AN: Hey! Yeah, this is just a random Valentine's Day story that I wrote over the last hour or two... It's kind of crap and kind of not very well thought out, but here you go anyway. ^^; Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Wish I did, but I don't. v.v

Loneliness was a helluva thing. Generally, when you thought of loneliness, you'd think of being literally alone, friendless, all on your own and wishing for someone to join you just to lift the weight of sadness, but the thing about loneliness was that it really wasn't that picky. It'd latch it's icy little fingers into any heart given the right prompting. Even those surrounded by people, surrounded by praise and laughter, and as Jack sat at the lunch table surrounded by his friends as they regaled each other of the party the other night and shared hopes about the upcoming basketball game (of which Jack was the star player) he felt more alone than he ever had.

These people, his 'friends', were so superficial. They didn't see him. They saw the star athlete. They saw the handsome boy with bright blue eyes and an attention getting dye job. They saw a prankster who made a habit of pissing off the principal and had a shining smile that could turn any girl's knees to water. They didn't see him, and… Jack didn't think they wanted to… Because if they saw him, the him that nobody had given a second glance in middle school, the him who played dress up with his little sister, the him who would rather play video games than get drunk, the him who was actually more interested in blushing boys than blushing girls, they would drop him like week old take-out.

He sighed and dropped the fry he'd been absently stirring his ketchup with, grabbing the tray and standing to go dispose of his uneaten food. One of the guys at his table laughingly asked where he was going. Jack forced a smile back and fed some bullshit story about having a meeting with one of his teachers about extra credit. Couldn't let his grades fall too much after all or he'd be booted off the basketball team. No, couldn't have that at all. The guy nodded, not even blinking at Jack's story, and called a cheery farewell, several others at the table following suit as Jack left.

It was all so fake, it was all so forced, and it was all getting so hard to keep up. It was getting so hard to keep smiling through the pain of his lonely heart.

He stopped at his locker, spinning the dial to put in his combination in a practiced motion before throwing the metal door open... And being hit by an avalanche of sparkly, pink, perfumey envelopes… Oh yeah. Today was Valentine's day, wasn't it… Jack grit his teeth and seriously considered setting the whole pile of them on fire right here in the hall. That would probably be a little too extreme, though, even for him.

With a growl that no one would see nor hear in the deserted hall he stooped to clean up the mess on the floor, not bothering to be careful with the oh so sentimental love notes that would no doubt wax poetic about his bright smile or mad basketball skills. None of these girls knew him. None of these girls cared about him. It had been the same last year, and the year before that. He'd tried reading them, if for no other reason than to get an ego boost for the day, but this year… He just couldn't make himself do it. He didn't want to be reminded of just how invisible he actually was, despite having so many eyes on him.

Once he had every note gathered up he stomped over to a nearby trash can and threw the wad of papers, cardboard, and glitter away. Just screw this day! Screw it! He wasn't going to deal with it! He returned to his locker and threw his books into his backpack before slamming it closed and turning to leave, fully intent on not returning to it before tomorrow. Angry teachers and parents be damned. He was allowed to have a day off when he needed it!

Righteously self-indulgent anger clouding his head and an out of character scowl on his face he made for the exit. He hadn't anticipated the boy who'd apparently been pacing just around the corner. They collided, the smaller of the two rebounding and falling to the floor.

"Hey watch where-...!" Jack paused mid-reprimand as he took a moment to actually look at the kid he'd just run over, taking his attitude and sitting it on a back burner for a moment. Wide green eyes looked up at him in what he could only define as horror, his face flaming in apparent mortification, nearly covering up the abundant smattering of freckles across a round nose and soft cheeks. Pink lips were opening and closing in an effort to speak. The word 'adorable' came immediately to mind.

"Ah! U-umm hi! H-hi Jack! Uh, hi, yes, sorry. I uh, I'm sorry. I didn't- That is- Uhhh… Bye!" And then he was scrambling up and running away before Jack had a chance to get another word in.

Exceptionally confused and a little embarrassed, Jack could only stare after him for a moment. 'What a weird kid', he thought, 'Cute though.' Shaking his head he decided to just try to continue on with his day as though the encounter had never happened. That plan was derailed before he'd even taken a step, however, when a flash of color on the floor caught his notice. It was a green envelope. It had his name on it.

With a faint frown he knelt to pick it up, turning the plain green envelope over to see if there was anything else to be seen. There wasn't. Just his name in slanted, kinda blocky lettering on the front. Was it another valentine? It really didn't look like it, being so plain… Most of the girls who gave him valentines couldn't help but make them effeminate and 'attractive', each one trying to out-do the last in it's flashiness. This one was so plain… Then it clicked, the boy he'd run into, he had to have dropped it. So… Was it a valentine? Or just a letter? It was from a guy, after all. No one knew that Jack was… Like that… So… But why would some random guy write him a letter and give it to him on Valentine's day?

Jack's frown was quickly growing as he stayed knelt in the hallway, staring at the envelope as though he were having some sort of mental battle with it. And perhaps that was exactly what he was doing! Who was to know? The deciding factor in the little mental war, however, was the image his mind pulled up of the cute little brunette as he'd blushed and stuttered before flat out running away from him. At least this admirer was in the right ballpark.

Standing up, Jack turned to lean against the lockers and opened the letter, which was what it turned out to be. That slanted, kinda blocky lettering filled the page, many places bearing signs of multiple erasures, smudge marks liberally covering the page. A few lines were scribbled out and unreadable and there were doodles of dragons in the margins. Jack hadn't even started reading yet and he already had a small smile on his face. These were signs of a well thought out letter. That boy had put a lot of time into getting his wording right and he couldn't help but find that endearing. Not to mention the fact that those dragon doodles were pretty damn cool. Ice blue eyes darted to the first words at the top and began to read.

Dear Jack,

Hi. You don't know me, and you likely never will, given our respective social circles, but I share a few classes with you. I have for several years now actually. I just wanted to get that admission out of the way so you didn't think I was some kind of stalker or something.

Anyway, I've been worried about you lately. You used to smile so much bigger and laugh so much more freely. Your mood has been even more noticeable these past few weeks. I suppose that's why I finally worked up the courage to write this. I don't know if this will help at all, or if it will just piss you off to be getting a letter like this from a guy, but I just feel like you need to hear this. (Yes, I realize this is a letter and you're technically reading this, but lets ignore that little detail, ok?)

So, yeah, I kinda, sorta, really like you. I've liked you for a long time. Since about fifth grade. You were always so kind and energetic back then. Whenever I saw you you were always on some sort of adventure, climbing trees or sneaking out of class to explore the halls. I always wished I had the nerve to go with you. I always wished I'd had the bravery to be myself like you did.

When we got into highschool you changed, on the outside at least. You dyed your hair, grew taller… and everyone was beginning to notice you the way I had and you seemed so happy! I don't think I'd ever seen you smile so big as that day when you made the basketball team! All those years of jumping around like a mad person must have paid off, huh? I swear sometimes, when you jump, you look like you're flying.

Lately, though, you look like you wish you really could fly. Just up and fly away and leave everyone behind. Your smiles look forced and I don't think you've done more than nibble at your lunch for the last month. You're not yourself anymore. You don't act like you anymore. But I know you're still in there. I see it when you think no one's looking, when you have to stay late, waiting for your mother and sister to come pick you up and you sweep that little girl up and laugh with her like she's the most important thing in the world. I see it when you specifically target bullies with your pranks. (And yes, I've noticed that this includes Principal Pitchiner. You never did consider adults any better than the rest of us.) And you never look down on anybody, even when your circle of friends do.

I suppose I just want to remind you that it's ok to be you. That's something I learned from you and I've been so much happier for having learned that lesson. It gave me the courage to come out to my dad. That was not a very fun conversation, but he surprised me. Things are better with him now than they ever have been, and I feel like I have you to thank for that. People can surprise you Jack.

Signed,

Some scrawny kid who can't believe he's actually going to give you this letter…

It only took a few minutes to read the letter. It took longer to let it sink in. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, but none actually fell. There was a tight feeling in his chest as he read the letter a second and third time.

Someone saw him. Actually saw HIM. He'd never even known… He almost wished this kid had talked more about himself in the letter, maybe explained why he never talked to him before... But he supposed that was sort of explained when the kid admitted that he'd never been that brave. He had, in fact, had to work up the courage just to deliver the letter. Jack wondered if the guy had been about to back out of his plans of delivering said letter when Jack had run into him and pretty much taken the decision out of his little freckled hands.

The bell rang, making him jump and clutch reflexively at the paper in his hands. Lunch had just ended. The halls had been gradually filling without his notice for the past few minutes. No one had stopped to bother him as he'd stared at the letter in his hands. Carefully folding the paper back up he placed it back inside the envelope, then folded that so he could slip it into his pocket. He made a few decisions right then, a smile slowly forming on his pale lips. The first of which was that he wasn't going to skip the rest of the day after all. He needed to figure out which classes he supposedly shared with a certain cute brunette. Then… He needed to thank him for saying just what he needed to hear. (Or read) Then after that… Maybe ask the cutie out. It was Valentine's day after all.