February 14th, 2014

AUTHOR: tophatviolet

Valentine's Day was a strange thing for the kids at Columbus Elementary School. All the stores carried copious amounts of candy, and it wasn't even Halloween! Even weirder, instead of getting candy you were supposed to give it to the other kids. Alfred was at least happy that he ended up with some in return at the end of the day. So the holiday was mildly exciting when it rolled around every year and his mother took him out to buy the cardboard Valentine's cards with lollipops stuck to them. This year he chose the ones with robots. He had dinosaurs last year, but those were for little kids now!

He spent all afternoon that day writing the names of his classmates on them and folding the cards closed with the little heart shaped stickers that came with them. To his delight, he even had an extra left over. That meant more candy for him! He wanted to eat it right then, but his mother told him to save it in case he needed the extra for someone else. So he went to bed, pouting about not being able to have the extra lollipop right then.

He had completely forgotten about it by the time he got to school the next day though. Too preoccupied by the teacher handing out brown paper bags for them to decorate for placing their candy in. Alfred drew a big American flag on his own, looking at the one hanging in the classroom for reference. It matched perfectly with all the red and white Valentines decorations he thought.

Finally, the teacher began calling their names in alphabetical order, and one by one the kids got up and dropped the flimsy cards and candy into each others paper bags. The girls giggled over cards from their crushes, and the boys fought over whom had the most candy. Alfred, of course, joined in that debate, bragging about his extra piece of candy from his own spare card. This made him the winner, he reasoned.

It wasn't until they where interrupted by the teacher calling the class to attention that they stopped their little argument. There was another little boy standing in front of the teacher looking shy and flustered. That could only mean they were getting a new student. Some children looked on with interest while others were far too absorbed in their sweets.

The new kid was named Arthur, and he had moved there all the way from across the ocean apparently. That was a pretty big feat, Alfred thought. After introductions, the Arthur kid had been sent to his newly assigned seat while the teacher fumbled with giving him another brown paper bag, but most of the class wasn't interested in giving out any more candy. The poor boy eyed the others jealously while the teacher tried to make up for it with offerings of peppermints from her desk. It just wasn't the same, though.

Alfred watched this all, fascinated. It suddenly hit him - he could do something! His extra candy enabled him to have a chance to make a difference in that boy's frowning face! He felt like he had suddenly gained a super power. This must have been what his mother was talking about the night before, the 'just in case' situation. He hopped up from his desk with the extra card and lollipop in hand and casually plopped it into Arthur's paper bag with the biggest smile in his face.

The teacher applauded him for his kindness, and the new boy stared into his bag, both confused and amazed as he pulled out the single Valentine's card that he had received. The outside of it read 'You TRANSFORM me!' with a picture of a transforming robot posed with his hand where the candy was attacked to the card.

Needless to say, the two boys became fast friends, with Alfred showing Arthur everything he needed to know to survive in 'American' school. It wasn't until years later that Alfred stopped to think that Arthur might have taught him something as well. What Valentine's Day was really about.

Ten Years Later

Alfred met Arthur at the breakfast table of their shared apartment in the morning. The meal consisted of ordinary things, like sausage, potatoes and orange juice. Arthur thought that Alfred had forgotten the date perhaps. He always did over the top things, likegiant teddy bears or a large bouquet of balloons. This day, however, Alfred simply dropped a small cardboard children's Valentine's Day card next to Arthur's plate. It was decorated with a robot and a small chocolate. The outside read, 'You make my heart reboot'.

That in itself was enough to bring a nostalgic dampness to Arthur's eyes. When he opened it, there were words scrawled on the inside in Alfred's messy handwriting. That was when the waterworks really begun for the both of them. Arthur's response was followed by flowers and more chocolates, but neither of them cared for those in favor of each other's embrace and kisses.

As it turned out, Valentine's Day was about more than just the candy. However, they wouldn't have gotten to where they were without it, either.