A/N: This is a late Valentine's fic, written for PikaScootaloo because she did not receive a fic from the person designated to give her one, so I jumped in to supply one. Here's your valentine's gift fic! I hope you enjoy it!
Whenever Jasmine told the story of competing on Total Drama, the first question was usually about how hard it must have been. A popular one she heard was, "wow, that must have been the hardest thing you've ever done."
To which she'd always respond with, "nah, the hardest thing I've ever done is probably date an apocalypse junkie." This was true, because Shawn was quite a handful, and it didn't help at all that sometimes Jasmine had to deal with his nervous breakdowns on top of owning one of the more interesting and varied businesses in Canada. The fact that his zombie bunker was right under the store in question eased the pain, but it wasn't much help. And god forbid Jasmine ever want to do something romantic, because it would usually always land at a bad time for Shawn.
Like, for example, one Valentine's night, when Jasmine approached him with dinner plans after closing up shop. The romantic holiday was both very busy and very slow for Roses Are Red, Bruises Are Blue, because the flower shop portion would get almost completely bought out while the cage-fighting school part would see significantly less traffic, allowing more employees to focus on selling flowers. Only one bouquet went unsold, so Jasmine put them on a shelf and spoke encouragement to them. "Maybe tomorrow, you beauties." She ventured downstairs and, after delivering Shawn's twenty-seven digit entry code (to make absolute sure!), she found him huddled in the corner shaking like a wet chihuahua. "Shawn, are you alright?" This question was rather common around her establishment, especially when Shawn was involved.
"No, I'm not okay!" Shawn snapped. "That's the answer when you usually ask that and it's no different right now."
Jasmine threw up her hands defensively. "Okay, okay. Just calm down. Deep breaths, Shawn."
Shawn's nervous expression briefly morphed into a small, shy smile. "You're so cute when you go into cage-fighting teacher mode."
Jasmine giggled and shook her head. "Glad to see you're feeling better. Now do you have any nice clothes?"
"Uh, I think so. Why?" Shawn was now sitting up in the corner and no longer in the fetal position.
"I want to go out tonight, and I think we should look nice. Since it's Valentine's day and all. What do you think?" Jasmine started searching the bunker for anything she could grab to snack on until then.
"Tonight?" Shawn said in disbelief.
"No, two weeks from now," Jasmine said sarcastically. "Of course tonight! That's what couples do, isn't it?"
Shawn shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry but I can't do that. Not tonight."
Jasmine had to do a double-take. "Excuse me? Why not?"
"Because! One of the biggest dudes in the industry predicted that the zombie apocalypse would start on Valentine's day. This year!"
"The industry being the industry of end-of-the-world nerds, yeah?" Jasmine supplied for the sake of context. Thanks Jasmine.
Shawn rolled his eyes. "He has like, at least two degrees, and he knows his stuff. The world ends tonight, and I need to stay here so I can be ready when it does. You should stay here too. We need to be ready to repopulate as soon as it's safe."
Jasmine shuddered at Shawn's last sentence. "Come on Shawn, the world's not gonna end tonight."
"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Shawn asked, standing up and pointing a finger at Jasmine.
"Okay well, what proof does fancy professor guy give us that the world's ending tonight?" Jasmine put her hands on her hips and scowled at Shawn. "And don't point at me or I'll bite your pointer finger off."
Shawn nervously put his hand down as he tried to recount what he had read online. "Well, uh, it's all about the planets aligning, I think?"
"Shawn, you know what we've said about the planets aligning. It doesn't happen, and even if it did, it wouldn't mean anything." Jasmine shook her head before deciding to take the more gentle approach. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Look, Shawn, I know you're scared, but it'll be alright. Life's not fair sometimes, but I doubt it's so mean that it will end when all these couples are going out to have a good time. Just find a good suit and try to make it through tonight. For me, okay?"
Shawn sighed heavily. "Alright, I can try."
Jasmine smiled wide and kissed him quickly. "Thank you so much!" She said happily when she pulled away. "Be ready to go in twenty minutes!"
The sight at Jasmine and Shawn's table was a bizarre one to put it nicely. Jasmine was all dolled up in a sparkly red dress that was neat and unwrinkled. Her hair had been let down from a ponytail and was allowed to cascade neatly down her back. In other words, she was absolutely stunning.
Shawn, on the other hand, was a disaster. His suit was obviously dirty, his white undershirt wasn't buttoned up all the way, his hair was completely unkempt, and his too-loose tie hung crooked around his neck. He stuttered while he ordered his food and couldn't seem to sit still. No matter how many times Jasmine assured him that everything would be alright, he still couldn't keep his composure.
The meal only went downhill from there. In the bar near the back of the restaurant, there was a particularly rowdy patron who was getting really, really worked up about a particularly violent and intense hockey game. He had downed one too many drinks and was getting really passionate about Canada's game, and he was ready to snap at any given incentive. His incentive came when a fight broke out in the game, and he screamed at the players to focus more on the game. When someone else put a calming hand on his shoulder and implored him to calm down, this angry man turned and socked the interlope right in the jaw. The second man crumpled to the ground and everyone around the two gasped. Other drunk, rowdy people immediately jumped into the fight after that, causing an all out brawl to break out in the bar of the fancy restaurant. It didn't take long for the sound of the ruckus to reach the two lovebirds, and the commotion confused one and worried the other.
Soon, people who got involved in the fight staggered out of the bar and towards the exit of the restaurant, ready to get away from the battle. Some of them had blood running down their faces and some of them were groaning in pain. Soon after them, several burly security guards pushed through the restaurant, escorting the unruly gentleman who started the entire ordeal out. Following them were several angry patrons, some of which were angry at the man for ruining their meal, and some of which wanted to continue the fight. One of the security guards made the passing remark that ruined everything: "Why do you gotta act like it's the end of the world or something?"
Those four key words set Shawn off, and there was no hope to get him back for the rest of the night. He stood up quickly and looked around, crazed. "What? The world's ending? I knew it!" He bolted from the restaurant, screaming his head off as he did so. Jasmine groaned and buried her face in her hands. Her entire night had been ruined by a stupid drunk over a stupid hockey game. She reluctantly finished her meal and paid for it (making sure to leave a huge tip) before making her way home for the night, not even bothering to stop by the shop to make sure Shawn was alright in the bunker.
The next morning, Jasmine walked into the store, dejected but feeling better after a good night's sleep. What awaited her was an odd sight to say the least. On a counter in the flower shop portion sat a bouquet of wilted flowers which she recognized as some of the misfit flowers from the previous day. Strangely enough, there was a wad of dirty dollar bills next to the cash register as well. "What the heck happened here?" Jasmine wondered out loud. She picked up the bouquet and a folded piece of paper fell to the ground. She bent down and picked it up. The paper ended up being a note.
"Dear Jasmine,
"I'm really sorry about last night. I was really high-strung and nervous, but I see now by the rising sun that I was wrong about the world ending yesterday. That means, of course, I ruined our Valentine's date, and I feel really, really bad about that. So I grabbed these flowers and made sure to pay for them. They're yours. It's not much, but consider it my apology for ruining our dinner date last night. Maybe we could take a rain check and do it another time?
"Love,
"Shawn.
"P.S.: Keep the change."
Jasmine smiled sweetly and immediately set out on a search to find a vase to put her new flowers in. Her next order of business was to go down into the bunker and find Shawn to thank him for the gift. She found him sprawled out on the ground and snoozing soundly. She smiled at the sight and decided that for now, a kiss on the cheek was plenty of thanks, since that didn't require waking him up.
Yeah, dating someone as paranoid as Shawn wasn't easy. On bad days, it was downright infuriating; but it was moments like the note and those flowers that reminded Jasmine of just why she stuck with the crazy zombie boy through thick and thin. She loved him, and no amount of apocalypse conspiracy theories could change that.