Anxiety was screaming.

So was Prince.

WHAT HAD MORALITY DONE? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE VALERIE THAT HE WAS USING TO SHOW THE OTHERS HOW TO GET A VALENTINE'S DATE!

NOT PRINCEY!

NOW THEY WERE HOLDING HANDS!

Anxiety hadn't even realised at first! He'd just assumed Dad had teleported Valerie over to him, it hadn't even clicked that it was Prince's hand he was holding until he realised that he was holding a hand that was slightly too big and slightly too rough to be Valerie's. And when he looked up at Prince, Prince just looked stunned. And then looked back at Anxiety, and they realised what was happening. And Prince started screaming. So Anxiety did too, once he got over the initial shock.

Anxiety was vaguely aware of Logic congratulating Morality, who seemed blissfully unaware of the chaos he had caused.

Evil.

Anxiety was still screaming. He looked from Dad to Prince to Dad to Prince, then realised they were still holding hands. He wrenched his hand out of Prince's hand, who recoiled like he'd been hit. They both flung a look of horror and barely concealed disgust at each other, before simultaneously rounding on Morality.

"Dad! How could you?" Prince wailed. Dad continued playing pat-a-cake with Valerie.

"How could I what, kiddo?" He asked cheerfully.

"For one thing, teleport me! I didn't even know you could do that! How does that even work? How do you teleport another person?" Prince exclaimed. "And secondly, make me hold hands with- with- with Anxiety!" He moaned. Anxiety shook his head vigorously in agreement. For all his mocking and teasing and flirting, Anxiety did not want to be near Prince. Enemies, remember? He just did that stuff to see Prince stammer or falter.

Hey, it worked sometimes!

Morality finally broke away from the clapping game, looking amused. Anxiety was outraged, this wasn't funny!

"But why not? You two are obviously perfect for each other." Anxiety choked on air and Prince stumbled over his own feet.

"E- excuse me?" He cried.

"What? No we aren't! What- why would you even think that?" Anxiety was bewildered; how the heck had Morality come up with that idea? However Logic cleared his throat.

"It's quite obvious, actually, although perhaps you two are incognizant of it." Dad blinked. Anxiety faltered and frowned.

"Uh, what?" Prince asked. Logic sighed.

"Never mind. But the evidence is all there! It's a reasonable conclusion to come to, actually."

"What evidence? Anxiety and I are the least compatible personalities, I don't understand your reasoning."

"I second that." Anxiety spoke up.

"Would you like some examples? Because I can provide them." Logic snipped. "Take in the fact that yes, you two do often argue about everything, but you also come to an agreement and no argument is left to continue. Of course one could say that that's what all friend do, but you two are supposed to be enemies, correct?" Logic explained. Anxiety sneered.

"That doesn't prove anything." He said scornfully.

"I agree. With that sentence. And the statement it was trying to make." Prince said warily.

"There's also the flirting that we have to deal with. From both sides." Logic said dryly, and continued before Anxiety could protest. "And honestly, you two can't seem to get past the fact that you believe you are opposites and therefore should not interact to actually see that you are constantly interacting." Logic sounded 100% done, and it made Anxiety wonder how long he'd wanted to say that. Dad clucked his tongue.

"Also you two just look so cute together. Aw!" Morality was getting all heart eyed thinking about it.

Disgusting.

Anxiety glanced at Prince, who in turn gazed at him. They both looked each other up and down and wrinkled their noses. The silence in the room grew thick and heavy, settling on shoulders and dragging them down, until it felt like you could cut the air with a knife. Finally Prince jerked a thumb at the corpse of the weird dragon-witch-hybrid thing that was just lying on the floor.

"I, uh, should probably dispose of that now." The others nodded and Prince bit his lip before turning around and gingerly placing his foot on the monster's leg. A moment later they both faded from sight.

"You know, it is Valentine's day. You two would just be so perfect together." Dad sighed. Anxiety rolled his eyes.

"Anxi, seriously. It is painstakingly obvious to Morality and I that you two are basically in love already. Just ask him out!" Logic snapped. Anxiety frowned at him.

"You think Prince likes me?" Anxiety snorted, then backtracked. "Wait, no, you think I like Prince?" Logic raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"No. I know you like Prince. And he likes you back so can you please get it over with and become boyfriends. Thank you." Logic turned to walk away, and Anxiety could hear him muttering under his breath.

"Goodness, it's like we're 12 year old girls, I am above this." He told himself indignantly, and Anxiety snorted. Logic scowled at him and grabbed Dad's arm.

"Come on, Morality, let's go." Dad smiled at Logic and nodded.

"Okay!" Then he turned to Anxiety. "Best of luck with Prince, although you won't need it. You'll be fine! Oh, gosh, I just love this all so much. They're so cute! Oh my goodness." Morality sighed happily, making Logic groan, and then they were gone, leaving Anxiety standing alone with his thoughts.

It was utterly ridiculous. Completely absurd. Bizarre, ludicrous, preposterous, laughable, all of that. Dad and Logic didn't know what they were talking about.

...

Did they?

Logic was rarely ever wrong, and Dad never got so passionate over something he wasn't sure about. Of course Logic was so unbelievably wrong when it came to Valentine's earlier. In fact they both had been hilariously mistaken. They were probably wrong this time, too. But it made Anxiety think.

Did he really hate Prince? No, of course not. He'd always known that; it was more like extreme dislike. The royal boy had his moments, Anxiety couldn't deny it. He wasn't all bad, although he could be much better. But maybe, like Logic had said, maybe that was just what he trained himself to think? To automatically reject the idea of Prince Sanders because they were polar opposites, and therefore couldn't be together? At all? It was possible. Like, Thomas was literally conditioned to shut the closet door before he went to sleep in fear of the demigorgon, of which probably didn't exist. Probably. So maybe, if he got past the immediate block of I don't like Prince, too bright and cheerful and optimistic, maybe he would find something else? Found he... felt something else? 

Ugh, Anxiety sounded so whiny. It couldn't be true, and even if he did, there was no way Prince would ever feel the same way.

Right?

After all, hundreds of Fanders shipped them together, which was still weird, how did they even come up with that? And then there was Thomas, completely unafraid to approach the topic of, what were they all calling it, Prinxiety? Apparently even Thomas was kind of on board with it (although Anxiety thought that was kind of strange because they were both just sides of Thomas' personality, so he was basically shipping himself. Or whatever.) And now Dad and Logic. Could this many people really be wrong? Could they all see something that Prince and Anxiety were too ignorant, t̶o̶o̶ ̶a̶f̶r̶a̶i̶d̶, to see? Anxiety sank back into Thomas' mind to have a long think about everything.

Anxiety didn't know how long it had been, with just him and his tornado of swirling thoughts, but he'd come to a conclusion. Maybe he did like Prince. A little. Although Prince's never ending optimism, his abundance of joy and cheer, his fanciful imagination, wild ideas and often arrogant attitude could be annoying, they could also be endearing or refreshing. (Except for maybe the arrogance. Anxiety still thought Prince could tone that down a bit.) And yes, although the personalities technically all look the same... they don't. Anxiety didn't find Logic or Morality cute. They just seemed different. Prince was, well, hot. Anxiety wasn't gonna lie, the royal boy was charming. And maybe Anxiety, although it was immensely difficult to admit, maybe Anxiety had the tiniest of crushes on him. Anxiety couldn't explain it. Maybe it was just because Prince was so different to himself, it was like every time he had a conversation with Prince he got a new outlook on the world. And it was Valentine's day. Although if Prince said no, Anxiety would probably die of embarrassment, he made up his mind to go find him and possibly ask him out on a date.

It took a while, but eventually he found where Prince was. It was a place deep in the mind, a place where Anxiety had never been before, but he could feel that Prince was this way. All the personalities were connected, because they were essentially the same person. So if Anxiety concentrated hard enough, he could something faint leading him in the direction of Prince. The area Anxiety had wandered into was dark, shadows everywhere but where Anxiety stepped foot, the darkness cold and unforgiving. Anxiety had burrowed down as far as possible in his big black hoodie, the hood pulled right over his head. He was extremely anxious right now, all possible and impossible scenarios running through his head as he tried to see through the dark. Why was Prince here? What was this place? Gosh, Anxiety couldn't even see where he was going. He'd been wandering for ages through the shadows. He could be right about to step off a cliff and he wouldn't even k-

"ANXIETY! STOP!" Prince's voice boomed all around him, and Anxiety flinched violently, stumbling backwards and falling in fright. The shadows separated around him. After the heavy, impenetrable silence he had grown accustomed, to the sudden noise was a shock. Anxiety just sat on the hard ground in a daze for a few minutes, hand over his heart as he tried to steady his breathing. Soon, when he regained all his senses, Anxiety looked around and became aware of something that was glowing faintly making his way towards him.

It looked like it had a humanoid shape as it rushed in his direction. Anxiety suddenly realised it was Prince that shone in the darkness, running towards Anxiety. Anxiety tried to stand up on unsteady legs as Prince got closer. He was standing with his arms wrapped around his waist, as if he was holding himself together, when Prince reached him.

"Anxiety!" Prince immediately gasped, reached out to snag Anxiety's soft hoodie. "What are you doing here? Are you alright? You scared me!" Prince rushed. Anxiety was wide eyed with surprise.

"Um, I came here to find you. I'm fine? And what do you mean I scared you? You scared me!" Anxiety said defensively. Instead of Prince snapping back, as Anxiety had expected, he only looked apologetic, with a hint of fear laced in his expression.

"My apologies, Anxiety, but it was all I could do to stop you. You were about to walk off The Edge." Prince told Anxiety in a hushed time.

"What do you mean, walk off the edge?" He frowned at Prince, who bit his lip. "And why are you glowing?" Sure enough, Prince was still surrounded by a soft golden light that reached out in dim, sparkling beams, and disintegrated the shadows.

"I glow whenever I come here, so I can see where I'm going. I don't know how, it just happens. But Anxiety, you must be careful when you come here!"

"Why?"

"Because Anxiety we're on the edge of Forgetting." Prince seemed deadly serious, and suddenly Anxiety was afraid.

"What?"

"Forgetting. It's a big, endless chasm in Thomas' mind were all things that are forgotten fall into. If you fall in, Anxiety, you'll be forgotten, and there's no coming back. Why are you even here? It's extremely dangerous!" Anxiety gulped.

"Uh.. how far away from the edge was I?" He whispered. Prince shuffled away by only two steps and extended his arm. The faint golden glow was enough to illuminate a sudden drop, where the darkness seemed solid and absolute, impossible to see through or break, and endless, timeless sea of pitch black. Cold seemed to emanate from the chasm, making goosebumps rise on Anxiety's skin. He had been only a few steps away from his doom. It made Anxiety dizzy.

"Oh my goodness... wait, Princey, why were you here?" Anxiety questioned, stepping away from the fall. Prince moved with him.

"I was disposing of the corpse of the Dragon Witch, as I do with all monsters I fight. I push them in here, and they are gone." Anxiety stared at him.

"You come to this place every time you fight a monster? I don't- I don't even like it once! I want to leave! But you keep coming back? That's... actually pretty brave. And stupid. But, yeah, brave." Anxiety stuttered nervously, remembering that he didn't want to offend Prince. And it was the truth; the neverending darkness and danger of this place made Anxiety want to leave as quick as possible and never come back. But suddenly Prince smiled.

His smile was huge, full of delight, and it seemed to light up the shadows. Prince's eyes twinkled happily.

"You think I'm brave? Thank you! I always knew I was courageous, but to hear it from someone else is... a great feeling. Thank you, Anxiety. I do concede, though, it was brave of you to venture here in search of me. May I ask why you did?" Prince's joy and honesty kind of floored Anxiety for a second.

"Oh, uh, yeah, well... you were gone for a while, and... I just, uh, wanted to see if you were okay?"

"You... came to check on me? That's sweet. But we should get out of here." Then Prince grabbed Anxiety's hand, who flinched violently, and teleported them out of there.

When they appeared they were in the lounge, and Anxiety immediately tried to disentangle he and Prince's hands. Was it his imagination, or did Prince look disappointed when they let go? Anxiety kind of regretted it, holding Prince's hand was almost nice, considering he'd only done it briefly twice. But Anxiety suddenly realised that me might never get to again if he didn't tell Prince how he felt. What could go wrong?

Oh, so, so many things could go wrong, and every single one of them was flitting through Anxiety's mind as he tried to prepare himself to tell Prince. He could feel that he was already blushing, and he just knew he would stutter and probably chicken out, end up insulting Prince, who would then in turn hate him. Or just flat out laugh at him and deny him. Ugh, why was this so hard? It was Valentine's day, he had to do it today! If he did it tomorrow it would be stupid. This wasn't going to work!

Anxiety could feel Prince watching him worriedly as he debated in his mind just flat out telling Prince that he had a crush on him, but Anxiety knew he was crumbling to himself. He couldn't do it. He was too scared, too nervous, too anxious. Eventually he just looked at the floor. He almost wanted to cry. Why did everything have to be so hard, why couldn't he just ask? Why did he have to ruin everything? Anxiety always ruined everything.

But if Anxiety always ruined everything, then it was as if Prince always fixed it.

"Anxiety? What's the matter? Anxiety? Anxi? Are you okay?" Prince was asking concernedly. Anxiety shook his head, but said,

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Princey." Then there was a warm hand on his shoulder and a hand tilting his chin up so Prince could look him in the eyes- and suddenly Anxiety was blushing again.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, you don't always have to try to save the day, Prince Charming." Anxiety snapped scathingly, trying to divert the embarrassment he was feeling. Then he realised he'd been mean again. "Sorry." He muttered. When Anxiety looked back at Prince, though, he seemed pleased.

"It's alright, I know I don't have to try to save the day but I want to! It's rewarding and fun. And as for the nickname, well, I am quite charming." Prince threw a wink at Anxiety, who scowled halfheartedly.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Prince just smiled.

"Anyway, since you seem fine again, I'm going to ask you something." Anxiety frowned at him.

"Yes...?" He asked tentatively, and Prince's face grew serious.

"What is troubling you? What is making your life difficult?" He asked. That sounded familiar for some reason.

"Uh... why do you want to know?" Anxiety asked slowly, cautiously. Prince's face hardened into a mask of determination.

"So I can kill it!"

"Um, what?!" Anxiety was stunned, and Prince looked genuinely confused.

"What do you mean, what?" He asked.

"What as in why would you kill whatever's bothering me?" Anxiety asked incredulously. "Last time you said that, which was just a few hours ago, you killed a dragon witch thing for Valerie and then married her. Therefore I'm assuming you don't mean the same thing. So what do you mean?" Prince looked thoughtful for a second.

"I mean to kill the thing that is bothering you.. because how else am I to win your heart?" Anxiety choked on air.

* * *

"What?!" Anxiety screeched. Had he heard that right? Was he dreaming? What was going on? Prince just looked mildly offended.

"I figure that you still hold some animosity towards me, and I intend to slay whatever is troubling you so that you may overlook our previous arguments and allow me to win your heart!" He proclaimed proudly. Anxiety could only stare at him, dumbfounded. Prince noticed and sighed.

"I've been thinking, Anxiety. So many people, oh what's the term, ship us? Including everyone we know. And I have found, deep inside myself, that I do not hate you. Rather I am in... like with you." Prince worded carefully. Anxiety had to be dreaming; how was this actually happening?!

"I- I don't- you are?" Anxiety stuttered, still disbelieving. Prince nodded gravely.

"I am. And I realise that you may not currently feel the same way, which is why I implore you to tell me what it is I must destroy to win you over." Anxiety couldn't believe it.

"You- You're not going to try to marry me straight away, are you?" Anxiety asked nervously. Prince shook his head.

"No, it seems to sudden in this case. Unless you want me to. In which case of course!" He smiled, and Anxiety hurriedly shook his head.

"Nope, no, no marriage, no thanks." He rushed to say. Prince was graceful enough to not even look disappointed.

"Very well then. But seriously, Anxi, what do I have to kill?" Anxiety sighed.

"Why do you think you have to kill anything?" He asked, kind of frustrated. Anxiety didn't like grand gestures, they made him, well, anxious. But he couldn't bring himself to be angry; not when his crush was admitting to liking him back on my goodness. However Prince seemed confused.

"But... I have to slay whatever is troubling you? How else am I to win your heart and take you on a date?" He sounded genuinely puzzled and Anxiety sighed.

"Oh, Princey." He murmured, face palming. "You could just, oh I don't know, actually ask me out?" Prince looked shocked, like the idea had never occurs to him. In hindsight, Anxiety reckoned it probably never had.

"That... would work?" He asked tentatively. Anxiety nodded at him.

"Yeah, Pretty Boy, it would." Prince was evidently delighted, a bright smile creeping over his face.

"Then of course! Anxiety, it seems fitting that on this blessed day, the day of love, Valentine's Day, that I should finally profess my, uh, like for you, and politely ask to take you out for dinner some time. Do you accept?" Prince just had to go make it all dramatic and stuff. But somehow Anxiety didn't really mind, in fact it was kind of sweet. Then Anxiety realised it was the first time he'd ever seen Prince look nervous, and his heart melted a little bit.

"Yes, of course I will you dork. I, um, feel the same. In case you didn't get that." Prince was elated, smiling so wide and so hard it was almost blinding, and Anxiety found himself smiling back at him.

The moment was interrupted a moment later when Misleading Compliment tore through the room, screeching something that sounded vaguely like 'adorable Valentine's love!' And then threw something at Anxiety. Within a second he had run back out, so quick he was a blur. Prince and Anxiety both had to freeze for a second and process that, before Anxiety inspected what Compliment had thrown at him. Prince peeked over, trying to see what was making Anxiety smirk, and was rewarded when Anxiety thrust it towards him.

"Be my Valentine?" Anxiety asked, grinning but blushing under all that white foundation. Prince gently took the red card and opened it up; it was decorated with pale pink hearts and swirly, looping white words spelling out Be My Valentine?

It was basic. It was cheesy. It was adorable and Prince loved it! He clutched it tightly to his chest and positively beamed.

"Of course I'll be your Valentine!" He exclaimed, stepping forward and quickly drawing Anxiety into a brief hug, which he didn't really resist. Then Dad and Logic burst into the room.

"I knew it!" Logic shouted victoriously. Dad was just staring wide eyed at them, gaze flickering from their smiling faces to the card to their now linked hands. Suddenly he swooned and started tilting towards the floor. Prince and Anxiety recoiled in shock, and Logic darted back to catch him.

"Morality? Dad, are you okay?" He asked worriedly. Dad blinked heavily for a second, before springing up and running over to hug Anxiety and Prince.

"You're just! Both! So! Cute!" He yelled in joy. "Oh my goodness, I'm so happy you two are a couple now. You're so perfect together! And on Valentine's Day too, oh how romantic!" He cooed, and were those tears in his eyes?

Anxiety chuckled a little in disbelief, and Prince smiled at him. When Anxiety looked up and met his sparkling eyes he smiled back, and yeah, maybe Dad was right. Maybe everyone was right.

Maybe they were perfect together.

Finish

* * * * *

I hope you all enjoyed this Valentine's Day special! Have a good day/year/life everybody :) and please comment if you liked it! Love you all ❤