Work Text:
Kyle lugged himself to the door of his apartment. He hadn't been in there in a while because of his Green Lantern duties. Maybe it was the same as it was before, or it somehow changed while he was gone.
He opened the door and, lo and behold, it was the exact same as he had left it. His desk was white, with drawers on the bottom right of it. A sketchbook and a case for 24 copic markers laid on the desk, but were hidden by everything else. “Everything else” happened to be papers scattered everywhere, his painted commissions to be shipped, markers out of their compartments, and dried paint that he hadn’t cleaned off. It was a mess, but he didn’t have the time to clean it at the moment.
He walked to his desk and tried to collect the loose papers on it. He took a closer look at a figure drawing that he did of a ballerina sometime ago, grazing his fingers over the pencil marks. The proportions were off, the lines were shaky, the anatomy was definitely inaccurate. Saying that he drew that would make him wince in shame. He sighed, and crushed the papers in his palms, letting it fall down to the floor.
He took his sketchbook and went to the very back to fold a paper front and back on the dotted crease, then ripped out a page. The paper was mixed media, so it would hold onto his watercolour paint well. After checking to make sure he didn’t put anything on it, he sat down on his office chair. Taking the thick paper, he folded it on the long side to make it card-shaped.
He held out his left fist and created a reference image for himself. A bright, glowing manifestation of him and Jason, simply holding hands and lost in each others eyes. The image made him so happy. The ring was supposed to be used for spacewide emergencies, intergalactic wars, and celestial threats. And yet here he was, using it to draw a valentines day card for his boyfriend. But it was his ring, and he chose to do whatever he wanted with it. After taking a good look around the reference he made, he took a stray pencil from his desk and started sketching. More fighting crime outside of earth left him little time to draw (and to spend with Jason). When he started sketching, he found himself grabbing his eraser more every so often. Erasing the whole drawing and starting all over.
Finally, he drew a sketch that was good enough for him. He looked at his watch, and it was 3:13pm. Crap, his eyes widened. He had to be at Jason’s apartment by 6, so he inked and coloured everything quickly. It had been a while since they had seen each other. Kyle was as excited as he was nervous.
On the inside of the card, he scribbled in what he wanted to say.
Jason,
I know that I’ve been away for some time, but even if we are galaxies away, I will always think of you.
Love, Kyle
After writing it, Kyle realized that it was a bit... corny. But it was written in ink, and it was true and simple, so what was he to do?
With a few swipes of his eraser, he decided that the card was done. He looked at his watch, and time was still flying by. There was no way he wanted to leave Jason hanging, so he grabbed the card and sprinted out of his apartment door, almost forgetting to lock it.
~💘~
Procrastination seemed to be a common theme for Kyle on this day. First he forgot to make a card, and now he has forgotten to buy chocolates.
Kyle hustled through the aisles at Walmart, scrambling to find one dedicated to Valentines day, or chocolates, or anything at all related to gift giving and romance. Travelling through the galaxy was less confusing and frustrating than this. At least on different planets, there was some kind of excuse to not have similar stores. What excuse did earth have?
In the distance of aisle 8, he saw a pink and red display, and as a graphic designer, that colour combination could only mean one thing at this time of year. Perfect . He ran to the end of the aisle.
Suddenly, his phone started buzzing. He pulled it out of his pocket to see Jason calling him. “Hey, what’s up?” He answered. From the other side of the call, he could hear something sizzling. “I hope whatever you’re cooking is our Valentine's Day dinner and not a really late breakfast.”
Jason coughed loudly, and Kyle could hear it well from the other side of the call. “Ahem, when did you wake up today, Kyle?”
He paused. “12 pm...”
“Exactly.” Jason said. “I’m making spaghetti all'assassina. Just trying something new.”
Kyle skimmed the aisle for a good chocolate box, letting his fingers graze over the plastic packaging. “Oooh, fancy shmancy. If only I could be there to help.”
Jason laughed, “Absolutely no way.”
Still in the call, Kyle kept skimming the aisles. And after looking through the gelatin candies and cheap snacks, he found the perfect chocolates for Jason. It was in a red, heart shaped box, and the description said it had milk and dark chocolates, which were both their favourite types of chocolate.
“I'll be there in around 30 minutes.”
“Okay, bye, love you.”
“Love you, too.”
With that, he cut the call and hurried to the checkout.
~💘~
Eventually, Kyle got in line at the checkout stations. Though it wasn't even a real one, it was the self checkout, and he was still the 4th person in line. More people had the same idea as him than he realized. Darn , he thought. I should've come before this .
While in line, he looked over what he would give to Jason. The chocolates, the card, and an envelope for it.
He took a closer look at the card. Now, after spending time without it, he could see the details he missed. Immaculate shading, weird proportions, hearts to fill space because of his daft composition skills.
To Kyle, drawing wasn’t just a hobby, or a job, it was a part of him. He bit his lip, gripping the card tightly. There was no way he could give this.
He sighed, then strode towards the aisle with cards.
~💘~
Kyle knocked on Jason’s apartment door. Just as planned, he held the chocolates, which had the envelope taped to them, in the crook of his left arm. Everything was as he imagined, except for the card. On the other side of the door, he could hear footsteps rushing from one side to the other, and some kitchenware being moved. He felt awkward standing there for so long, so he started looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching him. Thankfully, there was no one.
Finally, Jason opened the door. He smiled. “Ky! I missed you!” He placed a quick kiss on Kyle’s forehead. Then, he bent down to see the chocolate box closer. “Dark chocolate, you really know your way into a man’s heart.”
“Hey, c'mon, it's not just dark chocolate. It has milk chocolate in there too. Y’know, the better kind?”
“I stand corrected.” Jason said sarcastically. “Oh, you made a card too? Sweet. Can I—” He took a closer look at it, then stared at the card blankly. He flipped to the back to see if there was anything, but there wasn’t.
Kyle’s heart sank. Did he expect to get a handmade card? Great, he just disappointed Jason in two ways.
“I was going to make one, but, y'know, work and all.” Kyle said, looking down and picking at the box's plastic packaging. Then he realized he forgot to even write something inside of the new card. If there was a trophy for most forgetful boyfriend, Kyle felt like he won it today.
Jason looked at Kyle solemnly. While he felt that he was being dishonest, he didn't want to pry. After all, it was just a card. And Kyle could tell that Jason probably knew that he was lying, since he was raised by the world’s greatest detective and all, and because they knew each other better than that. “I just—well. You sometimes do card illustrations for work, and I—”
“Kyle!” Suddenly, Dick was running down the hallway with an envelope in hand. He was wearing a blue and yellow vest and baseball cap, the same ones he saw the employees at the grocery store wearing. Kyle’s jaw dropped.
Jason leaned against his door with his head in his hand. He sighed. “What are you doing here, Dick?”
“I came to deliver something. Something Kyle meant to give to you…” He smirked towards Kyle and handed a pink envelope to him.
Kyle opened the flap with his thumb and took a peak inside. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that it was the card he made. But he had recycled it at the store— oh . He could probably guess what Dick did. Checked the security cams, saw Kyle there, and curiosity got the best of him (and the worst of Kyle).
Dick patted him on the back and whispered, “I don’t mean to pry, but you two should figure this out.” Then, he walked away with his hands behind his back, whistling a random song.
Jason looked down at the envelope, trying to figure out how to deal with the situation, “Is there something you want to tell me?”
Kyle sighed. He had to get the truth out now while it was still in front of him. “Ok, yeah, I lied. I did make you a card, but I really hated how it turned out, so I threw it away. Into recycling, of course, I know you care about the environment—”
“Can I see it?” Jason asked. Kyle stuttered, but reluctantly gave it to him.
With a steady hand, Jason carefully opened the envelope and took out the card. He traced his thumb over the erased pencil marks that were engraved in the paper itself.
He couldn’t tell what Jason was thinking. “I know, I know it’s not that good. The proportions are a little off, and on your body it looks like the light source—”
“Ky, shut up.” He looked up, “I hope you know I love this, and this is mine now.”
Wait, what? Kyle stared at him blankly. “You like it?”
“Of course I like it!” Jason said, with his eyes wide. “It’s us, it’s cute. I like the pose you drew, I like the way you drew my hair. And it just looks really damn good, obviously. I’m no artist, so I don’t know what your inner critic is like, but I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”
“You’re not serious.”
Jason nodded furiously. Even with that reassurance, Kyle replied with sorry eyes. Self-doubt still crept through. Jason sighed, then lifted the lantern’s chin to give him a soft kiss. He stared into his eyes, gripping his shoulders. “This card is lovely, Kyle, and I haven’t even opened it yet. Even if, and I mean if this card was badly drawn, I wouldn’t throw it away. I would still keep it on my desk and just stare at it all the time.”
“There’s no point.”
“Of course there’s a point. Because it's from you .”
Kyle felt his heart skip a beat.
“I'm sorry for lying to you.”
“It’s okay.” Jason smiled, then brought his hand up to caress Kyle’s cheek. He melted into the touch.
~💘~
The spagetti all'assassina was cooling down on the stove. Jason put on two mittens from the kitchen island, and took it off the heat. He walked toward his coffee table, which already had a coaster on it, and placed the pot onto it.
With the food set down, and Kyle looking through Jason's cupboards for bowls, Jason knelt down and looked through the drawer of DVD’s under his TV. Jason was very adamant about physical media, and hated juggling streaming services. If he didn’t have a DVD player, and if he didn’t watch the same stuff all the time, he would just pirate everything. It was just something Kyle had to deal with at his home. Apart from having to re-watch When Harry Met Sally a numerous amount of times. And it just so happened to be the DVD that Jason pulled out.
“Jay, no." Kyle said, closing a cupboard. "I love you, but there are other rom-coms that exist! Don't you also have Notting Hill?”
“I donated that one. It’s off to some other couple, probably,” he smirked.
Kyle sighed and shook his head, “We've watched this movie a million times.”
“And we'll watch it a million times more.” Jason said, turning on his DVD player.