Grant Ward is six years old when he falls in love.

And it all happens the day Miss Audrey announces that they had new students joining their class. He's sitting towards the back with Jemma, who's already out of her seat, neck craned.

Grant looks to the front and swears he's seen an angel. She was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

"Class, can we please welcome Skye and Leo? Let's help them settle in, alright?" Miss Audrey turns to them, "Sit anywhere you like."

He's surprised when Skye tugs on Leo, heading straight to their table. "Hello! I'm Skye, this is my brother, Fitz. His name's Leo Fitz but he doesn't like it when people call him Leo, so call him Fitz. Can we sit here?"

Jemma nods eagerly. "Yes! I'm Jemma. This is Grant, he's my best friend."

Skye plops herself in the seat next to his, opposite Jemma's leaving Fitz in the only other open spot. Grant can't do anything besides stare at her, trying to listen as she answers Jemma's questions, talking about how they had just moved into town. Fitz doesn't speak much, only occasionally so, most of the time his attention is on the alarm clock in his hand. Grant doesn't know why he has that but he watches as the other boy takes it apart before putting it back together.

"Grant?" Skye says, waving a hand in front of his face.

Skye's looking at him expectantly with big brown eyes.

"Sorry." He feels warm, reaching to adjust the collar of his t-shirt. "Did you say something?"

"I was asking if you wanted to be my partner for today because," she waves her hand to the other two.

Jemma was talking to Fitz now, in hushed voices telling him all about the time her parents had taken her to Switzerland and how she'd seen the clocks in the factory. Fitz was smiling, showing her all about the mechanism.

"Okay." He says.

He really likes Skye.

She's nice to everyone. And she doesn't make fun of Jemma for wanting to play by the pond. Skye even catches the frogs with her, putting them in a plastic box that Fitz holds as far away from himself possible, face scrunched up.

She's smart too. Grant hears her talking about computers and phones sometimes with Miles. And she's really good at math. She can memorize up to the 6 times table.

And she likes to read. Sometimes, during recess, she'll sit next to him and then they'll read together.

They've already read Harry Potter, well just the first and second. Skye really likes Quidditch and she says she'll play Seeker because she's the smallest. And that he'll be a Beater because he'll protect them all. He likes that.

Sometimes, they'll sit on opposite sides of the hallway, throwing a tennis ball back and forth so she can practice.

Grant stands just outside the door, peering in. He's terrified of what would happen next. He looks in again but Skye's still sitting with Jemma. His best friend looks up and says, "Oh! Maybe you should go check your basket!"

Sometimes Grant hates that Jemma was so bad at acting.

"Okay." Skye says, already used to how weird the girl could be at times.

What if she doesn't like the card? He had made it himself, after watching Jemma make them for everyone in class. Or maybe it was the flowers?

He doesn't really have enough money saved to get her the kind of flowers he's seen guys give to girls on TV. So he asked Miss Audrey instead, if he could take some from the class' garden and she had told him to pick any that he wanted.

Grant had walked around for a long time, looking for something Skye would like. What kind of flowers did girls like? He asked Trip but his friend had only shrugged saying to just pick something pretty. And he doesn't want to ask Jemma because he wants to do this himself. Skye likes purple, she wears a lot of it and has a lot stuff in that colour.

There weren't many purple flowers, most were red, pink (Skye didn't like pink much), yellow and orange. And then he sees it, the lilacs from last year. "Miss Audrey!"

"That's a wonderful choice, Grant." Miss Audrey says as she carefully cuts the flowers. "Would you like me to arrange these?"

He thinks it over, it would look much nicer, he nods. Miss Audrey fixes the flowers, wrapping soft paper around the stem before tying it all together with silver ribbon. "There you go."

"Thank you," he says.

Or what if she doesn't like him? What if she likes someone else? Like Trip? Trip was fun and he was funny, Skye always laughed at his jokes. Or Miles? Miles liked Skye, he was always talking to her - and Grant, well, he didn't like Miles much.

He feels his heart beating really fast, he's clutching the door really tightly. He's really nervous. He sees Skye smile - was that good? Or maybe it was someone else's card?

Skye smells the flowers. "Oh! That's beautiful!" Jemma cooes. "Who's it from?"

Grant rolls his eyes, he needed to teach Jemma to act. He doesn't get to hear Skye's answer because Miss Audrey calls them into class.

He avoids looking at Skye the rest of the day, choosing to work with Fitz instead.

He's sitting at the bus stop with Jemma and Trip when it happens. "Grant!"

"Yes." Skye says.

He's confused for a minute until he realizes what she's talking about. Skye's saying yes! She was his valentine!

"I love the flowers. They're very pretty." She says. "I have something for you too!" It's a red heart-shaped valentine.

'Will you be my valentine?'

"Yes." He answers immediately.

"Cool."

"Skye!" Her Dad calls.

"Oh, I have to go. Bye!" She waves to Jemma and Trip.

Skye is halfway there before she runs back to him, standing on her tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Bye, Grant."

"Bye, Skye." He waves.

His hand immediately goes to his cheek as Jemma appears on his left, swinging his free hand, talking a mile a minute.

Grant Ward is six years old when he falls in love. And he's sure it's the forever kind.