It's a little known fact in the Spirit World that there are actually two cupids. Strange, isn't it? One of which is the ancient Greek/Roman god, known to some as Eros and others as Cupid. The other is a sweet and pure cupid who goes around making love happen and was part of the reason why a certain boogeyman changed his evil ways.
One cupid is the ex-boyfriend of Ashlynn Mae and the other cupid is the girlfriend of Pitch Black. To help you (the reader) keep track, we'll refer to the ex-boyfriend as Eros and the girlfriend as Cupid. She deserves the name a lot more than Eros does, but you didn't hear it from me.
Now that we're all caught up, let's get right into the story!
It was the first Valentine's Day where Jack actually had a girlfriend and him. Was. Terrified. The Spirit of Winter had planned dates before, of course, but they were simple and fun and never on a super important holiday that could and probably would be a big milestone in the young couple's relationship.
Okay, maybe Jack was overthinking things just a little. But he wanted the night to be perfect. He used his new connections with people, which was one of the many benefits of being a Guardian, and got reservations at this fancy restaurant for spirits and immortal beings called Chef Giovanni's. It had five-star reviews and Tooth had gone on and on about the incredible food (specifically, the sugar-free options) so Jack figured it was a good pick.
"You really didn't need to do all this. I would've been fine with a picnic or something," Scarlett stated as she smoothed the non-existent wrinkles on her dress. Rose-gold sequins covered the off-the-shoulder dress that nearly reached her knees and matched the rose-gold heels Scarlett had chosen to wear. Her locket rested delicately on her neck with a set of simple gold stud earrings to match, and there were a few strands of hair that had escaped the fancy, braided bun Scarlett thought looked "grown-up".
"I didn't have to, but I wanted to," Jack replied as they waited to be seated. There was a long line that led outside and Jack was glad he'd thought to arrive forty minutes before his reservation. He'd ditched his hoodie and pants for a simple navy blue dress shirt with a black dress jacket and matching slacks, and (surprisingly) even put on some black dress shoes. Not that he was happy about it. Jack kept shifting his weight from one leg to another, uncomfortable with how trapped his feet felt. "Besides, we always do that for dates. I wanted tonight to be special."
"And I appreciate that," Scarlett reassured and raised her hand to ruffle her boyfriend's hair before she stopped herself. Jack had used gel to keep his unruly hair under control and she hated to ruin his hard work so she settled with grabbing his hand.
Jack smiled nervously before an awkward silence fell over them. Scarlett sighed but before she could say anything, a waitress walked over to them. (Her appearance is pointless to the story and I'm not creative so what she looks like is up to you, dear Reader). "Sorry for the wait. Your table is ready now."
"Thanks...Candy," Scarlett hoped she hadn't misread the scrawled handwriting that spelled the waitress's name on her nametag. Though any concern Scarlett had of offending the young woman faded when the redhead noticed how Candy eye her boyfriend like a piece of meat. Scarlett bit her lip but said nothing. Jack had put in a lot of effort to make the evening special and being catty with the waitress would ruin it.
Plus...Scarlett couldn't deny that Jack was very handsome and she couldn't exactly fault anyone for noticing when it was blaringly obvious to anyone who could see. So she kept quiet and walked alongside Jack to their table. Which was in between a table with clearly intoxicated men and a family with a toddler covered in spaghetti and a grumpy-looking baby.
'This isn't going to end well,' Scarlett thought to herself as she sat down beside Jack. Candy went to fetch them water and the awkward silence continued. Scarlett reached out her hand and grabbed Jack's with a smile. "This was a great idea. I'm so glad you took me here."
"Well, you deserve only the best," Jack leaned in to kiss Scarlett before a hand clapped down on his shoulder and yanked him back into his seat. One of the men who sat at the table beside them laughed while another took a swig of his beer.
"Damn right she does. How'd you manage to get a babe like her?" The man said in a gruff voice. Jack glanced at Scarlett, his eyes screaming 'help me!' She shrugged before she felt sticky fingers tug at her hair. Scarlett turned around to come face-to-face with a little girl covered in tomato sauce and spaghetti noodles.
"May I help you?" Scarlett asked. The girl stuck out her tongue and waved off the redhead's question. So the Spirit of Autumn turned to the parents of the said child...who had happened to walk away, presumably to take care of their baby.
"I mean, she's a real knockout."
"No kidding. Better treat her right."
"And maybe you'll get lucky."
"Uh-huh," Jack murmured before he looked at his girlfriend, who's hair had quickly become undone by a child that had somehow ended up in Scarlett's lap. His eyes met hers and they came to a nonverbal agreement to hightail it out of the restaurant.
As Scarlett sat the messy girl back in her seat and went to stand up, Candy came by with their waters. And tripped over one of the drunk men's feet and spilled said water on Scarlett.
Needless to say, after some unsavory words, the young couple left the building. Once outside, Scarlett and Jack looked at one another in silence. Scarlett's damp hair was completely undone from its bun with tomato sauce blended in with her red hair and her dress was covered in water. Jack, on the other hand, had spilt beer on his shoulder courtesy of one of the drunken idiots and smelled of smoke.
Their eyes met and they burst out into laughter.
"Moon, this was a terrible date."
"I know!" Scarlett chucked as she began to wring her hair in hopes of some of the water coming out. "You tried so hard, though."
"Even if we'd been seated by normal people without a waitress who checked me out- thank you, by the way, for not freaking out- we were so awkward about it," Jack laughed before he took off his jacket and wrapped it around Scarlett's shoulders. "Why were we so nervous?"
"I don't know about you, but I've never had a boyfriend for Valentine's Day. There are so many expectations for it, I guess we kind of forgot to have fun. Ironic, isn't it, Mr. Guardian of Fun?" Scarlett teased. Jack rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"Guess so. Though FYI, I've never had a boyfriend for Valentine's Day either. For Christmas, yes, but that's a secret," Jack winked. Scarlett went to pull her hand away before Jack wrapped his arms around her waist. "Come on, Red, I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"And I appreciate that, Shepherd boy. Now come on, let's go home and burn these clothes," Scarlett suggested. Jack nodded in agreement with a quick peck on the lips before he noticed a peculiar poster on the side of the window.
"Hey, look at that. I guess they put it up for Valentine's Day."
Scarlett turned to see a hot pink poster with bolded letters in white that spelled out 'Blame It On Cupid.' "Wow. If I didn't know Cupid was such a sweetheart, I'd blame her for tonight."
"Well, we could always blame the Greek version of Cupid, aka Ash's terrible ex aka Eros."
"Sounds good to me. Tonight, we're going to blame it on Eros."
Contrary to Jack and Scarlett, both Ash and Bunny had been around the block before. Ash had her fair share of boyfriends, some of whom she dated on February 14th. Bunny had a few flings here and there, nothing serious, but had heard of the pressure that the dreaded day put on a couple. So they'd had an idea of how to celebrate without being nervous train wrecks like other couples *cough* Scarlett and Jack *cough*
Which meant they spent Valentine's Day doing what they always did; spar in the Warren. Bunny swept Ash off her feet (literally) and quickly deflected a hit from the brunette.
"Gotta say, I'm surprised ya didn't want to use powers. Or weapons," Bunny admitted as Ash grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
"It's Valentine's Day. I didn't want to humiliate you too badly," Ash said with a smirk before Bunny pushed her onto the ground. Gently, of course. Otherwise, he'd never hear the end of it.
"Haha," Bunny deadpanned. "I'm happy to hear ya don't want to humiliate somebody like me."
"You're not just somebunny...you're my bunny." Ash winked. The moment of confusion was enough for Ash to get on her feet and get a few hits in before he realized what she'd done.
"Ya did that on purpose. And by the way, that was a terrible pick-up line."
"Guess you don't want to hear that no bunny compares to you," Ash smiled sheepishly. Bunny groaned from mock annoyance.
"That one's even worse."
"Bet you can't do any better."
"I'm like a boomerang. I just keep coming back to ya."
"Oh, we're bringing in Aussie lines? Well then, are you Australian, because you meet all of my koalafications?" Ash asked as she swung at Bunny, who barely managed to dodge her fists.
"You're losing your touch."
"It's not my fault; you're so cute it's distracting," Bunny pinned Ash against a tree, her entire face as red as a rose. "Roses are red, violets aren't blue, there isn't any other girl who's prettier than you."
Ash sighed softly as Bunny caressed her face. "Fine. You win. I surrender."
Bunny leaned in and kissed her softly. "Can't help that I'm so charming. Ya know ya love it."
"I do. Now...wanna race to Paris and have some good wine before the day is over?" Ash suggested. Bunny pulled away and nodded eagerly.
"It's like ya read my mind."
The couple spent the next few hours running in the ancient tunnels. They would've gotten to France sooner had they not taken a bunch of detours to show off how long they could both run for.
Eventually, they made it to Paris and managed to sneak some wine and Ash transported some food from home for a quick picnic, a beautiful sunset in view...as well as the Eiffel Tower. Bunny huffed when he realized he would have to look at the home of Ash's ex-beau. And he made his discomfort known.
"I know it's not ideal, but Eros will be too busy taking care of Valentine's Day. He and Cupid made it so she had to deal with romance for the morning while he has afternoon/evening. We'll never even have to see him," Ash explained. Then every hair on her arm stood up and she watched as Bunny crouched down in a defensive stance. She turned around, ever so slowly, and she came face-to-face with Eros himself.
Ash cursed herself silently for making the classic mistake made in so many literary works of stating that the one thing she didn't want to happen wouldn't happen.
"What do you want, Eros?"
"Nothing, darling. I just wanted to pop by and say hello when I saw you two lovebirds here," Eros smirked. Bunny growled and Ash put her hand on his arm as a silent reminder to not maul her ex.
"Only I call her that. Now scram." Bunny demanded. Eros scoffed and attempted to put his arm around Ash. The keyword was attempted. Bunny twisted Eros' arm and shoved him, which caused the wanna-be Greek god to stumble before he (barely) managed to catch himself before he fell.
"Aw, is Bun-Bun jealous? How cute-" Eros was cut off by being pushed to the ground with a tall being staggering over him.
"I said to scram. I don't want ya anywhere near her. Understood?" Ash watched in awe as Eros ran off, though not before an indignant 'if I wasn't so busy I kick your scrawny butt!'
Bunny muttered something about annoying winged men who needed to do something not PG-rated while Ash sidled up to him and smiled slyly. "That was hot, you know?"
"It was?" Bunny asked in confusion before he caught onto the suggestive look in Ash's eyes. "I mean, it was."
"Just for that, why don't we go back to the Warren and you can get a special treat? A reward, even," Ash used the strap across Bunny's chest to pull him closer to her face. Bunny smirked and leaned in closely.
"Any special reason or is it just because I told off your ex?"
"Don't question it; just blame it on Eros."
Cupid's ears perked up and she paused in the middle of her story about all the love she had spread. Pitch, who had prepared a nice, quiet meal for them at his home (and hers, since Cupid had moved in), cocked one of his eyebrows in confusion. "Is something the matter?"
"No, I just thought I heard my name, but I think whoever said it changed their mind and said Eros' name," Cupid commented softly. She'd heard people curse her name plenty of times, either for making them fall in love too deeply (if there was such a thing) or for putting them through heartbreak.
But every time that happened, she'd just smile and pretend that mortals (or the occasional immortal) meant Eros instead of her. Honestly, it wasn't her fault that relationships didn't work out. She can only do so much to help love last. It was easier to pass the blame off on someone else, someone who shared the same title as her. "I blame Eros."
AN: Is anyone actually reading this story? I'm genuinely curious. When I started writing this one-shot, I had planned for it to be released on Valentine's Day, hence the rushed/random writing. Maybe if I have time I'll write a part 2 about River and April. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next time...
- Kitkat Out!
