(A/N: Kind of inspired to write this after looking back to my Rocketshipping oneshot last year AND from being in a Neoshippy mood. ^_^ Sorry for the delay with not posting on the actual Valentine's Day- too much homework. -_- But here it is, I hope you all enjoy, especially all you Neoshippers out there! -Poli)
It had all started with a sappy scene that was playing right before her eyes.
The two delinquents stood off to the side in a vacant hallway, and she decided to hide in the storage closet as to not be seen. She could spot the bright pink blush on James's face as he handed the beautiful bouquet of fresh, velvety red roses over to his crimson-haired partner, who gushed with glee and happiness as she gratefully took them from him and shifted them to her other arm.
"I love them- and I have something to give you, too." Cassidy narrowed her eyes as she squinted through the slots through the door. She watched as Jessie pulled out a small, heart-shaped box of chocolates and handed it to the periwinkle-haired field agent.
"Aww, Jess, you didn't have to," he said bashfully, opening the box and plunking a chocolate into his mouth.
Jessie giggled. "But I wanted to! Happy Valentine's Day, James." And with that, she leaned over and pecked the young man sweetly on the cheek before strutting off with her roses, leaving him in a love-struck daze.
Once he was out of sight and hopefully out of earshot, Cassidy opened the closet door and rolled her eyes, disgusted at the sugary-sweet sight. "So lovey-dovey and romantic," she muttered as she stalked back to the dorm room that she and Butch shared on the fourth floor. "I feel like gagging after hearing them speak to each other like that." She sighed and opened the door to find Butch sprawled out on his bed, watching some science-fiction movie.
He smiled. "Hey."
She grinned and shut the door. "Boy, have I got some news! I was on my way back up here when I heard Messy and Lames secretly exchanging Valentine's Day gifts in the back corridor. It was so cheesy, I could hardly stand it!" she told him, laughing.
The teal-haired agent laughed along with his partner, too, but his insides were turning with anxiety.
Today was February 14th.
Valentine's Day.
He had totally forgotten.
"Uh, Cass," he began awkwardly, "I can't believe I totally forgot that today is Valentine's Day. No wonder why the Boss gave us the day off- I heard that it's one of his favorite holidays."
The blonde gave him a smirk. "And…?"
He blushed. "And…I just wanted to tell you that I forgot, that's all. What?" he added when he noticed that she was still staring at him.
She frowned. He was such an idiot. Couldn't he see that she was trying to drop hints? It was Valentine's Day, after all…couldn't a girl have some fun messing around with her partner? It wasn't a crime…and she did sort of think he was cute. "Nothing."
"Doesn't look like nothing."
"Can we please move on and forget it?" She sighed exasperatedly. "It's been a long week, and I'm just recovering from the sickening after effects of seeing the new 'couple' exchange gifts and sweet words with each other," she continued, giving a small shudder. "What's so great about Valentine's Day, anyway? It's just so…mushy, with all the kissing and hugging, and presents, and cards, and flowers, and chocolate, and…and love." She groaned, burying her face in the pillow. This obviously wasn't the reason why she was so angry. She could care less about Jessie and James, or any other couple on the planet, for that matter.
Cassidy wanted to be someone's Valentine. Badly.
Butch glanced over at the blonde, his lips curving into a small smirk. "Well, compared to Christmas and Halloween and all those other bigger holidays, this is nothing. If you want to, you can just get through it and watch a movie with me," he offered, raising his eyebrows at her convincingly. It was no secret that he'd sort of liked her as well for quite a long time now, but of course he'd never amount to telling her- anytime soon, at least. When she was in a Mood, who knew what Cassidy Yamato could say and do to anyone that was in her way?
Cassidy shrugged. "Nah, I think I'll go back downstairs and see what Wendy's up to," she replied, sliding off the bed lazily. It's not that she didn't want to hang around with her partner, but watching a movie alone with him just sounded…so awkward. They never did things like that when they spent time together. Usually their definition of free time consisted of taking a walk down to the café or forming strategies for their next mission or assignment.
"Uh, see you then!" he called after her as she shut the door abruptly. What was with Cassidy today? Why was she so dead-set against Valentine's Day? It was just a dumb holiday that came around only one day a year. Why was she so obsessed with it? Her words echoed back clearly in his brain, until he finally registered a potential reason as to why she hated the holiday so much.
As he lounged back for a half an hour more and continued to watch as aliens and pokemon battled across the television screen, he gradually formed a plan in his mind.
"I have no idea of what to say to him, Cass. I mean, I know we've had our share of breakups and getting-back-togethers but I think he really means business this time," Wendy gushed as she waved the red box of chocolates in front of the blonde's nose.
Cassidy gave the chocolates a death glare, cautious enough as to not let her friend see it. She couldn't help but feel jealous that the biggest loudmouth of Headquarters (despite being her best friend) had just received a huge box of chocolates by a tall, violet-haired man by the name of Petrel, and she had gotten nothing.
But the green-haired secretary was obviously too oblivious to see the blonde's visible distress- and jealousy. "So, Cassie, enough about me. Did you happen to get anything today? I mean, Butch had to have remembered to get you someth-"
"-Why would he give me something? We're not dating or anything, we're just friends," the field agent defended, cheeks starting to blaze a hot pink.
Wendy shrugged, using her slender hand to stir her steaming cappuccino. "I don't know, sometimes it just kind of looks like you're dating. You're around each other like, 24/7. Sometimes I see you joking around with him. In my opinion, it seems a little flirtatious." She grinned and nudged the girl with her free arm.
Cassidy frowned, already becoming more irritated with her friend. The girl didn't know anything more about her and Butch's relationship outside of what she saw. It was really none of her business- but that was Wendy for you. "Butch and I flirting, ha!" she scoffed, attempting to convince the girl out of her presumption.
But unfortunately, that wasn't the case, judging from the look on her companion's face. "Yeah right," Wendy replied, smirking knowingly. "You'd be surprised at how many people think that you and Butch should-"
"-Hey guys!" came an excited voice, interrupting the green-haired girl from her statement and causing the two girls to look up. Annie and Oakley bounded up, each carrying a bouquet of pink roses. "Look what Attila got me! He asked me to be my Valentine!" the blonde squealed, presenting her roses for all to see.
"Oh, yeah? The roses that Hun gave me are so much prettier!" Oakley protested, causing the two sisters to start a "brawl" that pretty much made no sense whatsoever, especially since both bouquets of roses looked exactly the same. It took just one glance at the beautiful and sweet-smelling flowers for Cassidy's heart to sink. She was jealous- there was no doubt about it- and at this point she couldn't help it or deny it! Why couldn't Butch have gotten her at least one little gift? Friends got each other gifts…why couldn't he think of her for once? He was way too dense, she decided resentfully.
"Cassidy…you okay?" Annie asked, once the two calmed down after Wendy convinced them that they were making a rather embarrassing scene.
"What? I'm fine!" she lied, quickly glancing at Wendy to keep their previous discussion on the DL, earning a nod in reply. "Uh, I'm going to go back upstairs and see what Butch has been doing this whole time." She smiled at the three girls and stood up from her seat, heading in the direction of the cafeteria doors.
"Cassidy!" Wendy called out, causing the pigtail-haired girl to turn around one last time. The green-haired girl winked suggestively and grinned amusedly. "Have fun."
Cassidy rolled her eyes and shook her head. There was nothing between her and Butch, that was for sure. Sometimes she wondered if possibly, he liked her back, but he sure never dropped any hints. Maybe he was just too shy, or maybe he just wasn't into romance and dating.
She sighed as she finally reached the fourth floor and swiped her room card into the slot, allowing it to open. She gasped at the sight that greeted her once she'd entered the room.
There were two candles set up on the table on the outside balcony of their room, a basket of two bottles of champagne sitting in the center. On her bed, there was also a huge bouquet of roses and a ruby red, heart-shaped box of chocolates with rose petals strewn across it and a huge red bow wrapped around it.
And, the last thing she noticed when she walked in, was a very disappointed-looking Butch standing on his bed, struggling to put up the other half of a pink sign that read "Happy Valentine's Day!" in swirly handwriting and was decorated with variously-colored hearts. "Oh, Cass…I had no idea that you were going to be here so soon. I wanted this to be surprise," he said distraughtly, shoulders sagging.
Cassidy's face soon lit up into a huge smile. "Are you kidding? This is a surprise, who cares of the sign isn't hung up all the way? I love it!" She blushed and glanced up at him, then back down at the bouquet and box of chocolates. "You didn't have to do all this for me," she added guiltily.
It was his turn to blush. Maybe he went a little too over the edge. "Well, I know this is a lot, but I wanted to make it up to you. You sounded kind of jealous and disappointed when you were going off on Jessie and James, so…I did this while you were gone. I figured that maybe we could just sit and talk and have a drink outside. It is a perfect night, after all." He gulped, hoping that she didn't think his efforts were too cheesy.
But the blonde giggled and took the bouquet of roses from the bed, inhaling their rich, exotic scent. "Of course we can," she replied, gazing at him gratefully before setting the flowers in a nearby vase and filling it with just enough water. She followed Butch outside and took a champagne glass, allowing him to pour the fizzy, peach-colored liquid into it.
"You know, Cass," he began as he poured champagne into his glass and set the bottle down, "I hope you don't think that I'm trying to…well…I don't know how to explain it." The redness in his cheeks crept back again immediately.
Cassidy smiled sympathetically. "I understand what you're trying to say, don't worry about it. But everything's just so beautiful, especially the roses, and I appreciate it so much," she reassured him.
He smiled and stared into his glass, watching the bubbles rise to the surface and pop. "Good- I was worried you would think it's too sappy." His smile transformed into a grin, remembering how she had scorned the holiday for being too lovey-dovey just two hours before.
She giggled. "Well, of course it's sappy!" she joked, swatting him playfully in the shoulder. "But it's beautiful."
Butch sighed with relief, content with the end results. "Well," he said, "Shall we propose a toast?"
"We shall." They both raised their glasses. "To…us…for being great friends and partners in crime," the blonde said, before they both clinked their glasses gently and sipped the bubbly champagne.
Butch grinned. "Happy Valentine's Day, Cass, and to hell with that sounding cliché, I wanted to say it!"
Cassidy laughed. "Happy Valentine's Day, Butch." They gazed at each other for a moment, and she just didn't know what it was that made her involuntarily lean forward towards him. She thought of Jessie and suddenly felt a little more daring. Blushing, she gently pressed her mouth to his, tasting the champagne- and a bit of chocolate, was it?- and pulled away after a few heavenly seconds. He was blushing as well, clearly surprised.
"Uh, thanks?" he said awkwardly, giving her a half-smile.
She smirked. "No problem, and to hell with it being cliché, I wanted to do that!" she mimicked teasingly, at the same time meaning every word that just left her mouth. "By the way…did you eat some of my chocolate?" she interrogated slyly.
He grinned and backed away. "Maybe…"
She scoffed. "Well…you deserved it." And as they continued to sip their champagne under the glittering stars, Cassidy couldn't help but realize that maybe Valentine's Day wasn't such an overrated holiday after all.
THE END. 3
(A/N: Well, I hope everyone liked it, and don't forget to leave a review! Even if it's just a "nice job" or "I liked it", I appreciate it! I also appreciate constructive criticism as well, and am always working to improve my writing. Sorry for the delay once again, and I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! Err…Single Awareness Day, if you're me, as I've, uh…never been in a real relationship before! Ah, who needs dates when you've got good friends, family, and fanfiction? XD)