Valentine's Disaster

Based on the hilarious Valentine's Day episode, this is a continuation of Nate seeing Chris' tattoo whilst in the hot tub.

Nate continued to stare wide-eyed and open mouthed at the tattoo just below Chris' right shoulder, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Eventually he cleared his throat.

"You do know my name's not 'Georgia', right?" he asked cautiously.

Chris guffawed, shuffling back round to face him, "Yeah, I know. It was just a stupid stuff-up"

Nate was confused, "How did it even happen?"

"Well me, Kyle, Toadie and Karl told the tattoo guy what we wanted inked on ourselves" he explained, "but he must have got us mixed up when he called each of us in"

Nate nodded in understanding before suddenly asking, "Wait, so who got my name?"

Chris thought back to the earlier mayhem at The Waterhole of the guys reading each other's derrières and cringed at the memory, "Toadie" he uttered

Nate sighed, partly in relief, "At least it wasn't Karl. That would have been really weird"

Chris nodded in agreement, "Good point, though it doesn't really make it that much better" he exhaled deeply, "I probably should've seen this coming"

Nate raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Chris glanced at him, "I've told you about my old friend Andrew, right?"

Nate considered this, "Yeah, what about him?"

"Well at Schoolies a few years ago he decided to get his girlfriend's name, Summer, tattooed on his back in Chinese" he began, "He wrote her name down on a piece of card but gave it to me because I was slightly more sober than he was and he thought I'd keep it safe. Anyway, for fun I showed the tattoo guy the other side of the card that had 'Pickles' written on it - which was his car - so he got that tattooed instead"

Nate scoffed and Chris continued, "Andrew found out the truth a while later and he never let me forget it" he pointed to his tattoo, "This must be karma"

Nate shook his head in disbelief before asking, "So are you going to get your money back for this 'karma'?"

Chris shrugged, "There doesn't seem to be much point"

"What do you mean?"

Chris hesitated before shamefully elaborating, "Well not only did we get a group discount, but Karl had a voucher for 20% off the tattoos"

Nate was flabbergasted, "You got discounts on your tattoos and you're surprised it went wrong?"

Chris held his hand up to argue, "Well I warned them about it but Karl was all like 'what could go wrong? I'll be there', which is pretty ironic now really"

Nate shook his head in disbelief, "Geez, you're gullible"

Chris looked offended, "And I love you too" he retorted, voice full of bitterness.

Nate smiled smugly at him and splashed him teasingly, "What are you gonna do about it then? I don't really like the idea of you walking around with 'Georgia' tattooed on your back forever, and I can't imagine that Kyle does either"

Chris pondered this, "Well maybe I can get a pen and subtly change the name or something"

Nate snorted at his suggestion, "I'd like to see your attempt at changing the name 'Georgia' to 'Nate'" he chuckled

There was a long silence as Chris tried to come up with a better idea as to how to remove the tattoo from his back without having to go for laser removal because just the thought of having that done sent shivers down his spine. After a few moments Nate blinked at him, "Go on then"

Chris looked puzzled, "You want me to sort it out now?"

Nate shook his head, "No, I was referring to you getting the champagne" he clarified, "then logically figuring out what you're gonna do about the tat"

Chris was slightly taken aback, "Ok, fine" he replied flatly before filling a glass with the champagne and passing it to his boyfriend.

Chris began to climb out of the tub when Nate stopped him, "Wait, you're leaving me alone here on Valentine's Day? You know I have to go to work later, right?"

Chris nodded, "Yeah, I know. But I'm going to make up for this botched-up present by finding the one that I originally bought you"

"Which was…?" Nate prompted.

Chris shook his head and smirked, "Nope. After what happened at Christmas I'm not giving anything away"

He waded over to Nate and kissed him tenderly, "I'll see you soon" he muttered before clambering out of the hot tub. Chris grabbed his clothes and clumsily scrambled to pull them on as he left the garden. Nate watched him curiously until Chris had departed before bursting into laughter at the whole situation.

xxx

Nate stopped as though he had been shot when he saw a bunch of roses sticking out of some shrubbery that he had just watered. Puzzled, he crept towards it before noticing that it was resting on a box of fancy chocolates. Nate picked up the flowers and chocolates, smiling as he realised that they were the presents that Chris had been referring to earlier on. Nate decided to put the flowers in some water so he turned around to grab a vase, only to come face-to-face with his boyfriend. Nate almost dropped the presents in surprise but luckily he had very fast reflexes and excellent catching skills from his time in the army and managed to grab both before they hit the ground.

"Are they better?" Chris asked, pointing to the presents.

Nate exhaled and nodded, recovering from the shock, "Four presents, very thoughtful"

Chris looked confused, "'four'?" he repeated

Nate nodded, "The tattoo, the flowers, the chocolates and the heart attack you just gave me"

Chris pulled a face, "Very funny" he replied sarcastically before shrugging, "I wasn't really sure what would be an appropriate Valentine's Day present for a former solider, so I thought I'd go traditional"

Nate glanced down at the presents, "By 'traditional' do you mean what's normally done for Valentine's Day or what you've done in previous years?"

Chris scoffed, "No, I've never done this for anyone else. In fact, I've never actually celebrated Valentine's Day properly before"

"What do you mean?" Nate asked, confused because he knew that Chris had been in a few relationships already.

"Well about three Valentine's Day's ago I went on my first date" Chris began, "then the following year I was single, then last year my boyfriend was in prison so we couldn't really celebrate. So technically this is the first Valentine's Day I've properly celebrated in a relationship"

"Same here" Nate replied, "Except for the whole 'first date' and 'boyfriend in prison' thing"

Chris chuckled and Nate carefully put the presents down before circling his arms around his boyfriend's waist, "Thank you for today"

"What for?" Chris asked, rubbing Nate's forearms slowly, "For being stupid enough to get a tattoo then leaving you alone for most of the day?"

Nate shook his head, "No, for going to so much effort for me" he replied, smiling sadly, "Nobody's gotten my name permanently inked on their skin before"

Chris considered this, "Well technically it was Toadie who did that"

Nate sniggered, "You know what I mean. What is it they say? 'It's the thought that counts'" he glanced away, "No-one's ever put in so much effort to do anything like this for me"

"Well why wouldn't I?" Chris questioned, wrapping his arms around Nate's neck, "I love you"

Nate sighed and rested his forehead against Chris', "I love you too" he replied gently before kissing him lovingly.

Thanks for reading! I was immediately inspired by the Valentine's Day episode, and particularly by what Nate said in the following episode about liking the fact that Chris treated him well, so I wanted to intertwine both ideas. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas then feel free to let me know, and reviews are always welcome!