Hey guys!

I know some of you only read my stuff here, but I actually have an AO3 account which is where I mainly post my stuff. If you're reading on here, chances are you're way behind on some of my stories, or simply haven't read a few. I'm trying to update here as well, but I don't like how the site works sometimes. Anyways, I wrote this a while back. Hope you like it!

Yesterday was Galentine's day. Or something. Erin's not really sure what it was. However, it was Patty's idea, because fuck it, they didn't need any men in their lives. Holtzmann had cheered. Obviously. So they went to a local restaurant and had dinner and drank champagne and Kevin was there as well (they didn't even really invite him but he was already there for some reason and just sort of joined them). Abby got everyone cheesy gifts, Patty made a toast, Holtzmann ate all their muffins (which she had insisted on getting for dessert), Kevin was hiding under the table (practicing for his hide and seek tournament again, apparently), and Erin, well Erin just sat there thinking what she had done right in this world to deserve such a crazy and loving family.

Because yes, she wasn't sure what exactly Galentine's day was, or where it came from (she heard Abby mention a TV show?!), but it was nice and she had felt more loved than ever before. Eventually, Holtzmann threw a muffin at her face, and Erin rolled her eyes before smiling and throwing it back but dammit she's never been good at dodgeball and managed to miss the blonde completely, hitting an elderly man instead who was at the table behind the blonde. Holtzmann had jumped from her seat and underneath the table, where Kevin was still hiding. The man had stared at her, and somehow she managed to stutter an apology. He wasn't too mad, luckily. Apparently, when you're a Ghostbuster it means that people sort of respect you and don't care when you hit them in the back with a blueberry muffin. Well that, or he just really wanted a muffin.

Anyways, after dinner, they went to a bar because, according to Patty, not needing a man doesn't mean that you can't have a little fun from time to time. Which she was probably right about. However, the bar turned out to be filled with desperate guys who were trying way too hard to get into their pants. Gross. Definitely not what they were looking for. So instead the four of them (they somehow lost Kevin?! Or maybe he was just really really good at hide-and-seek) hung out in a little booth at the back of the place and exchanged funny stories.

"What's crackin'?" Holtzmann asked after some time, her elbow resting on the table and casually letting her head rest in the palm of her hand.

"What?"

"You're awfully quiet, Gilbert."

Erin shrugged. "I'm just listening."

"Awesomesauce. Anyways, you planning on making any of these guys your Valentine?" She said as she wiggled her eyebrows, which didn't look as smooth as it normally did because of all of the alcohol they had consumed.

They physicist snorted. "No thanks."

Just then a man walked – no, stumbled – over towards their table. He had a beer in one hand and used the other to hold onto the table in an attempt to remain upright. Finally, he noticed the group of women, who had all stopped talking, now glaring at this disastrous man. "You ladies wanna come back to my place?" He slurred.

"Hell no." Patty responded immediately.

"Yeah no, pal, I mean, what an offer, right guys? But we're kinda having a girl's night tonight." Holtzmann said after realizing that Patty's rejection wasn't enough to make him go away.

He groaned. "Some other time then, huh?"

Abby and Erin were laughing now, having made the mistake of looking at each other while they were both trying to keep a straight face.

Holtzmann was still looking at the man, leaning over Erin so she could pat his hand. "Yeah definitely, can't wait."

He walked away then, looking at Erin one last time before fully turning away and walking back towards what they assumed was his group of friends.

"I mean, Gilbert, are you sure you don't want a Valentine? Pretty sure that was Prince Charming just now."

Erin rolled her eyes and playfully smacked Holtz' hand. "Never said I don't want a Valentine, just meant that I'm not interested in any of these men." It was too late. She had already said it. Oh no. Shit. Fuck. There was no going back.

"Uhhh.. I mean, you know, it's ridiculous, obviously. I don't want- I never meant- I don't believe in that-"

The other girls were laughing now, Patty actually slamming the table. "Oh my god, this is gold."

"Erin, that's adorable." Abby chimed in, a teasing smile on her face.

"Great. This is great." Erin dropped her head down on top of the table (way too hard, she was definitely going to have to cover up a really awkward bruise tomorrow).

"Whoa. No need to damage that cute, big brain of yours," Holtz said, "Also, I never pegged you for someone who would like Valentine's day."

Erin just groaned, realizing that there was no way she could turn this around. Yes, okay, so she liked Valentine's Day? So what? She liked the idea of people expressing their love to each other. Yes, sure, there definitely didn't need to be a holiday to do that, and people should just express their love every day. However, chocolate and roses and teddy bears? All that was pretty cute. Cheesy, maybe. Erin sort of liked cheesy for one day of the year.

"Yeah well, she does." Abby answered, while Erin just groaned and continued to lay with her head on the table (which was actually pretty disgusting because this was a bar and god knows what people had done on this table). "She liked it in high school too."

Erin finally sat upright again, her forehead red from the banging and being pressed against a surface for so long. "I did, yes. However, I was never dating anyone by the time that the holiday came around so I never got any flowers or something like that."

"15 percent of women in the US send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day." Holtzmann said.

"Great, thanks. You know what?" She pulled out her phone, "I'm just going to do that, yes. I'll send myself some flowers. Man, I'm going to be so surprised tomorrow, walking around the whole day, wondering who my secret admirer is." Erin said sarcastically.

Holtzmann laughed. "You're pretty drunk, Gilbert. There's a chance you might actually not remember, so in that case, you should totally do that."

"Alcohol makes you sassy." Patty said, observing the conversation going on between her two friends.

"It really does." Abby agreed.

"Yeah, yeah. Enough about me, do any of you have any Valentine's for tomorrow?"

Abby was shaking her head frantically before she even got to the end of the sentence. "No.. as you know, I don't care about the holiday. Besides, I'm way too busy to date anyone."

Patty nodded. "I get that. I don't have any yet, but if there's a guy out there who wants to send me free chocolate I'm not gonna say no. Holtz probably has 10."

"Whaaaat?!" Holtzmann said, holding up her hands. "Why would you think that?"

"Uh baby, we know you. I've seen way too many girls around the firehouse to believe that you're not gonna have a Valentine."

Erin looked over at Holtzmann, trying to hide how jealous she was right now as she waited for the other woman to answer.

"First of all, that was a pretty long time ago. I don't really do that anymore. Second of all, I've actually never had a Valentine's Day date. Most of them get sick of me after about a week or two."

Abby shook her head. "No wait, I remember that one girl that you had been dating for a week and you thought it would be cute to buy her roses-"

The engineer groaned, remembering the incident quite well. "Right, and then she got super mad because it was such a dumb holiday and I should have known that she would be against it. So she chased me around our lab and smacked me with the roses for about fifteen minutes. Thanks for your help that day, by the way."

Abby grinned. "Sorry. I was having a bit too much fun watching that. Also, I remember you setting my desk on fire that day so I think it was just Karma."

"Getting hit with a bouquet of roses and then having to pull thorns out of your face and neck for half an hour is not as bad as your desk being on fire."

"It is if you have blueprints for new equipment on them."

Holtzmann raised an eyebrow. "You should have remembered to make copies."

"You shouldn't date weirdo's." Abby said, raising an eyebrow of her own.

"Fair point. Although, in my defense, I didn't know that then."

"Which still surprises me."

They were both laughing now, Patty and Erin just watching the interaction between their two friends.

"Anyways," Holtzmann said, turning around to look at Erin again, her arm automatically coming around to rest on the cushion of the booth behind the physicist's head. "See this scar?" She pointed at a scar just above her eyebrow. Erin hadn't noticed it before, mostly because they weren't usually this close, and also because she didn't want to be a total creep.

"Yes." Erin responded.

"Got that from one of those thorns."

Erin's mouth dropped open. "Seriously?"

The engineer nodded. "Yeah, fun times. So there you have it, my one and only Valentine's Day story."

They were silent for a moment, just sipping their beer, before Patty finally spoke again. "Yo guys, I have an idea. How about we each pick someone from the group and we get something for them? Doesn't have to be much. You can just go to the store tomorrow morning and get some cheesy flowers or chocolate."

"Sounds cool." Abby responded, already enthusiastic.

"Doesn't that make us look really desperate?" Erin asked, although she secretly sort of liked the idea.

"Nah, man, we are independent women who care about each other and wanna eat chocolate. And fuck anyone who thinks differently. We are the Ghostbusters, we can do whatever we wanna do."

They all laughed and agreed because, why not? Erin would take any excuse to eat more chocolate. Besides, this way she'd still get a secret admirer, in a way.

So, Abby wrote their names on four pieces of paper and put them inside the now empty – wait, who had eaten all of the nuts?! – snack bowl. They each grabbed a piece of paper.

"I'm literally so excited about this, I know exactly what to get and it's going to be amazing." Holtzmann said, definitely showing more enthusiasm than anyone else.

"Why? Did you get Erin?" Patty asked, causing Abby to frown. She knew it wasn't possible because she had picked Erin herself. Finally, the researcher realized what was going on.

"She picked herself."

"What?" Erin asked, still not fully recovered from the fact that Patty immediately figured Holtzmann had picked her name after showing so much enthusiasm.

"Holtzmann got her own name."

Patty rolled her eyes, reaching over to pull the piece of paper from the blonde's hands. "Okay, people. We're gonna do this again. Each person picks and reads before the other one goes. You can't pick yourself."

Holtzmann groaned. "But I knew just what to get."

"You can't give yourself scrap metal for Valentine's, Holtz." Erin chimed in.

The blonde pouted her lips. "It's not fair. By the way, person who picks me, I want scrap metal. Just to make sure you know."

"Baby, we all know that, but it has to be something Valentine's Day related." Patty answered.

"Fine, fine, just get me some boxers with hearts on it then, I don't have much underwear left anyway."

"Oh my god." Erin said, feeling the need again to bang her head on the table. She didn't, because it was her turn to pick someone else. She got Abby. Which was great. She knew what Abby liked, so she could probably just go to the store tomorrow to pick up some stuff. Maybe she could buy one of those things on which you can put pictures. Maybe shaped like a heart? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. She had enough horrible and embarrassing pictures of her and Abby in high school still somewhere on her laptop. She had originally planned to hang them around the firehouse one by one, but this seemed way more fun.

The next day, the girls spent most of their afternoon working on making and/or buying their Valentine's day presents. They agreed to keep it a secret and make the other person guess who it was from before they'd tell them.

Patty was the first to receive her gifts, two really good (and limited edition) history books that she had mentioned wanting. She guessed that they were from Abby because well, it had to be either her or Erin (honestly Holtz had the attention span of a goldfish and even though she cared a lot, probably didn't remember the whole conversation). So really it was a 50/50 between the two of them, but she figured that because Abby was the one she had actually been talking to at the time – Erin was just around – she had to be the one to give them to her. She was right, of course.

A couple of hours passed before Abby returned to her desk and found a large gift, wrapped perfectly in the cheesiest wrapping paper. "Okay." She said, turning around to look at her friends (who had all walked over to watch her open it), "I don't even have to open this to know who it's from". Which she was probably right about, Erin should have wrapped it in aluminum foil to make it seem like it was Holtz's or something.

"However, I'm just going to wait and see what it is first."

She unwrapped it then, immediately gasping. "What? What is it?" Holtz said, not even hiding anymore that it wasn't hers (which they all knew so why bother?).

Abby turned the present around, both Patty and Holtz now gasping as well as they leaned in closer to look at the pictures. There were a lot of pictures of Abby and Erin in high school, along with recent pictures that showed not only the two of them but also Holtz and Patty.

"Erin." Abby said, "I love it, thank you so much."

Erin smiled softly. "You're welcome. I just- I still feel bad about everything that happened, but I guess I wanted to remind you that we had some amazing times, back then."

"Yeah, and now look at us." Abby responded while she pointed at one of the group pictures.

"This is awesome, Erin." Patty commented, her and Holtzmann still looking at the present.

"Yeah, it really is. Also, wonderful haircut you've got going on, Gilbert." Holtz said as she looked at one of the more embarrassing pictures. She knew she looked awful in that picture, but it was the first picture the two of them ever took together, so it had to be included.

"Thank you so much, Holtz." Erin said while she rolled her eyes at the engineer.

Holtzmann just winked at her in response, and even though Erin tries to stop it, she can't help but blush and smile at the engineer.

Then, it's Holtzmann's turn. By now it's become clear that Patty has her (unless she picked herself again) and Holtzmann probably picked her name. Somehow the thought of that makes her heart skip a beat. She doesn't know why. (Okay, so she does because Holtz is really pretty and she flirts with Erin a lot, but she probably doesn't actually like her so it's probably better if she just pretends not to know).

Holtzmann gets two gifts. The first one includes three pair of cheesy Valentine's Day boxers she had asked for (which she genuinely seems really happy with, making Erin wonder how often the blonde walks around wearing no underwear. Okay, enough about that, Gilbert.) The second seems to be a plain mug. At least from where Erin's standing, she can't see anything on it. However, based on the blonde's reaction there's definitely something on there. She's currently doubled over, laughing louder than Erin's ever heard her laugh. She lightly slaps Patty's arm. "Oh my god, Pattycakes, this is, and I'm not joking, the best thing I've ever gotten and I will proudly drink from this mug every day from now on."

"Show it!" Abby said, both her and Erin still having no clue what was on it. With a big smile on her face, Holtzmann turned the mug around. Patty immediately burst out into laughter, the mortified look on her friends' faces only making it funnier.

'I like my women how I like my glasses. Sitting on my face.'

"Oh god." Erin said, actually groaning.

Abby just shook her head. "I don't even know how to respond to this."

"Well, I think it's awesome," Holtzmann said, still smiling broadly, "Do you think they'll let me take this to the bar so that I can drink from this?"

"Not sure." Patty said. "You can try."

"You seriously think someone's gonna be into that?" Erin was still in shock, but also had to admit that it was a pretty great present.

Holtzmann pretended to mull it over for a few seconds before winking at her. "I do, yeah."

Erin shook her head, but also couldn't stop herself from smiling at the blonde. She looked so happy.

"Anyways," Abby said, stopping whatever was going on between Erin and Holtz, "I guess the last one isn't really a surprise anymore."

"Yeah, I guess." Holtzmann said as she pouted her lips, "Dammit I really wanted it to be." She looked at Erin then, and to be honest, she didn't really care that she knew the present would be from Holtz. In fact, she was ecstatic to find out it would be the engineer who would get her something. Not that it meant anything, obviously. Still, she could pretend that in some other universe, Holtzmann would be her actual Valentine and this wouldn't just be a thing they did as a group of friends.

"Just promise me it's not going to explode when I try to touch it."

"Can't make any promises." Holtzmann said, laughing when she saw the color drain from Erin's face. "Just kidding, Er, chill."

Turned out Erin had to wait until the end of the day before Holtzmann was finally done with her present (or presents maybe?). The blonde had slipped out a couple of times during the rest of the day, always managing to sneak in through the back door to make sure nobody saw her. Erin hadn't been allowed in the lab, which was a bummer because she really liked working up there (besides the occasional fire and small explosion it was pretty nice and she didn't actually hate the music or anything, or the dancing..).

Finally, though, when it was nearing 5:30 PM and everybody felt like it was time to go home, Holtzmann called her up to the lab. Abby and Patty decided to stay downstairs, for some reason (Erin was pretty sure it wasn't really because 'they already knew who it was from anyways' like they claimed). She made her way up and knocked on the door. She wasn't really sure why she did that, but the door was closed and it seemed weird to just walk in.

"Come in, weirdo." Holtzmann said from the other side of the door, clearly amused that she had knocked.

She opened the door, ready to make a comment about the door being closed. However, when she noticed what the blonde had done she couldn't get herself to say it, or even put together a sentence at all. There were heart-shaped balloons literally everywhere, along with lots and lots of roses (on the floor, in vases, on her desk). There were about six boxes of chocolate candy laying around, as far as she could see. Holtzmann was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a bright red suit, her hair down. She looked ridiculous. And also hot. Very hot. She was holding what appeared to be a teddy bear (and oh my god, did this teddy bear have a bowtie or was she just imagining things) who had a heart in his paws that said: 'Do you have 11 protons? Because you are Sodium cute.'

"What do you think?" The blonde asked, fully aware that Erin hadn't said anything yet and it was starting to freak her out.

Erin finally managed to tear her eyes away from the room and everything around her and focus on Holtzmann's eyes. "I uh- I don't know what to say."

The blonde smiled, figuring that Erin being speechless was a good sign. She handed over the teddy bear, Erin now chuckling as she read the text again. "Did you have this custom made?"

"What? No, of course not. They have a whole section of nerdy teddy bears at the store, with tiny bowties and everything."

Erin rolled her eyes because yes, of course she had had this custom made. "I like it, thank you. How did you manage to get that done so quickly? You only had one day."

Suddenly, the blonde was looking down at her feet, her hands in her pockets. Wait, was she blushing as well? Erin was pretty sure she saw her cheeks turning into a color that looked a lot like the color of her suit.

"Holtz." She said, eager to know what the blonde was so embarrassed about.

"Don't freak out, but I sort of already had that." Holtzmann finally responded, still not looking up.

"What do you mean?"

The engineer sighed deeply before finally making eye contact with Erin. "Okay so, you know how I've been flirting with you?"

"Haven't noticed." Erin responded, an eyebrow raised. Holtzmann grinned.

"Yeah, anyways, I uh- I wasn't going to give it to you, because I figured you'd probably laugh at me or something, totally not get that I mean it."

Erin opened her mouth to say something, but Holtzmann held up her hand, stopping her. "Wait, please, just let me say this."

Erin nodded and gestured for the engineer to continue talking.

"So I uh- I wasn't going to, but then last night you said that you like Valentine's Day but you never got any of that stupid cheesy stuff, so I figured I'd give you all of them. Every single one. Also, I never actually got the chance to do this for anyone, so.. I guess I sort wanted to give you this bear in the first place to let you know that the flirting? It wasn't just for fun. I mean it was in the beginning, but it hasn't been for a while. I really, really like you, Erin. And before you say anything, it's okay if you don't feel the same way. We can just be friends, I'm fine with that. I just figured, it's either today or never."

Erin was staring at her, mouth open and eyes wide. Did Holtzmann just seriously admit that she liked her? Liked liked her. Did that really just happen? She felt her eyes watering and realized there was nothing she could do to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. This was honestly the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her, and the best Valentine's Day she could ever wish for.

"Are you okay? Holtzmann asked, clearly not picking up that the tears were happy tears instead of sad ones.

"I'm uh-," Erin cleared her throat, "I'm great. Really great. This is- This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, Holtz."

She walked over and wrapped her arms around the engineer, who seemed a bit surprised at first, but then quickly returned the hug. "You're welcome, Erin."

The redhead smiled softly, even though she knew Holtzmann couldn't see it. "And just so you know, I really, really like you too."

The blonde pulled back immediately, her eyes wide and a huge grin on her face. "You do?"

Erin returned her smile. "Of course I do, you idiot. Why else would I blush so hard every time you flirt with me?"

"Menopause? Maybe? I heard that women who are going through their menopause blush more frequently."

"Oh my god I'm going to kill you."

Erin slapped her upper arm multiple times, Holtzmann finally managing to free herself after about twenty seconds. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I just- I mean, I hoped that it was because you liked me too, but I wasn't sure."

The physicist smiled at her again, her earlier comment already forgotten. "Yes, well, I do. Like you, I mean."

Holtzmann beamed at her, daring to step closer to Erin again and reaching out to touch her cheek. "I'm going to kiss you now, if that's alright?"

Erin nodded, and soon enough Holtzmann was closing the small distance between them and pressing their lips together. It wasn't how she had imagined it to be, yet it was better than any kiss she had ever had in her entire life. Holtzmann kissed like she worked, reckless, determined, somehow sloppy and delicate at the same time, her hands reaching out to touch her like she was a bomb that could go off any minute.

It was perfect.

They finally pulled apart after what felt like forever, both immediately smiling at each other. "Well, that wasn't bad at all, Gilbert." Holtzmann said as she winked at Erin.

"Not bad at all, no." Erin responded, still beaming from the kiss. She leaned in to kiss her again, pulling Holtzmann closer towards her own body and pressing her lips against the blonde's a bit harder. Just as she was about to deepen the kiss, someone cleared their throat, causing the two girls to jump apart.

"Hey lovebirds," Patty said, "Abby and I are super happy that y'all are making out and stuff, but we don't really wanna be around for when it goes from kissing to something else."

Holtzmann winked.

"Yeah so anyways, we got you two reservations at this new restaurant two blocks from here. Have fun."

Erin frowned. She knew the place, she also knew that every time she had tried to get a reservation there the place had been booked full for at least the next three weeks. "Wait, how did you guys manage to get a reservation?"

Abby laughed. "Well, unlike you two idiots, we've known this was bound to happen for a few months now, so we came up with the whole present thing back then and hoped you two would finally admit that you liked each other."

Holtzmann's eyes widened. "You planned this? How did you know I'd pick Erin, though?"

"Honestly, that was just luck. We figured that you'd probably ask us to trade for Erin's name though, if you picked one of us."

The engineer snorted. "Yeah, I probably would have. Well, we hope you guys are happy because obviously, your plan worked. Now, if you'll excuse us, Erin and I are gonna go on an awesome date and then we're gonna make out some more."

The two other rolled their eyes at them before leaving them alone. Immediately, Holtzmann turned around to face Erin again, wrapping her arms around her waist. "I know I should feel bad about the fact that they manipulated us like that, but seeing as how this means I'll get to kiss you every day from now on, I'm not gonna complain."

Erin smiled at her. "Me neither, this was the best Valentine's Day ever."