[[The title sucks and this is a little early... But oh well. I couldn't decide which PL pairing to write about for Valentine's Day. So instead, please enjoy this fic containing fluffy snippets about some of my favourite ships. (FRIENDships in some cases.)
Spoilers: Possibly for Miracle Mask.]]
Randall removed his hands from Angela's eyes with an ecstatic "Tada!"
The instant Angela awoke Randall had herded her downstairs, insisting he had a surprise for her. (There went Angela's dreams of having a lie-in this morning.) Still half-asleep, she let him lead her into the Ledore Mansion's parlour without much complaint. She'd grown used to Randall's limitless enthusiasm years ago; it was easier just to go along with it. But now she understood why he was so eager to disturb her.
"Oh Randall, its lovely," Angela blinked away tears. On the table was a vase of fresh roses and plates stacked with heart-shaped pancakes drizzled in honey and adorned with strawberries.
Henry stood by the table, cutlery tray in hand. He smiled at Angela. "Master Randall wished to prepare you a special breakfast for Valentine's Day."
"Get ready for the best pancakes you've ever tasted, Angie!" Taking her hand, Randall escorted her to her seat.
As Randall went to take his own chair, Angela whispered to Henry, "Thank you for helping him."
"I feared he may have ravaged the kitchen without some assistance," Henry admitted, chuckling slightly. He placed the cutlery tray on the table, about to leave the couple to their meal, when Randall halted him.
"Where do you think you're going, Henry?"
Puzzled, Henry explained, "I imagined you two would prefer to eat in peace. But if there is anything else you need—"
Randall pointed his fork to the empty space between him and Angela. "Sit. You have to try these pancakes too."
"You simply must, Henry," Angela dabbed her lips with a napkin. "They're delicious!"
"V-very well, then..." Unable to refuse their requests, Henry joined them at the table. He supposed he could spare a few moments with the ones he cared for.
In the Layton household, breakfast preparation was not going smoothly. Luke had rushed into the kitchen to discover egg splattered over the counter, the floor and even the walls. Something resembling bread was burning in the toaster. Of course, the culprit was none other than Flora.
"Flora, what have you done?" Luke yelped. "I thought we were making eggs on toast for the professor!" (He'd left her alone for one minute to lay the table...!)
Tears streaked through the eggy-mask coating Flora's cheeks. "Sorry! I tried, honestly—!"
Everything was meant to be perfect this morning. She and Luke had gotten up extra early to leave a homemade card (containing a hidden puzzle) by the professor's bed and cook him breakfast. The children had wanted to show their mentor just how much they appreciated him, even when he was busy working... But now it was all turning to shambles.
At that moment, Layton entered the kitchen with their card in his grasp and a warm smile on his face. He stopped short when he noticed what they had done. "Oh my..."
The pair of them spun around, simultaneously exclaiming "PROFESSOR!"
"How could this happen?" Layton murmured.
His apprentice blurted, "Flora was trying to make breakfast—"
His adopted daughter whined, "Luke should've been helping me!"
"I wasn't referring to the mess– though we will need to clear that up later..." Layton shook his head, holding up their Valentine's card. "It seems you two placed a puzzle inside this card, but I haven't been able to find it. Would you care to help me?"
The children sighed with relief and came to inspect the card. When they pointed out the puzzle, Layton dropped a kiss on Flora's head and patted Luke's shoulder. (He didn't always acknowledge how important they were to him, either.)
Valentine's Day was the only occasion in which Hannah could display her undying love for Inspector Grosky without receiving strange looks. (The same applied for Rosetta Stone when she was hitting on Professor Layton.)
Janice peered at herself in the mirror. She was wearing the flowing red gown Melina had lent her for their school production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Months of auditions and rehearsals had boiled down to this one night.
You are Juliette, Janice told herself, over and over like a mantra chant. Just pretend the audience isn't there and it'll be fine. Be Juliette...
In the reflection, she saw her best friend peeking around the dressing room door. Melina breathed, "You look beautiful." The words sounded like music on her lips; so full of awe and tenderness that Janice blushed a bit.
As Melina came to stand beside her, Janice released a shuddery sigh. "D-do you really think I can do this?"
"I know you can," Melina assured her, sweeping Janice's hair into a half-up braided style.
"But what if I'm too nervous? Or I forget my lines? Everyone's depending on me..."
"If you do mess up, you just have to keep going and no one will notice." When Janice remained unconvinced, Melina added, "Here, you can borrow my special pendant for luck!" She unclasped her purple necklace and presented it to Janice.
"Thanks, Mel'..." Janice whispered, "Not just for the pendant, but for being so supportive. I know how much you wanted this part too..."
"Don't worry about it," Melina grinned. "Since you're going off to study boring old archaeology, you won't get many chances like this again... Besides, can you imagine me kissing Beacon Becket?"
Beacon was the boy who had been chosen to play Romeo... and the one Janice had to kiss this evening. Melina poked out her tongue, pulling a face. Both girls giggled.
Melina glanced at the clock. "We'd better get going. You know how my father is about timing." She looped her arm through Janice's and they went out together.
The show was about to begin.
"Thank you very much for this, Emmy. But I simply cannot allow a lady to pay—"
"Nonsense, Professor. You've been working too hard lately and I want to treat you."
Rather than let the professor brood in his office today, Emmy had taken him to a local milkshake bar with stellar reviews. The place was reminiscent of an old American diner; complete with chequered floor tiles, red stools and a pumping jukebox in the corner.
Unsurprisingly, Emmy finished her Banana Shake in ten seconds flat. She started longingly at Layton's Strawberry Shake until he offered to share with her.
"You know, Professor..." Emmy said, casually taking a slurp from her side of the glass. "Technically you and I are on a date."
Layton spluttered and accidently blew into his straw, blasting pink froth over Emmy's face.
That was the last time she took him out for milkshakes.
"What is this trite?" Potty Prof sneered at the vampire romance movie Lucy had selected. (Curse his Placid-other-half for being so lenient with her.) "I only agreed to watch this with you because you swore there would be blood, gore and vampires ripping each other's heads off—"
"Shhh," Lucy pressed a finger against his lips, scarlet eyes still glued to the screen.
So far the film's biggest conflict had been which boy the petty-excuse-for-a-protagonist would pick as her 'one true love'. Alfendi felt like throwing up. How could his assistant find this ridiculous love triangle entertaining?
An hour into the flick, the female lead was bitten by her vampire lover. "Finally, some action," Alfendi muttered. The scene made Lucy gasp dramatically. Smirking, Alfendi leaned across the couch to nibble on Lucy's neck.
She squirmed, squealed and swatted him over the head. "Eee! Prof, get off!"
"I thought you enjoyed this sort of thing," he snickered, gesturing to the office T.V. as the monster finished draining the girl's blood. He gnashed his teeth in an imitation of vampire fangs.
Lucy tried to stifle a giggle. "Hush up would you!"
"Make me, woman."
Sighing, Lucy silenced him with a kiss. Alfendi made a pleased noise deep in his throat and pulled her closer to him. They remained like that until long after the movie had ended.
[[For the Layton/Emmy scene, I took a lot of inspiration from zillabean's artwork on Deviantart. Particularly from her picture titled: 'My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard'. If you're a Layton/Emmy fan or love PL fan art in general, please check out her stuff :D]]