A/N: A random oneshot…I have no excuse. Completely AU and very fluffy. Please review!

Bicycle Crashes

The brakes of his bike let out a squeal of protest as Leo slammed his feet down on them, but that was all they did, so, instead of stopping in front of the bike rack, he crashed into it. The bicycles's rusted-out body creaked loudly as he attempted to extract himself from the tangle of metal and rubber that his clumsiness had created.

He stuffed his helmet into his backpack, then ran a hand through his auburn hair, most of which was currently standing straight up. Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, he winced as the weight settled on his back, and realized that he must've crashed a little harder than he thought.

He kicked the bike, which let out a creak in response that sounded entirely too much like a laugh for Leo's dignity to bear. He felt heat rush into his face.

"It's your fault, anyhow," he grumbled, with a glare at the offending machine.

This time, he was sure the sound that reached his ears really was a laugh. He could feel his cheeks turning red as he looked around for the source of the noise.

Sparkling blue eyes met his.

If he'd been blushing before, it was even worse now. Pacifica Cassul, of all people, had to be the one that saw him like this.

She stood only a few feet away from him, dressed in slightly ragged jeans and a turquoise turtleneck that clung to her figure, a stack of textbooks clutched to her chest. Her blonde hair was in a braided updo, with two springy ringlets left loose to frame her heart-shaped face. Mischief danced in her sapphire-blue eyes as she regarded her classmate.

She was Leo's dream girl and no one would convince him otherwise. Not that they hadn't tried. Pacifica, despite her looks, was the least popular girl in the school, and all of Leo's friends insisted that even being seen with her would be social suicide. Leo had listened politely for a while before punching one of them in the face, breaking his own wrist in the process. They weren't his friends anymore, but, on the bright side, he'd at least gotten the cast off a couple of days ago.

"It looks like your bike won, Leo," Pacifica teased.

"Won what?" Leo asked, blushing even more.

"The fight, of course," Pacifica said matter-of-factly. "You definitely look like you lost one."

"Hey!" Leo protested.

Pacifica just smiled. Leo blushed even more.

It wasn't fair. No matter what they were arguing about, she always won, for one reason, and one reason only—as soon as she smiled like that, Leo's ability to express himself in complete sentences abandoned him.

"We—um—I mean—class is…" Leo stuttered.

"I know," Pacifica laughed. "Can you walk by yourself, or did your bike beat you up too badly?"

Grinning widely, Leo walked toward the school building with deliberately unsteady steps. "I…don't know…if I…can make it…" he gasped dramatically, clutching his chest.

Pacifica laughed, a beautiful, lilting sound, and ran to his side. "I won't leave you behind!" she declared, putting his arm over her shoulders and wrapping her own arm around his side.

Leo tried to keep from blushing as he continued to play along. "Save yourself, Pacifica!"

"Never!" Pacifica cried. "I won't abandon a comrade!"

The two of them stumbled into the school building, laughing all the way.

They arrived in homeroom seconds before the bell sounded, both out of breath and giggling, and slid into the only open desks left, near the front of the room.

As Leo rummaged through his bag for his U.S. history book, he felt someone's elbow dig into his ribs. He looked up in surprise at one of his former friends.

"So, how come you were late? Were you and the reject busy?" the boy asked, leering in a way that made what he meant by "busy" clear.

Leo felt himself blush. "Don't say things like that about Pacifica," he said.

"What're you gonna do about it?" the boy laughed. "Break your wrist again?"

"Nope, he'll probably break your face," Pacifica piped up. "My big brother's been giving him lessons."

"Your big brother?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh," Pacifica confirmed. "You probably know him. Big guy, scowls all the time, graduated last year with a full-ride scholarship for football, has a twin sister…"

"Shannon Cassul?" the boy asked, his jaw dropping. "You're related to him?"

"How many Cassuls do you think there are in this town?" Pacifica asked with a roll of her eyes. "Geez, I'm surrounded by idiots…"

And there was the reason that Pacifica was so unpopular. There was no truth too harsh for the blonde, at least as far as her classmates could tell. Sure, they thought it was funny when she marched up to the smartest kid in the school, ripped his math textbook out of his hands, and ordered him to get a life, but they didn't like it so much when she chewed out the captain of the football team for being a "lowlife piece of cheating scum" (her exact words) after she overheard an argument between him and his ex, or accused the cheerleading squad of being as intelligent, collectively, as the cafeteria's meat surprise.

"Pacifica…" Leo said carefully.

"What?" she asked, glaring at him, her blue eyes narrowed and more catlike than ever.

"N-nothing," he stuttered, hands raised in surrender.

She glared at him searchingly, then sighed and settled into her desk.

As for Leo's former friend, he seemed to be too busy wrestling with the idea that Pacifica and Shannon were brother and sister to even realize that class had started.

Leo sighed as his hand finally found his history book, and turned to the page written on the board.

It was a long day, and the twinge in his shoulder bothered him every time he tried to write notes, but soon school was over for the day and Leo was free. He was just writing down the math homework when Pacifica bounced, literally bounced, up to him, and grabbed his arm, pulling him up and making the twinge in his shoulder flare into a full-out pain. He winced.

"Leo?" Pacifica asked, releasing his arm, a puzzled look on her face.

"From crashing this morning," Leo said, making sure to smile while he said it.

"...I'm sorry," Pacifica said at length, staring at the floor. "I made a joke out of it this morning, but you were actually hurt."

"Don't worry!" Leo protested, rotating his arm to show her that his shoulder was fine and ignoring the twinges he felt when he moved it. "See? It's fine."

Pacifica crossed her arms over her chest, her lip sticking out in a pout that was at once laughable and extremely cute. "I don't believe you. You should go see Raquel."

"N-no!" Leo said quickly. He didn't care how good Raquel's grades in the pre-med program at college were, after seeing her cook, he didn't trust her not to do more harm than good.

"What, are you scared of seeing the doctor?" Pacifica asked, a sly smile on her lips.

"I'm not!"

"I think you are."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm—Oh, forget it!" Leo huffed. "Did you see the roast chicken she made when I visited your house? I'd rather not end up like that!"

"Don't worry, she only does that to food...and, well, sometimes appliances, but not usually…okay, you have a point," Pacifica admitted. "But are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Leo repeated.

"At least walk home with me instead of using that old bicycle of yours," Pacifica said. "Why haven't you gotten a new one yet? We both know you can afford it."

"I like that bike," Leo said. "I'm used to it."

"The brakes don't work anymore," Pacifica countered.

"It's not like the brakes are that important…" Leo argued. "If I really need to stop, I can just run into something."

"With that kind of attitude, you're not going to be able to go to graduation!" Pacifica grumbled.

"I don't see what any of this has to do with my grades…"

"I mean that you can't go to graduation in a full body cast! Someone will have to carry you across the stage!"

"I'm not that bad!"

"Not yet!"

"And what makes you think…" Leo started. "Wait, are you…worried about me?"

Pacifica froze, and, for once, it wasn't Leo blushing.

"Pacifica…" Leo said softly.

"I'm only worried about you because you're an idiot," Pacifica mumbled, blushing.

"Is that really all it is?" Leo asked slowly.

"Yeah…I mean…you're my friend, too, I guess, but it doesn't mean I, you know, like you or anything…" Pacifica said quickly, still staring at the floor and turning redder by the minute.

Leo found himself blushing, as well.

"Besides, if you went out with me, everyone would hate you, too," Pacifica said, softly enough that Leo guessed he wasn't supposed to hear it.

"I don't care if everyone hates me," Leo said.

"You don't?" Pacifica asked, staring at him.

"There's only one person I want to like me," Leo said.

"Well, they won't like you anymore if you go out with me," Pacifica said glumly.

"I hope they'd like me if you were going out with me," Leo said teasingly. "I mean, I don't think that you'd go out with me if you hated me."

Pacifica's eyes widened, their blue hue contrasting with the deep red that covered her cheeks.

And, with that, Leo kissed her. It wasn't a long kiss, and Leo wasn't sure it was even a particularly good one. But both of their faces were completely red afterwards, so Leo figured he'd done something right.

Without saying a word, Pacifica wrapped her hand around his, her cheeks still flushed, and tugged him gently in the direction of the door.

"Shannon will notice if I'm too late," she said.

All the blood drained out of Leo's face. Shannon.

He was dead. He would be better off committing suicide here and now than waiting for whatever Shannon would do to him for kissing his baby sister.

But, strangely enough, the feeling of Pacifica's hand in his was worth it.