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It was almost midnight on Valentine's Day and James was sitting alone in a bar, wallowing and drinking away his sorrows. He never liked Valentine's Day, seeing it as a marketing scheme to get people to spend a ridiculous amount of money on flowers that would eventually die, and chocolates that would either be eaten and gone in about a day or would just get thrown out.
'Though it would be nice,' He thought. 'To have someone to spend it with.' But he would never admit it.
He sat at the counter for a few minutes in silence, until he heard someone sit next to him. He turned his head and flinched when he saw who it was.
"D-deputy," He said, surprised that it was him of all people.
"Hi, James," Dan said, a hint of pity in his voice.
"I thought you were with Abigail," He said, his voice quiet, barely above a whisper as if he were talking to himself.
"Abigail?" Dan repeated. "I thought you would be her 'Valentine'," James said. Dan could hear the air quotes around 'Valentine' he knew James thought it was stupid, but the question he had on his mind would probably be even stupider.
"What no, I-" he stammered after he realized he left James in silence. "Isn't there someone you'd like to ask?" He said, attempting to change the subject.
James shook his head and sighed. "Guess we're both alone," He said.
Dan glanced at the small clock on the wall, it was almost midnight. 'Now or never," He thought.
"Well I know, it's almost over but..." He paused considering his words. "Would you like to be my Valentine?"
James' eyes widened at the question, and blush crept on his face, but he managed to stay calm.
He smiled. "How romantic," he said sarcastically.
"Yeah it was kind of stupi-" "I would love to be your Valentine," James mumbled.
Dan blushed. "R-really?" He cleared his throat. "Right. Cool." "Cool." James repeated.
They sat in silence for a bit until James reached out and gently held Dan's hand.
Dan's face flushed and he looked over to James, who was covering his face with his free hand to hide his blush. Dan laughed and lightly squeezed James' hand.
"I'm so glad you asked," James said, breaking the silence. "I've been trying to think of how I could all day." Dan startled at James' words. "You were trying to ask me?" He asked.
James sighed. "Well, of course, I was, but you were always around Abigail, I thought..." He trailed off.
"I thought...you would try to ask out Abigail," Dan said. James seemed to visibly cringe at the words.
Dan sighed a huge breath of relief and seemed to relax.
"Deputy," James said in an assuring voice. "I wanted to ask you and only you."
Dan fell sideways and leaned his head on James' shoulder.
"If you cared about asking me that much..." Dan started. "Maybe you could drop the 'Deputy' part?" Dan asked. James smiled as he leaned his head against Dan's.
"Sure thing, Daniel."
"That might be worse," Dan decided.
James turned his head and looked at Dan, a puppy-like expression on Dan's face, James couldn't help but smile as he looked at him.
"Would 'Deputy' be better?" He asked sincerely.
Dan sighed. "No, Daniel's fine."
James kissed Dan's forehead and went back to leaning on him. "Happy Valentine's Day, Daniel."