So this idea has been bouncing around my brain for a while, and I finally got it down on paper. Enjoy!
Hatter doesn't know why Alice has been edgy all day. She had appeared fine when she woke up, but now she is snapping at him snapping at him for small, stupid things. He didn't deserve, for example, to get yelled at for chewing his chips too loudly while she studied. Alice has now locked herself in the bedroom her books spilled out across her bed. He doesn't dare disturb her, especially as he would like to keep his head. Hatter decides to get out of the apartment for a while.
"I'm going to the store, Alice. Need anything?" No response. "Fine," he mutters to himself, "if that's how you're going to be."
Alice hears the door slam shut behind Hatter. She sighs and flops back onto the bed, feeling terrible. She ought to apologize for her insane behavior today – it's not as though it's Hatter's fault that today is her least favorite day of the year. He isn't even aware that it's Valentine's Day. She doesn't want him to feel pressured to do anything for her, but now she's stuck in her misery alone.
Valentine's has always been a disaster for her in the past.
There was Luke when she was 16. He'd dumped her that day in favor of Jenny Greenwood, the head cheerleader. What a cliché. The next year there had been John, but he got far too handsy and Alice had been forced to use her black belt training on him. Flipping your boyfriend tends to put a damper on a "romantic" date. The next few years Alice spent with her mom, watching girly movies and eating chocolate. Then last year she gave Valentine's Day another shot. Her date had shown up drunk. Alice had shut the door in his face.
So Alice doesn't particularly enjoy Valentine's Day.
Walking through Central Park does nothing for Hatter's mood. There seem to be an unusual number of happy couples today. Overt cheesiness always gives him a headache, but today it bothers him even more than usual. Hatter half expects bluebirds to fly by and start singing. Disgusted with everyone around him, Hatter hurries through the park.
When he steps into the store, hatter's eyes are assaulted by pink and red. Flowers, metallic balloons, and lurid magenta bears stare dismally at him from the shelves. Hatter shakes his head, completely confused, and heads back to the more familiar He's not sure exactly what the purpose of all that crap is, but he definitely doesn't want to be involved. Sometimes the complexities of the oyster world delight him. Today is not one of those days.
He grabs a frozen pizza crust, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and peppers. He also picks up the ingredients for brownies. He has no idea what's wrong with Alice, but homemade pizza always cheers her up. Hatter just wishes that he had time to make his own crust.
The cashier chuckles as Hatter goes to pay. "What's so funny, mate?" he asks, quickly growing annoyed.
"Nothing," he replies good-naturedly, "just an odd Valentine's dinner you have there." When Hatter shoots him a confused look, the older man laughs again. "Surely you know it's Valentine's Day? You must be single, otherwise your girlfriend would be pretty mad at you right now." Hatter just grimaces and nods his head. He pays, eager to get out of the oppressive store.
Valentine's Day. That must be what's upsetting Alice. He will never fully understand women as long as he lives. Both here and in Wonderland, they will never come out and say what's on their minds. No, instead they make men try and guess. He sighs and heads back home.
Hatter makes it to the apartment in record time. Alice is still holed up in her room when he walks in the door. Not quite ready to deal with that yet, Hatter makes for the kitchen. He throws together the ingredients and gets the pizza in the oven, with the brownies ready to be put in next.
Alice hears Hatter come in and start cooking. Whatever is in the oven smells fantastic. She realizes that she hasn't eaten for hours when her stomach starts churning at the smell of food. Studying is useless at this point anyway. With a sigh, she pushes herself off the bed and goes to find hatter. He deserves an apology.
However, he's not in the kitchen when she opens the door. It only takes her a few moments to locate him in the small apartment, but she's still surprised to find him on the computer. He normally avoids the machine like the plague, muttering phrases about brain-melting crap whenever he's forced to use one. But right now he's so focused on the screen that he doesn't notice as she walks up behind him. He leans in over his shoulder and catches a glimpse of red before he exits the page.
"Alice," he breaths, shocked to find her out of the bedroom. "I didn't expect- I didn't expect you."
"What on earth were you looking at?" she asks, noting how panicked and nervous he looks.
Hatter briefly considers lying, but he decides that they need to deal with this now. Besides, he can't stomach the idea of lying to this girl. The few times he's tried he only made himself feel sick.
"Alice, why the hell didn't you tell me about this Valentine's Day thing?"
That stops Alice in her tracks. "What?"
"Because if that's why you've been pissed at me all day, I really don't think that's fair. I mean, I will probably forget holidays every now and then, but you at east need to give me a fair opportunity to screw up."
Alice sighs, trying not to lose it completely. "I almost wish you were looking at porn instead," she mumbles, but Hatter doesn't catch it. "I'll be honest. I've had some really bad Valentine's Day experiences, and I didn't event want to risk bringing that into us, into our relationship. Ok?"
Hatter narrows his eyes. "I don't understand. Explain."
"They were assholes, more or less, alright? And so they kind of ruined this day for me, and I didn't want to associate any of those… feelings with you."
Hatter's jaw clenches, and he doesn't look directly at her. "Alice… why – why do you think I would be anything like those guys? Haven't I shown you by now that I'm not like that?"
The tone of his voice hurts, but Alice has to reply. "I – I don't know, Hatter. I'm sorry. I was reacting out of ear, ok I didn't want to risk getting hurt again."
"Don't you trust me?"
She's heard this simple question so many times from Hatter before. And if Alice is honest with herself, she does trust Hatter. So much that it sometimes scares her.
"Of course I do. Sometimes I just forget that it's you, and not someone else," Alice admits in a small voice, facing away from him. She can't bring herself to look at him again and risk seeing the disappointment there in his eyes. She keeps hurting him, no matter how hard she tries not to. A tear escapes from her eye and trails slowly down her cheek.
Hatter is suddenly right behind her, his mouth by her ear. He can't stand seeing her upset, especially when he's the one making her cry. His arm snakes around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her entire body goes rigid at first, but then she relaxes against him.
"Love," he whispers, "don't feel bad on my account. Don't cry. I understand better than you're probably thinking I do. But if part of the problem is that you're forgetting it's me and not any other bloke…" His voice drops down to a growl. "I could always come up with a few ways to help remember exactly who you're with, love."
A flash of heat surges through Alice's body at the promises in that voice. "Hatter, I…" she begins, but a strange rumbling noise interrupts her. Hatter looks her in the eye and busts out laughing as they both realize that the sound is coming from her stomach. Alice blushes but has to laugh as well. "So much for not ruining that moment," she groans, letting her hair fall forward to cover her brilliant red face. Hatter reaches forward and pulls her to him again, and she buries her face in his chest. But he pulls back a little and brushes her hair behind her ears.
"If you're that hungry, you can always just tell me," he teases.
She laughs but grimaces. "I'm actually starving. Being a recluse all day made forget to eat, believe it or not."
"Luckily, the pizza will be done in a few minutes… if you can make until then."
Several hours later they're lounging on the couch, the pizza long gone and the brownies half-eaten. Hatter's head is resting on Alice's lap. She drags her fingers repeatedly through his hair as she tells him about past Valentine's Day disasters. However, she doesn't feel the pain this time as she rehashes the stories. Hatter even makes her laugh a few times with well-aimed sarcastic remarks about the idiots she'd dated before. Before she knows it's even happening, Alice finds herself really enjoying Valentine's Day.
She realizes this as the clock hits midnight. "Hatter, we should really get to sleep. You have work and I have school…." He groans, clearly not wanting to move, but Alice pushes him up. They both head into the kitchen to clean up what's left from dinner.
Alice turns on the dishwasher, the last thing to finish up, and turns to head to bed. But Hatter is standing right in front of her, clearing not intending to let her immediately past him. And she doesn't honestly want to walk away from him when he's looking like this. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him, letting herself melt into him. But she's surprised by the restraint, tenderness in his response. She pulls her head back, questioning him with her gaze.
"Love, I don't want you to ever have to be afraid that I'll treat you like they did. You deserve so much better than that. I'll spend the rest of my life showing that to you, no matter how many times or how long it takes. I'll not give up on you."
Alice doesn't have anything to say in response to that, but she finds that no words are needed anyway.
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