This one is rated G

One thing that Serena knew for sure was that she was not a coward. A glutton for punishment, on the other hand –that she most definitely was. Why else would she have purchased chocolates for Darien for Valentine's Day after several failed attempts at making them herself?

She was brave all the way up until she got to school that morning and saw the regular line of girls waiting to give him the perfect chocolates that she just knew were handmade and not from a shop.

Suddenly, the offering of her feelings that she clasped in her hands felt just as inadequate as she was feeling herself. Even with Mina's pep talk the night before, she grew hopeless.

She shifted her bag, opened it, and slid the chocolates inside. Her determination to give them to him was now completely destroyed. After all, how could she face herself if she was just another girl in line to hand him something on Valentine's Day?

As she started to make her way into school, she admitted the real problem. Those other girls got fabulous grades and always had perfect hair and makeup. She felt "less than," and that made her stomach ache.

She looked back over her shoulder as she passed by Darien, and he was looking at her. She gave him a weak smile and continued walking, hitching her bag further onto her shoulder and trying to block out the gnawing ache in her heart. She really loved him, after all.

She was startled by the hand that reached out, grabbed the door handle, and opened the front door for her. She looked over, and he was at her side, smiling at her.

"After you."

"Thank you, Darien." And really, she couldn't help herself from asking, even though it was the last thing she wanted to talk about. "You got a lot of chocolates today. Did anyone special give them to you?" She had a feeling that she really didn't want to hear his answer.

He huffed out a breath, shook his head, and followed her through the front door walking by her side. "No. Kunzite promised it's rude not to accept them, so here I am." He pointed at the bag in his hand. "I have enough for a diabetic coma, and I'm not even diabetic."

She smiled wanly up at him. "You don't like chocolates?"

"Oh, I do. It's just that…" he sighed and dropped his shoulders. "I'm not interested in any of them."

"Some of those girls are pretty amazing." She wondered why she couldn't just shut up. She wondered why she had to point that out?!

He shrugged, "No, they're impressive, but not amazing."

"What in the world is the difference?" She looked at him in confusion.

Darien raised his hand, and it confused Serena. He almost made contact with her upper arm, but then he dropped it down to his side, frowning, and said, "On paper, they're great, good grades, wealthy families, and all those things... But inside they aren't anything special."

Serena paused her steps and so did he, she then turned to look at him. "Is any woman good enough then? Perfect grades, the right family, and something extra on the inside. Is that even possible?"

"You misunderstand me. I don't care about perfect grades or the right families. That's the point: these girls that supposedly have 'everything' aren't anything I'm interested in."

He scuffed his foot on the floor and looked at her, "They aren't who I want chocolates from."

Serena rolled her eyes and him. She then chuckled and said, "You're impossible to please, aren't you? I can't imagine what your ideal woman is from your description. But here…." Out of her school bag, she pulled he chocolates out that she had brought for him. Then pressed them into his stomach, and he took them from her. "Since you don't want chocolates from someone with perfect grades, these might be slightly more acceptable."

She then fixed her bag on her shoulder, not daring to look up into his eyes. "Have a great day!" she managed to get out before she turned and fled… slowly. She forced herself to walk and not look like she was running away. After all, at least when she gave him the chocolates, she wasn't in a line like the other girls were.

Darien didn't let her walk away from him. He caught up with her, gently grabbed her arm, and spun her around. "Come with me to the arcade after school, please?"

"I'm going to be brutally honest here," Serena said. "If it's so, you can tell me that you just see me as a friend, one, I already know that, and two, please don't make me sit through that even with ice cream."

He gently rolled his eyes at her, "I was wanting to buy you a chocolate milkshake and ask you how you really feel about me. You are the only one I think is amazing."

That almost made her heart leap out of her chest. "You can't possibly…." Tears brimmed in her eyes.

He caressed her cheek tenderly with the tips of his fingers. "I can. And I do. I never began to hope that you'd bring me chocolates."