At the same time, Valentine's Day was bearing down on them like a red and pink-tinged avalanche. With so much metaphorical love in the air, Noah was forced to confront a hard truth he’d been dancing around for years.
Maybe he was never meant to be in romantic relationships.
Every Hallmark movie Aspen turned on and bouquet of flowers delivered to his coworker’s desks at work seemed to drive that point home deeper. Noah didn’t understand the appeal of “romance” and big romantic gestures. He knew what Aspen’s favorite flowers were, but he would much rather take them to a florist and let them pick out what they liked rather than try to surprise them at the salon. He didn’t know what Charlie’s favorite flowers were, but he knew what his favorite vegetable was. Anytime they went out to eat, Noah made sure to order an appetizer or a side of Brussels sprouts for the table. He received several sweet kisses for his efforts, which was lovely, but it still didn’t feel like the “romance” he saw on Valentine’sDay commercials and signs. That kind of over-the-top “love” felt completely made up to him.
But then again, as they all continued spending time together, Charlie and Aspen began to look at each other in ways that could be featured on movie posters. So…maybe romancewaslike that for some people. Just not for him.
On the other end of the scale was his brother’s wedding. If romance led to his brother and his fiancée having their beautiful baby, that was one thing. At Christmas, it had actually seemed like they might love each other. But their wedding was turning into a whole affair, where they would be frog-marched down the aisle, with no control over the decorations, guest list, or even the cake. Noah wanted absolutely nothing to do with that. He couldn’t imagine having to put on a fake show for his family and their friends.
His relationships might not be romantic, but they were better than anything his parents had ever tried to sell him on. He didn’t think a loving relationship should require him to fight to meet unreasonable expectations or constantly wonder if he was doing enough. The longer he spent with Charlie, Aspen and Rachel, the more he began to realize that love shouldn’t hurt or make him feel all knotted up inside.
Loving his friends was as easy as breathing.
“Are you sure it’s okay for Blair to hijack our Valentine’s Day?” Aspen asked for the third time that night.
Charlie was absently rubbing Aspen’s fuzzy-sock-clad foot where it rested in his lap. He’d been up front with them both that he really didn’t like naked feet, but as long as they were covered in socks, he gave excellent foot massages and seemed to appreciate the connection it brought. Or perhaps he liked the way Aspen would moan in pleasure…because Noah certainly liked it.
“It’s fine, pumpkin. I really appreciate her inviting me to the party. As long as I get to spend the evening with the two of you, I’m happy,” Charlie said.
His fingers stilled on Aspen’s feet and he leaned forward towards his flat screen TV, like maybe he could encourage the running back to move just a little bit faster. The living room fell silent as they all watched the ball fly right over his head. Charlie groaned, sinking back into the couch as the team he’d been rooting for officially lost the Super Bowl.
“I’m sorry, handsome,” Aspen crooned, as they pulled their feet back, only to flip around and crawl across the couch and into Charlie’s lap. They planted several conciliatory kisses all over Charlie’s face, before he hooked an arm under their legs and behind their shoulders and hefted them up.
Noah followed closely behind as Charlie carried Aspen up the stairs.
“And it’s okay with you, right, babe? I’m not ruining any romantic plans you had by dragging you both to Blair’s party?”
Noah scoffed. “I’ve never liked Valentine’s Day. Always feels like a lot of pressure just so big corporations can make money turning all their crap red and pink for a few weeks.”
Charlie snorted, and Aspen huffed. “You mean you don’t feel the need to fill my bedroom with smelly roses to overcompensate for the fact that you messed up my pronouns in front of all my friends?”
Noah didn’t need to look at Charlie to picture the way his face was probably scrunching up as he gently deposited Aspen on his bed. Aspen had begun dropping little tidbits about their marriage, slowly bringing Charlie up to speed with some of the shit they had to put up with from Ethan. Noah had actually been there for that particular one, and he’d had to bite his tongue throughout the whole uncomfortable dinner to not snap at Ethan for being so careless with Aspen’s feelings. He’d thenhelped Aspen clean out their bedroom the day after Valentine’s Day, airing out the room to remove the smell of one of their least favorite flowers.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, pumpkin. I’ve never cared for Valentine’s Day much either, and—” he turned to look at Noah. “You had a bit of a rough time of it as well, if I remember?”
Dozens of failed Valentine’s gifts, overly expensive meals, and stressful dates came to mind. “I’m not sure if you’re referring to the time my boyfriend yelled at me in the middle of a restaurant for not loving him the way he wanted to be loved, or the time my partner pulled up their very active dating app in front of me because they didn’t like the chocolate I bought for them, but…yeah. Not really my favorite holiday.”
Neither Aspen nor Charlie had ever given any indication they wanted more romance from him, so for the most part, he’d been trying to ignore all the noise around the holiday…and the never-ending notifications from his mother. He had a string of angry texts from her on his phone right now, demanding to know whether he and Aspen were a couple.
They were still planning to have the trial relationship conversation soon, so he very well may have an answer for her before the wedding, but fat chance he was going to give it to her. Aspen had promised six ways from Sunday that they would be going, no matter what relationship title or status they decided on.
Aspen made grabby hands at Charlie, and when he took their hand, Aspen then flapped their hand at Noah. Both men allowed themselves to be pulled down onto the bed and nearly squeezed to death.
“I don’t need some stupid holiday to tell me that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been,” Aspen said, smacking a wet kiss on first Noah and then Charlie’s cheeks.
“I’m actually rather grateful to Blair for removing the pressure, and it will be nice to meet Rachel in a less formal setting,” Charlie said.
Rachel had been nearly bubbling over with excitement when Aspen and Noah told her they would be coming to the party with Charlie. She claimed she was eager to get to know him, but Noah was pretty sure he’d seen her eyeing the shelter dogs more than casually. There might also be a chance she wanted to talk to him about adoption.
“Blair’s parties are really fun! I always meet a bunch of new people. I think Evan—the guy who moved out in January—is bringing his boyfriend and two friends. I would totally have roped James and Leon into coming as well, but it’s also their first Valentine’s Day together, and unlike us, they seemed a bit…”
Aspen trailed off, and Noah used that time to worm a hand under their shirt. Their skin was luxuriously warm, and he settled his hand on their mid-back, right below the hem of their binder. Charlie threaded his large, calloused hand up the back of Noah’s shirt, and he sighed. “I think they’re a bit…keyed up?” Noah offered.
Charlie snorted. “Gordy simple? They sound stupidly in love. Emphasis on the stupid.”
Unfortunately, that was a very accurate assessment of the situation. James was incredibly anxious about this “super-secret romantic gift” he was making for Leon. Of course, it wasn’t that much of a secret, given he’d texted both Aspen and Noah about it–which meant Charlie, Rachel, and Blair had heard about it, too. Noah swore he was in more group chats than he knew what to do with. Charlie had been put into one with Rachel and Blair to coordinate for Valentine’s Day, and Noah suspected Charlie was going to exit it as soon as the party was done, but thus far, he’d been a good sport about the constant notifications.
Noah was also in one with Leon, James, and Aspen, which is where plans were formed that week for Aspen and Leon to very conveniently go on an adventure the night before Valentine’s Day so Noah could help James with his gift.
