Alrighty! This fic is dedicated to my fran ChristiRose13, DORKALICOUS fan007, MiraculousFAN (guest), mayuralover, coolbeans04, chatnoirispawsome, Marichat4ever, and to all of my loyal readers whose hearts have been broken and will be broken over my recent posts.

While I will not alter my plans for my stories or call off the Angst war just yet I hope you can accept this gift and find it within you to forgive me and stick around a little while longer.

I love you all, you're all my bean frans. I cherish every last one of you

(This fic is not dedicated to CanaryBug because I am a mean bean and a little too competitive) (lol)

NIno's POV

I'm desperately, hopelessly, undeniably, completely and entirely in love with my best friend, Alya Cesaire.

Aaaannnd I'm a terrified of telling her.

I mean there's so many things that can go wrong and I continue to scold myself for the fact that I'm twenty two years old and I've loved her since I was fourteen.

Not to mention I'm spending valentine's day with her, but not as a date. She invited me because we've both spent the past ten years single and it's kind of become a tradition between us… as friends.

I walk over to the new candy shop not to far from Alya's apartment and head inside.

An elderly chinese man waits inside at a counter in front of a large wall of candy.

"Welcome to Fu's gourmet candy shop. I am Fu, how may I help you good sir?" The man asks.

"I'm looking for some candy for my friend and I for Valentine's day. Do you have any recommendations?" I ask him.

"Ahh, yes of course. Is this a special friend I presume?"

"Uhm, yes and no."

"Have you not told your friend how you feel?"

I blink in surprise.

"Uh, no actually, It's been eight years. I just haven't found the courage or the time to tell her yet." I admit.

"Your love must be strong for this girl. She is very precious to you, yes?" The man wonders with a smile.

I look away at the tiles floor.

"Yeah, she's everything to me." I mumble.

"I know just the thing for you." The old man hops up on a ladder and grabs a few bags of candy off the shelf.

In a flash he's back on the ground starting up an antique cash register.

I pay for the goodies and am on my way out the door when he calls out to me.

"Nino?"

I turn to him.

When did I tell him my name?

"Yeah?"

"Trust your heart, it will lead you to your happiness."

"Thank you." I tell him as I make my way out the door and over to Alya's apartment.

When I arrive Alya opens the door within seconds.

"Nino!" She pulls me into one of her famous tight hugs that leave me gasping for air.

Once again my heart flutters in my chest and I force my blush into hiding. My smile comes easily as always when I'm around Alya.

"Hey, Alya."

"What took you so long?" she asks.

"I stopped by that new candy shop a couple blocks down, want some?" I hold out the bag for her to take.

She takes my hand and leads me into her living room where we both plop down on the couch.

She reaches into a bag and pulls out a wrapped box of toffee.

"Laughy Toffee," she reads. "Ohh, there's a joke on the back! What did the love struck boy say to the reporter? It's no knew news that I love you."

My eyes widen as my heart skips a beat.

That's got to be a coincidence right?

I nervously laugh and Alya glances at me for a moment, as if she can see through me before opening up the box and having a taste.

"Hey! This is good! I wonder what else is in here?" She digs through the bag of goodies before finding candy hearts.

She opens up the small bag of them and picks a few out of the bag.

"He loves you, he adores you, kiss him already… wait what?"

I'm sent into a series of sputtering coughs and what's worse is I can feel Alya staring at me.

"You ok, Nino?" she asks slapping my back.

I nod and Alya sets the bag down on the coffee table.

"How about some 'Cosmic Knowledge Brownies'?" She asks handing one to me. "You read yoru fact first."

"Oh, uhm, okay." I take a look at the package and read. My face instantly flushes and I look up at Alya and back at the brownies a couple of times.

"Come on Nino, read it," she instructs.

"I-In the middle ages, superstition said that if y-you were single, you would end up m-marrying the first single person of the opposite sex that you met on Valentine's D-Day." I mumble.

Alya quickly looks away.

"Uhm. Mine is 'During the 1700s in England, girls would write boys' names on small pieces of paper, cover them with clay, and drop them into the water. When the clay broke, the papers floated to the top. The first name the girls could read would predict whom they would marry.'" Alya turns back to me. "You know, letting a silly piece of paper decide who you marry is dumb."

"Yeah?" I ask, apprehensive about where this conversation is going. I plop a piece of brownie in my mouth, savoring the rich chocolate.

"I would much rather take my time and fall in love with someone who has my back at all times. Someone close to me. He'd have to be caring, dedicated, trustworthy, and most of all I'd want him to accept me for who I am, you know?"

Check, check, check…. wait a minute… I meet like all of those requirements.

"Do you have an idea of who that might be?" I ask as casually as I possibly can.

Alya looks up at me with a soft smile I've never seen her wear before.

"I do, I just don't think he feels the same way. He rarely shows any sign of liking me though." she admits.

"Oh…"

It would have been a dream if she had said it was me.

Alya and I look away from each other for what seems like forever before she pulls out the last candy.

"Random Advice Ropes." She turns the package around a bit before she finds it.

"When you find love be honest with them and yourself, to achieve love you must first take a leap of faith."

We sit in silence once more before we each turn to each other. I look into her eyes only to find her staring back at mine.

"I have something to tell you," we both blurt simultaneously. We stare at each other in shock.

"Y-You go first." Alya tells me.

My heart races in my chest and I remember what Fu had told me.

"I-I'm in love with you. I have been ever since Mari locked us in the closet at the zoo, eight years ago. I-I just never knew how to tell you. I was too afraid, I guess. So I hid how I felt." I tell her with as much confidence as my heart can handle.

Alya stays quiet for what seems like an eternity before she speaks.

"I can't believe all this time you felt the same way as I did." She moves closer to me and takes my hands. "I'm crazy about you Nino. I've been trying to get a reaction out of you for years but you just seemed so uninterested in me so I gave up. I stayed single after that because no guy was good enough."

"Why?" I wonder aloud.

"Because no other guy is you," she whispers.

Relief washes over me as all of my hopes become a reality.

Alya rests a hand on my cheek and I'm drawn to her by invisible strings that pull me ever closer.

"Do you realize how long I've waited to kiss you?" she asks in a hushed tone.

I don't even bother with a verbal answer, I simple let my heart guide me towards her.

And finally our lips meet.

The kiss voices every unspoken I love you from the very beginning.

And it's all thanks to some candy and a piece very good advice.