuuuuunnnn,” Tendou wailed. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Not true,” Ushijima corrected smoothly. “I remember coach told you that you were a very smart player.”

“Yeah, but he added the, ‘but only if you shut your mouth once in a while’, so that negated everything before that,” Tendou grumbled.

“So are you going to try making your own?” Ushijima asked.

Tendou grinned from ear-to-ear. “Why not? You’ll help me by tasting what I make, right?”

The prospect of even more chocolate seemed to delight Ushijima. “Of course. It’s only fitting that I return the favor,” he said, smiling a small but genuine smile.

“Great. Then you’ll be my assistant!” Tendou declared. “Tomorrow, we’re going shopping.”

----

The next day, as promised, Ushijima accompanied Tendou to a bookstore to look at recipes for chocolates.

“What about this one, Wakatoshi-kun? Would you like to try this one first?” Tendou said, pointing at a simple nama chocolate recipe.

Ushijima frowned as he leaned closer to Tendou to read the ingredients.

‘Eek! So close!’ Tendou’s mind yelped in surprise when Ushijima’s face was suddenly inches from his. This close, Tendou could probably count Ushijima’s eyelashes if he were crazy enough. ‘One, two, three…’

“It says dark chocolate. I don’t like dark chocolate.”

“Seven, eight, nine—”

“Tendou?” Ushijima asked when he noticed Tendou staring.

“Oh! Ahahaha. I was just thinking,” Tendou chuckled awkwardly, quickly shifting his gaze back to the cookbook. “Thinking we could probably replace dark chocolate with semi-sweet if you don’t want that bitter taste.” Nice save, Satori.

“Mmn. We could try that,” Ushijima agreed.

Tendou flipped through a few more pages then stopped at another recipe. “Oh this one looks good too,” he said pointing to the mouthwatering picture of chocolate truffles.

The next bookshelf over, an old lady watched them with mounting suspicion. Two very tall men shoulder-to-shoulder and whispering to one another by the cookbooks section was a very odd sight indeed.

---

After buying a couple of cookbooks, the two made a detour to the sports apparel shop, where Ushijima tried on several new pairs of volleyball shoes. He ended up buying a nice pair of black ones that looked fairly identical to the ones he was already using.

Then it was on to the baking supply store to get some of the tools and pans they needed. Tendou got Ushijima to lend him some of his allowance to pay for them, with the promise of making him all the kinds of chocolates he liked.

The last stop was the grocery store to get some ingredients. Ushijima got stuck at the magazine rack just at the entrance, where he spotted the newest sports rag that had some pro volleyball news on it. Tendou left him there so he could gather the ingredients himself. It was a good thing Ushijima got distracted, otherwise he might insist on getting only milk chocolate and white chocolate instead of the actual ones the recipe called for.

Once all the shopping was done, they stopped by a family restaurant for a quick dinner then went back home to the dorms to try out their first recipe.

It turned out pretty well, all things considered. It was a good thing Tendou knew how to cook, a skill he learned from his mother at an early age, because Ushijima was no help at all. While Tendou was doing all the work, all Ushijima did was hover behind his shoulder, waiting for the chocolates to be done. Imagine his disappointment when he learned they still needed to chill the chocolates for five hours before it could be eaten.

Then it was finally time for the first tasting.

“Nyyack! Sweeter?!” Tendou balked.

Ushijima nodded with a grave expression only broken by his deliberate chewing.

“Geez, Wakatoshi-kun, and I thought I had a sweet tooth,” Tendou said, popping another piece in his mouth. “Ah! Semi-semi, would you like to taste this?” he held the plate out to Semi, who was passing by the common room of their dorms.

Semi looked at the little cubes of nama chocolate in suspicion. “Is it poisoned?” Semi asked.

“No of course not. I made this. Wakatoshi-kun’s had one already and he says it’s not sweet enough. I need a second opinion.”

Semi approached them but did not take any offered chocolate. “You made chocolate? For Wakatoshi?”

“Ah, not for Wakatoshi. With Wakatoshi,” Tendou corrected.

Semi looked at Ushijima in question.

“It’s true,” Ushijima confirmed.

“Ah so this is what you two’ve been doing all night,” Reon chimed in when saw the other third years.

“All night?!” Semi asked in surprise, looking at Tendou’s sly grinning face, and at Ushijima’s serious one.

“It’s true,” Ushijima repeated.

“You wouldn’t know, you weren’t even here last night,” Reon said. He sat on one of the couches and took an offered chocolate. When Semi saw him eat the chocolate, he deemed it safe enough and took one for himself.

Tendou looked at their faces expectantly, and his face lit up in glee at the first positive sign on their faces.

“This…” Semi said, looking mildly shocked. “This is surprisingly good.”

“You think so?” Tendou asked eagerly.

“Not too sweet, I like it,” Reon said, nodding in approval.

“Not sweet enough,” Ushijima countered, even as he took another piece to eat.

“You want everything sweet,” Tendou said with a roll of his eyes.

“So who’re you giving these chocolates to on White Day?” Semi asked Tendou.

“No one. This is just for me and Wakatoshi-kun. And you guys, if you want more,” Tendou said, offering up the plate to the other boys, who gladly ate some more.

---

For the rest of their stay at the dorms, every night after dinner, the pair would borrow the kitchen to try out recipe after recipe.

Ushijima was partial to the sweeter kinds of chocolates, like chocolate truffles, white chocolates, and bonbons filled with all sorts of tooth-rotting stuff. As a result, when he taste-tested Tendou’s creations, he would often complain that they weren’t sweet enough.

Tendou had learned to tweak recipes to make them sweeter just to please Ushijima’s taste buds. Sometimes, he’d even make two different batches, one he considered as “Wakatoshi Sweet” and the other as “Regular-person Sweet.”

When they eventually graduated, Ushijima went pro and Tendou moved on to art school and continued to experiment on different chocolate recipes on his own. They saw less of each other, but they still managed to meet the next Valentine’s Day so Ushijima could taste-test Tendou’s latest creations.

Ushijima brought what little chocolate he received from acquaintances for them to share. His team’s management forbade Ushijima from consuming any Valentine’s Chocolates that came from fans and unknown sources so he was actually getting fewer chocolates now. Who knew being pro meant the added danger of the chocolates containing actual poisons or forbidden substances?

Tendou never thought there was anything weird about meeting your best friend for Valentine’s Day until Reon pointed it out.

“You still met with Wakatoshi last Valentine’s Day to exchange chocolates?” Reon balked. They were at a drinking party with some of the other Shiratorizawa boys one late night in March. Ushijima was at training and missed their get-together.

“What’s wrong with that?” Tendou asked defensively. “And we don’t exchange chocolates. He taste-tests my latest recipe, and I get to eat whatever chocolates the Adlers staff allowed him to bring home.”

“That’s the very definition of ‘exchanging’,” Reon argued. “And what’re you gonna do when Wakatoshi finally gets a girlfriend?”

“Pshh, please, you really think Wakatoshi-kun’s got any time for a girlfriend? Maybe if you put a volleyball in a dress and called her Mikasa-chan, maybe then,” Tendou said. He didn’t want to dwell on why Reon was only concerned about Ushijima finding a girlfriend and not Tendou. He suspected Reon probably knew this whole time.

Reon chuckled. “Ah, but you never know, Satori. He’s a big shot pro player now. We’re not talking about high school girls vying for his affection anymore. He might just find his real Mikasa-chan one of these days. Maybe you should start looking for your own?” Reon said with kind eyes and offered Tendou another bottle of beer.

“Don’t I know it,” Tendou mumbled to himself before he chugged on the beer.

Because Tendou did know it. He knew their tradition would never stand the test of time. Eventually, Ushijima would find a nice girl who may or may not resemble a volleyball, and he’d go on Valentine's dates with her instead of spending it gorging on chocolates with Tendou. She’d give him her very own homemade chocolates (she wouldn’t know at first that Ushijima liked them super sweet, but she’d learn eventually like Tendou did), and she’d have to settle for getting the same brand of chocolates every single White Day, because Ushijima was nothing if not consistent.

Meanwhile Tendou… well, Tendou would be spending Valentines Day alone, surrounded by all the failed recipes of his chocolates and wishing and pining for something that he would never have.

But hopefully, that wouldn’t happen until after next year’s Valentine’s Day, because Tendou had very nearly perfected his tooth-rottingly sweet choco-caramel truffles and he wanted Ushijima to be the first one to taste them. He was sure Ushijima would absolutely love them.

Unfortunately, Tendou never did get to have Ushijima taste his choco-caramel truffles.

Tendou had enjoyed making chocolates so much that he took a shot at applying at a culinary school in Paris—and got accepted soon after. Within a month, he packed up his stuff and moved to Paris to learn all he could about becoming a chocolatier. In an instant, he was farther away from home, and from Ushijima, than he had ever been.

Chapter Text

Years later, Tendou was now an established chocolatier working in one of Paris’ most prestigious chocolate shops. Who knew taste-testing chocolates with his best friend was what would eventually bring him here?

He didn’t regret those happy high school days at all. It was one of the best times of his life. He never felt lonely even if he spent all his Valentines cooped up in the dorms, gorging on somebody else’s chocolates. It was comforting to know that at least he wasn’t the only one without a date back then. Ushijima was with him, date-less and obviously single their entire high school life.

Still, now that he was older, he understood Reon’s concerns for him back then. Dude was just worried Tendou wouldn’t be able to cope with losing Ushijima once they eventually parted ways. Well, he may have lost their Valentine’s tradition, but he hadn’t lost Ushijima yet.

When he moved to Paris, Tendou still liked to keep tabs on what was going on in the volleyball scene back home, especially as his best friend was a promising pro player, and the rising star of Japan’s national team. He was relieved not to read anything from online news outlets and gossip forums about any love scandals related to Ushijima.

They still kept in contact, and Tendou would bug Ushijima with phone calls and video chats every now and then. To talk about volleyball, or chocolates, and sometimes, even the weather. Sometimes, when Tendou was feeling more brazen than usual, he’d even outright ask if Ushijima had found a girlfriend, to which Ushijima had always replied: “too busy with volleyball,” in his usual, even tone.

(Tendou would never admit that he always felt giddy with hope every time Ushijima said it).

The long-distance relationship thing did suck a lot though. And they weren’t even in a relationship. So it sucked even worse. In the past few years, Tendou could count with one hand all the times he met up with Ushijima-- and it was at least ten hands too few.

But whenever they did meet, it was as if no time had passed at all. They talked like they usually did: Tendou would complain about work, or gush about a new TV show he was watching, and Ushijima would nod along as usual, then say something annoyingly logical, then would somehow shift the conversation back to volleyball (it was practically a god-given talent of his).

One thing that changed, however, was now people would recognize Ushijima, and kids would come up to him for autographs even when they were just walking down the street. It would fill Tendou with pride, of course, to see the world finally seeing what Tendou had seen all those years ago. Except now it was harder for Tendou to have Ushijima all to himself, especially when even the waitresses at the restaurant would keep on hovering by their table just to get a glimpse of Ushijima.

He complained about not having enough one-on-one time with Ushijima once, and Ushijima apologized and looked so sad and sorry as if everything was his fault that Tendou never mentioned it to him again.

Sometimes Tendou wished that he could go back to those high school days when things were much simpler, when all they had to worry about was volleyball and what lunch the cafeteria was serving tomorrow.

Back in those days, he could even sincerely say he loved Valentine’s Day.

Now? Not so much.

A shame, really. Because what he loved about Valentine’s Day when he was in high school was what he disliked about it now.

Before, Valentine’s Day was his ‘free chocolate day’. Now it’s become ‘work-to-death-to-make-chocolates-for-everybody-else day’. The busiest time of the year for any chocolatier, Tendou hardly had any time to do anything else other than work. Rest was a foreign concept, sleep and food were optional, so much so that by the end of Valentine’s Day rush, Tendou looked and felt like a walking corpse. His ghoulish appearance even scared children on the street, which honestly, gave him a little bit of satisfaction.

This year’s Valentine's season was no exception.

With the last of the made-to-order chocolates done for the day, Tendou was finally free to leave the shop and see the outside world. Tendou bundled himself up in his thickest winter coat (it wasn’t that cold out, but Tendou was one strong gust of wind away from being blown away like a dry leaf), and made his way out through the front of the shop.

He liked doing a bit of people-watching of their late afternoon Valentine’s Day buyers before heading out. Most people had already bought their chocolates by this time, so what little crowd they still had left on the shop floor were either the habitual late comers, or ones that simply forgot. It was amusing sometimes to see a frazzled man in a suit rush into the store looking nervous as hell and buying the first box of chocolates he sees. Or to overhear a guy at the counter buying two chocolate boxes and addressing the gift cards to two different women, one of which he claims was for his ‘mother’.

This year, Tendou was not disappointed to see his favorite type of late buyer (frazzled-man-buying-whatever’s-available). He watched this buyer for a while with a great deal of satisfaction, until he spied a tall figure with a nice set of shoulders by the caramel section. For a moment, Tendou forgot to breathe. He’d know those broad shoulders anywhere!

“Wakatoshi-kun?!” he gasped.

The man in question turned, and the sight of him felt like a punch to Tendou’s solar plexus.

Oh he looked good. He looked really good. Like a muscular god descended from heaven, his presence filled the entire room.

He wasn’t hallucinating, right? He was tired, but not tired enough to dream up this perfect vision of Ushijima looking dashing in his grey peacoat and tailored trousers. Usually, his imagination’s version of Ushijima would be a little too tall, would smile a little too much, and generally wore less clothing. But not this. This, this was perfect. Which meant, this one was real.

Tendou rushed to his side, as if any second Ushijima might disappear. “Wakatoshi-kun, you’re here!” he stated the obvious once he was face to face with this god of a man.

“I am,” Ushijima said with a nod.

Tendou blinked. Oh, how he missed him. “I thought you were in training for the National Team back home?”

“We have a two week break,” Ushijima explained.

“Uh-huh, and?” Tendou urged. “Whatcha doing here in Paris? Visitin’ the Eiffel Tower, or little ol’ me?” he teased.

Ushijima seemed to ponder his answer for a moment. “Both,” he finally decided.

Tendou grinned from ear-to-ear. “No way. Really? What an awesome surprise. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world… Ushijima Wakatoshi himself bought a plane ticket to come spend Valentine’s Day with me,” he joked with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“I used my miles,” Ushijima informed him.

“Of course you did, of course you did!” Tendou said with a hearty laugh, playfully slapping Ushijima’s arm (wow, that was solid). “Well then… Bounjour! Welcome to Paris!” he said, stretching his arms to the sides and nearly knocking over a cake pop display.

“Thank you,” Ushijima answered, the small smile on his lips made Tendou feel tingly all over.

Tendou felt his face starting to hurt from all the smiling he was doing, but he couldn’t stop it. Ushijima was here! HERE!

Then, Ushijima’s face grew serious. “Oh. I apologize. I almost forgot,” he said in a grave tone.

“Oh?” Tendou blinked owlishly at Ushijima.

Then Ushijima placed a hand on Tendou’s shoulder, and swooped in to capture Tendou’s lips in a kiss.

What.

WWWWHHHHAAAAAAT??!!!

Tendou froze on the spot, arms still spread on either side of him like a pinned butterfly. His brain short circuited at the first touch of Ushijima’s lips against his. Then his soul left his body when Ushijima’s tongue swept in.

Holy shit, Ushijima was kissing him. Inside the chocolate shop with at least a dozen people around, and not even five minutes since they reunited. What the actual fuck was going on? And why was he even so good at this? It wasn’t fair.

Then it was over before Tendou could even reboot his system. He just stood there, mouth agape (and instantly missing Ushijima’s lips), and unable to process what just happened.

Apparently sensing Tendou’s confusion, Ushijima tried to explain himself. “I was told the French greet each other with a kiss,” he said, unconsciously licking his lips as he said the word ‘kiss’. “Did I do it wrong?” he asked, his eyes going all big and sad like a dejected puppy.

Tendou seemed to have wrangled his soul back into his body just in time to reply, “Who told you that?”

“Goshiki had been to France before and when I mentioned I was visiting you, he told me it was only proper etiquette that I French kiss you as soon as I see you,” he explained.

“Tsutomu-kun said that?!” Tendou asked in disbelief. Oh that brat! Wait till he sees him again. He’ll give him a good hug and a fruit basket as thanks.

“Did I do it wrong?” Ushijima repeated, looking even sadder than before.

“Uh…haha you see...” Tendou said with an awkward chuckle.

Then, the frazzled-man-buying-whatever’s-available from earlier elbowed past them to get out of the shop, and Tendou realized this was probably not the best place to do this in. Especially since the floor manager Eloise was giving Tendou knowing looks and a mischievous grin from behind the counter. She was a nice French woman in her forties, and she loved Tendou like he was an annoying younger brother… and she also loved to gossip.

Tendou knew it was time to make a hasty retreat.

“Why don’t we talk about this outside, hmm? We’re blocking the customers,” Tendou said with his best ‘customer service’ smile.

“Oh, of course,” Ushijima nodded in understanding.

They exited the shop, and a wall of cold air slammed against Tendou, but he didn’t feel it as much as he should, being that he was still pretty heated up from Ushijima’s greeting from earlier.

“So where’d you wanna go? We could grab some dinner, but all the fancy places are probably fully booked right now, being, you know, Valentine’s Day and all,” Tendou said.

“Could we go to your place instead? I want to see where you live,” Ushijima said honestly.

Tendou choked on his own tongue. “Yo-you wanna go back to my place?” How bold, Wakatoshi-kun!

Ushijima nodded, looking very enthused about the idea.

How many heart attacks can one man suffer for a day? “Alright, alright,” Tendou agreed. “We could probably get some takeout along the way. But I’m warnin’ you, I can’t remember exactly when I last cleaned my apartment. It’s not gonna be pretty.”

“I’ve seen your dorm room before, Tendou. I know what to expect,” Ushijima answered with a straight face, making Tendou howl with laughter.

---

Tendou’s apartment wasn’t as much of a mess as he made Ushijima to believe it was, but he still did not dare to let his guest anywhere near his kitchen/ dining room (where his days-old dishes were still stewing in their own filth). They settled in Tendou’s living room instead, their dinner of burgers and fries spread out on the coffee table while they sat beside each other on the couch.

He let Ushijima settle in and have a few bites first before Tendou dropped the bomb.

Ushijima’s face was a picture of confusion and embarrassment. It was not a good look on him. “On the cheeks?” he asked again, voice almost too soft to hear over the cheesy romcom playing in French on the TV that neither of them were watching.

“Yep, the locals kiss on the cheeks. Once per cheek. Or more, depends on the region where they’re from,” Tendou explained, trying to make it sound as casual as possible. He debated with himself about correcting Ushijima’s assumption about the French “greeting” he did earlier. What was the harm in not telling him, right? It wasn’t as if Tendou was complaining. But then a thought occurred to him: ‘what if Ushijima did that to the next French guy he met?’ and in an instant Tendou’s mind was made up.

When Ushijima looked even more embarrassed, Tendou tried to reassure him quickly. “Ah! Ah, but I’m sure it was a fairly common mistake. No need to beat yourself up over it. You did, ahem, technically do a French kiss back there so it’s fine,” Tendou told him, hiding his blushing face by ducking down and stuffing his mouth with fries. ‘A damn good French kiss too. Fuck I could still feel his tongue…’

Ushijima shook his head. “I hope I did not embarrass you with my blunder earlier. It won’t happen again.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tendou brushed it off. ‘If I had my way, I’d want you to kiss me again and again and again,’ he thought to himself.

“So you… you didn’t dislike it?”

“Henck?” Tendou made a weird noise as he looked up from his fries. Oh holy cow, did he say that out loud?

Ushijima looked at him with those intense eyes, waiting for his reply.

Okay, fuck, he did say that out loud. Crap.

“Forget I said that,” Tendou said, averting his gaze and stuffing his face with more fries.

A large hand reached out to stop him from gorging himself on fries. “Tendou…” Ushijima began.

Tendou took a deep breath and turned to face Ushijima. “Yeah?” he said with a toothy grin that he managed to pull from god-knows-where.

“You didn’t dislike it when I kissed you?” Ushijima asked again.

Ah shit, so this was what it felt like to be that deer looking straight into those headlights, a split second before being hit by a speeding car. “I, maybe, in some way or another, might never not not dislike it?” Tendou answered vaguely with that same toothy grin, hoping to somehow get out of this alive. How do people breathe again?

Ushijima kept those intense eyes locked at him, as if trying to solve a riddle written all over Tendou’s face. Tendou didn’t know what Ushijima saw, but he must’ve seen something for him to finally tear his gaze away. It only made Tendou’s heart beat faster in his chest.

“Tendou…” Ushijima’s voice was deep, and it looked like he was struggling to say something.

This was it. Tendou was finally gonna get rejected. After all these years of hiding, pining, loving Ushijima quietly, and it was still going to end up like this. Reon was right. He should’ve kept his distance. Should’ve found a nice girlfriend or boyfriend so he could get over Ushijima. Instead he lit a candle for his oblivious best friend like a fucking loser and now look at him, he was gonna be rejected on Valentine’s Day. And he hadn’t even had any rest for the past 24 hours. This Valentine’s Day was the worst. This was--

There was suddenly a weight on Tendou’s lap.

“Hanhk?” he tore his gaze away from Ushijima’s face, and down to his lap where Ushijima had placed something.

It was a box of chocolates with a purple bow on top and a small card that read “Happy Valentine’s Day, my darling.”

“That was the only card I could find,” Tendou heard Ushijima say from beside him.

Tendou blinked. Then blinked again. Was this real? “Is this… for me?” he asked, unable to mask the hopeful lilt in his voice. “You’re giving this to me? As a Valentine’s Day gift. ”

Ushijima nodded.

Tendou felt his heart was gonna explode in his chest. “This is for me. You’re not asking me to taste test this for you. You bought this just for me.”

Ushijima nodded again, and this time it was his turn to avert his eyes from Tendou.

And wait, was he blushing? He was! “You’re blushing!” Tendou gasped.

Ushijima looked back at him with pleading eyes. “Please don’t tease me.”

Tendou flailed on the couch. “Wait, no I wasn’t teasing. Definitely not. It’s just. You. and this,” he said, pointing down to the chocolate box on his lap. “And you!” he said again, gesturing to Ushijima and his flaming cheeks. “This is a lot to process,” he ended lamely, deflating on the couch with a long sigh.

The cheesy romcom playing on the TV had finally reached its conclusion, the male and female lead confessing their love for all eternity and kissing in the crowded airport terminal.

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Ushijima asked after what felt like ages.

Tendou sprung up from where he melted on the couch. “Yes! Of course, let’s open it!” Tendou said excitedly. He wiped his hands on his shirt to get rid of the fast food grease (because he was going to preserve this ribbon, and this box for the rest of his life), and slowly pulled the ends of the ribbon.

Once it was undone, he pulled it off and set it aside. Then, with bated breath, he popped the lid open.

Oh. Oh he was wrong.

It was Nama chocolate. Cubes of sweet, ganache-like chocolate covered with cocoa powder. The cubes were unevenly cut, and the cocoa powder was too thick on some parts, and barely there on others.

Tendou slowly looked to the side where Ushijima was silently staring at him with his intense eyes and his whole body rigid with anticipation. “You didn’t buy this,” Tendou stated.

“I tried making it exactly the way you did back in high school… but the recipe book we used before is out of print now and well…” Ushijima trailed on, scratching the back of his head in an almost self-conscious manner.

Ushijima. Self-conscious. It was unheard of! Unprecedented. Just beyond belief. This wasn’t like Ushijima at all.

He was never this impulsive or unpredictable either. First, he surprised Tendou by coming to Paris unannounced, gave him THAT KISS, then he went and gave Tendou Valentine’s Chocolates that he made himself. It was mind-boggling.

“As I thought, it’s no good, huh?” Ushijima said, a bittersweet smile ghosting over his lips.

Ack! Tendou must’ve gotten lost in his thoughts too long, and it gave Ushijima the wrong impression. “What are you talking about?! This isn’t just good. It’s better than good. It’s perfect!” he gushed, lifting the box and inspecting the chocolate from every angle.

Ushijima’s face instantly lit up. “Really?”

“Are you kidding. This is your first time making chocolates right? And it turned out like this? Even our first try back then didn’t look this good,” Tendou told him.

“That’s not my first try. I tried eight recipes first before I settled on that one,” Ushijima explained honestly.

“Pshh… at least it looks like you learned something from all those watching and eating you did when we made chocolates before. Can I try one now?” Tendou asked, wiggling his fingers over the chocolate.

“Go ahead,” Ushijima urged with a nod.

“Great!” Tendou said, taking a piece from the corner and bringing it up to his face. He inspected the cube, committing every detail to memory. He still couldn’t figure out what suddenly came over Ushijima to do something like this, but right now he didn’t care. He wanted to remember this first taste of his first Valentine’s Chocolates, and the first taste of chocolates Ushijima made especially for him.

He popped the piece of chocolate in his mouth, and the first moment it touched his tongue, it sent a burst of rich chocolate flavor all over his taste buds. It was good. It was really good. Probably miles better than their first try at making chocolates in high school. And more significantly, it wasn’t Wakatoshi Sweet. In fact, it was made with dark chocolate, just the way Tendou liked it. Oh he was so proud, he felt tears prickling his eyes.

“Wakatoshi-kuuuun…” Tendou dragged on, “this is perfect…” he said with a sob.

“You like it?” Ushijima asked hopefully.

“I love it,” Tendou sobbed. If he could bathe in this, he will. Infuse it in his bloodstream, implant it in his chest so he could keep it in his heart forever.

Ushijima’s face lit up and he smiled, a real, wide smile, with teeth, and Tendou could swear he never looked more handsome than he did then. “I’m glad,” he said.

Tendou grinned back, with chocolate stuck to his teeth, but he didn’t care. This was the best Valentine’s Day of his life. He was about to take another piece before he remembered. “Ack! I forgot to take a picture!” he said in a panic. He grabbed his phone and started taking pictures.

Ushijima watched him with a fond expression before he returned to eating his forgotten burger.

“Ah but seriously, Wakatoshi-kun. What got into ya alluva sudden?” Tendou asked because he needed to know and he had no self preservation instincts. Despite being elated beyond belief, he was still confused about why Ushijima was doing this out of the blue. If this was just some prank… ah but Ushijima would never! Or maybe someone put the idea in his head that he had to... like Goshiki and the kiss? Or maybe he developed a spontaneous side and suddenly said fuck it and travelled to Paris for no reason at all?

Or maybe he realized he liked Tendou? Even just a little.

“This wasn’t sudden,” Ushijima informed him.

Tendou stopped snapping pics and turned his attention back at Ushijima.

“I’ve been trying the recipes for close to two months now. It’s… more difficult than volleyball,” Ushijima said, a grave expression on his face.

Wait. Hold up. Two months? “So this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing?” Tendou asked.

Ushijima shook his head. “I booked the flight last year, as soon as I got the schedule for the National Team training.”

“Last year?” Tendou parroted. “So wait, lemme get this straight… you’ve been planning… for months now. Months. To come surprise me here on Valentine’s day?” Tendou clarified.

“Mm. You know me. I’m not an impulsive person. I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time. About how to confess to you--”

“CONFESS!!” Tendou blurted out, surprising the both of them. “Sorry, sorry go on.”

“Confess,” Ushijima repeated in a much lower volume than what Tendou used. “I’ll be moving to Poland soon… and I know it’s not the same as when we lived in the same city back home. But it’s closer. I researched flights and it takes about two and a half hours to get from Warsaw to Paris. I could come by on the off season, or when I don’t have games or training. Or you could come to Poland when you don’t have work. We could see each other more. I realize it’s still not ideal but…”

“But?” Tendou asked, holding on to every single word that was coming out of Ushijima’s mouth.

“But if you agree, I would still like to try,” Ushijima said, face so serious and earnest, who could ever say ‘no’ to him.

“Try?” Tendou asked again, so pathetically hopeful and in love, it was a miracle he was still keeping himself together and not pushing Ushijima down and having his way with him. Ah, Satori, keep it together. Ushijima was confessing.

“Try us. Dating. For real,” Ushijima said. “I like you Tendou. Will you go out with me?”

And then, Tendou woke up from the best dream he ever had.

NOT.

Tendou was definitely not dreaming. This was real.

Ushijima was in his apartment. Ushijima said he liked him. Ushijima wanted to go out with him. After years of hiding, pining, loving Ushijima quietly, who knew it was going to end up like this? There was only one thing he could say to that.

“Fuck yes. Finally!” Tendou said, bursting at the seams with happiness.

Then he pounced on Ushijima and gave him a proper French kiss. And no, it wasn’t on the cheek.