The flying cupids are the final straw. Michael has tolerated the sparkling hearts and smelly flowers that cover the desks of his co-workers. He hasn’t even sneered, too much, at the boxes of chocolates and simpering that accompanies each offer for him to try one because they’re ‘so delicious’. But when he steps off the lift and finds a swarm of tiny cupids flying around his head, he’s had enough.
He loathes Valentine’s Day. It’s a ridiculous commercialized holiday that Muggles invented to sell products that people should buy year round if they actually are involved in a romantic relationship and not just one day a year as that’s all that is required to satisfy a partner. When he was younger and so naïve it makes him cringe just to remember it, he might have appreciated the thought of celebrating love. He isn’t naïve anymore, and he knows that love is a horrible painful thing that leaves a heart broken, not sparkling.
“Get away from me.” Michael swats at the blasted cupids, already planning some form of revenge against George Weasley for creating the horrid things in the first place. He knew he should have just stayed home today, but he has a report due by five, and he isn’t a coward, damn it. Ravenclaws can face the things they hate just as well as anyone, thank you very much, and he’s not going to let Valentine’s Day best him.
It’s the sound of soft laughter that makes him stop swatting and focuses his anger on a new target. Dennis Creevey is leaning against the wall watching him as if he’s a new show on the telly, which just frustrates Michael even more. He realizes he must look ridiculous standing in the hallway cursing at flying cupids and swatting them as if they were flies. While he dislikes appearing anything but professional and competent at work under normal circumstances, he loathes appearing such in front of Dennis Creevey, in particular.
“They seem to fancy you,” Dennis says, smirking as he pushes that floppy hair out of his face. Michael loathes that floppy hair, too. He especially dislikes the way it covers Dennis’ right eye and makes his fingers itch to push it out of the way. The last time his fingers felt so twitchy, he’d been foolish enough to let Terry into his heart. He’d learned his lesson after that, of course.
“They’re a nuisance. George Weasley is a menace to decent society.” Michael actually likes George, despite his disapproval of flying cupids. Flying cupids that he is only just now realizing are singing. He blinks as one flies too close to his ear and he hears a low whiny voice singing about ‘getting it on’. “Bloody hell. They’re obscene.”
Dennis laughs, which distracts Michael enough to allow the little fiends to land on his shoulders and sing even louder. “I think it’s romantic. Love isn’t obscene, Mike.” Dennis straightens up and pushes himself off the wall so he can step closer.
“Michael,” he corrects, more out of habit than anything else since he knows Dennis refuses to call him anything but Mike and hasn’t listened to the correction in the sixteen months that they’ve worked together. Still, he has to try because Mike isn’t a nickname he wants anyone else to use. Not that he wants Dennis to use it, either, even if he does say it in a way that’s almost...affectionate.
“Mike.” Dennis smiles as he stops in front of Michael and leans down closer to hear the singing cupids. Their eyes meet, and Michael feels an odd twisting in his belly when Dennis softly sings along with the chorus. He’s about to speak when Dennis puts his fingers against Michael’s lips. “He never deserved you,” Dennis says quietly, running his finger across Michael’s top lip. “Not everyone’s like him, you know? Maybe it’s time you took a chance on someone else.”
“What?” Michael isn’t proud of the squeak that he makes when Dennis moves even closer.
“Just so we’re clear and on the same page, I mean someone like me,” Dennis tells him before there are lips replacing the fingers. Michael tenses at the unexpected action, his brain still trying to catch up even as his body is leaning forward and his lips are parting. There’s a slight buzzing noise in his ears and he can hear whiny cupids singing about love, but Michael finds that he doesn’t care so much right now. Not with Dennis kissing him and warm hands on his back holding him in a way that indicates he’s not going to be discarded so easily this time. He might not be a Gryffindor, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be brave. Without giving himself time to think about it, Michael reaches up to tangle his fingers in that floppy hair and kisses back.
End
Someone Like Me
Story Notes:
3/11/12