After Lover for Pay: ONESHOTS

Valentine's Day Special - (H&D)

Henry hated Valentine's Day, and though that was probably because he'd never had a reason to "celebrate" or even someone to "celebrate" with while he was growing up, just the idea of buying boxes of chocolates that weren't even that good to begin with, giant teddy bears, flowers, and all the other bullshit that followed such a tedious holiday, all of it seemed so unnecessary. Hell, Henry was more than sure more than ninety percent of people don't even know the reason for the holiday or the old Roman traditions that started the whole thing. Then again, passing out cavity inducing candy, scented roses, and cotton stuffed animals was probably better than having ones name pulled from an urn, only to be paired with a stranger and touched by a goat's sacrificial hide by priests for promises of fertility. Yeah, it was weird back then.

But, this would be Henry's first time in twenty-one years celebrating the holiday he once thought to be the stupidest thing in all celebratory situations. He wanted this day to be special for both him and Daniel, and with the whole schedule ready in his head, the only thing he was waiting for was sunrise.

Valentine's Day had fallen on a Friday this year, and he couldn't be more satisfied with that. Neither he nor Daniel had school classes today, although he did have a project due the coming Monday, something like this just seemed way more important...which was probably a bad thing but...anyways.

All week long he'd been stressing about what they were going to do together, wanting to be the one to plan out the day since he oddly felt like it was his duty to do so. Henry bugged London and Marbell on and on about what was romantic enough for a day like this, what he should avoid doing, what he should get the other boy, and while London had spent most of his time mocking him about the whole thing, Marbell was nice enough to give Henry a little advice on how to be romantic without coming off as someone who was trying too hard.

Deciding to get a head start on getting ready, Henry rose up out of bed and went to the bathroom down the hall. Since it was Friday, Ben and Joyce were at school already, likely passing out their cards and lollipops and receiving the same in return from their other classmates. He could hear London downstairs before entering the bathroom, Ozzy's murmuring as he spoke to his father.

Henry closed the door behind him and turned on the warm water, stripping from his boxers and stepped into the shower. He washed off his body and lathered soap into his black hair. As he ran the washcloth across his chest, Henry looked down at himself, always wondering where exactly this type of body came from. He didn't think he was the strongest, most fit guy in the world, especially since he spent a lot of his time eating like a madman and not being active, but he did have minor muscular indentions. Certainly he wasn't nearly as strong physically as his brother. London worked out from time to time, and that was a mild statement. When London did hit the gym a few days out of each week, he didn't play around. He was certainly the fittest person out of him and Marbell, that's for sure, and with the more and more tattoos he's got over the years, like the facial canvas that covered his entire abdomen, the intricate mandala-like designs on the side of his head, and even one on the palm of his hand, Henry wasn't going to lie...he was kind of jealous of his brother's good looks. It's like they just came naturally to him.

After rinsing the soap out his hair, Henry made a promise to himself to get a haircut sometime soon. Even though he often got compliments about it and he didn't mind the way it looked, having to tame it every morning was becoming a hassle. Wrapping the towel around his waist after drying his dark mane, Henry went back into his bedroom and turned on the television and popped in one of his favorite 3D anime movies.

Dropping the towel, he grabbed a pair of fresh boxers from his dresser and pulled them on, and from his closest he took out black slim fit jeans and an ironic black shirt that had 'Loveless' across the chest in jagged lettering. Given it was pretty chilly outside, he also took out one of his favorite jackets that Marbell had gotten him the year before for his birthday. It was a basil green jacket with black leather sleeves. The interior for the sleeves wasn't the warmest material for the tottering weather patterns that came with winters in Texas, but since it was going to be warming up a little during the afternoon, the need for a heavier coat wasn't essential.