[personal profile] aragarna
Title: My Valentine
Author: [livejournal.com profile] aragarna
Genre: Gen, fluff. Safe for all
Pairing: Peter/El
Warnings: none
Summary: Peter and Elizabeth's first Valentine's Day.
Word count: ~1000
Author's Note: Many thanks to the awesome [livejournal.com profile] sholio for the beta. Title from Paul McCartney's song, My Valentine.



My Valentine

Valentine’s Day. Elizabeth had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, she liked the idea of celebrating love, but on the other it was nice only if you had a Valentine to celebrate with… She’d had a few Valentines over the years, but Valentine’s days had always seemed forced, unnatural, like you had to be in love that day. In the end, most of her Valentine’s days had been rather anticlimactic and disappointing, and Elizabeth had learned not to raise her expectations too much.
Her new Valentine was truly a very nice man, decent and smart, but flirting was definitely not his forte. So she wasn’t expecting this first Valentine’s Day with Peter to be any different than the others. But that was because they had been dating for only two and a half months, and Elizabeth didn’t know Peter completely, yet.

-----

“What do you want to do on Valentine’s Day?” he asked. They were walking in the street that night, coming out of a delicious restaurant that was way above both their pay grades, but he had insisted on inviting her nonetheless.
They were holding each other’s gloved hands, fingers intertwined. He stopped to look at her, giving her one of his warm and deep looks that made her melt inside.
She shrugged it off. “Oh we don’t have to do anything special, you know.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s not like we have to be in love on command. And it’s just a commercial thing invented by flower sellers…”
Peter tilted his head, a boyish grin on his lips, sparkles lighting his eyes. “Actually, it was initiated by the Romans, as the day to celebrate fertility.”
And they say cops are ignorant…
El laughed. “They were so romantic those Romans…”

-----

A few days later, as he was driving Elizabeth to work, Peter asked her again.
“You’re sure you don’t want to do anything on Valentine’s Day?”
She turned in her seat to look at him. He glanced at her sideways, visibly not at ease. She put her hand on his thigh.
“Peter, I’m sorry. If you want to do something, of course, we will.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just. It doesn’t matter. But –“ Elizabeth couldn’t help but think that even his ramblings were cute. Peter took a deep breath. “My sister told me that women say they don’t want anything special but then if you don’t do anything they’re disappointed. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
As they stopped at a red light, Peter turned to look at her, his puppy eyes crying for help.
“I’m not good that this, El. If you want something, just say it.”
El smiled. “Kiss me…”
A large smile appeared on Peter’s face before he diligently complied.
An angry honk informed them the light was green and they parted, giggling like teenagers.
Peter parked the car in front of the gallery.
“You do special things for me all the time. You take me to fancy restaurants that I like more than you do.”
“That’s not true.”
“Don’t deny, I noticed. And it’s really nice of you. You drive me to work when I stay over.”
Peter shrugged. “That’s not special, that’s basic good manners.”
A smiled appeared on the corner of El’s lips. “All I want for Valentine’s Day is you,” she said before putting a delicate kiss on Peter’s lips and hopping off the car.

-----

It was planned that this Tuesday night, she would stay at Peter’s place. Of course, unable to avoid the hundreds of ads and giant billboards, El couldn’t ignore that that Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. But Peter had stopped mentioning it, and she assumed it was settled that they wouldn’t do anything out of the ordinary.
Peter came to pick her up at the gallery right on time. He had made a habit of waiting for her outside the gallery, not wanting to disturb her at work, but pleased to walk her up to the car. He kissed her tenderly and she lingered a moment in his embrace.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, with a warm smile as they walked side by side to the car.
“Hi, honey.”
The new nickname made Peter chuckle. “Oh, so I’m honey, now?”
El laughed. “You’re sweet and soft. You’re a natural medicine. Besides, “darling” sounds too stiff-necked.”
“Does that make you my queen bee?”
“I guess…”

Peter held the passenger door for her, before getting in the car himself. He asked her about her day, and she asked him about his. El couldn’t help but wonder if he knew it was Valentine’s Day. Should she have greeted him with a “Happy Valentine’s Day”? Was he expecting something? After all his questions, it seemed weird not to even mention it at all. But he could also have said something. Maybe he had forgotten. Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, which was absolutely silly, since they had agreed it wasn’t anything special. But still, he could at least have mentioned it… El laughed at herself inwardly. Peter – well, Peter’s sister – was so right.

It was not until they stood on Peter’s threshold that El noticed his suspicious smile. He opened the door and stepped back to let her in. El’s mouth fell open. Peter had arranged his little dining table in the middle of the living room. It was all set already.
As El stood in the middle of the room, Peter lit 2 candles and put them on the table. A huge smile crossed his face as he looked back at El, obviously proud of his little effect.
“Nothing special, as you said. It is an ordinary table, laid with ordinary tableware, 2 very ordinary candles, for a very ordinary dinner.”
Back to her senses, El took out her coat.
“So, what’s the ordinary menu?” she asked.
“An ordinary pot-roast with potatoes, served with an ordinary red wine.”
Peter came closer and slid his arms around El’s waist, tugging her against his body, his chocolate eyes enveloping her with their warmth.
“Happy ordinary day, my very special little bee,” he whispered in her ear.
El put her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly.
“I love you, honey.”

FIN

Happy Valentine's Day to all the happy Valentines ! :-)




--

Date: 2013-02-14 04:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] treonb.livejournal.com
Very lovely story and Peter's so cute :-)

Date: 2013-02-14 04:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thanks ! :-) I love cute Peter. ;-)

Date: 2013-02-14 04:39 pm (UTC)
embroiderama: (White Collar - El & Peter)
From: [personal profile] embroiderama
This is absolutely adorable!

Date: 2013-02-14 04:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
:-) thanks !

Date: 2013-02-14 05:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ultracape.livejournal.com
That is so Peter and I loved, “My sister told me that women say they don’t want anything special but then if you don’t do anything they’re disappointed. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

It's not the day that's important to him, it's Elizabeth.

Date: 2013-02-14 07:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! :)

Date: 2013-02-14 06:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nieseryjna.livejournal.com
Lovely sweeties! And Peter dear Peter will do everything for El. Fantastic!

Date: 2013-02-14 07:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thanks ! And El will do everything for Peter ;-)

Date: 2013-02-14 06:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daria234.livejournal.com
So sweet - love it.

Date: 2013-02-14 07:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thanks ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-14 06:46 pm (UTC)
kanarek13: (yay!Peter)
From: [personal profile] kanarek13
Awww... this is beyond adorable and beautiful and SOOOOOOO Peter ♥ He makes every ordinary day special and every special day extra special just by being him ♥

Love this!

Date: 2013-02-14 07:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! There's definitely something special about Peter. He is such a sweet pie. :-)

Date: 2013-02-14 06:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] love-82.livejournal.com
Awww, this was so sweet. <3 A perfect Valentine's Day story. Thanks for sharing. :)

Date: 2013-02-14 07:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! Definitely a perfect day for a bit of Peter/El fluff. :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 01:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] calis-1st.livejournal.com
Awww, I love this! So perfectly Peter and Elizbeth. Thanks for posting.

Date: 2013-02-15 12:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! Glad you liked it. :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 01:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] scarym1.livejournal.com
Oh that was so sweet. Love how you wrote them. : )

Date: 2013-02-15 12:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thanks ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 02:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aqwt101.livejournal.com
Awww ♥ Peter is so adorable:)

Date: 2013-02-15 12:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thanks ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 05:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pooh-collector.livejournal.com
Awww! What a sweet Valentine's treat.

Thank you!

Date: 2013-02-15 12:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
you're very welcome ! Thank you for reading and commenting. :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 06:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pipilj.livejournal.com
Aww Peter. Loved that El noticed the little things that Peter did. Peter nervous after his sister advice was cute

Date: 2013-02-15 12:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 07:21 am (UTC)
sholio: Peter and Elizabeth from White Collar kissing (WhiteCollar-Peter El kiss)
From: [personal profile] sholio
I know I already said this when I beta'd, but this is so cute. <3 I love Peter's shy awkwardness.

Date: 2013-02-15 12:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 02:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nikhalden.livejournal.com
Oh! so sweet. I'd really like living a Valentine's Day like this..
Thank you for sharing. :)

Date: 2013-02-15 03:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
thank you ! :-)

Date: 2013-02-15 09:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dennih23.livejournal.com
Awwww - this is a wonderful Valentine's day story. Perfect, love how Peter wants to do something, but doesn't quite know what to do. Thanks for this little slice into the life of the Burke's :D

Date: 2013-02-16 01:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
you're very welcome. Thank you for your nice comment :-)

Date: 2013-02-16 08:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meeni (from livejournal.com)
so sweet..truly loved it

Date: 2013-03-05 10:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you ! :-)

Date: 2015-02-17 09:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverotter1951.livejournal.com
This is great with Peter keeping everything ordinary. His gestures show how much he treasures Elizabeth and makes her feel special.

Date: 2015-02-17 10:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! :) Glad you enjoyed it! :)

Date: 2015-02-22 08:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joy2190.livejournal.com
So glad you reposted this. I missed it first time round and am only just catching up on reading today. Such a perfectly romantic fic and the infamous pot roast makes its debut! Lovely...

Date: 2015-02-22 08:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aragarna.livejournal.com
Thank you!! :)

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