A/N: Alright, here is my Valentine's Day treat to y'all! I actually wrote this a couple of years ago, now, for a platonic love Valentine's Day prompt for a friend, but I haven't been able to bring myself to post it until now. So, yeah, here you go! Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, and I hope y'all have an enjoyable day! :)
Warnings: None. The RokuNami is all just platonic and sibling fluff and sappiness. ;)
Dedication: To R-girl, because I originally wrote this for you. You've seen it before, but now it's finally out in the world so you can favorite it or whatever! And hell, maybe sometime this year is when I'll post that other AEM-verse oneshot I wrote for you. XD Anyway, here's some platonic love for you to find refuge in on this day where everything is going to be saturated with romance. I love you always, my Even, and I'm so happy to count you as among my best friends. *huggles*
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, and sadly never will. The "An Enchanted Moment" AU verse is mine, however, along with Ghostwriter No. 3 and owlpostagain. The title to this fic and the lyrics in the summary comes from the Martina McBride song "Valentine", which amuses me, because it works on several levels (Roxas and Namine's last name in this verse, if you will recall, is Valentine. XD).
Even if Romance Ran Out of Rhyme
Roxas usually greeted the mornings with a groan, voice hoarse and cracking. And as it had been for about three years now, the groaning was answered by the obnoxious chirping of the birds that roosted by his window. He vaguely waved his middle finger in their general direction, hazily cursing himself for feeding them regularly, to the point that now, years later, they associated him with 'food' and 'treats'. Stupid birds, for reminding him quite of bit of his twin, with their delicate, dainty, and yet completely fearless and self-confident ways. And stupid him, for being so mushy and sentimental about it.
Even so, when he sat up fully and glared at them, he couldn't resist and say no to those expectant pairs of black eyes. Roxas gave an annoyed sigh, but he got up all the same, and trudged over to the bowl of birdseed that he kept on his desk. Bowl in hand, he crossed over to the window to open it, and put it down upon the sill. The birds waited until he had moved away again before fluttering to the food and digging in. Roxas couldn't quite contain a small smile at the sight of them.
In the beginning, he'd just tossed a few crusts of bread out of his second-story window to fall to the ground below, and then watched for a bit as the birds had swarmed down upon the measly offerings. But then Sora had begun his tradition of saving all of the stale bread to feed the ducks in the park, and he hadn't quite been able to bring himself to ask his older brother to save a few for him because he had wanted to feed some stupid birds. So instead, of course, he'd done the even more stupid thing, and had started buying a couple bags of birdseed out of his pocket money. And while at first he'd just tossed some handfuls of the stuff out of the window, same as he'd done with the bread, Roxas eventually upgraded to pilfering a couple of his mom's shallow dishes, the ones she'd used on occasion for salsa or dip. She had plenty of those, he figured, so she wouldn't miss one of them.
(One had turned into two, because the first had been too light, and the birds had knocked it off the sill to smash onto the ground below. He'd lied through his teeth to his mom, and told her that he had thought he'd seen Axel, and instinct had made him throw what was in his hand at the redheaded boy, and too late had he realized that it wasn't a baseball. Thankfully, she'd let it go, though not without scolding and lecturing him about tolerance. The next dish he'd taken, he'd been sure to get a sturdy, heavy ceramic one.)
Roxas figured that most of the family thought he spent so much of his pocket money on sea salt ice cream. The truth of the matter was that the twins had a system. When Roxas had spent his money on birdseed, Naminé would buy his ice cream, and when Naminé spent hers on buying new colored pencils or chalk pastels or other art supplies, Roxas would buy her ice cream in turn. In practice, this meant that they basically traded off each month on who bought what. Everyone knew about Naminé's pastime, but she was the only one to know about Roxas's soft spot for those damn birds. Roxas still remembered the immense swell of gratitude he'd felt for his twin's unspoken understanding when she'd followed him off their beaten path into the pet shop that first time, and for her discretion in everything he wished to be kept secret. Really, Roxas could not fathom ever having to be without her, his other half.
Which reminded him.
Roxas had been contemplating his bed, and the merits of diving back into the nest of blankets and burying his head under the pillow. But now, realization of what today was acted like a jolt of electricity to his body, shocking him completely awake and jogging his mind into full alertness.
Thoughts of going back to bed abandoned, Roxas instead dashed out of his bedroom, only pausing to grab his prize, and proceeded to yank open the door next to his.
His twin peered blearily up at him, pale blonde hair mussed from where she'd been sleeping on her pillow. "Roxas, what…?"
"Ssh, go back to sleep," he told her softly, mindful of not making a complete racket at the crack of dawn on a Saturday. Sora in particular begrudged having to wake up any earlier than he already needed to for school, and on the weekends, he was absolutely insufferable if he was woken up too early.
The look she gave him was one of sleepy exasperation, but she obligingly closed her eyes and snuggled back into her pillow once more.
Roxas, trusting in Naminé as always, didn't continuously check to make sure she was keeping her word, as most people probably would have. He merely got to work, carefully bringing his prize out from where he had been hiding it behind his back, and placed it gently onto her nightstand, angling it so as to give Naminé the best view of the present.
He also didn't need to look to know that her brow had furrowed slightly upon hearing the soft chink of glass onto wood, but that she had still kept her eyes closed.
Only now, task complete, did he look back into her face, as familiar to him as his own. He could feel himself almost wanting to hop in place in his excitement, and he knew that his twin was also picking up on his unusually high, brimming energy and that she was slightly bemused by it.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now," he whispered, blue eyes intent upon capturing every minute reaction.
Naminé blinked open her identical blue eyes, a smile of wry amusement at his behavior prickling at the edges of her lips. Then her eyes shifted, and became transfixed at the sight awaiting her, mouth opening slightly in surprise.
Roxas cherished the way her eyes lit up at the vase of sunflowers that he'd carefully selected and picked out each individual one for her. She really deserved nothing less, and so much more, than her favorite flowers on a day like this.
When her glowing blue eyes met his again, lips beaming a smile as bright as the yellow petals of the flowers, he bent over and pressed his lips to her warm forehead in the most loving kiss that he possessed.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Naminé."
Her arms snaking around him in a tight hug, and her reciprocal kiss on his cheek, was the best thanks that he could ever receive in the world. And the best part was that the day was far from over for them to express their love for each other. Raging teenage hormones or no, there was no better Valentine for him than Naminé.
And the best, best part? He'd have her for more than just this one day.
Always.
