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Sidney always ignored Valentine's Day, he had never had anyone to celebrate it with, and even if he had, he never saw it as an important holiday. However now he was dating someone he cared about a lot more than he thought he ever could, and he wanted to do something special, even if it was small. Being as Father Brown was gone on a trip to the Bishop, the other priest was alone, and all Sidney had to do was get Faelynn out of the presbytery, which was easy enough; a quick call into his boss ( and friend ) Lady Felicia, and she would keep the priest busy for as long as he needed.
The house was empty, and Sidney let himself in with a key he got from Mrs.McCarthy, along with a recipe card. She of course tried to convince him to let her cook for them both, but he wanted to on his own. He was staring at the ‘ simple pasta recipe ’ — as Mrs.McCarthy told him — trying to burn the instructions into his head so he could focus on the actual cooking as much as possible.
“Shit, shit, shit” he ran over to the pot currently boiling over and spilling onto the floor, he backed up swearing once more as some water splashed onto his hand. He turned down the temperature on the stove and grabbed the pasta pouring some into the pot.
Despite his best efforts, his memory failed him and he had to keep checking the recipe card. The tomatoes he’s cutting don’t look quite as nicely diced as Mrs.McCarthy’s always did, but he hoped it would still taste good. He started on the sauce and all seemed to get back on track besides the small mishap he had with the water.
Sidney got a small break when he was supposed to let the sauce rest. He sat down and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up more than it had already gotten. He never thought trying to make a simple meal would end up this stressful; he started regretting not taking Mrs.McCarthy up on her offer to cook for them. He swore he only sat down for a few seconds, though the smell of burnt meat and the smoke creeping into his view made him nervous to turn around and see what damage had been done.
He got up and slowly turned around, moving quickly to turn down the heat and try to salvage the sauce, meanwhile the water pot started boiling over again, and he used his free hand to turn off that burner completely.
“No, no, no ‘common!” he wasn’t quite sure who he was begging to, the pots and pans? Himself? Maybe, God, it was a presbytery after all... though he doubted that even God could save this .
Sidney gave up on trying to fix the sauce “at least noodles are something...” he mumbled lifting the pot lid and waving it to clear the smoke, he grabbed a wooden spoon and attempted to stir the noodles only to realize most of them were burnt to the bottom. He rubbed his face with a stressed sigh, he wondered if he could call Lady Felicia and ask her to keep Faelynn a bit longer when he heard the door open.
‘No, no, no, no, fuck!’ He felt his heart sink as he realized there was no way now he could fix this disaster. He backed up and sat down in the chair and buried his head in his hands.
Fae coughed as he the smell of the burnt food, and smoke filled his nose. He ran into the kitchen and opened the windows to clear out the smoke, along with opening the kitchen door.
“Sidney, what on earth are you doing?!” he asked, attempting to wave the smoke out of the window with a dishtowel.
Sidney lifted his head from his hands. “I was just trying to make his dinner and...” he huffed, “I wanted tonight to be a little special, y’know? But all the stuff is burnt, and I couldn’t even get it cleaned up before you came home, and it’s all ruined”
Faelynn stops waving the towel and looks back at the mess on the stove, a smile tugging at his lips as his heart melted at the small gesture. Failed or not, it meant a lot to him that anyone would even bother to go to the effort of trying.
“The only thing not burned is the bloody wine” he gestured toward a wine bottle sitting in a partly melted bucket of ice, “I’m sorry... I fucked up tonight, badly”
“What?” the young priest stares at him “ Oh honey... ” he gave a small laugh and walked in front of him kneeling and pulling him down into a kiss; resting one of his hands on the back of his neck and the other gently petting the side of his head, “Sidney it was so sweet that you even tried, I don’t care if that it didn’t turn out”
“But...”
“Nothing-” he interrupted “-I love you so much Sidney... even if you almost burnt down me and Father Brown’s house” he teased.
Sidney stared at him for a moment before pulling into him into a passionate kiss, getting a questioning look from Fae when he pulls away.
“That’s the first time you’ve told me you loved me” he rests his forehead against the others
“Oh well-”
“Say it again.... please ”
Faelynn can’t stop a smile from tugging at his lips. “I’m so in love with you, Sidney Carter”
A smile cracks onto Sid’s face, it had been a while since he had felt this safe and happy with someone, to have someone feel the same way about him, no judgment, not using him in any way, just pure love.
“I love you too, Preacher Boy ...” he glances at the mess in the kitchen, “I promise I’ll clean this up”
Faelynn chuckles and kisses Sidney once more, “Well… I guess I can help”