#bromatical-murder

The early morning sun shone through the window into the kitchen where Clear stood preparing Mink’s lunch. Mink was a bit scatterbrained in the mornings and often forgot to take a lunch to work. On the days he went without lunch, he came home slightly grouchier in the evenings. Lately, Clear had taken it upon himself to make sure Mink was properly nourished. Ever since then, he had seemed to be gaining weight. It was a good sign. It meant that Mink was letting himself relax.

Clear hummed cheerily to himself as he drew a face on the top bread slice with the mustard and slapped it onto the sandwich. It was perfect. He slid it into the sandwich baggie and grabbed a bottle of juice and some goldfish crackers. On the brown paper sack, he doodled Mink’s name in pretty letters with a little drawing of Lulakan. It was perfect, a lunch bag worthy of being given to Mink.

The walk into town wasn’t too long, but it certainly wasn’t exactly close. He would often make up songs as he went on his merry way, play games by himself, count the number of robins and squirrels he could find on the way and whatnot. He always passed interesting shops and restaurants on his way to where Mink spent his lunch hour. There was a particular bench just outside where Mink worked that he liked to sit on and smoke his pipe. He always wore such a serene expression. It pleased Clear to see him so at peace.

The town looked different today. There were hearts and teddy bears and candies everywhere. Shades of pink and red bathed every building. Clear thought it looked lovely, but was curious what all the hullabaloo was about. He saw many couples walking about, holding hands and smiling. There was something about seeing so many people in love that made his heart just flutter. Amidst the sea of young lovers, he spotted Mink and ran to him.

“MIIIIINK-SAAAAAAAAAN,” he hollered as he sprinted full throttle toward his boyfriend, throwing himself into Mink’s lap.

Mink grunted, but embraced Clear nonetheless.

“You forgot your lunch again, so I made one special for you,” Clear said as he presented Mink with the beautifully decorated paper bag.

Mink took a peek inside and smiled.

“Thank you. It looks delicious,” he said before raising a hand to ruffle Clear’s soft white locks.

Clear wanted to ask about the decorations everywhere. He was curious why it looked like a pink tornado had made its way up and down every street, but was scared that he would appear silly for asking. He couldn’t make a fool of himself in front of Mink! He would figure it out somehow. It must be some sort of holiday… But what could it be?

Mink could tell from Clear’s expression that he was thinking very hard about something. His nose and eyebrows would scrunch up a bit, and he would almost pout. Mink found it quite charming. Clear’s face only squished up more and more the harder he thought.

“Hey,” Mink interrupted Clear’s thinking. He poked his nose and his face relaxed. “If you keep making that expression, your face will get stuck like that.”

Clear now looked worried, and Mink chuckled, softly fluffing his hair once again. He assured Clear that there was no scientific evidence of facial expressions staying in place if they were held for too long. He forgot that Clear took things in a much more literal sense than the average person. He made a mental note to be more careful with his phraseology.

They spent a good amount of Mink’s lunch break sitting and enjoying each other’s company. Mink would munch on the sandwich and crackers, making sure to make some auditory indication that he found Clear’s creation quite delicious. Clear always loved the affirmation. He wanted nothing more than to give Mink the best of the best.

But when Mink had to return to work, they said their goodbyes. Mink assured Clear he would be home by 5:30 this evening, and not to stress about making dinner. When Clear inquired, Mink simply said it was a surprise.

Clear decided to investigate this holiday event. He walked up and down the streets until he came to the grocery store. He walked through the automatic doors that he enjoyed so much and was greeted with a gust of cool air. He saw more of the decorations everywhere. Roses, chocolates, balloons of every shape and size. “Valentine’s Day”, they all read. What exactly was Valentine’s Day?

Clear pulled up his coil and searched everything he could. It seemed to be the love holiday. A day to show someone you cared about them with lots of gifts and sweet treats. He began to worry, because he hadn’t gotten anything for Mink. What if he thought that he didn’t love him if there was no gift or surprise when he came home? Clear frantically grabbed a shopping basket, filling it with cupcake and chocolate mixes and flowers and a few teddy bears for good measure. He couldn’t choose just one card, so he grabbed five. He made his purchases and rushed back home. it was 2:30.

As soon as he got in the front door, Lulakan greeted him and commented on the multiple bags from the grocery store.

“Of course! I have to prepare for Valentine’s Day!” Clear said, filled with determination. He started with the bears, placing them on the sofa. They looked so cute sitting there, awaiting Mink’s arrival. Now that they were out of the kitchen, Clear could focus on preparing the sweets.

He spread out all the mixes and ingredients, pouring all the cupcake mix and eggs and water into the bowl. He stirred and stirred with all his might. The mix was still a little clumpy, but it was probably alright to go into the oven, right? He found the tray that looked like it held cupcakes and poured the mix directly into each spot. He was sure an hour was long enough to cook them all the way through, so he set the timer and went to work on the chocolates.

It looked like what he was supposed to do was pour the melted chocolate into these molds. He chose the one with zoo animals. They were cute, and the heart shaped one said “I love you bear-y much!”, which he thought would go nicely with the teddy bears. Mink would be so pleased.

The chocolate melted fairly easily, but it rehardened very quickly, and pouring it into such small shapes was much more difficult than it looked. It was getting everywhere. Mink would be home soon, and Clear decided he should probably change. Wasn’t it every man’s dream to come home to their lover in nothing but an apron? He went and stripped, returning to the kitchen in time to smell the cupcakes. They didn’t quite smell as sweet as they were supposed to, and they were awfully hard. There was no way he could give these to Mink.

5:00 now.

No matter, he could still finish the chocolates in time for Mink to get home. He tried to remelt the hardened chocolate mix and pour it into the remaining mold. It was just as messy, if not more than before. Chocolate stained his apron and was splattered all over the counter. The chocolates that had actually made it into the mold weren’t as pretty as he had hoped either. Tired and exasperated, Clear collapsed to his knees on the floor and began blubbering. Everything was going wrong. Mink was going to think he didn’t care about him at all.

Just then, Clear heard the door unlock. Mink’s boots clacked against the hard flooring as he walked toward the sound of Clear’s sobbing. Clear hid his face.

Mink looked around the room, eyeballing the chocolate explosion. He sighed. Clear was so precious and he just couldn’t take it sometimes. He had obviously tried to go all out for Valentine’s Day. Mink placed the bag of takeout food on the table beside the roses and walked outside.

Clear, worried that he had disappointed Mink, began sniffling more. What would he do without Mink? Where would he go?

Mink returned shortly, with a handful of wildflowers and a tender smile. He walked to where Clear was sobbing on the floor and crouched in front of him.

“What’s all the fuss about?”

“I…I ruined Valentine’s Day, I’m so sorry Mink-san, please don’t be mad at me! I just wanted to show you how much I love you but it all fell apart,” Clear managed to choke out.

Mink handed the small bouquet of flowers to Clear and brushed the tears away from his eyes.

“The reason I didn’t tell you about this holiday is because I knew you would fret over it too much,” Mink said with a sigh as he sat down beside Clear, pulling his head to his chest.

“Love doesn’t have to be shown through extravagant gifts or treats. You show me love in plenty of other ways. Remember that sandwich you brought me? That was one way. And there are so many more simple things that show your partner that you care. Understand?”

Clear smiled and nodded.

“I do. I just wanted to do something extra special.”

“Well, see that bag? I got us a special dinner. There’s a new restaurant with food just like what we had back in Japan. And I brought a box of those cream puffs you like so much for dessert,” Mink said as he leaned in to kiss the top of Clear’s head.

Clear looked up at Mink before rising to his feet. Mink was surprised to see that Clear had done the the with the apron again, but decided it would be best not to mention it.

“Well,” said Clear, with a faint blush on his cheeks. “Maybe I should tidy up a bit before dinner.”