Couple 1

"It really is just a regular day, Greg." Mycroft says as he pulls his shirt over his shoulders and begins to button.

"Yes, but I like it, ok?"

Mycroft would have never pegged Greg as a silly romantic, but then again he's learned to stop pegging Greg as things because Greg can and has proved his assumptions wrong.

"I don't get why." Mycroft mumbles under his breath.

"Because it's romantic and full of love, just like me."

"But I get you every day."

"Just think of February 14th as me, just on steroids." Greg smiles at Mycroft and kisses his cheek, then goes to the kitchen.

Later that night, while they're in bed reading, they're discussing their Valentine's Day plans.

"So, what do you have in mind, then? Dinner?" Mycroft asks.

"Yeah, we can do that." Greg says, not sounding all that enthusiastic.

"Well what do you want to do?"

"Oh, I have a few things planned."

"Do you?"

"Yup."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"If you'd like, but they're set so no matter what you can't disagree."

"Tell me."

"We are having dinner. We are not going out. I am cooking."

"You are?" Mycroft asks, not sounding all that enthusiastic. Another thing Mycroft has learned is to not trust Greg's cooking.

"Don't sound like that. I've been practicing."

"You have?"

"Yep. Just for you, baby." Greg leans over and kisses Mycroft, then turns over and shuts his lamp off.

"What else are we doing?"

"It's a surprise."

"You know how I feel about surprises."

"Exactly." Greg smiles, and then shuts his eyes and drifts to sleep.

The next night Greg starts dinner before Mycroft gets home. All day he's felt like a big ball of mushy-love, and he was exploding with the romantic stuff. He saw a few people get flowers at work, he saw a few people get chocolates and other candies, someone brought cookies for everyone, and he went and got Mycroft a new watch. He didn't expect anything from Mycroft, he knew Mycroft didn't feel the same way about V-Day that he did, but it was ok to him.

Greg stared at the recipe for spaghetti for twenty minutes before wanting to give up. It really wasn't a difficult recipe, but he knew he was going to screw it up. When he was about to give up and call their favorite restaurant for a take-out order, Mycroft walks in.

After Mycroft showers, he goes to the kitchen to help Greg. Mycroft can cook, he's actually quite good at it, but he has never, but probably will in the future, make meals for them.

Mycroft cuts into a tomato and begins conversation, "So, what have your past Valentine's Days consisted of?"

"Well usually just dates. My wife and I used to hire a baby sitter and go out. But the past few years, I'd take my daughter to dinner."

"I'm sorry that couldn't happen today."

"It's ok. They called me, which made me very happy."

"Good. When are they coming?"

"The end of May." Greg says with a huge smile on his face. Mycroft loves that smile, and even though they're very happy it doesn't come often. As a matter of fact, Mycroft hasn't seen that smile much except for today.

At that moment, Mycroft realizes how much Valentine's Day means to Greg. He realizes that Greg's had a really difficult few years, but he still manages to love the hell out of Valentine's Day, and him. Mycroft's heart breaks a little bit because he hasn't really made any deal of today.

"Crap!" Mycroft shouts, deciding that he needs to go get Greg a gift and it might be too late.

"What?"

"What? Nothing. I just…I just realized I forgot something at the office." Mycroft washes his hands and puts his coat on. "I'm sorry, I'll be right back, ok?"

Greg watches Mycroft go, then continues cooking. He doesn't feel like Mycroft's taking their V-Day date seriously, but he continues cooking anyway.

Mycroft wanders around for two hours looking for a gift. He checks his phone for the time (his watch broke last week) and sees he has two missed calls and a text. The two missed calls are, of course, from Greg and the text reads:

From: Greg Lestrade 7:34 PM

Look, I realize you don't care as much about today as I do, so I cleaned up and went home. There's spaghetti in the fridge, even though you probably won't eat it. See you later.

The text was sent twenty minutes before, so Greg was home by that time. Then it began to rain. Mycroft looks up into the sky and curses everyone and everything for the bad fortune he's having. But he wants to make it up to Greg; he wants to save the day. He ducks into the nearest store and buys the first Valentine's Day item he can find, which is a small heart box with five candies in it.

He practically runs to Greg's house. In the rain. It's dark and he's slipping and his coat is getting ruined, but he runs anyway.

He rings the doorbell to Greg's flat and gets buzzed in. Before he's up the stairs, Greg has the door open.

"Mycroft, what are you doing?"

When Mycroft gets to the door, he runs into Greg's arms and kisses him. The kiss doesn't last long, Mycroft's panting and out of breath. He holds up the heart of candy and gives a faint smile.

"I went out to find you a gift, but all I could find was this," Mycroft looks at the pathetic little heart in his hand and frowns, "It's really not anything at all. And it's all wet. And it's kind of squished because I ran here—"

"You ran here?"

"Yeah."

"You idiot, why didn't you get a cab?"

"Because I thought running would be quicker to get to you."

Greg gives Mycroft a large smile and kisses him, pulling him into the flat. Later, Greg gives Mycroft his watch and they eat cereal because that's the only food Greg has at his house. But all-in-all, they both have a very special, very romantic Valentine's Day.

Couple 2

John wakes up early in the morning tangled in the limbs of Sherlock Holmes. He smiles. It's February 14th, and though many don't believe in Valentine's Day, Sherlock and John do. Now, at least.

John hugs Sherlock tighter and laughs thinking about their first Valentine's Day together. It was two years ago and they had only been a couple for three months. John wasn't sure how to approach it because he wasn't sure if Sherlock even knew what Valentine's Day was, but John decided to ask anyway.

"So, Sherlock, Valentine's Day is coming up."

"Yes, and?"

"And I was just wondering—"

Sherlock sighs, "Yes, I know what it is and what its origin is and what it's about and what couples do. Please stop acting so shocked, John."

"Well, it's just that I—"

"Just what?"

John decides that he's not going to get anything more from Sherlock and stops questioning.

The next day he's at the grocery store when he strolls down the Valentine's Day isle. If there's one thing Sherlock loves it's sweets, and if there's one thing Valentine's Day can be good for it's sweets. So John buys his sweet three bags of M&M's, two bags of Hershey's Kisses, two bags of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and two bags of assorted Valentine's candies. He wants to put them back to buy after Valentine's Day (they're cheaper then), but he wants to surprise Sherlock.

He gets home and Sherlock's not there, so rather than telling Sherlock about all the candy he's just bought, he puts them up in Sherlock's candy cupboard (yes, he has one) to let the detective find.

Sherlock does find them one hour later. "John, did you put these candies in here?"

"I did."

"Oh. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Why?"

"Why are you welcome?" John asks, confused.

"No, why did you buy all of this candy for me?"

"Because you like candy. And the stores are overstocked with candy right now."

"Oh. Ok." Sherlock doesn't say anything more.

The next day is Valentine's Day and Sherlock gets up before John. He couldn't stop thinking about the candy and that there must be some other motive for John buying him all that Valentine's Day candy.

He gets dressed and goes to the store, well a lot of stores, and at every store he sees the same things: flowers, cards, candies, other sweets, and all of it is covered with hearts and Valentine's Day sayings.

"Ridiculous," Sherlock mutters to himself, reading a card in the shape of a heart, "This isn't even a heart. This is a fake heart."

"Can I help you for something, sir?" A worker asks. She is shorter than Sherlock and a lot younger, but she seems to like Sherlock. "Are you looking for something specific?"

"No, not really."

"No? Nothing for the…girlfriend?" When she asks, Sherlock realizes if he says no she'll ask him out.

"I just don't know if my boyfriend likes this sort of…stuff."

"Oh," she says, disappointed. "Well, we have cards for men. And sometimes anybody appreciates flowers."

"Really? Should I get him flowers?"

"I don't know, what kind of things does he like?"

"He likes shooting people. And me. He likes me. And…here we go." Sherlock smiles as he picks up a card that has tons of flowers on it. It's not the prettiest card, and the look on the worker's face shows it. "No?" Sherlock asks.

"You've never done this, have you?"

"Nope," Sherlock puts the card back and throws his hands in the air, "Forget it, maybe I just won't get him anything."

"How will he know you appreciate him this Valentine's Day?"

"He knows I appreciate him. I died for him," the worker looks alarmed so Sherlock continues, "Well, not really. I jumped off a building, I didn't die…but then I disappeared. On second thought, I should get him something."

For the two hours, Sherlock examines every card, every candy, and every flower until he finds the right ones. He thanks the worker (her name was Michelle, he finds out later) and returns home.

John is up and making breakfast when Sherlock gets home. He enters the flat with everything behind his back, and when John sees him he smiles.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"Just had to pop out for a few things."

"For two hours?"

"Yeah, just a few things."

John pours his tea and sits down, motioning for Sherlock to join him. Sherlock steps closer to the table and faintly smiles.

"I went to get you these," Sherlock pulls the flowers from behind his back. "They were the best the store had, even though they're not that great."

John looks completely shocked. He takes the flowers and smells them, smiling at their strong scent. Sherlock hands John the box of candy, then the card.

"These aren't all that great either, but if you want to pick out any candy from my stash, I'll share."

"What's all this for, Sherlock? Is this because the candy was Valentine's decorated? You didn't have to, that wasn't for—"

"No, John. It's because I disappeared for three years and haven't made it up to you." Sherlock goes to his knees folds his hands on John's knee. "But I will make it up to you, John, I'll make it up to you for the rest of my life if I have to."

John smiles and begins to cry a little bit. He hasn't thought much of that day, not since Sherlock came back. "You don't have to, Sherlock, I—"

"I do, John, you deserve so much."

John bends to kiss Sherlock and Sherlock meets him half way. They stay in that position until Sherlock's knees begin to ache from the hard floor. Then he takes his seat at the table.

"I didn't get you anything for Valentine's Day, Sherlock. I'm sorry I didn't know if you wanted to or not."

"It's quite all right, John." Sherlock says, even though John looks disappointed. "How about you make it up to me with dinner tonight?"

"Angelo's?"

"Of course."

That Valentine's Day ended up perfect, and to this day Sherlock is still trying to make it up to John. Tonight's plan is to have a romantic dinner on the roof, but little does John know in bed, right now is that tonight will end with them in Bart's Morgue trying to distinguish the time of death of a body by the foods in it's stomach; but could we expect any less from them?

Couple 3

They don't do Valentine's Day. They are men. Men don't like Valentine's Day. At least, that's what Sebastian claimed last Valentine's Day. But that was all fine, because Jim isn't fond of the ridiculous 'holiday' anyway. If it was up to Jim (and thank goodness it's not) his previous Valentine's Days would have been spent shooting couples from high roof tops. But that was all before he was in a relationship.

It's not that he wants to shower Sebastian with love and affection, it's that recently (thanks to Sebastian) he's realized that he is a human for god's sakes, and damn it if he wants to kiss those lips and tell that perfect face he loves it, he will.

But he is very capable of doing that any day of the year, which is why they make Valentine's Day a day of not talking. What? They don't talk? Correct. On the night of the 13th, Sebastian gets a hotel room on the other side of town. They turn their phones off for a day without interruption and go about their business.

This year, Sebastian has a client on the 14th. He must meet with said client and discuss next week's robbery plans. The meeting would be a lot easier with Jim here, Sebastian thinks. Then he starts thinking about what him and Jim did yesterday (killed people!) and gets distracted. Nope, he thinks, not gonna think about him.

Meanwhile, Jim is at home in bed still. Without another occupant and without anything to do that day, he sprawls out as much as he can and rests. At one point, he shifts and his head ends up on Sebastian's pillow. He inhales; it smells like Sebastian. Nope, he thinks, not today. He gets up and gets in the shower.

All of Sebastian's toiletries are gone, which was disappointing. Jim thinks that if he's not going to see Sebastian that day and Sebastian won't get mad if Jim uses his shampoo, then he'll use it. But Jim figures this is better. No Seb today, none.

Sebastian gets out of the meeting and gets lunch. It's noon and he knows it's lunch time because for the past year with Jim, Jim's had him on that schedule. But there's no Jim today, Sebastian thinks. Then Sebastian starts to think about what it felt like last time he thought that. It was two years ago and the day after Jim shot himself. Sebastian knew he was going to do it, he had time to prepare, but preparations were nothing compared to how he felt when he thought There's no Jim today, and there won't be tomorrow. Sebastian contemplated giving in and going home, but he wants to win. If Jim wants to see him and if Jim misses him, he'll find him. Sebastian wants to win this.

After Jim is dressed, he runs errands. He meets a client that called two hours ago on a last minute job, and by the time he gets out of the meeting it's 4:30. He knows he could go home, where Sebastian is not, or he could go suit shopping, where Sebastian also is not. He likes shopping with Sebastian, so he goes home and takes a shower.

Around 6 o'clock, he picks up his phone to call Sebastian. No calls, no texts, nothing; he knows Sebastian doesn't want to see him. His stomach turns at the thought of Sebastian at some bar trying to take a girl back to the hotel.

The truth is, Sebastian has been sitting at the bar of the hotel for an hour trying to decide if he wants to go home. A few girls tried to talk to him; it just made him long for Jim more. Usually when a girl hits on him, Jim will come out of nowhere and re-claim Sebastian. But Jim isn't here, Sebastian thinks as he slams his drink back. He looks disheveled and drunk, but he's not. It's just been a rough day.

For a minute, Sebastian's mind tells him that Jim was made up and that he really is dead. He looks around, hoping it's not all a dream. He orders another drink and decides it's not a dream, but his mind is still claiming that Jim's dead. He starts to cry. He knows he's drunk now, but there's no reason he should be crying.

"Hey, buddy, you ok?" The bartender asks.

"I'm fine." Sebastian replies, clearing his throat and wiping his eyes.

Jim's sitting on the couch of their flat and getting more and more angry at the vision of Sebastian with someone desperate from the bar. It's Valentine's Day, it's got to be crawling with desperate little girls. Jim wants to win this, but when it comes to Sebastian, something more than he is prideful in their challenges is jealous. He won't ever verbally admit to Sebastian that he gets jealous easily, but Sebastian knows by the way Jim takes him to bed those nights.

Jim figures he's had enough and throws his coat on. He calls Sebastian while he's in the car, but Sebastian doesn't answer. Luckily, the first place he thinks to look for Sebastian is at the hotel, he figures he can at least catch Sebastian in the act.

He goes to the front desk and asks Carl (who he knows) if he's seen Sebastian at all. Carl shrugs and takes a call, so Jim goes up to Sebastian's room. He knocks and knocks but there's no answer. Giving up, Jim goes down to the bar, where to his delight he sees Sebastian slumped over on a barstool. He smiles and goes over. When he's close enough, he hears Sebastian's faint cries and wants to instantly console him. But he doesn't. He wants to cheer Sebastian up, not keep him upset. He sits on the stool next to Sebastian and orders.

Sebastian looks up as he sees a figure sit next to him. "J—"

Jim sticks his hand out to shake Sebastian's, "James Moriarty, how do you do?"

"Jim?"

"Yes."

"Wh-what day is it?"

"February 14th of 2012."

Sebastian realizes that Jim is roll-playing and smiles. He wipes his eyes and takes Jim's hand, "Sebastian Moran."

They talk and drink and after a while Jim looks at his watch. It's not Valentine's Day anymore, the game can stop and they can be Jim and Seb again.

"You want to get out of here, Seb?" Jim asks, his voice back to the normal of when he's alone with Sebastian.

"Where to?"

"Home?" Jim throws bills on the bar and hops off his stool.

Sebastian follows and once they're walking towards the entrance, Sebastian leans into Jim and says, "You should probably know that I have a boyfriend."

"Oh, you do?"

"Yes," he lets Jim lead him to a cab, "And you should know he gets very jealous."

"Well, we'll just have to," Jim pushes Sebastian against the side of the cab with his hips, "Be discrete, now won't we?" He asks, then pushes his tongue into Sebastian's mouth.

The next day, Sebastian will tell Jim why he was crying at the bar and how he feels when he's not with Jim. Inwardly, Jim will make a promise to not leave Sebastian alone anymore, no matter what day it is. And next year they'll probably spend it shooting couple.s (not really, they'll spend it people watching from a high building, but it's almost the same right?).

*Happy Valentine's Day! I'm a Lestrade and I absolutely love it, even though I don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend or anything. Anyway, I love the responses and tomorrow they're be a fic for ladyhappy that may or may not have something to do with the first time they all do something that may or may not be three words long and has eight letters (yes, it is I EAT FOOD!). *Also, in case anyone cares my Sebastian Moran is David Beckham (johnwatson-ismy-patronus dot tumblr dot com/post/16971385094/i-dont-care-what-anybody-says-david-beckham-is). Sorry! If anyone has any scenarios they want to know about, please let me know!