Prompt: Flower
Other characters: Youichi, brief Ruka.
Other pairings: None.
Notes: Thank you so much to everyone who gave me a prompt! I'm sorry I didn't end up using one of them, but since it's Valentine's day, I decided I wanted to write something for the holiday, and, well, flowers are a long-withstanding Valentine's cliche :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters.

It was an insult, that's what it was.

Was his date somehow not good enough? Did his hours of grueling labor and planning not account for anything? Would she ever have let him get away with something so simple for their first Valentine's day together as a couple?

He hadn't even wanted to go on an elaborate, pre-constructed date for this stupid holiday, but more than one meddling idiot had approached him over the past week, their hands wringing as they nervously hinted that maybe he should get planning; Mikan was a sentimental girl who was surely expecting something big from her fiancé, and no one wanted to see her cry.

So he'd put up with the hearts. He'd put up with the pink. He'd set aside his pride and actually asked the shadow bastard to recommend the perfect restaurant in Central Town, and then he'd put up with an irritatingly stuffy woman over the phone to make the reservations. He'd rented himself a tux and he'd even bought a new bottle of that cologne Mikan adored that had run out last month.

Damn it, he'd actually swallowed his girlfriend's horrendous chocolate and managed to compliment her as his insides burst into flames!

It was all to keep her happy, and happy she'd been when he'd picked her up that evening. Beautiful, too. Anyone passing by would have seen him actually not glaring for once, as he let his girlfriend bury her face in his chest and deeply inhale his scent.

They'd had the dinner, and it had been perfect; the candlelight had been romantic and the music had been soft and the mood couldn't have been better if that crossdressing idiot had burst in and, by some miracle from the heavens above, presented Mikan with the Best Student award. Hell, he'd even let her drag him by the wrist to the dance floor and awkwardly swayed to the violins.

He'd been expecting some major lip-locking when they got back to her dorm after all that.

But he'd been thwarted by a flower.

A freaking flower.

One. Freaking. Flower.

Youichi's flower, to be exact. The little brat had caught them just as they'd stepped foot on the campus grounds again, and it was with a rare smile on his face that he'd presented it to an absolutely delighted Mikan.

"For you, Onee-chan," he'd mumbled, and with a quick kiss on her cheek, he'd been gone just as quickly as he'd appeared.

And for the love of all that was good and holy in this world, Mikan could not shut up about it! She'd been endlessly crooning over the single, white rose ever since, as well as squealing about the kiss and cupping her cheek as if a unicorn had licked it.

It was all very unfair, Natsume huffed to himself, glaring at the offending present. Youichi wasn't even a little kid anymore; he could have totally bought her a proper, useful gift, but he'd skimped out for just one freaking flower, and suddenly Mikan was ready to have his babies.

If he'd only given her a single, white rose for Valentine's day, he was pretty sure his face would have become acquainted with her door and she would probably have spent the rest of the day sobbing into her pillow about how her boyfriend didn't love her nearly as much as she loved him. But his perfect, romantic, thoughtful, expensive date apparently didn't amount to anything when there were stingy Youichi's in the world.

By the time they got back to Mikan's dorm, she was ready to float away into the clouds and he was ready to burn a flower shop to the ground.

"Thanks for the date, Natsume," she giggled, squeezing his arm. "I had fun!"

She got on her toes and pecked his lips for what felt like half a nanosecond, and then she had disappeared behind her door and he was left standing alone in the hall.

"Tch." Tucking his hands into his pockets, he strode away like a bitter fox on the prowl.

That was the last time he let this stupid holiday suck him into its manipulative vortex of unfulfilling love.

.. ღ ..

She was wearing the damn thing.

For the love of Penguin, did he have to see the blasted thing while he was trying to stomach his food? There it was, resting prettily on his girlfriend's ear as if it belonged there. He could have burned a hole through it with his glare if she wasn't a Nullifier, and he bit into his lunch rather angrily when trying to ignore it proved fruitless.

Mikan was telling anyone who would listen how she had gotten it and who had given it to her, and she was rather giggly about the whole thing.

"And then he kissed me on the cheek!" she regaled, and all the girls at their table burst into high-pitched squeals.

"You okay, Natsume?" Ruka asked him in worry. He wasn't sure just what had his best friend so upset all of a sudden, but it must have been bad to put him in this kind of funk. Had the date last night turned sour at some point? Then why wasn't Sakura as equally upset?

"Fine," he grunted back, but the question had drawn Mikan's attention. She looked over the table curiously, shooting him a questioning glance that asked the same thing. "Fine," he scoffed again, trying to shrug it off, but his next words just slipped out. "I just don't see what the fuss is about over one stupid flower."

A hush fell over the table.

His girlfriend's lips turned down at the corners, the picture of disapproval. "It's a pretty flower," she defended it. "And besides, it's not just the flower, but the sentiment behind it."

"It's not like he just up and decided to get you a random flower on some random day," Natsume argued back, ripping a piece of bread off with his teeth. "It was Valentine's day. Flowers are normal on Valentine's day."

"But this is Youichi we're talking about," she huffed back. "When has he ever gone out of his way to give me a present? Of course I'm going to appreciate it."

"So? Koko doesn't go out of his way to give you presents every day, either. Are you going to flip out just as much when it comes to him?"

"That's different!" she refuted with a pout. "It's extra special when Youichi gives me something because he used to hate me when we first met."

"That's not all that special! I used to hate you when we first met, too, you know."

There was silence after his declaration. Ruka put his head in his hands and just groaned sadly, while the girls looked like fish out of water with their slack jaws.

Mikan was speechless. She opened and closed her mouth half a dozen times, just trying to say something in retaliation but coming up empty. Finally, with her jaw hard and her nose scrunched up high, she slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

"I can't believe you just said that," she breathed, stomping away in fumes.

Natsume rolled his eyes up to the sky and, before Ruka could say anything, muttered, "You don't have to tell me. I know I'm an idiot."

.. ღ ..

So now his girlfriend wasn't speaking to him, all the girls were throwing him shifty glances, and Ruka was harping on him like he'd just murdered a harmless animal right in front of the animal lover. And Narumi was wearing a frilly pink bow on his head, but that had less to do with making the girlfriend situation worse and more to do with making his whole day extra shitty.

The few times he'd managed to corner her in the hallways, she refused to have a decent conversation.

"Let me go," she hissed whenever he blocked her from going around him.

"Since when were you so eager to get to class?" he rebutted with narrowed eyes. "We need to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you," she sniffed, clutching her books more tightly to her chest and straightening her back. Well, then, he'd do the talking.

"You're acting like that's the worst thing I could have ever said to you," he hissed. "It's not a secret that we didn't get along at first. Hell, you hated me, too!"

"And that's where you're wrong!" she spat back, finally meeting his eyes with her own blazing ones. Her jaw was hard and set again. "I never hated you, Natsume. I might have been annoyed at you sometimes, sure. I was intimidated by you. I was even scared of you once or twice. But I never hated you. You were my partner!" She stepped forward and put her face right in his. "So I can't believe you would tell me you hated me the day after Valentine's day."

She finally elbowed her way around him, leaving him in the hallway to be subjected to his peers' whispers.

.. ღ ..

Camping out in front of his girlfriend's dorm room might have been desperate, but he was a desperate man. He'd messed up in a big way, and he figured Mikan wouldn't appreciate him coming in through the window like usual right now.

He knocked for the umpteenth time, grumbling through the wood, "Mikan, open up. Oi!"

To his surprise, the door actually swung open, but the look on Mikan's face was far from welcoming. She growled up at him dangerously – or as dangerously as the ever-saint Nullifier could growl. She looked at him sharply, just like she'd done upon finding him outside her door and then stalking inside as if she hadn't noticed him there at all.

"Go away, Natsume," she huffed. "You're disturbing everyone, and you're distracting me while I'm trying to do homework."

"I just came to give you this," he said quickly. Digging into his pocket, he procured a small, black box and tossed it to her. She caught it in surprise, turning it over in her hand with a curious tilt to her lips. Turning to go, he held up a hand as goodbye. "Happy Valentine's Day. See ya."

He'd only gotten two steps down the hall before her curiosity got the better of her.

"...What is it?" she called after him hesitantly, but he'd known she would and tried to keep the smugness off his face when he marched right back.

"Why don't you open it and find out?" he suggested offhandedly, shrugging his shoulders with his hands in his pockets.

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment longer before complying, and inside she found a silver ring nestled against the fabric.

So it was cliche. So it was mushy and overly romantic. He knew all that, and it was exactly why he'd bought it. In fact, he'd put quite a lot of thought into choosing the perfect ring to gift his girlfriend with; he'd chosen a thin band rather than a thicker one, because he knew it would look best on her slender fingers; he'd chosen a silver color rather than gold, because it would bring out the creamy whiteness of her skin better; and he hadn't bothered with a gem in the middle, because it would have been impossible to pick just one color to suit her when she looked so good in everything. Rather than a stone, he'd had the jeweler engrave intricate designs of linked flames on the outer surface, to remind her of him.

Since the Alice stones they had exchanged were now inside his body and Mikan was no longer capable of making one with the feeble powers she had left, they had no way to show people that they were promised to each other. It was why he'd thought of a ring, the symbolic piece of jewelry that meant so much when placed on the right finger, both inside and outside the Academy.

He'd hoped that by presenting her with the ring, she might give him a kiss – because there was nothing he loved more than Mikan initiating their kisses, but it wasn't often that she did so.

"For me?" Mikan asked carefully. She had yet to take it out of the case, too busy just staring at it.

"No, it's for Mr. Bear. I just wanted your opinion on it," he deadpanned. She glared at him for the jibe, but he couldn't suppress the amused smirk on his lips. "Yes, it's for you. It's your Valentine's present. Now stop staring at it like an idiot and take it out and look at the inside."

She was still acting cautiously, as if he'd laced it with some love potion that would make her forgive him against her will, before she did just that. On the inside surface of the band was another engraving, and she frowned at the numbers he had chosen.

"19.11.03?" she read aloud, then looked up at him. "A date? Why that one?"

It was here that he hesitated, ducking his head so that his bangs fell over his eyes and covered up his embarrassment. Damn it, the sappy things he had to say to keep his girlfriend happy.

His words came out in a mumble. "It's the day I fell in love with you."

Taken aback by the admittance, Mikan stared at the numbers and pursed her lips, obviously trying to remember the significance of that date. He rolled his eyes at the anticlimactic reaction.

"It was the day Reo kidnapped me," he explained impatiently. "The moment you told me you wanted to go back to the Academy together? That was it."

Her eyes widened in understanding, and she immediately began to flounder, looking between his face and the ring repeatedly. "B-But that was ages ago!" Her voice was more shrill than usual, an observation that had his heart swelling. "Even after that, we were always arguing. You acted like you wanted nothing to do with me!"

He scoffed. "Right. I should have gotten down on one knee and professed my shining love for you. You know, like I always do."

She grimaced in return. Oh, right. She'd forgotten to take Natsume's nasty personality into account. Of course he wouldn't have wanted her to know how he was feeling. In fact, if he'd even remotely thrown out a casual "I like you" at the time, she probably would have sent him to the nurse's office.

But, to think he'd liked her all this time, all those years. It was so sweet, so romantic, that she could hardly believe it.

"Maybe hate was a strong word," he mumbled, burying his hands deeper into his pockets, "but who cares if I didn't like you at first? It didn't last very long. And I definitely don't hate you now."

Mikan almost teared up. "Really?" she asked in a quiet voice, biting her lip in a timid way. A blush spread across her cheeks, and she self-consciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "All that time?"

She wasn't really going to make him say it outright, was she? All he managed was a soft, "Hn."

Mikan grinned up at him, her eyes gentle through her bangs. "Then, maybe I'll forgive you a little sooner. Because you are just so sweet."

Hopping closer, she fisted his blazer and pulled herself up to his lips, where she placed a kiss both innocently sweet and enticingly passionate. His response was immediate, his hands finding her hips and his lips pushing back with just as much fervor. This was how he had wanted their Valentine's day to end last night.

He'd only just gotten into it, a groan sounding from the back of his throat and his fingers digging into her hips, when she pulled back with a giggle. She just loved to test his patience.

"I have homework, Natsume," she chastised him, playfully slapping his arm. "I have no time for this now."

"Fine," he hissed, his voice strained from his weakening self control, "but take off that damn flower and wear the ring instead, you hear me?"

She giggled again, nodding her assent eagerly, and then leaned into his ear to whisper in a conspiring tone, "Make sure you come back tonight, though. I'll leave my window open for you."

With a quick kiss on his cheek, his girlfriend receded back into her dorm, and he was left to stand in the hallway with knees so weak they might never function properly again.

A/N: I actually don't know what date the whole Reo/kidnapping incident happened, and the manga gave me no clues that let me write out a reasonable timeline, so I used the date that specific volume was first released. I just thought it would be really cute if Mikan found out one day just how soon he fell for her.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! ^_^