Shizuo frowned; he hated this day. Every freaking time, for sixteen years...he'd always hated this day. It was just an annoyingly-happy commercial event that made the majority of people feel super-lonely. It was an abomination of a holiday, something that everyone could do without. Something that shouldn't be celebrated only one day a year...that kind of thing should be normal for couples, normal.

Stupid...freaking...Valentine's Day.

The blond sighed, laying his head down on his desk. What was with this day; it was just so annoying. Random candy everywhere, everyone skipping around like they were high as the sky, it was ridiculous! Why should love be such a big deal, once a year? Shouldn't the one you love be shown that you love them more than one day a year? Shizuo sighed; sure he hadn't been in a relationship before, but that kinda stuff seemed like common sense to him, and he wasn't known for being that bright. So why couldn't anyone else get that? The whole shebang seemed kind of stupid to Heiwajima.

He wished his mom let him skip today; he wouldn't even have to fake sick, 'cuz this whole damn holiday made him nauseous. Not that he didn't like candy, but everyone was so freaking happy and hyper, it was irritating. And God knew he didn't need to be irritated. This day he made sure to carry something with him to crush in his hands at all times, whether it be a pencil, a piece of paper, whatever. Just something to squeeze so he didn't ruin the holiday for everyone else; sure he didn't like it, but that wouldn't stop the dumb thing from happening. So why kill it for all his classmates?

The blond propped his head on his arms, looking up at the cheery chalkboard at the front of the classroom, the teacher allowing the kids to write on it for the day in the corners. The areas were scattered with kanji, so much it was difficult to determine who wrote what, or what went with what. Random messages, lovey-dovey confessions, and cute, girly little drawings decorated the board. That pissed Shizuo off, too; if you were gonna celebrate the stupid day and confess to someone, at least have the freaking balls to say it in person. Don't depend on some lame-ass kanji on the board to express your feelings. It was stupid to him...why do something halfway? He didn't see the point.

Ch, he thought. Feelings...they're weird. Kinda stupid.

He blushed as he thought deeper. He was kind of a hypocrite, he did wanna use this day for once in his life for something good; he actually had someone he'd been planning on confessing to. Someone most people in his class would be shocked at, horrified at, or just plain confused at.

Shizuo Heiwajima, toughest guy in school, probably toughest in Ikebukuro, had a crush on the most unlikely person: Izaya Orihara. Another guy. A sly, sneaky, bad one at that. Izaya was no good, and everyone in school knew it. Yet girls still confessed to him, high school life was still normal for him. Shizuo secretly thought people treated him normally just because they were scared of the dark-haired boy, but he wasn't. He had no reason to. Sure, the guy was a wizard with some knives, but Shizuo could fight him fairly and wouldn't have to worry about dying or anything. Izaya was just...different. In a good way, he guessed. Izaya wasn't scared of him like most of the people at Raira, he didn't cower at the blond's mere presence. He'd easily talk to the boy, he'd treat him like a normal person. Although he excelled in getting under Shizuo's skin, the blond had to admit he liked having Izaya around. It was refreshing to be treated like a normal high school kid, and not like some freak, some monster. But it's not like he'd ever admit it to Izaya; Shizuo did have pride. Plus, how was one supposed to confess, anyway? He didn't even have any chocolate or anything; it's not like...his kind...had a romantic day. Valentine's day for the girls, White Day for guys in return to the girls. Where did gays fit in there? Shizuo could tell you; they didn't. He supposed his best chance was on White Day...but still. Even if he got the chocolate or whatever kind of shit, what then? How would he get up the guts to confess? Could he confess? And if he did? Would Izaya laugh? Reject him? Tell him he was stupid? Then he'd tell the whole school...and bam! He'd be even more excluded than normal, if that was even possible. He could at least get some people to talk to him now, but Izaya could make that go away so easily, with just a flick of his finger and a flick of his silver tongue. It would all be over.

Shizuo had to look on some kind of bright side: what if, by some one-in-a-million chance, Izaya accepted his confession? Then they'd go out? Shizuo didn't know how that was supposed to work...what did one do in relationships?! Agh, it was all to nerve-wracking! How did people do this crap?!

"Shiiiizuoooo~" a voice drawled as arms were thrown around the student. Shizuo quickly shot up and saw it was his friend Shinra Kishitani.

"God, Shinra, you almost gave me a heart attack!" the blond exclaimed. "Just what the hell do you want?!" He was annoyed enough by the idiot's presence, why did he have to go and tackle him? Again, he surely didn't need any irritations today of all days.

"I was just curious if you got any candy from any giiirls~"

The blond frowned. "Ch. That's freaking funny. Are you serious? Of course I didn't get any candy; are you stupid? Like any girl here would like me, much less confess to me."

"Oh, Shizuo," the doctor-wannabe drawled, "don't be so down on yourself. Plus, I wouldn't feel down just yeeet~ Maybe you'll get a confession today if you keep your spirits up, ya know! Pray to the love gods or something! Who knows, maybe a cute someone will give you some chocolate!"

"Heh, yeah, and maybe Hell'll freeze over while the universe is at it, fucking everything up."

Shinra pouted. "You shouldn't be so negative all the time, Shizuo! Maybe that's why girls don't like you!"

"Or," the blond reasoned, "it's because they're afraid I'll break their face in if I try to kiss them. Seriously, Shinra. Don't be such a dumbass."

The brunet sighed. "Whatever, Shizuo. All I know is when I get home I bet my beloved Celty will have some choco—mph!" He was interrupted by Shizuo tossing a book at his forehead, knocking him back and cutting him slightly.

"Shut your hole; I don't wanna hear about you and that 'fiance' you say you have. Go away, Shinra. Let me alone."

Shinra mumbled something unintelligible as he got up and put a hand to his wound, but complied, leaving the classroom.

Shizuo went back to laying his head on the desk, just waiting for the bell to release him for lunch. Then he'd be free for an hour, free from all this craziness; he desperately needed some caffeine. A Coke sounded amazing right now; maybe the extra sugar would help him get everything in his head straight. At the very least distract him from all the chaos inside this head.

Bring, bring...the bell rang, letting all the students out for lunch. Shizuo halfway smiled at his luck and got up from his seat, dragging himself through the cheer of the crowds and out into the courtyard where he bought a soda and went to sit under a tree, closing his eyes and praying sleep would come upon him. This truly showed how much he hated the holiday: he, a man of such bodily strength, who probably needed more calories and carbs than anyone else at that school, was so disgusted by Valentine's Day that he couldn't even bring himself to eat lunch.

Under the tree he quietly listened to all of the chatter of the students, letting it all muddle together to make a nice hum. Unfortunately, his calm wasn't long-lasting, however, as a voice interrupted his nice calm of not-thinking.

"Shizu-chaaaaaaaaaan~" a familiar voice drawled, waking the blond from his breaktime coma.

The blond groaned before opening his eyes, first slowly, then widely as he noticed how close the face was. Until he blushed when he realized who's face that was.

"I-Izaya!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

The raven grinned and pressed his nose to Shizuo's, making the blond blush even further. "Hey, Shizu-chan~ How are you doing this fine~ day?"

"I...I..." Shizuo was distracted by the dark-haired boy's proximity and had trouble speaking. Shit, shit! he thought. Go the fuck away, idiot!

Izaya chuckled, grabbing Shizuo's hands and helping him stand up and began to playfully sway their bodies, almost as if they were children dancing on a beach. "Ne, Shizu-chan! Got your tongue tied~?" He laughed. "What, did some girl confess to you this morning? You still in shock?" Suddenly Izaya pulled his hands up so that both pairs of the boy's hands were cupping his own face. "What, does Shizu-chan have a girlfriend now? Is he gonna leave Iza-chan alone?!"

Shizuo looked surprised and moved his hands to his sides. "No! Idiot flea, of course I didn't get confessed to! Everyone here is freaking afraid of me! What kind of girl would like me?"

Izaya laughed and pat Shizuo's cheek. "Ah, silly Shizu-chan. You're so dimwitted sometimes; it's what makes you so appealing! Never aware of what's going on around you; you're just so cute!"

Shizuo's face burst into flames at the sorta-compliment. "What?! Don't say stuff like that, moron! We're both guys; you can't say stuff like that!"

Izaya laughed before beginning to skip off. "Whatever, silly Shizu-chan! Have a fun lunch~"

Shizuo stood there, bewildered as he watched the raven go away happily, trying to rearrange his thoughts. He...Izaya called him cute. Cute. No one had called him that since he was a kid! Yet...Izaya did! He threw a hand to his face as he felt that blush creep up his cheeks in embarrassment. Oh God...this was just too much. The one person he liked, treating him like that. And he knew Izaya didn't return the feelings; he just liked messing with people, especially Shizuo. He liked embarrassing the blond, making him blush and twitch. So there was no way he'd actually be serious about anything, especially a relationship, even more with another guy. It was just all-around a bad idea, a bad situation. Too bad, Shizuo thought. Too bad I can't just erase feelings. Not liking Izaya would make life a million times easier...

The bell rang again, signaling the end of lunch. Shizuo sighed before heading to his locker to grab his Math notebook. But as he opened his locker, he noticed something falling out: a purple piece of paper. He grabbed his notebook, closed his locker and bent down to grab the loose paper. Holding his math notebook under his arm, he opened the paper and read, his mouth opening in surprise as he scanned the paper:

Shizuo Heiwajima,

Meet me on the roof of the Science building after school at 4pm. Please don't be late! I'll be waiting for you!

~Secret 3

Shizuo's eyes widened. Huh? Someone wanted to meet him after school? He blushed. What was this? No one liked him, especially no girl!

He sighed and tucked the paper in his notebook, heading to class. Guess he'd find out at four. This was great; just another thing to add to the repertoire of craziness that went along with this day. And what about after this? Watch, it was just a prank, some kind of joke. The thought of him being fooled almost convinced him to skip out. But what if it was real? He'd break some poor girl's heart if he didn't even bother to show up! So he had to go either way...shit. It's not like he could accept it anyway, so either way he'd end up hurting some poor girl, which made him feel even worse about himself.

He went back to the classroom and slumped down; who could it be? He didn't regularly communicate with any girls...so who? Unless it was just some random chick that thought he was cute... But, she must have known about his strength, wouldn't that scare her? What was up with this? Maybe it was some crazy chick that was obsessed with him? That had to be it, it's not like any cute, normal girl would like him. No...that was impossible...nothing in his life was ever normal. Everything had to be messed up, even in the slightest way.

He pondered it some more before he realized he was in the middle of class; it's not like his grades were good enough to where he could just zone out for a day. So he shook those moronic thoughts from his head and opened his notebook; time for class. Seriously.

As the class continued Shizuo continued to zone out again and again, his thoughts trailing back to that stupid note. Wonderful...he needed to focus! But he couldn't seem to think straight; the pressure from that note was killing him! A thousand 'what ifs' danced around his head, each one ending negatively. He huffed; this was just the worst Valentine's Day yet. The one year he has a possibility of being confessed to and it all just gets shot to hell by his stupid overthinking head! He just wanted to hit himself until the thoughts were knocked out, but of course that would be not only impossible, but extremely conspicuous in the middle of Math class. So he took a deep breath and tried once more to concentrate, this time succeeding enough 'till the end of the day. Once the ending bell rang, however, he remembered where he was supposed to go and his stomach suddenly turned in knots. Well, he'd been grilling himself over this moment for the past three hours, so now was the time to face it. He was known as the strongest guy in Ikebukuro; why was the thought of talking to a girl so scary to him?

"Shizuo!" Shinra called over, waving and walking to his desk. "Wanna walk home together today? Or you got a job?"

He shook his head. "Neither. I'm supposed to meet somebody at four...sorry."

The brunet shrugged, grinning. "What, a girlfriend? Ooh, Shizuo! I told you you'd get in the spirit for this holiday!"
Shizuo lightly tapped the back of his bookbag on Shinra's head. "Shut up...I'm gonna go. See you tomorrow or something." He stood up and began to leave the classroom.

Shinra waved him goodbye. "Have fun, Shizuo! Good luck!"

Shizuo sighed before bidding goodbye his friend and heading out towards the Science building; he knew the layout of that building particularly well, considering that was where he and his little group of friends (consisting of himself, Izaya, Kadota, and Shinra) hung out when they wanted to skip class or something. They always went up to the rooftop, considering that's the last place an administrator would look for a missing student. So getting up there was no big deal, so he was up there quickly.

I'm really doing this...Shizuo thought as he stood behind the door that led to the rooftop. Well...might as well go, I've made it this far. I'm this close; what've I got to lose? So he went through the door after taking a deep breath and looked forward: no one was there.

Or so he thought.

"Shizu-chan~!" a voice called as Shizuo fell to the ground as he was trampled, knocked down by another body weight.

The blond flipped over and gaped. "Izaya? What are you doing here? I'm kind of busy!" He pushed on the raven's chest. "And get off me! Why are you sitting on me?"

Izaya giggled. "Oh, silly Shizu-chan! I wanna sit on you! So I am! And I know you're busy; I sent you that note! Stupid!"

Shizuo looked surprised as he accepted the boy wasn't gonna get off and lay down, putting a frustrated hand on his forehead. "Huh? What? You sent the note? But it wasn't your handwriting!"

Again the dark-haired boy laughed. "It's easy to get a girl to write something for you, Shizu-chan! And it tricked you, what a joke!"

Shizuo began to grow angry. "So this whole thing was a joke? You...you did all this...just to mess with me?!"

"Ah, ah~" Izaya said, leaning forward. "That's not it!" He pulled something from behind his back, his face beginning to turn slightly pink. "I...I was serious about that note!" He handed a little purple package to Shizuo and looked at the ground. "H...Happy Valentine's Day! I...I wanted to let you know that I...I like you! Seriously!"

Shizuo immediately calmed down and he looked surprised at Izaya. Did...did I just hear what I thought I just heard? he thought. "Huh? You...you like me?" When he saw the raven nod Shizuo's face turned tomato red and he sat up, still allowing Izaya to sit in his lap. He carefully took the package and opened it, smiling at the cute little pieces of chocolate inside. He carefully plucked one from its packaging and popped it in his mouth, enjoying the taste.

"I...I m-made it myself..." Izaya said, looking up into the blond's eyes. "Are they any good?"

Shizuo got some random bravery (looking back he'd tell you it was because of a mini-sugar rush he got from the chocolate) and licked the chocolate all over until it melted nearly completely, then grabbed Izaya's face and pulled it closer to his own, kissing him. He casually let his tongue slip inside to let the smaller boy taste it, enjoying Izaya's own individual taste in the process. He tangled his fingers in dark hair as he breathed in, almost trying to consume Izaya. The kiss was sweet, long, and adoring, the boys refusing to release until they absolutely had to, letting go only when they felt suffocation arising.

Izaya panted heavily. "They did taste pretty good..."

Shizuo laughed. "Izaya...I...I think that was a-answer enough," he said between breaths.

The dark-haired boy nodded, pulling his beloved in for another kiss, this one shorter and sweeter. Both of their heads spun as they took in the reality of the current event; they were together now? Right?

Izaya pulled back, stroking Shizuos' face, enjoying how soft it was. "So...does this mean...we're a couple?"

Shizuo blushed at the thought but nodded. "I guess, yeah...but we might have to keep it secret. You know how conservative Japanese are."

Izaya laughed. "True...but...we're together. So...that's enough."

Shizuo hugged Izaya close. "Sure. Oh, and Izaya?" The blond looked his partner in the eye. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Hm...he thought. Maybe this holiday isn't so bad after all.