Author's Notes; One-shots from both sides. Fluffy. Shounen-Ai. The suggestion was along the lines of what X and Zero would do on a holiday. I considered Christmas at first, then Easter, but then thought my most hated holiday, Valentine's would work better. I was going to do Zero's perspective at first, but have decided to once again balance out both sides. Zero's perspective will be in the Japanese holiday succeeding Valentine's Day, which is White Day. This may set the stage for one of my next ideas. Please enjoy.

Valentine's Day

A bright sun shining through my window served as my alarm clock. I turned myself away, ducking under the covers. I turned left, but should've turned right. Thud. I fell out of the bed, hitting my head hard on the nightstand. Slowly standing and rubbing my injury, feeling a small bump already, my gaze went to the calendar I kept near my dresser. 14th of February, Valentine's Day. I smiled, remembering that Zero and I had today off. When my injury settled down a bit, I didn't bother with my armor. I put on some warm civilian clothes after cleaning up and went straight across the hall to Zero's dorm.

Several knocks on his door garnered no response, I input his passcode and stepped inside his dorm.

"Zero?" I called out, checking every room.

No response...and he wasn't there.

"X? X, are you in here?", a voice called.

I turned around to see Alia in the doorway.

"Alia? Where's Zero?" I asked, stepping out of his dorm and locking the door back behind me.

"I tried your room, but you weren't there. Zero's unit has been called away hunting down several rogue Mavericks. They'll be away for the whole day."

"So much for his day off.", I remarked disappointedly, looking at the floor. "We had agreed on some together time."

"Don't be a sourpuss, it's Valentine's Day. Maybe you could go look around for something special while he's gone." She suggested as she waved and walked back to the meeting room.

Alia did have a point and I may as well. Maybe go on a so-called "shopping spree". There's only one problem; What exactly would he want? It's hard to figure out his interests sometimes. That's when I remembered something. Zero's sword had been malfunctioning lately, sometimes it wouldn't activate and sometimes it wouldn't charge in the shoulder-pack on the back of his armor. New sword, it is then.

Anyone would think that in the last decade that I've been at HQ, plus with the number of Reploids living with the humans, there would be plenty of part shops and plenty to choose from. I guess Abel City isn't exactly the parts capital of the world. There were more fast food restaurants and bars than anything else with only three parts shops.

In between locating the three shops, some of the cafe's I couldn't help but smile at. Zero sometimes took me out for coffee, occasionally something sweet. He has his cravings too, I'd watch him sometimes jump into the chocolates and cakes we ordered. His face would be covered in the stuff and I would slide next to him and cheekily lick some of it off. It was always fun to see just how red his face turned and how he tried to hide it.

The stock of the part shops was very...disappointing. I showed the clerks a picture of the Sigma blade and it turns out, none of them sold weapons, just armor and none of the armor seemed very befitting of Zero. Nothing here that he'd like.

"Oi! You! Come here." called the clerk of the last store. I was nearly out the door when he did so and turned right back to him.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You didn't hear this from me, but I've heard tell of Giga City having a very wide selection of armor and especially weapons. You'll have far better luck there. I used to work there actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, only reason I left was because I wanted to be closer to home."

"I see. Thank you very much." I said as I took my leave.

Yes, now that I think about it, Giga City's store did have a far wider range of stock. I should've thought of that first, would've saved me the disappointment. It was quite a trip though, I'd already spent half the day searching Abel City, it'd take the remaining half to get to Giga City and back before Zero returned. It's worth it, I decided, and got on the bus posthaste.

It hadn't been long since our mission in Giga City so it was nice to see that nothing had changed. After a few breaths of fresh air, I headed straight for the shop.

The shopkeeper didn't recognize me at first glance, but deciphered by my clothes who I was. With that settled, I held out the picture.

"Think you have anything similar to this?" I asked.

He stared hard at the picture. "So, he needs a new sword? Come to think of it, we have something very similar and is probably stronger than this one."

With that, I followed him to the weapons section. He reached for a black saber hilt, pushing the button and activating the shimmering dark red blade. "The energy making up the blade is probably alot stronger than the one your red friend has. I think he should be very satisfied with it."

I smiled. "I think so too."

It was nearly dusk when I returned to HQ. Zero would be back any minute, so I had no time to wrap his gift. I decided I likely didn't need to and put a tag on it, leaving it on his bed. What a...dare I say...fun day. Kinda disappointing, but it could've been worse, that's for sure. Shame I wouldn't get to see Zero today, but oh well, I'm sure he's ready to just hit the sack like I am.

Upon returning to my dorm, I just washed my face, checked my head injury from this morning which had seemed to have healed up, and threw myself into bed. I was about halfway asleep when I felt and heard something thud onto the other side of the bed. Before I could turn to see what was happening, I felt a hand grab and turn me over to blue eyes looking at me lovingly.

"Sorry, X, I was called away. Thank you for the sword, though, it works far better than the other one. Where'd you find it?" Zero asked curiously.

"Giga City's store. A clerk in Abel recommended Giga City so I gave it a shot." I responded.

"I see. Thank you." He said, stroking my cheek before drawing me into a deep kiss and pulling me close.

"You're welcome."

With that, I snuggled into his bare chest and was soon asleep.

White Day

I was half certain I saw someone leaving my dorm when my unit returned on Valentine's. I had promised X a date that day, so I was bitterly disappointed when my unit got called. Hunting down Mavericks without X by my side isn't how I had wanted to spend the day, but duty calls, I suppose.

To be honest, I was impressed that he found a better sword for me. When I saw it on the bed, I went to the training room for a test run. It worked far better than expected and I liked how the colors were similar to my armor, except the red was a few shades darker. I was pretty tired from chasing down those damn thugs and ready to sleep, but this really made my day so I had to say thank you and wound up sleeping with him instead.

A month later, I had the day off, but X didn't and his group had already left. I swear, sometimes it seems like Signas is keeping us away and worried for each other on purpose...In any case, I had no idea what to do with all this free time without X at first. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling before remembering that the day was also White Day, which got my mind going. I was supposed to get X something three times the value of what he got me.

"What's three times the value of a sword?" I thought aloud as I began to get up and clean myself up.

Rinsing off in the shower, something occured to me. In terms of the relationship, X and I had been together for 4 years. Even before starting the relationship, it already felt like we were a couple. When the mayhem finally began to quiet down, we started dating and as of a few months ago, I was beginning to feel eager to take the next step. Then I wondered if X felt the same yet. Knowing him, he might, but I hadn't mentioned anything about it to him.

As I finished washing and wrapped myself in a towel, getting another for my hair, I had a clear idea of what to get him and I was glad I had been saving money for something special. I didn't want to stand out, so I picked out some dark clothes. Black shirt and black jeans shouldn't draw but so much attention. I always hated shopping, the girls often made eyes at me and I paid it no mind, but it was still so annoying. For X, though, it's worth the hassle.

I never once thought I'd even consider stepping inside a jewelry store, but I've done it anyway. If I remembered his birthday rightly, X's birthstone would be sapphire, so that's what I had to be on the lookout for. Almost immediately, some girls started waving and gossiping, but I did my best to focus and ignored them.

I found a small selection of sapphire rings, which was disappointing, but it was something. Most of the stock had either diamond, ruby, or emerald. A rather small selection for such a popular store, but I guess they're trying to stick with the popular things.

Go figure that most of them would be silver. I always thought silver rings were a bit bland, but then I spotted one that was rather interesting. It was a black gold ring with three sapphires mounted on it instead of the usual one. If I remembered correctly, I also had to get myself one too. Hopefully X would like it because that's what I was getting.

Soon, the cashier spotted me. He looked like one of those pompous people who knew alot about gemstones and jewelry, fancy suit and monocle included. I didn't notice him until I saw his reflection in the glass, along with a few more girls looking my way.

"Can I help you, sir?" He asked.

"Yes, I'd like two of these black gold rings with the three sapphires." I replied, turning my attention towards him.

"Ah, you've a fine eye for jewelry, young man. Lucky as well, these are the last two in stock." He said, opening the inventory and bringing the rings to the counter, ringing up the total.

Said total came to $300. I was rather relieved and surprised, that's far less than expected. As the clerk put the rings in their cases and into a bag, I felt more eyes on my back and got out immediately, beating X's group back by about an hour. I returned to my dorm to relax while waiting for my soon-to-be fiance.

In that time, I found myself making plans for that date we missed. Maybe we could go to that cafe X likes so much. It wasn't so much for the coffee, he wasn't really a coffee person, but more for the sweets. X certainly liked sweets and I admit, I'd sometimes indulge a bit too.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard my dorm door open and close with footsteps trekking towards my bedroom.

"Zero? Are you in here, hon?" X called, opening my bedroom door and peering in.

"Didn't Dr. Light teach you to knock?"

"Very funny." X fired back, sitting on the bed beside me. "How was your day?"

"Kinda dull, really. Yours?"

"Messy and stressing, as always. Why are you dressed so dark?" X tilted his head, those green eyes looking me over.

"I'll explain later. For now, take your armor off. We've got a date to make up for."

Sitting up, I lightly pressed the red gem on his helmet. He yelped in surprise, covering himself on impulse even though he was already dressed underneath. He calmed down and removed his helmet, setting it on the bed. I stood and caught his arm in mine, walking out of the dorm.

At X's favorite cafe, which was right around the corner from HQ and next to the park, he got his favorite cheesecake as always. This was one of those times where I just had to indulge too, so I got coffee and tried out the coffee cake. I always tried something different when we came here, but out of all I've tried, lemon meringue, red velvet, upside down, and what have you, I think I've found a favorite.

I ate slowly, watching X pig out as I did so. Cheesecake seemed to be a comfort food for him, so my timing for taking him here couldn't have been better. When he was finished, I was on my last slice. He leaned over and licked off some of the crumbs on my face. Good thing it was my last bite when he did that because my face went so red, I had to lower my head so no one would see. All I heard was a giggle from X.

We sat out in the park to watch the sunset together, one of X's favorite things to do. I can somewhat understand why, its kinda relaxing, I will admit. This time, though, the longer we watched and sat still, the more nervous I got about proposing to him. I don't know why I was so nervous, but I decided to get it over with before it got any worse.

I stood up, digging into my left pocket, and got on one knee in front of X as I opened the case. X's reaction was reassuring and priceless. His face was probably about the same red as mine when we were in the cafe, but he had his mouth covered too.

"X, will you marry me?" I managed out slowly.

The little brunette nodded his head quickly and held out his right hand. Holding it steady, I gently slid the ring onto his ring finger. I got out the other ring, handing it to X and let him slide it onto mine. A long deep kiss followed as dusk neared. We stood and walked hand-in-hand, leaving no room between us back to HQ, there was alot to sort out with this event.