A/N: OT3 feels right here. Pure, utter fluff.
Some Sort of Valentine
It was February, and it was starting to warm up a little. Not that it had been particularly chilly in the first place. The Land of Departure rarely got snow, only a few cold winds and the occasional hail. The trees were still a bit shaken from the winter, but tiny green buds were already beginning to show up on their branches. The grounds had returned to grass soft underfoot, to contradict the solid earth that had taken its place only weeks earlier. Spring was coming awfully soon.
"Terra." Eraqus gave his brunet apprentice a bemused glance. Aforementioned brunet only raised an eyebrow. The master held up twin cream colored envelopes adorned with heart-shaped seals.
"These are… yours?" Terra walked over, utterly confused. He took the letters hesitantly. They both featured his name on the front in bold, bright letters, but in different handwriting. So Terra concluded, brilliantly might he add, that the letters were written by different people.
"Are these…"
"Love letters. Yes. But I'm not sure who they're from, because they have no return address. They might've been sent from keyblade wielders in other worlds." Eraqus tapped his chin thoughtfully. Terra blinked stupidly.
After unsealing the envelopes and taking out the slips of folded paper that were inside, Terra found that they read generic messages like:
"Won't you be mine, Valentine?" and "Have a wonderful day, Valentine!"
Terra was even more confused by the winky faces at the end of each message.
"Who would send my love letters? Do they even know me?" Terra had zero experience with this sort of thing. Eraqus almost laughed, but thought better of it because that would just be hypocritical.
"Well… it is Valentine's day today. Maybe they were just being nice?"
"How… how did they figure out my name?" Eraqus narrowed his eyes because Terra was paying him no attention and just marveling at the letters in his hands.
"I think he got them."
"I made sure of that."
"This is gunna be great. How come I never joined you before?"
"You were too busy playing hooky with Terra. Ya dorks always skip the regular studies."
"Hey! All I need to know about is how to swing this keyblade like a champ!"
"Don't summon it, idiot! You just whacked me in the face!"
"Whoops! Sorry."
"Why do you hold it like that anyway? It looks really awkward. Plus, it's inconvenient."
"It just… feels more comfortable this way. It's easier hit stuff with."
"Easier to hit what? My face?"
"That's not what I meant!"
Two hours later, Terra was regretting skipping out on that cursive course Master Eraqus had offered them. Both letters read something in the corner, but it was all squiggly and weird and impossible to read. Terra could hardly tell they were words at all. They were both in the same handwriting though.
"Augh. This is stupid. I should just give up. Who cares who sent them anyway?" Terra muttered, resting his elbow on his desktop.
"But, I have to know! It's driving me crazy! See, now I'm even talking to myself!" Terra shouted at the letters lying silently on the desk.
Wait…
Aqua had taken that cursive course; maybe she could interpret the message! Terra grinned at the stroke of genius, and promptly set off to find Aqua.
"AQUAAAAA!" Aqua froze. The conversation she'd been holding with Ventus halted. Ventus went quiet after seeing Aqua press a finger to her lips.
"WHEEERREEE AAREEEE YOUUU?!" Geez Terra, could you be any louder? Aqua rolled her eyes affectionately. Ventus shrunk back against the wall behind the sofa. Aqua slipped out and pretended like she'd just come in from the kitchen.
"Yes, Terra?" She quipped, hands on her hips and eyebrows raised.
"Oh! Aqua!" Terra whipped his head around, brown spikes flipping around and smacking him in the cheek. "I need you to help me with something."
"And what would that be?"
"I got these weird romance letter things from someone, and they have some sort of secret code inside but I can't read it because it's in cursive. But you can, right?"
"And what makes me think I'll help you?" Aqua smiled slyly. Oh how she enjoyed being a tease.
"…because?" Terra's voice was closer to a plead then he'd like to admit. Aqua smirked broadly.
"Alright." She took the envelopes that Terra held out. Upon opening them, she pretended to inspect the messages thoroughly. Terra waited impatiently, shifting from foot to foot.
"This first one says: "I like your hair. It smells nice"." Terra looks slightly disturbed. Ven stifled a giggle as best as he could from behind the sofa.
"What was that?" Terra looked around for the source of the noise. Aqua waved her hand nonchalantly.
"Just the radiator. Anyway, this other one says: "My heart is a battleground, and the war's over you."
"What do these even mean? Like, what do they have to do with the letters?" Aqua shrugged.
"Dunno, maybe the people who wrote them had a sense of humor." More Ven-giggles. More scared Terra looking around frantically. More Aqua reassuring him it was nothing.
"Since when did the radiator sound like a dying monkey?"
"Hey!" Ven's offended squawk was out before he could stop it. Terra narrowed his eyes. He stalked over to sofa. Looming over the top like a giant, his shadow was cast on poor little now very terrified Ventus who was huddled in a trembling heap and staring skyward with the look of a man who'd been sent to become one of those human sacrifices that they threw into active volcanoes. Very specific.
"Hello there dying monkey."
Ventus puffed out his cheeks indignantly.
Aqua laughed.
Terra, finally now seeming to catch on, receded from the sofa pointed an accusing finger towards the grinning bluenette.
"You-you set this up!" he spluttered, blood rushing to his face. Aqua gave Terra a thumbs up.
"Congrats! I was wondering when you'd catch on. If you ever did." Terra looked down in embarrassment. He turned back to Ven.
"And you! You were in on this too!" Ventus nodded eagerly. Terra huffed, obviously upset.
"I can't believe this…"
Ven giggled. Aqua smirked.
"You think my hair smells nice?!" Ven went slightly pink in the face and Aqua burst into a fit of laughter.
"A-and what's so wrong with that!?" Ventus crossed his arms. Aqua shook her head in amusement.
"You two are so oblivious; it's kind of funny to watch." Ven popped up from behind the sofa and the two looked at her simultaneously.
"A-and what about you?" Terra stammered.
Aqua laughed.
"I'm not so quiet about it. I like you both." She grinned, casually swinging an arm around the shoulder of each confused boy and dragging them to the door.
"Now, let's go see if we can smuggle some chocolates from the Master."
