Valentine ; ᶠᵗ ᴱʳⁱᵏ
Valentine's day, before C.E got home @mperik
It wasn’t a date.
It really wasn’t a date and he knew it, but, deep down he hoped that it was. It wasn’t a date, but the thought of spending such a socially meaningful day with him had something fluttering in his chest in such a peculiar way. It was all he could think about; what they’d eat, what they’d talk about, what he’d wear and what he’d bring… what he would do and what he would wear, what he’d think of him.
He caught himself right there. It was a foreign and familiar thought at the same time, coming slowly and all at once, caught in the wave of heat rushing to his face. How silly of him. It was no use trying to fight what he was sure was a raging blush, so he took a deep breath and finished his shift at the shop. The day had gone by incredibly fast and painfully slow at the same time, and the walk home turned out to be the same. His mind kept drifting and there was no erasing the excited grin he wore so proudly at the thought of spending time with his best friend.
They’d already spent countless days together before, but not a single minute felt boring. Maybe that was the magic of being friends.
He’d gotten home in record time and he wasted none of it. He showered, dried his hair (that was perhaps getting a bit too long, but he made no effort to cut it yet) and felt the crushing weight of picking the right outfit. It wasn’t a date so he didn’t want to be too dressed up, but he wanted to show he’d put in thought as well – it was a push and pull between his excitement and nervousness that had him take out half his closet in an attempt to figure it out.
It was too much in the end, and in an effort to not give up, he called the only person he could call in his time of need other than his best friend. “Just relax, glowstick! I know he’ll like anything you decide to wear.” Kaya’s familiar voice groaned from the other side of Carter’s phone as he held up options so she could help him decide. “That’s not the point here, worm.” He sighed and threw the shirt and jacket on his bed…where the rest of the clothing pile was. “Just wear something you love. I gotta go now, send me pictures~!” Maybe she was right? His eyes quickly shot to the time to make sure he wasn’t running late before digging through the mountain of clothes he’d built in a matter of minutes, looking for that one black, gray and white knit sweater he’s had for years and the comfiest pair of black trousers he owned. He looked like himself, and maybe that was enough.
Carter checked the time again and rushed to gather the things he’d gotten for their ~~date~~ meet up. It was useless to tell him gifts weren’t needed, that’s just who he was, and he’d thought about it for a long time. Most people were easy to get gifts for, but Erik was different; he knew what his best friend liked, sure, but this couldn’t be just any gift, this one had to be different. Meaningful. They’d been friends for so long, and he’d kept journals since before they’d met, so it was naturally the only choice, except this one was special.
As a token of friendship, of course.
Once that was safely tucked away in his bag, he grabbed his coat, the bottle of wine he’d gotten for the night and the single red camellia he’d gotten as an extra after Kaya had told him to the day before, triple checking everything before taking a deep breath and heading out. His stomach felt funny, ticklish almost and each step he took to Erik’s apartment felt cloud-like. The walk was thankfully short, and the way to his friend’s door even more so.
It was time.
With a deep breath, he managed to ring the doorbell and the smile that only came out when Erik was around appeared on his face once again.













