Brave Police:A New Era

Valentine's Day with the Brave Police

This is where it gets juicy!

"Bother me again and you won't like what I'll do." The Italian words that came out of Jacquin's mouth made absolutely no sense to the knight, who had only entered the Mecha's room to ask if she wanted to join the others for a movie night. It was the night before Valentine's Day, almost five months since Jacquin had joined them. And since it was now February, the Braves had been working hard for the past month, helping with traffic and tons upon tons of snow and ice. So they and their respective others had decided to take a break and have a movie night. Thankfully, the Commissioner agreed, so getting some vacation days wasn't difficult (no reason for Azuma to know, right?). Duke had gone to ask Jacquin if she would join them, even though she wasn't currently dating anyone. But then again, Jacquin wasn't the only bachelor(ette) in the Brave Police. There was even a club for unattached Braves that included Gunmax, Deckerd, Duke himself, Power Joe, Drill Boy (of course) and all three ninjas. "It's only me, Jacquin. I was just gonna ask if you wanted to join us for some movies tonight?" Duke stood in the doorway of the room that the ninja siblings now shared, watching the beastformer as she stretched in her jacquin mode. The knight wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was attracted to the elusive Mecha, and not just because she was the only female Brave on the planet (that he knew of, at least). He had had no prior dating experience, and all he did know, he'd gotten from observing his teammates. And Duke understood love, for he loved Regina. But he loved her as more of a parental figure, as a mother. And since he was usually rather awkward to be around, Duke opted to remain single. But then Jacquin came to Japan and joined them, and now he couldn't imagine life without her snarky comments and flashy smile. She was just so pretty, and her personality was unlike anyone he'd met. She was chill and a bit laid back, though she seemed to have mastered invisible micro-managing, because she could micromanage anyone without that person knowing that they were being micromanaged. Like Kagerou, she rarely ever got angry or upset, but when she did, it was scary. She was a great fighter and competitor, though she rarely competed with anyone because she had no reason to. Duke had learned, through multiple partnerships with her, that Jacquin could be read like an open book if you knew what to look for. Braves like Deckerd, Duke, Power Joe, the ninjas and Gunmax had a certain part on their bodies that moved to physically display what they were feeling when their faces didn't. For Gunmax, it was the antenna on the left side of his head. For the ninjas (Jacquin included), it was their wings. For Deckerd, Duke and Power Joe, it was their helmfins (or helmwings, in Duke's case). Jacquin also had helmwings, they just weren't as expressive as her real wings. And she had amazing talents, not just in crime-fighting and office shenanigans, but also in things such as art, music, dance, and especially singing. Jacquin was a lovely singer. Duke could list many other parts of her that he loved, but her voice interrupted his thoughts, he just didn't catch what she said. "My apologies, what was that?" Jacquin gave him a mildly annoyed look after she had transformed. "I said sure." The knight smiled and gently wrapped an arm around the beastformer's shoulders, knowing that she preferred physical contact, being mindful of her wings and current temperament. He didn't know why she was grumpy, but he was certain that her difficult mood would soon pass, especially with the movies on the agreed list.

The Decker Room had been set up like a movie theater, with all of the desks pushed together and several pillows and blankets spread out over the platform's surface. All of the Braves had been transferred into their human-sized bodies for the night, and were helping set up a snack table for the humans. Regina had opted to return to Japan to spend Valentine's Day with Yuuta, much to the young inspector's surprise. Jacquin had also had the chance to meet Seia Onoue and Ayako Kimizuka, McCrane and Dumpson's girlfriends. Both of them had been pleased to meet the only female Brave. Seia was a colonel in Japan's Self-Defense Forces and Ayako was a reporter. They, along with Regina and Azuki and Kurumi, Yuuta's big sisters, went over to set up the "spots". Every human and Brave had their own "spot", though the couples shared, on which they would remain until the movie was over. On the right side of the joined desks, there were the "spots" for the couples, while the left held the "spots" for the bachelors. The couples' "spots" belonged to McCrane and Seia, Dumpson and Ayako, Yuuta and Regina, and Azuki and Masaya Kashiwazaki (Masaya was Azuki's doctor husband, one of Yuuta's neighbors). Now the bachelors, on the other hand, sat wherever they wanted, so long as they stayed on their side on the platform. Jacquin picked up the list of movies and made a noise of interest. "Who chose 'Much Ado About Nothing'?" She asked, looking straight at Duke, who looked at her curiously. "I had no clue they had made a movie about that. I had, very briefly, read the play. It was very wordy." he replied, looking a little embarrassed. "I heard you mention that it was your favorite movie a few weeks ago. So when I looked it up, I thought it would be a good choice." Said Kagerou as he walked over to his sister, who smiled at him. "Good choice, indeed."

By the end of the night, most of the viewers had chosen a movie that they liked. They watched 'Much Ado About Nothing', 'The Princess Bride' (Deckerd had asked to put it on, as it was one of his favorites), 'Pride and Prejudice' (Duke), 'Failure to Launch' (Gunmax's choice, to no one's surprise), 'Wall-E' (Drill Boy), 'The Parent Trap' (is it odd that Dumpson chose that one?), 'Knives Out' (not an actual love story, but Shadowmaru had hacked the Internet and made everyone watch it. Let's just say no one except his siblings were amused), 'Avengers:Endgame' (really, Power Joe?), and 'Yours, Mine and Ours' (that was Azuki's pick, Masaya had a very interesting expression on his face afterwards). It was four in the morning when they finished and everyone was pretty tired, but they were all laughing and chattering about the films. "PJ, that wasn't even a love story!" Dumpson complained. "Neither was yours!" the power shovel shot back. "That's because Ayako picked it!" "Then why didn't she come forward with it?" A tired combination of a groan and a growl from McCrane as he and Seia passed made both of his slightly younger brothers shut up, though Drill Boy still bubbled about his choice of movie. "Yeah, yeah, it was great. Good pick, Driller." Said Gunmax boredly, walking over to stand beside Jacquin, who he noticed was fiddling with a handful of wires that were attached to the speakers. "Whatcha up to?" he asked. She had found the wire she had been looking for, and then she looked up to check that everyone had cleared away the pillows, blankets and other things from the platform surface. Jacquin then stood up and announced, "I know that everyone is a little tired, but how about we do one more thing before Valentine morning?" With the extra items on the edges of the platform, everyone nodded and with a wide grin, Jacquin plugged a few chords into a music player that she owned. After plugging the player into the speakers, a soft song flowed through the air. "Just an old fashioned love song, playing on the radio. And wrapped around the music, is the sound of someone promising they'll never go." Some softly glowing red lights accented the atmosphere as the couples began to dance. The bachelors stood on the edges, trying to stay out of the way, except for Duke, who had walked over and offered Jacquin his arm, feeling strangely romantic. When she took his arm, he walked towards the dance floor. "I didn't think you were like that," he said as he led her out towards the others. "Like what?" she asked him curiously. " 'Just an Old Fashioned Love Song' by Three Dog Night? I never thought you were one for older love songs." "I'm not usually, but this song had a certain appeal to it that I liked." Jacquin answered, taking his other hand. And they danced. For how long, they never knew. But by the morning, they had gone through every song on Jacquin's Valentine's list. Once everyone else had dispersed, Duke and Jacquin went to the roof. As they stood in the morning sunshine, Duke looked at her, a little sheepish. "I apologize for my brashness earlier, Jacquin. You needn't have felt obliged to dance with me." She stared at him as though the white knight had grown a second head. "What?" was the dumbstruck response he got from the beastformer, so Duke began to explain. "I don't know your feelings for me, but I do know mine for you. Though I shouldn't have been so brash about -" the knight was cut off when Jacquin's expression changed from dumbstruck to smiling and began to laugh. Duke was confused, her laughing at him made no sense. "Oh, oh, Duke. Such a gentleman, calling asking me to dance brash! I know brash, and that was not brash at all!" She continued to laugh, Duke was about to say something else when the beastformer wrapped her arms around his neck. "Duke," she said earnestly, "the reason I was grumpy early was because I was bitter about not having someone to be with. But now I see that that's not true, because you're here." Jacquin slid her hands down till they rested on his windshield, staring at her visored reflection in the dark glass. "I should have noticed you some time ago, but I never thought about love and romance as something God had in store for me." Duke placed his hands over hers as she spoke, admiring the way the sun brought out her purple, teal and gold color scheme. "But now that I know, Duke," she looked up at his face, wondering if his optics were always so green. "I do love you." In all his life, there had never been a more perfect morning. He just wished he could have made that kiss last a bit longer.

Writing this made my heart melt! Enjoy!

EDIT:Please forget that trainwreck I wrote about Deckerd and Kurumi! I have no idea what I was thinking!