"Why am I still here?"

"To help me of course!"

The sound of clinking glasses and the mass talking over the soft music echoing through the room was now no longer a problem for the brunet after he downed several glasses of vodka down his gullet. A young woman with flaming red hair was sitting in the seat next to him, a still half-filled cocktail in her hand, crossing her arms boredly on the counter while watching the blue-eyed one complain.

"Tell me Fiona, you give a lot of love advice to a lot of people don't you, what could I possibly do to show Aesop how much I love him and that he means a lot to me!"

"I think he understands that enough considering all you do for him."

"But I still don't think it's enough!"

"You should give him some breathing room."

Eli grunted at his best friend's answer while swallowing his drink in one gulp for the umpteenth time. How many had he ingested since they'd walked into the bar? He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little tipsy now. He let his head rest against the cool wood of the counter to cool his mind, his gaze then going to a vase with pink roses in a corner of the room. He decided to count them one by one to clear his head a bit.

One, two, three... thirteen. He then suddenly stood up with banging fists, taking Fiona by surprise, who almost choked on her drink.

"I found it!"

"F-Found what...?"

"Roses!" he shouted.

"Again...?"

"What are you talking about again? I'm not going to give him a bunch of roses, that would be ridiculous."

"Glad to hear it-"

"I'm going to give him about fifty!"

"Wait what-"

He stood up hurriedly as he gathered his things, quickly putting his trench coat over his shoulders and throwing a bill for the tab before leaving for the stairs and walking out of the bar.

"Wait a second, are you aware that the stores are closed at this hour!?"

Unfortunately, the student was already gone by the time the young woman had uttered those words.

Several days passed after Eli had shared his plan with Fiona. Tonight, the dark-haired man had pretended to Aesop that he needed the keys to his apartment, supposedly because he had forgotten something there the last time he came. Not suspecting anything and having full confidence in his boyfriend, the gray-eyed male gave them to him without batting an eye. However, nothing could match the shock he had when he arrived home.

Everything was red, literally. Ribbons, balloons, confetti... But mostly, roses.

"What the-"

"Boo!"

The blue-eyed brunet appeared out of nowhere as he wrapped his arms around the other's waist to surprise him before stealing a kiss on his soft lips. The art student was not particularly surprised by the appearance of the latter but his attention was mainly on this strange decor and wave of red that had just invaded his living room. It looked like Cupid had taken up residence here. He removed his mask and placed it on the dresser before turning slightly to look at Eli who still wouldn't let go of him.

"Do you like it?"

"Well... It's very beautiful indeed but how many roses are there here...?"

"Exactly fifty!"

"Fifty..."

"Why? You don't like it...?"

The brown-haired man looked at him with an almost pouty face and Aesop couldn't bring himself to break the joy he was feeling at that moment.

"It's not that, but I was just thinking about how much cleaning there would be to do..."

"If that's all it is! I'll help you don't worry."

"Thanks."

"Well, maybe I should show you the real surprise now...?"

Aesop raised an eyebrow, a shiver running through him when he saw the sly smile displayed by the other. Heavens, that smile never announced anything good, in the way that he already knew he would have trouble getting up the next morning. Eli simply laughed at the reaction of the male and slowly drew him towards the room by holding his hands...