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“No fuckin’ way,” Dominic scoffed.
“But he’d like it.” Elias hesitantly put the cardboard heart back on the shelf.
“It’s not happening. I’m not getting him that.” For extra dramatics, Dominic turned his nose up.
“Stop acting like that.” The brunet rolled his eyes, “If you don’t want to get it for him, I’m not going to force you. I’m just saying that I know he would like it.”
“It’s not my style. I’ll figure something else out.”
Truth was, it actually was Dominic’s style. He wasn’t the biggest fan in the world, but he did rather enjoy Valentine’s day. Not that he’d ever admit it.
With his ex-girlfriend it had been a bit easier– anything excessively cheesy or a little too serious could be played off as something he was just doing to appease her. Not that the same couldn’t be done with Miles; the American was outwardly a bigger softie than Dominic would ever let himself be in public, but there was something deep inside Dominic stopping him from indulging. It was something he’d struggle to put into words even if he recognized it was there: something about outside perception, something linked to internalized homophobia and transphobia, something about how it wasn’t supposed to be his style… right?
His eyes lingered on the box of chocolates as Elias walked away, then he followed.
Elias, on the other hand, had little trouble convincing himself to pluck one of nearly everything heart patterned off the shelves as he passed. He’d accumulated about five stuffed bears holding hearts, three cards, and a box of chocolates in the basket hanging from his arm.
“How many fucking people are you going to give shit out to?” Dominic asked. “Or do you not realize that there’s only one of these holidays a year?”
“I’m just collecting things right now. I’ll decide what I want at the end.” Elias stopped as they came up to another display of stuffed critters holding hearts, and he sighed. “Why do they really only ever have bears?”
Dominic just snorted.
Elias dug through the display, putting down his basket after a moment and shoving his entire head into a gap in the stuffed animals, carefully snaking a hand to the back of the display but still knocking a few to the floor.
“Elias, turn around,” Dominic quickly said.
“I’m a bit occupied…” Elias tried to wriggle out as slowly as he had wriggled in, sighing as he heard more stuffed animals drop to the floor.
“Elias, it’s serious, turn around.”
Elias muttered under his breath, moving with a bit more urgency but not as much as he could. He emerged from the sea of softness and peered over his shoulder to find Dominic holding what was quite possibly the largest stuffed animal he’d ever seen. Rather, stuffed arachnid.
“What the,” Elias gaped, “How did you find that?”
“It was just right here.”
“Are you sure you didn’t just sew it yourself while I was elbow deep in faux fur?”
“Why would I do that?” Dominic’s tone was flat, barely recognizable as a question. Elias slapped his shoulder with the back of his hand, and his lips pulled down, “You think I’m joking?”
“I know you’re joking.” Elias shook his head, beginning to clean his mess, “I’m definitely getting that one, don’t put it away.”
“Putting it away.” Dominic held the many-legged creature in his arms, feeling a bit stupid but the way he stared ahead blankly helped ease it a bit.
“Har har.” Elias placed the last stuffed animal from the floor on the shelf, then whipped around to make grabby hands that relieved Dominic of the oversized spider in his arms. “This isn’t particularly Valentine’s themed, but I think I have an idea.”
“What the hell are you even going to do with a Valentine's spider for all the other 364 days of the year?”
“You’ll have to ask Marius.”
“Whatever.”
—
"Your idea was to just give the spider a tattoo?" Dominic took a sip from his mug as he walked into the common room, eyes locked on Elias.
From the couch, Elias responded, "It's a heart. To make it Valentine's themed. And now it resembles a black widow, too."
"Mmh, a black widow. Don't they eat their partners?" Leaning against the wall, Dominic grinned.
"I think just the female ones do. Good thing we're both men then, right?" Elias tapped his foot for a moment, looking up to the ceiling before continuing, "You know what, Marius actually said something about that once. What'd he say...? Something about... Hm..."
"Let me guess: that actually doesn't happen as much as it's said to."
"I think that was it actually, yeah. How'd you know?"
"What else would he have said about it? It was either that, or it doesn't happen at all. Given the fact that they're called 'widows' I took my chances with the former."
"Guess that makes sense." Elias shrugged. "Have you decided on what you're doing yet?"
Dominic only groaned.
"Why don't you just ask him what he'd want? What you do for Valentine's day doesn't have to be a surprise, you know. Especially since you like to pull out surprises every other day of the year too."
Dominic groaned again, and Elias put his hands up,
"I'm just saying. Do whatever you want, but I have no more ideas for you." Tying off the last of the heart on the spider's abdomen, Elias began refilling the giant plush with its stuffing. "I'm sure he'll end up having something planned regardless of if you get something together, anyway."
"Elias?"
"Yes?"
"You're terrible at this."
"You're not the easiest to help, you know. You're too full of bullshit to do anything I could suggest."
“So you tell me to just let him handle it?” Dominic threw up a hand, expression bordering on disgusted.
“No, I’m telling you to not stress too much about it because he’ll take initiative if he wants something done. Maybe this year you can just sit back and learn, so next year you can take a page out of his book.”
—
Three AM.
Dominic rolled onto his back, letting out a quiet sigh. It was the morning of the 14th— the wee morning, to be fair, but still the morning— and he really hadn't come up with anything. He was good at scares and laughs, but he didn't want either of those involved today. He wanted to be sincere for Miles, but damn, it was hard. A funny card felt just a little too on brand, something that was expected of him to everyone who didn't get to see the side of him that Miles did.
He felt a hand gently take his, and he looked to his left,
"You're awake?"
"Just barely," Miles mumbled, "What's bothering you?"
"Nothing."
"Nice lie." He yawned, pulling the German closer to him, "It's too late..." He paused, "Early? ...It's too dark to be stressing over something."
"Exactly."
"My point was that I want to help you get rid of the stressor, not that you should pretend it doesn't exist."
Dominic felt himself being dragged even closer to the American, skin sliding off the warm part of the bed to the cold sheets between them. He shifted to his side, allowing himself to be pulled closer and into a warm embrace. "I don't have anything for you for Valentine's day," He said bluntly, "And I think I hate myself for it."
Miles laughed.
"What?" Dominic frowned.
"That's what you're worried about?"
Dominic huffed, grumbling to himself.
"I'm not trying to upset you." Miles smiled in the dark room. "I'm just not bothered by that at all, you have nothing to worry about with me."
"I don't want to put it all on you to plan something for us."
"I don't need us to do anything." He took in the silence, something clicking in the still moments. "You want us to do something, don't you?"
Dominic pushed the top of his head into Miles' neck, "I don't particularly care. It's up to you."
He extended his neck a bit so he could speak with less difficulty, "Stop that. Be honest, did you want us to do something for today?"
He began to grumble again.
"C'mon, you're not the one being choked out right now, speak up please."
"Yes," He said begrudgingly, "I think I did."
"Well," Miles shifted, moving so his face was closer to the blond's, "If I'm going to be completely honest, I'm running out of creative ways to surprise you, so this year it'll be just kisses and cuddles, if you don't mind. I have a few ideas if you really want to do something special, but I was saving them for your birthday."
"I wanted to do something for you. I don't give a fuck about what you can do for me."
"Well, what you can do for me is simply indulge me in what I wanted to do for you."
"You make this so difficult."
"You're one to talk. I'm being serious, though."
"That's all you want for Valentine's day? Kisses and cuddles?" Dominic's eyes finally met Miles'.
"It's all about quality time for me."
"That's not much different from an average day."
"Sure. Then every day can feel like Valentine's day."
"I guess." He released the tension from his shoulders, draping an arm over Miles' side. He'd never thought of it that way before.