A/N: This chapter is rated T. This is your fair warning.

Twenty weeks, Mid February

Valentine's Day

POV Odd

It was Sunday morning and I was headed towards Sissi's room. It also happened to be Valentine's Day, and I had gotten her a black and pink bracelet with a little heart motif on it. She seemed to really like when I played guitar for her, so I also I recorded myself playing some acoustic stuff and burned them to a CD. It wasn't much, but I didn't have a lot of money. Anything too extravagant might have made her nervous anyway. After our awkward phase a few weeks ago, that was the last thing I wanted to do!

I was thinking about her while I walked, and how she really took to heart and given a lot of thought about the things I said about the good qualities of how she used to be. She had started to let herself be snarky and teasing again, but without any of the old mean spiritedness. The kind, caring side of her that we used to only sometimes see during XANA attacks really started coming out too, and she was liked more by the others almost daily. I think the final turning point for Ulrich was when Sissi made fun of him and Yumi heading out 'to go study.' They just awkwardly stared at her until she exclaimed 'What! I can tease you guys too you know!' Then we all laughed, even Yumi and Ulrich, despite them both turning beet red. She really was becoming the best Sissi she could be. I remember when she asked what 'my type' was and responding 'playful, flirty, with the right amount of sass.' She was every bit of that, and so much more. I'd liked her for a several weeks already, but now I was completely head over heels for her. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep these feelings to myself.

I arrived at her room and knocked on the door.

"Just a Seco..." 'BANG' "OWWW!"

I quickly opened the door and ran in. "Sissi! Are you..."?

I froze...

She froze...

my eyes about popped out of my head, and my cheeks were suddenly on fire as I saw a small amount of pink fabric, and a LOT of skin.

"GET OOOOOUUUUUUUUUT! OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT!" She grabbed the closest thing to her and whipped it at me, thankfully it was a pillow. I bolted out as fast as I could and quickly shut the door, slumping to the ground against it. I couldn't believe I just walked in on her changing... so much for things not being awkward anymore.

Aelita came out of her room. "What's going on? I heard Sissi shouting, is everything ok?

"I'd rather not talk about it..." was my only reply. The color on my cheeks, look on my face, and my reaction must have somehow tipped her off to what just happened because she started giggling uncontrollably! I would have liked to have told her to be quiet, but I was way too embarrassed to say anything at all.

Just then Sissi's door opened from behind me, and I almost fell backwards. I felt Sissi grab the back of my collar and pull me to my feet. "Come on, get in here!" Next, she pointed at a still giggling Aelita. "And you! Not a word to anyone!" She pushed me into the room before noticing the box with her bracelet and CD case on the ground, picked them up, handed them to me, then shut the door.

As I waited nervously in the corner for my imminent and well-deserved demise, Sissi flopped on the bed, and started literally rolling around laughing her head off! Between laughs be barely managed to gasp out "YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE!" While I just stood there, dumbfounded, and happy that I wasn't currently being murdered.

When her laughter died down, I finally dared to speak. "So, you're not mad at me then?"

She shook her head, lightly chuckling again. "No, I'm not. You didn't see anything you wouldn't have seen at the pool anyway."

I could not have been more relieved. "No awkwardness either...?" I was pushing my luck, and I knew it.

Sissi just laughed again. "We already tried that once and hated it, remember!?" I was wrong, NOW I couldn't have been more relieved. "After the shock wore off, I realized you rushed in because you thought I was hurt, it was sweet. I'm okay though, I just stubbed my toe." She smiled adorably, and I felt my heart melt. I just hoped it didn't show too much.

She rolled onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows. Her expression and posture went from adorable to mischievous, and I knew something snarky was coming. "So Odd... enjoy the show?"

"Uhhh..." I didn't see THAT coming and I froze in shock, wide eyed and slack jawed. I had been so embarrassed for walking in that I hadn't even thought about the details of what I walked in on, though despite my shock, I was pretty sure that wasn't the point of the question! The look on her face made it perfectly clear that she was quite amused by how flustered I was. When I finally shook myself out of it, I somehow managed to evenly respond, "you're a very pretty young lady, and I'm not comfortable saying anything else."

She just laughed yet again. "Well, I hope you've got a good memory because you're not seeing it AGAIN, HA!" Then she stuck her tongue out at me 'PPPPPBBBBBBTTTTTTTHHHHHHH!'

I chuckled, feeling very relieved. If she felt comfortable enough to make fun of me, then everything must be ok. I looked down and saw the box and CD case in my hand and realized that I had almost forgotten about it! "Hey Sissi, these are for you. It's not much, but happy Valentine's Day!"

She turned over and sat up. "You didn't have to do that!"

"That's ok, I wanted to." I sat down next to her, handing her the box and case.

Opening it she exclaimed, "oh that's cute!" And proceeded to put it on, then caught me by surprise by kissing my cheek. I felt my face getting warm and I absently touched my cheek. "Thanks, Odd!" She said while admiring the bracelet. "How about this one?" She asked, looking at the CD.

"How about you put it in and find out?" I said with a smirk. She popped it in and hit play. "That's you!" She exclaimed and sat back down.

"You always did seem to like my playing."

"I love it." She smiled at first, but then looked back at me and started to look a little sad.

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't think to get you anything. I'm sorry..."

I smiled slightly at the sentiment. "That's okay, you didn't have to." I reassured her. It didn't work very well, so I just put my arm around her and rubbed her shoulder for a bit while she sat looking like she was thinking for a few minutes.

Suddenly, her face brightened up as she looked back at me. "Hey Odd, I've got an idea! Turn your back towards me."

"Umm... okay." Though confused, I did as I was told.

She put her hands on my shoulders. "I've never done this before, so let me know if it's any good."

"Ohhhhhhh..." I involuntarily closed my eyes and moaned as I felt her thumbs kneading into the muscles of my shoulders, upper back, and up into my neck.

"Any good?" I heard Sissi ask. I thought it was a silly question because I was in heaven, and I barely managed to nod. After about ten minutes, she stopped. "Ok, I can't do any more, my hands are tired."

"That's ok, that was incredible!" I purred, and out of sheer relaxation I started to lean back with Sissi gently guiding me until I was laying down completely. My eyes were still shut when I realized that my head was resting in Sissi's lap. If getting the massage was heaven, then this was a close second. Unfortunately, I was also afraid of how Sissi would take it. Was this too much or was it simply not a big deal. She had helped me lay down here, so she couldn't be too bothered with it, right? I was pulled out of my reverie when a weight settled on my chest. Startled, I opened my eyes and looked down to see her hand gently resting on me. When I looked up, I felt my heart leap. She looked neither indifferent, nor nervous. Instead, she was gazing down at me with a look of affection, a gentle smile playing across her lips. I had wanted her to look at me like that for so long, and I felt a smile creep to my face as I stared into her gorgeous charcoal grey eyes. I didn't dare to do anything else right now and risk ruining the moment, but I was going to savor it for as long as she would let me. As it turned out was willing to let me lie here for a quite a while. When I eventually worked up the courage, she even let me put my hand over hers.

"Happy Valentine's Day Odd."

Best Valentine's Day present ever.

She slowly started to bring her other hand over towards my face as if about to start stroking my cheek, and I waited in anticipation.

'Knock knock.' "Is everything okay in there?" Fate, in the form of Aelita, had other plans and the spell was broken. I sat up immediately, and Sissi got up to get the door. I felt my cheeks burning and figured that Sissi's probably were too, and Aelita was bound to notice. Unfortunately, if we tried to wait out the blush, then she would be suspicious of that! I just hoped she would keep quiet.

I stepped up next to Sissi as she opened the door, "Hi Aelita, what's up?" I glanced over and saw that she was indeed blushing, probably even more than I was. That made sense, I had admitted to myself that I loved her some time ago, whereas earlier might have caught her off guard.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, and that Odd was still alive." We both blushed even more remembering that I walked in on her. Aelita put on that knowing smile of hers, "but it seems like everything is fine here. I'm heading to lunch, are you going to come too? Or perhaps you two would just like to be left alone for a while." The suggestive overtones in her voice was obvious.

"Yeah, we'll be down shortly." Somehow Sissi was able keep it together despite how flustered she looked. It was certainly more than I could manage!

"Alright, I'll see you guys there!" Then she left with Sissi closing the door after her.

We both heaved sighs of relief at the same time and chuckled before looking at each other for a moment and I started getting nervous again. "Sissi?"

"Yes Odd?"

"About earlier, are we cool? I mean with..." I tried to gesture indicating everything that happened, and somehow, she managed to understand.

She smiled and laughed a little before putting her hand on my shoulder, not seeming to be bothered by any of it. "Yeah Odd, we're fine. Just don't go expecting 'shoulder rubs' to be a normal thing, happy Valentine's Day!" That calmed my nerves, but she clearly meant for 'shoulder rubs' to also mean everything that happened to go with it this time. The memory of the way she looked at me when my head was on her lap finally gave me hope that she could eventually fully return my feelings, and that made my heart soar. She didn't seem ready to do anything about it now, which was fine. I respected and cared about her way too much to pressure her into anything, and I wasn't about to rush this and risk ruining what we already had. No matter how I felt about her romantically, our friendship had was still more important. I thought about asking her how things were with getting past Ulrich, but I cringed at the thought of her admitting that she could still want someone else. It was just too much for me to handle right now. I did the best I could to put that out of my mind for now and just ask another time, at a less tender moment.

She pulled her hand off my shoulder. "Now let's go get some lunch!"

Until now I hadn't realized that we missed breakfast, and the thought of eating did a good job of distracting me from my thoughts of how Sissi might still feel about Ulrich! "Sounds good, I'm starving!" We headed out and I felt a new spring in my step as I smiled over at Sissi and was delighted when she smiled back with a slight blush.

She stopped walking for a second and I did too. She got that snarky glint in her eye before she got up close and whispered into my ear. "Just don't ever walk in on me on purpose. I'd rather not have to figure out where to hide the body!" After she pulled away, she stuck her tongue out at me again. "PPBBTTHHH"

She was clearly teasing me again, so I laughed as we kept walking. We were still best friends, and still fully comfortable with each other, even after everything that had happened this morning. I would have been able to happy with just that, but I finally had some sign that we might be able to be more. For that, I was ecstatic, and I felt I could keep my feelings to myself for a little longer if I had too.

A/N: These chapters keep getting more and more fun to write! The idea of Odd walking in on Sissi is THE reason that I rated this story T in the first place! XD. As always, I hope you guys liked it, and please R&R!