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Chris remembered elementary school valentines, ones with individually-wrapped dollar store lollipops & cheesy superhero themed cards. Cartoon aliens telling him that he’s “out of this world”, or cupcake stickers telling him that he’s “the sweetest!”
He kept all of his in a shoebox underneath his bed in Boston, stuffed to the brim with childhood memories. He was sentimental like that, couldn’t bear getting rid of something he received when he was so young. They all meant something.
Sure, Matt would tease him when he saw him sifting through the old box, asking him if he was going to try to get in touch with any playground girlfriends. And yeah, Nick wouldn’t be afraid to remind him that the phrases were corny as all hell. But still, they were cute and meant a lot to him. Sue him.
Now, in their Los Angeles home, he found himself without it. Sure, he never really minded being single on Valentine’s, none of them did. They found the cringy couples to be vomit-inducing, and all the bright red heart decorations covering store aisles to be blinding. What Chris did miss, though, was the love. At least a little bit.
Nobody minded compliments, obviously. And even though those valentines were never specialized, he still seemed to value those cheap cards. The feeling was always amazing, getting twenty or so reminders from all of his friends that they liked him.
Chris was always one to overwhelm his friends with love; he never stopped doing it. Valentine’s was the day that he felt all the love coming back to him, even if it was in the form of stupid, gimmicky cards.
He was just overwhelmingly nostalgic on Valentine’s Day, longing in the unexpected way. Not for a date, but for a chance to relive the past. Damn, he was getting in his head.
He sighed and got up out of his bed, trudging up the stairs. He saw Matt hunched over their counter, eating cereal while scrolling through his phone, while Nick was currently making himself some toast. He contently sighed, loving those simple mornings.
He walked up behind Matt, throwing his arms around his shoulders to hug him from behind, almost completely leaning his body weight against him. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Matt.”
“Mhm…” Matt muttered, reaching behind him to pat Chris’ head before returning to his phone.
“Matt, come on… get in the spirit! It’s Valentine’s Day! Don’t tell me you’re not feeling the love!~” Chris teased, ticking Matt as he turned around.
“The only thing you’ll feel today is my fist in your face, idiot, stop it,” Matt said, successfully resulting in a groan from Chris.
“Boo, you’re no fun,” Chris complained, before making his way to Nick. “Nick… it’s Valentine’s Day! I love you!” He hugged Nick from behind, leaning his head against his shoulder as he felt his brother groan.
“Yeah, yeah, love you too, Chris. Now get off,” Nick said, moving out of Chris’ tight grasp. Chris huffed again, stomping over to sit at their table.
“Really? No Valentine’s Day spirit? At all? You two are so boring…” Chris mumbled. “No feeling warm and fuzzy?”
“Warm and fuzzy? What are you talking about, kid,” Nick said, putting his toast on a plate and moving to sit with his two brothers.
“Yeah! I’m in the spirit! Y’know, like flowers and chocolate and cards… it’s cute!”
“Cheesy, not cute,” Matt piped up, eyes still glued to his phone but listening to their conversation.
“Ugh, you two are no fun,” Chris mumbled, before quietly asking his question. “But… you two wouldn’t like to do anything special today? At all?”
Sensing Chris’ newfound insecurity, Nick adjusted himself in his seat. He knew how prone he was to excitement, always loving to make a big deal out of events and getting into the spirit. He chased happiness, something so endearing he couldn’t find it in himself to critique him for. “Would you want to do something special today, Chris?”
Chris started fidgeting with his hands, looking down at their table. “I mean… we can’t just do nothing , y’know? And maybe it’d be kinda fun if we played into it! Like, what if we decorated the house and got cheap candies and watched cute rom-coms, wouldn’t that be kinda fun?” He said, hopefully, trying not to convey how much he really wanted to do all of those things.
Matt was now looking up from his phone, looking between Chris & Nick to see what his older brother would do. Nick could easily shut Chris down, complain about consumerism and change the subject. But, what was just as likely, was Nick fondly rolling his eyes, search up Valentine’s Day ideas on his secret Pinterest account, and have Matt drive them all somewhere.
Nick seemed to be in a giving mood, which was evident by him meeting Matt’s eyes, and mouthing for him to “go grab the keys”. Matt nodded as he got up, hearing Chris cheer from next to Nick.
“Guys, trust me, this is gonna be so much fun!” He shouted, going to hug Matt tightly once he had his keys in his pocket. Matt put an arm around Chris’ shoulder and patted him gently, not in an awkward way, but simply to show his love.
Chris unfurled himself from Matt and went to hug Nick, who was standing by the door and putting his shoes on. He all but jumped into Nick’s arms, but Nick caught him instinctively, holding him close to his chest.
“Yeah, Chris. Ready to go?”
“So ready.”
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It was in Chris’ nature to be overexcited, Matt thought, hearing Chris ramble after their shopping spree. He found himself being pulled towards the Valentine’s Day aisle, filled with chocolates, flowers, and those cards from elementary school. He didn’t bat an eye when he saw Chris sneak a box of them into their cart. He knew him well enough.
They were now driving back to their place, each of them assigned two bags to carry filled to the brim with cheesy products. If Chris was happy, it was worth it.
“Oh my god, guys, this is gonna actually be so fun, like-“ Chris rambled on, talking animatedly with his friends from his spot beside Matt. He’d grown used to his chatter as soon as he began driving, so he was never really distracted.
“Mhm, glad you’re excited, Chris,” Matt mumbled keeping his eyes on the road in front of him. As sardonic as he might’ve sounded, he was genuinely glad as long as one of his brothers was happy. That’s what mattered the most.
Truth is, he knew how nostalgic the two of them had been feeling lately. Reminiscing on their childhoods, fearing adulthood. Just the other day, Nick & Chris had started crying when thinking of how happy they were as kids. Matt figured that he should indulge them; he never minded.
“Woo! We’re here!” Chris cheered, grabbing his two assigned bags and running inside the moment that Matt parked. Nick huffed out a laugh, one that he would never admit to be fond, before meeting by Matt’s eyes in the mirror.
“I guess we’re really entertaining this, huh.”
It wasn’t a question: they definitely were.
“I guess we are.”
Nick smiled gently, the lights of the car making his eyes sparkle. Matt couldn’t help but notice how nice moments with Nick were when neither of them were shouting, how gentle he was. “Well, let’s get going. Knowing him, the longer we leave him inside by himself, the more likely it is that he burn the goddamn house down.”
Matt sent him a smile in return, not breaking eye contact through the mirror. Not wanting to miss a second of Nick. “Yeah, let’s go.”
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Nick ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the box of red velvet cupcake mix in front of him. For once, they were baking with all of their senses, but that didn’t mean it was going much better.
“Okay, Matt, we need a whisk, oil, eggs-“
“Ohmygod, guys, these are so cute! And we have those little heart sprinkles, and those little conversation hearts, is it weird to put those on? They’re Valentines-y, but I’m not sure-“
“All right, got them, Nick.”
Nick and Matt figured that they’d do more of the work, since Chris was currently slightly overwhelmed with how excited he was. They hadn’t done much for the holiday in years, so today was making up for all the lost time.
Nick dumped the powder into a bowl, while Matt worked around Chris to preheat the oven, but made sure that Chris got to crack the eggs. It was his favorite part, after all, and this was mostly for him.
He learned on Matt’s shoulder as the elder whisked, cheekily grinning as he watched. He placed a hand on his opposite shoulder, doing a half-hug that was more of a content squeeze. He loved his brothers.
Once they were in the oven, he started decorating their home. He bought a bouquet of flowers, winking as he presented them as a gift for Nick.
“You’re even more beautiful than these, Nick, but y’know, I could never find something to really capture your beauty,” Chris said, presenting the rose bouquet as Nick pretended to swoon.
“Oh, they’re almost as beautiful as you are,” Nick said back, teasing just as much as Chris was. Matt simply watched from the side, arms crossed as he leaned against the counter and smiled.
“Yeah, yeah, both of you are so incredibly beautiful and amazing, here’s the vase,” Matt said, gesturing the one he filled with water as they spoke. Chris got up close to him, smiling teasingly.
“Aww, are you upset you didn’t get any flowers? Don’t worry, I could never forget about you, Matty,~” Chris said, hugging him close. Nick smiled as he moved in behind Matt, effectively sandwiching him.
Chris gave him one more tight squeeze before letting go. “Seriously, though, I did get you a box of chocolate. So you better like those.”
Matt smiled as he heard the oven begin to beep, getting pulled out of his thoughts. He put on a pair of oven mitts before pulling out a tray of fluffy, red cupcakes.
“Oh woah, those came out better than I thought,” Nick said, looking at them impressively.
“It’s Valentine’s magic, duh,” Chris responded, looking at Nick with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Why, are you not feeling the magic?” He leaned in to kiss Nick on the cheek, which Nick dramatically rolled his eyes to.
“How about now?”
“Oh, yeah, loads of magic.”
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After they voted on sleeping in Matt’s room (deemed the cleanest) and they all showered, Chris all but fell on top of his bed. He was face first in a pillow when he felt Matt’s weight beside him and saw a hand move a certain pug stuffed animal off the bed.
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
The two smiled gently at each other, Chris’ face still smushed into Matt’s pillow. He yawned as he further buried himself, watching as Matt fell down beside him to look at him.
“Good Valentine’s Day? Did all the cheesy things you wanted to do?” Matt asked, just as tired, but still wanting to keep the conversation.
Chris thought back to the day, fondly, and nodded. When he was alone, he had, embarrassingly, looked through the box of cheesy valentines that he secretly bought and drafted two of them to Matt & Nick, but neither of them had to know that.
As if it were scripted, Nick walked into the room, expression mischievous. In his hands were the two valentines he wrote. Matt’s was a picture of a cartoon bear holding its arms out for a hug, with the words “I love you bear-y much!” in fun lettering. He thought it matched his whole cabin theme in his room. Plus, and more importantly, he definitely did love him bear-y much.
Nick’s was one of those drawings of the sun with it’s rays, wearing a simple smile and a pair of sunglasses. On it, it said “you are my sunshine,” and it immediately reminded him of Nick. He brightened up all of his days, and he couldn’t imagine his life without him. He was his sun.
Chris groaned as he blushed, trying to practically suffocate himself in his pillow. Nick sat down on the bed, and he felt a pair of hands playing with his hair. “No, don’t be embarrassed, Chris, it’s sweet. C’mon, head up.”
Chris slowly turned his head to the side, cheek still smushed into his face, but was comforted by Nick’s soft smile. “I’m glad I’m your sunshine, if anything.”
“Shut up,” he groaned, fully turning over now so his back was on the bed. He lifted his arms up to cushion his head, and watched as Matt got up to turn the lights off.
He returned to their bed and turned into Chris while Nick adjusted himself accordingly. The result was Nick’s arms wrapped around Chris’ middle as Chris and Matt were completely entangled. This was their system. They never minded it.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Chris mumbled, on the verge of sleep. “Love you.”
He felt Matt move closer into him as Nick started playing with his hair again. “Love you more, Chris.”
“Mhm, love you bear-y much.” Matt let out a soft ouch while Chris giggled.
“Chris, no kicking,” Nick said, but pulled Chris tighter into him. The two of them were so warm and reminded him so much of home that maybe getting older wasn’t as incredibly terrifying, as long as he was always with them, and could always get under the covers with them when things got difficult.
This is what Valentine’s Day was all about. Love. He loved them. So much. More than anything.