This story is set after the Halloween story ("Matching Costumes") and therefore is set in the same modern theater AU. I will go back to writing Stede and Ed eventually. I just like the smaller ships more sorry sorry sorry.
Valentine's day was a week away and Lucius felt like Ebenezer Scrooge. Normally he blamed his sour mood on not having a boyfriend but that wasn't actually the problem this year.
This year he had a boyfriend, but no cash. So despite wanting to go all out for Valentine's Day, they had to keep their celebrations to a budget-friendly minimum. Which really, really sucked.
"I wanted to save some money and go a bit overboard for Valentine's Day but then our flat had rats and we had to pay for the exterminator because our landlord is a dick," Lucius explained, venting to Jim as they cleaned the bar.
"Are you going to order a drink, or…?" Jim asked.
"I literally just told you I don't have money. It's not happy hour, is it?"
"It's 2 PM on a Tuesday. So no."
"Ugh. Pete deserves the world and all I can afford is Applebee's."
"What's wrong with Applebee's?"
"Everything, Jim. Everything."
"Well, you could always go to Chili's," Jim said, beginning to mix Lucius a drink with their employee discount.
"I don't know why I came to you for advice."
"Should've gone to Olu."
"Yeah, well I don't know where Olu works and the bar is right next to the theater. Speaking of Oluwande, what are you guys' plans for Valentine's Day?"
Jim let out a sigh and slid Lucius his drink.
"Don't you have a job to get back to?"
"Sure, after I finish this drink. Plenty of time for you to spill the tea."
"Fine. You owe me for the drink, though. We're not really doing anything, it's our first Valentine's Day as a couple so we don't want to go overboard. We're just going to get takeout and watch a movie."
"It's your first Valentine's Day and you're not even going to try to make it special?" Lucius asked, aghast.
Jim gave him a look, "It will be special because Olu and I will be together, that's really all that matters."
"That's adorable. Can I use that on Pete?"
"Knock yourself out. Just get out of my bar. And go to Oluwande next time you want love advice."
"How much do I owe you for the drink?"
"It's free if you find out what Ed and Stede are doing for Valentine's Day." As much as Jim pretended to hate gossip, they knew Lucius always had all the good "tea" when it came to the co-directors, and Jim enjoyed always being the second person to know something.
"Deal."
Lucius finished his drink and got up, leaving a tip on the bar for his friend. He was broke but he still had class.
Lucius might not have thought to go to Oluwande for advice but Oluwande was certainly in the market for advice himself. Though Olu wasn't sure why he had chosen Pete of all people to go to.
It wasn't as if Pete was an expert. He was actually just as inexperienced as Olu was. But he was earnest, sincere, and loyal as hell, which was exactly the kind of guy Oluwande tried to be.
"So, got any big plans for Valentine's Day?" Oluwande asked casually while they were at rehearsal.
Pete looked around to see if Lucius was nearby and then leaned forward, looking quite pleased with himself.
"We're saving money so we can't do much, date-wise, but I'm carving him a present."
"I didn't know you whittled."
"I whittle a little. I hope he's going to like it."
"I'm sure he will. What are you making?"
"That much is a surprise. What about you?"
"Well, that's the thing. We're keeping it pretty lowkey, which is perfect, for us, but I still want to do some romantic gesture to sweep them off their feet."
"Aww," Pete said, with only the tiniest hint of mockery.
"But I don't have a single idea," Olu elaborated.
"Oh! I can help. Do you whittle?"
"Whittling is off the table."
"Hm. Do you guys have any plans already? Maybe we can build off of that."
"We're getting takeout from our favorite place and then watching a movie at home."
"Which movie?"
"The Princess Bride, Jim still hasn't seen it."
"Oh that's a good choice, they'll love it. Hey, Jim fences, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Maybe you can get them an engraved sword. To go along with the theme of the movie."
"The theme of the movie is true love."
"I've listened to the audiobook about the making of the movie. I'm pretty sure the theme is swords."
Oluwande laughed, "Regardless of the theme, I don't think I can get an engraved sword in less than a week. Maybe for their birthday, though."
"Well, I have one more idea but you're going to think it's stupid."
"Try me."
"Jim's family used to own that orange orchard, right? So why don't you get them a bouquet of orange blossoms? Real or fake, it doesn't matter. It's really the thought that counts, anyway."
"That's… Not actually a bad idea. Thanks."
"No problem."
"What're you guys talking about?" Lucius asked, coming up behind Pete and wrapping his arms around him, worn out after putting out a metaphorical fire for Stede.
"The theme of Princess Bride."
"It's about revenge. And swords."
"Ha, I was right," Pete said.
"That doesn't make you right, that just means you two think the same."
"Great minds think alike," Pete pointed out.
"And fools seldom differ," Oluwande finished the quote.
"What're we talking about?" Frenchie asked, coming over.
"The theme of The Princess Bride. I said it's about True Love."
Frenchie nodded, "Well it's not not about true love. But I'd extrapolate further to say that it's about fighting for what you love."
"Fighting with swords," Pete said smugly.
"Sure, whatever," Oluwande rolled his eyes, but, despite the disagreement, he was really glad he'd asked Pete for advice.
Lucius was pretty busy the days leading up to Valentine's Day. Since they couldn't afford a fancy dinner out, Lucius had taken it upon himself to cook them a fancy but affordable meal, using tips and tricks he learned from Roach. Then, when Pete got home from a long day of manual labor, a romantic dinner would be waiting to surprise him. Lucius even had some candles and rose petals, a true splurge. He couldn't afford a proper present like he'd wanted to, but he hoped dinner would be enough and he was toying with the idea of adding an extra element to the night if things went well.
Pete was very excited to celebrate with Lucius. He brought nice clothes to change into after work, so he looked polished for their dinner plans, whatever those plans might be. Even if they couldn't afford to go all out this year because of rat infestations and Lucius' student loans, he knew the evening was going to be amazing.
Lucius finished getting dressed and had taken his place in the combination living room and dining room when the door opened and Pete stepped inside, looking like a million bucks and carrying a poorly wrapped rectangle.
"Happy Valentine's Day, my love," Lucius said, stepping forward to kiss Pete, who was more than happy to reciprocate.
"Dinner is almost ready," Lucius said, looking excited.
"It smells amazing. When did you arrange this?"
"Roach has been teaching me all week. It's probably not restaurant quality but it isn't raw, so…"
"I'm sure it'll be great."
"Get comfy and I'll bring it out. You can have some garlic bread while you're waiting."
Pete sat down and took a piece of bread, admiring the rose petals, the candles, and the tablecloth. When had they gotten a real tablecloth?
"When did we get a tablecloth?"
"Stede gave it to me! Apparently, he has a bunch of backups in case his kids spill stuff on it."
"Then I guess we better not spill stuff on it," Pete laughed. It was a long-running joke among the crew (kept from Stede of course) that Stede was more like a dad than an employer to Lucius.
Lucius rolled his eyes as he brought out two steaming plates of spaghetti and chicken parmesan, but he didn't actually mind being called Stede's son, since Stede was a better dad than his real one.
When Lucius had set down the food and taken his own seat, Pete passed him the box.
"You can open it now or you can open it after, I just couldn't wait any longer."
"I'll open it now," Lucius said, secretly giddy with excitement.
He unwrapped the box and gasped in surprise when he saw a lovely little wooden box. It was a little plain but it had been made with care and it had their initials carved into the top, so Lucius immediately loved it.
"Did you make this? It's incredible."
"I did. I couldn't afford to buy you jewelry this year so I thought I'd make you a jewelry box instead. So one day, when I have the money, I can buy you something to put in it."
Tears sprang to Lucius' eyes. The gift was beautiful but he treasured the thought behind it even more, the promise that there was a future for them.
"That's the most thoughtful thing anyone's done for me. I don't even need jewelry, it just means so much to me that you're already thinking about our future."
Pete reached for Lucius' hand and squeezed it.
"Of course I am, you mean a lot to me. What we have is good and I want it to last."
"Can I sketch you?" Lucius asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"What?"
"After dinner, I was thinking it might be romantic if I did a sketch of you. I haven't really done it since college but I still remember my way around a sketchpad…"
Pete looked flustered. "With clothes?"
"If you want," Lucius said with a smirk.
"If you're going to sketch me naked I think we should both be naked," Pete said.
"That can be arranged," Lucius agreed before they both turned their attention to their meal, enjoying their Valentine's Day one delicious moment at a time.
Jim hadn't wanted to go overboard for Valentine's Day but at the very last minute on their walk home from work, they stopped at a drugstore and made a selection from the slim pickings left in the store, hoping it would be good enough for Olu.
On his own way home from work Oluwande picked up their takeout dinner and prayed he'd have enough time when he got home to put out the flowers. He'd spent an hour on YouTube learning how to fold origami orange blossoms and had then spent the next few days folding an ungodly amount of them in teal and orange, their respective favorite colors. He had to admit, he'd gone a little bit overboard.
When Jim walked into the apartment they momentarily wondered if they'd entered the wrong one. Instead of the usually mostly clean but plain apartment, they were used to, their living space had been transformed into a floral wonderland.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Jim. I know it's kind of cheesy but I wanted to get you some flowers that wouldn't die."
Jim dropped the bag they were holding and ran their hand over a few.
"Some? Olu this is a whole damn greenhouse."
"Do you like it? I thought orange blossoms would be good because of your family's orchard, and I made them orange and teal instead of white because those are our favorite colors…" Oluwande felt the need to over-explain, just in case Jim didn't like it.
"It's beautiful and I love it, just… Now I feel stupid about what I got you."
"You got me something?"
"It's nothing compared to your origami offering but I hope you like it." Jim picked the bag up again and held it out, glancing away so that they didn't see Oluwande's disappointed expression.
Oluwande pulled out a sizable stuffed brown bear that held a somewhat gaudy pink heart that read, "I love you beary much."
He laughed in delight. "I love you too."
"You actually like it?"
"Of course I like it, it's perfect."
"But it's cheesy."
"That's why I love it. You're not usually sappy so getting something sentimental from you means a lot."
Jim laughed a little, "It's just a bear, Olu."
"It's my bear and I love it."
"Okay, okay, I'm glad you love it. Did you get the food?"
"Yep! It's on the coffee table. And I have the movie pulled up." Oluwande headed over to the couch, giving the goofy little bear a seat next to them before sitting down.
"We're leaving those flowers up until next Valentine's Day," Jim said.
"Okay, but I'm keeping Bearemy in the bed with us."
"You already named him?"
"Of course I did. He's our son now."
Jim rolled their eyes but they were grinning, "If I'd known you'd be so weird about it I wouldn't have bought him."
"Don't say that in front of our son."
"Just start the movie, weirdo," Jim said, settling comfortably into the space beside Olu and enjoying their weird, sappy Valentine's Day simply because they were together.
"So how'd it go?" Lucius asked, at the bar once more for an afternoon catch-up.
"Oh, it was good. You and Pete should come over sometime and see the flowers he made me."
"Made you?"
"Yeah he folded like hundreds of origami orange blossoms, it's amazing."
"Aww, that's adorable. Pete did a DIY gift too, I guess we both did, technically."
"What did you end up doing?"
"Well, I made us chicken parmesan and Pete carved me a jewelry box for the future jewelry he wants to get me when we're not dirt poor." Lucius still got flustered thinking about Pete's plans for their future together.
"I got Oluwande a teddy bear from the drugstore and he decided it's our son now," Jim said, also a little flustered by the fact that they were a bonafide family now.
"Stop it. That's adorable."
"So I guess we both ended up having a pretty good Valentine's Day, money or no money."
"And we didn't go overboard," Lucius said, offering Jim a high five.
Jim just stared at him until Lucius lowered his hand.
"Okay, not one for high fives."
"I'm not high-fiving you until you settle your tab."
"What?"
"You still owe me for that drink from last week."
"Oh! I have all the tea. Apparently, they went to an opera."
"Really? I can't see Ed enjoying that."
"It was his idea. They went to a fancy restaurant wearing fancy clothes and then they went to the opera and rumor has it this morning they were wearing each other's fancy clothes."
"That's TMI, Lucius."
"You definitely wanted to know."
Jim had wanted to know, but that was beside the point.
"Alright, you've settled your debts. But if you're going to keep annoying me at work you're going to have to start actually paying for your drinks."
"You love me," Lucius said, which was another true fact that Jim refused to admit.
"Get out of my bar, Lucius, or I'll tell your boss you're shirking work."
"I'm pretty sure he's busy shirking work with your boss but fine, I'll go."
He would be back because their afternoon chats were becoming routine. And even though Jim didn't always match Lucius' levels, they were kind of starting to like this routine, just as much as they were starting to like Valentine's Day.