Make It Count

Heya, Infinitatious Epicnesses! Daughter-OfAres here with my Valentine's fanfiction of 2015! As you guessed, it's Daruke. Hopefully you guys actually read my stuff when it's Guardians since I know it's not that popular... Even though it should be!!!

I don't own anything but the plot; all rights go to Aoife Gallogly. 

-Always remember; if I take both earphones out while you're talking to me, you have a special place in my heart-

If there was one thing that Takeda Sasuke hated, it was Valentine's Day. Not that he had anything personal against the fourteenth of February. It was more what the day had become.

He hated the concept of a fat, winged baby flying around and shooting people with arrows to make them fall in love. He rolled his eyes at the idea. He had hated Valentine's Day in Japan and he didn't like it any more in Ireland.

No matter to where he diverted his eyes, he would either see happy couples exchanging gifts, cards, compliments or saliva. The latter of which was quite unpleasant.

Furthermore, he would see a small, paper bag taped to every locker in the school. The teachers didn't support public displays of affection, but after everyone in the student council had pushed the idea of 'locker letterboxes' on them, they caved in.

The bags were like 'letterboxes'. A student could find their friend or loved one's locker and drop the card into the bag either anonymously or with the other's knowledge.

He knew that Darren Hughes' friend Lydia had dropped a card into someone called Paul's letterbox, but he had a feeling that would only end in tears.

And he had seen Kisame receive a Valentine's day card from Lena in the mail, so it wasn't surprising to him that Kisame wasn't that bothered about his letterbox. Even if it did have ten or eleven cards in it.

Almost everyone's paper bags were full of Valentine's cards, only one or two without any. Sasuke being one of them.

Now, he sat in French class, waiting for the teacher to dismiss them so that they could look in their bags. Or rather, dreading. Just because he didn't receive any cards doesn't mean that he never sent any. And it wasn't to Lydia's sister, Emily, like everyone had assumed he would.

"You're free to go," she said with a smile once she had dealt out the homework and the bell had knelled the class to a close. "Have a nice Valentine's Day."

"You too, miss," the class called as they scrambled towards their lockers. Sasuke followed at a slower pace. His gaze scanned the crowd until he found who he was looking for, but Darren Hughes was already surrounded by his friends. Sasuke sighed and walked towards his locker, blinking in surprise when he found four cards in his bag.

"Hey, I got some cards!"

Sasuke glanced over and swallowed when he saw Darren at his locker. The mousey haired boy was holding a few cards in his hand, and therefore, Sasuke's heart as well. His gaze met Darren's for a moment. Darren grinned at him and Sasuke offered him a feeble smile in return.

Don't laugh at me, he pleaded when Darren began to read the cards. He glanced at his own.

"One from Abigail..."

Dear Saske, I hope you hav a grate Valentine's Day! Love Abby.

"One from Lena..."

Sasuke, hope this Valentine's day is BEARABLE for you ;). Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the bear on the cover of the card. He heard Darren chuckle as well.

"One from Evelyn..."

Sasuke, Good luck today, kid. Go get him. ;)

Sasuke felt his face heat up when he read that card. How did she-?

"One from Kisame..."

Go for it, nii-san.

"And... that's it."

Sasuke felt his heart thud and he looked over at Darren. He didn't get it...

The hours that he had spent cutting a heart out of blue card and gluing white lace to the edges had been wasted. He had even gone so far as to write 'You're the missing piece of my heart' on the card and sign his name.

And it had been even harder to work up the courage to actually put the card into Darren's 'letter box'.

But now, none of it mattered. The card had somehow gone missing.

Sasuke turned back to his own locker. He knew that if Darren happened to look over at him, he would see the hot tears that were pricking his cobalt eyes.

"See you tomorrow, Dar," one of Darren's friends called.

Unlike the days prior to this one, Sasuke didn't turn around in the hopes of catching Darren's gaze and exchanging a smile with him. But then he felt someone tap his shoulder.

He brushed the beginnings of his tears away before turning around. Standing behind him was Darren and in his hand was the card that Sasuke had worked so hard to make. "I, uh...I got your card," Darren said with a shy grin.

Sasuke swallowed. Please don't hate me...

"And I... I just wanted to give you mine in person..." It was then that Sasuke noticed that Darren had kept a hand behind his back the entire time. He brought his arm out from behind him and offered Sasuke the card that was clenched in it.

Sasuke's movements were slow as he took the card. It was heart-shaped, hand-made and made out of red card with a small lace lining along the edge that was so similar to his own. The bottom of it was a bit crumpled due to the tight grip that Darren had on it, but Sasuke didn't care.

Sasuke, I love you, was written in a handwriting that was identifiable as Darren's, even if it was neater than his usual writing. Then, written at the bottom in a hurried scrawl were the words, you're the missing part of my heart too.

Sasuke almost dropped the card. His gaze found Darren's. "R-really?"

Darren nodded. "Really."

Sasuke noticed that the distance between them had grown quite small. He saw Darren leaning towards him and he felt the older boy's soft lips being pressed onto his own.

Murmurs of disapproval and disgust rang through Sasuke's ears from the crowd of remaining students - although there were one or two 'aww's or cheers - as he returned the kiss.

He didn't care. 

Maybe Valentine's day wasn't quite so bad after all.

-The most beautiful line in the world is "but I love you...". The most painful is "I love you, but..."-

I hope you guys enjoyed. I even tried to find love-based teenage posts for the line breaks. Anyway, please vote and review.

Happy Valentine's Day and I'll see you next time, Infinitatious Epicnesses!