#other bonus fun stuff: i saw so many cats guys. one ever entered the building and walked around our legs

[daz4i]

first day update: it was nice :)

[boopaladoop]

How to Ruin Valentine’s Day, by Agent Melodrama

Tucker has big plans for Valentine’s Day. He should’ve known better, really.

Written for @agentfrecklelancer!!!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!! <3

At first, Tucker thought, ‘Clearly, I have to go overboard here, balloons, flowers, chocolates, probably some kind of sex toy, a date to the nicest restaurant on Chorus—which still wasn’t great, but hey, you only got so much to work with here.’ And he planned it all out, without even asking Donut for help. Which was kind of impressive, since Tucker usually skipped the “wining and dining” part of the evening and got right to the fun stuff. He even set up the reservation, and he had had to get on that like, a month ahead of the day. But about three weeks ahead of the big event, he trashed the whole idea. The more he thought about it, the less…Wash it seemed.

Wash was the kind of guy that got nervous in crowded restaurants, didn’t like not having his back to the wall, wouldn’t really care about flowers—I mean, the chocolates and sex toy were still in (bow chicka bow wow), but the balloons were definitely out. So, he started over from scratch. No big deal though, he had seduced the man in the first place, he could obviously handle Valentine’s Day.

His cooking skills were, um, subpar, but he was sure he could figure out one dish. So he had Caboose subtly ask what Wash’s favorite food was. That resulted in a couple of weird looks and an incredibly high-pitched voice, but hey, it got the job done. Chicken alfredo was a perfect Valentine’s Day meal to make, and he still had plenty of time to practice. He wanted to make everything from scratch but after only one attempt at making fresh pasta, he decided that was very much out of the picture. It took a few more tries to get it just right and as a bonus he only lit the kitchen on fire once, Wash, one time isn’t so bad.

The next problem to deal with was what to do besides just dinner. You know, you can’t just have a nice-ish meal and call it a good date. At least not on Valentine’s Day. His first thought was ice skating, but that was a definite no. He didn’t mind looking like an idiot, but he knew that Wash actually had some small measurement of shame. On second thought, Wash was probably a first-class skater as part of his amazing freelancer training somehow. But still, he wasn’t going to bank solely on that. So in the end he settled on getting some candles, wine, and a few rom-coms that he knew Wash would deny liking but secretly enjoy. Tucker kind of wanted to go for something more exotic, but you had to play to your audience. He just really, really hoped that it was going to be enough.

After the plans were finalized, he just had to find a way to execute them. Getting Wash to cancel his routines for the evening was going to be…difficult, to say the least. Tucker didn’t think his boyfriend actually slept, his schedule was always so packed. This wasn’t even his damn planet and still he was constantly running missions, training the troops, or meeting with Kimball and Doyle. So, giving two weeks’ business notice, he made his approach.

“Hey Wash, what’s up?” he leaned as casually as possible against the wall near where Wash was bench pressing about four hundred pounds like it weighed nothing. God, he was kind of dating a tool.

Even though Tucker knew his boyfriend had seen him enter, he still made a show of looking surprised that Tucker was there, “Captain Tucker. To what do I owe the pleasure? I don’t see you around here very often.”

Definitely dating a tool. “Very funny, asshole, I have a serious question for you.”

Wash set the bar back on the rack, “Okay, but if you set the kitchen on fire again, I hope you at least put it out before coming to get me this time.”

“Dude, how was I supposed to know Caboose didn’t know how to put out a fire? He literally lights them twice a week, you think he’d know by now.”

Wash sighed, “Okay, but you didn’t light the kitchen on fire, right?”

“No!”

“Okay great, so what was the question?”

“I need to you clear out your evening schedule for the fourteenth. You can still do your regular bullshit for the rest of the day, but you have to reserve from like, 5pm to noon the next day.”

“And why should I do that?” Wash frowned suspiciously, which was actually a good sign. Freelancers in general seemed to forget about holidays, and if Tucker actually managed to surprise him with a Valentine’s date it’d be even better.

“Uhhhh dude, I can’t tell you that. It’s for really important shit though.”

“Tucker, I’ve told you, I can’t just ask off work for no reason. I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but I have important things to do.”  He opened his datapad, presumably to look at his schedule for the day, “I have a mission early that morning, that I’ll only be back from at three, and after that I’ve got debriefing, then training. I can’t just miss whenever you ask me to.”

“Come on, Wash, I’m not asking for the full day, just cancel training that night, I promise it’ll be worth it.” He gave Wash his best big doe eyes, which were truly impressive, and he knew it. Not as good as Caboose’s , but still really fucking good.

After a long pause, Wash finally caved. “Fine, but this had better not be for something stupid,” he sighed.

As his boyfriend deleted the events from his schedule, Tucker grinned, “Dude, do you even know me? Of course it’s for something stupid.”

Tucker couldn’t help it, he was really fucking excited. It was about time the two of them had gone on an actual date. The last one had been in like, September or some stupid shit like that. And they’d only been dating since August, so really they had only ever done anything like, once. It was just a night in and all that, but it was still a lot more than they usually got by a long shot. Tucker was honestly surprised, he’d gotten Wash to ask off work, especially since the guy apparently had no idea it was Valentine’s Day. So not only were they gonna have a kickass date, it was going to be a surprise kickass date.

  *****

Wash absolutely knew it was Valentine’s Day. Tucker had all the subtlety of a cat in heat, for one. He didn’t know exactly what his boyfriend was planning, but he was definitely up to something. He was careful to be just resistant enough to cancelling training that Tucker would think it was going to be a surprise—he didn’t miss the way his boyfriend’s eyes lit up and he tried to hide a smile when he thought Wash didn’t know what Valentine’s Day was. But really, it would be nice to finally do something fun with him. And might as well give the troops the night off anyways, it’s not like they didn’t deserve it.

He almost forgot about the whole thing over the next couple of weeks, until the morning of the mission. It was a supply run to a warehouse only a few hours from Armonia, so there should be no complications. He just had to get it over with, and then he could see what Tucker had planned for the evening. Maybe he should buy flowers on his way back from debriefing. Tucker liked flowers, right? Who doesn’t like flowers?

 *****

Tucker had everything pretty much set up by the time the mission was supposed to be done, and took a step back to admire his work. Pretty fucking amazing, as usual. He was gonna get major fucking brownie points for this shit. Now if he could just pull off dinner, he’d be set.

He was so preoccupied he almost missed the quiet noise his datapad made, letting him know he’d gotten a message. Grinning, he picked it up, ready to read some kind of corny message from Wash letting him know he got back safely. Asshole always insisted they give each other status updates, which, hey if it made him happy…

It wasn’t from Wash, but Carolina. Slightly disappointed, he opened the message. ‘Captain Tucker, you’d better get to the infirmary. The warehouse wasn’t abandoned, and there was an attack…’

Blood running cold, Tucker didn’t really remember reading the rest of the message. He wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up at the infirmary doors, and he didn’t know exactly how long he’d been waiting, but it felt like an eternity. From what he’d gathered, they’d gotten all the way into the building before realizing that it was a setup. There were no casualties yet, but several were wounded, including Wash. Because of course he saw one of the lieutenants (Palomo, it was actually fucking Palomo) about to be killed and jumped in between him and the bullets. Like an asshole.

Tucker had truly come to hate the silence near the hospital wing after an attack. There were quiet murmurs, of course, and the usual shifting and clanking noises that accompany dozens of soldiers in power armor. Twice, someone walked out of the doors and the silence was shattered by as many people firing off questions at once as possible (Tucker among them) but they were only gathering supplies and wouldn’t answer questions about any of the patients. Tucker was pretty sure he saw Carolina, red team, and Caboose at some point, but he wasn’t really in the mood to talk so he kept his head low.

What seemed like hours and hours later, they finally started allowing visitors. Tucker made his way back to the curtained off area that was functioning as Wash’s hospital room. He sat down in the chair, breathing a sigh of relief when somewhat dim blue eyes met his own, “Hey Wash, what’s up?”

Wash snorted weakly, “Oh, you know. The usual.”

“I wish you were lying, dude. They got you on the good stuff, don’t they?”

“Yep,” Tucker wished his boyfriend wouldn’t sound so pleased with himself about it, at least.

“I heard you jumped in front of a bullet for the literal worst soldier ever.”

“Is Palomo okay? I remember him saying something, but…” Wash trailed off, probably not wanting to say something super dramatic because he knew it would piss Tucker off.

“Yeah, just as annoying as ever. Also, no one died, so. That’s good. Not for lack of trying on your part, apparently.”

The gray soldier actually looked guilty, “I ruined Valentine’s Day, didn’t I?”

Tucker blinked in surprise, “Shit, you knew that was today?”

“I’m not an idiot, Tucker.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” The joke fell short, but he tried for a smirk anyways.

“I’m sorry. I thought, you know, it would be nice. I know we don’t have a lot of time to do things, and—”

“Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there. You’ve seriously got to stop apologizing for stupid shit that isn’t your fault.”

“It’s kind of my fault.”

“Are you serious? Babe, no. Shut up. You’ve gotta stop being so hard on yourself.” He snorted, “Hard on. Bow chicka bow wow.”

“Tucker, listen. I know you’ve been planning this for two weeks, and I feel really bad. I wanted to be there for this.”

Tucker smiled, “You’re such a dumbass. I mean, you’re definitely not off the hook. We’re going on this stupid date whether you like it or not. But, I dunno,” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck with a wince, “It’s not really important. What’s important is that you’re more or less okay, and to be honest I really don’t give a shit about the rest.”

Wash had that sappy look on his face that made his stomach do flips, “Tucker, I… Thank you.”

Tucker rolled his eyes, “Okay, Agent Melodrama. Don’t make it weird.”

“I’m on drugs, I can do whatever I want.”

“That’s—I don’t think that’s right.”

“I am your superior officer, Captain Tucker, don’t tell me what is and isn’t right.”

Suddenly, all the pent up anxiety and tension from throughout the day melted off of Tucker, and he felt exhaustion hit him full force. He closed the small distance between them, carefully taking Wash’s hand in his own and leaning over to press his forehead onto the back of his hand. His throat was starting to close up, and he really didn’t want to start crying here and now.

Wash went to gently cup Tucker’s face with the hand he was holding. Or at least that seemed to be his intention, but he ended up flopping his hand into his boyfriend’s cheek, poking him in the eye and nearly sticking a finger up his nose simultaneously.

“Ow, what the fuck!?” the aqua soldier laughed, snorting a little.

“I…don’t have very good control over my hands.”

 And that did it. The tears were flowing, and Wash was looking very distressed.

“I didn’t hit you that hard, did I?”

“Oh, just shut up and scoot over.”

The two of them snuggled close together, and Wash’s breathing soon turned shallow. Tucker buried his face into his boyfriend’s shoulder and just laid there, listening to the sound of his breathing. It was nice, and warm. He never wanted to leave. Never wanted to let go. And he wasn’t going to. No matter what stupid bullshit this war, or anything else put them through, you could be damn well sure that they would at least always have each other.