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“What do we want to do for Valentine’s Day?” Cristina asks Mark and Kieran one night as they all lay outside in the park looking up at the stars. It’s something they do often, especially when Kieran comes to visit them since they always feel more comfortable in nature than cooped up in her too-small-for-three room.
“For what?” Kieran asks.
“That’s a name I’d like to never hear again,” Mark mutters, and Cristina frowns because of course, that would be his immediate association with the name.
Normally it would be her’s, too, except this is the first Valentine’s Day with Mark and Kieran and, if she’s being honest, she’s felt a little extra sentimental about it lately, especially with how busy Kieran’s been and how much time they’re forced to spend apart.
“It’s a romantic holiday,” Cristina explains for Kieran’s benefit and reminds Mark. She’s certain he knows... or at least knew at one time. “People who are dating get each other gifts and do something special.”
“But why?” Kieran continues to question.
“Because they like each other. It’s just a day where everyone decides to do something extra nice.” Cristina struggles to find a better way to explain it.
“We like each other every day,” Kieran points out.
“And we do nice things for each other all the time! Don’t we?” Mark adds, turning to face Cristina questioningly. “Would you like me to do more nice things for you?”
Cristina shakes her head and frowns. “No! You do plenty of nice things for me. And… yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s just a silly tradition, it’s no big deal. Forget about it.”
All of that sappy, eager anticipation she’d built up for their first Valentine’s Day together leaves her, and she feels herself deflate along with it, staying uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the night.
---
“So what are your Valentine’s plans?” Emma asks Cristina over the phone.
“Nothing,” Cristina says, unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone.
“Nothing?! You have two boyfriends, how do you not have plans with either of them!?”
“Because we love each other every day, and it felt absurd to try and explain why this day was special,” Cristina admits. “Because it isn’t, really.”
“But it is. You were so excited about it,” Emma insists.
“It’s fine. Really. It isn’t a big deal. What about you, I know you talked Julian into something ridiculous.”
Thankfully, Emma accepts the shift in conversation, and they spend the rest of the call chatting about the sort of plans Cristina secretly wishes she had for herself.
---
When Valentine’s Day rolls around Cristina does her best not to think about it, despite the fact that every storefront door she passes is lined with hearts and pink and red displays, advertising meal and wine deals, and discounts on chocolates and roses.
She feels ridiculous for feeling disappointed because she has a wonderful relationship! She’s absolutely in love with two wonderful people who love her back, and they treat her with nothing but kindness and respect and she shouldn’t feel like she needs this one stupid day to emphasize it.
But that doesn’t do anything to stop her from wanting to spend this day with Mark and Kieran, instead of alone while the both of them are in the Unseelie Court on business… or so she thinks.
It’s a little past noon when she receives a fire message in Kieran’s handwriting to meet them at one of the entrances to the Unseelie Realm… and then another in Mark’s handwriting when she arrives saying that they’ll open it from the other side, and for her to enter without them.
When she crosses through she’s immediately greeted with a trail of flower petals, and another message to follow them. She does, the path a familiar one towards the cottage on the border of the Seelie and Unseelie realms. The smile on her face grows the closer she gets to it, stopping at the doorway to pick up the vase with a dozen red roses in it. Inside she finds a box of chocolates and a small basket of chocolate-covered strawberries, situated next to a bottle of chilled champagne with the smell of something wonderful coming from the oven.
The trail finally ends in the bedroom, where the bed is also adorned with red rose petals, and where Mark and Kieran both wait for her with expectant looks.
“Well?” Kieran says when Cristina simply looks at them in stunned silence.
“You didn’t have to do all this,” Cristina says.
“Yes, we did,” Mark insists.
“Emma talked to you, didn’t she?” Cristina accuses.
“We called her, actually. We realized after you left the other night that you were upset,” Kieran admits.
“I wasn’t upset-” Cristina tries to argue.
“I shouldn’t have been so dismissive,” Kieran insists. “So Mark had Emma give us all the best Valentine’s Day recommendations.”
“And you did all of them,” Cristina says with a light laugh.
“It may be a silly tradition, but it isn’t silly to you, and that’s what matters.”
And that’s it. It’s that simple - they care for each other, and they care about what’s important to each other, too, whether they fully understand it or not.
Cristina knows now more than ever how lucky she is to have stumbled into this sort of love, and she’s grateful to have it each and every day.