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“What do I get Tommy for Valentine’s Day?” Buck closed his locker.
“I’m getting my girlfriend one of those comically large teddy bears,” Ravi grinned. “She’s wanted one for a while.”
Buck stares at him, “We don’t need a large teddy bear in our house, Ravi. We’re adults.”
“And I own three apartment buildings,” Ravi smirks as he walks backwards out of the locker room.
“You can’t keep using that to win arguments, Ravi!” Buck calls after him before slumping down on the bench. “Mister Fancypants Landlord and his dumb giant teddy bear.”
Hen walks into the room, hands in her pockets, “Everything okay, Buck?”
“Valentine’s Day,” Buck rubs his face. “It’s my first with Tommy. The first one I actually care about and I want to make it special.”
Hen sits down beside him, “You suddenly love Valentine’s Day? I thought it was just made up by the greeting card industry.”
“It is,” Buck chuckles a bit before looking at her. “But it’s different with Tommy. I want to show him how much I love him.”
“Do you tell him you love him?” Hen asked softly.
“All the time,” Buck smiled a little. “I love saying it. Waking him up with kisses and telling him how much I love him as we sit on his back porch and drink coffee.”
Hen raises an eyebrow and snorts a little, “You sound like an old married couple, Buck.”
Buck nods, laughing, “Yeah, yeah, I know- Wait a minute! That’s it!”
Buck grabs his back and runs out of the locker room.
“Wait, what’s it?” Hen spun around to watch Buck run to his jeep. “What’s it?”
Tommy had never liked Valentine’s Day.
As a little kid, his mom, much to his dad’s chagrin, would get him a card, some chocolate and a cute little teddy bear, and his Nonna picked up the tradition when she passed away, but other than that, Valentine’s Day was just another reminder of how alone he was.
In fourth grade, his teachers stopped forcing kids to make a valentine’s card for everyone in the class. This was the first year his paper bag sat empty on his desk. He had spent hours the night before making individual cards for everyone in his class, mainly so Brian, the coolest kid in school, wouldn’t be weirded out. But, he still got his head shoved in the toilet at recess and didn’t receive one card.
By seventh grade, he stopped caring about the dumb holiday altogether.
He knew that the candy gram he got wasn’t actually from his secret admirer and he threw it in the trash the second no one was looking.
His dad would go to bars, get drunk and bring home yet another prostitute. It was his therapy, he said.
So, this Valentine’s Day, he didn’t expect to get anything, even if he was in a relationship. He thought, maybe Evan would make him dinner, but he was getting home first and that was the arrangement they had set upon moving in, but he didn’t expect to walk through the door to white rose petals on the floor and bouquets of daisies, carnations and tulips all over his house.
“Evan?” Tommy threw his duffel bag on the floor, heading to the kitchen.
Buck appeared, wearing only red satin boxers and a cheesy apron with cupid on it, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
“Evan, I hate-” he stopped himself as he saw a wrapped box sitting at his place in the dining room. He looked back up at Evan, “Evan, I didn’t get you anything, I’m sorry.”
Buck walked over to him, wrapping his arms around his waist and softly kissing him, “That’s not true, Tommy.”
Tommy looked at him, confused and speechless.
Buck grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the table, handing him the present, “Just open it.”
Tommy looked at him before pulling off the pink wrapping paper revealing a book.
“The Adventures of Tommy and Evan,” Tommy read. “Evan-”
“There’s not many photos in there yet, but we have our whole lives to fill it up,” Buck smiled. “Got the idea from these two old men a few years ago. Uh, Thomas gave me some pretty good advice.”
“Thomas?” Tommy had tears in his eyes as he leaned forward.
“Thomas and Mitchell,” Buck leaned in and kissed Tommy. “Old, married couple that only ever wanted to go together.”
Tommy kissed Evan back, “A-and…what was Thomas’s advice?”
Buck wrapped his arms around Tommy, “That’s you don’t find love. You make it. Which is exactly what I want to do with you.”
Tommy kissed him again, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Evan.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Tommy,” Buck smiled.