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Kyle walked as quickly as he could down the streets, wanting to get home as quickly as possible. The streets were crowded with hundreds of other people all wanting to get home just as quickly, although for a very different reason. They were rushing back from work to greet loved ones, and have Valentine's Day dinners or other romantic evenings. Kyle was rushing back so he wouldn't have to see those same couples acting all lovey-dovey.
He had never really seen the point to Valentine's Day – even with previous boyfriends he had preferred to downplay the day. But for the past five years he had been stuck alone on the 'holiday', which made the whole ridiculous day worse by throwing in his face what he didn't have. So he made a point of trying to avoid public places for his own peace of mind. Unfortunately when he had to work on February 14th, he had no choice in going outside.
This year had been worse than last. There was a beautiful new employee in the office, Josh, and he had fallen deeply in lust the first time he was introduced by their manager. Of course, the girls in the office all flocked to him immediately, since the man was a walking wet dream. Tall, probably a few inches over six feet, wavy chocolate brown hair and piercing green eyes, a smile that made you just want to smile back, complete with dimples of course, and the build of someone who spends their free time in a gym. After their introduction Kyle had felt like he should be checking for drool, and wasn't able to get up from his desk for a good half hour.
So it was no surprise when he had seen the man's desk covered with little gifts from probably every female co-worker, and most likely some of the males. He had been propositioned by a lot of their single co-workers as well during the past week, but he turned them all down, saying he already had his heart set on someone. Sure enough, there was a single red rose lying on his desk this morning, and the second he had read the note attached he had looked deliriously happy. Kyle had looked away, even though that had brought attention to his own dismally empty desk.
Not that he was surprised – he was boring and knew it. He had brown hair as well, but it would never be described as anything other than brown, and cut short to his head. His brown eyes were hidden behind his glasses – he had never been able to get used to sticking something in his eye to wear contacts – and his body was anything but athletic. Kyle made sure to eat a healthy enough diet that he wasn't chubby, but he also didn't have anything you could consider muscle. Overall, he was average and invisible.
Finally reaching his apartment, he kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto the couch. He'd worry about dinner later. There had to be something in the house he could make – nothing like advertising the fact he was alone on Valentine's by having takeout. After about half an hour of mindless TV, there was a knock on his door. Kyle looked up, surprised, as he barely got any visitors, and never any that he didn't know about beforehand. Getting up, he made his way to the door. Outside was a delivery man with a small brown box.
"Hi there! Delivery for you. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!" Kyle was handed the package, and the delivery box – he hadn't looked a day over twelve, even though logically Kyle knew he had to be at least eighteen – was walking back down the hallway towards the elevators. Looking down, he read the name on the box and groaned. He looked up, but the delivery boy was already out of sight. Joshua Carver. He looked over the rest of the box, but there was no return address. Sighing he closed the door and put the box on the counter. The right thing to do would be to go to Josh's apartment and give him the box; what he wanted to do was to just wait and give it to him tomorrow. Frowning in indecision, he stared at the box as if it would attack him.
Staring at it, he realized it wasn't taped shut. It was just a small box, about the same size a DVD would come in. He couldn't think of anything else that would fit in it, and curiosity got the better of him. Bloody hellI While he still could wait and give Josh the box tomorrow, it would ruin his night with whatever girl had sent him the rose, and while Kyle was horribly jealous of said girl, he just wasn't that mean. Inside the box were tickets to a sold out show at the theatre, good for, of course, tonight.
Grumbling to himself, he tugged his shoes back on and grabbed his wallet and keys. The trip was a fairly long one, as the address was on the other side of the city, and since it was still snowing out, Kyle decided to drive. Josh's apartment was nice, a little bit newer than his own, and much closer to everything. At least that meant Josh and his date wouldn't be late to their show because the delivery boy had screwed up. He still had no idea how they had managed such a ridiculous fuck up, since there wasn't a single part of their addresses that was the same, but he resigned himself that it was probably going to remain a mystery.
He knocked on the door, but instead of being able to drop the box and run, the door was already being opened. Josh was probably waiting for his date. He certainly looked like he was ready to go – he was dressed casually, but he still looked good. Kyle forgot for a minute why he was there as he really looked at the other man for the first time in months.
"Kyle?"
Josh saying his name snapped him out of staring, and he blushed. "Oh, um, here." He shoved the box at the other man, but wasn't able to make his escape before Josh had pulled him inside.
"Theatre tickets? Man, you must have been planning this for a while, this show sold out ages ago!"
Kyle blinked at him stupidly. "What?"
"The tickets – I was just saying that you had to have gotten them a while ago, especially such good seats. Unless...had you been planning to go with someone else?" Kyle was surprised to hear a hint of nervousness in his tone.
"I didn't...they were delivered to me by accident, I just came to drop them off so you wouldn't miss out on your date." No matter how much I wish I could go with you.
Now the other man looked confused also, as well as a little hurt. "Wait – you mean you didn't want to go with me? But what about the note this morning?"
Kyle quickly tried to think about anyone who could have been playing a practical joke on him, but couldn't think of anyone he knew that would be quite this mean. "I didn't give you a note this morning."
Josh frowned, walking into the other room. A minute later, he was back with note that had been on the rose on Josh's desk that morning. He handed it to Kyle.
Scanning the note, Kyle felt his eyebrows rise in shock. It was definitely his handwriting; if Kyle hadn't known for a fact he hadn't written this, he would have been fooled as well.
Josh,
I know I haven't spoken to you very often, but I would love if we could get to know each other better. Would you want to go on a date tonight after work? If so, just keep this rose, and I'll be at your apartment at 7.
Kyle
Kyle looked from the note to Josh for a few minutes, and as the minutes dragged by and he didn't say anything, Josh looked more and more miserable.
Shaking his head, Kyle handed the note back to Josh. "I swear – I didn't have anything to do with the rose, or the note, or the tickets. But if you really want to go with me, then I owe someone a huge thank you, because I never would have gotten the guts to say anything to you otherwise."
Josh stared at him for a minute, and then burst out laughing. Turning bright red, Kyle turned to bolt, but the other man grabbed him and pulled him back, leaning down to kiss him lightly.
"I've been watching you since I started, but you always acted so indifferent I was afraid to say anything. I didn't want to make things awkward at work. Getting that rose made me very happy, so the answer is yes, I want to go with you. BUT, the tickets are for 8, so we better move if we want to make it on time!"
Kyle grinned, and let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I didn't say anything because you were always surrounded by good looking women. I figured the chances of you being gay were slim, and the chances you would be interested in me even less likely."
Laughing, Josh dragged the smaller man towards the door, grabbing the tickets and his keys on the way. "Well, I am, to both, so let's go enjoy the night our mysterious friend set up for us, hmm?"
There was nothing Kyle wanted more, so he allowed himself to be pulled along.
Arm in arm, the two men exited the theatre. The show had been great, and they had decided to get coffee and desert afterwards so they could actually talk. They had been in constant contact the entire night. Kyle had never been happier.
Josh leaned down and gave Kyle another peck on the lips. "Thank you again for taking me on this wonderful date Kyle."
Kyle blushed, again, and turned back around to get their coats. The boy came back out and placed the coats on the counter. "Here you are sirs! Oh, and Kyle, you're very welcome."
He looked up and saw the same young blond that had delivered the package that afternoon. Kyle did a double take, and opened his mouth to say something, but the boy just gave him a wink and once again was away before he had a chance. Shrugging he grabbed the coats, handing Josh's to him. As he walked down the street with Josh, no longer envious of the happy couples, he decided maybe Valentine's Day wasn't quite as bad as he thought.