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This was, by far, the stupidest of the holidays made up to sell cards. Ranmaru hated it. In the last decade, Valentine’s Day had done nothing but cause emotion ranging from mild irritation to his wildest frustration. He had always been of the mindset that if you loved someone, you ought to show it everyday, not just once a year. Besides, flowers and chocolate didn’t mean love. They weren’t a replacement for commitment and dedication.
How many times had his former bandmates walked out on him, claiming they had last minute plans with their girl of the week? How many times had he felt uncomfortable, knowing he would need to find the money somewhere to take his current fling out even though the whole thing felt ridiculous? This whole day sucked.
Yet, there he stood, looking over Reiji’s bedroom, inspecting the flower petals he had scattered across the floor, leading to the bed. Candles littered the desk, the end tables, the shelves, casting their warm glow over the area. On the bedside table was a too-large box of chocolates. It was cheesy. It was dumb. He had probably spent too much money on this set up, and he had certainly spent too much time on it.
He and Reiji had only been together six months. For all Ranmaru knew, Reiji hated Valentine’s as much as he did. But the holiday just felt so… Reiji. Maybe it was a bit meaningless to spend one day lavishing him with extremely commercialized presents and sweet gestures if there was nothing else to back it up, but this felt different from the years he had spent being irritated by the pressure to do something nice for a partner he didn’t see himself with long term. Reiji hadn’t asked for this. He hadn’t even mentioned that the day was coming up, as if it was the furthest thing from his mind. It wasn’t loosely dropped hints or pressure from corny advertisements that made him want to do this.
The idea had come to him the night prior, when he’d realized Camus and Ai would be out of town for short filming sessions for the next week, and that Reiji wouldn’t be home during the day, off doing a photoshoot for some menswear collection. Reiji had been so tired the last few days. It had been a long week for all of them, and, aside from Ranmaru, they’d have to work most of the weekend as well. It was just one of those weeks where schedules didn’t line up and everything felt too hectic. When Reiji fell into bed at night, it felt like the man was collapsing from exhaustion.
The thought of seeing that sweet smile on Reiji’s face, the one Ranmaru had desperately missed these last few days, pulled at his heartstrings, and the solution he found was this. As he looked over the room, taking in the absolute rom-com levels of corniness, Ranmaru wondered if this was even a good idea. They hadn’t been together that long. Should he be making such a big deal out of a holiday he didn’t even like when Reiji hadn’t mentioned wanting to do anything?
He didn’t have much time to second guess himself. The familiar sound of the front door opening resounded through the hall, down toward the room. The others would still be gone now. It had to be him.
“Ran-Ran? You home?” He sounded tired.
“Yeah. In your room,” Ranmaru answered, moving to the doorway. He pulled at the sleeves of his sweater. He was dressed nice enough, in a comfortable red cardigan, but he’d drawn the line at putting on some fancy outfit. Rose petals and candles he could justify. Formalwear was too much, too far into stupid territory. He could accept being cheesy, for Reiji, but he couldn’t be more excessive than he already was.
Reiji turned the corner leading to the hall, and gave a small smile. Shit, he looked pretty. He always looked pretty. His hair was still done so neatly from being at the photoshoot, and Ranmaru could see the faintest trace of what might have been lip gloss. Christ.
Reiji’s smile looked almost shaky for a moment, in a way that made Ranmaru anxious. Was he alright? “Okay, so I know we didn’t talk about this, and I don’t want to make this out to be a big deal,” Reiji started as he approached.
Shit. Was something wrong? Ranmaru furrowed his brow, mind shifting gears to worry as he stepped fully out of the doorway. If Reiji had something serious to say, as he so rarely did, Ranmaru didn’t want him to say it while catching a glimpse of the ridiculous getup inside his room. Ranmaru looked him over, scanning his expression for any sign that he should be nervous. Reiji wore that little smile, making himself impossible to get a read on.
“But it’s Valentine’s, and you seem like you’re the kind of guy who hates this stuff, but I got you something.”
Ranmaru hadn’t even noticed that the man was holding something behind his back. He breathed a soft sigh of relief. If that was all it was, then he was fine. “Thanks. That’s real sweet of you.”
“Close your eyes?”
Ranmaru nodded, and did as he was asked. Reiji’s warm hand took his, extending it with his palm up, before setting something soft in his hand.
“Now open.”
Ranmaru nodded again, and couldn’t help but smile when his gaze landed on a tiny stuffed bear, adorned with a t-shirt with curly, cute red writing that read, you rock! . He laughed, meeting Reiji’s eyes. “Thanks. It’s cute.”
“I know it’s silly.” Reiji grinned, leaning forward to press a kiss to Ranmaru’s cheek. “But thank you for humoring me. I really like Valentine’s.” He rested his head against Ranmaru’s shoulder, and in that moment, Ranmaru felt like he was melting.
He raised a hand to Reiji’s hair, fingers moving through it. “I mean it. It’s cute.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to the top of Reiji’s head. Sometimes Reiji could be so sweet it hurt-- this was just a little thing, just a dumb stuffed bear. But the idea of the man seeing it and thinking of him even when Ranmaru wasn’t there warmed something in his chest.
“I promise that’s all I got. I know you said before that your old bandmates sort of soured the holiday for you, and I don’t want to dig up any bad memories.” Reiji let out a soft sigh, pulling away. Shit. How was he always so thoughtful? Ranmaru couldn’t even remember talking to him about that. It blew him away how the man seemed to always remember little shit like that.
“It’s different when it’s you.” Ranmaru shrugged. It made sense to him that Reiji would like this sort of cliche stuff. And he wanted to let the man indulge in that. Seeing him smile like this just made him feel warm. Ranmaru would have gone to the ends of the Earth to see him happy. “I’m actually glad you like this sort of thing. I got you something, too.” He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d definitely gone overboard.
“Aw, Ran-Ran, you didn’t have to.” Even though he said that, there was a little sparkle in Reiji’s eyes.
“No, I wanted to. Do you wanna see?”
Reiji nodded eagerly. Shit, he was cute.
“Alright. Close your eyes.” When Reiji did as he was told, Ranmaru took his hand, guiding him the few short steps toward the bedroom door. The smell of the candles was almost overwhelming. He really should have gotten unscented. Too late now, he supposed. The room was what it was. And it was a scene from a movie, floor covered in petals that would probably be awful to clean up later, surfaces coated in candles. It was a mess. But, hopefully, it was cute enough that Reiji would enjoy it. “Alright. Open.”
For a second Reiji was silent. Ranmaru really had done too much, hadn’t he? He’d just made it awkward. Shit. He opened his mouth to speak, to apologize for doing so much when they had only been together for a little while, but he was cut off before the words could come out.
“No one’s ever done this much for me for Valentine’s before.” His voice was so soft. As Reiji turned to meet Ranmaru’s gaze, he wore that grin, and Ranmaru could feel his heart fluttering in his chest. Shit. When had he gotten so sappy? “Thank you.”
Before Ranmaru knew what was happening, Reiji’s lips were on his, and his back was pressing against the frame of the doorway. He let out a little whine, placing his hands on Reiji’s shoulder’s and the man gripped his waist. He let out a soft laugh as Reiji’s lips moved to his neck. “Glad you like it that much. I thought it might be too much,” he murmured, tilting his head to give Reiji more room.
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Reiji’s hands trailed their way down to Ranmaru’s hips, pulling their bodies tightly together. “You went through so much effort to set such a romantic mood. We should put that to use,” he whispered, pressing impossibly closer to Ranmaru.
“Yeah,” Ranmaru said, nodding as Reiji’s lips moved downward once more. For such a cheesy, stupid holiday, maybe it wasn’t so bad.