Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chrom wasn’t sure whose idea it had originally been, but since they were all single—Robin was single at the moment, wasn’t he?—yeah, he’d just broken up with Tiki— no wait Tiki was last month, that had been Olivia—why didn’t they do what they used to do in elementary school, and give Valentine’s Day cards to each other?

What a great idea, they’d all said. It was going to be so much fun.

That was how Chrom ended up sitting in the middle of his bedroom floor the night before Valentine’s Day, covered in glue and glitter and with a pile of ruined valentines in front of him and...

Robin, will you be my valentine?

Robin, you’re the brightest thing in my life

Robin, you’re like the sky stars

Robin, you’re my better half you have half of my heart

Robin, you’re really pretty handsome

Robin, I like you a lot and

Robin, will you go out with me?

I love you, Robin.

If he could just remember whose idea this was in the first place, he could punch them when he got to school tomorrow.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” he kept hearing at school. Everything was decorated in pinks and reds, heart-shaped and glittery and cutesy.

Chrom gave out his cards for his friends one by one. They were a bit lame, to be honest. Store-bought superhero-themed ones meant for kids, with stupid messages like I Get a Side-Kick Out of You and Have a Super Valentine’s Day! He’d just filled in his own and the recipient’s names and stuck on some glitter to make them a bit prettier—though there was probably more glitter inside his bag than on the cards—but everyone still thanked him and told that the cards were great anyway.

There was a problem, though.

“I, um,” he said, as Robin smiled at him expectantly. “I don’t have one for you.”

Chrom had only brought the many valentines he couldn’t give, and he hadn’t made Robin anything else... He had told himself it wouldn’t be a big deal.

He wasn’t expecting to see Robin’s face to fall.

“I’m sorry,” Chrom tried to explain, “I just, I uh—I was going to make you one, but uh, I ran out of cards...”

It sounded lame even to him. Robin’s face told him that he was just making things worse.

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

“No, it’s fine,” said Robin assured him with a smile. “I understand.”

It wasn’t fine.

I’m sorry. Please don’t look like that. I made you so many. I just can’t give you them...

As Chrom and Robin tracked down each of their friends before classes began to give them cards, they got cards in return.

Some of the cards they got just made his own seem even lamer by comparison. Maribelle’s were pretty impressive. They came with expensive-looking chocolates, and her cards had fancy lettering on them that looked printed but that Robin said was actually handwritten and called calligraphy, and Chrom had to admit he was kind of impressed. Stahl’s had what he knew to be each person’s favorite candy attached. Cordelia’s also seemed nice, but Chrom didn’t get a good look because for some reason, she seemed to have forgotten Chrom’s and ran off to get it, and never returned.

On the other end of the spectrum were were ones that made Chrom feel a bit better about his. Vaike’s seemed rather last-minute, just a to and from message scrawled on some post-it notes. Lissa’s all contained groan-worthy puns. Sully’s were about as lame as Chrom’s, just store-bought ones; Chrom saw that she had addressed Vaike’s to Dumbass. Gaius’s cards were, instead of being addressed by name, were addressed by the nicknames he had assigned all his friends. They had little bits of the paper peeled off, as if they used to have candy glued to them.

“It’s kind of weird to be getting these from ex-girlfriends,” Robin commented during a moment they had to themselves, and Chrom tried to laugh. He usually tried not to think about the idea of Robin dating. Robin and girls.

“No poison yet?” Chrom joked.

“Not yet.”

Sumia didn’t give out cards, but rather handed out handmade heart-shaped sugar cookies, with pink sprinkles and the name of the recipient piped onto each one in red icing (she’d had, Chrom noticed, trouble fitting Cordelia’s and Maribelle’s names onto theirs.) Not only did they look good, but they tasted good too. When Chrom told her so, she went red and told him that he shouldn’t be saying such nice things just to make her feel better about her cookies not being very good.

As lovely as Sumia’s cookies were, however; Chrom was convinced that Robin’s valentines were the best. His cards were plain, but he’d written a paragraph or two on each of them—a little something about what he appreciated about each of his friends.

Robin had saved giving Chrom his card until last. Chrom felt a little jump of excitement when he saw that Robin had had so much to say to him, he’d had to staple an extra piece of paper to his card. By the time Chrom had finished reading the message about how grateful Robin was that they had been able to meet and become best friends and share so many memories together and other things that made Chrom’s throat get tight and his eyes a bit wet, all he could do was give Robin a hug and try to communicate things with it that he didn’t really have the words to say.

Robin had to prompt him to let go after a while, and Chrom let him go sheepishly and turned away to wipe his eyes as inconspicuously as he could. He reread the note again before tucking the card into his math folder. The only thing keeping it from being perfect was the part where it read best friend...

It wasn’t fair. Why did Robin have to be straight.

When Chrom reached up to open his locker for the first time that day, a small avalanche of handwritten notes and cards and valentines and small candies and chocolates fell out, thwarting his attempts to hold them back with his hands and falling down around him to the floor. They must have been pushed through the slats of the locker door.

He had to admit that this was kind of flattering, but he was beginning to draw attention. He crouched down and tried to pick them all up as quickly as possible and stuff them back into his locker, but they just kept falling back out as soon as he stuck them in, sliding off of the pile of his belongings crammed into the bottom of his locker to rain on his head.

Flustered, he switched tactics to trying to stuff the notes and things into his backpack, but his bag was already full. People were watching him, commenting on how they wished they were that popular with girls, asking Chrom if he had a secret admirer... Some people were laughing. Chrom’s face was hot with embarrassment. Why couldn’t they leave him alone?

“Do you need help?”

Chrom looked up. Robin wasn’t laughing. He looked sympathetic.

“Yes, please!” Chrom said, relieved.

Robin helped Chrom organize his locker enough to make room to stack the valentines in a neat little pile so they wouldn’t fall out anymore. Chrom kept looking over the handwriting on them as he put them away, unable to stop himself from hoping... but they were all written in pink and red ink, in that looping, rounded handwriting that it seemed like every girl in the whole school cultivated. These were all from girls. These weren’t what he wanted...

They finished up, and Robin was staring at the stack of valentines until Chrom closed the locker door. He was probably admiring their handiwork. Right, the bell had rung a couple minutes ago— they were late.

They headed off to their first class at a bit of a speed-walk, which, as they got progressively later, gradually grew into a half jog. When they’d arrived at the classroom door, they tried to open it and go inside to their seats as quietly and inconspicuously as possible. The teacher didn’t directly acknowledge their tardiness, but she paused a moment and gave them a disapproving look before continuing her lecture.

“I’m sorry I made you late,” Chrom whispered after they had sat down together at a table in the back. If they were quiet enough, they could get away with talking back here.

“Nah, it’s fine, you didn’t make me do anything,” Robin assured him. “You looked like you needed the help.” He chuckled a bit.

“Yeah... I just can’t believe I got so many!” Chrom failed to keep his voice down, and a few nearby people turned to look at them. “I mean,” he continued, whispering again; “I’m not that popular, am I?”

Robin was making a weird face, like he was trying to contain some other expression. “You have your fans,” he simply said.

“What? Really?” Chrom had fans?

Robin seemed... off. Was he jealous? “I’m sorry,” Chrom said awkwardly, “I don’t mean to be that popular, I mean...”

“Oh, I mean, I don’t care!” Robin said quickly with a dismissive wave of his hand, but he wasn’t very convincing. “You’re just very charming, you know...”

“Wha... I am?” Chrom said in confusion. “Why? What’s so charming about me?”

Robin shushed him. “We should pay attention now,” he said, ending the conversation.

“Okay...”

Robin took out his notebook and began copying down the notes on the board. Chrom took out his notebook too, intending to do the same, but lost focus before long.

He didn’t want to be popular with girls, he thought as he drummed the end of his pencil against his notebook absently, resting his head in his hand. He didn’t want girls. He didn’t even like girls. And now he was making Robin jealous. This whole thing was so stupid.

Even the food in the cafeteria was Valentine’s Day themed. Chrom didn’t even know that M&M’s came in pink.

Chrom was waiting for Robin at the table they always sat at. None of their other friends had their lunch this period, but he got to have it with Robin, and that was what mattered.

“Hi, Robin!” Chrom waved as Robin came over towards him. Robin waved back, looking amused.

“Hi, Chrom,” Robin said with a little grin as he came up to their table. “Be right back.” He slid his bag off his shoulders and put it in the chair next to Chrom’s. “Guard this with your life,” he said in mock seriousness.

“Yes, sir!” Chrom said, equally seriously, and gave Robin a salute.

Robin burst out laughing and left to go get his food. He had such a nice laugh.

Chrom watched him go and get in line to buy his lunch, waiting until Robin came back before he started eating. Getting your lunch from the cafe took a little while, and Chrom might have otherwise been bored waiting that long, but here, he didn’t mind. The cafe was open to the rest of the cafeteria and gave Chrom an unobstructed view of Robin, even as Robin moved up the line to put food on his tray and went to the cashier. Chrom could get away with staring from this distance.

He caught himself openly staring with his chin in his hand and hastily straightened himself up. He shouldn’t be that obvious about what he was doing.

Robin returned after a while, and Chrom opened his lunch bag after Robin sat down with his tray.

“Thanks for waiting,” Robin said. “You know, you don’t have to do that.”

“No, I don’t mind!” Chrom told him. “I like eating with you, I always look forward to it.”

“Oh.” Robin seemed surprised by this. “Thank you... That’s very sweet.”

Robin turned to his lunch. He looked a little embarrassed... ‘Sweet’? Dammit, Chrom had said too much. He took his food out of his lunch bag, feeling a bit awkward.

“Oh,” Robin said, looking at Chrom’s food, raising his eyebrows; “what abomination do we have today?”

“What? Nothing weird!” Chrom insisted; Robin never approved of what he ate. “Just a sandwich!” He took said sandwich out of its plastic bag and showed it to Robin as proof.

“What’s in it, though?” Robin was somewhere between amused and exasperated.

“Just oranges! Well, and some jam.” Chrom peeled the sandwich apart a little to show Robin the orange slices inside.

“Ah yes, the orange sandwich... Did you at least peel the oranges this time?”

“I did!” Chrom said indignantly. “But why is that such a big deal, anyway? There’s hardly a difference...”

Robin gave one of those  you’re hopeless sighs and began eating the slice of pizza he had on his tray. It was a rather sorry-looking slice of pizza, Chrom thought, that looked like it had come straight out of a freezer. Which it undoubtedly had. It looked so bland and boring. All of the cafeteria food was bland and boring.

“I don’t know why you eat that stuff,” Chrom commented. “The cafeteria food,” he added when Robin looked at him quizzically. “You can eat much more interesting things if you bring stuff from home, you know.” He waved around his sandwich as an example.

“I think I’ll do okay without ‘interesting’,” Robin said, grinning.

“I still say you’re just jealous.”

“Yes, very jealous. And you’re talking with your mouth full.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Robin threw a pink M&M at him. Chrom picked it up off the floor and ate it. Robin laughed.

It got quiet as they both ate their food. Chrom was halfway through his sandwich when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Robin was watching him. Was that staring? Where did you draw the line between watching and staring?

“What?” he asked Robin.

“Huh?” Robin looked a little startled.

“Why’re you staring at me?”

“What? Oh, nothing. I was looking past you.” Robin was avoiding Chrom’s gaze as he said this. He sipped from his little carton of milk from the comically overly-long straw poking out of it.

Had Robin been looking at Chrom’s sandwich, maybe? Did he secretly want some?

“Do you want to try my sandwich?” Chrom offered.

“No thanks,” said Robin, “I’m good.”

He’d definitely been staring. Chrom wished he knew why.

Chrom wanted to swing by his locker to get something between a couple of their classes, and Robin followed along. But Chrom quickly forgot what that something was when he opened the door and more valentines came sliding out. There were more?

“No... no...” he groaned, trying to stuff them back in. People passing them in the hallway were looking as they went by. Chrom didn’t want any more attention. And he didn’t want any more valentines...

“Let me help,” Robin offered.

“I got it,” Chrom said automatically. One last letter fell out and hit him on the head as he knelt on the floor. The stiff corner hurt. “Ow...”

Robin helped anyway. They worked to stack them with the others, occasionally being bumped into by the bustle of people passing by. These all had girls’ handwriting too, Chrom saw as he looked over them. Judging by the handwriting and the color of the ink, one particular girl seemed to have been responsible for a great deal of them. Why did she have to send so many and make this even worse? Why couldn’t he have gotten one that had a guy’s handwriting on it. Just one. One that could maybe have come from the person he actually wanted...

Chrom didn’t realize that he had only been standing there, absent-mindedly shuffling through the same cards over and over, looking over the handwriting, until Robin took them out of his hands.

“Are you okay?” Robin asked him, looking worried.

“What?” Chrom said blankly, snapping out of it. “...Why, do I look not okay?”

“Well,” Robin said carefully, “you just seem... disappointed.”

“What? No, I’m...” Chrom didn’t have the energy to put up an act. “I’m fine. I’m fine...”

Robin took his hand and squeezed it in what was undoubtedly meant to be a reassuring gesture, but it just made Chrom want to cry. He bit down on his lip to try and fight it.

“It’s okay,” Robin told him gently, “you’ll find a girlfriend eventually...”

“I don’t want a girlfriend,” Chrom said, before he could stop himself.

“You don’t?” Robin looked stunned.

Crap—  Chrom wanted to hit himself, he was such an idiot— “I, I... I like being single,” he said awkwardly. Biggest, fattest lie ever. He freed his hand to rub it over his face as he felt it growing warm, looking across the hallway to the lockers on the other side and the stream of people passing in between.

“Ah... That’s too bad,” Robin said. He sounded almost disappointed, for some reason. He crouched back down to pick up the rest of the mess. “A lot of people would like you as their boyfriend...”

“Wha... Really?” Chrom’s face was definitely getting hotter. He was probably really red by now.

“Well,” Robin was saying to the cards he was picking up, “you’re very likeable... you’re good looking, you’re sweet, you’re charming... A lot of people would like to go out with you...” He was quiet enough to be a bit hard to hear over the collective sound of people walking by and talking.

He’s... “Are you jealous?” Chrom couldn’t help but ask outright.

“What?” Robin looked up at him.

“Well, I mean, I got so many valentines, and you...” Chrom was doing a terrible job of putting this delicately. “Did I, I mean... ”

“Oh, no, no,” Robin said quickly, straightening up with the last few valentines in his hand. “I’m not... I got a lot of valentines too, actually.”

“What?!” Chrom said, too loudly. Was Robin about to begin dating again already...? It was so hard when Robin was with a girl...

Robin seemed a little surprised by Chrom’s reaction. “Well...” He put those last few on the pile before sliding his bag off his shoulders, unzipping it, and rummaging through it to take out a note. “Pretty much all of them are like this,” he said.

Robin unfolded the paper for Chrom to see. It had a grey marble pattern adorned with the images of skulls and crosses, making the writing a bit hard to read. Dearest Robin, it began; I had another dream last night of our married life...

“Tharja,” Robin explained with a little chuckle, referring to the goth girl in their Chemistry class who had taken a bit more than a passing interest in Robin.

“Ah,” Chrom said, and tried to laugh too. Robin stuck the note back in his bag, closed it up, and slung it back over his shoulders.

It was quiet. The traffic moving through the hallway had dwindled to just a few stragglers, leaving them mostly alone in the hallway. Chrom fidgeted with the strap of his bag. Robin was definitely jealous. Chrom wasn’t sure what to do about it to make Robin feel better. Or whether there was anything he could do.

He was saved from having to come up with something by the bell ringing.

Robin jumped. “Oh—crap.” He looked down at his watch. They hadn’t been paying attention to the time...

Chrom looked at his watch too, though it was sort of pointless, as the stupid thing didn’t know what time it was almost as often as it did. “We need to go...”

Chrom shut his locker— whatever he had originally come here for, he could live without— and they started down the hallway together.

It was towards the end of the day when they visited the library, and they found that it was like the cafeteria, decked out in cheesy Valentine’s Day decorations that the librarians had probably put up themselves. Cardboard Cupids hung from the ceiling, and smiling hearts and banners were pasted to the wall.

Chrom and Robin had their free period at the same time, and they liked to spend it here whenever they could. They arrived early enough to see couples who had been spending their free period here, sitting together in chairs and at tables, give each other a hug and kiss goodbye as they got up to leave for the bell. Chrom had never had much of an opinion on Valentine’s Day before, but today...

He and Robin were successful in claiming their favorite chair in the library, one of the softer and more comfortable ones with padded armrests, tucked in a quiet and out-of-the-way corner where they could do schoolwork without being bothered. At least, Robin would do schoolwork. Chrom usually used the free period to take a nap.

The chair was just large enough to fit both of them, though it was a bit of a squeeze. They dumped their bags next to it— well, Chrom dumped his, but Robin bent over to lean his against the chair so it wouldn't be sprawled across the floor like Chrom’s— and they sat down next to each other. Robin pulled a book out of his bag that they had been assigned for their English class, while Chrom drew his feet up to his chest and rested his head on Robin’s shoulder.

“At least take your shoes off, Chrom,” Robin scolded him. “You’re gonna get the chair dirty.”

Chrom tried to push off each of his snow boots by pressing on the heel with the other foot, but it wasn’t really working. He gave up and tugged them off with his hands before curling up again next to Robin.

Robin was often too busy to spend his free period here with Chrom, and Chrom wished that they could come here every day. He treasured the times when they could spend time together like this, sit here together in the quiet in their spot in the library, Chrom leaning against Robin and watching idly as Robin read his book, turning a page now and then.

“You know,” Robin said after a while, “you could try something really radical and different and actually do some of your homework for once.”

Chrom made a non-committal sort of noise.

“I’m not helping you with your homework this time,” Robin warned, but Chrom wasn’t worried; Robin made these kinds of threats at least once a week, but he always ultimately gave in.

It was quiet again. Chrom’s thoughts drifted off. He thought about today, about how today had gone. He thought about how today could have been different, how they could have been sitting here differently, sitting here like those couples he had seen. They could have been holding hands... cuddling... kissing...

Chrom picked at a hole in the knee of his jeans and kept thinking about it for a while, imagining it.

He had a sudden impulse, and decided to act on it.

Chrom sat up and knelt in the seat, turning himself around to be facing the backrest. Robin looked up at him to see what he was doing. And then Robin seemed a bit surprised when Chrom sat back down to curl up on Robin’s chest, slipping his arms around Robin’s waist and hugging him.

“Chrom, what’re you even doing?” Robin sounded amused.

“Nothing,” Chrom mumbled. This position was a bit uncomfortable, but Chrom didn’t really care.

Chrom could feel Robin’s chest shake as he laughed. “You’re just going to sleep on me, then?”

“Yeah...”

Robin wasn’t pushing him off. He just seemed amused by this. And he was even putting an arm around Chrom’s shoulders... Chrom hadn’t expected to get away with this. He hugged Robin tighter.

“You’re like some kind of giant dog. You know that?”

Chrom nuzzled into the front of Robin’s hoodie.

“Well, alright,” Robin said with a little chuckle.

It was quiet again. Chrom heard Robin turning a page in his book. He could feel Robin’s chest moving slightly as he breathed, a gentle rhythm. Robin started stroking Chrom’s back idly as he read.

Chrom wished that the bell would never ring, and this would never have to end.

“Aww, you guys are so cute!”

Chrom had been half asleep, his head still lying on Robin’s chest, when a girl’s voice woke him up.

“Shh!” Robin hissed. “He’s sleeping.”

“Oh. Sorry,” the girl’s voice whispered.

Chrom placed the voice. It was Robin’s twin sister, Rufure. They looked so alike, and were similar in a lot of ways, but quite different in almost as many others...

Chrom sighed and adjusted his position a little. With luck, he could fall back asleep soon. If it was quiet again, thank you very much Rufure.

“I think you woke him up,” Robin whispered, annoyed.

“Oh... Sorry...”

The armrest that Chrom’s legs were crammed against shifted a little. Rufure seemed to have sat on it.

“Maybe not,” Robin said after a little while, as Chrom tried to shut them out. “...I think he’s still asleep.” After a moment, Robin concluded, “Yeah.”

Well, maybe they would be quiet now.

But Rufure whispered, “Good, I wanted to ask you about him...”

What were they going to say about him when they thought he was sleeping...? Chrom pretended that he was still asleep, wanting to find out.

“Did he get you anything for Valentine’s Day?” Rufure asked. “Do anything? You know...”

Robin gave a sigh. A big one. Chrom felt it in Robin’s chest.

“What?” Rufure asked curiously. “What’d he do?”

“Nothing,” Robin said quietly.

“Nothing?” Rufure repeated.

“He didn’t do anything,” Robin said, so quiet now that he was barely audible; “Not even a card...”

Oh gods they were talking about how Chrom hadn’t gotten Robin a card. Had Robin really been that disappointed that Chrom didn’t have a card for him...? His stomach clenched.

“Really?” Rufure said in surprise. “Look what he’s doing, Robin, just look at him...”

“I don’t know, I really don’t think he, he...” Robin trailed off, and was silent.

Robin was upset— Chrom had had no idea just how upset he had made Robin by not getting him a card... Dammit, now not only had he made Robin jealous, Chrom had actually hurt him...

It was quiet for a moment.

“Well,” Robin said suddenly, clearing his throat; “I heard you got sent to the principal’s office?”

“Oh, Lon’qu is just a big baby, is all...”

“Were you throwing things at him again?”

“Just candy!” And Robin had to shush her again before she continued; “Can you believe he actually ran away when I tried to give him my valentine?”

“Well, with the way you keep trying to sneak up on him all the time...”

“I wouldn’t have to if he could just talk to me like a normal person...”

Chrom stopped paying attention to their conversation and let himself get lost in the sounds of Robin’s voice and the vibrations that went through his chest when he talked.

Chrom couldn’t sleep anymore now.

Robin wasn’t in Chrom’s last class of the day. He spent it looking through his failed cards for Robin underneath his desk. There was no Robin here to chastise him for not paying the lesson any attention, he thought with a little smile as he did so.

He found a bottle of white-out in one of the drawers in the back of the room when the teacher dimmed the lights to put on a video. He covered over his old message on one of the cards with it. The white-out was old and sort of globby.

I love you, Robin disappeared underneath a white gooey mass. He wished he could give Robin the original card. But... Well, Robin had been with enough girls to make it clear that he didn’t like guys. It was hopeless, and even Chrom could see that.

Was it just him, or was the old message still kind of visible? He put on more white-out to be sure, and some more on top of that. He waved the card around under his desk to try and dry the white-out faster. It was still a little squishy to the touch by the time class was just about over, and his pen made indents in the white-out when he put in his new message, one that had taken him most of the period to come up with.

Robin was waiting for him by his locker after class with a plastic grocery bag in hand. A couple new love letters slid out when they opened Chrom’s locker. They put all of the valentines into the grocery bag, and Chrom found room to stuff it into his backpack.

“Then you can look through them when you get home,” said Robin. “See if there’s a girl you like in there, maybe.”

He looked sad as he said this. Chrom wished Robin wasn’t so upset about this. Chrom wanted to tell him—he didn’t want a girl. There was nothing to be jealous of...

“I have something for you,” Chrom told him.

“Oh?”

Chrom handed over the modified card.

“To the other half of our same whole,” Robin read aloud.

“I, uh,” Chrom said, feeling like he should explain; “I messed up all the cards, so uh, I thought I would um, fix one so I could give it to you... That’s why it’s got white-out all over it... So, uh, sorry about that... I know it’s kinda stupid...”

Robin didn’t say anything. Instead, he flung his arms around Chrom and hugged him tightly. Chrom hugged him back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you one earlier,” Chrom said into Robin’s neck.

“No, it’s fine. I said it was fine,” Robin insisted. He didn’t immediately seem to want to let go, and Chrom was in no hurry for him to, as Chrom rather liked the excuse to hold him... When Robin finally pulled away, Chrom saw that Robin’s eyes were wet. Chrom turned away to give him some privacy.

“I’m sorry, it’s kind of terrible,” Chrom went on, carefully looking at the lockers at the other side of the hallway as people passed them by.

“No,” Robin said, with a little choke in his voice. “It’s wonderful.”

Chrom decided he’d have to take his word for it.

“Chrom!”

Chrom was on his way to go board his bus home when he recognized Robin’s voice calling for him. He looked around behind him and saw Robin running up to him through the crowd of students milling around the buses, Chrom’s card clutched in a gloved hand.

“Robin? What?”

Robin came to a stop in front of him and bent over, resting his hands on his knees a moment, catching his breath. Chrom waited. Then Robin straightened up and held out the card.

“What is this?” he asked, panting.

Chrom wondered for a second if this was some sort of trick question, until he noticed that the card didn’t look the same as it had when he had given it to Robin earlier. The white-out was gone—nearly gone. Just streaks of it remained, revealing the original message.

I love you, Robin.

Oh.

Ohhhh.

It was like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped over his head. He was frozen there, his mind numb, his original stupid, stupid message staring him back in the face.

“You weren’t supposed to do that,” was all Chrom could make come out.

“Well,” Robin explained; “I don’t think the white-out was dry all the way through, it just peeled off and then I saw that there was something underneath...”

Chrom wasn’t really listening. He was starting to feel lightheaded. It would really suck if he fainted right now in front of everyone.

“Chrom?” Robin prompted.

“That’s...” He put his tongue into motion, trying to come up with something that could explain this away. “I, I made a mistake—I mean—That was meant for someone else—I mean...”

“It has my name on it.”

Well.

He made a futile grab for the card, but Robin was too fast for him and whipped it out of reach.

Well. His life was over. —No. Don’t panic, don’t panic...

“I have to... ...go,” Chrom said. “To um—to—home. I have to go home. Um, bye. Later. See you later.”

He backed away, Robin staring at him.

He turned and ran.

Nope. He wasn’t running away. Just um. Jogging. Onto his bus. To go home. Like he did every day. Except today, with a little more... speed.

He was relieved to climb aboard his bus, someplace he couldn’t be followed. Lissa was already sitting in a seat near the front. They sat together most of the time, and he made his way towards her automatically.

“Oh, hi Chrom!” she called out cheerfully when she saw him.

“Hey,” he grunted. He shrugged off his bag and she got up to let him get the window side of the bench seat. He liked the window side, she liked the aisle side. It’d been like that as long as Chrom could remember. He sidled down the end of the bench and sat down, setting his bag in his lap.

“What’s up?” Lissa asked as she flopped back down onto the seat.

“Nothing,” Chrom mumbled. Nothing at all. He had just accidentally revealed his feelings for his best friend like an idiot, probably freaking him out, probably ruining their entire friendship, and possibly ruining Chrom’s whole life. Haha. That was all. He hugged his bag to his chest.

“Oh, was your Valentine’s Day that bad?” said Lissa sympathetically. Chrom didn’t answer, but pressed his forehead into the seat in front.

“Don’t wanna talk about it, huh?”

Chrom grimaced and ground his head against the vinyl of the seat. The distraction helped. A bit.

Lissa thankfully didn’t bother him after that, and Chrom tried not to think about how stupid he was, how he had ruined everything, and what if Robin was going to tell everyone about how Chrom had come on to him, how Chrom liked guys... This was like a bad dream. But not thinking about something was hard. There was little stopping him from working himself up...

“Hey, Lissa.”

That voice. Chrom froze.

“Hi, Robin! Whatcha doing here?”

Chrom looked up in horror to see Robin standing over their seat, standing there as though he wasn’t completely out of place here.

“This isn’t your bus!” Chrom yelled at him, shrinking back behind Lissa, and in his peripheral vision he saw heads turn in their direction. “You can’t be here!”

“Well, actually, I can,” said Robin.

“No, no, you can’t!” Chrom said desperately. Robin leaned over Lissa and even closer towards him—to get out of the aisle and let people pass, but it just made Chrom feel even more cornered. “It’s, it’s against the rules! You can’t be on here...”

“Actually,” Robin said with a little half smile, “I’ve read the school rules, and it isn’t in there...”

Chrom tried to think of something to say to that, but failed.

“You kinda set yourself up for that one!” said Lissa, giggling.

“Shut up,” Chrom grumbled, burying his face in his backpack.

“ ’Kay, I’m gonna let you two talk!” Lissa announced.

Chrom felt the seat shift as she got up, then it moved again as Robin sat down next to him instead.

“Can we talk?” Robin asked.

“No.”

“Chrom, I just want to—”

“This isn’t your bus!” Chrom lifted his head to snap at him. “You should just get off!”

Lissa had apparently reseated herself in the seat in front of them, because she poked her head over the backrest and piped up, “He can just come visit us, right, Chrom?”

“No, he can’t!” Chrom said angrily. “He should just get off!”

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that the bus began to move, pulling away from the curb. Lissa snorted. Chrom buried his face in his backpack again, clenching it, feeling overwhelmed. His throat was tightening. Robin put his hand on Chrom’s shoulder and squeezed it, and that kind of helped, and kind of made things harder...

“Can we talk about the card?” Robin asked gently.

“No,” Chrom said into the backpack.

“Ooh, so did you give him one of those valentines you were making him last night?” he heard Lissa say.

Chrom wanted to punch something as Robin asked, “What valentines?” and Lissa began to explain—

“He is not coming over!” Chrom brought his head up to announce angrily, and Robin’s hand withdrew from his shoulder. He knew he was making a scene, but he didn’t care. “When we get off, I’m taking him straight home! Okay? There is no coming over, okay?!”

“Awww,” Lissa whined.

“All right,” said Robin, sounding disappointed.

The bus came to a stop to let off a few people, and Emmeryn got up from her seat farther back behind them to sit with Lissa and engage her in conversation, much to Chrom’s relief. He spent the rest of the journey to their stop with his head leaning against his backpack, watching the scenery passing by beyond the frosted window and determinedly ignoring Robin.

Chrom just wished all of this could just go away. Just go away, and everything could go back to how it was yesterday.

Chrom, Robin, Lissa, and Emmeryn climbed down off the bus, trailed by Ricken, who shared the bus stop with them. After wishing Ricken a happy Valentine’s Day and parting ways, they began the short walk down the neighborhood to their house.

“What’re you doing with your long weekend, Robin?” Lissa asked him cheerily as they walked.

“Long weekend?” Robin repeated.

“Monday is Hero King’s Day, remember?”

“Oh, right... I dunno. Probably gonna study ahead...”

“Wow, that’s pretty boring...”

Chrom stared at the slushy ground ahead as he walked. The sooner he got to his destination, the sooner he could take Robin home. Once he took Robin home, things would be okay. Somehow. For a little while. At the least, he would be able to pretend that everything was normal for a few days...

“Oh, Lissa,” he heard Emmeryn say, “do you want to help me with dinner?”

“Ooh! Okay!”

“Wonderful! I was thinking we could have macaroni and cheese...”

Emmeryn and Lissa continued talking for a while before suddenly turning down one of the driveways, and Chrom realized he had been so busy looking at the ground instead of Robin, he’d nearly walked past his own house. He quickly went down the driveway too, trying to look as though almost walking past it was what he’d intended to do all along.

He opened the garage door and rolled out his motorcycle. He and Robin had ridden it together many times, both to school and on aimless rides around back country roads during their free time when the weather was warmer. But now that it was winter and riding it had become a much colder affair, it wasn’t getting much action.

“Can we talk?” Robin asked. Emmeryn and Lissa had gone inside, and it was just the two of them out here on the driveway in the cold.

Chrom didn’t answer. He didn’t want to talk to Robin, he didn’t even want to look at him. He just wanted to get this over with.

“Chrom,” Robin tried.

Chrom went back into the garage to get them helmets.

“Chrom!” Robin called after him.

Chrom returned to hand Robin a helmet. Robin was staring at him. Chrom avoided his gaze.

“Chrom, just—stop this!” Robin said in exasperation. “You’re being stupid!”

Chrom turned back to his motorcycle and felt his hand being tugged back. Robin had grabbed it with both of his. Chrom felt heat crawling up his face. This wasn’t fair.

“Just leave me alone!” he cried, frustrated.

“I can’t!” Robin said, not letting go. “You’re making a mistake!”

“I already know that!” Chrom said, annoyed. “I already know I’m an idiot and ruined everything and you probably hate me and, and—”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t be interested in you?!” Robin burst out.

Chrom froze. Everything seemed to stop as Robin’s words echoed. Robin’s cheeks were darkening into a flush. Chrom’s head swam. That couldn’t be right. That couldn’t be right. That, that...

Chrom’s legs actually gave out, and he staggered backwards before falling to the ground onto his rear end—Robin, who was still holding his hand, was pulled down with him with a little cry of surprise and landed on top of him. Their faces were suddenly a lot closer together. Chrom’s stomach was twisting itself into knots, and he sat up and tried to back away. Not so easy to do when the other party was virtually straddling you.

“I—I—I don’t understand,” Chrom stammered when the ability to speak had somewhat returned to him.

“I always thought,” Robin said, and his cheeks were bright red, and Chrom thought it looked lovely in contrast with his white hair— “I always thought you weren’t interested in me...”

“But,” Chrom said, trying to wrap his head around this—if Robin actually did like him...?— “you date all those girls, how, how...”

“Well, they’re okay,” said Robin; “but... You were the one I always wanted...” He had to hide his face behind his hands as he said this, in which he still held one of Chrom’s.

“What? ...Really?” Chrom said, stunned.

Robin gave a little exasperated laugh.

“So,” said Chrom, slowly; “so... if you like me, and I like you, then maybe... can we...”

Robin brought his face out from behind his hands and reached out for Chrom’s face. Chrom’s heart’s pounding in his ears was almost deafening. He thought that there was a distinct possibility that he might just faint right there.

“Maybe,” Chrom continued with effort; “we could... go out?”

Robin slipped his gloved hand past Chrom’s face and into his hair, and then before Chrom could properly register what was happening, had brought their faces together and was kissing him.

Kissing, as it turned out, was pretty amazing. And not as complicated as it looked, because with Robin in the lead, it only took a moment to get the hang of it. Robin ran fingers through Chrom’s hair and worked gently at his lower lip as Chrom did his best to kiss back. He let himself be pushed back to the wet ground with Robin on top of him. Robin was kissing him. Robin. This felt like a dream again, but the good kind.

He wasn’t sure how long it was until Robin pulled back and they sat up again. There was a moment when all Chrom could do was give him what was probably a pretty stupid smile. It was probably okay though, because all Robin was doing was smiling back at him.

“So,” said Chrom after a bit, “is that a yes?”

“Yes!” said Robin, and his smile got bigger. Gods, what a wonderful smile that was.

Chrom suddenly became cognizant of the fact that his jeans had become soaked through at the seat. The back of his hair and his coat were wet too, from when he’d been lying on the ground. Not to mention, it was cold out here.

“We should probably go inside,” he said.

“So does that mean I can come over now?” said Robin, with a little laugh.

Chrom rolled his motorcycle back into the garage while Robin put the helmets away. The garage door creaked closed behind them as they headed for the front door.

“So,” said Chrom, “do you still want to spend that long weekend studying?”

Robin turned to him and grinned. Then Chrom couldn’t wait until they got inside, he had to kiss him again right there.

There was the sound of front door opening. “About freakin’ time!” he heard Lissa call out to them.