Damien Carmichael leads a double life. By day he's a high school senior at an elite prep school, just trying to get through his last year without any trouble. He has a girlfriend and up until this year, he was the star player of the lacrosse team.
...
February was fast approaching, and with it, Valentine's Day. Oliver was determined to make it special for Damien. "It's our first Valentine's together," he had told Carrie, three days before the start of the month, while the two were at lunch. Damien was tucked away in the library, writing. He had spent the better part of the last few weeks since they had returned to Westlake there. "It has to be special. It has to be spectacular!"
Carrie snorted, "You'll forgive me if I gag at your romantic efforts," she teased.
Oliver frowned, "This is serious! I want to do something really romantic for Damien. But not like, flowers that's too obvious. Damien has done so much for me, and he's really made me so incredibly happy, I want to pass that on."
"His ass that good?" Carrie asked flippantly.
"Phenomenal, but you're missing the point," Oliver said.
"I say propose. Lock that shit down before other guys start to realize and try to snatch him up." Oliver rolled his eyes, rather hoping she was kidding. It wasn't that he didn't want to marry Damien, eventually, but he wasn't even sure Damien would want to be engaged this young.
"Don't you think that's a bit much?" he asked.
"You've read his fanfiction, how many times do Adam and Claudius get engaged at our age?"
"That's different," Oliver argued.
"How?" she asked, eyeing him across the lunch table.
"They're fictional for one," he said. "Besides, what if he doesn't want to be engaged? It just seems kind of soon." he didn't even know why he was arguing it, or whether or not he was trying to convince himself or Carrie. He knew he didn't want to be with anyone else. Sure, Damien was a lot, and he was difficult at the best of times, but Oliver loved him. More than he had ever loved anyone before, and the way he saw it, he couldn't imagine his life with anyone else. So why did an engagement feel so intimidating? A small voice in his head answered quickly, you're not good enough for him.
"You know what he likes by now," Carrie said knocking him out of his thoughts. "You both love the Wisher trilogy, maybe surprise him by taking him to a Jacqueline Roberts book signing at Waterstones. I hear she has one in June." Oliver considered this, Jacqueline had been something of a controversial figure as of late, and Oliver wasn't entirely sure Damien would even want to support that.
"No, too much drama. Besides waiting till June isn't exactly Valentine's is it? It has to be something now. Something special, and meaningful and memorable."
Carrie merely huffed, "Well look I don't know what you want to do. It sounds to me like you have a plan somewhere, just figure it out. I'm sure it'll be great. And anyway, he's arse over tits for you, so you wouldn't have to do anything and he'd be thrilled."
At this, Oliver chuckled, "He's what?"
"Fuck off. You know what I mean. He's madly in love, you could just do what you always do and fuck his brains out and he'd be thrilled."
"That's... I mean that's not not apart of the plan, but that's not exactly romantic."
Carrie merely shrugged. "You're overthinking it. Sure he's extravagant and he likes extravagant shit, but he doesn't expect it from you."
"Why, because I can't give that to him?" he snapped.
Carrie gave him a look, "Oliver you know that's not what I mean. Damien doesn't expect it from you because he never expects it from people he dates. When he was dating Maddie, who by the way could afford anything, he never expected her to get him anything."
"That's different."
"Why? Because she's a girl, and girls aren't supposed to shower their boyfriend with gifts?"
"I..." Oliver blinked. "Look the point is, Damien may like fancy things, but when it comes to love, he's actually pretty simple. He just wants to feel special like anyone else. So don't feel you have to impress him, because quite frankly, I'm fairly certain he's impressed enough already."
Oliver blushed. "What about a scavenger hunt of sorts?" he suggested.
"A scavenger hunt?" Carrie repeated incredulously.
"Yeah, you know. I could give him little hints of where to go to find the next clue hidden around important spots around Westlake, and then meet him for a private dinner by the lake with flowers and maybe candles, and chocolate. Just very romantic."
Carrie eyed him, there was still snow on the ground which meant eating by the frozen lake would be tricky at best, and probably uncomfortable at worst, but the sentiment was there. Oliver would have to contact his friend to get him a bottle of wine. Something expensive just for Damien, he thought. Carrie's silence was, as far as Oliver was concerned, a tacit endorsement of his plan.
For the remainder of the week, Oliver mapped out exactly where he wanted everything to be, planning each note and clue, carefully as he could. He wanted them to be clever, and just this side of difficult, but not so difficult as to keep Damien from actually finding him in the end. He grinned excitedly, setting his Valentine's Day plan into motion. He just hoped Damien would appreciate the effort as much as Oliver thought he would.
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