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Artemis could not remember the last time that he had even thought about Valentine's Day.
But now, his boyfriend (yes, boyfriend) was holding flowers and chocolates and asking to be Artemis's valentine.
In all honesty, Artemis had no interest in celebrating a 'holiday' like Valentine's Day. The entire point of the damned day was to promote consumerism! Without corportations pushing cheap Valentine's treats and trinkets it would be such a meaningless holiday that nobody would celebrate it.
And in all honesty, it had slipped his mind completely. Never in his entire life had Artemis Fowl II celebrated Valentine's Day, let alone have a Valentine himself. And for a long time he hadn't really cared. But with Alex in front of him, offering a kind smile, he suddenly really, really, wanted a Valentine.
"So?" Alex looked nervous, almost as if he thought he was proposing marriage…maybe Artemis would be able to see that too one day…
"Yes, Alex. I will be your Valentine." Artemis smiled, amused and flattered at the same time by how seriously he was taking this.
Alex handed Artemis the candy and flowers he'd brought him. With his free hand Artemis gently pulled Alex's face to his in a kiss.
Artemis had never thought he'd have something like this, he hadn't even thought he wanted love like this until he actually had it.
It had always been gold on his mind. Gold, gold, gold. But gradually that had changed. First it changed to always thinking about fairies, then legitimacy, and now it was Alex. Alex was Artemis's new gold, in a way.
Soon enough, Artemis had convinced the People to allow him to inform Alex of all that had happened with the fairies. In return, Alex had told Artemis of everything that he'd done and gone through.
Maybe Alex and Artemis were meant to be, based off of how their lives had been going up to this point.
Alex pulled away from the kiss and stared at Artemis. He was slightly shorter than him. Alex stroked his cheek, any trace of nervousness gone.
"Cute."
Artemis's face twitched. "I am not cute. I am artfully handsome."
Alex laughed, not quite convinced. "Alright."
Shaking his head, Artemis grabbed Alex's hand. "Let's get lunch. I'm visiting Haven Monday of next week and I'd like to spend some time with you outside of this Valentine's Day before then. "
Alex nodded, lacing his fingers through Artemis's. "Sounds good. Just not that fancy place we always go to. Somewhere more casual."
Artemis didn't protest, but internally he screamed.
Artemis Fowl II was currently sitting next to Butler at a Haven cafe, waiting for Holly Short to show up. She was five minutes late already, which Artemis didn't appreciate, but over the years he had learned to accept that not everything always ran on his schedule. Unfortunately.
Finally, once she was officially fifteen minutes late, Holly showed up.
She was dressed casually. Clearly she had taken some rare time off for this meeting, which was not lost to Artemis. He himself had only been in the Lower Elements in the first place for a few business meetings. After all of the involvement he'd had with the People over the years, it had been a necessary thing to do regular check-ins in order to ensure the safety of the People from humans, as well as the safety of the Fowls in regards to their mind and body after so much fairy interaction.
If Artemis was being honest, he was happy to return to Haven every once and a while to say hello to some of his fairy friends. Because let's be real, the way things had been going, without them Artemis would not be alive.
Artemis stood to greet Holly. She nodded to Butler and embraced Artemis, kissing him on the cheek in greeting. "Arty! Butler! It's been too long."
He pulled away, smiling. "Agreed, old friend. I've even forgotten how much Butler and I stick out around here. Sit, I ordered you a coffee. I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I'd hope it's okay."
Holly took a seat, and Artemis sipped his subpar-tasting tea that could barely be considered earl-grey. Butler drank from his own cup of straight black coffee.
"How is work, Holly? Assuming you haven't been fired…"
She laughed. "No…somehow. I was actually promoted to Commodore recently."
Artemis smiled, not surprised in the slightest. "Well congratulations!" Upon seeing Holly's face drop suddenly, Artemis's smile slowly dropped. "…unless this is not something to celebrate?"
Holly sighed, as if she'd had this conversation way more times than she would've liked. "Well, It's not all it's cracked up to be, y'know? Not being in the field anymore is harder than I'd thought."
He shook his head disapprovingly. "Taking you out of the field is truly just a poor move strategically. Your ability to think on your feet and willingness to deviate from protocol when necessary is more rare than it should be these days and-"
"Arty please shut up."
Artemis pursed his lips. Holly proceeded to change the subject.
"What have you been up to the past few months?" Holly took a sip of her coffee and made a face, but continued drinking it nonetheless.
"Well, believe it or not, Holly I've been taking some time off. Downtime has proved more enjoyable than expected."
She raised an eyebrow. "The Artemis Fowl II isn't currently crafting a dubiously legal plot? Well I don't believe my ears." Holly took another sip of her coffee, managing to prevent her face from twitching this time. "So what have you been doing with this downtime of yours, then? Certainly not just drifting along, I'd assume."
Artemis shook his head, smiling. "Well, to be quite honest with you, Holly. I've been seeing someone."
Holly nearly spat out her coffee. "wHAT."
He blushed, temporarily caught off guard by Holly's knee-jerk reaction for a moment, but her eyes were fervently demanding an explanation, so Artemis tried to recover quickly.
"Well, his name is Alex and he's English. He's also much more athletic than I am. Not quite as strong as Butler, here, but-"
Holly held up a hand for him to stop, resting her elbows on the table rather impolitely and leaning forward, a serious look in her eyes. "Artemis Fowl II. Did you just casually come out to me?"
Suddenly Artemis was all too aware of the fact that not everyone was very supportive of queer people like him. It had kind of just…slipped out. Without thinking. A fact that Artemis was not altogether proud of.
She was studying him carefully. The realization that Artemis was having must have been painted clearly on his face. Holly reached across the table and took Artemis's hands in hers.
"Arty. I'm happy for you." Holly's smile was genuine, and Artemis couldn't help the stubborn tears that jumped to his eyes. He pushed the down and nodded.
"Thank you."
They were silent for a moment, then Holly smirked. "So…tell me more about this Alex guy."