Title: Valentine's Surprise
Author: Moonbeam
Characters/Pairing: Hathaway/Lewis (established)
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~1700 words
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but thank everyone involved for something so much fun to watch.
Warnings: Nothing
Summary: Robbie has a special dinner and surprise for Hathaway on Valentine's Day. Written for the lewis_challenge's Valentine's Wall of Love.
Author's Note: I hadn't planned to write anything since I had an Olympics story due on Friday but at about 3am Saturday morning when I was watching the Aerials at the Olympics this idea came to me, so it's not written for anyone – just a bit of Valentine's fluff. Thanks to pushkin66 and kat_lair for hosting such a lovely chance to write some Lewis.
Valentine's Surprise
by Moonbeam
Robbie was so nervous he was sweating as he put the pasta into the boiling water. He cut the pumpkin carefully and placed it on the tray, drizzling the pieces with honey, before he put them in to bake. He double checked the handwritten notes from Lynn and cut the broccolini. He wondered for a moment why he was doing this to himself again but shook his head – it would be worth it.
Robbie pulled the pasta off the heat and rinsed it off before he left everything to go and have a quick shower and change before James came back from teaching his evening class. He went back into the kitchen as soon as he'd changed – he had to sauté the shallots and then get to cooking the rest of the pasta. He was never sure why he pushed his abilities in the kitchen until James came home and looked so pleased and surprised at his effort. Robbie had belief in their relationship but he honestly felt he got more out of having James in his life than he could ever give back to the younger man and he wanted to do what he could to prove to James that he appreciated him and knew how lucky he was. The occasional stressful meal was really less than he could do.
Robbie cut the little tomatoes he'd grown himself at his allotment and added them to the chicken already cooking when the front door opened. He turned around to smile at James who looked worn out and was rewarded with a bright smile.
"Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes," Robbie told him.
"Smells great all ready," James told him, coming to kiss Robbie before he moved away. "I'm going to have a quick shower."
"I think you forgot something, James."
"What?" Hathaway asked, turning around.
"Happy Valentine's Day." Robbie smiled at him, giving the blonde a little wink.
James beamed at him and shook his head, walking over to give Robbie a better kiss and wish him a happy Valentine's Day.
"Before you launch into the story behind Valentine's Day how about you go and shower and you tell me the whole thing over pasta and a glass of wine." Robbie said, jumping in to cut James off before he had a chance to start.
James nodded and walked away. When James came back out, the pasta was on the dining table, the wine was poured and Robbie was waiting for him.
"It certainly looks like you've outdone yourself again, Robbie."
Robbie smiled. "Our Lynn helped me with a recipe and a talk through earlier."
"Should I thank her?"
"No, you should definitely be thanking me."
James nodded with a quiet smile and they settled down to eat quietly, enjoying the meal.
"Right," Robbie said, pushing the empty plates to the side of the table. "Tell me the story of Valentine's Day. I bought us a couple of éclairs for later; my culinary skills don't stretch that far."
James smiled at him. "I'm much too full now.
"Later," Robbie agreed. "Now, tell me all about the true history of Valentine's Day."
"You don't need to humour me."
Robbie always felt that there was a silent Sir at the end of comments like that. "I wouldn't have asked if I were humouring you, James."
James watched Robbie carefully for something and then nodded. "There are two stories but in all honesty the truth would be a mixture of the two. Like Christmas Day took over the date of the Roman holiday Saturnalia and several of the practices from it, Valentine's Day takes after holidays that existed in the Ancient World. The first is the Roman Feast of Lupercalia which was held on February 14th in honour of the Roman God Juno, she was the God of women and marriage as well as being the Queen of the Gods – like Hera in Greek mythology."
"You knew I was more of a Greek man," Robbie said, with a small smile that made James blush, right to the tips of his ears.
"At that stage in Roman history," James continued, not giving Robbie the pleasure of a real reaction, "boys and girls were kept separate, however, on the eve of the festival the girls had their names placed in a jar and the boys would choose one. They spent the festival with that girl. Occasionally, the two would spend more than just the festival together and these pairings would lead to marriage."
"Sounds like it had a greater success rate than that internet dating," Robbie commented, when James took a pause to drink some wine.
"I dare say," James commented, that quiet, little, sarcastic smile tugging at his lips.
"If that's one of the possibilities, what's the other one?"
"Saint Valentine, of course. In 269AD, Rome was being ruled by Emperor Claudius II, who had the ignominious honour of being referred to as Claudius the Cruel. He led a number of overly violent and unpopular campaigns, earning him the moniker and resulting in a dramatic decline in men joining the army. Claudius, in the finest spirit of Emperors, believed that the problem was men not wanting to leave their wives and families so he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, who was at the time a priest of Rome, worked with a friend Marius to secretly marry young lovers. When he was found out he was sent to Rome but refused to renounce his actions, resulting in him being beaten with clubs and then eventually beheaded. Valentine was canonised sometime in the middle ages and the day of his death, February 14, was set aside to honour him by Pope Galasius in 496AD." James stopped and looked quietly pleased with himself. Robbie wanted to stand up and give him a kiss but he refrained for now.
Robbie nodded and smiled instead. "That's what I read."
"Robbie?" James asked, a little confused.
"I was looking into Valentine's Day for tonight, something Lynn and I were talking about last weekend when I was up there."
James frowned at him.
"It's not quite performing illegal ceremonies," Robbie started, reaching into his pocket, "but, perhaps we could have a legal civil one." Robbie placed the jewellery box on the table. "I don't know what the etiquette is for this type of thing so I got you something."
James face had gone slack. "Robbie?"
"Would you care to marry me?"
James gaped at him, blinking rapidly.
"James?" Robbie asked, wondering if this had been the wrong move.
"Yes," James rasped out. "Yes, sorry, yes."
Robbie took a shuddering breath and smiled.
James reached a hand out and then froze, standing up and moving around the table to kiss Robbie passionately. Robbie returned the kiss with his whole heart, just wanting to grin into James' lips. James pulled away, colour warm over his cheekbones.
"Why?"
"Because, I'm old fashioned," Robbie said, pushing the box over towards James. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so I would like to marry you."
James smiled, wide and bright.
"Open the box." Robbie prompted.
James opened it without looking down until Robbie dropped his own eyes and heard James little noise of surprise.
"This is Saint John Cantius." James said, surprised.
"I'd hope so, I asked for him."
"Robbie." James said, questioningly.
"I know that Saint Thomas Aquinas would be the obvious choice but as I was researching I came across Johnny, the patron saint of teachers, students and priests. That is all of the things you've been. It just would have been too much to ask for him to be the patron saint of coppers too."
"He was dedicated to helping to care for their spiritual, physical, and academic needs," James said.
"Apparently."
"It's an excellent choice, Robbie."
"I was worried you wouldn't like him."
"He's my favourite saint."
Robbie smiled; not caring if James was humouring him or not.
"Does this mean I should be buying you an engagement present too?" James asked, cheeky grin spreading over his face.
"No, James, I…let's go and sit on the couch."
James looked at the dirty dishes still on the table but Robbie grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the couch. "Robbie?"
"I don't need an engagement present," Robbie started, "I'd prefer a wedding ring."
James looked confused.
"I'm not so good at this part, lad, but unless you'd like a bigger wedding I don't want to wait."
James frowned at him. "Robbie?"
"I'm not getting any younger, am I?"
"Robbie, are you trying to tell me you're sick?"
Robbie was dumbfounded. "I'm just trying to tell you I don't want to wait to be married to you. I love you and I don't see any point in this waiting around for years rubbish young people do now."
"Want to drive to the registry office now?"
Robbie huffed out a laugh. "I thought we might like to invite some people, Lynn and a few people from work, your bandmates, and…anyone else you want."
James smiled at him warmly and slid over on the couch until he was pressed tightly into Robbie's side. "We only need a month then."
"A month? Would we even be able to get someone to marry us that quickly?" Robbie asked, the logistics of it hitting him suddenly.
James kissed Robbie. "I might just know a few people who could perform the ceremony."
"Then a month sounds good," Robbie said, pausing for a moment. "Want to come upstairs? We can leave the plates until tomorrow."
The tips of James' ear coloured again but he stood anyway, reaching back for Robbie's hands.
James stopped halfway up the stairs. "You were talking to Lynn about it?"
"I couldn't very well ask you how I was supposed to propose," Robbie pointed out, nudging James further up the stairs. "She mentioned Valentine's Day and then I spent a few very frustrating afternoons at the library researching saints."
"I shall definitely have to thank her," James said.
"Oh, get away with you, lad," Robbie said, pushing James into their bedroom.
The End