If That's Not Love

It was close to Valentine's Day and it was kind of getting old seeing couples together. What was the point of Valentine's Day anyways? It was only a day after all. The only thing he liked about Valentine's Day was putting chocolates laced with love potion around the school. It was only temporary and the reactions after the potion wore off were hilarious. So, again, he was setting up chocolates. His last stop was the grand hall. He placed boxes on the Montagnard and Cerisier tables. This was going to be good.

He looked around for any students coming towards the candies. He smirked when a familiar redhead was coming close. Ryan turned the other way and tried to blend into the crowd but still trying to see. He had to get a good view to see this hilarious prank.

Malachi wasn't much into the romance aspect of Valentine's day, but he adored fixing chocolates to give to others with his Mama. However, here he was at school far from Germany and though he tried to make chocolates on his own in the school's kitchens, they were a total failure.

Slightly bummed out, Kai made his way up from the dungeons and took a seat in the Grand Hall. Someone had been kind enough to leave chocolates, which Malachi grabbed a few and sighed as he placed them in his mouth. The chocolate melted and with it melted Kai's bad mood. Suddenly his chest felt all warm and his stomach tingled with butterflies. He didn't understand this sudden change of feelings, but then he looked up and his eyes caught another set of eyes; beautiful, blue like a pure pool of water carressed by the summer's breeze. Ryan Green's eyes.

Malachi turned away, his cheeks burning. He hardly spoke to Ryan, but it was all apparent to Kai in that moment that he was hopelessly crushing on the boy. He wanted so badly to interact with him, make him like him as well, but he remained fixed to his seat.

A poem! Of course! He'd romance the other lad with a sweet sounding poem! Then Ryan would surely notice him. He grabbed a napkin and scribbled down his feelings with a quill, scratching out lines he was displeased with, rewriting, looking up occasionally to find inspiration, dropping his head down and continued. He end up with not one poem, but five. All of which he read over with a slight frown. They were all good enough for his Ryan. He would give all of them to him.

He stood up, tripping over his chair and knocking it down. Quickly, he righted then chair, then shuffled over. "E-entschuldigen Sie!" Malachi started, not even noticing that he started in German until it was too late. His heart pounded and his face felt aflame. Oh Merlin! What was he doing? The poem covered napkins were being crumbled in his nervous hands as he stood there, mouth agape, trying to find words to explain. He found none and instead hastily dropped the napkins in front of him before turning around and retreating, uttering only, "For you."

translate=Pardon me!

He hadn't though this through, he didn't think that he would be the first person that the boy saw. Should he run and hide? "Crap," he muttered. He vowed never to mess with love potions ever again, this wasn't what he had planned at all. He backed up a bit as the boy wrote something down on a napkin. This was his chance to escape while he wasn't paying attention. He looked over to make sure the boy was still busy but the boy was looking right at him again. He gave an awkward wave and backed up a bit more.

He was about to make a run for it when Malachi got up from his chair and scrambled over to him. What had he done? Forget about the boy that was affected by the potion, poor him. He was the center of someone's affections. Wait. That wasn't such a bad thing, even if it wasn't real. It meant attention and- He shook his head, it would be wrong to take advantage of the boy. "Um, thanks," he said awkwardly. "I'll read them later." He stuffed the napkins into his pocket then bit his lip. "Well, um, I have to go." He pointed in a different direction and started to back up again.

He didn't get very far since he tripped over someone's foot. "Crap!" he called out before falling on his butt. So much for getting out of there as fast as possible.

Malachi watched Ryan's face eagerly, but the stern boy looked more annoyed at his poems than anything. "Oh," he replied, in defeat, as Ryan told him he'd read them later. He had hoped he would read them then so Kai would know how he felt but instead Kai felt entirely embarrassed and wanted to run and hide. What a fool he was! This was not the way to confess his feelings for his beloved Ryan! He must pick a bouquet of flowers, every flower with it's own meaning, and hand them over with a poem written not on napkins, but something of more elegance. Malachi felt like he was such a fool but before he could escape, he watched Ryan attempt to walk away in discomfort only to fall.

"A-are you okay?" Malachi asked. The German boy wasting little time to go to the side of the boy he admired. Ryan didn't look hurt and Kai was hesitant to touch him at first, but after a moment of prolonged staring at the fallen Ryan, Malachi offered a hand up.

He couldn't help but notice how strong Ryan was. His arms were so muscular and felt so powerful as Malachi helped him back to his feet. What made things all the more intriguing was how intense Ryan's facial features were. His prominent chin and hard eyes. They all made Malachi's tummy tickle with butterflies.

He realized he was staring again and quickly apologized while his face burned bright until it matched the shade of his hair. "You, ummm, you've got beautiful eyes," Malachi added, avoiding Ryan's gaze as his cheeks continued to burn. "They're such a sheer blue, like thick pure ice or the sky on a sunny day," He continued and then turned away slightly. "Of course, you would know that if you actually read my poems."

Trent ate dinner and was positively exhausted. He'd stayed up late catching up on work. He wasn't exactly the best student in the world or the most intelligent so it took him forever to get work done. Trent had no idea what was about to happen.

He took a sip of cranberry juice and looked up to see his best friend whom was wearing a very peculiar smile. He waved to her and pushed over so she could fit in beside him like he did every meal. However, this was not a normal meal time at all. Guen had consumed some of Ryan's love potion and Trent was the first person she saw. If Trent had known, he would've thought twice about putting an arm around her right away.

Guen lacked so much common sense for someone intelligent. So maybe she should’ve suspected something wrong with the chocolates peculiarly displayed in grand hall. But it was Valentine’s Day, so clearly nothing was wrong with them right? Wrong. So very wrong.

Guen popped a chocolate in her mouth then looked up and there he was. The most perfect person in the whole world, with his messy brown hair and glasses and oh, that smile. Absolute perfection. And his name was Trent Davies. Her best friend. Who just waved her over, she smiled brightly and made her way over sitting beside him. Oh goodness! He put his arm around her right away. She sighed happily and looked up at him. “Hey, Trent.” She giggled, clearly swooning over him.

"Hey." Trent smiled at his best friend sleepily. "How are you?" He asked softly. His Guen at his side made him smile. It was definitely where he felt she belonged. Though, he'd unfortunately learned over the summer that she did not like him that way. He learned that they were just friends and that was all she wanted to see. She was going to end up with some genius, and Trent was going to have to be used to see her with someone else.

Still, in moments like this-with her in his arms and a smile on her face it was hard not to be absolutely crazy about Guenevere Ainsworth. "You look very happy today." Trent chuckled softly as he brushed some hair from her eyes. Trent grinned. He was all excited to give her the book he'd gotten her for Valentine's Day.

“Hi.” She said with another giggle. “I’m much better now that I’m with you.” She beamed up at him, sitting extra close to him. Their thighs were touching now and she was trying so hard not to blush. Over the summer she was stupid and said that she didn’t like him in this way. But oh was she wrong. She liked him so much.

"Well, I am very happy today. Plus, Valentine's Day is coming up.” Guen said with a nod and a giggly grin. She flushed and smiled up at him as he brushed hair from her eyes. Guen caught his hand while he pulled away and held onto it tightly. “But, you look exhausted. Have you not been sleeping?” She asked worriedly and if it was even possible, she moved closer to him.

Embarrassment didn't begin to cover how Ryan felt. He should have been more careful but instead he wasn't and things weren't going the way he wanted. If he hadn't had played the stupid prank, he could have had a normal day. But instead he was on his butt freaking out over a boy who wasn't actually in love with him but believed he was. He looked up at the German boy then at his offering hand. "I'm fine," he muttered. a blush spreading across his face. "Um, thanks," he said as he took the boy's hand in his and lifted himself up. He hoped no one he knew(and was friends with) saw him like this.

"Okay, let's get something straight." He pulled his hand away from the other boy's and ran it through his hair. "Listen, you're not actually in love with me. I put chocolates with love potion in them around the grand hall and you just happened to be a victim." He wouldn't say sorry though, he thought that explaining the situation would be enough.

He had to admit, it was a bit flattering that he was being all nice and lovey dovey to him. "Well, I guess it's okay that you're acting like this. I mean, its just a potion after all. Nothing serious." He patted the pocket he had stuffed the poems in. "I'll read them later when I'm alone. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want someone to read something I wrote in front of me. What if they were judging you or something? Pointing out the flaws in your work right in front of you. Now that would be horrid." He hadn't really payed much attention to his eyes before, but there was no doubt that they were one of his best features. "Really? You like my eyes?" Of course it wasn't him talking! It was the love potion talking for him. There was no way he actually thought he had beautiful eyes. And why did he even care? It wasn't like he cared about his opinion. Or did he?

Trent didn't really think about anything being up with Guen. He was just far too happy that she was showing interest in him more than she normally did. His cheeks went kind of pink when Guen snatched his hand and grabbed it. "You're excited for Valentine's Day?" He asked curiously. "Why? Do you have a hot date?" He teased.

He simply just pulled her closer when she desired to snuggle closer. "I just stayed up late last night to get some work done." Trent explained and stroked her shoulder with his thumb. "You look pretty today by the way-I mean you do normally, but today especially." Trent bit his lip. He really hoped his blabber mouth hadn't just made things awkward.

Guen giggled at the sight of a blush. She leaned her elbow on the table, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. She smiled goofily up at him. He was so perfect and kind. And very handsome. She sighed happily. “Yes, I’m excited for Valentine’s Day.” She nodded. “Well, no one has asked me out yet.” Guen looked up at him expectantly, wondering if he got her hint.

“Make sure you get more sleep tonight.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. “You look exhausted.” She said softly and leaned closer towards him. Guen smiled brightly up at him. “You think I look pretty?” She asked excitedly. Trent thought she was pretty. She never would have thought that it was possible for him to think that. Guen was glad his blabber mouth admitted it.

"Oh." Trent flushed at the look on her face. She clearly wanted him to ask her out. He bit his lip hard. Did he do it? He wasn't sure, thankfully she continued to talk and that distracted him some more from asking.

"Of course I think you look pretty Guen. Why wouldn't I? You're hair and eyes are a stunning shade of brown and your smile can light up a room...and...and will you go out with me?" He blushed furiously. It just came out. He couldn't help himself and now he couldn't take it back. Not that he wanted to take it back though. He'd always wanted to go out with Guen and for once it seemed like she wanted to go out with him too.

Guen grinned at the blush on his cheeks. So, he definitely got her hint. Then why hadn’t he asked her out? But, of course, her blabbering mouth kept him from asking.

Guen’s cheeks were bright. She couldn’t believe Trent could mean everything that he was saying. It just wasn’t possible. He did it. He asked her out. She must’ve had the stupidest, widest grin on her face. She nodded excitedly. “Yes, I’d love to go out with you.” She kissed his cheek then smiled up at him happily. Guen meant it too. She giggled excitedly. They were going to go out and it was going to be perfect. “You look so cute when you blush.” She touched his cheek gently.

Malachi didn't understand what Ryan was saying to him. Love potion in the chocolates? That was absolutely ridiculous! Suddenly it hit Kai and he felt his heart sink as his eyes dropped to the ground. "Oh...I see," He replied, softly. Ryan probably saw him eating those chocolates and wanted to use it as an excuse to get out of this situation. He was only making Ryan feel uncomfortable. "You don't like me but you are still sensitive to my feelings. I am thankful for that, but those chocolates were just chocolates," Malachi replied, convinced of this truth. He felt his throat tighten as he tried to come to things. He would've tasted something different about them if they were laced with love potion, wouldn't he? Obviously Ryan was just looking for an easy way out.

"I'm sorry for bothering you," he added with a squeak in his voice. He wanted to disappear forever, embarrassed by this rejection, but suddenly Ryan mentioned the poems again. His cheeks flushed with remembrance. Oh the things he wrote on those napkins! They were utterly embarrassing now that he knew Ryan did not feel the same! Just him going on and on about the beauty of Ryan's eyes and the fierceness of his jaw. They way he sort of liked it when Ryan was mean to him. The way Ryan's voice sounded like rich dark chocolate. He simply could not allow him to read those now.

The red-haired boy moved closer, probing Ryan's person to see where he put those napkins. "Come to think of it, no I don't want you reading them. Please give them back," Malachi asked, but feeling anxious, he decided to take them whether Ryan agreed to it or not. He tried to fish them from his pocket, but Ryan only moved and made it harder and Malachi found his hand deep in Ryan's pocket with an arm twisted around the boy's slender waist and his face only inches away from Ryan's. "P-please," He whispered, his brown eyes wide and staring into Ryan's. His heart pounded at the close contact, yet he felt immobilized.

Explaining things did not help at all since Malachi was denying that he was affected by a love potion. He didn't believe that the boy would believe him in the first place, but it was worth a shot. "Okay, don't believe me. I don't care." The potion was only temporary so he only had to deal with it for a little while longer. "You'll soon get over this crush and we'll go back to barely talking to each other."

Before he could protest, the other boy's hand was in his pocket. "Hey! Stop!" He tried to squirm away but Kai refused to stop. "Don't you know not to go through someone's pocket!" The harder he tried, the further the other boy's hand was in his pocket. He only stopped when he was inches from his face. "Haven't you heard of personal space," he said but made no effort to move. "You made them for me and I'm going to read them whether you like it or not."

Stephanie tapped her knife against the glass of pumkin juice in front of her. She didn't like seeing all the signs of Valentines day. It reminded her too much of a recent letter she'd received from her older sister. A day dedicated to lovers and her sister had fallen into that trap too. Gushing on about some bloke she'd only just met and how he was perfect for her. The middle Henrau sister shot a look down the table at the youngest sister and wondered what she thought of it all. Probably sighing about the 'romance' or something like that.

She straightened again and noticed the box of chocolates sitting open on the table. Looking one way and the other Stephie shrugged and took one. She closed her eyes and savoured the chocolaty taste. Eyes opened again, they settled on a figure at the Montagnard table. Why hadn't she noticed just how wonderfully beautiful Ruby looked before? She sighed and propped her elbow up on the table and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. This was the perfect placed to watch the lovely witch from.

Malachi was determined to get those love poems back. Anxiously he tried to work the napkins out of the boy's pocket, locking his fingers on to them, but unable to pull his fist out for Ryan was struggling so. "Y-you can't read them!" Malachi replied, urgently. "You'd only laugh!" He felt positively miserable. Not only did he learn that his crush had no feelings for him whatsoever, his crush was about to get perfect blackmail material on him.

Inspired by his desperation and by their close contact, Malachi suddenly concocted an idea of how to get those poems back. He needed to distract Ryan and even though Ryan's affections rested far from Malachi, a kiss would still be unexpected enough to do the trick. Malachi stood on his toes and pressed his lips to Ryan's, one hand cupping Ryan's distinct jaw. He held the kiss for the duration it took to weasel out the love poems before breaking it. His eyes remained locked with Ryan's as he felt the love potion suddenly wear off.

He felt tears press against his dark eyes. What had he done? "I wanted my first kiss to be something special," he remarked, bitterly. He held the poems in his hands, crumpled up and weakly. The tears dropped as Malachi stared at his feet. Suddenly the poems meant nothing to him and he dropped them.

Philip plopped down at one of the Montagnard tables for dinner. He wasn’t exactly paying attention when he was putting food onto his plate. He glanced to see if Charlie was in the grand hall too, but no such luck. However, he did spy his roommate who was currently having a crisis. Philip almost got up to see what was going on, but he didn’t.

Without his realizing he had picked up a piece of chocolate from the table and bit into it. He grimaced slightly. He was never really one for chocolate. (And after this experience, he was going to hate it forever). Philip took a sip of water from his glass then looked up. His eyes fell on her.

She was most beautiful, with fair skin and very dark hair. It was a stark contrast, but worked on her. It was a crime that he did not know this maiden’s name. He quickly stood and made his way over to her. “Hey.” He grinned lopsidedly. He totally thought he looked cool, when he probably looked like an imbecile. “What’s your name, beautiful?”

Valentine's was always a fun day for the fifth year. Even if she didn't have someone special to share the day with, she still liked to give her friends little gifts for the occasion. This year she wasn't in much of a party mood so she hadn't gotten anything for her friends this year. Instead she spent her day moping around and avoiding people. It wasn't that she was mad at them or anything, she just wanted to be alone.

She had managed to avoid her best friend, she told him some excuse to why she wanted to be alone. He believed her and kept his distance so Ruby found herself sitting alone at the Montagnard table. She leaned her head against her hand and traced a design on the table with her finger.

It was probably true that he would laugh, but he couldn't admit that. He'd never let him keep the poems if he knew he'd just laugh at them. "Hey, you don't know if I'd laugh or not. It just depends on my mood." He was so curious about what was written on those poems that he had no time to stop the smaller boy from pulling their faces together. He was in such shock that he didn't know what to do or how to react. He just stood there frozen until the other boy pulled away. This is not how he thought his first kiss would be like.

He imagined it to be with someone else, perhaps a girl. A pretty girl. Not a guy that was suffering from a love potion. This was not how he pictured his first kiss to be like at all. He just wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. He was leaning more towards bad since his first kiss was taken from him.

Then suddenly the potion was worn off and Malachi was back to normal. "I wanted my first kiss with a girl, but you don't hear me complaining," he argued. He rolled his eyes at the younger boy. He was such a cry baby. "I'm not the worst person in the world, you know. At least now you won't be nervous for your next kiss."

He couldn't believe that the boy was actually crying. He felt sort of sorry for him since it was his fault after all. But he couldn't say sorry, he wasn't that kind of person. "So, I'm not special enough for you? I'm so special, I'm too special for you." He was pissed that the boy claimed he wasn't special. "Want special? Fine." And with that, without giving much thought to it, he crashed his lips into the smaller boy's. If that wasn't special, he didn't know what was.

Marceline never liked talking to people during dinner, but in order to get food, she had to sit at the table, so she often found a space alone and read instead of chatted. She was munching on some carrots and indulging in one of her favorite comics when she noticed in her peripheral vision that someone took a seat next to her. More interested in the gore depictions in her comic, Marceline pretended to ignore him, but suddenly he was talking to her.

"Maybe you should mind your own business before I punch that dumbass smile off of your face," Marceline replied, scoffing at the boy's smug smile. She suspected it was some sort of mean joke. He probably thought he was doing her a favor by paying attention to the lonely girl. She didn't need his compliments. She was perfectly fine on her own.

Ryan's reaction only made his mood worse. It was clear that the boy didn't understand his predicament. Kai, who never questioned whether or not he liked girls, didn't just want his first kiss to be with a girl, he wanted it to actually mean something. Not like the kiss he had just shared with Ryan. That was done nearly out of spite and neither of the boys really cared about each other. Kai's mood worsened as Ryan yelled at him and then surprised him with another kiss.

The strong arms that Malachi was so in love with moments ago wrapped around him and Kai took in the kiss only for as long as the shock lasted before breaking the kiss and turning his cheek to Ryan.

"Get away from me!" Kai shouted, exasperated. He pushed Ryan's chest away with all of his little might. He felt tears falling more steadily now as he was pushed even further into being upset. "This is not how things were supposed to happen! I was supposed to give my first kiss to someone I've fancied for years! Perhaps a close friend! Someone who understands me, but you! You are a bully and a fiend!" Malachi replied, his ears growing red as he yelled. "There was supposed to be courting involved. Exchange of gifts, flowers, poems! Little sweet nothings, before we would finally confess our feelings for each other in a recluse area and share our first kiss." He wiped the back of his hand across his tear strewn face as he took a heavy breath in. "You tainted my sweetest dream," he choked out. He couldn't seem to stop crying. Oh what had he done? "Take those poems and laugh at them if you must! They're all lies anyway! Who could possibly love someone as perverted as you!" Malachi spat, kicking the love poems on the floor towards Ryan.

Philip’s derpy smile quickly fell from his face at her tone of voice. “Have I offended you?” He quickly asked, studying her face. Such beautiful features she had. He was quite obviously swooning over her. Philip took her hand gently. “I’m sorry for offending someone as beautiful as yourself.” He didn’t want to offend or seem like he was pitying someone who was the “lonely girl”.

Maybe it’d be better if he told her his name. Yeah, that’d be better. “I’m Philip by the way.” “May I please know your name?” Philip asked again, more nicely. He smiled at her happily.

Ryan didn't expect the other boy to be calm about his second kiss, it would be weird if he was. A smirk formed on his face when Malachi pushed him away, he was sassy. It was funny to watch him explode at him, but he kept a serious composure to satisfy the shorter boy. "I didn't know any better, I would think your brain was one of a teen girl." Boys didn't think about all that stuff, did they? At least he didn't. He didn't care about flowers or poems. He was kind of enjoying the venom pouring out of the other boy's mouth, he had never seen him so angry before.

"A bully? You're too kind but I believe you can do better. Come on, hit me with your best shot. At least make your insults hurtful." He had been called much worse and he didn't even blink an eye at the insults the boy was throwing at him. Why would he even care about what Malachi said about him? The only people that mattered were the ones he kept close to him. He didn't care what a cry baby thought about him.

"Perverted? Me? Do you even know what you're talking about? I'm not perverted." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Obviously you don't know anything about me." He stepped on the poems and rubbed them into the ground with his shoe. "Usually I would mess with a guy whose already down, but I admire you for sticking up for yourself. But this is the only time I won't pound your face in for insulting me." His chocolates prank didn't seem as fun anymore, his dorm was a better place to be than here. "But next time work on your insults and get to know me a little bit better before you throw around insults." He kicked the poems toward the shorter boy and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Better get rid of those before someone sees them and makes fun of you." And with that he turned his back on the boy and walked away.

Marceline's icy eyes rolled in her head. Who did this guy think he was? "Stop calling me that!" She snarled back to him. She wasn't a beautiful girl. This guy was just messing with her. She did wish he would leave her alone.

She turned away from him and stuck her nose back into her comics, trying to ignore him, but the boy was being persistent. She wasn't sure if he was trying to make friends or come on to her, but either way, she didn't like it. Maybe this is why she was such a lone wolf. She just despised the normal method of friendship making.

"Marceline," She replied, disinterested. "But if you truly fancied me, then you would've already known that," Marceline added.