A/N: You know how I wrote a couple chapters of Alex/Jacob shippy fluff forever ago? I figured we could all use some wholesome nice fluff during corona times, so I couldn't help but write some more little Alex/Jacob shorts! There will probably be a few of these as I write more of them, and the vast majority will be nice and wholesome, so no worries, everything is SFW here. Enjoy!

~ Valentine's Day ~

Sometimes, when a gentle grey rain was falling in the evening and the streets of London were quiet, and the factories had closed and the carriages had shut down for the night, Jacob Frye would wander outside and take a walk. He liked to meander slowly through the muddy streets of Southwark, counting the towering smokestacks and picking out the birds in the trees, just enjoying the soft pattering of the rain against the cobblestones and the soft breeze in his hair. During these walks he didn't really think about anything in particular - not Templars or Blighters or Pieces of Eden or anything else. He just breathed, and walked, and let himself... be. It was always the most relaxing part of his week, his little escape from the constant stress and strife of being an Assassin.

But today was a special day, and for the first time in a long time, Jacob's weekly walk had a purpose. He walked down to the Southwark market first, the puddles and mud sloshing around his boots, and found the little flower stall that was always unreasonably open this time of night. The old shopkeeper, a hunched-over woman, smiled when she saw him, sunken blue eyes twinkling as he approached. "Looking for a gift for a special someone?" she asked, knowingly; and he sighed internally. Of course she had seen right through him. "I've got just the thing."

"Enlighten me," he said with a smile, and she laughed and ducked behind the counter, emerging with a bouquet of red roses tied with a pink ribbon. He took them and buried his face in them, inhaling the soft, floral smell. Perfect.

"I think there's a handsome gentleman out there who will love those," the woman said, cleverly, as he dropped a handful of silver coins into her jar.

"Why, how dare you!" He put on his best show of being affronted. "You couldn't possibly be accusing me of such impropriety, madam."

She laughed. "Oh, I always know. You go bring him those flowers now."

"Silly," he scoffed, but smiled as he headed to his next destination, flowers tucked under his arm so he could shield them from the rain.

His next stop was the local used bookstore, the Mermaid and Anchor; he always knew it as the one with the mermaid sign hanging out front and the fuzzy green welcome mat. The clerk, a lanky man in a blue bowler hat, eyed him warily when he approached the counter with a pile of engineering manuals and plopped them down on the register with a heavy thunk. "You don't strike me as an engineer," he said, as he opened each one to stamp the inside cover. "Are these for a friend?"

"You could say that," he said, winking. The clerk rolled his eyes obligingly and took his money.

The last stop was the sweet store, the place he always stopped to buy ice cream and chocolate for his street children. But today he picked up a little golden box of variety chocolates - milk and white only, no darks, plenty of caramel and toffee filling, and a copious amount of Scottish cream. The clerk chuckled knowingly as she wrapped it up with a neat bow for him and tucked a card into the ribbon. "What special lady are these for, then?"

"Oh, just someone," he said, wryly.

Finally he headed down the street, errands complete, humming cheerily and toting his gifts along under his coat to protect them from the ever-falling rain. The door he was looking for, despite being well off the beaten path and almost invisible from the street, was so familiar to him by now that he could almost navigate there blind, and when he ducked gratefully under the awning and knocked twice, he saw an eye peer through the peephole and then heard a frantic scrambling to open it. "Jacob!" a muffled voice said, and Jacob chuckled to himself; the man always sounded so happy to see him, and it put a warm glow in his heart. "I wasn't expecting you again so soon. You should have told me you were coming!"

"Well, you know me," Jacob said, as the door opened. "I always like to drop in."

A warm orange glow of candlelight poured out from the threshold, and there stood Alexander Graham Bell silhouetted in it, bright-eyed and bushy-haired, dressed hastily in his nightclothes and beaming ear to ear like a Christmas tree. "Why, hello, Jacob," he said, and God, Jacob would never get sick of that Scottish accent. "What on earth brings you by?"

"Well," Jacob said, "you mentioned that you weren't expecting any company for Valentine's Day this year. And I couldn't leave you hanging. So I figured I would get you a little something."

He could have sworn Aleck's eyes lit up at that. "Oh," Aleck breathed. "You didn't."

"Happy Valentine's Day," Jacob said, grinning and opening his jacket to reveal his presents. Aleck's jaw dropped.

"Jacob," he breathed. "Are those for me?"

"Do you know any other Scottish inventors around here?" Jacob laughed. "Of course they're for you."

Aleck turned bright red, a sight that tickled Jacob's heart, and stuttered nervously as he opened the door wider to let him in. "You prick," he managed, as Jacob stepped inside into the light, hastening to wipe mud and dirt off his boots so he wouldn't track any muck over Aleck's floor. "You absolute prick. You shouldn't have."

"Well, I did," Jacob smiled, immensely pleased with himself for planning this little surprise; he'd been worried Aleck wouldn't like it, but judging by the glow in Aleck's face and the increasing pink tinge in his cheeks, he loved every minute of it. It warmed his heart to see Aleck so happy.

"Jacob," Aleck said fondly, as Jacob took off his rain-soaked jacket and hung it on the coatrack by the door; and Jacob's heart leapt. He loved when Aleck said his name like that. "You really shouldn't have. This is ridiculous."

"Whatever do you mean?" Jacob feigned offense. "Well, if you don't want all this stuff -"

"Oh, blast you, Jacob, of course I want it!"

"Then take it," Jacob laughed, and he laid everything down on the inventor's table so Aleck could get a better look. Then he hung up his soaking wet top hat and watched, glowing with pride, as Aleck dove on the gifts and admired each one appreciatively, exclaiming over the engineering books and tearing open the chocolates to see what kinds he had gotten. He put his face in the flowers to smell the scent, then went back to his chocolates, counting out each kind of truffle with an excitement that Jacob found so incredibly endearing. Clearly nobody had ever gotten him a Valentine's day gift like this before, and the wondering joy in his eyes was all the thanks Jacob needed.

"Jacob, you're spoiling me," Aleck declared at last, and Jacob laughed, delighted that he'd liked the gifts. "And here I was thinking you were coming to get your grappling hook fixed!"

"Well, I don't just come by because I need you," Jacob teased lightly. "Maybe I just like having you around."

And he could swear Aleck's ears went a little pink at that. "Maybe," he said, "you could help me find a vase for the flowers?"

"I'd love to." Jacob headed into the kitchen and opened his cupboards, rummaging around for a proper container. He found a nice floral glass vase in the back of Aleck's glass collection and filled it with water from the sink, and when he returned to the living room, it was to find Aleck gingerly touching the flowers, as though worried they would disappear if he looked at them for too long. It made Jacob pause; there was something about the way Aleck stared at the roses, with something in his eyes.

"I found a vase," he ventured, and Aleck jumped and seemed to remember he was there.

"Oh," he stuttered. "Yes, of course. Right over here would be wonderful."

Jacob set the vase down and gently arranged the flowers in it. "I wasn't sure what color to get you," he said. "I was hoping red would be all right."

"I like red," Aleck said, shyly; and Jacob's fingers paused on the stems of the flowers, trying to decipher the man's strange tone.

"Aleck," he said. "Whatever's gotten into you?"

Aleck looked down at his shoes, now a very bright shade of red. His voice was almost a whisper. "Why did you get me all of this?"

Jacob's heart jumped at the question. "Well, like I said," he said, hesitantly. "I wanted you to have a nice present for Valentine's Day. Besides," he gestured to the windows, trying to crack a joke, "the flowers match your curtains."

"I -" Aleck was blushing redder than the flowers now, almost unable to get the words out. "I never expected I would have an Assassin as my valentine."

Jacob was suddenly aware that he had lost the ability to move or breathe. "Aleck," he breathed.

"I fancy you, Jacob," Aleck said, in a rush. "I always fancied you." The words seemed to burst from him like water from a dam, and he immediately clutched his hands together and stared fervently at the floor, clearly terrified of how Jacob might respond. But Jacob could not think about anything except the fact that Aleck, perfect Aleck, beautiful Aleck, had finally admitted to liking him back.

"Why, Aleck," he said, quietly; and he could not help himself any longer. "If I had known that, I would have brought more than just flowers."

Aleck blushed right up to his ears. "You really mean that?"

Jacob hadn't consciously decided to move, but somehow his feet started moving anyway, taking him across the floor and right over to Aleck; and before he even realized it his hands were moving to grasp Aleck's hands and pull him in, and suddenly Aleck was there in his arms, trembling, bright and blushing and just as beautiful as he'd imagined he would be. Jacob reached to brush a little hair out of his face, and for a while they just stood there and looked at each other in a kind of warm, wondering silence, processing this new thing they had done.

Aleck was the one to speak at last, hesitantly; and as he spoke he trailed his hands slowly along Jacob's hips. "Will you stay with me tonight, Mister Frye?"

"Well," Jacob said, teasingly, "that depends on whether you can fix my grappling hook."

Aleck laughed. "You ass," he said, and Jacob smiled and leaned in, and Aleck met him eagerly in a soft, chaste kiss. It was hesitant at first, a little shy, and almost at once Jacob inferred that Aleck did not have nearly as much experience in this department as he did; but when they broke apart, Aleck's eyes were very bright, and his wide, boyish smile was so wonderfully charming that Jacob nearly fainted on the spot.

Jacob leaned in, resting his forehead gently against Aleck's and loving the way they fit together. "Aleck," he said. "Will you be my valentine?"

"Yes," Aleck breathed.

They never did get around to fixing his grappling hook.