A jolt. A crackle. Blue fire racing down a wire that just…wouldn't…connect.

If this had been a disaster movie, Ai would have been busy screaming, arms outstretched and ready to trample all in his way. But of course, within the SOLtiS he was alone. In fact if you really got right down to it, he was in fact merely numbers, a great many numbers it was true, but numbers none the less - he was multitudes of them, zeros and ones that flickered and changed, housed inside the electrical currents that zapped round this oh-so-useful body and made it move.

…too bad that wasn't happening now though. Nope. Nu-uh. Not so much as a twitch.

It was all thanks to a loose wire, a less-than-helpful result from certain but incredibly vital activities he performed yesterday. And because of it, Ai was now in process of vacating his gorgeous form before it shut down and took him with it. There were few things he could think of that were more embarrassing then losing hours of consciousness, only to be awoken to the sight of a bemused Yusaku, after he manually downloaded Ai back into either his Duel Disk or some other computing system.

So as it was, Ai fired off all the none-existent lifeboats, shedding temporary files in his wake as he jettisoned himself back into the nearest and safest bolt-hole he could think of.

Which: ta-dah! Was Yusaku's Duel Disk! With no small sigh of relief, he landed inside it wirelessly, curling into the welcome darkness much like a cat coiling itself within a box.

'Home sweet, home,' he chirped to himself, half-jokingly. He didn't exactly hate it here, in this place that awoke such nostalgia within him. It was just somewhat more confining nowadays, especially when he considered how much time he tended to spend looking vaguely human-shaped. Well, a lot human-shaped actually. Otherwise then people would give him and Yusaku more than a passing glance in the street and he couldn't have that now, could he? If people were gonna stare, then they were going to do it because he was the most striking and gorgeous, feast-your-eyes-on-this handsome-

…He was getting distracted again.

And so much like a shark fin cutting through the waves, the top of Ai's Ignis head jabbed itself out of the Duel Disk. It was followed cautiously by the narrowed ovals of his eyes as they glared balefully at his usual body. Sure, he could still wear his humanized avatar now, even if it would have to be a miniaturized version…but Yusaku's Duel Disk was kinda old. And its holographic projector, downright clunky. Not quite up to the stuff of rendering every perfect detail of his hair and clothes, and there was no way it could ever hope to show every inky detail of the eyelashes he had once spent hours designing just so, not with the absolute clarity they deserved.

Ai shuddered at the thought. Just picturing the wonky way they would surround his eyes with tiny jagged zebra-stripe cracks of black, instead of the delicate pin-strokes of ebony they should be, was enough to make him bend over and weep.

…not literally of course. Figuratively weep. Figuratively.

Collecting himself, Ai stood on the Duel Disk like an avenging angel, arms crossed and with the purple pattern on his face bunched up into all the makings of a heavy scowl.

Gah! This would have to happen today of all days, wouldn't it?

Ai checked the time. And winced. Because there was barely enough of it left as it was.

Still. He was the dark Ignis! The perfect partner! Yusaku's absolute favourite! Out of err, well, everything and everyone!

A tiny black fist rose into the air and clenched itself tightly. Two glistening yellow eyes wavered as they stared down at the dark cubby-hole that was the underside of Yusaku's bed. For beneath, within the gloom and dust and dirt that Roboppi was no longer around to clean, were a bunch of mixing bowls, some spoons and an assortment of other things Ai would need to make the perfect collection of…

Ai turned to the empty air, and rubbed a finger against the curve of his face, where, if he had been human, his nose would have been.

'Yep!' he announced to absolutely no one in the world. 'You guessed it! Today you've tuned in to see the magnificant Ai-chan's cooking class where we will be making Valentine's chocolates to woo-'

He paused, considering all his prior attempts to successfully woo Yusaku. Only to have his honeyed words greeted by a blank stare or perhaps a raised eyebrow or two. And the one time he had stuck a rose between his SOLtiS's teeth, Yusaku had had the appalling cheek to sneeze.

…Okay, so that one hadn't been Yusaku's fault. And it had been nice to see his lips curve slightly, upon Ai's panicked foray into the bathroom, all to frantically dig through the small cupboard in the search for allergy medicine. Which they probably didn't have.

'Hang in there, Yusaku! Ai'll save you!'

'I'm not allergic, Ai. Anyone would sneeze if you tried to shove petals up their nostrils.'

Indignant, Ai had stuck his head out of the bathroom. 'I did not! There was a clear three millimetre gap between the nearest petal and your nose!' Only to freeze, eyes widening at the look of exasperated fondness Yusaku was shooting him, all with his surupy-soft green eyes and a slight crease in his forehead that was not quite a frown but close.

But most delightful of all, was the curl of his mouth below.

'Oh?' asked Yusaku, a clear laugh in his voice; it rang out in his tone like the chime of a bell, one that made his words bubble through the air, instead of simply cutting harshly across the room. 'That's all? Only three millimetres? I can't think why my body would have a reaction then.'

It had been hard, but Ai had stood his ground, hands on hips and with his face still locked in a mask of indignation. 'Well, if you're not dying, then you could at least say thank you! Do you know how long I spent searching out the perfect rose? How many petals I rejected or thorns I nearly pricked my poor, delicate fingertips on?' Ai fanned a hand in front of his way, allowing said fingertips to splay across the wounded expression he adopted there. 'Just think! I could have torn and bled myself open for you!'

Yusaku raised a brow. 'Could?' he questioned, the bell of humor chiming in his voice once again. 'Bled?' he repeated, another near laugh escaping his tone.

'It's the thought that counts,' Ai replied swiftly, not missing a beat as he sauntered back to Yusaku, letting his-so-very-nearly-wounded fingertips slide up to rest around the back of his partner's neck. 'Isn't that what humans always say?' He grinned. 'Or what you keep telling yourselves anyway?'

Yusaku smirked, his hands rising to rest to on Ai's waist, completing the loose hug Ai had been going for. 'It helps if you actually try and think of a gift the other person will enjoy. Or get to use. You got me something that's doomed to die in a few days.'

'Ah, but you get to enjoy the beauty while it lasts!' Ai said sagely. He almost felt temped to let a black beard blossom on his chin, to let it fall down thick and heavy to collide with Yusaku's chest to help give him the appearance of a worldly man from the fables humans liked to preach at each other. But it would probably just spoil the mood and Yusaku wouldn't find it funny, so he resisted.

'That's true,' Yusaku agreed, eyes locked on Ai's face, on his eyes and mouth and sharp cheekbones, and basically all the things Ai had designed to be pretty perches for his Yusaku's libabo to linger over. He was just so nice like that!

'Thank you,' Yusaku added, with no real warning, just to make Ai swoon, and how unfair was it that his Yusaku could woo him so simply, while Ai went to all this effort and barely ever got to make his partner go weak in the knees in return?

And then to add the finishing blow, Yusaku's hand travelled to his face and swiped away a loose curl, his own fingertips lingering softly over the open curve of Ai's cheek.

And err, well, after that…

Locked back inside the present day, Ai giggled, nearly bowling himself over with the memory of grateful kisses and Yusaku's warm and all too-knowing eyes. Only to then be knocked back into reality when he remembered his current dilemma and the fact that he hadn't finished his announcement to…nobody in particular.

He raised a finger. 'Okay,' he said harshly. 'Maybe I won't manage to woo my heartless and oh-so-easy-to-annoy partner! But I will make that icy-cold visage crack open into a smile! And he will say thank you! And feel grateful enough to get me something in return on White Day!'

Ai nodded to himself. Snapped his fingers. And let the fans spring out either side of the Duel Disk, all so he could hover himself over to the dark and creepy underside of Yusaku's bed. The next five minutes were then filled with much groaning and herculean effort as Ai's tiny hands seized seize hold of each individual bowl or spoon or chocolate mold and dragged them out to the center of the room.

Eventually when everything was out, Ai took a break to wipe an arm across his head. He didn't get tired, not in that way, but even so, there was something enjoyable about pantomiming human reactions. It passed the time and made everything he experienced feel so much richer.

Anyway! Everything had now been set free from the deadly and far-too dusty kingdom of darkness that existed beneath Yusaku's bed, and for once, Ai did not feel the need to curse the fact that Yusaku lacked an adequate kitchen. The thought of then having to drag everything out into a separate room as he was now, small and without human-sized hands…made him want to cry.

He spared a longing glance at the SOLtiS body, it's silvery frame now lying crumpled on the floor, and then gazed down at the custom-made silicon mold he had had crafted via an online pastry shop. Thankfully, just the tell-tale shapes of his own Ignis head, smoothly carved within each dip of said mold like a stencil, was enough to get him chuckling to himself, palms rubbing together in glee.

Right then! Even without his SOLtiS body, all he really needed to do was melt down the chocolate bars he had brought into these handsome shapes and…

Ai froze. Considered the maneuvering it would take to transport boiling hot water from any sort of tap to the floor where he was currently situated and let his head droop. Because Yusaku didn't so much as own a kettle. No, the guy seemed to live on microwavable food or whatever he could dig out of Kusanagi's supplies. He wasn't about to kneel over and die of scurvy or anything but there was room for improvement!

Honestly! Should Ai really be making him chocolates? Did Yusaku's arteries really need any more fat clogging up their thin and twisted streams?

Ai considered this for less than half a second, calculating the likelihood of Yusaku suffering a heart attack a few hours after he was coaxed into eating whatever Ai gave him. Then decided his partner was far more likely to choke by accident, right at the point when his teeth were actually sliding into the shape Ai was about to lovingly craft. At which point Ai would save him. And be dramatically rewarded for it with a glare.

Ai shook himself. No. No! Everything was going to go perfectly! He would melt this chocolate on the surface of Yusaku's overheated computer equipment if he had to! But that would still take a while and he would have to boot up the system and...eh.

He could just microwave the water, right?

One and a half minutes would do it!

Ai had struggled to shove the bowl of water, along with a spoon, into the microwave; a gleaming white beast that always let out the most horrific of screeches after Yusaku stabbed the appropriate numbers into the buttons on the side. And then an even worse scream would emit from the speakers once the cooking time was actually done…

Ai had had a great time labelling it as a banshee the first few weeks he had lived here, only to give up thanks to Yusaku's complete and utterly boring lack of response.

But today it was Ai's turn to do battle with this screamer! His turn to poke the buttons on the side as though he were some simple kitchen helper AI, and his turn to wait, arms crossed and fingers tapping, as the Duel Disk cast a shadow akin to a UFO's, hovering as it did before the screeching beast.

And screech it did, an unholy wail pouring through every inch of Yusaku's sad little apartment.

Ai cringed. And cringed even more once the door swung open and silver clouds rose up to bat him in the face.

Heat, his makeshift nerves sung at him, pressure. It happened when all those little numbers inside him rapidly calculated and devised the weight and temperature of the steam that pushed against his small body, steam that he could never really feel. Not the way Yusaku could. Not even the way his SOLtiS form could, the sensors scattered over its form both alien and sensitive to the world in a way his default Ignis form was not calibrated to comprehend. He could register pain. But not always the individual elements that led up to it.

Still, Ai made a great show of coughing, despite his lack of a throat, even waving his arms to dispel the clouds that were accosting him. And then, he stared down at the sad little bowl of water with suspicion.

Because he wasn't an idiot, okay? He understood how and why water could explode if you heated it up in the microwave. Which is why he had popped a cute, wooden spoon in first, to help disrupt the surface tension.

Still… Ai was careful as he dragged the water out. But ended up relaxing slightly as the seconds ticked by and no sudden geyser erupted in his face. Now even humming a little, he journeyed back to the bowls and chocolate bars littered over the floor, circulating round to make the perfect landing when-

A loud beep echoed throughout the room.

Ai jerked in reflex, his mind racing through all the timed notifications he had set up throughout the equipment here, firing off a mental checklist as he realized that no, actually, the sound didn't have anything to do with him. And as the water sloshed out of the bowl, even as his arms attempted to stiffen, to bring a halt to his startled jerk, his eyes caught sight of the red light that flared upon the side of a small, cream-coloured disc fastened onto the ceiling.

Water dripping over his chest and part of his face, not to mention the small puddles that now coated the floor (and some of the chocolate wrappers! Gah!) Ai glared up the culprit: Yusaku's horrendously old-fashioned smoke alarm. Obviously the battery was on its last legs and now was firing off a few warning shots before it choked out for good. He would have to do something about that.

But first…

Ai grimaced down at the floor. And now at the thin, barely-a-centimeter-high strip of water that lurked at the bottom of the bowl he was holding.

Because now he would have to do battle with the microwave again.

…And again. And again. Finally, yellow eyes glistening in rage, Ai threw down the nearest bowl in anger. At this rate Yusaku's apartment was in danger of becoming a pond.

Cursing himself, Ai lost a few vital minutes digging through a box of odds and ends, all on the hunt for a spare battery, which he damn near rammed inside the smoke alarm once he had discovered it.

And then he hovered, the tip of his head nearly brushing the ceiling, as he glared at the smoke alarm, mentally daring it to let out another squeal.

Seconds passed. Then minutes. It was one of the most intense stare-offs Ai had ever been a part of. Finally, after seven whole minutes had passed without so much as a peep from his new enemy, Ai slowly, as though not wanting to startle a wild animal, turned his back to prepare a programmed descent.

...And of course it was at that precise moment that the enemy struck. A shrill scream rang out behind Ai, causing his arms to windmill, his program to abort and the Duel Disk to nearly fall to the fall to the floor at a much faster and less comforting speed.

Ai damn near wept.

One of the inconveniences of not having his SOLtiS body around was that Ai could no longer just nip out to the shops to buy something small and simple. And ordering online for a delivery that would probably arrive after Yusaku got home was out of the question.

So he would have to resort to what he did best: negotiation.

'Please?' he begged Kusanagi not ten minutes later after a hurried flight to the van, hands arranged in a prayer as he bowed down across the bend of the Duel Disc. 'It's quiet at the moment and you're not caught up in anything urgent…you can afford to do a favor for this helpless Ai-chan, right?'

Okay, so it was less of a negotiation, and more like shameless pleading. Especially given how Kusanangi was looking at him, fond and with a tiny smile, as though he thought Ai was as helpless as Yusaku sometimes and quite falsely pretended to believe.

'It's been a while since you've flown in here, instead of walking,' the café owner said non-committedly. 'Brings back memories. Maybe you should hang around in this form more often.' He leant down to press a teasing finger across the back of Ai's head. 'It's fun to see you like this.'

Ai lifted his head, looking distinctly annoyed. 'What?' he snapped. 'Desperate?'

Kusanagi shrugged. 'Yeah,' he said without a hint of shame. 'Especially since I already did you a favor yesterday.'

Ai sat back on the Duel Disk, a hand bunched up under his chin and nodded slowly. 'Ah. You want something in return, right?' he scowled. 'Well, just so you know, I'd make a terrible hot-dog cooker!'

'Relax,' said Kusanagi. 'I'm not going to have you steal Yusaku's job. But you would make a great advertiser. Again.' He grinned widely and Ai groaned.

Still, he did eventually manage to escape back to the apparent, a brand new battery clenched tightly within his hands, practically sparkling at it caught the sunlight…so he was content to see it as a win.

Yusaku...had not been dreading today, exactly. But he wasn't an idiot. Even without Ai's coy little looks at Valentine Day's advertisements throughout the week, and the way he had liked to pepper his speech yesterday with little jokes about how he hoped Yusaku wouldn't dump him for a schoolgirl tomorrow and have his heart won over by her home-made chocolate…well. Yusaku was certainly expecting something chocolatey and probably Ai-shaped to appear in his room today. He just hoped it wasn't statue-sized and that Ai wouldn't be standing there expectantly, wanting him to finish the entire thing off after dinner.

So when Yusaku was not greeted, upon entering his apartment, by a cheery 'welcome home!' or even a more petulant 'where were you? How could you be so cold and leave be all by myself for so long!' he was not too surprised. But when instead a rather horrified shout of 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK SO EARLY' rained down into his ears, he did lift an eyebrow. Not least because the voice was in the more cutesy tone Ai tended to adopt in his Ignis form.

'I skipped the last lesson,' he said blandly, feeling amusement tug at him as Ai's muttered curses littered the air. Only to be disrupted by a sudden wail and the sound of a small splat. Which was then followed by the sound of rather agitated splashing.

His eyebrow rising slightly higher, Yusaku hurried into his room. And was greeted with a mountain of silver wrappers, a few upturned bowls, alongside a spoon that was splattering chocolate dangerously near the trailing edge of the duvet he had kicked aside this morning and…

Ai. Turned nearly upside down from the tilted Duel Disk and scrabbling headfirst into a bowl of melted chocolate.

It should have been a funny sight; this small black creature, dunked in chocolate like a churro, and now scrabbling against the sides of the bowls like a pet that had fallen down a well and now found it impossible to fasten its claws into the slippery sides to clamber their way out.

And indeed it kind of was; especially when Ai managed to lift his small head, chocolate dripping from his cone-shaped head, to reveal the two yellow orbs of his eyes glaring through the waterfall of brown like car headlights, which caused him to resemble the sort of swamp monster that decorated more than a few Duel Monster cards.

'HELP ME!' Ai demanded in a shout. 'I'M DROWNING!'

And then his hands lost traction against the sides of the bowls, his knees skidding out beneath him and he fell face-first into the gooey brown again.

'You can breathe now?' Yusaku asked sardonically, but he still took the steps two at a time as Ai attempted to gurgle a reply, before scooping his wayward partner out with a single curl of his palm.

Looking exhausted, Ai raised his head, and gave Yusaku a shaky, and very brown, thumbs-up.

'My hero…' he quavered weakly. 'Thank you.' Then his eyes widened upon realizing that Yusaku's eyes were no longer on him but were instead surveying everything before him, the mess and chocolate both. 'AH!' He shot up, brown arms weakly waving in front of them as though they could blot out the incriminating evidence behind him. 'AH! I love you!'

Unfortunately this confession did not have quite the same effect it did when it was whispered at the end of a fateful Duel where he believed himself to be dying. Because Yusaku didn't respond, eyes still too busy taking in the carnage below.

'Why is there water on my floor?' he asked after a very pregnant pause.

Ai glared. 'Well, why don't you owe a kettle? Why kind of uncivilized person doesn't like to be able to offer tea, when the fancy strikes? What if you have guests here, one day?'

'I'll use the microwave,' Yusaku said simply which made Ai sit up. Because, wow? Yusaku was actually considering the fact that he might one day invite round people? Miracles really did happen, huh?

'Well, that's what I did, today!' Ai burst out with, waspishly. 'Use the microwave because you're too cheap to invest in a kettle! It's not my fault my arms aren't big enough to carry it out here properly without any collateral damage!'

Yusaku's eyes trailed over to the fallen form of Ai's SOLtiS body, the features now silver and devoid of the usual pretty face and hair Ai liked to decorate it with; a sign clearer than anything else there was not one hint of electrical power to be found there.

'And you managed to break your SOLtiS just in time for Valentine's Day,' Yusaku guessed correctly, ignoring the indignant puff of Ai's chest or the way he crossed his arms at the accusation. Yusaku closed his eyes. Pictured the way all that indignation was about to fall and deflate that chest. And let the verbal blow slip out into the air. 'I guess we can't go out on that date then.'

It was like magic. Yusaku opened his eyes to see that Ai's own, now much wider ones, had risen like twin moons to bulge out of his face.

'What?' his partner squeaked. 'Date? DATE?!' His chest practically caved in on itself, the indignant huff vanishing from his posture. 'What date?' he leaned forward eagerly, chocolate-smeared hands doing battle with Yusaku's thumb as he stubbornly attempted to give it a hug. 'You planned a date? Wait, wait, I can still go! Don't dump me! That's heartless, Yusaku! After I went to the trouble of making you chocolates!'

Yusaku cast a very pointed look down at the bowl of melted chocolates. And Ai's chest puffed up once again.

'Okay, so I got the 'trouble' part, right. But don't write me off so easily!'

He hopped free of Yusaku's fingers, his own hands sailing towards the bubble of glass on the Duel Disk, which he slid into easily, the chocolate which has coated his body instantly sliding off now that there was no longer anything for it to attach itself to. Of course, it ended up sliding onto the floor instead, becoming a small brown puddle, instead of a transparent one to match the water spillages nearby.

Ai's head poked free of his old prison, the lines on his face arranging into a gleeful smile. 'Ho-ho! No bath time for me!'

Yusaku looked at him. And turned as though he were planning to walk back up the stairs and out of the door.

'Okay, okay, sheesh!' Ai hovered over to the underside of the bed, arms stretching out to drag out a small dark statue of himself, purple icing inked into every delicate groove of the body where the patterns of his Ignis form appeared in real life.

Luckily though the statue was only about the size of a toothbrush. Not bite-sized by any means. But still doable to eat in one sitting, if Ai's tantrum became too much to deal with.

'TA-DAH!' Ai spread his arms. 'Ha! When will you learn to stop underestimating me! I prepared this yesterday in case my culinary talents were wasted on you today!'

Yusaku knelt down and poked the statue with a tentative finger, relieved that it didn't suddenly explode into confetti, or reveal itself to be some sort of fanciful hologram.

'And who made it?' he asked.

Ai crossed his arms, thoroughly put out. 'I did, you ungrateful lout! It loses all meaning if someone else makes it! All I needed to do was design and order the mold and melt down some dark chocolate, borrow part of the fridge in Kusanagi's van-

-well, that would explain why Kusanagi had been looking at him with brighter than usual eyes yesterday, a near snigger on his lips-

-'use some icing pens and awe you with my talents!' Ai paused with a preen. 'Now; what have you got to say for yourself?'

Yusaku didn't say anything. Instead he reached out and lifted up the Ai statue so it was level with his eyes. Surprisingly enough, the pose wasn't too adventurous, arranged into a simple standing position; for once Ai had favored practically in his presentation, perhaps fearing that a limb would fall off if he tried anything else. He had made sure the figure was winking though.

The real Ai however was far from doing anything similar at the moment. In fact, he was now busy craning his head back to frown at him.

'Nothing?' he asked. 'What, did all the chocolates you got at school today stop up your tongue?' He pasted an arm back against his head, leaning back, as though in anticipation of a fatal blow. 'Ah! Now I see the truth! You love me only for my hot SOLtiS form! And now that you've had your wicked way with me, you want to branch out and try it on with a human-'

CRACK.

Sharp and jagged, the noise crashed through the room as Yusaku's purposefully bite into the chocolate Ai's head. And chewed.

The real Ai stared up at him like he was a monster. Yusaku's eyes did not flinch away from his wide-eyed expression, not even once. And then he went for another bite.

'It's good,' he said finally. 'You must have melted down some expensive chocolate.'

Ai bunched his hands up against his face, where if he had been in his hot SOLtiS form, he would have hidden a smile. 'Actually, it's because it was made with love~.' He sung out the last word gleefully, as Yusaku scooped both him and the Duel Disk off the floor. 'Besides there are worst thing you could be putting in your mouth, huh, Yusaku-sama?'

Yusaku glanced down at the bowl of melted chocolate. 'That's true,' he agreed, leaving Ai to flail at the implication. 'And don't think for one minute that's you're not cleaning this up when we get back,' he added, stopping, before he left the apartment to wipe his still chocolate smeared fingers against a paper towel and part of the Duel Disk, before they left.

Green, blue, and more than a trace of turquoise raced out to spread their glow over the waves, forming a path of gleaming light, all thanks to the pattern of the stars above as they forced their light to twinkle and dance within the prison of reflections below. It was beautiful out here, at this time, it always was.

'Eh,' said Ai, the Duel Disk perfectly balanced on the bench beside Yusaku. 'I should have known. When you said 'date' I thought maybe an aquarium or art show. You know, like normal people go to.'

Yusaku smiled, not daring to lift his eyes from the water where the glittering trail of reflected stars met the sky in the distance. 'Is that a complaint? Go home then.'

He felt something small and soft, like a rubber ring, link round his fingers. Ai's arm, making a tiny wreath around his hand – the best he could do in this form.

'I'm not complaining,' Ai murmured, his voice turning wistful. 'This is nostalgic, after all. And pretty. Just like me and you.'

For a while there was silence. Just them and the Stardust Road the way it had been in the past. Nowadays Ai tended to strut around his SOLtiS form, but Yusaku didn't mind moments like this, when he curled back into his small and still at times more familiar Ignis shape. He had first grown to love him that way after all, back before…well. Everything they were now.

'Is this an early White day present?' Ai asked after a moment. 'Are you paying me back in advance? Because if so that's kinda cheap…'

Yusaku darted a look at him, the smile still proudly in place. 'You really want me to give you chocolates you can't eat?'

Ai sniggered. 'I want everything you can give me. I'm a glutton and I'm not ashamed!'

Yusaku turned his eyes back to the horizon. 'I guess you'll have to wait and see then, won't you?'

'Stingy,' Ai muttered, though he didn't sound too upset about it. 'Guess I'll have to work on repairing my SOLtiS body. Or order a new one. Otherwise you won't put as much effort in.' And then he yelped, as without warning, Yusaku reached round and scooped up the Duel Disk.

For a moment, Ai hung there, from the glass bauble of the LCD display, his hands still hooked round the wrist of Yusaku's hand that his partner had obligingly lifted with him.

'What are you talking about?' his totally un-cute Yusaku asked him, not a slither of any real human feeling on his face. Even his smile was now wiped away, how unfair.

Ai allowed Yusaku's captured wrist to drop and crossed his arms. 'Nothing! But I know there's sometimes a difference in how you look at me compared to when I'm in my SOLtiS body! And humans put more effort into wooing people they'd attracted to! I don't want you to treat me cheaply!'

Yusaku's face developed a slight glare.

'But I'm still really happy!' Ai said hurriedly, bunching both hands into fists and clenching them under his chin in a go get 'em pose. He even kicked up his leg behind him in a way he thought made him look adorable. Well, it always looked like that on the television at least! 'Besides there are perks to this form! I look cuter like this, right?'

Yusaku continued to glare. Then amazingly, his mouth dropped open and out spouted words Ai never thought he would hear.

'How can you say that, when I've already swept you off your feet today?' He raised a brow and looked down at the space between the ground and the Duel Disk pointedly. 'Twice even, if you count right now.'

Ai googled at him. 'Are you…making a joke? Are you ill?' He glanced down. 'And right now, doesn't count! My feet are still inside the Duel Disk!'

'Just once then,' Yusaku continued, unperturbed. 'I was your 'hero' earlier, remember?'

Ai considered this. Remembered the feel of Yusaku's fingers and his palm, swift and sure, curling round him and making the world burst back into colour, instead of the gooey brown it had been before, trapped within the bowl. He had felt safe and secure, the way he had learnt to feel back when he quite literally placed his life in Yusaku's hands, no, on his wrist, out there in every Duel they had fought together. It was a powerful feeling, even now.

Ai looked down, hands unfurling, fingers spreading over his cheeks as though to hide a blush. 'Unfair,' he muttered after a moment. 'No matter how I try and get you to swoon, you never do. And then you get me falling for you, again and again, without even trying!'

'You certainly fell for me pretty hard this evening,' Yusaku agreed, and Ai cringed, waving a hand in front of his face.

'No, no! Banish that embarrassing moment from your mind forever!'

'But you were so cute,' Yusaku said, not a flicker of sincerity in his gaze, though there may have been one or two bright bursts of it in his heart. 'Isn't that how you want me to look at you?'

Ai flailed again. 'What? Did you eat something funny? Those are my words! I'm the one who calls you 'cute!' Not the other way round!'

But he quickly shut up as Yusaku huffed out a slight stutter, an easy breath of laughter curling out into the sound. He could tell it charmed Ai, because his partner was gazing up at him with wide eyes, instead of glaring with narrowed ones, so Yusaku took advantage and lent down, far enough to let Ai's cone shaped head brush up against his forehead.

And…oh. It was true that the feeling this action conjured up wasn't quite the same as when Ai mashed his SOLtiS head against his own and they could stare into each other's eyes, green into gold, and reflected back many times over, in their own smaller version of the Stardust Road. And yes, the love was there, it always was, but Ai felt tiny right now, pencil thin and delicate as tissue paper against the roll of Yusaku's head, and it awakened something fierce and determined in him at the feel of it, a rush of protectiveness that galloped into his mind the way it always did when he recalled how delicate in some ways Ai's existence still was. And he recalled it often.

Ai was right to be cautious. Humans and their feelings, the way they were evoked by different visual and physical simulations, were complex and contradictory. Ai was easy to kiss as a SOLtiS, but much harder to as an Ignis. Still, that didn't stop Yusaku, his fingers reaching up to stroke the quiver of that curved head, curling like a feather against the slope of his skin as he moved back to left his forehead drift away and his lips land, carefully, across the press of Ai's face.

'Yusaaakuuuu…' Ai whined, fingers clenching at said face, caught between wanting to return the gesture and knowing that his SOLtiS form could do so better.

'Think of that as an incentive,' Yusaku told him. And leaned back, feeling satisfied.

All in all, despite the mess still waiting back home, this Valentine's Day had been enjoyable. Still, he would have to think of something to give Ai on White Day…

But that could wait. For now there was the Stardust Road and Ai. And those two things at the moment, were all he needed.

Far more so than an incomplete chocolate statue of Ai, waiting back at home, at least.

'You think you're so cool, huh?' Ai muttered. 'All smooth and - urgh!' He stomped his foot, a brief slam of black that lifted and fell from within the Duel Disk like a toy hammer. 'Just you wait! I'll get you one-day! You'll look at me with stars in your eyes!'

'Good luck,' Yusaku said blandly. And let his smile rise up on his face, brighter than before, as Ai's wails rose into the air.

Notes: Can Ai actually separate himself from his Duel Disk in the real world? I can't remember him doing so, but Aqua was able to sit on Miyu's chest without being linked to one when she attempted to wake her from her Lightning-inflected coma, so I assume 'yes' is the answer? Maybe?

Anyway, the dynamic between Yusaku and Ai when he's in his small Ignis form is undeniably cute and I felt like writing something like this instead of whatever antics Ai would get up to with his SOLtiS form, for a change.