The Choclate That Matters (The Wallflower, Ranmaru/Tamao)
Title: The Chocolate That Matters
Fandom: The Wallflower
Pairing: Ranmaru x Tamao, Sunako
Rating: G (Oh my god, it’s the end of the world as we know it!)
Disclaimer: The Wallflower and its characters do not belong to me.
A/N: Hm…all I seem to write about for this couple is her giving him stuff. That’s a little funny. Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to come up with a real plot. They’re still too awkward a pair for smut, which is a damn shame.
Chocolate was everywhere. Stacks of it were littered throughout the mansion, precariously tilting this way and that, sometimes the tops just barely brushing the ceiling. While the presence of the four radiant creatures was still mildly disconcerting and more or less unwelcome, Sunako had to admit that this almost made up for it. She floated through the corridors and rooms, inhaling the rich aroma, completely lost in pure, utter bliss. She extended her hand, slender fingers reaching for a box of the mouth-watering chocolate…
“Hey!”
She jumped back from the stack, brutally rebuffed as her hand was slapped away. She turned her head, teeth bared, and growled quite ferociously at her intruder. Kyohei was unfazed and frowned at her pointedly.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. “That’s my chocolate and I intend to eat it all!”
She scowled, but decided not to fight him just yet. There were three others, after all.
She was almost positive Takenaga would give her some, but…
“Sorry, Sunako,” he said, “but I promised Noi-chi I’d share my chocolate with her.”
Yuki was next, although she really didn’t want to resort to him. He was too cute and too sensitive to growl at. So, sulking, she let him be.
And then there was one…
Ranmaru Morii was not paying attention. Holding his chin in his hand, he gazed, unwaveringly, outside the window where the front gate could be seen. Sunako had to poke and prod and tug at his sleeve in order to get his attention, and even then his eyes were slightly glazed over and unfocused; he seemed to be looking through her.
“Hm? My chocolate?”
She nodded, trying not to appear too eager, but growing increasingly giddy at the thought of eating the sweet treats. He smiled thinly and murmured in a voice that made it clear his mind was elsewhere, “Well, maybe you can have some. If you decide to become a real lady, that is.”
Sunako puffed out her cheeks in indignation and he chuckled, the sound hollow and usual. She might’ve been more concerned at any other time, but right then all she cared about, all she wanted, was chocolate. She gripped at her hair and fell onto the floor in frustration, biting back a scream of despair. She didn’t even notice the sound of a car door being opened and closed, or the way Ranmaru visibly brightened and jumped up from his seat.
He took long, unhurried strides to the front door, feigning coolness and nonchalance as well as he could with his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Despite his anxiousness and anticipation, he somehow managed to wait until the timid knock sounded before opening the door. Tamao stood there, eyes lowered demurely, the holiday-inspired sweater she wore over her school uniform matching the soft pink of her cheeks. In her hands she held a modestly packaged box of chocolate, which she offered to him after a moment of silence.
“Will you please accept this?” She asked, her cheeks’ pinkness graduating to a faint red.
Ranmaru said nothing, but had Tamao’s eyes been lifted, she would’ve seen the unusually nervous way he swallowed hard. He took the box from her, hands lingering a little longer than necessary, and thanked her politely. She bowed at the shoulders and he just barely caught the relieved, contended smile that graced her face before she hurried back to her limousine, where her driver waited with the engine running.
Ranmaru closed the door quietly and stared at it for a moment before snapping out of the trance he’d fallen under. He headed for his room and when he passed Sunako, still writhing on the floor, he said, “You can have that chocolate if you want it.”
As he left the room, he hardly registered the gleeful sound she made as she jumped up from the floor and flung herself at his stack of chocolate. He held the small box in his hand close to his chest where his heart was traitorously fluttering and he smiled slightly, certain that he was holding the only chocolate that mattered.