"So you guys made a song for me?" Alex's dry tone did not match how he really felt about it. On the outside, the side he was currently showing to his friends, he looked and sounded bored as all Hell.

As usual, it never deterred them.

Connie giggled and tugged on his varsity jacket. "Come on, Doll. You let me dress you so pretty today. It's for you."

He rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him. "Your feminine wiles won't work on me, heathen. I'm gay."

A switch of tactics was had and suddenly the main four banes of his existence were all crouched around him with Steven in the middle cradling his hips with his powerful hands.

"Would you do it for us?" Jacob asked in a baby-ing tone that made Alex want to punt him to Africa. "Would the dolly let us serenade him for Valentine's day?"

Alex scoffed away the fluttering. "Aren't you fuckers supposed to be with your spouses for Valentine's day? This is supposed to be my day off from being the outlet."

They all shook their heads and laughed.

"No, no we've had this planned for a while. Don't make us just pick you up and force you there," Adam told him. "I'm small, but I can take you."

Hazel nodded quickly. "Yeah, he can take you."

"You'll have to carry me," Alex told them with a lift of his hand to the heavens.

"God he reminds me of Jamie," Connie muttered.

"Right?" Steven replied while trying to keep a straight face as he listed his demands.

"I would also like a heated blanket to my preferred temperature, and a glass of half sweet iced tea with lemon. So my usuals."

Steven just tossed him over his shoulder and they crowded down the stairs while he limply hung there and complained. "Ah! Alex, cut that out!" He readjusted as Alex poked his ticklish side again and he lost his advantage.

Normally, the booth had a bunch of Steven and Adam's software. There were now thousands of buttons and dials that only the two could understand fully it seemed. Computers, beat pads, microphones, speakers, you name it, Steven Universe kept it in their recording booth.

So, it was fairly surprising when it was all gone and upon the table sat a blanket plugged into an outlet. Fairylights of every color of the rainbow like the band wore were decorated across the wall in symbols he could only guess were theirs:

A pink rose for Steven.

A blue sword for Connie.

A red gun for Jasmin.

A green mask for Jacob.

A yellow ankh for Hazel.

A purple moon for Adam.

A rainbow star for Anna.

And right over where he was supposed to sit, like on the ceiling, was a turquoise camera. He walked in a bit more and noticed candles in exactly far enough away from the sides to not be in his way, but add to the atmosphere. An entire pitcher of Iced Tea sat in the mini fridge, freshly iced with lemon pieces floating in the beverage.

He wanted to whirl on them and tell them they were the dumbest people on the planet for going out of their way to do this for such a terribly mean person, but they were already gearing up.

They looked thrilled, and maybe even a bit shy about what was coming. They talked and laughed in barely audible voices, rearranging themselves into their relationships and checking tags they'd put on the mics to make sure it was theirs.

Alex crawled on top of the table to sit out and stare at them, wrapping the already warm blanket around himself and almost smiling at the pillow they'd put there to make sure his butt didn't get sore. His throat closed so he could only nod and give them a thumbs up as they asked if they could start.

Steven knelt down to reach in front of him and hit a few buttons, soon the music began and he stood up to join the rest in grinning from ear to ear.

To his surprise (and then later unsurprise) Jasmin started first. "Sometimes I hate every,
Single stupid word you say
Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face,"

Alex choked on a laugh at that. It was completely fair, any tsundere worth keeping around could acknowledge that much.

Jacob pointed right at him and gave him a begrudging look. "There's no one quite like you
You push all my buttons down
I know, life would suck
Without you."

Connie couldn't help herself from poking out her lip as Alex started to see where this was going. He was so damn cute. "At the same time,
I wanna hug you." Just as planned he flipped her off and she bit back a laugh. "I wanna wrap my hands around your neck."

"S'more like it," He grumbled.

Steven rolled his eyes at Alex's fake disgust. "You're an asshole, but I love you
And you make me so mad I ask myself–,"

"Why we're still here?
But where could we go?" Adam asked him and Alex couldn't agree more. Why were they still here? Hadn't they grown weary of his absolute lack of affection 99.99% of the time?

Hazel answered that happily. "Cause you're the only love we've ever known
But I hate you,"

"I really hate you," Anna added and scowled at him, but then it melted into adoration. "So much I think it must be–,"

"True love, true love
It must be true love
Nothing else completes our hearts like
True love, true love
It must be true love
And no one else completes our hearts like you," They joined fully together in the chorus and suddenly Alex's face felt like it was going to explode, particularly his eyes. There was a familiar, terrible pressure there. He took a sip of the Iced Tea and sniffled a little. Perfect.

Hazel made a big show of being sick of Alex's bullshit, but he couldn't seem to get that smile off of his face. "Just once try to wrap your
Little brain around my feelings."

"Just once please try not to
Be so mean," Adam pleaded, knowing full and damn well that that was as unlikely as it was for it to snow in August. Possible, but barely, and not at all ever truly requested. They loved Alex purely because they did, there was no reason why.

Jacob motioned for Alex to pay close attention. "Repeat after me now
R-O-M-A-N-C-E,"

"Come on,
I'll say it slowly," Steven leaned in to whisper "Romance," while the girls cheered him on and Anna cried, "You can do it, babe!"

"At the same time
We wanna hug you,
We wanna wrap our hands around your neck
You're our tsun-tsun,
And we love you
But you make us so mad we ask ourselves," They turned to each other like they were discussing why. "Why we're still here?
But where could we go?
You're that special love we need at home
But we hate you
We really hate you
So much we think it must be–,"

Just as Alex was beginning to think he couldn't hold it in anymore, the girls took a softer bridge.

Connie punched the bridge of her nose. "Why do you rub me up the
Wrong way?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Why do you say the things that you say?"

Jasmin glared right into his soul like she'd done time and time again as they argued about nothing and everything. "Sometimes I wonder how we ever came to be
But without you we're incomplete."

The entire last chorus, Alex pulled the blanket closer around him and cried. He couldn't remember the last time he cried, much less happy tears, but that's what he was doing now. It was reprehensible to love him, especially when he could be so callous about their feelings. Still, every day he was getting softer on all of them, and he'd commit war crimes for them to stay happy. In his mind though, he was still as mean as he was to his own mother.

This was tugging at the aromantic strings of his heart. It was the strongest form of platonic (or any) love there was; agape.

They saw through his actions like a someone might by reading an omniscient story, and it was pleasant for him that he never had to say he loved them back because they just knew.

As soon as it was over they rushed in and pulled him into a group hug. "Happy Valentine's day, Alex~! We love you~." It was perfectly rehearsed and yet made him cry even harder.

"You p-p-people are the worst!"

They giggled and pulled him off the table, unplugging his blanket and picking up his drink to bring him to the kitchen for his favorite meal already done in the slow cooker.

Halfway through a mostly quiet dinner, Alex dropped his fork loudly. All attention turned to him but he avoided it by staring down at the delicious pot roast in front of him. "I love you guys too."

The silence was deafening enough that he looked up and into the teary eyed band. They didn't say it back, they didn't have to.

He just knew.