Valentine Tuesday

by Merry Amelie

Title: Valentine Tuesday
Author: Merry Amelie
Archive: MA only
Category: Alternate Reality, Qui/Obi, Romance, Series, Humor
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Our lads at work.

Series: Academic Arcadia -- # 186
A chronological list of the series with the URLs can be found under the header 'Academic Arcadia' at the Master Apprentice ML.

My MA story page is here.

Feedback: Is treasured at MerryAmelie@aol.com.
Disclaimer: Mr. Lucas owns everything Star Wars. I'm not making any money.

For
My beta team: Nerowill, Emila-Wan, and Carol
Mali Wane for posting
My former betas: Alex, Ula, and Padawan Sue

Find out more about the lads' love of Ghirardelli chocolate in A Continent Away.

Here are the Valentine Arcadias:

2004 -- Valentines by Design
2005 -- Valentine's Day at the Gardens
2006 -- A Newlywed Valentine's Day
2007 -- Valentine's Morning
2008 -- Valentine's Night
2009 -- Valentine's Cruise (my favorite)
2010 -- Valentine Woods
2011 -- Valentine Surprise

To Carol, Helen, and KatBear

Quinn walked into his empty office at Luke, the crisp light of a moonbeam shining through the window and illuminating his face in white fire.

It was a snowy February evening in Upstate New York, and he had just finished teaching his 300-level course on Henry James. While "The Turn of the Screw" was well-suited to Halloween, he could think of more appropriate texts to honor February 14th, Ian's puns on the title notwithstanding. Unfortunately, James had written none of them.

"What a way to celebrate Valentine's Day!" He smiled ruefully to himself as he turned on the lights and closed the blinds. Ian and he were hard at work again, just like last year. These weekday holidays were tough on romance.

He settled back in his chair, resolved to finish his lecture notes for tomorrow before Ian returned from his last class of the day. When he pulled open his desk drawer to get a textbook, he found something much better. There, tucked in the left corner, was a foil packet of Ghirardelli dark chocolate, his favorite.

Turning it over in his hand, Quinn saw a tiny blue Post-it sticking to the wrapper.

"Here's a little something to tide you over until I get back tonight." He could just hear Ian's voice, infused with teasing intimacy.

Quinn's face lit up as he realized the significance of the little treat. When they had traveled to San Francisco for his lecture on A.E. Housman, he shared a package of mint-filled chocolate morsels with his lad at the flagship store on Ghirardelli Square. It was one of the sweetest moments of their trip.

He popped it in his mouth, savoring both the chocolate and the memories of their working vacation. Just what he needed to plow through the rest of his prep. Of course, now he was curious to see if there were any more surprises waiting for him in his drawers. He snorted to himself as soon as he realized what Ian would make of that turn of phrase.

Sure enough, each drawer yielded its own treasure. A miniature Godiva box was next, with this saucy note on its golden lid in Ian's precise handwriting:

"The wise Lady sure had the right idea of attire, or lack thereof, especially on this day for lovers."

After reading this, Quinn drifted into a reverie of memories even better than their San Francisco trip -- visions of all the times Ian had stood naked in front of him, ready for a night of love and lovemaking. Luckily, there was another drawer to check, or his body would have responded to those images in a visceral way, best suited to their bedroom.

His hand, a bit sweaty now, pulled open the bottom drawer, which held a little white box of nonpareils. As he read Ian's words, he knew he should have expected the pun:

"You've always been nonpareil to me, my love."

He groaned, even though Ian wasn't there to hear it, and added the candy to his Lilliputian stack of confections. In a considerably better mood, he continued preparing for Wednesday and worked for about an hour and a half, until it suddenly occurred to him to check the bookshelves on the wall above his desk.

He chuckled to himself when he found a Dove dark chocolate -- its red foil perfect for the holiday -- resting atop his volume of Michelangelo's sonnets. Now he knew what the Horn of Plenty must be like. Every time he ate a piece of chocolate, he seemed to find another one to replace it.

He read Ian's note:

"I hope this "Dove"-tails with your evening plans."

Was it just Quinn, or were Ian's puns getting worse and worse? Of course, in the peculiar mathematics of puns, worse equated to better, or so Quinn liked to think.

Then he remembered that Doves also had their own inscriptions on the foil. 'What's one more piece of candy?' he thought as he chewed on his tidbit, while chewing over the printed message:

"Love grows in the giving."

He knew this to be true; almost nine years with his lad had taught him this lesson, more profound than any of his lectures.

One shelf was left to check and he stretched up to reach it, running his hand over the books carefully. There! Nestled between the covers of Plato's Symposium, he found a Perugina Baci waiting for him. Ian's Post-it served as its platform, with the words:

"A kiss to make you smile while you're waiting for mine."

And it did put a smile on his face as he opened the wrapper, inscribed, as well:

"One kiss is never enough."

'They got that right,' Quinn thought. Just as he was licking his lips after the hazelnut delights of the Baci, he heard the door creak open, announcing both Ian and the age of Taton Hall.

"Hey there, handsome." Dropping his briefcase on the desk, Ian came over to give Quinn a sweet kiss. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Quinn smiled against his husband's mouth. "Thank you, laddie. You've already made mine happier. I've found all of your gifts." He pointed to his little pile of candy.

"I can tell," said Ian, running his tongue over his lips to savor the taste of Quinn with a chocolate twist. "But don't be so sure you've found everything; our office has plenty of nooks and crannies for treats to hide in." Ian's eyes shone up at him, even though the moonlight had been replaced by lamps.

"Yes, indeed. Taton is certainly a dusty old place." Quinn laughed. If he knew his lad, he'd be lucky to find all of Ian's presents by Easter.

"Still hungry?" Ian teased.

"Always," said Quinn with quiet intensity.

Ian's eyes glowed at this declaration, then gleamed all the more when he saw a bit of chocolate at the corner of Quinn's lips. He licked it off with glee, quipping, "I see you've gone over to the Dark Side of the chocolate."

This time, Ian was there to hear Quinn's groan. He rewarded Quinn with another kiss, then Quinn reached up to place a Godiva starfish in his laddie's mouth.

Before accepting the candy, Ian nipped at his fingers playfully, evoking another groan. "Mmmmm!" He sighed contentedly when he finished it, moving behind Quinn's chair to give him a back massage. His deft fingers found every spot that had been aching for hours.

Quinn's happy rumble reverberated through the office. Ian continued to rub his back, and Quinn could tell he was grinning without seeing his face. Chocolate, kisses, and a back rub! And here he had assumed it would be a workaday Tuesday. After all of Ian's thoughtfulness, so characteristic of his lad, he was glad that he'd planned ahead and taken Ian out to dinner on Sunday night at Trandoshanian's, a favorite restaurant of theirs in Alder Run.

So they had managed to squeeze in dinner and dessert, after all, despite every obstacle. It just took a bit of Valentine magic, and, above all, love.