Hyoutei Power! :D
I don't really know how the tiny little idea I had turned out to be this massive thing. Or why it took so long to come up with an ending. But here it is. The longest thing I've ever finished, I think. :D
Hyoutei: Competitive to the Point of Utter Lameness
ShishiTori; side OshiGaku
Warning: From Shishido's point of view. Beware the Utter Corniness of his Massive Love.
A/N: Originally, this was supposed to be a quick oneshot about Shishido saying something lame. It evolved into... well, you'll see. o__o
"Ore-sama is going to win," Atobe told Shishido, smirking.
"Shut up," Shishido said, annoyed at himself for taking the spot next to Atobe. He had Choutarou on his other side, however, so hopefully it would be worth it.
"Good luck, Shishido-san," Choutarou whispered, smiling. Shishido melted at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'let's both try hard and do our best' smile. Shishido loved that smile. Actually, Shishido loved all of Choutarou's smiles. But especially that one.
"Ew, gross, stop looking at each other like that," Gakuto said, throwing a crumpled ball of paper at the two from his position behind them. It hit Choutarou in the head. Shishido glared swiftly at Gakuto.
Oshitari put an arm around his doubles partner, blocking him from Shishido's view. "Now, now, Gakuto. Don't throw things, or you'll be disqualified before the competition even starts."
"You're not going to be sappy with me like those two are to each other, are you, Yuushi?"
"Of course not, Gakuto. How could anyone be sappy with you?" Oshitari asked fondly.
"Exactly," Gakuto said, and poked his head around Oshitari to stick his tongue out at Shishido.
Shishido rolled his eyes and looked back up at Choutarou, putting a hand tentatively to his doubles partner's head where the projectile had hit. "Are you okay? That paper wad Gakuto threw at you didn't have a rock in it, did it?"
"I'm fine, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, pulling Shishido's hand from his head and entwining their fingers, smiling. Shishido smiled goofily back at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'I'm fine because we're together' smile. Shishido loved that smile even more than the other one.
"Yuushi, make them stop," Gakuto whined behind them, but it was distant. Shishido was more focused on gazing into the warm brown eyes looking down at him. A corner of his mind realized that the whole tennis team was probably watching them stare into each other's eyes like lovestruck fools, but that was secondary.
"Start your ovens!" Taki announced into the microphone, holding his hand high in the air as if he was Atobe. Shishido and Ohtori abruptly jumped apart. "The Hyoutei Gakuen First Annual Tennis Club Bake-Off starts... now!"
---
Three and a half hours later, long enough for even the slowest-cooked items to be completed, the entire tennis club had finished distributing their samples and were waiting in front of the judges' panel. Each member had baked one item, and divided it into four equal pieces. Three were for the judges, one each, and the last was for the baker to give away. Shishido was going to give his piece to Choutarou.
"Thanks, Shishido-san," Choutarou said with a big smile, accepting the slice of Shishido's cheese sandwich masterpiece. Shishido got a fuzzy feeling inside at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'I wouldn't be smiling like this if it wasn't for everything you've done for me, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido loved that smile. It was Shishido's favorite Choutarou-smile of all.
"Oh, gross," Gakuto said, tossing one of his cupcakes at the pair. It missed by about three feet. "You two look just like one of Yuushi's dumb movies."
"Gakuto, I'm hurt," Oshitari said in a wounded voice.
"Sorry, Yuushi," Gakuto said, though he didn't sound sorry at all. "Just keep feeding me that cake of yours."
"Of course, Gakuto," Oshitari said, and smoothly lifted his fork to Gakuto's mouth. As Gakuto chewed Oshitari's cake, they shared a pair of smiles that Shishido didn't like at all. Those smiles were lewd and pervy. Neither lewd nor pervy things should happen in front of Choutarou!
Luckily, Choutarou didn't seem to be paying attention to them. "Here, Shishido-san! I baked cookies!" He held two frosted sugar cookies out to Shishido, smiling his 'I made them just for you, Shishido-san' smile. Did Shishido need to say how much he loved that smile?
Shishido accepted the cookies, smiling foolishly at his doubles partner before looking down at them. They were slathered with frosting that Shishido guessed was supposed to be yellow, and decorated with what Shishido guessed was supposed to be a smiley face. They were beautiful.
Shishido took a bite of one, chewed for a few moments, and swallowed. He tried to pretend that the tears streaming from his eyes after eating the horrendous thing were tears of joy.
"You liked it?" Choutarou asked hopefully.
"Of course!" Shishido coughed cheerfully. His throat was burning.
"You can eat the rest while we watch the judging," Choutarou said, smiling at Shishido. Shishido abruptly minded the terrible aftertaste a little less, because that was Choutarou's 'you've made me so happy, Shishido-san!' smile.
The three judges were Jirou, Marui Bunta from Rikkaidai, and Kabaji. Jirou was a judge because no one thought he should be allowed to use an oven. Marui Bunta was a judge because he could keep Jirou awake with his mere presence--plus, he was a food expert. Kabaji was less of a judge as he was poison control, testing all the entries to make sure they were fit for human consumption. Plus, no one wanted to let him cook anything on the off chance that he could copy a famous chef making some marvelous recipe, if he had ever seen such a thing on television.
"I can't believe this!" Jirou exclaimed, nearly hyperventilating in his excitement. "I'm sitting next to Marui-kun! He's only just the coolest tennis tensai in the whole world!"
Marui sat next to him, basking in the praise. He blew a bubble bigger than his head, and expertly popped it without getting it in his hair or over his face. Jirou nearly keeled over with awe.
"Ahem," Atobe said. Shishido snickered; he could nearly feel the jealousy radiating off his captain.
"Let the judging commence," Taki said absently into the microphone. He had been using the competition time to give himself a manicure.
---
200 baked goods later, and Shishido guessed that Atobe was starting to regret insisting that the regulars be judged last. Fifteen people's entries had been rejected by Kabaji so far--Atobe had promptly kicked them off the tennis team, stating that he had no need for bad-to-mediocre players with bad-to-mediocre cooking skills. Only six people had received praise from Marui, and thus only those six had received praise from Jirou (though he'd looked mildly excited over a few others).
Shishido was starting to get nervous. Choutarou was bound to notice soon that he hadn't eaten any more of the cookies he'd been given, and then he would frown at Shishido. Shishido couldn't stand Ohtori frowning at him.
"Shishido-san, you haven't eaten the rest of my cookies," Choutarou pointed out, looking as if he was on the verge of being upset.
"Uh," Shishido said, hunting for an excuse. "I was just... so fascinated by the judging, I guess I forgot. Sorry."
"Oh," Choutarou said, smiling. It was his 'I completely, totally, and utterly believe you, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido tried not to feel horribly guilty, but failed and was forced to take another bite of the flavor monstrosity that Choutarou had created.
Choutarou beamed.
Gakuto sniggered.
When Choutarou turned to look back at the judging, Shishido spit the half-chewed cookie mush at Gakuto. He hoped it landed in his eye.
"Next, Hiyoshi Wakashi," Taki said into the microphone.
Hiyoshi presented his apple pie to the judges. Shishido could nearly see the intense, fiery aura around him as Kabaji deemed his pie acceptable to be eaten.
"It's gekokujou," Hiyoshi muttered, staring intently as Jirou took a bite of his lovingly baked pie. "If I win, it will be gekokujou!"
"Wow!" Jirou said, unable to contain his reaction long enough to get approval from Marui. "This pie is great, Hiyoshi! I thought you were only good at judo!"
"It's enbu," Hiyoshi muttered, his eyebrow ticking with annoyance.
"Very nice," Marui nodded, shoveling another spoonful into his mouth. "A little too tart, but good."
"You hear that, Hiyoshi?!" Jirou said, leaning over the table. "Marui-kun says that you're not quite perfect! Isn't that awesome?!"
From the way he wilted at that statement, Shishido almost felt bad for Hiyoshi. Then he remembered how annoying he was, and felt a little less sympathetic.
The judging continued.
Oshitari had made a cake with the words "I love you Gakuto" written on it in frosting the same color as Gakuto's hair, with strawberries cut and placed in the shape of hearts. Shishido scoffed. Gakuto scoffed too, but he was blushing too and looked rather pleased. Choutarou was smiling his 'I think that's so romantic' smile, and the sight of it made Shishido abruptly stop scoffing.
Gakuto's cupcakes "weren't anything special" according to Marui. Jirou looked a bit sad for Gakuto's sake. Gakuto didn't seem to mind. He was busy making out with Oshitari.
"Is this a cheese sandwich?" Marui asked, poking Shishido's entry with a revolted fascination. "Don't people usually grill their cheese sandwiches?"
"I baked that," Shishido yelled. "In the oven!"
"I'm not eating it," Marui said, shoving the plate away from himself. Jirou did the same, looking a bit regretful. Shishido knew that Jirou liked his cheese sandwiches.
"Shishido is disqualified," Taki announced into the microphone. Then he turned to look over at Shishido, and stuck his tongue out. Shishido almost stood up to go over and punch him, but Choutarou put a warm hand on his arm.
"It's okay, Shishido-san," Choutarou said comfortingly. He smiled his 'it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you're Shishido-san' smile that always made Shishido so happy that he couldn't feel his toes. And thus, couldn't walk.
"Next is Ohtori Choutarou!" Taki said, and smiled sweetly over at Choutarou. Choutarou smiled politely back at Taki. Shishido felt faintly jealous, but knew deep in his heart that Choutarou would never leave him for that stupid idiot Taki. Right? Right.
Kabaji took a bite of Choutarou's cookie. Then, to the utter shock of everyone watching, he turned green and dumped the rest into a nearby garbage can.
The spectators were speechless.
"...Ohtori's cookies are apparently... unfit for human consumption," Taki said, looking shocked. "Kabaji has rejected them."
Choutarou looked shocked, and then heartbroken.
"It's okay, Choutarou," Shishido said, and took a huge bite of the cookie Choutarou had given him, trying to ignore the disgusting flavor. "I still like them!"
"Oh... thank you, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, and looked over and smiled his sad not-really-a-smile that meant 'I know you're lying to me, Shishido-san'.
Shishido nearly burst into tears at the sight of that smile.
"I can't believe you were eating those things, Shishido," Atobe said over his shoulder, smirking in a way that made Shishido want to punch him in the face.
"They were made with love!" Shishido said, trying not to think of how utterly lame he sounded. "No matter what they taste like, I'll eat them! There is no ingredient more yummy than love!"
"Shishido-san," Choutarou said, shocked. Slowly, he smiled. Brightly, like the sun. Shishido's Sun of Love. And best yet, it was Choutarou's 'I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of forever with you, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido had never been happier. Like, ever.
"What is this?!" Marui asked incredulously as he poked at Atobe's entry, up on the judging podium.
"It's so good, Atobe!" Jirou burst, looking like he was so excited he was about to explode.
"It's roast beef," Atobe said.
"It's roast beef," Marui said, poking at the hunk of meat.
"It's roast beef baked by ore-sama," Atobe said, as if that redeemed it completely.
"This was a baked goods contest, not a roasted goods contest," Marui said. "I only eat pastries." And then he shoved the plate of roast beef off the table.
Jirou looked sad, and stared at his own plate of delicious, steaming roast beef. Then, looking as if he was about to cry, he inched the plate away from himself.
---
"Congratulations, Hiyoshi!" Jirou exclaimed, bouncing next to the second year. "I think you really deserve it! I loved your pie, even though Marui-kun said it was too tart!"
Hiyoshi wasn't smiling, but the aura of victory surrounded him like a cloud. He kept tightening his fingers around the first place trophy and glancing smugly over at Atobe, who was pretending not to be sulking over in the corner. Shishido rolled his eyes. They were both so lame.
"Well, at least we tried our best, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, smiling his 'something's bothering me but I don't want to worry you, Shishido-san' smile.
"Choutarou? What's wrong?" Shishido asked, instantly worrying.
"Oh, nothing really," Choutarou said, drooping. "I'm just sad that the judges disqualified you. Your cheese sandwich was really good."
"I don't mind, Choutarou," Shishido said.
When Choutarou looked at him with the most adorable expression of innocent confusion, Shishido's heart melted a little bit more and he clarified, smiling a bit foolishly. "You liked them, and that's all that matters, right?"
"Oh, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, pinking adorably.
"Choutarou," Shishido sighed happily. They were holding hands and twinkling at each other by this point, in public, but he was so happy that he didn't really mind.
"Ew, you're giving me a toothache," Gakuto complained, throwing a cupcake wrapper at the pair. (Being made of extremely thin paper, the wrapper made it about six inches in the correct direction before catching a slight breeze and floating off to the side.) "Go get a room."
"Now, now, Gakuto, don't you think that's a bit hypocritical?" Oshitari asked, chuckling and flashing another one of his dodgy smiles. Gakuto snickered, and they shared a set of identical pervy leers before jaunting off toward the school building, inferably to engage in a few illicit activities.
"What were they talking about, Shishido-san?" Choutarou asked, nearly glowing with innocence and naivety and trust and all those other things that Shishido wanted to protect from the evil ways of those two perverts.
"Nothing, Choutarou, it was nothing," Shishido said. He felt a bit guilty for lying to that open, happily trusting face, but he reminded himself that it was for Choutarou's own good, or else Oshitari and Mukahi might corrupt him to their perverted ways, and that wouldn't be good at all.
They smiled at each other goofily for another while.
"Shishido-san, did you mean what you said back there?" Choutarou asked finally.
"Mean what?" Shishido asked. He wondered nervously if he'd said 'I love you'.
"That, um..." Choutarou began, blushing. "That the yummiest ingredient is love?"
Shishido got that fuzzy happy feeling in his chest again. "That's the yummiest ingredient there is, Choutarou. If it's made with love, it's got to taste good."
"Right... so... I was wondering if you..." Choutarou began, but trailed off apprehensively.
"If I what, Choutarou?" Shishido asked, smiling reassuringly at his partner and lacing their fingers together.
Choutarou looked at their hands, then to Shishido's face hopefully. "I'm going to take a baking class. You'll taste-test everything and tell me when it's good enough, right?"
Shishido froze in the middle of his reassuring smile. Had Choutarou said taste-test? No way in hell! He was never eating another one of those rock-cookies again. Ever. No way. Even if it was Choutarou.
A Choutarou who was looking at him with increasingly pleading eyes.
"Okay," Shishido heard himself say.
...What?! No! No way! He wasn't going to. He would take it back right now. No matter how happy Choutarou might be--
"Thank you so much, Shishido-san!" Choutarou said, beaming. He was smiling with his 'what would I ever do without you, Shishido-san?' smile.
Shishido smiled weakly back, resigning himself to certain death.
Hyoutei: Competitive to the Point of Utter Lameness
ShishiTori; side OshiGaku
Warning: From Shishido's point of view. Beware the Utter Corniness of his Massive Love.
A/N: Originally, this was supposed to be a quick oneshot about Shishido saying something lame. It evolved into... well, you'll see. o__o
"Ore-sama is going to win," Atobe told Shishido, smirking.
"Shut up," Shishido said, annoyed at himself for taking the spot next to Atobe. He had Choutarou on his other side, however, so hopefully it would be worth it.
"Good luck, Shishido-san," Choutarou whispered, smiling. Shishido melted at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'let's both try hard and do our best' smile. Shishido loved that smile. Actually, Shishido loved all of Choutarou's smiles. But especially that one.
"Ew, gross, stop looking at each other like that," Gakuto said, throwing a crumpled ball of paper at the two from his position behind them. It hit Choutarou in the head. Shishido glared swiftly at Gakuto.
Oshitari put an arm around his doubles partner, blocking him from Shishido's view. "Now, now, Gakuto. Don't throw things, or you'll be disqualified before the competition even starts."
"You're not going to be sappy with me like those two are to each other, are you, Yuushi?"
"Of course not, Gakuto. How could anyone be sappy with you?" Oshitari asked fondly.
"Exactly," Gakuto said, and poked his head around Oshitari to stick his tongue out at Shishido.
Shishido rolled his eyes and looked back up at Choutarou, putting a hand tentatively to his doubles partner's head where the projectile had hit. "Are you okay? That paper wad Gakuto threw at you didn't have a rock in it, did it?"
"I'm fine, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, pulling Shishido's hand from his head and entwining their fingers, smiling. Shishido smiled goofily back at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'I'm fine because we're together' smile. Shishido loved that smile even more than the other one.
"Yuushi, make them stop," Gakuto whined behind them, but it was distant. Shishido was more focused on gazing into the warm brown eyes looking down at him. A corner of his mind realized that the whole tennis team was probably watching them stare into each other's eyes like lovestruck fools, but that was secondary.
"Start your ovens!" Taki announced into the microphone, holding his hand high in the air as if he was Atobe. Shishido and Ohtori abruptly jumped apart. "The Hyoutei Gakuen First Annual Tennis Club Bake-Off starts... now!"
---
Three and a half hours later, long enough for even the slowest-cooked items to be completed, the entire tennis club had finished distributing their samples and were waiting in front of the judges' panel. Each member had baked one item, and divided it into four equal pieces. Three were for the judges, one each, and the last was for the baker to give away. Shishido was going to give his piece to Choutarou.
"Thanks, Shishido-san," Choutarou said with a big smile, accepting the slice of Shishido's cheese sandwich masterpiece. Shishido got a fuzzy feeling inside at that smile--it was Choutarou's 'I wouldn't be smiling like this if it wasn't for everything you've done for me, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido loved that smile. It was Shishido's favorite Choutarou-smile of all.
"Oh, gross," Gakuto said, tossing one of his cupcakes at the pair. It missed by about three feet. "You two look just like one of Yuushi's dumb movies."
"Gakuto, I'm hurt," Oshitari said in a wounded voice.
"Sorry, Yuushi," Gakuto said, though he didn't sound sorry at all. "Just keep feeding me that cake of yours."
"Of course, Gakuto," Oshitari said, and smoothly lifted his fork to Gakuto's mouth. As Gakuto chewed Oshitari's cake, they shared a pair of smiles that Shishido didn't like at all. Those smiles were lewd and pervy. Neither lewd nor pervy things should happen in front of Choutarou!
Luckily, Choutarou didn't seem to be paying attention to them. "Here, Shishido-san! I baked cookies!" He held two frosted sugar cookies out to Shishido, smiling his 'I made them just for you, Shishido-san' smile. Did Shishido need to say how much he loved that smile?
Shishido accepted the cookies, smiling foolishly at his doubles partner before looking down at them. They were slathered with frosting that Shishido guessed was supposed to be yellow, and decorated with what Shishido guessed was supposed to be a smiley face. They were beautiful.
Shishido took a bite of one, chewed for a few moments, and swallowed. He tried to pretend that the tears streaming from his eyes after eating the horrendous thing were tears of joy.
"You liked it?" Choutarou asked hopefully.
"Of course!" Shishido coughed cheerfully. His throat was burning.
"You can eat the rest while we watch the judging," Choutarou said, smiling at Shishido. Shishido abruptly minded the terrible aftertaste a little less, because that was Choutarou's 'you've made me so happy, Shishido-san!' smile.
The three judges were Jirou, Marui Bunta from Rikkaidai, and Kabaji. Jirou was a judge because no one thought he should be allowed to use an oven. Marui Bunta was a judge because he could keep Jirou awake with his mere presence--plus, he was a food expert. Kabaji was less of a judge as he was poison control, testing all the entries to make sure they were fit for human consumption. Plus, no one wanted to let him cook anything on the off chance that he could copy a famous chef making some marvelous recipe, if he had ever seen such a thing on television.
"I can't believe this!" Jirou exclaimed, nearly hyperventilating in his excitement. "I'm sitting next to Marui-kun! He's only just the coolest tennis tensai in the whole world!"
Marui sat next to him, basking in the praise. He blew a bubble bigger than his head, and expertly popped it without getting it in his hair or over his face. Jirou nearly keeled over with awe.
"Ahem," Atobe said. Shishido snickered; he could nearly feel the jealousy radiating off his captain.
"Let the judging commence," Taki said absently into the microphone. He had been using the competition time to give himself a manicure.
---
200 baked goods later, and Shishido guessed that Atobe was starting to regret insisting that the regulars be judged last. Fifteen people's entries had been rejected by Kabaji so far--Atobe had promptly kicked them off the tennis team, stating that he had no need for bad-to-mediocre players with bad-to-mediocre cooking skills. Only six people had received praise from Marui, and thus only those six had received praise from Jirou (though he'd looked mildly excited over a few others).
Shishido was starting to get nervous. Choutarou was bound to notice soon that he hadn't eaten any more of the cookies he'd been given, and then he would frown at Shishido. Shishido couldn't stand Ohtori frowning at him.
"Shishido-san, you haven't eaten the rest of my cookies," Choutarou pointed out, looking as if he was on the verge of being upset.
"Uh," Shishido said, hunting for an excuse. "I was just... so fascinated by the judging, I guess I forgot. Sorry."
"Oh," Choutarou said, smiling. It was his 'I completely, totally, and utterly believe you, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido tried not to feel horribly guilty, but failed and was forced to take another bite of the flavor monstrosity that Choutarou had created.
Choutarou beamed.
Gakuto sniggered.
When Choutarou turned to look back at the judging, Shishido spit the half-chewed cookie mush at Gakuto. He hoped it landed in his eye.
"Next, Hiyoshi Wakashi," Taki said into the microphone.
Hiyoshi presented his apple pie to the judges. Shishido could nearly see the intense, fiery aura around him as Kabaji deemed his pie acceptable to be eaten.
"It's gekokujou," Hiyoshi muttered, staring intently as Jirou took a bite of his lovingly baked pie. "If I win, it will be gekokujou!"
"Wow!" Jirou said, unable to contain his reaction long enough to get approval from Marui. "This pie is great, Hiyoshi! I thought you were only good at judo!"
"It's enbu," Hiyoshi muttered, his eyebrow ticking with annoyance.
"Very nice," Marui nodded, shoveling another spoonful into his mouth. "A little too tart, but good."
"You hear that, Hiyoshi?!" Jirou said, leaning over the table. "Marui-kun says that you're not quite perfect! Isn't that awesome?!"
From the way he wilted at that statement, Shishido almost felt bad for Hiyoshi. Then he remembered how annoying he was, and felt a little less sympathetic.
The judging continued.
Oshitari had made a cake with the words "I love you Gakuto" written on it in frosting the same color as Gakuto's hair, with strawberries cut and placed in the shape of hearts. Shishido scoffed. Gakuto scoffed too, but he was blushing too and looked rather pleased. Choutarou was smiling his 'I think that's so romantic' smile, and the sight of it made Shishido abruptly stop scoffing.
Gakuto's cupcakes "weren't anything special" according to Marui. Jirou looked a bit sad for Gakuto's sake. Gakuto didn't seem to mind. He was busy making out with Oshitari.
"Is this a cheese sandwich?" Marui asked, poking Shishido's entry with a revolted fascination. "Don't people usually grill their cheese sandwiches?"
"I baked that," Shishido yelled. "In the oven!"
"I'm not eating it," Marui said, shoving the plate away from himself. Jirou did the same, looking a bit regretful. Shishido knew that Jirou liked his cheese sandwiches.
"Shishido is disqualified," Taki announced into the microphone. Then he turned to look over at Shishido, and stuck his tongue out. Shishido almost stood up to go over and punch him, but Choutarou put a warm hand on his arm.
"It's okay, Shishido-san," Choutarou said comfortingly. He smiled his 'it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you're Shishido-san' smile that always made Shishido so happy that he couldn't feel his toes. And thus, couldn't walk.
"Next is Ohtori Choutarou!" Taki said, and smiled sweetly over at Choutarou. Choutarou smiled politely back at Taki. Shishido felt faintly jealous, but knew deep in his heart that Choutarou would never leave him for that stupid idiot Taki. Right? Right.
Kabaji took a bite of Choutarou's cookie. Then, to the utter shock of everyone watching, he turned green and dumped the rest into a nearby garbage can.
The spectators were speechless.
"...Ohtori's cookies are apparently... unfit for human consumption," Taki said, looking shocked. "Kabaji has rejected them."
Choutarou looked shocked, and then heartbroken.
"It's okay, Choutarou," Shishido said, and took a huge bite of the cookie Choutarou had given him, trying to ignore the disgusting flavor. "I still like them!"
"Oh... thank you, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, and looked over and smiled his sad not-really-a-smile that meant 'I know you're lying to me, Shishido-san'.
Shishido nearly burst into tears at the sight of that smile.
"I can't believe you were eating those things, Shishido," Atobe said over his shoulder, smirking in a way that made Shishido want to punch him in the face.
"They were made with love!" Shishido said, trying not to think of how utterly lame he sounded. "No matter what they taste like, I'll eat them! There is no ingredient more yummy than love!"
"Shishido-san," Choutarou said, shocked. Slowly, he smiled. Brightly, like the sun. Shishido's Sun of Love. And best yet, it was Choutarou's 'I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of forever with you, Shishido-san' smile. Shishido had never been happier. Like, ever.
"What is this?!" Marui asked incredulously as he poked at Atobe's entry, up on the judging podium.
"It's so good, Atobe!" Jirou burst, looking like he was so excited he was about to explode.
"It's roast beef," Atobe said.
"It's roast beef," Marui said, poking at the hunk of meat.
"It's roast beef baked by ore-sama," Atobe said, as if that redeemed it completely.
"This was a baked goods contest, not a roasted goods contest," Marui said. "I only eat pastries." And then he shoved the plate of roast beef off the table.
Jirou looked sad, and stared at his own plate of delicious, steaming roast beef. Then, looking as if he was about to cry, he inched the plate away from himself.
---
"Congratulations, Hiyoshi!" Jirou exclaimed, bouncing next to the second year. "I think you really deserve it! I loved your pie, even though Marui-kun said it was too tart!"
Hiyoshi wasn't smiling, but the aura of victory surrounded him like a cloud. He kept tightening his fingers around the first place trophy and glancing smugly over at Atobe, who was pretending not to be sulking over in the corner. Shishido rolled his eyes. They were both so lame.
"Well, at least we tried our best, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, smiling his 'something's bothering me but I don't want to worry you, Shishido-san' smile.
"Choutarou? What's wrong?" Shishido asked, instantly worrying.
"Oh, nothing really," Choutarou said, drooping. "I'm just sad that the judges disqualified you. Your cheese sandwich was really good."
"I don't mind, Choutarou," Shishido said.
When Choutarou looked at him with the most adorable expression of innocent confusion, Shishido's heart melted a little bit more and he clarified, smiling a bit foolishly. "You liked them, and that's all that matters, right?"
"Oh, Shishido-san," Choutarou said, pinking adorably.
"Choutarou," Shishido sighed happily. They were holding hands and twinkling at each other by this point, in public, but he was so happy that he didn't really mind.
"Ew, you're giving me a toothache," Gakuto complained, throwing a cupcake wrapper at the pair. (Being made of extremely thin paper, the wrapper made it about six inches in the correct direction before catching a slight breeze and floating off to the side.) "Go get a room."
"Now, now, Gakuto, don't you think that's a bit hypocritical?" Oshitari asked, chuckling and flashing another one of his dodgy smiles. Gakuto snickered, and they shared a set of identical pervy leers before jaunting off toward the school building, inferably to engage in a few illicit activities.
"What were they talking about, Shishido-san?" Choutarou asked, nearly glowing with innocence and naivety and trust and all those other things that Shishido wanted to protect from the evil ways of those two perverts.
"Nothing, Choutarou, it was nothing," Shishido said. He felt a bit guilty for lying to that open, happily trusting face, but he reminded himself that it was for Choutarou's own good, or else Oshitari and Mukahi might corrupt him to their perverted ways, and that wouldn't be good at all.
They smiled at each other goofily for another while.
"Shishido-san, did you mean what you said back there?" Choutarou asked finally.
"Mean what?" Shishido asked. He wondered nervously if he'd said 'I love you'.
"That, um..." Choutarou began, blushing. "That the yummiest ingredient is love?"
Shishido got that fuzzy happy feeling in his chest again. "That's the yummiest ingredient there is, Choutarou. If it's made with love, it's got to taste good."
"Right... so... I was wondering if you..." Choutarou began, but trailed off apprehensively.
"If I what, Choutarou?" Shishido asked, smiling reassuringly at his partner and lacing their fingers together.
Choutarou looked at their hands, then to Shishido's face hopefully. "I'm going to take a baking class. You'll taste-test everything and tell me when it's good enough, right?"
Shishido froze in the middle of his reassuring smile. Had Choutarou said taste-test? No way in hell! He was never eating another one of those rock-cookies again. Ever. No way. Even if it was Choutarou.
A Choutarou who was looking at him with increasingly pleading eyes.
"Okay," Shishido heard himself say.
...What?! No! No way! He wasn't going to. He would take it back right now. No matter how happy Choutarou might be--
"Thank you so much, Shishido-san!" Choutarou said, beaming. He was smiling with his 'what would I ever do without you, Shishido-san?' smile.
Shishido smiled weakly back, resigning himself to certain death.