Author's Note: A fic to celebrate Valentine's Day. The story is set after SEED and before Destiny. Normally, the pictures I draw are inspired by stories. Strangely, though, this time around the story was inspired by the picture. To see the fanart that sparked this story, take a peek at my profile!
Disclaimer: Gundam Seed and all its characters belong to their respective owners.
The Mess That Athrun Had Made
"Athrun, you're not helping!" his best friend whined as he passed him on his way back around the coffee table.
He suppressed a shrug. What to give that special someone on Valentine's Day had never really been an issue that made Athrun Zala too nervous. Being the "early bird" type of person, he usually started planning these things a long time ahead of schedule.
So while Kira was stalking up and down, having fits over what to give to Lacus – and with his mother following the distressed youth around the house trying to advise her son as best she could – Athrun watched the procession with half-lidded eyes. Lazing on the couch, he was already dreaming about the little mechanical marvel he would prepare for Cagalli. He could not keep the tiny smirk of irony from spreading on his lips as he thought about his best friend's predicament. Kira had a right to be nervous about Lacus's gift. It was the couple's first Valentine's Day together, and the brown-haired boy had a succession of insanely cute Hallo's to compete with.
"I know!" Caridad Yamato exclaimed suddenly, clapping her hands together excitedly.
"Really?" Kira pleaded hopefully. "What is it, Mom?"
"Why don't you give her a nice hand-made card with her name on it?" she suggested. But Kira visibly slumped at his mother's idea. "It'll be a lot more personal than buying a card at the store."
Before she finished talking, Kira was sitting down, squat in the middle of the floor.
"Mom…" he groaned, dropping his head in his hands. "If you forgot, she's Lacus Clyne, the world famous idol! What's she going to do with a measly piece of paper with paint and glue on it? I want to really impress her with something awesome…"
Like those micro units Athrun used to give her.
The grievance went unvoiced, but Athrun could see those purple eyes begging. He busied himself with a non-existent loose thread on his jacket, pretending not to see he look in his friend's eyes. It was common knowledge that Kira, while he arguably surpassed Athrun in programming skills – that point remained unproven, as far as Athrun was concerned – had no talent at all for creating mechanical critters. Athrun had spoiled Kira during their childhood days on the moon. Whenever a micro unit assignment came up in school, Kira would come running to Athrun for help, usually two days before the thing was due.
Forget it, Kira, Athrun thought at him vigorously. Not this time.
There was just no way he was helping him make a micro unit for Lacus as a Valentine's gift. It would be a sham. The pink-haired girl would know in an instant who had really been doing all the work. She would say nothing, of course, but then the gift would not be from her valentine, but her ex-fiancée. That just would not go down well. As much as Athrun loved designing colourful little creatures and presenting them to his friends, he was not going to make a fool of himself and Kira. Besides, he had his hands full with the one he was making for Cagalli!
"Why don't you just go with the card idea?" he offered.
"Athrun!" Kira nagged.
Finally, Kira's mother caught on to the unspoken request that had passed between her son and Athrun, for her eyebrows climbed. She planted her fists in her hips and assumed her scary mom persona – a face every mother had reserved for the odd occasion when her children were really crossing the line. Hers was the second-most intimidating one Athrun had ever known. His own mother would always have come first in that category. In hindsight, he reasoned, that was probably only because Kira's mother never really aimed her rebukes at Athrun.
That Kira's mom still used it on him was a measure of just how well it worked. Or what a kid Kira still was.
"Kira…!" she scolded. "You're not thinking of asking Athrun to help you make on of those cute thingies for you to give to Lacus, are you? That's cheating!" She sounded scandalized. Kira shrank back, wincing as every word of his mother's supremely accurate accusation hit home. "Think of what it will do to poor Athrun! The two of them used to be engaged!"
Though she's missing the point slightly, Athrun thought with a grimace.
"Be a man, Kira!" she continued her tirade. "Find your own Valentine's Day gift!"
By the time she was finished ranting, Athrun actually felt sorry for his best friend, despite the fact that he had brought it on himself.
---
She was a girl on a mission. Her location: Athrun's front lawn. Her target: the small, inanimate, box-shaped object fixed on a pole. The gorgeous, dark-haired Coordinator taking up residence in the one-man flat would probably not be best pleased with her for stalking his mailbox, but it was for his own good.
As she had suspected when she first started monitoring the situation, they must have been watching his movements for some time, for they knew exactly when he would not be around to notice their subtle molesting. What they had not taken into account was Athrun's self-proclaimed protector. Time and again, they failed to notice the sand-haired girl hiding in the bushes, watching their violation of Athrun's mailbox with toffee brown eyes infused with murderous outrage.
She had spotted several of them, making their deposits in turns too well-timed to be coincidence. They must be plotting together to ensnare him, the lot of them! Well, she was not about to allow it!
They had no right!
Though Athrun was an ex-soldier, and a tough one, at that, he had no defence against this kind of abuse. She had to protect him, whether he liked it or not. She could not allow them to do as they please, to sink their teeth into his vulnerable heart, innocent and untouched by any—
Whoa, hold it! What the heck am I thinking!? she berated herself, cheeks heating up instantly. She was supposed to be standing guard, not fantasizing about Athrun! Pull it together, Cagalli!
When she was sure the coast was clear, she made a mad dash for the mailbox. With a swift, practised movement, she sabotaged the lock. After all, she had done this every day of the week so far. She swung the little door open, stuffed the loot into her canvas bag, and then snapped the contraption closed again. Without a backward glance, she high-tailed it home to do what she had to do.
Once there, she made sure that no one was around to see what she was doing. A tame fire crackled invitingly on the hearth as she entered the living room. Good. She scanned the room urgently before hauling the sack from her shoulder. It was not that she felt guilty about stealing someone else's mail, really… Okay, maybe a little. But mainly, she wanted to spare Athrun the humiliation. If someone were to find out, and they were to press the issue, it would lead to uncomfortable questions, like 'why'… Cagalli was not prepared to risk Athrun's pride on behalf of her own carelessness.
So when she was sure she was alone, she dumped the contents of the bag unceremoniously onto the table. Several suspiciously scented envelopes in pleasantly pastel colours tumbled out, landing in a haphazard rainbow on the smooth, polished surface. She picked one up and flicked it into the fire.
She did not bother to open them anymore. After reading two on that first day, she felt so sick to her stomach that she only bothered to read the heading on the third. That alone was enough to make her ears grow hot, though. That people wrote stuff like that disgusted her. When she saw who it was from, she immediately had no more respect for the woman!
So, since discovering that her secretary – of all people!!! – had thoughts like that about Athrun, she had decided to stop opening the envelopes altogether. She did not want to end up scowling at anything female that came near Athrun, so it was better that no one saw these obscene letters. With growing satisfaction, Cagalli tossed the Valentine's Day cards she had found in Athrun's mailbox into the fire one by one. The flames accepted the colourful sacrifices hungrily.
How dare they!? she fumed silently.
They had no right to send him love letters!
She was so caught up in her emotions that she did not notice the small slip of plain white paper burning among the charred envelopes…
---
Athrun shut the door to his mailbox and turned away with a disappointed sigh. Still not here… he groaned inwardly.
He had been waiting all week for any sign that those special parts he had ordered had finally been delivered. He needed those for Cagalli's Valentine's Day gift, and the specific type and quality that he wanted were not available in the local stores. So he had been forced to wait.
But he could not afford to wait any longer. One last time, he caressed the blueprints carrying the design for a petite, crab-shaped micro unit, where it lay tucked neatly into the corner of his pocket, then hopped into his car and drove to the shop.
It was already the day before Valentine's Day. Athrun was fairly confident that he could finish Cagalli's present if he worked through the night, but he needed those special parts now. He regretted compromising on the quality of the parts, but if he wanted to present the gift to her by tomorrow, he would have to start working on it right away. He could not afford to wait any longer.
At the store, he selected the best substitute parts he could find for the job, but no matter how he looked at it, the perfectionist inside him was not at all happy with the arrangement. It felt… cheap. Like he was cheating her. Cagalli might not even notice the difference, but Athrun would know. And he would be reminded of his failure every time he saw the mechanical toy. What was meant to be a joy for both of them, would become an irritation to him.
As he aimed to pay for the items, he was surprised to see the shop attendant shy away at his thunderous expression. Quickly, he schooled his features to smoothness. He should not let the issue bother him so much. As soon as he received the slip in the mail notifying him of the arrival of his purchase, he would simply offer to "upgrade" Cagalli's micro unit for her. That way she did not even have to know that he had given her a gift with second-rate parts. His mood brightened considerably at the thought of Cagalli's face when he finally introduced her to the fully mobile, battery-operated, pocket-sized symbol of his affections for her. He had even considered installing a speech program, like he did with Lacus's Hallo collection, but he figured that Cagalli might become annoyed if the thing became too outspoken, so he had put that feature on hiatus for the moment.
On the way home, he met Kira, strolling along on the sidewalk, hands stuffed in his pockets, staring at the sky dreamily – the image of a carefree guy. He seemed in a much better mood than he had earlier that week.
"Hey, Athrun!" he called, waving. Athrun pulled up on Kira's side of the road and leaned out of the car.
"Need a ride?" he asked.
"Nah, I'm going the other way," his best friend replied nonchalantly. Then, his eyes lit up excitedly. "Oh, good news! Guess what!"
"They moved Valentine's Day up a week?" Athrun quipped dryly.
"I found the perfect gift for Lacus!" he piped up happily.
"Great!" Athrun enthused. That was fast… A part of him was slightly jealous that Kira was roaming around with absolutely no worries on his mind while Athrun had to pull an all-nighter before he would be able to relax. "Well, I still have lots to do before tomorrow. See ya!"
With that, and a playful beep from the car's horn, he was off. Athrun supposed he could have confided in his best friend, but he found that he was not about to admit to Kira that, as of yet, he had nothing to give to Cagalli on Valentine's Day. That would feel too much like losing.
That was part of the reason he was so upset when he got home and discovered the power was out. Athrun realized that he must have looked pretty odd, running around the house, switching on random electrical appliances everywhere, hoping to see that it was just one or two things that were broken, and not, in fact a black out. But as he peered outside, he noticed that street lamps all over the neighbourhood were dead as well.
Perfect… he thought as he slumped against the refrigerator, pressing his forehead to the cool, sleek surface and willing the thing to hum back to life any second now. It disappointed him marvellously.
His laptop had a few hours of battery life left, but not nearly enough to finish all the programming. Kira was fast with complicated programs— He stomped that thought down the moment it surfaced. It would be a cold day in hell before he went running to Kira for help. His pride just would not allow it. Besides, even if, by some miracle, he got all the programming done in time, none of his sensitive tools would function without electricity.
He was stuck.
Depressed, he trudged into his room, plopped down, cross-legged, on the floor and switched on his laptop. He sat there in the darkness, poking around in the files, hoping to come up with a plan B of sorts. But nothing came to him. To make matters worse, he could not even access the internet in search of ideas. The server seemed to be down. So the entire city's power was out.
Then, realization dawned on him…
He remembered hearing about the electricity company's announcement a few months back. MESKO, the corporation who currently had a monopoly on Orb's power supplies, had come up with a grand scheme to conserve energy through a method called 'load shedding'. Load shedding basically entailed taking turns to shut off the power in certain regions in the country. But, as the announcement was over three months old and no load shedding had taken place, no one had taken it seriously. This was the last thing he ever expected to happen.
Athrun fell back onto the soft carpet and stared at the ceiling listlessly. Was this fate's way of punishing him for being so smug while his best friend battled to think of the right gift for Lacus?
"Why don't you just go with the card idea?" his own insensitive words came back to him, echoing endlessly. He let out a miserable sigh. Time to take your own advice, Athrun… he thought bitterly.
---
The sun was well on its way to its midday peak before Athrun managed to crack open a bleary, green eye. It felt like someone had scooped handfuls of sand into his eyes. Rubbing at the itchy, scratchy sensation under his eyelids, he just barely stifled a groan. His head felt heavy and his back hurt from sleeping on the floor. He yawned wearily and pushed himself into a sitting position. For a moment, the whole room was a blur. And then, as everything came into focus again, he felt sick.
Everything was covered in glitter glue, paper cuttings and crumpled up rejects. Dried paint had left thick, hard patches on the mat where the newspaper he had strewn failed to cover it. His clothes had not been spared the wrath of his clumsy efforts at painting. But worst of all was the gift standing self-importantly atop his desk – wrapped in irregularly decorated paper and tied with a rather untidy ribbon, it was all hand-made. If anything, it was more personal than a card bought casually in a department store. At least, that had been Caridad Yamato's theory. What the princess of Orb would have to say about it, might be an entirely different story…
He had had such high aspirations for this Valentine's Day. Just thinking about the unused blueprints still nestled in his pocket very nearly brought tears of frustration to his eyes. Blinking harshly, he gave his watch one look and realized that this was going to be the most unromantic day of his life – he was late.
When he arrived at Cagalli's place, he was dressed in a fresh pair of black trousers, a white shirt and red pullover – the dress code was probably the only thing he would be getting right this Valentine's Day. There had not even been time to take a quick shower, so he hoped he did not smell too much of craft paint – the stuff had a sharp and unpleasant odour, as he had discovered the night before. There was dried paint under the nails of his left hand and he could not quite get all the glue out of his hair. There had been no time to buy flowers of any kind, and when he had considered stealing a couple of roses from a neighbour's garden, the friendly guard dog on the other side of the fence had quickly dissuaded him.
Tucking the ugly present under his arm, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. As he waited for someone to answer the door, he slid Cagalli's gift behind his back instead. For a moment, he seriously considered turning around and going back home. But she opened the door and it was too late for running away.
One look at her face told him that she was already not at all pleased with him. Way to soften her up first, Athrun… he thought wryly.
"Athrun! Where the hell have you been?" she demanded. Taking in the fierceness of her frown, Athrun found himself hastily revising his 'scary mom face' theory. Women in general, it seemed, had a tendency to use this deadly technique on the unwary male who was stupid enough to anger them. "You're late! Incredibly late!" Her expression softened a bit as she mumbled: "I was worried… Come on in."
From inside, he could hear a keyed up Kira chattering away. Lacus's melodious voice commented every now and then, laughing in delight. His feet remained planted stubbornly on the front porch. No doubt Kira had already given Lacus her Valentine's Day gift – something exquisite and beautiful, something worthy of her regal aura. Athrun Zala was no a coward, but he knew a lost battle when he saw one. There was no way he would be giving Cagalli her gift in front of everyone. It would only add to the embarrassment.
"Cagalli," he croaked out, nervously wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue before forcing himself to continue, "could you come with me a minute?"
"Uh… Sure, okay…" she replied uncertainly.
He took her by the hand and led her away from the front door, out of earshot of the others. His heart beat so anxiously, it made him feel light-headed. He swallowed hard and took another deep breath.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Cagalli," he said hoarsely, pressing the unsightly thing into her hands and looking away so he would not have to see the disappointment on her beautiful face.
---
Cagalli was dumbstruck when she opened the door and saw a completely befuddled Athrun standing on her front porch. Wisps of his hair stuck out at impossible angles, as if he had used glue instead of shampoo. His eyes were tight, like he had not slept a wink, and a vibrant purple smudge adorned his forehead. Despite his appearance, or maybe because of it, she could not stop herself from scolding him for being late – and drastically so – especially considering Athrun was always on time.
"Cagalli, could you come with me a minute?"
"Uh… Sure, okay…" she replied uncertainly. Was something wrong? He sounded so terribly serious.
He took her by the hand and led her to a secluded spot under a tree with sweet-smelling blossoms. His eyes were solemn as he took a deep breath and revealed something colourful from behind his back.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Cagalli," he whispered huskily, pressing the object with the cheerful colours into her hands and looking away, blushing heatedly.
She stared at the gift in disbelief. The jovial wrapping paper was decorated with green, presumably flower-like squiggles. The pink and blue ribbon drooped lopsidedly, and the whole thing shimmered with small glitter hearts as they caught the sunlight. Athrun kept staring at his feet, his eyes avoiding hers. As the silence stretched out between them, the blush in his cheeks deepened.
Careful not to damage the wrapping paper, she undid the ribbon and opened up the gift. Inside the cardboard box lay a red card, decorated with jaggedly cut white hearts all over the front. Her name was painted elaborately in golden glitter glue and adorned with silver heart-shaped stickers. She opened the card and felt her heart melt. There, in Athrun's precise handwriting, was the short and simple declaration every girl longed to hear.
I love you, it read.
She pressed the card to her heart as a warm smile spread on her lips. It did not matter that he was nearly two hours late for their Valentine's Day party. It did not matter that he had not brought her flowers. It did not matter that his card looked like something that was made by a ten-year-old. He loved her.
"Oh, Athrun!" she cried. All the startled boy could get out was a surprised squeak as she pulled him into a fierce hug. For a long moment she just stood there, savouring the feel of his warmth against her and the pleasant fragrance of the flowers blooming in the tree overhead. "This is the most romantic day of my life…"
Author's Note: If you live in South Africa, you'll know where I got the idea for the prolonged power failure. I just changed the company's name a bit.