Contrary to what the manga claims, semifreddo don't always have three layers. Also, the cake described in this fanfiction is completely imaginary.

...I don't know how to make desserts, but I literally get paid to "bullshit" things. That's my job. I'm rather good at it. :P

In Italy, there was this saying – amore e gelosia nacquero insieme, "without jealousy, there is no love." It's only a small consolation when jealousy bubbles up from the core of his being like boiling water, and Soma, being the laidback person he is, probably doesn't care much for jealousy.

The way Isami teased him about unlucky at cards being lucky at love last night hadn't helped. Takumi swore that was the last time he was going to tell his twin about anything important. Although, with the way his mouth seemed to move on its won accord sometimes, he already knew that was unlikely–

"Why do you keep talking to those guys?" Takumi asked mid rant. A certain amount of effort was required to not to sound too conceited at times like this, and he was uncertain as to whether or not he was putting in the required amount. "They're all-"

Personalityless.

Suck ups.

People he really hated, because they kept trying to steal Soma's attention away from him and unto themselves.

"-unworthy of calling themselves rivals to anyone at this school, much less you, Soma."

Amore e gelosia nacquero insieme.

"You're being a little harsh, dontcha think?" Soma replied.

Amore–

Even when it was just the two of them walking around campus, it was hard to shake the impression that Soma's thoughts were elsewhere. He was trying to defend his other rivals, but just last week some kid who didn't know how to blanche properly had–

"Well, maybe, b-but I can prove it!"

Soma wasn't wrong. Takumi also knew that, and that was the worst part.

There was still a persistent little voice in the back of his mind though, claiming that anyone who wanted to date the boy who'd impressed even the owner of the famous God Tongue at his entrance exams should at least be able to rival him in cooking first. Of course, the problem with that was, Soma didn't seem to acknowledge him as a rival either.

"Hm..."

And what was with that humming?

"A-and to prove it," Takumi continued after a short pause, prompted by Soma's lack of immediate answer, "I-"

Takumi didn't actually want to prove anything right now, but confidence was such a fleeting, fickle thing. If he was lucky, Soma hadn't even noticed the increasingly tomato-like quality of his face, not to mention the-

"By the way, what's in that box you have there?" Soma interjected. "I've been thinking about that for a while, it looks pretty fancy."

Of course, Takumi surmised dryly, he'd never had good fortune at anything. 'Unlucky at cards,' his mind echoed, still unable to see the connection.

It had probably been a mistake to let Isami talk him into this after all.

Takumi considered his options – lying now meant escaping from Soma, a chance to recollect his thoughts and put off this whole expedition until later, possibly forever, and negating the possibility of embarrassing himself in front of a guy who might not even be interested.

The only negative side of backing out now was inevitably having to tell Isami about this later.

So there was clearly only one reasonable solution here:

"O-oh, well, it's for you..." Takumi stuttered. "You wouldn't accept my invitation for a Shokugeki earlier-"

"Fifth one this month," Soma cut in.

"-so I made something to prove we can be, um, equals, even without having to compete against each other."

"Is that so?" Soma asked, receiving the gift with both hands. He began unwrapping it with the same deftness he utilized in the kitchen, the certitude and assuredness that Takumi admired so much. "I like the ribbon. It's a nice touch."

"Do you?"

Takumi had spent half an hour talking it over with Isami earlier, sometimes agreeing and sometimes arguing, about whether or not the pretty packaging was too glitzy. In the end, he'd decided it was better to risk getting his feelings across than not – if put in that little bit of extra effort here too, maybe Soma would finally notice something.

"Yeah." A mischievous smile lit up Soma's face like a warning signal. "I didn't think you'd be the type to wrap a gift for another guy so cutely!"

He'd finally discovered the contents of the box, a modified semifreddo recipe that Takumi had spent the better part of a month perfecting. It featured a soft, naturally sweet base made from rice flour and was flavored with a popular Japanese sweets combination of green tea and red bean paste. Balancing the delicate green tea flavor with the light, airy texture of rice flour had been a good choice, because the rice flour complimented the sweet aftertaste of green tea better than any wheat based flour could have. Red beans made up the glaze, with two thinner layers of red bean hidden snugly between the green tea.

Because it was still a half-Italian dessert, each of the non-glaze and non-cake layers had been made into gelato. With some practice, Takumi managed to avoid losing the light, airy flavors of Japanese cuisine inside the thick, creamy texture of Italian gelato – through the aid of tea-infused milk and red beans boiled down further than usual.

"It looks delicious though," Soma added.

This provided the shockwave Takumi's brain needed to do anything other than sputter helplessly. His chef instinct took over, "Of course! I'm sure you'll like it, I have great taste when it comes to this stuff, I used to-"

A soft pressure landed on Takumi's cheek, the curve of chapped lips sliding against his skin almost shyly. Takumi's eyes shot open. Shock muddled his vision for a split second, and the second after that was spent watching Soma turn away. There might've been a hint of red on his cheeks, but nothing that would've compared to Takumi's own.

The heat sunk into Takumi's brain–

"This is how people say 'thank you' in Italy, right?" Soma joked.

–and he felt it shut down section by section before the ground became alarmingly close and the world surrounding him, white.

At some point I thought to myself, "I'll look up some of my old stories for ideas on how to write this confession scene". Then I realized I couldn't remember having written a confession scene before. Not even for that one Tower of God-

Wait. What Tower of God-

ANYWAY. I made a joke about Takumi fainting if Soma ever reciprocated, and apparently someone decided that wasn't too melodramatic for Takumi.