AN: I present to you a special Valentine's Day (aka Singles Awareness Day) fic. It's mostly an apology fic however for not having the chapters of my other stories ready for today like I had wanted. So I hope this will hold you all over until I've finished the chapters for My Life Would Suck Without You and Science Plus Magic Equals Children. Yes, I'm actually writing a chapter for SPMEC. I know. It's a miracle.
So whether you have a special someone in your life or not, I still wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!
Disclaimer: I own nothing! How many times must I point this out?
Can't Knock Em' Out
Nanoha Takamachi was not very happy. On this day for lovers, also known as Valentine's Day, the auburn haired young woman found herself alone. Now normally, she wouldn't have minded so much considering this wasn't the first Valentine's Day she'd spent single. No, that wasn't what was bothering her. The problem she faced was that her friends seemed to think she needed to find someone on this special day.
Thus she found herself coerced into a nice club going outfit and practically shoved into Hayate's Toyota Corolla. On the way to the undisclosed location, Hayate made sure to pick up their two good friends Arisa and Suzuka. They were in on Hayate's devious scheme to get their friend, not only a significant other, but possibly laid. Yes, it wasn't the most honorable reason but they all agreed that the girl needed it badly. Nanoha hadn't had a real relationship, heck, she hadn't even gotten to first base with anyone yet! It was very noble of her to be saving her first time for the love of her life, but at the rate she was going, they were convinced she'd never find her prince or princess charming.
The girls pulled up to The Infinity Library. Contrary to the name, it was not in fact a library. It did however, have an abundant amount of alcohol. Hayate especially liked this particular bar because the girl bartenders wore schoolgirl outfits. This just so happened to be one of Hayate's fetishes. It was a good thing her girlfriend was more than willing to go along with her role playing requests.
"Be careful with it." Hayate grinned at the valet as she handed over her keys.
The brunette was rather fond of her car. It was not only her first car, but one she bought herself with her own money. She'd never forgive anyone who'd cause harm to her baby.
"Alright guys, lets get Nanoha laid!"
"Hayate!"
"I mean a boyfriend or girlfriend!"
"Nice save Hayate." Arisa said sarcastically.
Hayate could only laugh nervously at her slip up, so much for their covert operation.
"I'm sure we'll find someone nice for her." Suzuka tried to be the positive one of the group. At least she was trying to be. Finding someone that was dating material was hard enough when you were sober, she couldn't even imagine how that would work out with alcohol in their systems.
"What Suzuka said!" Hayate exclaimed excitedly. "Don't worry Nanoha-chan, we're going to find someone special for you."
Nanoha rolled her eyes. "I told you guys I'm perfectly fine being alone."
"You've been saying that for the past 4 years Nanoha. You're almost 23 and you still haven't lost your virginity! I can't allow this to go on!"
A noticeable pink hue dusted Nanoha's cheeks.
"I swear Hayate if the only reason you dragged me out tonight was to find someone for me to have sex with then I'm leaving."
"N-No! I'm just playing around! Haha, can't you take a joke?"
"Yeah, do you think we'd let Hayate plan an evening out for something like that?" Arisa walked towards the line of people waiting to get into the club.
"I guess you're right. Hayate can't be trusted with delicate things like romance." Nanoha nodded sagely.
Suzuka couldn't help but laugh at the auburn haired girls comment.
"Hey! If I'm so bad with romance then how did I get a girlfriend before all of you?"
"That might be a mystery we'll never solve." Suzuka chuckled. "Or maybe it was Rein-chan who wooed you?"
Hayate blushed.
"No way. The Great Hayate was the one who fell in love first?" Arisa smirked at the brunette.
"Shut up! It's not like it was one-sided."
"Oh Hayate-chan, you're still a girl at heart." Suzuka smiled.
"Shouldn't we be talking about Nanoha's love life not mine?"
Her three friends only laughed at the brunette's obvious discomfort with the subject of her love life. It was a well-known fact that Hayate had prided herself in being a playgirl. She was known to be a notorious flirt during their high school days. There wasn't one girl she'd date for long before Hayate called it off for reasons only she knew. Then Reinforce came into the picture. The sliver haired beauty transferred into their school during their senior year. To say Hayate had been smitten was an understatement. For the first time in her life, Hayate found herself unable to smooth talk a girl. It had been rather comical to watch the ever-eloquent Hayate fumble and stutter her words. The memories alone still brought many laughs. Eventually, Hayate did get the girl or was it the other way around? They still weren't sure. The couple never revealed who asked whom choosing instead to leave them guessing.
The girls reached the front of the line. Each pulled out their IDs for the bouncer to check before they were allowed in. They made their way to a corner of the bar to observe the crowd better. Somewhere in this crowd was Nanoha's significant other. It was just a matter of finding them.
-Nanoha-
"I'm not going."
"I don't see why not."
"Because it's stupid."
"Fate, you haven't gone out once since we graduated." Reinforce shook her head at her roommate.
"Because I have more important things to do."
"Doing what exactly?"
"Working."
Reinforce sighed and turned to the other occupant in the room. "Signum, talk some sense into her will you?"
The pink haired woman who sat on the couch gave the blonde a pointed look.
"For once I have to agree with Reinforce. You spend entirely too much time on your job."
"That's because I just got hired! I can't afford to mess this up."
"Fate, you work for your mother and you've been working there for a year now. Even she thinks you need to get a life."
"But…"
"No buts!" Reinforce stated firmly. "Just because you're a cop doesn't mean you're not allowed to have fun. Even Signum gets out more than you do and that's saying something."
"It is a rather sad fact." Signum acknowledged.
Fate sighed in defeat. She wasn't going to win this argument with her roommates. The two women had been trying to get her to loosen up since the day they met. Well, at least it's what Reinforce had been trying to do. Signum was not one to try to get anyone to have fun since she was barely getting the hang of it herself. Still, the fact that Fate hadn't experienced any of the fun things that one did when they were young was sad. There was a time and place for everything and that was called college. Yet Fate had skipped through all that instead choosing to focus on graduating the police academy becoming one of the youngest to earn her place on the police squad.
Tonight, however, was Valentine's Day. Reinforce and Signum both had girlfriends that they'd normally spend this special day with, but the seriousness of their friend's plight forced them to use this night to finally get Fate laid. If anything was going to loosen up the uptight girl it'd be sex. That or getting her completely trashed, whichever came first. They weren't very choosy at this point.
"Let's get this over with then. I have work tomorrow."
"No you don't." Signum stood up and made her way to the door. "Lindy-san gave you the day off."
"You got my mother involved in this?" she asked in disbelief.
"Well, she was the one who suggested this night actually." Reinforce put the finishing touches to her makeup. "She said something to me about being worried about you and then I offered to take you out tonight."
"Sometimes it's hard to believe my mother is Chief of police."
"Quit your whining and get your butt moving. We've got partying to do."
-Nanoha-
Nanoha sighed for the umpteenth time that night. She'd been nursing the same drink some random guy had bought her at least an hour ago. After sitting around and watching the crowd, Hayate suggested she go sit at the bar to make her more approachable. Seeing no harm in at least trying, she left the safety of their table and took the first available seat she could find. It didn't take long for the fish to start biting. The first guy to make a move on her was some man with long green hair. He was nice enough but Nanoha just wasn't feeling it. At least she'd gotten a drink out of it. The next one to try was a much younger girl. She had short lavender locks and vibrant cyan eyes. Again, much like her first suitor, she found the girl to be nice but there was no spark. That magical feeling she was expecting when she'd meet the person meant for her was nowhere to be found. Now she found herself entertaining a blonde man with green eyes and glasses. She thought he'd said his name was Yuuno or something. She'd pretty much stopped paying attention after he started to talk about how he was a college professor. Not only did she not want to date a professor for fear he might be a teacher at her campus, but he was an anthropology teacher. The subject matter bored her to death and the man's endless chatter about his job was putting her to sleep.
She was beginning to feel like she'd never meet her soul mate.
"Can I get a Jolly Rancher?"
Nanoha felt a shiver run through her body. That was odd. She'd never felt something like that before. Nanoha turned slowly towards the deliciously voice. Immediately, her eyes caught sight of luscious blonde locks. Her heart began to hammer in her chest. Then it happened.
Blue and red clashed.
The music became a dull hum and the people around them seem to fade into the background along with the music. They weren't sure how long they stared at each other. It could've been seconds, minutes, hours; it didn't matter. All they wanted to do was drown in each other.
"Here's your drink."
They were snapped out of their daze. Fate looked away first. A blush colored her cheeks. She paid the bartender but made no attempt to move from her spot next to the auburn haired girl. Likewise, Nanoha stayed glued to her spot. She was trying to control her body's strong reaction to the stranger standing next to her. She'd never felt anything like it before.
As she was trying to make sense of her feelings, she suddenly found the blonde girl shoved right into her. Her breathing hitched as she felt her body mold perfectly to the blonde girls.
"S-Sorry!" Fate quickly pushed herself away from the other girl. Her cheeks were becoming redder by the seconds. Not only had she practically assaulted the girl before her, but her hormones had decided they'd been dormant long enough and were supplying her with some rather graphic imagery.
Nanoha smiled nervously. "Nyhaha, it's okay. You can't help it if someone bumps into you."
Fate smiled in relief. The last thing she wanted was for this girl to think she was some sort of pervert. Not that she cared what a random stranger thought of her. She'd probably never see her again. The thought alone caused her to feel an unbearable sadness. Maybe she should get her name at least? She kept repeating to herself it wasn't so she could look her up later.
"Umm, my name is Fate. Fate T. Harlaown. And you are?"
Nanoha giggled. The blushing blonde was rather adorable.
"Nanoha Takamachi. Nice to meet you Fate-chan."
Hearing her name being said like that caused her stomach to do a flip.
"Nanoha…"
The auburn haired girl felt another shiver run through her. The way her name fell from those lips. Nanoha suddenly became very aware of how delectable those lips looked. Neither of them knew who leaned in first, but their lips soon found themselves in a struggle for dominance. This was it. The spark that Nanoha had been searching for all her life, it was right in front of her. She'd never reacted to strongly to anyone before. This need to be near this person she hardly knew….it was nothing like she'd felt.
Fate, had similar thoughts running through her mind. Men and women alike had flocked to her before, vying for a chance to be with her. Yet she never found any sort of attraction to the people she'd crossed paths with. This girl, however, was doing things to her she didn't understand. It was not an unwelcome feeling though. She didn't know who this girl was but she wanted to get to know her.
The need for air arose forcing both of them to pull away from each other.
"Fate-chan…" Nanoha whispered.
The blonde was beginning to like how her name sounded coming from the lips of the beauty before her.
"D-Do you want to get out of here?" Fate asked nervously. She wasn't sure where the night would take them, but she couldn't wait to find out.
Nanoha felt her voice had failed her. She nodded instead. Fate had never felt so happy before. She gently took her hand and lead Nanoha out of the bar, neither bothering to look back at the friends they'd arrived with. At the other end of the bar, their friends laughed at what they'd witnessed.
"How'd you know they'd hit it off?" Reinforce asked her girlfriend.
Hayate smiled mysteriously. "Oh I have my ways…"
"You mean you snooped." Signum smiled knowingly at her cousin.
The brunette chose to keep quiet. Sometimes her cousin knew her too well. Despite that, she couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of her finding out that Nanoha and Fate had gone to the same school since they were nine. Even more hilarious was the fact that Nanoha had never talked to the blonde girl but she had had a crush on her for the longest time. Hayate had found the picture of Fate with a heart around it in their yearbook. It had been a major coincidence that Reinforce and Signum ended up rooming with the blonde girl. Thanks to this, she had access to the house they shared and was able to conduct an investigation on Fate. She'd truly been surprised to find that Fate also had a crush on her friend. Why they never confessed to each other, she didn't know. What she was certain of however was that they needed to meet. Nature would then take its due course.
"Happy Valentine's Day you two.'
Hayate smirked. She had a feeling they'd be doing a lot of catching up tonight.
AN: Thank you for reading! By the way, the title sort of ties in with the story. I was listening to a song by Lily Allen called Knock Em' Out. Basically, the songs talks about this girl getting hit on by a guy she doesn't want anything to do with and he can't take a hint. It's a pretty catchy song. Anyway, I just so happened to be listening to the song as I was trying to write this so there you go. Happy Valentine's Day!