Chapter Text
Nikolai wants to surprise Fyodor with a nice date for Valentine's Day, but nothing goes as planned.
────────────────˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚────────────────
Anybody who knew Nikolai and Fyodor was well aware of the fact that, between the two, the latter is the one whose planning skills are known to be outstanding. Nikolai, on the other hand, has always been a chaotic soul, free from the bounds of self-inflicted rules and plans. This was often a source of arguments between the two, as Fyodor would get frustrated time and time again by his boyfriend's lack of structure, a trait that would sometimes interfere with the raven head's plans. As a result of a big fight that the two had after Fyodor failed to perform an important task on time because of the jester's messy antics, Nikolai decided to ask for his forgiveness by planning out the most perfect surprise date the raven head has ever witnessed for Valentine's Day. Nikolai found himself to be so committed to his resolution that his plan started even before February 14th.
First of all, it was majorly important that Fyodor did not have any important tasks for that specific day, or else his plan would've completely opposed its initial purpose. This meant that the white-haired man had to be so helpful to his boyfriend that he would be completely free for at least that one day. Whether it was helping out with filling out certain documents, bombing a few places here and there, doing housework, or even keeping other people away from him to avoid any additional disturbances, Nikolai did all he could to make work more efficient. Each task that he managed to cross out of the boyfriend's lengthy to-do list provoked a wave of excitement, causing Nikolai to giggle to himself and, as a result, get a few confused glances from the other members of the Decay of Angels.
After completing the last one of Fyodor's tasks, he was ready for part two of the "Super Extra Fantastically Romantic Valentine's Day Date With My Dear Love Dostoy Because I Love Him So So So So So So So So So So Much" plan, also known as "Operation SEFRVDDWMDLDBILHSSSSSSSSSSM". Well, he was still working on the name.
The next part was very simple: letting Fyodor know that he was planning a surprise. This step was also extremely important, as Nikolai knew his lover well enough to understand that he also needed some amount of mental preparation for this sort of thing. The raven head has never been the type of person to just spontaneously go on a date, so Nikolai happily complied with this need of his, as he just wanted to enjoy the time he was allowed to spend with him.
Unable to contain his excitement, the jester teleported himself in a standing position right onto Fyodor's desk, and he was met with a startled look from his boyfriend, which then became a visibly annoyed one.
The raven head was very straightforward. "What do you want?"
"Ow, you don't look very happy to see your dear boyfriend!" he pouted in response, "I am so very hurt by your coldness, Dos-kun!".
Fyodor didn't budge for a second, already used to Nikolai's dramatic stunts. "I simply know that you want to ask me something. I would be able to read it on your face from miles away." He crossed his arms and looked at him with a little smile. "And did you really think that I wouldn't get suspicious about your unusual helpfullness during the past few days?".
"Oh, Dos-kun! You never disappoint me!". He twirled, jumped down from the desk, got on his knee and took Fyodor's hands in his own. He looked up at him, showing off his best puppy eyes. "My love, I have a super-duper incredibly important question for you. Are you-"
"Yes, I'm free all day on Valentine's Day".
Nikolai let out an exaggerated gasp, letting go of Fyodor's hands and instead squishing his own cheeks. He looked like a real-life version of Munch's The Scream. "Oh dear, are you a mind reader?! What am I thinking of right now, can you tell?!"
Fyodor sighed. "I think that only the greatest idiot of all idiots would be able to be clueless about it. I have a calendar, you know?" He tilted his head to the side, amusingly looking at Nikolai's funny expression. "Also you were thinking about trying not to think about anything in an attempt to trick me".
"Ow, you got me again!", he exclaimed. The jester quickly teleported right behind his lover and embraced him from the back while leaning down, so that their faces would be just an inch away from each other.
"So does that mean that you will be my Valentine on the 14th?" He whispered teasingly, his fingers slowly tracing large circles on his partner's chest. Fyodor stayed silent, but his answer was made clear when he delicately cupped Nikolai's chin with his hand and kissed him.
In the early morning of Valentine's Day, the white-haired man sneaked out of bed as silently as he could, in order to not wake his partner up, who was still asleep and curled up under the blanket. He started out by throwing hundreds of rose petals around the bedroom, especially around and onto the bed itself. After setting up some other decorations around the house and lighting up some romantic rose-scented candles, Nikolai grinned in satisfaction, feeling like he created the perfect ambience for some morning "cuddling", as well as a steamy bath sometime after breakfast. Speaking of which, the breakfast menu consisted of a nice cup of high-quality earl grey tea and soft heart-shaped waffles topped with raspberry jam. He knew that Fyodor loved tea and anything sweet, so he made sure to prepare a breakfast that he would've greatly enjoyed.
He patiently waited for his partner to wake up and, as soon as he saw him moving a bit under the covers, he leaned in closer to him and whispered softly into his ear. "Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well tonight?".
Fyodor answered with a low grunt, rolling to face the side opposite to Nikolai and putting his pillow over his head. The white-haired man giggled, finding him to be extremely cute. "C'mon, Dostoy. It's time to wake up, I made breakfast for you and you wouldn't want your tea to get cold, would you?".
He heard some mumbling coming from under the pillow, but he couldn't understand a single word his partner said. "Sorry, love. Could you repeat that?".
"I said I'm too nauseaous to eat." He heard a sigh. "I think I have a migraine".
Nikolai instantly felt his mood shifting to disappointment and worry. But he didn't have time to mope around and do nothing, as he obviously wanted to help his boyfriend recover from the migraine. He quickly took out the scented candles, feeling stupid for lighting them up without consulting him first and thought that maybe the strong rose-scent all around the house was one of the things causing Fyodor to feel unwell. He then opened the windows to let fresh air come in and lastly he brought some medicine and a bottle of water to his boyfriend. He asked him to take the medicine a to drink lots of water, since he was probably also dehydrated. After the air had changed, he closed the windows and the curtains to avoid triggering his sentitivity to light any further. At that point, all he could do was silently wait for the black-haired man to feel better, so he sat down on the side of the bed and started scrolling through his phone. He hoped that it would happen very soon for his boyfriend's sake, obviously. But additionally, he also wanted to attempt to save his Valentine's Day plan through the next activities, since his morning plan seemed to have failed.
Around two hours later, Nikolai felt some movement behind him and the noise of the bed covers being tossed aside. Then, he felt someone sitting right behind him and wrapping their legs around his waist. Fyodor's familiar hands touched his shoulders and then slid down his chest.
"Are you feeling better?", Nikolai asked, putting down his phone.
"All better". The raven head sank his face onto his partner's shoulder. "But now I'm starving".
The jester chuckled, grabbed Fyodor's legs and stood up, piggy backing him towards the kitchen and making him sit on the counter.
"Well, I did prepare waffles previously, but I'm pretty sure they have gotten cold by now. On top of that, it should be lunch-time soon. So you have two options!" Nikolai held his arm up energetically, holding up two fingers, and put on his typical theatrical voice. "Option number one! You tell me what you want to eat and I will immediately start preparing the food. Option number two! You let you stomach grumble for a little bit longer and we go to a fancy restaurant I made reservations for and we let an experienced chef bless our taste buds!"
Fyodor pondered the two options for a little bit. On one hand, he would've liked to stay home and enjoy a cozy meal in the comfort of their home, but on the other hand, he wanted to show his boyfriend his appreciation for planning their Valentine's Day date. It was then clear that he had to go for the second option and he chuckled a bit at the jester's excited jumps as a response to his final choice.
After the two had gotten ready to go out, Nikolai led the other man to a train station, much to Fyodor's surprise and he gave him an interrogative glance. "The fancy restaurants in this area didn't quite meet my standards", said the white-haired man, grinning with enthusiasm.
Once they got on the train and travelled for a while, Fyodor was pleased to see that they were approaching the mountains and hoped that there would still be some snow left from the winter season, even though it was already the middle of february. No matter how many centuries have passed, the sight of snow never failed to put him in a good mood. Nikolai was well aware of that, which is exactly why he chose that very specific location, as the weather forecast guaranteed a whole week of steady snowing up in the mountains. However, it seemed like their luck had failed them. Much to Nikolai's dismay, there wasn't even an ounce of snow in the mountains, therefore causing another part of his plan to go to ruins. Fyodor, on the other hand, didn't even express the slightest amount of disappointment, since he could read quite clearly the other man's thoughts because of his visible frustration.
"This is such a nice place. Look, some gorgeous flowers are starting to bloom over there", the raven-head noted with a soft smile. Thankfully, his attempt to cheer his boyfriend up seemed to work and the latter quickly forgot about his initial disappointment. Even though things haven't really gone as planned so far, Nikolai was still confident that his date would've been absolutely successful, since there was a lot more that he wanted to do during Valentine's Day.
The two of them walked up to the restaurant that Nikolai had made a reservation for hand-in-hand, highly anticipating the delicious food they were about to eat. Or at least they thought they would...
"Oh, what the hell!", Nikolai shouted. "What do you mean the place is freaking closed?!"
The employee standing at the entrance glanced at them with an apologetic look on his face. "We are terribly sorry, but we have discovered a mice infestation inside of the kitchen this morning and we have to close until we get rid of all of them. If you provide us with your name, we will happily refund the reservation fee with an additional special coupon to compensate for the trouble we have caused you. Again, we are terribly sorry."
Nikolai stopped listening to the man's words just a few words into his apology, too annoyed to care about what he had to say. "Forget it. Could you be kind enough to recommend a place around this area to eat at? We are starving".
The employee fidgeted with his hands, nervously thinking about places he had been to and that served good food. "Er, I recall that the small food booth down the street has a few different street food options. I heard that most visitors of the area are very satisfied with the food, sir."
The jester sighed, but thanked the man for the recommendation. Unbelievable, he thought, another part of his plan completely ruined. It seemed like fate would not allow him to have a single success for the day. Well, at the very least the restaurant's employee was right about his suggestion, as the food was absolutely delicious. The two of them then found a bench to sit on while looking at the beautiful naturalistic surroundings and, after having walked around for a few hours, Nikolai pulled out a blindfold from his cape, resulting in an interrogative look on Fyodor's face.
The white-haired man giggled. "I have one last surprise for you today. But I need to blindfold you to make the surprise more impactful".
The other man decided to comply and he let Nikolai wrap the blindfold around his head, completely covering his eyes. Fyodor then felt his body being picked up princess style and he held onto his partner tightly. It was a bit embarassing for him, especially considering that they were in public, but at least he didn't have to worry about tripping and falling on the ground.
The amount of time that Fyodor spent without being able to see anything seemed endless, but after he was put down on his feet and his blindfold came untied, the raven-head failed to hide how stunned he was by the sight he was welcomed with. Right in front of him there was a huge castle. The doors were open, but there was nobody there other than him and Nikolai. He looked at the latter, who was holding up some elegant and definitely over the top clothes and wearing an amused look on his face.
"I thought you might've enjoyed feeling like my precious prince for a night, so I decided to rent the whole castle just for us two!". It wasn't usual for the castle to be rented... Actually it was the first time something like this has ever happened in that building. All it took to convince the supervisors to allow him to pull a stunt like this was some Nikolai-typical form of "persuasive" ways and it didn't even cost him a penny!
The two of them took their time exploring the whole place together, admiring the architecture and how well-kept it was. After Fyodor changed into the fancy clothes that Nikolai had brought for him, they both went to the main hall of the castle accompanied by wonderful music, perfectly fit for the two of them to perform a ballroom dance. The white-haired man had the initial idea of hiring an orchestra to make the music even more engulfing, but he felt like inviting anyone other than the two of them would've ruined the special feeling of them being all alone in that majestic building, like two ghosts haunting it. So instead, he resorted to some high-quality speakers and tracks record. The result was just as magical. They started with Shostakovich's Waltz no.2, one of Fyodor's favourite musical pieces. The music was cheerful, yet elegant and filled with emotion and the two of them danced around with huge smiles on their faces. They then danced to Haydn's Symphony no.45, Wieniawski's Violin Concerto no.2 and so on...
The two of them were already quite tired of dancing around, but they did have some fun even while resting. For instance, when Fyodor decided to sit down for a few minutes, he did keep himself occupied with observing his partner, still dancing solo, but pulling out the most theatrical moves he had, jumping around, adding exaggerated facial expressions that depended on the music's overrall mood. That resulted in more than a few entertained chuckles coming from the raven head.
The two of them were taking a long break together and listening to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, when all of a sudden they started feeling a strong, daunting smell... They looked at each other in silence, as to assess if they were truly feeling the same thing and that they weren't just imagining it. The concerned look painted onto both of their faces made them understand that they had to evacuate as soon as possible. There was a fire, a huge one at that.
Not even a few minutes in, the ballroom was engulfed by black, thick smoke and soon enough flames had gotten closer. The men, however, were not too distressed by the situation, considering that Nikolai's special ability would've easily led both of them to a safer location. If anything, they were quite sad about accidentally ruining that beautiful castle, as they assumed that the fire was started by their inadequate use of the many fireplaces placed around the building, as well as numerous candles put around just for ambience. They should've definitely payed more attention to it.
"It feels a bit poetic, doesn't it?", Fyodor mumbled, both of them observing the castle slowly being destroyed by the fire.
"What do you mean?", asked Nikolai, fidgeting with his own hair.
"I guess that there's something amusing about having a whole castle for ourselves, dancing all night to our hearts' content, and then leaving nothing but ruins".
"Yes, I think you might be right", the jester replied in a low voice, being audibly disappointed.
Noticing the unusual demeanor of his lover, Fyodor leaned closer to him with a soft smile. "What's wrong, dear? You don't look very pleased with the outcome".
Nikolai pouted in a way that the other man thought was adorable. "Well... It's just that I had this huge, grand date idea, but somehow each and every activity that I planned to do together was swept away!". His voice got more and more animated the more that he spoke. "I mean, first I prepared this perfect morning relax time, but I probably gave you a migraine because I made the room all stuffy with all of those scented candles that I used! Then there was no snow even though the weather forecast predicted a massive amount of snow and, on top of that, a mysterious mice infestation didn't allow us to eat at that wonderful restaurant and now the freaking castle caught fire! I was planning to have the best sleep ever in that place!".
By the time Nikolai finished expressing his frustrations, he was starting to sound like a little kid throwing a fit, which made Fyodor chuckle to himself. His boyfriend was so endearing.
"It's not funny, Dostoy! I wanted to create the most perfect date for you! I wanted to prove to you that I can be a good planner so we won't have to argue about this kind of stuff ever again!"
Nikolai's frustrated response only made the black-haired man laugh even harder, which caused the other man to pout again and turn his back at his partner. After Fyodor had finished laughing and managed to collect himself, he walked in front of Nikolai in order to face him again. He grabbed the jester's cheeks and gently made his face look down at him, given their slight height difference.
"Nikolai, I had a lot of fun today because we were together all day. I enjoyed staying in bed and having you by my side; I had fun walking around the mountains admiring flowers instead of snow. We ate delicious food and I absolutely loved the time we had in the castle. And, as I mentioned, the accidental fire only looks like the cherry on top to make this whole experience feel even more magical". Fyodor gave a quick kiss on Nikolai's lips, which caused the latter to blush softly. "And you didn't need to prove anything to me. At the end of the day, even with our arguments here and there, I love you for who you are and the chaos you bring is a part of you that I also love".
The white-haired man felt so touched by his boyfriend's sweet words that he felt his eyes starting to water. In a wave of extreme emotions, Nikolai threw himself onto Fyodor, embracing him and causing both of them to fall of the ground. He filled the raven head's face with multiple kisses, wanting to make him feel all of his love towards him.
"Awww Dos-kun! I love you too!"