When Alice had come to the country of Hearts, she brought with her many customs and habits that no one had heard of before, including Valentine's Day. Most every one of the role holders would be drowning the Clock Tower's doorstep with presents, whether they were for Alice or Julius was anyone's guess, But Pierce had other plans. He'd been thinking about it since Alice first told him about that special day, and he'd finally decide that he needed to get Boris something wonderful. When he'd asked Alice, she'd told him to get him "Something special, that shows you care. It needs to be something that shows your love and affection. Do you understand?" which he nodded vigorously in reply to. Sure, he understood what it meant to show someone love and affection, but sometimes it was harder than it sounded.

His first thought had been something simple, like cheese or fuzzy blankets. That earned him a bonk on his head, courtesy of his own hand.

"That's silly! Those are things that I like!"

The next ideas were things that he'd seen Boris staring at longingly before.

"Well, he likes mice…but he's already got me! He likes birds, but I don't think I could catch one myself…"

He thought and puzzled over the perfect gift for almost an hour, until finally he decided that it was so much easier just to find something simple.

The search for a simple gift left him to wander around the shops, hoping that something would jump out at him, either literally or figuratively. After all, beggars couldn't be choosers. He wandered and meandered for a bit, but nothing flew off the shelves or caught his eye.

That was, until about an hour into the search. At that point he was looking through a small, rickety toyshop when the perfect present grabbed his attention away from the shiny red ball he'd found on the ground. He grabbed the toy off of the shelf, and sprinted to the cashier, slammed the items on the counter, and squeaked "These! I want these!"

That had been about a week before Valentine's Day. The week after he'd found the toys came and went, and by the time the celebration came he was very, very prepared. He'd invited Boris over, and had his present tucked away neatly in his room.

Boris arrived at about one twenty-seven, and spread himself over the entirety of the couch, leaving Pierce to sit on the floor cross-legged in front of him.

"So, is there any special reason for this invitation?" Was Boris' first question, to which Pierce nodded his head.

"Yep. I wanted to give you my Love and Affection, but they're in the other room. I'll be right back!"

Boris watched with fascination as Pierce ran into another room, and ran right back out carrying a medium-sized box. The box was red and white, with a big, cutesy bow stuck to the top. He plopped it down on Boris' lap, and gestured for him to open it.

Inside the box was a layer of white tissue paper, which he nudged out of the way. Underneath that was a set of two dolls, one was a small, purple cat with a bow on its neck that read "Love". The second doll was a little tan mouse with a matching ribbon that read "Affection". When Boris picked the two up, their hands connected with a click, apparently by magnets.

Pierce sat up a little bit, so he could see over the piles of tissue paper. He pointed to the cat and said, "That one was supposed to be "Undying Love", but it wouldn't fit on the ribbon." Boris looked at him for a moment, and sighed. "God, you're corny and I love you. " Pierced nudged some of the boa that was spread across his couch out of the way, and sprung onto the furniture.

"You like them? Really?" He was bopping up and down out of excitement, and it was simply the sweetest thing Boris had ever witnessed.

"Yeah, yeah. I do. You make me look like a jerk, though! My present sucks!"

Pierce stopped bouncing, and leaned forward so that he could get a clear view of Boris' face.

"Hm? You got me something?"

Boris nodded, and exasperatedly pulled a small pink and black gift bag out from practically nowhere.

"Yeah, but it sucks."

Pierce took the small bag out of his hands and peeked inside. On the bottom of the bag were two little clusters of something-or-others. He pulled out one from each group, and examined them. The first one he pulled out was a little chocolate-dipped cherry, with the stem still attached. It had a candy stuck to the front, and two little nuts stuck on top of it, along with two little dashes of something on the candy. He stared and stared for a minute or two, and then he figured out exactly what he was looking at.

"Oh my goodness! It's a chocolate mousey! Aw!"

He put the mouse back into the bag and looked at the other something-or-other. It was a little chocolate mystery shape, something like a rounded triangle with two smaller triangles stuck on top. Something was carved on the front, and after an instant of thought he figured it out.
"Gadzooks! It's a kitty, isn't it?"

Boris nodded, and Pierce wriggled his way all the way over to Boris' spot on the couch, and gave him a tentative kiss on the cheek. Boris' reaction to this was simply to stick the little stuffed toys on Pierce's head, and watch in amusement as he battled the magnetic animals.

When he went home later on that night, Boris had two new, interestingly named toys stuck to some of the pins on his boa. He was actually rather proud of the fact that he was the only person who could brag about carrying "Pierce's Love and Affection", much like Pierce could boast about being able to turn the tables, as he could now eat cats whenever he wanted to.

All in all, it was a good first Valentine's day all around.

And That was the End of That.

Ali's Notes:

-Gadzooks! I've never typed that word before!

-I feel like this is out of character, which sucks.

-So, guys…I felt like Boris was pretty stiff in this, but all in all I'm actually really proud of it. What do you think?

Serious Notes:

I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day (Or singles Awareness Day, your choice.) I wanted to do a less violent Pierce to Boris cheek kiss, as whenever I write them having a moment one is always trying to maul the other, which is fun sometimes, but I'm glad I got to do something different. I love you all, and have a wonderful Valentine's Day! If you've got a love, than be sure to tell them so! If you're like me and you don't, than you should come and hang out with me! I've got toaster strudels!

~Ali.

(Yes, I know that this wasn't ACTUALLY posted on Valentine's day, but I've got a BUNCH of tests to study for on Sunday and Monday. I'm sorry.)

purely fanmade. characters and places aren't mine. You know the drill.