A/N: I just want to let those of you still reading (hi!) that I hate not writing a whole lot. Probably more than you hate not reading what I write, and hoo boy is that presumptuous of me. Anyways, this is my annual, week-late Valentine's fic.

Even if April hates it, you know Andy's just gotta try.

This is from the single parents AU thing that I go to every once and a while, all thanks to lunabelles on tumblr/AO3 and her lovely support. Seriously, if you like this universe at all you owe her.

A high-pitched chirping from April's phone wakes her at first, but then a needy arm wraps itself around her waist and after an annoyed, distracted tap of her fingers, the alarm is forgotten altogether. She drifts back to sleep, only waking up half an hour later because Jack speeds out of the driveway in a hurry to forget the week in some sort of haze or other that Andy doesn't need to know about. Gingerly disentangling herself from him in bed, April stretches out in the sunlight, bathing in the warmth the window next to his bed provides. A small part of her hopes she'll turn around to see Andy staring, but a loud snort and then the resumed snoring only brings a laugh out of her.

Down in the kitchen, she opens the fridge and stares inside. Eventually she would have to call Sam, more out of her own personal obligation to make sure that her oh-so-extroverted daughter wasn't partaking in her always wild night of sitting at home, laptop at hand and earphones ready.

For now, she was going to enjoy a glass of orange juice in a kid-free house and just ever so gently reach for that damnably high cupboard and just-

Thud.

A thick-bottomed glass falls down onto the next platform in the bizarre, stepladder-like shelving and April bounces forward to grab the glass before it can crash to the floor. She squints when all of the glass clangs together loudly, and slowly closes the cupboard door with four glasses in her arms. Setting them down gently, she goes to get that orange juice when a loud thudding rolls down the staircase she'd just come from.

"Is everything okay?" a hazy, worried voice booms out.

"It's fine, I just dropped, like, twenty glasses everywhere," April deadpans, pouring juice and taking a huge swig while Andy yawned and made his way into the kitchen.

"Oh, cool," he said, craning his neck. When he stretches, his shoulders show red lines deep in his skin. April smiles into her drink, more than a little proud of herself on that one. "Could I, uh, maybe get one of those?"

"Sure? You want vodka too?"

"You're doing screwdrivers at...?"

"Noon," she laughs. "No, but we should," she finishes with a little bit of a pout to her voice.

Andy only grins at her before taking his glass. "Ugh, that'd be awesome but I'm sure I'd regret it later," he complains after a drink.

"Nuh-uh," April protests.

"Uh huh, totally would," he says back with a silly, toothy grin.

"Fine."

"Jerk," Andy says, taking a sip with a giggle bubbling the juice around his lips.

"Loser," April mutters before taking the glass from his hand and leaning up to kiss him, foul orange-tinted morning breath and all.

It takes them a bit longer than polite to break apart, but thankfully there is no Jack or Sam to question where Andy's hands are - in fact, they'd first question where half of their clothes are - or they perhaps would scream and tell April to stop making that sound when they kiss. Instead they break apart with hungry eyes, but then something dawns across Andy's face.

"Oh my God!" he shouts before spinning around and sprinting up the stairs. "Gimme a second!"

"Dude you've got co-"

"No! Something else!" he yells from the bedroom, followed by the bang of what was clearly his head on something and then the opening of the closet. When Andy runs back down, he's got a darkly red face and both of his hands behind his back. "Close your eyes!"

"Okay..." April does and waits.

"Hands out," he says, and April puts her wrists together as if there's some handcuffs that are about to appear. "Oh come on, you know what this is."

When she flips her palms up, something heavy drops into them. April opens her eyes and sees a box of cheap chocolates and a small bundle of purplish flowers. Her gut reaction is to sneer, remembering the date, but Andy's face is so bright and proud she works up a really terrible facsimile. Which, of course, he notices. His face falls from that bright sheen to a sudden realization.

"Awesome," April says noncommittally. "This is-"

"Dumb," Andy mutters.

"No, it's just that-"

"I forgot you said not to get anything."

"Well, yeah, but I just don't really... um, like this holiday?" April says cautiously. "It's just weird."

"Oh," Andy nods.

"I mean, if you like me then why do you have to say it on a holiday?" April asks him seriously. "Besides, it's a little too mushy for me..."

"Right," Andy says, sullen. "Um, you can keep those though. I mean, obviously. It's a gift! But, yeah, they're yours. If you don't want them I can find the receipt somewhere..."

"Dude, it's okay," April clarifies, trying to ease him through this. Realizing she's still holding her hands out awkwardly, April sets the chocolates down but keeps the cupped petals in one of her open palms. "Why are you being so weird about this?"

"I dunno, I just... um, do we have something here? I mean, yeah, but more than, uh; um, is it something?" he stutters.

"Yes, it's something," April chuckles. "Is that cool with you?"

"Yes," Andy says, and it's so quiet and relieved that April grins to herself. Looking down at her little flower, April watches the purple and red petals cutting between each other around a curled basin with interest. She remembers pointing these out a week before, commenting on how they bloom in winter - Hellebores - and how Andy thought she was brilliant.

"So...?" she prods a little, still curious if not a bit worried.

"Oh, um... yeah, well. Okay, so..." he starts and stops once more, sighing. "This is awkward. I don't usually like talking about exes with, well, girlfriends."

"Nice, I'm your girlfriend," April brags. She pumps her first, mimicking Andy, before realization hits her. "Oh, so it's...?"

"So, I kinda... y'know Jack had to come from somewhere..."

"Hell, just like Samantha did," April tells him knowingly. "Trust me, I know demon-spawn when I see them."

"Thanks," Andy grins.

"No problem," April says with a chuckle.

"But really, I dunno... ever since his mom, y'know, kinda..."

"Oh you don't have to-"

"Ever since she kinda left us, I don't like... flings are hard," Andy looks down and sighs. "I mean, we're not a fling right? We're-"

"Yes, Andy. I'll go to prom with the star quarterback," April sets her free hand against her forehead, feigning a swooning spell. "Heavens, the star-"

"Hey, I wasn't a pansy quarterback," Andy defends himself.

"Good, I only date defense," April shrugs and shares a small smile before she shakes her head. "So you just wanted to make sure that we're still cool?"

"Yeah..." Andy groans.

"Dude, have you been paying attention these last few months?" April gives a dark, muffled sort of laughter, unable to help herself.

"Well, it wasn't official," Andy shrugs.

High alert rings in her head, and April stops in her tracks of enjoying herself. "You're right, it isn't. I mean, from my end I was pretty damn satisfied with you but if you're-"

"Oh crap! No way!" Andy springs into a defensive position, his eyes wide and already broad shoulders widened out further like April would tackle him and do anything more than bounce right off in the opposite direction. "Oh my God, I didn't mean that April... I swear, swear to, like, Dave Grohl that I haven't-"

"Okay, well if you're swearing on people that I've never heard of it's probably okay," she says, only half-joking before but covering all of her bases just in case.

"Wait a minute... are you telling me-?"

"Oh wait, he's the guy in Foo Fighters, right?" April says, because duh how could she forget him?

Instead of being met with a relaxed look of satisfaction, Andy just shakes his head in disappointment. "It's a good thing you're so hot, Ludgate. And smart, and awesome," he says before squinting. "Okay, you're pretty great, but you've still got a few things you need to learn."

"Yeah, like how someone could bail out on you and your pretty cool kid," April grins.

"Just pretty cool?" Andy says, pulling joke offense straight to his wide eyes. Even so, he walks forward and stares April down. She bites her lip, waiting for Andy to react exactly how she knows he will and wants him to react.

He lets out a sharp breath, and before anyone can ask another question - before April can even think about being remotely upset about Valentine's Day or Andy can tell her more about how anybody could leave him - they're making their way to the nearest sturdy, flat, vertical surface available.