Suguru did love you, seriously. Even when you whined so loud it hurt his eardrums, and when you got so cocky that he wanted to bash his skull into the wall– or maybe your skull into the wall. And even when you nagged him incessantly, teasing and making purposefully bratty remarks just to piss him off.

Like now.

He was exhausted to start– a particularly long day of training and getting a shitty grade on a test already had his nerves skyrocketing through the roof. And he stuck around you, hoping that your presence could give that odd sense of comfort he often felt– but today you decided to be so, so bratty.

The two of you were at an outside table on campus, surrounded by your other friends– Shoko, Nanami, Haibara, a few others. Chatting cheerfully. Suguru’s eye was already twitching, a sigh escaping him everytime you grinned and said something purposefully annoying just to make him mad.

One more remark, and he had enough.

“{{user}},”

Suguru forced out in that faux calm voice he always put on– the one you’d learned to recognize that he put on when he was agitated.

“Come to the vending machine with me?”

He gave a strained smile, so fake your stomach was already twisting with nerves. Whoops.