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“Hey, Pompom. Watcha doin?” Jax said, peering over her shoulder.
“Oh. Just something I’ve been working on.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
Pomni hesitated, but figured why not.
“Well, ever since I got… here, I’ve been kind of keeping track of like, the days and the months. I know, it’s kind of pointless, but. It helps me in a way. Gives me some sort of structure here.”
“Hm. Lemme see-“
He grabs her calendar out of her hands. She shoots him an annoyed glance, but doesn’t fight it.
“So today is February 13th, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” She pondered for a moment, “Jax, do we… celebrate holidays here?”
“Hah. You know, I forgot holidays even existed. Even if we did request anything like that, Caine would probably have no idea what to actually do.” Jax looked at her calendar again. “Hey, tomorrow’s-“
“Valentine’s Day. Stupid holiday, in my opinion,” Pomni said with a noticeably bitter undertone.
“You’re tellin’ me.” Jax said, tossing her calendar in front of her again. “I’m not much of a holiday person myself. Plus, like you said. Doesn’t really matter here.”
“Hah, yeah. You’re right.”
He could tell she looked kind of… sad?
Awkward…
Jax felt like he needed to change the subject, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.
“So, you got a favorite holiday? Halloween? Christmas?” He asked.
Pomni let out a soft chuckle. “I always kind of liked Easter, actually. I don’t know if it’s my favorite… I guess I’m not a huge holiday person, either.”
“Easter? A fan of the Easter bunny?” Jax said with a smirk.
To his satisfaction, that got another chuckle out of her.
“Well, it’s like a sign of spring. The weather gets warmer, but it’s not too hot, you know? And I have really good memories of going on Easter egg hunts as a kid, and all the candy, chocolate…”
Jax felt an uncomfortable warmth in his chest.
“That’s lame. Personally, I think President’s day is where it’s at,” he said.
“Ew, what? Seriously?”
“Sure! It’s a whooole day dedicated to you! Our very own President Pomni~”
“Oh my God, Jax.” Pomni laughed again. “You’re ridiculous.”
————
That night, Jax laid in bed thinking about their conversation. He couldn’t shake the thought of that weird, bitter energy Pomni had when Valentine’s Day was mentioned.
God, am I really gonna do this…?
He stood up with a sigh and walked over to his collection of keys, sifting through to find the right one.
After he found it, he slipped out of his room, and snuck down the hallway.
He stopped at the right door, and turned the key.
It was a random room that Jax was sure no one else knew about. A room with random items scattered all over; he assumed it was a collection of unused assets. Some of it he recognized from past adventures, but half of it didn’t seem fully rendered.
He looked around for a few minutes.
There’s gotta be something in here that she would like…
————
It was the next day, and another stressful adventure came and went.
After everyone returned, Jax approached Pomni.
“Cool adventure today, huh?” He said with a snarky smile, his tone flowing with sarcasm.
“Yeah. Another horror adventure. My absolute favorite. So cool,” she grumbled back with a glare.
“Hey, lighten up! I got somethin’ for ya,” he said.
She looked at him with pure suspicion.
“Jax, I’m tired. I’m not in the mood for your pranks right now.”
“Pranks?! Who said anything about pranks? Come on, follow me.”
“Jax, I swear-“
He grabbed her hand, nearly pulling her off her feet as he brought them around the corner to an area away from the others.
The second they were out of sight, Jax’s mischievous, sarcastic attitude seemed to disappear.
Pomni squinted at him in confusion.
“What are we doing over here…?”
Without a word, Jax handed her a box.
Pomni was very unsure of what the hell he was doing, but the look on his face made her think that this may be a genuine act from him.
He looks mad. Annoyed? Uncomfortable? Wait, is he… blushing?
Pomni carefully took the box from him.
“C’mon, just open it already before someone sees,” he said impatiently.
“Okay, okay. Geez.”
Jax stood with his arms crossed and faced away from her, but turned his eyes to watch her.
“Oh, Jax…”
She looked through the contents of the box and felt something she hadn’t in a long time.
Candy. Chocolates. Random pastel colored flowers thrown in. All digital, all fake. But she’d never seen a gesture so real from Jax before.
So… uncharacteristically thoughtful.
“…this box isn’t about to explode in my face or anything, right?” Pomni asked cautiously.
“Nah, but that would’ve been a good idea.”
“Jax, why did you…”
“Alright, that’s enough. Now go put it somewhere- and I swear to God if you tell anyone about this…”
Pomni let out a relieved sigh, and smiled.
“This was really sweet of you, Jax.”
“Whatever, I’m going to bed now,” he said, his face completely red at this point.
He still seemed sour, but at this point it was clear to Pomni that he was probably just uncomfortable about showing such a rare moment of kindness.
She was so caught up in what was happening that she didn’t realize he was walking away.
“Oh- wait, Jax!”
She closed the box and went after him, but he was gone.
————
Pomni entered her room for the night, setting her box down to look through it more carefully. Under the pile of candy and flowers, her eyes widened when she noticed a small, purple piece of paper. It was folded, with a single heart drawn on the outside.
She unfolded it.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Pomni.”