Crossing Signals

"You know," Helena said to Valentine when she came to visit him in his Tower one day, "there's someone who reminds me a lot of you back in my world."

"Really?" He gave her a cocky grin as he tossed a bright golden ball at her face. She deftly caught it and he tossed her another ball, a silver one this time. The two of them began to juggle almost absentmindedly. "By that, you mean he's an incredibly intelligent, extremely excellent paragon of perfection? Like me, you know," he added as an afterthought, in case she had no idea that he was describing himself.

She snorted in amusement and rolled her eyes. "Of course," she responded. "He's quite the perfect paragon. Like you." There was sarcasm in her voice, and also a hint of affection. "He kissed me last night." Her tone was carefully casual when she told him the last part.

Valentine's normally graceful hands fumbled and dropped the balls he was juggling. He cursed under his breath and quickly bent to pick them up. "Hmm. Must practice more," he said to himself. He tossed a silver ball at Helena again, but she didn't bother to catch it this time. She merely stood there looking at him a bit expectantly.

"Come on then," he said to her. His masked face was completely inscrutable. "Oh, well." He shrugged. "If you don't want to juggle, what shall we do?"

She snapped. "Is that it? You're just going to ignore what I said?"

He cocked his head to the right as he gazed at her inquiringly. "What were we talking about again?"

"Oh!" Helena angrily stomped off. When she realized that he had absolutely no intention of going after her, she stopped, turned around, and walked back up to him. "Valentine!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You're an idiot!" she shouted. "A bloody stupid, arrogant, selfish, moronic idiot! And — and, I don't like you very much right now!"

An awkward silence came between them after her little outburst. Valentine looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet.

Helena took a deep breath, and then she spoke. "I don't think I'll be coming by to visit anymore. I'm going to be very busy, — with school and the circus, all that."

"Yes," he nodded. "I think it's best. The things in your world must be more important to you than the things in this world. Well, goodbye then. And good luck." This time, he was the one who walked away.

She caught up with him in just a few steps. She placed a hand on his left arm and he immediately stood still. "Where are you going?" she asked. "We're in your Tower."

"Right." He became flustered. "Right. Well, allow me to see you to the door." He practically pushed her out of his Tower then. "So, goodbye again." He waved her off. "So long. Goodbye forever!" His shoulders visibly drooped when he said it.

Helena stared at him. "Valentine," she said softly, "before I go —" She rose up on tiptoe and lightly brushed her lips against his. The physical contact seemed to send a shock through both of them and they took an abrupt step away from each other. They didn't speak for several seconds.

"You know," Helena said after a while. She sounded strangely shy. "If you asked me to, I could still continue to visit. That is, if you'd like me to do that."

Valentine nodded. "Yes, I'd like it if you would do that." His voice seemed boyish all of a sudden. "And," he continued, the familiar cocky grin back in place, "I think I'd also like it if you would refrain from kissing people just because they remind you a tiny bit of my charming self. It's not in very good form, you know."

Helena laughed. "Duly noted."

The End