Be My DumDum?

"Hey Theo," Wes called from the doorway of the common room. Theo was sitting on a couch with his legs crossed, a textbook sitting on the cushion next to him and a notebook in his hands. He was furiously jotting down notes for his literature class; there was a unit test tomorrow.

Wes picked up the textbook and threw it on the table, sitting next to Theo, who put his pencil down with a sigh.

"I got you something." Theo raised an eyebrow questioningly. Wes turned and dug in his bag, bringing out a bag of DumDums and setting them in the other boys lap.

"Suckers." Theo states as Wes grinned stupidly. "Are you trying to say something or…?"

"Yes, Theo. Despite the fact that we've been close friends for years, I've decided to come out to you today using suckers as some kind of poorly concealed innuendo." Wes said sarcastically. "I'm just trying to spread the gift of joy in the form of flavored spherical sugar. Is that so wrong?" Theo stared at Wes for a second before rolling his eyes and ripping open the bag, grabbing a sucker and unwrapping it. He stuck it in his mouth and studied the wrapper, noticing a few small words underneath the main logo.

"'Be my valentine'" Theo read it out loud. He turned his head to Wes who had an amused look on his face. "No! It says it here on the wrapper!" He shoved it at Wes' face.

Wes grabbed the wrapper away from him and looked at it. "Oh, hey, look, it does." He gave the piece of wax paper back to Theo who threw it into the bag. "You should find another one like that and give it to James." Wes chuckled and got up, grabbing up his backpack and heading out the door.

Theo bit the sucker in half and finished it off, twirling the moistened stick in between his fingers. "That's actually not a bad idea…" he thought.



James was sitting in the choir council, not exactly paying attention. Instead, he was sitting at the back of the room, doodling pictures of him and Theo holding hands and frolicking through meadows of flowers (preferably blue ones.) They were discussing the set list for the upcoming Valentine's Day concert being performed for the school, and as James was a relatively new member, he didn't have much of a say anyway.

He looked up from his notepad and noticed for the first time that Theo seemed distracted too. He was staring off into space, a cloudy look in those beautiful hazel eyes. Wes noticed that Theo was being inattentive and cautiously nudged him with his elbow. Theo blinked and looked over at Wes who was scowling back at him. Theo mouthed an apology and focused on David, who was currently speaking in front of the group.

"I, for one, believe that we should go with some of the more classical love songs." After this was said, there was a minor uprising within the council.

"While that is something to consider, we must also take into account that the people who will be coming to this fair want to hear the songs that are currently playing on the radio, not songs they're too young to have heard of." Jeff countered.

This debate continued until the end of the hour, when they finally decided on a list of five ensemble songs and left five slots open for individual acts. The gavel came down on its' pedestal and the council was released to continue with their day. James packed up his notebook of drawings and pulled the strap of his bag onto his shoulder. He shuffled out of the room with the rest of the group and began to walk down the hall towards the library.

Valentine's Day. Probably the most useless holiday, in James's opinion. It's just a gimmick to get people to spend their hard earned money on overpriced flowers and chocolates. James would be spending this year's Valentine's Day alone, no different than any other year. However, that wasn't entirely true. James was, in fact, in love this Valentine's Day. Theo didn't seem to reciprocate the feelings, though. So, this year James would again spend the dreaded day sitting alone in his dorm room eating popcorn and watching "The Notebook."

Theo was one of the last to leave the council hall. He had taken Wes' advice and looked through the bag of DumDums, searching for one that read "Be my valentine." It took him a good thirty minutes, but his search wasn't in vain. Theo strolled up to James, feeling overconfident. A small white paper stick was sticking out from between his lips. He fell in step next to James and smiled at him.

"Hey." A grin spread across James's face and lit up his intensely blue eyes. "Where did you get the sucker?"

"Wes gave me a bag earlier today for absolutely no reason at all. Or at least, that's what he says. I suspect that he may have some kind of ulterior motive, but I haven't dropped dead from being poisoned yet, so I suppose that there's nothing wrong with them." He smiled and reached into his jacket, pulling out a strawberry one and handed it over to James.

"Thanks. It's my favorite flavor, too." James unwrapped it swiftly and stuck the paper in his pocket.

"No, wait! You have to read the wrapper." James cocked his eyebrow at Theo but pulled the paper back out, smoothing it and staring down.

"DumDum. Oh, thanks." He said sarcastically. Theo rolled his eyes.

"Underneath that." James looked closer, his eyes widening.

"'Be my valentine'…. You're asking me out with a sucker?" He looked over at Theo, astonished.

"Well?" Theo asked expectantly.

"'Well', what?" He looked back down at the wrapper and his cheeks filled up with color. "Oh, right. Yes, I would love to be your valentine." James said, grinning from ear to ear. "It would be my pleasure."