Chapter Text
Felix had known about Valentine’s Day for the past seven years.
But he had never gotten the chance to celebrate it with anyone before. No one had stayed long enough for that for ever to be a thought in his mind, as much as that pained him at times.
The holiday had always been a fascination of his, since nothing even close to that existed in the Echo world. However, he almost started to believe he would be doomed to forever to be a supporter of it and never actually be able to participate it himself.
That had all changed over the past few months however, in a great whirlwind of deeper feelings then he had ever felt for anyone else before, the sweetness of it all never failing to make him smile until his cheeks ached, and then some.
There truly is no better reason to smile.
And the reason for all of this?
None other than Thea.
When he had first stepped into her office in what seemed like a lifetime ago, it was hard to believe that the wide-eyed detective starting at the four of them uncertainly, as if she was not sure what to think, would so quickly become one of the most important people in his life.
A part of him knew, however, even if he was not fully aware of it at the time. As he had taken her hand to gently kiss her fingers, to which she had allowed him to do, all while a rosy blush had completely covered her face, it had struck him just how adorable she looked, her long eyelashes beautifully framing her eyes, as she shyly looked away, but still came back to gaze at him all the same, to which only made him grin in return.
And over the time that they were town for the case, it did not take him long to grow fond of her, finding someone with such a gentle and kind spirit, someone who he realized that he quite enjoyed the company of. Though knowing that the team would be leaving eventually hung like a cloud in his mind, he had tried to push it aside, instead focusing on how many times he could get her to smile that soft smile of hers, feeling a sense of accomplishment when he was able to do so.
He had never had such a strong desire to make someone feel wanted before, to be someone to somebody who was so special to him and only growing each and every day, and it still blew his mind that it had actually happened, only seeming like it was a dream not too long ago.
But what she had showed him something that he had never been his reality before, out of everyone else, everyone who would have been lucky and then some for someone as amazing as she was, she had chosen him.
Which was why Valentine’s day had to be perfect. All that Thea could ever deserve. And he was going to find a way to make that happen, one way or another.
Besides, the idea of making her blush deeply was also a pretty good incentive to what Felix wanted to do. The moments to where she would end up hiding her face in his shoulder to hide how flustered she was, her heartbeat racing all the same with her warmth next to him, which never failed to make him smile, something that grew even more so as he would tilt her face back to meet his, and watching the smile that crossed across her face as he did so.
However, that left the question of what exactly what he was going to do.
He had spent most of the last week looking on the internet for even an idea, but nothing that he had been able to find so far had struck out to him, and he was starting to run out of time. It was becoming hard to discern whether it was something that she would actually want to do.
Nate, as much as he did try, did not help much outside of the flowers, always leaning something more traditional, which was something that he realized that he was not looking for more and more. (And of course, the other two members of Unit Bravo would be even less help)
But just when he was about to give up, the perfect idea just happened to show itself to him, and it finally made all the searching worth it.
In the big city that was around an hour and a half away from Wayhaven, for Valentine’s Day, the city was organizing a walking tour, to which at each checkpoint, you had to take a picture. And given Thea’s love of photography, that immediately stood out to him as something that she would love to do, and from there, it was set.
Of course, it was also the chance to be alone with her without the other three looking over their shoulders, which was something that he was never going to pass up. But oh, being able to watch her eyes sparkle when he was finally able to reveal her to what they were going to do, was enough to set a spring in his steps for the past few days.
He had even managed to keep it mostly a secret, something that he normally struggled to do (to which she knew, due to all of his slips of the team actually being vampires before the truth was revealed). All that he told her that she would need her camera, and that was all.
Now, the night before the day, Felix had thought about going to sleep just to pass the time between now and tomorrow, expecting to pick her up from her apartment sometime in the early morning. However, he had just found himself way too excited to be able to go to sleep, and had rather spent the time wide awake in his room, his hands brushing on the lily of the valley bouquet that he was to give her tomorrow.
Tomorrow…
As he flopped back onto his bed, a brighter smile seemed to fill his face at the even thought of it, and all that there was left to do was to wait patiently until morning (or rather, impatiently)
~~~
The next morning, rains seemed to fall in buckets to completely cover Wayhaven, it being almost a burning cold, since if it was even colder, it would surely start snowing.
He had tried to keep calm about it, but the rain showed no sign of letting up, and with the warning of icy roads, driving anywhere would probably be unwise (and the others would probably not let the two of them go if that indeed happened)
But there was still time for it to slow down, the worst having yet to have occurred. And that hope was all that was keeping that smile on his face, since this would not completely ruin the whole day, right?
Though, when he had driven over to Thea’s apartment at around 10 AM, the temperature had seemed to have dropped even more with how snow was starting to take the place of the rain, it falling hard with no sign of stopping, and he tried to ignore the way that he felt his heart lurch at the sight, it becoming more and more obvious that they were going to be snowed in.
Trying to ignore the bitter cold, he grabbed the bouquet out of the Agency vehicle’s passenger side, and made his way up to her floor, trying hard to hide the disappointment on his face, and wished that she would not be upset about it.
She opened the door almost immediately as soon as he knocked, and the way that her face lit up upon seeing him was almost enough to forget everything else.
“Hey!”, she beamed, to which he tried to do the same in return, though he knew that it was dragged down, to which from the ways her eyebrows turned slightly down, she had immediately sensed it, “Are you okay?”
Felix tried his best to continue giving her a smile, “I’m fine, babe. Don’t worry about it”
“You know that telling me that is only going to make me worry more”, she whispered, and he was not sure if he was entirely supposed to hear it, “Well, you can come in, you know”
Wordlessly, he nodded back at her, and he followed her back in her apartment, the place that he had grown to know so well, and almost made him feel just as much as at home as she did.
Setting the flowers down on her kitchen counter, he then moved to sit down on her couch, blowing out a breath as he did so, as she moved to sit next to him, the sleeves of her oversized purple sweater brushing against him.
“Thank you for the flowers”, she started, giving him a smile, “It’s very sweet of you”
He gave her a smile in return, but it was still dragged down by the realization that their plans would have to be cancelled.
To which she had reached out to gently trace her fingers against the inside of his wrist, something that he always did for her whenever she was nervous, so it surprised him that she was doing the same for him.
But it was comforting, and it made him realize just how much tension was in his shoulders, so he made an effort to relax them, feeling more at ease with her eyes gazing back at him in a way that no one had ever looked at him before, and he gave her a truer grin, to which only made her face brighten.
“I’m guessing that whatever you wanted to do can’t be done today”, she then continued, “But I’m also sure that we’ll get the chance to do it later”
He nodded, almost finding himself unable to look away from her, “Yeah, I guess we will”
“Besides, as long as you’re here”, she shrugged, with such a wide grin that it could rival his own, “I don’t think anything is ruined at all”
Felix was left absolutely speechless by that, not seeming to find anything good enough say in return, all that he could was wrap an arm around her shoulders to bring her even closer, trying to resist the urge to kiss her right then and there.
“Well, lucky you then”, he then said, looking to where snow had started to gather all around outside, “‘Cause it looks like you’re stuck with me, babe”
Thea laughed at that, “You say that like it’s a bad thing”
Her voice then went quieter, “I do actually have something for you for today”
“You do?”, he blurted out before he could stop himself, hardly expecting for her to do something for him.
At his statement, her eyes laced in confusion, “Of course I do. Why would you ever think that I would not?”
He did not seem to have an answer as to exactly why he thought so. It just never occurred to him that would be something that she would do something for him as well.
Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about though?
“Just give me a second”, she then whispered, interrupting his thoughts, “I’ll be right back”
Moments later she returned with a wrapped gift, to which it looked to have been carefully and interictally done so, not that he had expected anything different from her, and she gave to him before going to back to sit next to him, leaning against his shoulder.
Just as carefully as she had wrapped it, Felix opened it, finding to what looked to be a book decorated with sunflowers, to which it looked like Thea had drawn herself against the white cover, and with one last look at her, he opened it up.
He was not quite sure what he was expecting, but this was certainly not something like this.
It was a scrapbook, each page full of pictures of the two of them that she had taken over the past few months. (With some appearances of the other members of Unit Bravo as well). He had noticed that she had taken more picture recently, but he had hardly let himself dwell on that much, but here it was, right in front of him.
Felix had never been given many gifts for simply the sake of it, but this was by far the sweetest one, and every page just made him smile even more, memories that he was going to treasure forever and forever.
When he finally had skimmed through all the pages (though, he would definitely take a more through look at them all later, there was something written in Thea’s cursive on the last page, to which only served to make feel more and more breathless.
When I saw you, I fell in love.
And you smiled, because you knew
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Thea 💞
After reading, he looked back to her, to which was looking at him uncertainly, as if she was unsure as to how he would react.
But if she was worried about it, she should not have been, and Felix gave in to the urge to kiss her, but he had not realized that he was smiling so wide that it would become hard to do so.
That was met with a smile on her own, and while he could not fully see her, he could feel it against his skin, a light laugh accompanying it, and it turned into all that he wanted to hear.
Trying again, he managed to kiss her fully, the sweetness of it overwhelming his senses, and she became the only thing that he could sense at all. Just her, right in front of him.
As he moved his lips over hers to deepen in further, everything else had been forgotten, all the disappointment that he had felt today gone in an instant.
Because she was here, and that was more then enough.
And it always would be.