Title: Needed Sweets
Fandom: Yami no Matsuei
Rating: PG
Length: 1,066
Content notes: AU in which the characters are human (albeit that supernatural things are still a thing), fluffy romance from afar
Author notes: I couldn't think of another pairing that exemplifies "sweet and sour" than Wakaba Kannuki and Hajime Terazuma, and so I thought I'd write
Summary: In a lifetime where Wakaba and Terazuma married and have separated, Terazuma finds he's having a harder time letting go of sweet Wakaba than he expected.


"You gotta work on your people skills: you're better with ghosts than you are with the living," Tsuzuki chided, as they left the sweet shop where Wakaba worked.

"And why's that?" Terazuma said, taking a sip from his cardboard cup of coffee.

"You upset that girl at the counter in the pastry shop."

"Wasn't trying to: she knows me, we've got history," Terazuma said, wishing he could end the conversation quickly, but he knew if he tried that, Tsuzuki would pester him about it later: the guy got more nosy than he should, though that gave his partner a certain advantage nosing out information.

"Know you how? Is she your cousin or something like that?" Tsuzuki asked, curious.

"No," Terazuma said, a bit quickly, cutting to the chase. "She's my wife. Ex-wife, I mean. Technically."

Tsuzuki raised an eyebrow at this. "You married a sweet girl like her? I'm trying to picture a sour guy like you doing that."

"That's why she's my ex-wife, dumbass," Terazuma grumbled, then sighed. He had gone over this ground more times than he cared to, in the weeks and months since the separation. "We're too different. Made it hard for us to live together."

"Well, they do say that opposites attract," Tsuzuki said, optimistically.

"They attract all right, nothing gets said about them sticking together," Terazuma growled, taking another gulp from his coffee cup. Even he had to admit to himself that he could have done better with Wakaba. He hadn't gone hard on her, any more than he treated anyone else, and he hadn't felt tempted to stray from her, though girls often tried to catch his eye. But over the weeks and months since the wedding, the relationship had started to slip, due to all the hours the job asked of him and they had drifted apart.

"I'd say you need to do something about that," Tsuzuki said. "But, if it's like you say, maybe you're better off going your own ways.

"Bless yer little romance novel-reading heart," Terazuma drawled.

"I don't read that many, and it's just to pass the time when we're watching for signs of a haunting," Tsuzuki snapped, his violet eyes pleased.

* * * *

The next day, the phone in the Sakura Sweet Shop rang during Wakaba's lunch break. Mei, Wakaba's assistant, started to run for it, but Wakaba got up a bit quicker. "I'm almost finished with lunch, you go take your break," Wakaba said.

"Gee, thanks, Wakaba-sama," Mei said, grabbing an apple tart for her lunch.

Wakaba picked up the phone. "Sakura Sweet Shop, how can I make your day a little sweeter?"

She heard a rustle on the other end of the line, then a voice spoke. "Yeah, ah, I'd like to order... maybe three dozen cupcakes?"

Wakaba pulled an order pad across the desk toward her and took a pen from the pocket of her apron, feeling her brow furrow and a pink tinge cross her cheeks. She knew this voice, but she did not recognize it immediately. "Sure thing: what flavor would you like?"

Another rustle at the other end of the line and muffled voices conferred, as if the caller had their hand over their receiver. "Ehh, make that two dozen red velvet and one dozen vanilla. Red velvet's like chocolate, ain't it?"

"Oh yes, we've got a really good one: our baker adds extra cocoa to the mix," Wakaba said. "Would you like any special icing or sprinkles?" She started to jot down the order, but her hand started to quiver so much, she had to tear off the sheet she'd started and copy everything onto a clean page.

"Eh, whatever sweet crap -- err, sweet stuff you usually put on them kind of cupcakes. I was never good with that kind of shit -- uh, stuff. Sorry," the voice said.

She couldn't help smiling to herself at that tiny apology. The guy sounded like a tough guy with a kind side. "I've been experimenting with strawberry frosting on the red velvet, though we usually put cream cheese frosting with red velvet crumbles on top. And I like to put cream cheese or chocolate frosting with colored sugar on top. How does that sound?"

"Yeah, whatever you think. You make 'em, that makes you an expert, ne?" the voice said. "The guy I'm ordering this for has a mouthful a' sweet tooths. Ain't picky, neither."

She chuckled, but she still couldn't help the feeling she knew who placed this order. "I'll make sure we pile on the frosting and add plenty of sprinkles."

"Gotcha. I'll need these three days from now at noon: the guy's birthday and he's kinda the chief's pet. Long story," the guy said, continuing with the address.

"I'll have them ready by then, I can guarantee that," Wakaba said, jotting the last few directions.

"Good to hear," the guy said.

The moment she hung up, Wakaba realized, with a blush and a pang of loneliness, her ex-husband had just placed the order.

* * * *

"So how did you break up anyway?" Yuri, Wakaba's boss, asked, as Wakaba hung the order up on the clip holding the orders set for three days from then.

"It's a bit silly," Wakaba admitted. "We broke up over work."

"Why, he got something against cupcakes? You said he could be sour," Yuri said, with a teasing smirk.

"No, not really: he doesn't eat them, and he might get grumpy about people who eat too many sweets, but he getsd grumpy with everyone," Wakaba said. "No, it's just that... Hajime kept getting sidetracked with work. Then he got that job in Special Investigations."

"Special Investigations? What makes them special?"

"They investigate strange things: hauntings, demon infestations, spirits that won't cross over into the light, things going bump in the night," Wakaba explained. "I didn't mind, since he has the guts to do that kind of work. He'd go out all night, and since I worked days, I'd barely get to see him."

Yuri looked at her with compassion. "That would wear you out. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's all right: I'm moving on," Wakaba said. But now that a guy who sounded like her ex-husband had called, and she had seen him in the shop earlier that week, she could not say if she really had. Perhaps fate or the gods had other ideas.