Friends With Benefits | Chishiya x Reader

Chapter Twelve

☆ In which you find that some sweet things still remain even in a world meant to break you down. ☆

You feel like you're back in high school when Kuina drags Chishiya into your hotel room, demanding to 'hang out' because that's what friends do. It's a lazy afternoon and rain is pouring down outside, thrumming a gentle melody on your windows. The sky is still fairly blue, but you can already see the glowing outline of the moon. The pink post-it flutters on your mirror.

"I only have one chair," you say, "but make yourselves at home."

The three of you end up sitting on cushions on the floor in a cosy circle, drinking mugs of steaming hot chocolate that Kuina has brought. Chishiya, who looks like he wants nothing more than to escape through the window, reluctantly opens one of the terrible romance novels you have stacked on your shelves. 

"It boggles the mind," he comments, "that you have a stack of books but not one piece of good literature hides among it."

You ignore this and shove another of your novels into his lap. "This one is my favourite," you tell him, and he opens it up with a resigned sigh. 

Kuina, as always, is full of never-ending chatter. It reminds you of the sleepovers you used to have when you were younger, a bunch of your childhood friends gathered in a circle in the middle of the night while you giggled and talked about the future. The thought makes you smile - this situation could not be less alike, but it warms your heart nonetheless. Chishiya does not participate in your and Kuina's conversation much, even when she recounts the time she keyed a teacher's car, or the particularly messy breakup one of her friends went through.

"The bastard broke up with her on Valentine's day," Kuina says dramatically, "over the most luscious cake I'd ever seen in my life. Mariko showed me a picture of it. It was this massive cream cake, with strawberries everywhere. It had five layers! The sheer gall of it! I would've thrown it in his face!" she declares, with an arm movement that very nearly upends her hot chocolate over your floor.  

"Then you would've lost both the boyfriend and a perfectly good cake," Chishiya says dryly, and flips the page of the novel he is scornfully engrossed in. 

Chishiya does, however, come cynically to life when you ask him how the novel is. 

The novel you'd given him was a trashy romance filled with desserts and scandal, centered around a woman of royalty who's butler is an attractive assassin in disguise. The woman is knowledgeable to all of the butler's attempts to kill her, and they end up falling into a whirlwind romance that actually turns out to be staged on the butler's part. The noble lady ends up dying at the hands of said butler after a tea party, where he realises his love for her was not fake and very real indeed, but it's too late.

"If she had just opened her eyes a little more, she would've seen the butler poisoning her tea coming long ago," he remarks. "The main character is also terribly written and full of clichés. The gaps between the characters' social class is far too large - there should've been more objections to their partnership before she died. I can't even understand why the woman would fall in love with the butler in the first place.

"Also, half of the book is just descriptions of tea parties," Chishiya finishes disdainfully. "This book is a waste of time and brain cells." 

"I thought it was pretty good," you say, put out. "I liked the tea party descriptions...didn't the macarons sound nice? And you can't choose who you fall in love with, anyway!" 

Chishiya scoffs, and you lean over his shoulder to point to a sentence that you'd liked. "This line here, where the butler calls her 'honey', is pretty dreamy, no?" you add as an afterthought with a laugh. "I don't blame her, I'd fall for him too."  

"Kuina calls you 'honey' too," Chishiya points out, and it's Kuina's turn to scoff. 

The night ends with Kuina snoring lightly, spread across the cushions you'd laid on your floor for her to sleep on. The moon is now fully shining, staring through your windows in the black of night. Three empty hot chocolate mugs are placed in the middle of your small circle like a summoning ritual. The rain is still tip-toeing down your windows, and so going up to the roof tonight isn't an option.

To your surprise, Chishiya hasn't left yet.

The blonde man sits next to you, reading the sequel to 'Sweet Tears of Royalty,' the novel you'd given him earlier. The dim glow of the lamp you'd turned on and the trickle of moonlight illuminates the book in his hands.

"For someone who hated the first book so much, you sure seem interested in the second one," you note. You are curled up next to Chishiya, your head resting on his shoulder as he flicks through the book. When he'd given you a questioning look accompanied with his signature smirk, you'd simply shrugged and mouthed something along the lines of 'friends do this all the time.' 

"I'm not interested in it, per se," he says as his eyes travel down the page. "I'm simply reading to see how bad it can get. I've never read anything with a worse plotline."

"Don't you like how simple it is? I must admit, the plot is terrible, but there are some bits that are worth the read," you argue in a low voice, trying not to wake Kuina. You lift your left arm gently to point to a section of the page like earlier. "Look, you can see the subtleties that he's really not over the duchess, even though he killed her and is now courting her sister."

Chishiya's eyes flick to the paragraph you're indicating. "He's preparing pancakes," he states flatly. "It's his job."

"That was the duchess' favourite food! Here, read this - 'his hands felt heavy by the time he placed the final strawberry on the stack of golden pancakes.' It's subtext, Chishiya."

"Mm."

You shift slightly in your position nestled up to Chishiya so you can see the book properly. 

"Isn't it sweet how he remembers everything the duchess liked?" You peer over his shoulder. "Oh, look, he's preparing matcha tea, your favourite." 

Chishiya hums and continues to read. "Oh look," he says, "the teacup is blue. Your favourite."

You snort a laugh, and then quickly press a hand to your mouth when you remember you're meant to be quiet. "This is my favourite chapter," you whisper as Chishiya turns the page. The chapter is a sweet one, a new insight to the butler's point of view in the first book. "It's so cute! Read how he kisses her cheek, it's adorable." 

"What, like this?" 

Chishiya only needs to turn his head slightly to press a kiss to your cheek.

You stare at him with wide eyes, and he meets your stunned gaze with a teasing smirk. Your heart jumps up to your throat. Stars burst where his lips touched, and you can feel your cheeks heat up. His eyes are glittering in a way you've never seen before.

"Wh-" your head is swimming. "That's not fair!"

"How so?" He's grinning at you, and you lean forwards to place a kiss right on his beauty mark.

"There we go," you grin back at him, cheeks flushed pink. You almost can't bring yourself to look at him - but when your eyes flick to his face Chishiya is looking at you with an expression you can't place, soft eyes and curved lips that are suddenly all you can look at. "Are you smiling, Chishiya?"

"No," he lies. Placed at the base of your neck his hand guides your head back to him, and he gives you a final kiss on the forehead. "How was that, honey?"

"Oh my god, Chishiya."