FASH: I felt the need to write some more Valentines Day stuff, and for some reason I just can't seem to give Sena a break. If he were real he'd probably dislike me for whoring him out so much. Hmm...
Disclaimer: I'm just a fan-girl with time management problems.
""-speech
''-thoughts
Valentine's Day had never been a big deal to Sena: the only person he ever got chocolate from was Mamori, and his bullies usually didn't get any chocolate at all so he didn't have to carry it home for them. So really it was never something he felt the need to be concerned about.
But this year might be a little different, and he was sure that was not a good thing.
The girls in his class seemed to be throwing looks his way a lot more than they did before they knew about the Christmas Bowl. They hadn't even looked at him this much after it was first revealed that he was Eyeshield twenty one. And they whispered to each other too, in a way that may have seemed inconspicuous but really wasn't, and Sena didn't have the heart to go over and tell them that they weren't nearly as incognito as they thought they were.
And he knew it wasn't all in his head either, because a couple girls had actually called him out and confessed to him.
He'd never had to deal with this sort of thing before, so he simply said that with the World Cup coming up he didn't really have any time for relationships. Maybe if he had told them the complete and utter truth he wouldn't have to worry about Valentines Day, but he didn't want to tell just anyone his secret.
And so, as Valentines Day was steadily approaching, Sena came up with a plan to keep himself from becoming involved in the near bloodbath he knew the day sometimes turned out to be.
All he needed was an accomplice, and he knew exactly who to ask.
-x-x-x-
"Wait a minute, you want me to do what?" Suzuna questioned incredulously, leaning in closer as if she hadn't heard right the first time.
"Could you pretend to be my girlfriend so I don't get swept up in Valentines Day madness? It'll only be for a little while."
"But Sena, you're gay."
"But the girls in my class, and actually pretty much everyone except you, Hiruma-san and Mamori-neechan don't know that." Sena clasped his hands together and tried to look helpless.
Suzuna cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why don't you ask, oh, I don't know: Kakei?"
"Because he doesn't know I like him."
"Then confess to him already! Geez, watching you mooning over someone is entertaining and all, but it would be more fun if I could watch you two go out on dates."
Sena not to think about Suzuna following them around if they ever did end up going on a date. But not thinking about it turned out to be impossible.
'Voyeur.'
"Besides, Valentines Day is a great day to confess."
"But it's a girl's holiday. I don't want to confess on the girliest day of the year."
"Then what about the day after?"
"... Huh?"
Suzuna cocked her head to the side and smirked. "If I go through with this, you have to promise me you'll tell Kakei about how you feel the next day."
Sena shyly wrung his hands together. "But... But..."
"No ifs, ands or buts! It's either deal, or no deal." Suzuna stuck out her hand determinedly and, with a heart-felt sigh, Sena slid his hand over hers.
"Deal. But we can't let anyone else know about this. Well, Hiruma-san and Mamori-neechan will probably figure it out, but I don't want anyone to let it slip that we're a fraud couple."
"Yaa! My lips are sealed about that part. By tomorrow morning all my friends on the cheer leading squad will know about how you asked me out. We'll be an established couple by the time I come back to Deimon after school lets out."
"Excellent. As expected of a female communications network." Sena commented with a smile.
Now everything was going to be smooth sailing until February the fifteenth, or so he thought.
-x-x-x-
As Suzuna had promised, news rapidly spread that Deimon's number twenty one running back and head cheerleader were going out, and although most of his team mates didn't seem to believe it, the female populace in his class seemed to think it was true.
They hardly had to do anything beyond what they usually did together to convince a couple non-believers too, just holding hands in public and whispering 'sweet nothings' to each other.
The majority of the team still remained unconvinced, seeming to instinctively know that Sena was up to something. Thankfully though, they never decided to publicly comment on how far-fetched the new couple seemed to be, so Sena's scheme was commencing as planned.
'Just a couple more days and Valentines Day will finally be over.' Sena thought brightly to himself on February the twelfth. 'And then...'
And then he'd have to confess to Kakei, like he had promised to Suzuna he would.
Confessing so soon, it almost seemed like the deal was more trouble than it was worth, but Sena quickly convinced himself otherwise.
In middle school he'd been in the same class as a rather popular boy, when they were in second year said popular boy had practically been pounced on by a group of girls who were eagerly declaring their love for him.
Sena still got goose bumps just thinking about it. If something like that ever happened to him he wasn't sure how he'd be able to get himself out of the situation unscathed while not hurting anyone's feelings.
'The deal is what's best for my peace of mind. On the fifteenth I'm just going to have to be a man and confess!' Sena nodded to himself confidently, although there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something.
That something was the power of a 'female communications network'. News of Sena and Suzuna's apparent relationship was already buzzing around Deimon, it was only a matter of time until someone decided to fill one of their friends outside of school in on the gossip.
It was just Sena's luck, or lack thereof, that one of the first to hear about this development outside of Deimon was Shibuya, Kyoshin's manager, on the morning of February the thirteenth.
Not that she really cared, mind you, she had stared at her text message blankly for a moment, vaguely wondering why she should be bothered about the love lives of people who didn't even go to her school. She skimmed through the message to see if any actual conversation had been cast in near the end, pausing when her friend began to complain about how Eyeshield 21 was taken.
'Eyeshield 21... Deimon's Eyeshield 21...' Shibuya pursed her lips together, certain there was some sort of misunderstanding going on. She'd seen the way he and the head cheerleader interacted with each other, but she'd only ever interpreted it as being close friends.
Not to mention Sena came off as kind of not entirely straight to her, but maybe she was just misreading the looks the brunette often threw Kakei's way.
'In any case, I'm bored, I may as well show this text to Kakei for kicks.' She thought blandly, not really expecting much of a reaction from him, and most definitely not expecting the reaction she got.
Kakei had stared at the message, white as a ghost, and practically broke her phone in his iron grip.
"Hey, I'm sure she's just imagining it." Shibuya said in an uncharacteristic attempt to make Kakei feel better. "I mean, that Sena kid always stares at you whenever he's around here, so it's got to be just a misunderstanding of some sort."
A little colour came back into Kakei's cheeks, and a little too much at that, as he processed Shibuya's words.
"He stares at me?"
Shibuya nonchalantly took out her compact to check her makeup as she replied. "Well, yeah. Maybe he wanted you to make the first move but got sick of waiting around for you."
She finished with a detached ease, not really having much interest in the love life of one of the team members, and only realizing afterwards that she may have been a bit too harsh.
It was too late to take it back now though, because Kakei seemed to be mulling over what she had said quite seriously.
Not really having much else to say, and not wanting him to stay broody for the rest of practice, she indifferently added: "Maybe it's not too late to steal him back for yourself."
It didn't really occur to her that it might have been better for her to refrain from saying something that might end up spurring Kakei into action.
-x-x-x-
'Tomorrow's the big day, and then it'll be time for me to confess.' Sena stretched his arms over his head as he made his way to the clubhouse to change for their after-school practice.
He felt extremely at ease, until Mamori came rushing into sight, an oddly distressed look on her face.
"Kakei-kun is in the clubroom. He said he wants to talk to you."
"... Really?" Sena pursed his lips together as he quickened his pace towards the clubhouse. Kakei's visit was unexpected, but that alone wouldn't be enough to make Mamori worry.
He entered the clubhouse cautiously and moved to stand in front of Kakei who had been frowning sourly until Sena had shown up, then his face went back to it's more normal, neutral expression.
"Kakei-kun, what did you need to talk to me about?" Sena asked, half hoping that Kakei would gallantly proclaim his love.
'But that's impossible, isn't it? He doesn't even know I like him after all.'
Kakei took a deep breath before answering. "I heard that you've started up a relationship."
"Oh..." Sena trailed off, unsure how he should answer, Valentines Day still hadn't come and gone, and he didn't want his fraud relationship to be revealed as a fake. But it was kind of hard to talk about your fake relationship with the person you actually wanted to be in a relationship with.
"I just want you to know that you may have Suzuna, but that won't stop me from trying." Kakei moved away towards the exit just as Sena managed to make sense of his words.
"Trying? Wait! Trying what?!" Sena called as he followed Kakei out of the clubhouse.
He was almost certain he knew what Kakei meant, but it seemed Kakei had no intentions to answer his question.
He'd just to have to take matters into his own hands.
"If this is about mine and Suzuna's relationship, then it's fake!"
Kakei stopped in his tracks and Sena took that as a sign to continue.
"I'm just using her so that other girls will leave me alone on Valentines Day."
"Using her?" Kakei parroted and Sena flushed, realizing that that statement sounded rather rude.
"With her consent! I promised that if she did this for me, I'd confess to you on the fifteenth."
Kakei slowly turned around, not looking entirely convinced.
"Really?"
Sena nodded, and to prove his point he took a courageous step forward, grabbed onto the lapels of Kakei's school blazer and pulled him down into a kiss.
Kakei had no doubts after that.
-x-x-x-
The following day Sena got no chocolates, although it wasn't because of his fake relationship with Suzuna. Yesterday he'd been so focussed on Kakei that he hadn't realized that there were still some students who had yet to go home loitering around. Apparently some of the girls had heard his 'using Suzuna' comment and had taken it the way it sounded before Sena had mentioned that she had agreed to do it.
He was now officially dubbed the 'jerk who uses girls' by the majority of his female classmates, but he didn't really care as long as they left him alone.
Besides, he had an amazing date planned for tonight.
