a/n: Valentine's Day comes to NLA but for some reason Mia is less than her bubbly self.

Editing? hysterical laughter

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, with aid from the Lifehold Archives discord.

Mia opened her door to a suspiciously placed knock. Either someone was using their knees to pound on her door or ...

"Hello, Tatsu," she said without any of her usual enthusiasm. She took a good look at him and wrinkled her nose. "What's with the get-up?"

He had replaced his oversized backpack with a pair of tiny fabric wings in pearly pink. Gone was his green hood. Tonight there was a coil of pink tinsel wrapped around his tuft curl. He still wore his green merchant's vest, although it had a lumpy pink carnation tucked into the neckline. A less convincing Cupid was unlikely to exist on Mira. She suspected that whoever had convinced him to wear the outfit had chickened out before making him wear a half-toga. Something to be grateful for, she thought to herself glumly.

Tatsu didn't greet her, merely fumbling behind his back before whipping out a bundle proudly. "Tah dah!" he crowed. It was a misshapen sack, bulging in a few odd directions, with a badly tied bow, all in a sickening pink. Of course it was. For a second Mia hoped that it was an apology present, sent via Potato mail because her ex was too embarrassed to face her. That hope ended almost as fast as her relationship.

"Linly and friends all chip in to make Mia friend feel better," Tatsu said in a rush, shoving the bundle into her hands.

"Oh, thanks." It wasn't making her feel at all better.

"Everyone give a little and make big gift."

"Wow. Thanks," she repeated. If he didn't leave, she was either going to kick him down the hall or grab him and start crying into his greasy adolescent tuft. She squinted at his head. Kicking him seemed the smarter option, but she couldn't guarantee it.

"Mia feel better?"

"Sure."

"Wonderful. Tatsu say bye now. Tatsu late for Outfitter's pool competition."

"Oh yeah, that..." Mia said, but the hallway was already empty. Nopon were built like fuzzy beanbags, but they could hustle when then needed to. She supposed she could also go to the event at the Outfitter's hangar if she wanted to, but uncharacteristically she wasn't feeling it tonight. Valentine's Day and billiards weren't her idea of a perfect match. Neither was Valentine's Day and moping in her quarters, but here she was.

She shouldn't have moaned about it to Lin. Trust a 13-year-old to yap about it to everyone. Mia wasn't even sure she had broken up yet, but it sure felt like it. What was she to think when a certain someone asked her, in passing, if she felt like doing anything tonight, as she was trying to grab a piece of fruit and coffee during the breakfast rush at the mess hall. Not even that nicely. "So you wanna do something tonight or not?" They both had all of 2 minutes to snag some food and make it to their respective teams and saying yes would have eaten up at least 30 seconds of that, without even starting to decide on what to do. "'Cause you treat it like it's special and all." Nice for that to be noticed, but did that mean that she, Mia, was supposed to have done the planning herself?

Mia flopped onto her bed, package perched on her stomach. People planned their own birthday parties, she considered. Why shouldn't they plan their own Valentine's Day dates? Except it had been like that for weeks: Mia doing the planning, making the first contacts, mostly going unread, until something came up and the whole thing fizzled. Because they were both so busy! Sure! Exploring the wonders of Mira, fighting the bad guys, showing off how wonderful things were! But if they couldn't meet or even text each other, how was being together different than being broken up?

She sighed. She'd only told Lin because she was trying to explain why she wasn't into joining Team Tatsu for the pool competition tonight. That had been exactly an hour ago. How many people had Lin managed to blab to in that short time? Mia tried to guess, based on the weight of the present sinking into her stomach. Might as well open it and find out.

She sat up and swept the clutter of tissues off her bed and onto the floor to make enough space to properly inspect the present. It sat, lumpy and awkwardly pink, as she stared at it, willing it to reveal all its secrets. Then she pulled the end of the ribbon. The cloth wrapper flapped open and the contents spilled out.

An energy bar, peanut butter flavored, Gwin's favorite. His blocky handwriting let her know this, although everyone who'd ever teamed with him knew this already. A bottle of pink nail polish, almost full, with a "you go girl!" from Irina. A cookie, freshly frosted with her name and several smiley faces. It smelled so good that Mia's stomach gurgled in appreciation. She ruefully had to admit that she might be heartbroken, but her other organs were working okay. A beer, with an "atta girl" from Doug. Another beer, a really fancy one, with what looked either like H.B.'s initials or something traced by a crab dipped in ink. She was surprised they'd both slipped her the alcohol, then noticed the 0% proof on the labels. Man, she wasn't getting any breaks tonight, was she?

Maybe Frye had snuck something in. She pawed through the assortment, putting aside the small stuffed ovis and the sample face mask packet, until she spotted something tagged with his bold handwriting. It was foil-wrapped, sparkling with golden glitter that promised Ma-non origins. She opened it and peered in. A chalky piece of chocolate lurked inside. She took a nibble and almost dropped it in surprise. It burned her lips faintly, before melting into creamy softness. She took another tiny taste and realized the sting was from cold, not heat. Amazing. Those amazing Ma-non bastards had figured out how to make shelf stable ice cream.

She finished the ice cream as she looked through the rest. A coupon for a free steamed milk from Phog. An origami skell from Alexa. A packet of tea from Elma. She sorted through them, now munching the more standard chocolates from Chief, trying to decide what to enjoy next. A slip of paper had fallen off its gift, and Mia inspected it, trying to figure out what it belonged to.

"Playlist for emergencies," it read. No signature, but if she didn't know better, it looked a lot like the precise notes that came on the assignments she received from the Mission Board. Curious, she tapped the code into her comm device. The result was a song playlist. Mia shrugged and pressed play on the first one.

Holy cow, did that hit just everywhere all at once, she thought, scrubbing fresh tears off her face. She realized she was smiling too. She squinted at the playlist. There were 19 more entries, ready to simultaneously wring her out and stiffen her spine.

She took a deep breath. She now had a plan for the evening. A long hot shower using every single bath product from the bundle, followed by a short visit to the pool contest. Maybe not the second part. Maybe she'd just prowl around until she found more of that ice cream.

a/n: Happy Valentine's day, and remember that ice cream and hot showers and indulgent playlists are always key to well being, regardless of the state of your heart. Big thank you to the Lifehold Archives for support, suggestions, and playlist.