Valentine's Day
"Hi," she said, breathless, as she opened the door.
He smiled hesitantly, hands in pockets, and a general air of nervousness about him, "Hi… Yumi."
There was a moment of silence, where the entire weight of decisions and a world crashing down about them could be heard.
And then, Yumi stepped forward.
Mind you, this wasn't just a normal step. It wasn't a side step, or a small step, but a giant step. And step that lead her right into Ulrich, only a millimeter or two.
And she whispered, lips brushing his, "Thank you for the gifts."
And then, the weight of decisions came crashing down on them…
And never had either party felt so happy.
---
Exasperation.
"Odd I can't believe you'd do such a thing!"
Indignation.
"What? He said he wasn't going to give you a gift so I figured you deserved something, a girl as… special to him as you are. Tell me the truth now, it was the card with the chocolate that did it. Wasn't it?"
Confusion.
"What?"
Contentment.
"You know. Where I talked about how much it pained me- I mean Ulrich- to look at you, and how much in love Ulrich was with you. It's what finally sealed the deal, wasn't it?"
Anxiety.
"You did what?"
Explanation.
"I mean, I know it didn't really come from Ulrich's hand, per say, but it's the words his heart has been longing to write, only his brain didn't have the guts. So really, it was from Ulrich-"
Aggravation.
"Odd you dunce! I gave her something for Valentine's Day."
Bewilderment.
"But you told me-"
Anger.
"I know what I told you, but-"
Tranquility.
"Ulrich."
Rage.
"What?"
Panic.
"Does it really matter? He was only trying to help, and either way, it doesn't change anything between us. Right?"
Mortification.
"No."
Satisfaction.
"Good. Because I don't want anything to change."
Protesting.
"Change is sometimes good!"
Assurance.
"I kind of like where we are right now."
Agreement.
"Me too. I like it a lot."
Happiness.
"And I don't want it to change ever."
Exasperation.
"You try to do something nice and it backfires…"
---
She was the first to break away. The first to initiate, the first to stop. He supposed that had set the tone in their relationship.
He noticed, rather pleased with himself about it, that it took her a few moments to gain her breath, and even as she spoke she seemed to be getting more and more out of breath, "Thanks for the roses… and the other stuff," Yumi said bashfully, looking down at her feet, no idea of where to go from here. But she felt it needed to be said.
"Other stuff?" Ulrich asked, staring at her blankly, happy he was not panting as much as her, though, he was not exempt from it, it had been quite the work out indeed, "You mean the card?"
"No…" she drawled out, looking at him for the first time to shoot him a hesitant look, "I mean the cards… and the… the rice… and chocolate… and the stuffed animal…" she trailed off as the blank look on Ulrich's face increased to the point where she could've easily used him as a slate- if she had had the need for one, of course.
"What are you talking about Yumi?"
She looked at him, disturbed, perturbed and most of all confused, "Didn't you send me all of that?"
"Um… no… I sent you the roses and the cards…"
Yumi blinked, incoherently trying to form sentences, "But you… they… your… they… signed your name…"
When his face did not light up in recongization, Yumi's lit up in worry and alarm. He looked at her for a moment, before Yumi did finally see that look of recongization.
He growled.
"What?" Yumi asked blinking at him.
He grabbed her hand, "Come on," he said, "I know exactly who we can blame all this on."
He had pulled her halfway down the steps before he turned back, "One last thing, before we go."
She cocked her head, not quite sure what was going through his head, she liked to think it was her who had made him so crazy, "Wha-?"
With a smile that seemed to be perpetually pasted on Ulrich's face, he quickly pulled her into his arms and soundly kissed her till he could not stand it a moment longer.
Due to the fact both were rather fit- as attempting to save the world will do to a person- it was while till either emerged, out of breath, happily so.
---
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"I'll get it," Yumi called out to no one in particular, seeing as how no one was there. Well, except her little brother, but he was still half asleep on the couch, and Yumi hardly counted him when he was conscious.
Humming for no known reason, Yumi answered the door, smiling when she was greeted with the sight of a dozen red roses.
"Sign please," the man said, thrusting out a clipboard and a pen with a look of disgust on his face.
Smiling, Yumi excepted the bouquet, as graciously as a beauty contestant, "Thank you," she said, every bit that beauty contestant.
The man murmured something indecipherable, which Yumi took to be a "You're welcome," even though it probably was something very far from that.
In response, Yumi (quickly) closed the door with a hesitant smile, and hurried back to the kitchen to set the flowers in their proper environment- a vase of water.
She never made it that far.
Humming, Yumi lifted the flowers to her nose and breathed in heavily. Roses were always her favorite. Smiling angelically, she placed the flowers on the table, getting ready to get a vase for those beautiful flowers when-
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Yumi blinked, a little confused, but hurriedly opened the door once more, greeted with the sight of the same delivery man, "Erm, hello again?" she said, titling her head to the side with a slightly queasy smile on her face. Why was he back again?
The man grunted out something similar to a greeting, and held out the clipboard and pen once more.
Yumi signed, taking the rather odd gift out of the man's arms and once more thanking him, before closing the door.
She stared at it for a moment. It was some odd sort of stuffed animal. Perhaps a bear? Crossed with a dog of some sort? And with a monkey's ears? She squinted, attempting to make out the animal's breed.
Yumi shook her head, and opened the heart shaped card resting in the odd animal's (… paws, hands, fists of fury...)
You're an animal.
Love,
Ulrich
Yumi stared at the card for a little longer, attempting to decipher the meaning of such a message. She didn't have much time for that sort of thing because within the next ten seconds-
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Yes, the door again.
She put the stuffed animal on the kitchen table, and, once again, Yumi went through the same charade with the delivery man, before receiving yet another untraditional gift-
Rice.
A box of rice- on Valetnine's Day.
Yumi looked at it suspiciously, before opening the card attached to the box.
I'm sure you taste good with butter and salt too.
Love,
Ulrich
Yumi was beginning to question the sanity of Ulrich…
With a sigh, she went back to the kitchen, and put the box of rice away in the cabinet. Someone in her family mines well get some use out of it she thought-
Ring
Ring
Ring
Yumi restrained the urge to roll her eyes, and trudged back to the door.
"Erm… hello… again?" Yumi said cautiously, eying the man with distaste.
The man stuck out the clipboard and pen, "You know the drill by now. And no need to thank me. I don't think you'd want to thank anyone for these gifts."
Yumi smiled hesitantly, signing and taking the heart shaped box from the man. With the current trend in gifts, it would probably be something awful like a box full of cheese.
What was going on?
She thanked the man once more, and told him, in the nicest way she could manage, that she hoped he would never darken her doorstep again.
She placed the box on the kitchen table, scrutinizing it, when she spotted the roses. They were innocent, lying next to heart shaped box. With yet another sigh, Yumi picked up the roses and went to finish filling up the vase- after all, the roses had never done anything to hurt her.
And out fell a card.
She bit her lip, how bad could it be? It couldn't be worse than the other cards… maybe she'd get a laugh out of this one…
She placed the roses in the vase, and picked up the card.
Yumi,
I'm sorry I'm not really good at this stuff, but I figured a girl like you deserves something on Valentine's Day.
Ulrich
Yumi smiled.
---
"So…," he said, propping himself up on an elbow, and raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing for that special somebody?"
Ulrich turned so he wasn't facing Odd, and pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to drown out Odd's unnaturally high pitched voice, "Odd, I have no idea what you're talking about," he said in the most sincere voice he could muster.
Odd made a disbelieving noise, "Of course you do," he waited a few moments for Ulrich to make a confession that he knew exactly what he was talking about and that he had given severe thought about it. Ulrich did not such thing, so Odd felt as if he had to take matters into his own hands, "Valentine's Day!"
"Yeah. What about it?"
Odd could've pulled his hair out. Really. If he didn't love his hair so much, and if he had only loved Ulrich more… "It's in two days."
"So?" Ulrich stressed, feigning blindness.
"Yumi!" Odd interjected.
Ulrich sighed, and in his most patronizing voice replied, "Yes Odd. Yumi. What about her?"
Odd rolled his eyes and spoke in a painstakingly slow voice, "Yumi," he said, enunciating each syllable, "Valentine's Day."
"What about them?"
"Stop it!" Odd replied, quite put out with the whole charade, "What are you doing for Valentine's Day for Yumes?"
Ulrich turned and looked at Odd, "Nothing."
"What?" Odd replied flabbergasted. He had the beginnings of an aneurysm coming on. How could Ulrich not be doing something to woo the love of his life? Ulrich, the shining knight in armor, the hero, the lovesick puppy, how could he not be milking this opportunity for all it was worth?
Ulrich sighed, tired of his explanation in so many ways, "Odd, Yumi and I are just friends."
"OK, I'm going to completely ignore that, because you and I both know that's bullshit."
Ulrich frowned, "It's not-"
"Get to the real reason."
Ulrich hesitated for a moment before complying, "Well… you remember last Valentine's Day? When I tried to write a poem for Yumi?"
"If you can even call that poetry," Odd replied with a chuckle.
"Exactly. It was awful- and I ended up reading it to Sissy. I'm not going to go through all of that again. Plus," he added in a much quieter voice, "That's not Yumi's style."
Odd raised his eyebrow, "What was that last part?" he asked, even though he had heard it perfectly well the first time around- Ulrich didn't need to know that.
Ulrich sighed, why had he even started? "It's not really her style, you know she wouldn't want something so… cliché… and even if she did… I don't know… it's just…"
"You're too big of a sissy?" Odd paused for a moment, "Hey… that was a pun!"
Ulrich groaned, "Very clever Odd."
"Anyways, there's no real reason why you shouldn't do it, all that stuff you just said, it was just because you're afraid," Odd countered.
Ulrich glared, "You know, I like you much better when you're coming up with lame puns."
"Shut up. You're just mad I'm right. It's understandable. You're just jealous- that I'm right. All the time."
Ulrich groaned once again, "Odd, just get on with your point." Why was he encouraging him?
"Where was I? Oh right, Ulrich, you know Yumes loves that kind of stuff. Eats it right up. The clichés just have to be balanced out with a little… personality. You know? A little bit of uniqueness. And you've got to have romance! And how much more romantic can you get than Valentine's Day?"
Ulrich paused for a moment, before continuing on in a sea of doubt, "I don't know Odd… no. I'm not going to. I've already made up my mind. After last year… and Yumi just wants to be friends…"
Odd snorted, "Maybe that's what she told you."
"What do you mean by that?" Ulrich asked sharply.
Odd sighed, now he understood why Ulrich was in danger of failing half his classes, "What's she supposed to say, she's madly in love with you?"
"That would be nice."
"It's not her style," Odd mimicked, but sobered up quickly, "You've got to be the first one Ulrich."
"Odd we've been through this."
There was silence for a few moments, "So you're really not going to get her anything for Valentine's Day?"
Ulrich turned away, "Nope. Goodnight Odd."
Odd glared at Ulrich's back, if Ulrich wasn't going to do anything that Odd might just have to make him do something.