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Colin decides to take an extra long shower after training. Normally he doesn’t mind hearing all the couple talk. Today it’s making him feel especially single since it’s Valentine’s Day. He went into the showers because it was starting to sound like he was the only single one this year. He figures if he stays in the shower long enough, he can avoid anyone asking him what his plans are.
He comes out and sees Jamie sitting in front of his locker and Zoreaux talking with Richard about something in rapid French. None of them look up when Colin comes out so he thinks he’s in the clear.
Colin is pulling on his shirt when he hears Jamie talking a lot closer than his locker.
“Er, Colin, mate? What are you doing tonight?”
Colin pulls his shirt down and sees Jamie looking bashful for some reason. Colin shrugs, “being my own date at home.”
Jamie laughs lightly, “about that.” Jamie sighs, “a couple of weeks ago Sam was telling me all about his romantic plans for tonight. He asked me about mine and I panicked and said I couldn’t find a reservation. I don’t know why. We’re friends now. I just felt lame saying Jamie Tartt doesn’t have any prospects for a date. So, Sam being a nice person, got me a reservation. I didn’t want to tell him I lied since he actually likes me now. I was wondering if you wanted to go. My treat.”
Colin wants to laugh at him a little bit but Jamie looks so genuine he just can’t. Colin tries to look serious at Jamie. He points at him, “I’m not putting out without getting flowers.”
Jamie laughs loudly at that, “alright, I’ll make sure to not buy any.”
Colin sits down to put on his shoes, “how fancy do I need to dress? Are you picking me up?”
Jamie grimaces, “probably a suit. Do you want to back out?”
Colin shakes his head, “Nah, boyo. Love a good reason to get dressed up.”
Jamie looks relieved, “good. The reservation is at eight. I’ll text ya when the Uber picks me up.”
Colin finishes getting ready right as Jamie texts him. He knows it’s not a romantic thing but he’s looking forward to spending the evening with Jamie. Jamie being a better person since he came back makes Colin feel better about the crush he had on Jamie when they first met.
Colin looks at himself in the mirror in his entryway as he waits for the car to pull up. He looks good tonight. Jamie may not appreciate it in a way that will get Colin laid tonight but he’s into fashion enough to know it’s a good suit and fits Colin perfectly. Colin starts to think of what Jamie might look like. He shakes his head to clear that thought, reminding himself it doesn’t matter because it’s just a platonic meal. It just happens to be on what people tell themselves is the most romantic night of the year.
Colin jogs out to the car when it stops at the end of his drive. He slides into the backseat with Jamie. Instead of greeting him, Jamie looks Colin up and down and just stares. Jamie’s wearing a suit too so Colin isn’t sure what he did wrong. Colin shifts in his seat, “what?”
“I just forget you actually have some fashion sense with all the polos and camouflage and wooly clothes,” Jamie smirks at him when Colin scoffs and looks out the window. Jamie nudges his shoulder, “you look good, mate.”
Colin looks back to him, “thanks. So do you.”
“Oh!” Jamie says suddenly, “got you this.”Jamie reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small green object and hands it to Colin.
Colin takes it from him and examines it. It’s a little toy version of his car. Colin smiles wide. “Where did you get this?”
Jamie keeps looking forward, “found it at Tesco a while ago. Keep forgetting to give it to you.” Jamie looks at Colin and shrugs, “happy Valentine’s Day.”
Colin smiles softly, turning the car over, “thanks, Jamie.” Colin runs the car up and down his leg. He hears Jamie laugh. “You should have gotten one of yours. We could race them.”
Jamie laughs again, louder this time, “I can’t tell if you’re being serious but yeah, I want to do that.”
Colin makes the car drive down the side of his leg and over towards Jamie’s hand resting on the seat, and makes a screeching brake noise before stopping the car before it hits Jamie’s hand.. Colin looks up to Jamie’s face to see him softly smiling at him. Colin bumps the car against Jamie’s fingers, who takes it and starts playing with it. They take turns rolling the car back and forth and talking until they get to the restaurant. Colin knows it’s not a real date, but so far it’s the most relaxed and fun Valentine's he’s had.
When they walk into the restaurant, the host sees them and asks them to wait there for just a moment. He comes back with another man who walks directly over to Jamie, offering his hand to shake, “Mr. Tartt. I’m Jeffery, Sam’s friend. I’m so glad we were able to accommodate you and your date this evening. Right this way.”
Jamie turns to Colin, smirking, “come on, date.”
Colin smiles and rolls his eyes fondly. He’s unsure why his cheeks feel a little warm.
They get led down some stairs to a small private room. It’s lit mostly by candles. It’s the most romantic looking table that Colin has ever seen in real life. He feels a little bad that Jamie is wasting this on him instead of someone he has feelings for.
Colin is distracted from looking around by pressure on his shoulders. Jamie has his hands on his shoulders and is tugging on the wool, “let me help you.”
Jamie helps him take his coat off and hangs it up with his own on a hook by the door. Colin walks over to stand by one of the chairs and grins over at Jamie. It doesn’t take long for Jamie to realize what Colin is doing. He pulls out the chair, “here ya go, babe.”
Colin laughs lightly, “thank you, such a gentleman.”
Jeffery gestures to the table, “we have a few pre fixe menus to pick from this evening. A waiter will be by momentarily. In the meantime, I have a gift from Sam, if you would like me to pour for you.” He turns around and moves a champagne bucket closer to the table.
Jamie looks at Colin and shrugs, “sure, why not.”
Colin is a little surprised. A few months ago, Jamie told Colin on a night out he doesn’t drink, not really. Colin came over to sit by Jamie. Colin had finished his own drink and asked to take a sip of Jamie’s. He took one before Jamie could respond and discovered it was water in a cocktail glass. Jamie told him he felt safer being sober, just in case someone on the team got too intoxicated or other people in the club were too drunk around them.
Jeffery leaves them. Colin waits until the door is shut and turns back to Jamie, “you don’t need to drink just because Sam bought it or whatever. I can skip drinking for the night too. I want you to be comfortable.”
“Thanks.” Jamie looks at the table, “I do feel comfortable around you.” Jamie looks up at him. “I trust you enough to drink.” Jamie smirks a little, “I know I can afford it but I’m not going to turn down free booze.”
Colin felt a rush of emotions that he couldn’t quite place about Jamie trusting him. It felt like, well, it felt like romantic affection for him. Colin blames all the candles and champagne for that. Surely that’s all it is.
“Colin, you alright mate?”
“What?” Colin looks up at Jamie. The candlelight is making Jamie’s features stand out more than normal. He looks soft, even more handsome. Colin picks up his menu, saying, “I just can’t decide which sounds better.”
Jamie frowns, “wait. Are you vegan or vegetarian? Did I not know that?”
Colin shakes his head, “no.” He actually looks at the menu for the first time, quickly scanning it, “I just thought the vegan one might be good. Fancy place like this.”
Jamie smiles slightly, “guess so. I felt bad that I didn’t know that for a sec. Thought I’d been a bad friend.”
“You’re not a bad friend, Jamie. You’ve been a great friend and teammate since you’ve been back.”
Jamie smiles one of the most genuine smiles Colin has seen off of the pitch. Jamie thanks Colin and they just look at each other for a moment. Colin has the urge to put his hand out on the table for Jamie to hold. The waiter comes in and interrupts before Colin does anything. Jamie orders first and all his choices sound good so Colin just asks for the same.
After they order, they get a text in the group chat. Goodman proposed to his girlfriend. He’s happy for his friend. He thinks it’s kind of generic though.
“What?” Jamie sounds amused after they each send off congratulatory texts.
Colin sighs, “I don’t know. Not that I have a lot of romance in my life but I’d hope if I proposed I’d come up with something more specific to the person I was asking. Or our relationship.”
Jamie smiles, “it is sort of predictable. He should have picked a different holiday. Like Halloween. Say something like `I'd rather die and be a ghost if I had to live without you’ or some shit like that.”
Colin laughs loudly, “that is exactly what I meant.” Colin thinks for a moment. “April fools. ‘I’d be a fool to not spend my life with you.’”
They trade different ridiculous ideas for a while and get into an argument about which one is the worst. The waiter comes in with their soup and salad. He gives them a weird look when Jamie is loudly saying “that is too a horrible way to propose.”
Colin really wants to laugh. He knows what it probably sounds like to an outsider, especially since they both immediately stopped talking when he came in. The waiter asks if they are alright or if they need anything and Colin has to look away from him so he doesn’t crack up. He manages to hold it until he hears the door shut.
Jamie puts his hand on his chest, leaning back in his chair, laughing loudly, “I bet he just went to tell the other staff his table is breaking up.”
Colin laughs again, “I promise I won’t propose to you on Easter then.”
“Thanks.” Jamie laughs some more. “This salad looks good.”
Colin tries his soup first so it doesn’t get cold. He moans loudly when he tastes it, “fuck, that is good. I don’t usually care for tomato soup that much. That is delicious though.”
“Do you want mine?” Jamie asks, gesturing to his bowl.
Colin considers it. He still has a lot more food to eat but he thinks he could take a bath in this soup. “Do you not like it?”
Jamie shakes his head, “I haven’t tried it but if you like it that much you can have it.”
Colin swallows his bite, “you try it.” Colin smiles softly, “I know it’s not a date, but I’m not used to men treating me to this good of food.”
Jamie drops his fork and scrambles to pick up the pieces of salad that fell off of it. He mumbles “fuck.” He slowly looks up at Colin, “men treat you?”
Colin puts his spoon down. Well shit. He didn’t realize Jamie didn’t know. He hasn’t told the team he’s gay but a few of them have figured it out. He assumed Jamie was one of them since he never asks about Colin seeing any girls. He hopes this doesn’t ruin the night. He’s at least going to finish his soup first if Jamie wants to leave. Colin sighs, “sorry. I thought you knew.”
Jamie sits back and looks down at his lap.
Colin puts his elbows on the table and covers his face with his hands. He can’t look at Jamie if Jamie is going to start looking at him like he hates him or something. Colin feels fingers wrap around his wrist and pull his hand away.
Jamie’s voice is soft and quiet, “I didn’t know.” Jamie hand holds Colin’s for a moment, seeming to linger. “I didn’t know.”
Colin puts his other hand down. “Do you want to leave?”
Jamie’s brow furrows, “fuck no.” Jamie looks frustrated. He looks around the room before looking back at Colin, “sorry you thought that. It’s just. If I thought. If I knew you dated men.” Jamie takes a deep breath, “I would have asked you when Sam got me the reservation.”
It takes Colin’s brain a few seconds to process Jamie’s words. He can’t believe it. He doesn’t know what to say. He needs to confirm but his mouth can’t form the words so he just points to himself. Jamie nods. Colin smiles wide. His eyes feel prickly. “You like me?”
Jamie hesitantly asks, “do you want to leave now? I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all.” Colin holds his hand out, palm up on the table, offering, “I know it’s the middle but maybe we could make it a date?”
Jamie puts his hand in Colin’s, opens his mouth and starts to say something and then closes it. He starts again, “yeah, it’s a date.” Jamie smooths his tie, “luckily I already look good.”
Colin laughs, “yeah, that’s something you really struggle with.” Colin picks up his spoon again, “what were you going to say?”
Jamie huffs a laugh, “nah, it was as cheesy as all those fake proposal ideas.”
“I gotta know now.”
Jamie speaks into his salad, “was going to ask if you’re my valentine now.”
“Only if you’re mine.” Colin smiles when Jamie looks up at him. Jamie nods and they go back to eating. They are quiet for a few minutes as they eat.
Jamie’s the one to break it silence, “when you got in the car I wanted to tell you you look extremely fit.”
“You look unfairly handsome in the candle light.” Colin is a little pleased to see Jamie seemingly blush at that.
The waiter comes in with their main course. He sets their plates down followed by two red roses he places between them.
When the waiter leaves again, Colin picks one up. “I did say I wouldn’t put out tonight without flowers.”
Jamie picks the other up and hands it to Colin, “you can have both.” He then adds, “but you don’t have to.”
Colin scoffs, “oh no, I’m going to now.”
Jamie smiles wide, “your place or mine?”
++++++++
When they walk into the changing room the next morning, Sam is somehow the only one in there. Everyone must have had late nights.
Jamie walks up to him and hugs him tight, “thanks for the reservation. It was perfect.”
Sam pats Jamie on the back, looking over at Colin with a confused expression, “you’re very welcome.” Sam narrows his eyes at Jamie when they pull apart, “are you thanking me because you had sex?”
Jamie laughs, blushes when he glances at Colin, and walks over to his locker, “the night just went a lot better than I was expecting.”
Colin looks at Jamie and quirks an eyebrow. Jamie gives him a small nods. Colin looks at Sam, “the food was incredible. And it was probably the worst part of the night.”
Sam’s eyes get comically huge as he looks between Jamie and Colin, “wait. You two?”
Jamie smiles and nods, “yeah. Because of the reservation.”
Sam runs over to Jamie, picking him up, and spinning him around. “I call dibs on best man.”