Lucetific - Colours series - Valentine's Day!

[seikilos]

Title: Pink Is For Your Best Friend
Fandoms: luceti, Tales of Legendia, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Final Fantasy VII, Tiger & Bunny, Tales of Phantasia, original works,
Genre: Fluff/Gen
Rating: G
Words: 2453
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the above media.
Summary: Being one woman's quest to obtain a proper explanation of exactly what Valentine's Day is all about.
Author's Notes: It's still February I win!! /...cough Anyway. This is the platonic companion to hickumu's lovely "Pink Is For Your Special Someone." I actually started writing it before she posted the fic, so there aren't really...all that many similarities. Oh well.

There was a big holiday coming in Luceti, one that was entirely new to Grune (or so she thought). She'd heard people referring to it for a little while now, but she couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be celebrating. Regardless, if it was a holiday, it had to be a special time to have lots of fun with all your friends.

Didn't it?

"Don't talk to anyone," Fenimore told her and Norma once they were all settled in the living room for their house meeting. "Not unless you want the Malnosso to make you think you're dating them." She grimaced. “I can say right now, it's . . . not a fun experience.”

"Whatever you do, don't forget," Walter added, his arms folded as he glared around indiscriminately. "I mean it."

"Trust me, the last thing any of us would want would to be your girlfriend, Wally," Norma retorted. "Right, G-Girl?"

Grune wasn't so sure about that. Even though what she really wanted above everything was for Dhaos to be her special someone, that didn't mean Walter would be a bad person to be close to.

She was about to say as much when Walter just barely didn't yell, "You wouldn't have a choice, you bubbleheaded Orerines!"

"Bubbleheaded?" Sophie repeated from her position in Fenimore's lap. She giggled.

Walter didn't seem to notice. “Stay out of my way or else!" he finished and stormed off to his room.

Norma stuck out her tongue at the slamming door, then remembered who was with them. "Oops. Uhh . . . don't do that, Fifi. That was a bad thing I did."

Sophie looked up at her and said solemnly, "Bad Bubblehead."

Fenimore tried not to laugh. Norma just looked unimpressed.

"It's Bubbles, squirt, not 'Bubblehead.'" For one brief moment, she seemed to dim slightly—but just for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, she said cheerfully, "So, be a hermit on Valentine's Day. Got it. Well, if that's everything, I'm off. See you guys later!"

She bounced away to her own room, leaving Grune alone with Fenimore and Sophie.

"Fenimore, what's Valentine's Day?" Grune asked, wandering over to join her on the couch now that Norma had left.

"A pain in the neck," Fenimore muttered. At Grune's puzzled look, she explained, "I don't know much about it. Nobody celebrates it on the Legacy, remember?” She paused. “. . . Never mind. Go ask around. I'm sure at least one of your friends knows what it's supposed to be about."

"All right. Thank you." She stood, then bent down to kiss Sophie on the top of her head, followed by Fenimore.

Fenimore turned red. "Grune, come on. . . ."

"Come on," Sophie echoed with considerably less embarrassment.

Grune paused partway to retrieving her journal. "Come where?"

"Never mind. Go ask your friends about Valentine's Day." Fenimore made a shooing gesture, and off Grune went.

*

"No."

It might have been surprising to anyone more aware than Grune how much sourness Vincent Valentine could fit into one word, and how well matched his red-eyed glare was to his tone. But then again, with his third Valentine's Day soon approaching, it was really only to be expected.

"It is not from my world," he continued. "For that, I can only be grateful."

Grune gave him a curious look, as entirely unintimidated as she always was. "But your name is the same as Valentine's Day. Isn't it your holiday?"

"Absolutely not."

She blinked. She had never heard him speak so vehemently before. It seemed he was very sure indeed.

"Do you know anyone who would be able to tell me about it?"

"It is a time when our will ceases to be our own and we are forced to betray our sworn loves," Vincent said flatly. "There is nothing else to tell."

". . . Are you sure?"

"Yes. I am."

". . . Oh. Thank you, Vincent."

*

In the end, it took Grune quite a while to find someone who had celebrated Valentine's Day before coming to Luceti. Most of the people she had asked only knew about the holiday from their time in the village, and no one who had been around for more than a year seemed to like it very much at all.

At last, however, she ran into Pao-Lin at the bakery.

"Huh? Valentine's Day?" Pao-Lin quickly chewed and swallowed the remainder of her bun. "Yeah, it's a holiday lots of people celebrate back in Sternbild. Were you thinking of doing something for it?"

"Oh, I don't know. What are you supposed to do?" She set down her basket, ready to listen now that she was getting a complete answer at last.

"Well, um, that depends." Pao-Lin lifted a hand to the back of her head, paused, then went ahead and scratched. "It's mostly a couples' holiday, so people buy flowers and chocolate for their crush and go out to eat and stuff."

Grune smiled, imagining her and Dhaos having a meal together, just the two of them. Valentine's Day sounded like a nice holiday already.

"But people do things for their friends, too, like get them candy and send them valentines," Pao-Lin went on.

At that, Grune perked right out of her daydream. Was this another holiday like Christmas? How exciting! "'Valentines'?"

"Oh, uh. . . ." Pao-Lin snagged a cinnamon roll from a neat pile. "They're cards you send your friends, to tell them how much they mean to you." Briefly, she looked troubled; she forced her smile back. "Most people buy them in Sternbild, but you can make them, too. They're usually red, pink, and white and have hearts all over them."

That all sounded wonderful, and she couldn't wait to get started on hers, but— "Is something the matter, Pao-Lin?"

"Oh." Pao-Lin shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "It's just . . . back home, I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't get many valentines, but everyone else I knew got plenty." She gave Grune a wan smile. "It used to make me feel pretty lonely, that's all."

There was only one response Grune could make to that. She immediately stepped forward and folded her arms around Pao-Lin in a gentle hug (being careful not to crush what was left of her cinnamon roll).

"It's all right," she told her surprised friend. "This year, I'm sure you'll get lots. And I'll make you a very pretty one."

A moment later, she felt Pao-Lin shyly hug her back. "Thanks, Grune. I'll give you a great one too."

*

Over the next week and a half, House 34 was a flurry of paper, markers, glitter, and glue. Grune worked as hard as her memory allowed, and though there was something of an interruption when the experiment finally hit, once she had come back to her senses, Grune was back at it, putting the finishing touches on what could quite accurately be described as her labour of love.

At last, about a week after Valentine's Day had passed, she was finished. After a few moments of admiring her finished products (and then a little longer still due to a lapse in attention), Grune gathered up all her valentines in a cloth bag and set out.

*

So. Giles now had his first Valentine's Day in Luceti under his belt. It had been every bit as awful as everyone had warned him, and then another mountain of awful besides—another mountain range.

He'd spent several days already apologizing to Ginia, as she had done with him, and had interspersed the apologies with as many showers as it took to make him feel clean again.

Well, he mentally amended with a not-smile, as clean as someone like him could ever feel.

In all honesty, he would have greatly preferred not to see anyone for a solid two weeks—particularly anyone who had witnessed him being an utter fool—but when he heard a knock on the door of House 44, well, that was the end of that. He waited for someone else to answer it before he remembered that he was alone in the house; everyone was out keeping busy to take their minds off the experiment. The solitude had been a balm for his soul, but now it was working against him. Not that he wasn't used to that.

Well. It was time to face . . . whoever it was, at least until he could hurry them on their way. He wiped the bitterness (mostly) from his face and opened the door.

. . . And just like that, things were very nearly okay, because Grune was standing on his front doorstep with a smile and a cloth bag bursting with . . . something.

Her expression only brightened the moment she caught sight of him. "Hello, Giles! I brought you a present."

Of course she had. He felt his features relax, and he very nearly smiled in return. "H-Hello, Grune. That's very . . . that's very kind of you. Why don't you come in and I'll put on a pot of tea?"

"All right," Grune agreed and, once he'd stood aside, ambled into the house as comfortably as if she lived there. Then again, some days, it was stranger to remember that she didn't.

As he tossed the stone cold dregs of the last pot into the sink and prepared another, he could almost pretend everything was normal. From time to time, he gave that bag (now hanging over the back of her kitchen table chair) a curious look. Either he was receiving a large and bulky present or Grune had a lot of deliveries to make. If the latter were the case, he really shouldn't be keeping her—but he was having a selfish moment. He'd send her on her way shortly, if that was what she needed to do.

Finally, once they both had their cups of tea in front of them, he asked, "So what brings you here today, Grune?"

It seems he had waited a bit too long to ask the question, because his answer was a blank look. "Hmm. . . . Why am I here?"

"Does it have something to do with your bag?" he prompted gently.

And just like that, the light came back into her eyes, her finger came back down from her cheek, and she said, "Oh, yes, that's right."

She retrieved her bag and brought it into her lap. As she sorted through its contents, he caught sight of enough construction paper to have a good idea of what was coming next. But that didn't take away a single thing from the moment when she finally pulled out a valentine the size of her head.

She smiled and held it out. "Here you are! Happy Valentine's Day, Giles."

He accepted it and . . . for a while, he just held it. It was red and pink, with lacy white paper all around its edges. Grune had carefully woven strips of construction paper so that, while the top of each half of the heart was a solid colour, from the centre down to the tip, the paper was mingled in a bright checked pattern. Two different colours, together.

He found he had to blink a few times as he looked up. "Th-Thank you, Grune. This is . . . lovely. It's beautiful. I-I'm afraid I don't have anything for you in return—I wasn't expecting, um, a-anything, really."

Her look of puzzlement was so true he could have loved her for that alone. "Weren't you?"

"No, well. . . ." He would have been cleaning his glasses by now, but that would have meant setting down the valentine. "People . . . generally didn't celebrate Valentine's Day where I was from. Mostly, hearts tended to be" —cut out in evil rituals— "j-just what kept you going, i-in your chest. Not . . . paper valentines. So, thank you. A-And I'm sorry."

. . . He really should have expected the hug, but somehow, he was still surprised when she set aside her cup of tea and rose. She moved over, bent down, and carefully folded her arms around him. He reached up with a hand to place it over hers and closed his eyes on a sigh. A moment later, he felt her lips touch his cheek.

"You should read the back," she said gently, her voice soothing in his ear.

He brought his hand down and turned the card over. There, Grune had glued a heart made of white construction paper and in her careful hand, she had written a short message on it.

Dear Giles,

I'm very glad we were able to meet and become friends. Being with you makes me so happy. I hope we can stay together and have fun always. I love you very much.

Love,

Grune

It took him a couple of tries to read the last few lines; they had become a bit blurry the first time through. He looked up and held out his arms, and Grune—who had stepped back to give him the chance to read—at once came forward again. He held her tight for a minute, then pulled back, but only enough to press a kiss just below her temple. His lips were rough against her soft skin, and he was half-afraid he would scratch her with them, but she was whole and unblemished when they released one another.

". . . Thank you, Grune." His voice was slightly thick; he swallowed. "It's perfect."

Grune beamed in simple, pure delight. "Oh, I'm so glad you like it!"

"I do, he assured her, "very . . . very much." He picked up the valentine and stood. "I'm going to put this somewhere safe so I don't spill anything on it, and then we can, um, finish our tea. If you'd like—I mean, y-you probably have a lot of other deliveries to make. . . ."

"Oh, that's all right," she said, as he'd hoped she would. "I can give everyone else their valentines a little later."

And so they sat and had their tea. Once they were finished, he escorted her hand in hand to her next destination; after that, he returned by way of the store to pick up some supplies.

Then, Rupert Giles sat down and made a valentine. His heart was lopsided, even after a few practice runs, but his message was sincere. After that, he made another. It wouldn't heal all the damage between him and Ginia, but it would help. And, as far as ways of spiting the Malnosso went, well . . . he could think of plenty of worse ones.

Comments

[hickumu]

D-D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww~!

So adorable and sweet and perfect and awwwwwww! *squeeees*

(I hope you weren't expecting anything more coherent than that. There is nothing more coherent than that right at the moment. This is more adorable than a Corgi puppy hopping down the stairs.

...okay, there's this. My god, you have a better handle on Giles' stutter than I currently do.)

[lostinmyway]

♥♥♥

(Nope, I'm good! That was definitely my intent, so I'm glad to see I achieved my goal as well as it seems! Because damn that's adorable.

XD;; And yet me being able to write his stutter has come entirely from observing how you tag as Giles. I think you're doing yourself just a tiny bit of a disservice here.)

[consultmybooks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQnrKvOTNg - This, specifically, would be the video I'm referring to. That is how adorable this fic was. Be proud, Vyc, be proud.

Heee. Okay, maybe a bit~. ^-^ The stutter has always been a bit of a grey area as far as canon goes, though. I think it's only suddenly having so much close CR to deal with in Luceti that brought it back for Giles at all.

[lostinmyway]

Dear lord, that's an achievement, then! That poor puppy!

It's kinda funny to think that the people he's closest to make him stutter the most, rather than random strangers. I can get why, but still. XD;

[ryttu3k]

adfgdslfghsdkjfs;ldsjhgs

...Yeah, that's about it XD <3

[lostinmyway]

XD I'm gonna assume that was a good keyboard smash, not a "y wuld u do dis" one.

Glad you enjoyed? ♥

[ryttu3k]

It's a good one 8D It's an 'oh my god that is fucking adorable' one! <3

[lostinmyway]

justasplanned.jpg

[mise_en_scene]

Seconding the keysmashing! This is so adorable!

[lostinmyway]

Hee, thank you! ♥

[cinnamonical]

LMAO, Grune asking Vincent Valentine about the holiday because of his name. LOGIC! And I find it hilarious that of all people to have to explain things to her, it's Pao-Lin (who was very much adoracute here, if also a little sad!).

[lostinmyway]

It makes perfect sense! ...Especially when you're Grune! And yes, Pao-Lin is now Grune's holiday guru (and yay! That's what I was aiming for).