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February 14th, 20XX.
Book stared at the date on her calendar, the one with a big red hard hastily scribbled on with a pink glitter pen. The sun shining through the window made the ink sparkle and shine. She squinted. Valentine’s Day had never been a holiday she was particularly fond of. It just reminded her of her special someone who, year after year, she’d been too scared to ask out. Maybe “not-so-special someone” was a better way to describe her, since the two weren’t a thing.
Just thinking about it made heat rise to Book’s cheeks. Thinking of someone as great as her giving her that kind of attention, Book’s heart was practically beating out of her chest.
And that’s how she got to where she was now, pacing around the open, green fields of Goiky at 6 in the morning. She was always able to think more clearly when she was moving, and her eyes stayed locked onto the ground, save for when she glanced up to clean her glasses, which had repeatedly grown foggy from her heavy breaths. With clammy hands, she’d wipe them with a handkerchief.
God, she was a nervous wreck, and for what? She was out here, all on her own, alone with her own thoughts. What did she have to be worried about? Calm down; she berated herself; you’re getting worked up over nothing. It was all because of her stupid, overthinking brain that she could never confess to her. If she just calmed down and started thinking rationally, maybe...
“Book, what are you doing?”
A (somewhat) familiar, noticeably raspy voice called out to her. Not familiar as in a friend, more familiar as in...
“Fries.” She hid the shock, possibly even horror, in her voice under a thick layer of scorn. With a light huff, she stopped, crossing her arms as she turned to face him. “I could ask you the same thing! It’s 6 in the morning. Don’t you have better things to be doing?”
He only scoffed in response, holding his hands up defensively. “I’m not the one running laps out at 6. I just came out here to water my plants,” like her, he also crossed his arms, “no need to have such an attitude.”
“Well, you’re certainly one to talk about an attitude!”
“I have good reasons, unlike you. Is it so wrong to want my team to actually put in some work?”
A silence fell on the two after that, with Book refusing to even look him in the eyes, glancing nervously around at everything but him. “Well, no, but-”
“You already answered your own question.” He cut her off. Sensing her tension, he loosened up a bit, instead shifting the conversation to a different subject as he grabbed his watering can. “Anyways, you never told me what you were up to out here. So..”
“It’s nothing!” Book sputtered, twiddling her thumbs, and her cheeks suddenly turned bright red. Upon realizing her suspicious reaction, Book’s lips twitched into a straight line. With a not-so-subtle cough, she patted herself down, smoothing her clothes. If there was one thing Book wasn’t good at, it was the art of subtly. Quietly, she added, “nothing you should be worried about,” trying to clear the air and make herself look better.
Fries only shrugged at this, not caring enough to try and get any more out of her, kneeling over to water his plants. The water glittered on the flush, pink petals as the plant rose and stood up ever-so-slightly taller in response. Upon seeing this, a small smile crept its way onto Fries’s face. Pink had always been his favourite colour. In such a monotone place as Goiky, where the grassy green fields were practically all you would end up seeing when you were outside, it stuck out. Plus, he just enjoyed gardening. It was something he could do without having to worry about someone else ruining it by slacking off or trying to be "funny." Fingers pushing at the dirt surrounding the flowers, he let out a small sigh. He’d always had a specific soft spot for one certain shade of pink. That light pink is like cotton candy. It made him think of...
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Curse that wandering mind of his. His fingers twitched a bit as the thought crossed his mind, and his cheeks were growing the slightest bit pinker. It didn’t mean anything.
“So.” Book’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. As much as he wanted to scold her for ruining his focus or something along those lines, he was almost glad that she took him out before he went any further down that train of thought. However, her next line struck him with immediate disappointment: “It’s Valentine’s Day, huh, Fries? Isn’t that nice? You know-”
“If you’re trying to ask me out, I’m not interested,” he figured the best way was to shut her down bluntly. This, however, only rewarded him with an awkward half-chuckle and half-laugh from Book.
“Why would I... you know what, nevermind? That’s not important. I.. er,” Book let out another sigh, a slightly more dramatic one this time, fidgeting a bit more. “I want to ask you for your help with something!”
“Why me ?”
Book scrunched her nose as if the answer was obvious. “You’re the only person around.”
“Surely it can’t be that urgent.” Fries looked back at his flowers, nudging them a bit more in an attempt to look busy so she’d leave him alone. “Plus, don’t you have an alliance? Flee-Start or something like that?”
“First of all, it’s FreeSmart!” She corrected, putting her hands on her hips, “and second of all, none of them are fit to help me with this! If I try to tell Match or Pencil, they’ll just laugh at me. And even if they don’t, how am I supposed to trust them to not go and tell everyone about my secret? I can’t confide in them for stuff like that. They’ll just-”
From that point on, Fries was practically just tuning Book out, only watching her erratic hand movements during her explanation and taking note of her sudden pacing. His eyes, however, drifted to focus on a certain someone. Someone who seemed like he was the definition of "nerd" was brought to life. Someone who made Fries question things about himself. Someone who made him feel things nobody else could. Strange, but not bad, things. He squinted a bit.
Book’s voice cut back into his ears. “...isn’t at all qualified to give advice about romance! I mean, she’s great at a lot of things, but life advice isn’t one of them.”
Romance? He turned back to her slightly, seeming more interested now. “What was that?”
“Whuh? Don’t tell me you’re trying to shoot your shot with Ruby. I don’t think you’d-”
Fries made a look of half-mock, half-serious disgust at her suggestion. “No way! She’s,” he said, making vague hand gestures, before settling on (somewhat) kinder words, “...not my type. Besides, I’ve already—” he stopped to correct himself, “I’m already too busy to handle a Valentine.”
Book cocked a brow at his change in words. “You’ve already got what? Don’t tell me… you’ve already got a Valentine? Gosh, I better hurry up and just tell her already!”
“No, that’s not what I—wait, huh?” It seemed like their conversation had taken a turn. Now they were peeping into each other’s secrets. He tried to conceal his surprise and keep his grumpy tone, bottling up his interest. “You’ve already got someone you’re interested in? Why’re you bothering me about this then?”
“I guess I do, yeah,” she scratched her cheek, and Fries noted that she looked even more flustered than when he’d first spotted her. “Well, actually, no. I don’t,” her gaze drifted back to the ground. “I’ve been meaning to ask her for years now! But every time I try... I end up getting too nervous to fully go through with it, and I chicken out. That’s what I wanted to ask you about.”
“You’re asking me for relationship advice?” He sounded unimpressed.
Again, Book crossed her arms. “You’re the first person I saw!” and, in a more hushed voice, she elaborated, “Plus, you seem like you’d be able to give life advice. You’re all, y’know, down to earth and stuff. Just—it’s not important!” Her voice wavered slightly.
Fries took a moment to think. What would he get out of this other than a total hassle? It wasn’t his job to go and help someone out with her problems, especially when all she’s been doing is nagging and bothering him. He snorted to himself as he thought, thinking Book was totally ridiculous for assuming he’d ever want to help her with her little crush or whatever. Did she think he was going to go and be all altruistic, helping her out of the “goodness in his heart”? Well, she thought wrong.
“No way,” he said, delivering the rejection plainly and simply. No reason to try and sugarcoat it; he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in getting involved with anybody’s love life, especially not Book’s.
She bit her lip. “Okay, I know I can’t help you with any sort of challenges, even though those are all you seem to care about,” she rolled her eyes, “but I could help you with something ! Surely you’ve got some issue that needs resolving.”
“...Tennis Ball…” the name spilled out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
“Oh my word!” Book slapped a hand over her mouth immediately. “I-I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I just never expected someone like him to have your interest.” She slowly drew her hand away from her mouth, waving it nervously to try and clear the tension.
While such an immediate and visceral reaction was probably the last thing Fries would’ve expected, he sighed, realizing that Book was, unfortunately, his best bet for getting Tennis Ball to go out with him. So, swallowing his pride, he decided to start the plan. “You’re both nerds, so I figure you’ll know what I can do to get him to like me.”
“Hey! I’m not a nerd!” She pushed her glasses up slightly, her braces whistling a bit. “But, anyways, I have a couple romance novels. From what I’ve seen, ladies love a grand gesture. Something extravagant, and something made just for them!” She quickly shut the book with a “thump!”, clearing her throat. “But I think something heartfelt, even if it’s small, would be best. I think anyone, or, well, at least anyone in their right mind, would prefer something straight from the heart rather than just material junk.” She raised a finger up, her typical “nerd” pose, a proud expression written clearly on her face.
Fries still looked unimpressed. How could she say the most obvious thing, the most overdone “just be yourself” message and genuinely expect him to treat her like she was being helpful. “Gee, thanks,” he rolled his eyes, “I would’ve never thought of that.”
“Oh, come on!” Book crossed her arms. She looked around, immediately noticing the flowers Fries had been tending to earlier. A small, seemingly genuine, smile crossed her lips. “How about these? I think he’d love them!” She clapped her hands together, egging Fries on. “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”
With a final huff, he accepted. “Fine, if it’ll shut you up. I’m already sick of your nonsense. Now, scram..”
Humming slightly, Book scampered away, an unreadable expression on her face. Some sort of cross between hope and apprehension. He wondered what was eating away at her, but he decided not to linger on it. Right now, today was about him and Tennis Ball.
Leaning over to pluck a flower, Fries carefully inspected all of them. Tennis Ball only deserved the best, so he was very deliberate in his choice.
One flower stood especially strong, pink petals so bright they seemed to glow. A strong, healthy flush was spread throughout the flower, giving it a pleasant purple tint. A rare smile unconsciously spread across his lips, his cheeks pushed up slightly.
“Fries? I never knew you were into gardening.” A nasally voice had snuck up on him, causing him to flinch and jolt back a bit when he heard it. He tried to force his smile down to keep his usual straight face, but he found that the voice made his face split further into a grin. Hell, his cheeks were even flushed. Tennis Ball either didn’t notice or decided to ignore it, because he didn’t mention it. “I should’ve known. You were really into those Grotatoes I made for you!”
“Hey, that was because I needed my fries back!” He scrunched up his nose. “It’s different from genuine interest.” Noticing Tennis Ball’s smile faltering, he knew he had to act quick. Bolting down, he plucked the bright flower, awkwardly holding it out in front of him in what looked more like he was trying to show it to him rather than an attempt at a romantic gesture. “You’re a nerd…” He immediately saved it by adding, “but you can be my nerd.”
Tennis Ball immediately flushed pink. That cotton-candy like colour. Fries’s favourite. And for once, he didn’t regret listening to Book, because the sight of Tennis Ball absolutely melting was true eye candy for him. Definitely worth it.
“Ah.. I.. well..” He stammered, failing to even form a full sentence. “You… buh..--”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He couldn’t help but smile. It was the cheesiest thing he’d ever seen, and he was loving it.
“Y-Yeah.” Tennis Ball finally forced out, grabbing the flower Fries had been holding out for an uncomfortably long time. His eyes lit up, shining like saucers, as he got a closer look. “This looks so well cared for! What’s your routine? I can never seem to get mine right.”
Fries saw an opportunity, and he took it. “Well, I can explain while we’re on the way there.”
“D-Did you just-”
Before Tennis Ball could finish, Fries flashed an uncharacteristic smirk, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Yep, it’s a date.”