The night doesn't start off well. Her date is ten minutes late and hasn't bothered to text her a warning or a location update, and it's cold. Admittedly, she should have brought a jacket, but her outfit is too cute for it to be covered up and she was hoping for a show of chivalry. She checks her phone again and, seeing that he's now officially fifteen minutes late, walks into Sushi Rox with a sigh.

Thankfully, her night immediately gets a lot better.

"Hey, welcome to Sushi Rox what would you - Zoey," Chase doesn't so much say her name as exhale it sharply, his eyes widening and his cheeks flushing slightly. Zoey didn't think her outfit was that cute but she'll take the reaction as a compliment anyway, letting out a slight giggle. After a moment Chase seems to realise that he should probably stop gawking and say something else.

"Hi," he manages, still sounding a little strangled.

"Hey Fuzzyhead, I didn't know you were working tonight," Zoey replies.

"Well, it's not like I had a date," he shrugs. "Speaking of which, where's yours?"

"Wish I knew," grumbles Zoey, folding her arms over her chest. "Do you know if he's inside already?"

Chase glances at the packed restaurant, filled to the brim with boys with slicked-back hair and girls with glossed lips, some wearing pained expressions and others with visible hearts in their eyes.

"Half of PCA is in there. I stopped recognising individual facial features three hours ago," Chase admits, but opens up the reservation book. "It was Cade, right?"

"Gabe," says Zoey.

"Right, the rower," he says, careful to keep his voice as neutral as possible. He scans the reservation list, frowns slightly then flicks back and forth between two pages, before looking up sheepishly.

"Problem?" she asks.

"A little?" says Chase, rubbing the back of his neck. "It looks like he booked next Wednesday night."

"You're joking," she says, but he shakes his head. Holding back a scream, Zoey begins digging around in her purse in search of her phone, but is thankfully stopped from having to leave a voicemail that would put Logan to shame as Gabe finally decides to grace her with his presence, thereby allowing her to murder him in person.

"Hey there, sugar fairy," he says, wrapping his arms around Zoey from behind (she's too busy elbowing Gabe in the ribs to notice Chase bemusedly mouthing the term 'sugar fairy'). Quickly, Zoey ducks out from Gabe's grasp and turns around to glare at him, noticing that he seems to have doused himself in a body spray that Dustin only just outgrew and that his shirt and blazer are unironed and dishevelled, though (much to her annoyance) he manages to pull it off.

"Girl, relax," says Gabe, rubbing his rib. "I know I'm a little late but I just wanted to look perf -"

"You made a reservation for the wrong week," Zoey snaps. "And a text update would have been nice!"

"Oh, well, my bad," says Gabe. "But I'm sure my man here," he gestures to Chase, oblivious to the scathing expressions on both Chase and Zoey's faces, "can fix us up with a table, right?"

"It's Valentine's Day," respond Chase and Zoey, Chase's tone completely deadpan while Zoey's is increasingly shrill.

"It's the busiest night of the year," continues Chase, seeing Gabe's confused expression. Zoey lets out a small disappointed groan and Chase frowns. "Look, wait here. I'll talk to Kazu and see what I can do."

Immediately, Zoey's face brightens and she thanks him, finally hoping that the night has taken a good turn. Naturally, Gabe proceeds to open his mouth, and her hopes are once again dashed.

"You look hot," he says, giving her what is presumably supposed to be a charming smirk.

"Thanks, I guess," Zoey answers. She considers trying to return the compliment, but all she can think is that he was considerably more attractive during the last semester of gym class when he didn't open his mouth.

After ten minutes, Chase returns and announces that he has a solution, resulting in a loud guffawing cheer from Gabe and yet another round of profuse thank you's from Zoey. Chase holds his hands up to silence them.

"I didn't say it was a good solution," he warns.

Chase leads them past all the candlelit couples sharing oysters and sashimi towards the back of the restaurant and out the fire exit. Wordlessly, he gestures to a foldable camping table adorned with neither flowers nor candles, but a small cactus and two well-worn chairs. Feeling her heart sink, Zoey walks towards the set-up and is greeted by the loud whir of the nearby generator and industrial refrigerators and the overwhelming smell of fish.

"Whatevs," shrugs Gabe, and sinks into one of the chairs, sprawling over it. Chase's jaw tightens as he walks over to pull the other chair out from the table and offer it to Zoey, but winces when it immediately wobbles and squeaks as she sits down.

"Here are the menus," says Chase. "I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order."

"Can you bring out a heater too? It's a bit chilly," says Gabe, despite the fact that he's wearing at least two more layers than Zoey. "Or better yet some sake." Chase doesn't bother with a response and leaves Gabe to laugh at his own joke.

They pass the time in stony silence, broken only by Gabe's increasingly euphemistic fish jokes and the tap of Zoey's phone as she drafts a text to Lola in case she needs to enact her early escape plan. Zoey almost feels elated when Chase returns, especially when he drapes a jacket over her shoulders that she quickly recognises as his own.

"So, what will it be?" he asks, whipping out a notepad and clicking his pen. "Let me guess, a California roll and raspberry blix for the lady?"

"Got it in one," smiles Zoey, and Gabe glances between them, his eyes narrowing.

"I'll have a coke and the chef's special," he says. "And we'll need some water for the table. Obviously."

"Naturally," says Chase, raising an eyebrow at him. He flips the notebook shut, looking like he wants to throw it at Gabe's head, but simply adds:. "I'll be back with your drinks shortly."

"The service here has really fallen off," Gabe scoffs once Chase is out of earshot. Zoey glares at him.

"They're busy," she says tightly. "We're lucky they even managed to find a table for us."

"We're all busy. If I've learned anything from training it's that diamonds are formed under pressure," says Gabe, shaking his head. Zoey smiles slightly only for it to fade when she realises he's being completely serious.

"Seriously?"

"Do I expect a certain standard from others? Of course I do, because I give one hundred and ten per cent to everything I do. You know, I always tell my boys on the rowing team," Gabe continues, rambling off every sports cliche Zoey's ever heard. He's still going by the time Chase comes back with drinks in hand; Zoey tries to covertly catch his gaze, secretly hoping that he might be able to set fire to the kitchen and pull the fire alarm so she can escape, but Chase refuses to meet her eyes. He disappears again and Zoey sinks further into her chair, wrapping Chase's jacket more closely around her, trying to envelop herself in the lingering scent of his cologne as Gabe drones on.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Zoey says eventually, watching Gabe rack his brain for a topic other than rowing training.

"You play basketball, right?" he asks.

"I was thinking maybe something not sport related?" Zoey tries.

"Ah gotcha," says Gabe, his face shifting into something Zoey doesn't entirely like. He takes a sip of his coke and makes a face. He then proceeds to shout, "Hey, waiter!" and clicks his fingers.

Chase pops his head out of the fire exit.

"This needs more ice!"

"...Please?" adds Zoey, partly as a reprimand and partly to soothe her own mortification.

"Right away," Chase says eventually, his voice tight and controlled.

"Where were we?" asks Gabe, his voice velvet smooth. "That's right, I was just about to say how brilliant you are."

Zoey, fish-like, opens and shuts her mouth multiple times, astonished that Gabe is even capable of talking about people that aren't himself.

"I remember the first time I saw you in English class, how well you spoke. I knew I wanted to be with you right then and there," he continues, and Zoey feels herself flush even as she wants to correct him that they actually share gym class. "I knew just how brilliant we'd be together."

Zoey has just started attempting a reply when she feels Gabe rest his hand on her knee, making her jerk away from him and sputter out a protest.

"You said you wanted to talk about something else," Gabe says defensively.

"That's not talking!" says Zoey.

"Sorry babe it's just - you're so hot tonight," he says, aiming for charming but landing squarely on sleazy. "I don't know if I'll be able to go slow with you."

"Gross!" yells Zoey, leaping up from the table.

"Is everything ok here?" asks Chase behind her, a glass filled with the requested ice in hand and already wearing an expression that looks like he's trying to devise the most painful way to murder Gabe with a decorative cactus. Zoey breathes a sigh of relief.

"Finally," says Gabe, and gets up to grab the glass of ice out of Chase's hand and pour it into his coke glass.

"I think I'll be leaving now," says Zoey, sliding off Chase's jacket and handing it back to him, wordlessly trying to soothe his worried stare.

"Oh don't be like that," says Gabe. "You can't play all hard to get wearing a dress like that."

"Excuse me?" says Zoey, while Chase's head snaps back in Gabe's direction.

"I'm just saying that -" Gabe starts, only to cut off midway through as Chase tugs at the waistband of Gabe's cream-coloured pants and proceeds to pour the freshly iced glass of coke down them. Gabe lets out a pained gasp followed by a mighty, "holy FUCK," and swings at Chase while simultaneously trying to shake a cube of ice out of the leg of his trousers, missing Chase entirely. Zoey looks on with a hand clapped over her mouth, not sure whether to laugh or scream.

"Hey, don't assault my staff members!" says Kazu from the doorway, quickly running over to haul Gabe away from Chase.

"He assaulted me first!" responds Gabe, but is harshly hushed by Kazu as he hands Gabe over to be led out of the restaurant by another waiter.

"Technically that's true," Chase acknowledges.

"I won't tell if Zoey doesn't," promises Kazu. Zoey immediately shakes her head. "Good. It would be too much effort to train up another manager anyway."

Kazu gives them a wink and retreats back into the kitchen, leaving Chase and Zoey alone. Chase gently places his hand on Zoey's arm and asks if she's ok, to which she nods and thanks him. They stare at each for a couple of seconds before they burst into a fit of laughter.

"I cannot believe you did that," exclaims Zoey, partly in shock but finding that her amusement is increasingly winning out. "What if Kazu had fired you?"

"Ah, I did think about that," says Chase. "And apparently I decided it was worth the risk anyway."

"Aw, my knight in a Sushi Rox uniform," she says, nudging his shoulder with hers. He gives her a small, bashful smile in return.

"I am sorry though," he says. "About your date. You deserved to have a better Valentine's Day."

"It's ok, there will be other days," says Zoey, though Chase detects a hint of sadness.

"Hey, why don't you take a seat and I'll bring out your food," he says. "There's no reason for you to be hungry. My treat."

"Chase, I don't want to impose on you more."

"My treat," he repeats and hands her back his jacket. She smiles to herself as she slips it on.

A few minutes later he delivers her sushi with a fake French accent, calling her "madame" and giving her a mock bow to make her laugh. He's just about to head back to the kitchen when she tugs at his wrist and gestures to the now empty chair in front of her.

"What time does your shift end? Do you have time to stay with me?" she asks.

"Technically it ended fifteen minutes ago," Chase admits. "But I wanted to stay to make sure you were ok. My choice," he adds, and Zoey somewhat reluctantly swallows down her disapproval, secretly pleased he wasted his night for her.

"You're very sweet," she says. "And if you're happy to further prolong your night than I'd be honoured if you had dinner with me."

"Let me get one more thing and I'll be with you," Chase agrees.

While Zoey waits for him to come back she looks around, taking in the dark sky and the dots of light twinkling around campus. The kitchen is still busy and whirring away but she can also hear the laughter of the people inside, happy to be in each other's company. A gentle breeze has also picked up, blowing away the waft of fish and leaving the salt of the ocean, cool on her face but not so cold that she needs more than Chase's jacket. She's broken out of her reverie by Chase placing another dish on the table, this one a tiramisu with a powdered love heart on it.

"Chase, you didn't have to," says Zoey.

"Want me to send it back?" Chase jokes, but his voice is soft. Zoey pretends to glare at him, her retort about her need for caffeine melting away when she feels the heat of his gaze on her. After a moment he brushes a strand of hair away from her face, the movement making Zoey's breath catch in her throat, then tucks a red rose he cut from one of the vases inside behind her ear.

Chase then proceeds to sit down and ask her how her meal is, leaving Zoey to question if she fully understands what the word 'platonic' means because she's starting to feel very confused about whether she and Chase share the same definition. They begin chatting about her day as she eats, Zoey pretending to be annoyed when Chase swipes some food off her plate.

"Can I ask you something?" Chase says after a while, suddenly quiet. Zoey looks at him curiously and nods. "Why Gabe?"

Zoey considers for a moment, her eyes meeting Chase's gaze, and she finds herself wondering the same thing. Instead she says: "The long answer is that I guess I was flattered. A lot of girls want his attention."

Chase nods, his face free of judgement.

"But I think the short answer is that - he asked me," she finishes.

"Seems like a bit of a low bar," Chase says after a pause, regarding her with an expression she can't identify. Zoey shrugs.

"Well, it does seem like going on dates with guys I've only spoken with once isn't working out for me," she says.

Zoey starts on dessert and offers Chase a spoonful, pretending that it feels casual instead of intimate. She's about to offer him a strawberry when a voice suddenly bellows her name from the other side of the restaurant.

"Please tell me that's not -"

"Zoey, I have come to you to prove to you that my love is true," shouts Gabe.

"Well, it certainly sounds like Gabe," says Chase. He tilts his head as Gabe's shout morphs into something new. "With an acoustic guitar…singing A Kiss from A Rose."

Zoey covers her face with her hands, then tries to cover her ears, then covers her face again.

"This is mortifying," she groans. "Don't laugh."

"I'm not," says Chase, sounding strained and looking like he's sucking on a lemon. Gabe starts belting the chorus and Chase has to take slow, deep breaths to keep himself from cracking up.

Eventually, there's a lull in Gabe's playing, possibly because he's forgotten the lyrics or the key change would require him to learn to play another chord, and Chase gets up to lean around the corner of the building to where Gabe's serenading them and yells at him to play Wonderwall.

"Don't encourage him," snaps Zoey.

"Trust me," Chase assures her.

Soon, the familiar opening notes have started up, Chase muttering something about the guitar being out of tune, and is almost immediately accompanied by a wave of groans reverberating throughout the restaurant and other nearby spectators. Gabe has just started singing the chorus, his voice reedy and failing to be soulful, when he's met with a chorus of boo's and his guitar twangs like it's been yanked out of his hands. This is followed by a clatter that Zoey has never heard before but assumes is what a guitar being thrown to the ground sounds like, followed by a high-pitched whimper from Gabe.

"That took longer than I expected it to. People must be feeling lenient today," says Chase. Zoey stares at him wide-eyed. "Boys dorms have the same rules as guitar shops: no Stairway to Heaven, no Smoke on the Water, and no Wonderwall."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"No, no, I'm far too sophisticated to play Wonderwall. I play Creepy by Radiohead," says Chase, flashing her a sly grin. "But I'd say that's enough excitement for one night. I should get you home."

So Zoey helps Chase take everything back to the kitchen and helps him fold up the table and restack the chairs, and then he leads her back through the restaurant and glares at one of the waiters when they hum A Kiss From a Rose in her direction until they fall silent. Once they're outside, he offers her his arm and she threads hers through it, enjoying the warmth of his body near hers as they begin walking down the stairs.

"If it makes you feel better, other people had a bad night too," says Chase after a moment, taking Zoey's silent contemplation for sadness. It's quite the opposite, but she indulges him anyway.

"Yeah?"

"Yep," he says. "The texts are vague but I believe Logan got whacked in the face with a bouquet of roses -"

"Ouch."

"And Michael and Lisa's beach picnic got ruined by, and I quote, 'vicious mutant seagulls'."

Zoey laughs, Chase grinning at the sound, then rests her head on his shoulder. There's a lot she wants to say to him but she also doesn't want to disturb the comfortable quiet between them (and, if she's honest, she's waiting for him to say something too). So they continue the slow, somewhat meandering walk back to her dorm room.

They're just about to walk past the fountain when Chase greets someone with a, "'Sup, Grady, how's Cupid duty?" and nods at one of the boys Zoey recognises from the wrestling team. Only now he's dressed in nothing but white briefs, sandals, and a toy bow and arrow that he struggles to juggle with a flower basket. Zoey tries, and fails, to hide her dismay.

"Miserable," answers Grady. "Do you know how many kids are at this school? Most of them don't even deserve Valentines."

"Yeah well, that's probably why it got mandated that everyone receive one this year," says Chase. "Inclusivity and all that."

"Eighth graders deserve to be excluded and bullied," Grady argues, and Chase mutters something about not being able to argue there.

"Aren't you cold?" Zoey asks, having only barely followed the conversation.

"My indignation keeps me warm," says Grady, glowering at her. Reaching into his basket he says, "You two are some of the last on my list, so thanks for that by the way. I love walking around campus to deliver cookies that aren't even frosted," he mutters, more to himself than anything. He shoves two small plastic bags in their direction.

"Thanks," Zoey says uncertainly.

"Spend less time canoodling next year," says Grady, ignoring Chase's protest. Grady then peers at something written on his palm. "Have a merry Valentine's Day and may Cupid light the way to your love like a dove - something something, you get the idea."

"I really wish this school would stop trying to do holiday traditions," Chase says after Grady has walked away.

They both look at the bags Grady gave them, each finding a fortune cookie inside. They're cute enough: Chase's is dyed a glittery red while Zoey's has tiny love hearts stuck onto it, which she somewhat doubts are actually edible but can appreciate that they would have been time-consuming to decorate with.

"What do you think your fortune says?" Zoey asks.

"Probably something about dying alone," Chase says dryly. Zoey gives him a look, then proceeds to pout at him until he's successfully cajoled into opening his up.

"What do you need, a singing crab? Go on and kiss the girl," Chase reads, making a face. "Oddly specific pop culture reference."

"Seems relevant to me," mutters Zoey.

"What did you say?" Chase asks.

"Nothing," Zoey says sweetly. "Just that I need to open my cookie too." She does so, then reads: "The one you love is closer than you think."

She looks up to find Chase wearing a wistful expression. Wordlessly, he digs his hands in his pockets and starts walking again. Zoey hurries to catch up with him, trying to think of what to say.

"I mean, that's usually how it happens right? You don't notice what's right in front of you?" she tries, feeling like her heart has fluttered up to her throat. Chase's pace slows, his brow creased into a frown.

"What do you mean?" he asks, and she wishes he'd say something more.

She stops, turns to face him and takes a deep breath.

"You were a much, much better Valentine's date than Gabe. Which wouldn't be hard but it got me thinking about…you. How you're always kind, and considerate, and thoughtful, and I think maybe I'd like to be more than friends," she says, the words tumbling out in a rush.

Chase just stares at her.

"More than friends?" he asks eventually.

"...Yes."

"You and me?" he confirms, pointing at her and then himself.

"A-ha," says Zoey. "That's what I said."

She's about to ask if the idea is genuinely that shocking and/or that horrifying to make him mute, especially when surely she can't be the only one that's been pestered about the concept by their group of friends, when Chase states: "I'm going to kiss you now," steps forward and pulls her into what she can only describe as one hell of a kiss. His hand goes to the small of her back while hers go around his neck, and she can't believe she had only thought of kissing Chase in passing before tonight because a) he's really very good at it and b) she's not sure can imagine kissing anyone else after this.

Finally, they break apart so that they can breathe properly. Their eyes linger on one another for a moment, and Chase murmurs, "I've wanted to do that for a long time," before he kisses her forehead. She has questions about that but she's content to leave it for another time, all too happy to slip her hand into his and be tugged along to her dorm room.

"You'll be my Valentine's date next year, right?" Chase asks.

"Hmm, I don't know," Zoey ponders. "I was hoping to go with a boyfriend next year." He meets her teasing happily and easily, pretending to sigh heavily.

"Well, I guess being your boyfriend for a whole year is just a burden I'll have to bear," he replies, unable to keep the huge grin off his face.

"Oh shut up," says Zoey, and kisses him again.

A/N: I had no intention of writing for this fandom again but I have writer's block, so I'll be posting some more half-baked ideas. Feel free to request something here/on my tumblr and I may or may not write it. Also please pardon the creative liberties I took with Sushi Rox.