The girl with ginger hair sat on the blond boy's bed, ignoring the curfew and the basic rule that the girls were not allowed in the boys' rooms, and vice versa, as she had so many times before. Them meeting like this, late at night, with surely no one awake but them, wasn't an odd spectacle. It was quite normal, in fact. Everyone knew that Cinque did have nervous breakdowns, and it was also known that Ace seemed to be the only one aside from Deuce who could calm her when those breakdowns happened. And with the perpetual end of their lives coming closer than was comfortable, Cinque had been having more and more of those breakdowns.

Her eyes were still faintly pink from the episode that took place earlier, and for once, her face was completely devoid of make-up, since she'd become quite a mess when she cried last, and had decided to wash the evidence off. Secretly, Ace liked the fact that she wasn't wearing make-up. She looked normal, now. She didn't look like she was trying to hide anything.

"Ace, I'm… I'm really scared." Cinque said finally, breaking the silence that had ensued once the small talk between the ginger and the blond had ceased. "I'm really scared… I don't want to die."

He could already hear tears starting to clog her throat. Ace did as he'd done before, squeezing her hand gently as he sat beside her, but reality started to seep back into his mind before he could reassure her as he usually did. They were going to die. There wasn't even a slim chance that they could get out of it- it was now a fact solidified in their consciousness. Thinking about it in those terms chilled him to the bone. He hadn't given fate much thought, and that had leveled his head, but now that he was, he found himself frightened of what was to come.

The silence hadn't done anything to help Cinque's spirits. Tears started rolling down her cheeks, and she bit her tongue to keep from cursing. She knew that Ace didn't like it when people swore. She struggled to fight back sobs, which were quickly rising in her throat.

"A-Ace… I-"

"I know." He took a deep breath, trying to keep his own voice even, for her sake. "I'm scared, too."

"Of what?" She bit her lips, too late to stop her outburst. She covered her face with her hands, hating herself for even saying that. "Ace-"

He grasped her hands, pulling them away from her face, "Don't even start with that."

Cinque's eyes were wide as she nodded in response, letting her hands fall towards the mattress, fingers now tangled with Ace's. He leaned his forehead against hers, a gesture that he normally wouldn't let anyone else see, since rumors spread around the academy like wildfire and neither wanted the drama, but he didn't care at the moment.

"I'm afraid of dying, too, Cinque." He said softly, "I'm scared of losing everything, too. I'm terrified of never being able to experience everything. You aren't the only one who feels like this, Cinque. You really aren't."

She took a shaking breath, feeling both comforted at the commiseration, and upset that it wasn't the typical sweet nothings she'd expected to hear. She swallowed hard, trying to keep the current lump in her throat down. She knew all too well that she'd never had a first kiss, and at this rate, she'd never have a last kiss either, and a kiss was what she wanted most. She'd been thinking about her feelings for a long time, and had pieced it together (with a bit of help from Cater) that she was in love, or some similar emotion, with Ace. Cinque saw one chance, one tiny, slim chance, to maybe experience one last thing before she meets her end.

"Ace, do you love me?" The ginger asked the blond, hoping that there wasn't as much desperation in her eyes as she thought there was.

Ace's cheeks reddened at the sudden mention of feelings like those, his heart starting to race and his mind starting to blur. He'd never been in love before. So how was he supposed to know? He didn't want to break the ginger's heart, nor did he want to come off weirdly. She could've been following up on a rumor, or something. But Ace knew in his gut that she wasn't joking around.

So, Ace answered as honestly as he could. "I don't know."

Cinque didn't waste any time with her reply, since Ace's own hadn't been a rejection, though it wasn't an acceptation, either. "Would you kiss me?"

The blond was sure that he was as red as Moglin's pompom, and he could feel a burning sensation on the tips of his ears. Love and kisses? What had gotten into Cinque? It took him a minute to put things together. There was a reason that Cinque called Valentines' Day 'Single's Awareness Day', along with some of the other students, and Ace himself had just said he was afraid of not being able to experience everything. He'd never kissed anyone before. It was one of the things he thought he was never going to experience, since he thought no one showed solid interest in him that he actually liked back, and the end was so near. But maybe, just maybe…

Since the blond was so rooted in his thoughts, Cinque thought that it meant he was going to push her away. She bit her lips, trying to keep tears back, but ultimately failing. She was about to stand up and leave, figuring she wasn't wanted, when she felt something warm on either side of her face. Ace had a sliver of something in his eyes that made them shine in a way that caught Cinque's attention, and her breath, too.

Their eyes fluttered shut as their lips touched; gently pressing against the other's in something nervous yet pure. When they pulled back and looked at each other, both seemed to have forgotten about the end of the world as they knew it.

"I love you." Cinque was the first to say it, and though her eyes had a dreamy look to them, Ace could tell she meant it, and that was what she'd been getting at the whole time.

Ace's feelings were a mess at that precise moment, but supposed that there was only one thing that would explain the flurry of emotions like the ones pulsing through him. "I love you, too."

Cinque's arms wrapped around him, her hands entangling in his hair as the kisses deepened and became increasingly intimate. By the time morning rolled around, the two were so wrapped up in each other that no one needed to ask what had gone on that night.

A/N: Yeah, so, this idea's been floating around my head for a little bit. From what I gather, I might be the only one who ships this pairing, considering I'm the only one who's written about it. w It might be crack, but it might not. Class Zero seems to be really close-knit, and Cinque seems to need a lot of support, and Ace seems to be able to give a lot of support. They compliment each other, in my head at least. ^^; I might put this up on my dA account, too, just for the heck of it.