Valentines Day (finished)

Februrary 8th

While he was buying chocolates, Matthew grabbed a bag of popcorn. That was February 3rd. Now, it was February 8th. Matthew stared at their microwave. The light was on and the center was turning. Way. Too. Slowly. "Pop!" came the noise from within the microwave.

"Finally," groaned Matthew, going over to cue up the movie. The microwave, though, decided that one was enough and promptly took a nap. So, when Matt returned with the ringing alarm that signified that the item was cooked, he found that the one pop that the popcorn had given him was out of pity more than anything else.

It's said that a watched pot never boils. At the same time, an unwatched pot boils over. Apparently, the man discovered, this pot needed a frickin' cheerleader squad to boil. Thus, Matthew spent his next few hours acting like a madman, cuing up the movie, and poking his head into the kitchen to make the popcorn let out two measly pops.

At this rate, he was fairly certain the popcorn kernels would be burned before they even popped. He had deduced that either they needed a new microwave, or the popcorn was so stale it was physically making it impossible to pop. He decided on the second one, being as they couldn't afford a new microwave.

Finally, the bag looked ready. He opened up the microwave door, reached in, and promptly burned his hand on bag inside. Matthew placed his finger in his mouth to help fight off the pain, but that was worse. Apparently, the popcorn wasn't content burning him once. It felt that burning was so great the first time around, it burned his tongue too.

So, Matt spent a good long while putting cold water on his finger and in his mouth. This was the scene that Stephanie walked home to. A man desperately switching his hand between the faucet, his hand between his mouth, his mouth between the faucet, his mouth between a cup of water, his finger in a cup of water, his finger and his mouth under the faucet, and finishing by rubbing his finger softly.

"So how did your day go," began Stephanie, first revealing her presence.

Matt jumped a bit in surprise. "It... was... painful?"

"Really?"

"Yes. I burned my finger and my tongue."

Stephanie's motherly instinct kicked in and rushed to her husband's side to see his wound. She was relieved find that it was only a first degree burn. It'd fade in one or two days. Stephanie picked up his finger and played with it. "Oh no," she cried in a little finger voice, "I have been burned. Whatever shall I do? If only I had a faucet. Oh, my kingdom for a faucet!"

Matthew laughed at his wife's shenanigans. "It's okay little finger," he reassured, forgetting a bit that it was his wife who was controlling it. "I've washed you off."

Stephanie giggled at his response. She pressed the finger up to her lips and gave her a kiss. "Does it feel better?" she asked.

"Loads," he answered. "Um, did I mention that I burned my tongue?"

Stephanie snickered and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well I guess I'll just have to kiss that one better, too." She leaned up and landed into a kiss with him. She playfully slid her tongue atop his tongue to simulate petting the wound.

Stephanie sighed as she pulled away from him. "Is it better?"

"I think so," Matt joked. "Maybe you should check back with it later."

"I'll make sure to do that. By the way what did you burn yourself on."

Matthew pointed defeated towards the microwave. Stephanie walked over to the bag and examined it. "You do realize the power's down on this, right?"

"It was working just fine." The job hunter thought for a moment. "Actually, it was running just fine a moment ago. Working is a bit of a stretch."

"No," explained Stephanie. "As in the wattage is set to a lower level. It takes everything longer cook on this. I did it to conserve electricity."

Matt's face went as deadpan as a stone. "You mean, I've been cooking, with a half powered machine?"

"Quarter powered machine," she corrected.

Matthew glared at the machine with dead defeated eyes. "No wonder it took so long to pop," he finally let out.

Steph burst out into laughter.

Matt adopted the look of a kicked puppy. "And that's why I burned myself. It had been absorbing way too much heat."

Steph laughed harder and gave him a hug. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you didn't just use the popcorn button," she managed out between hiccups of laughter.

"There's a popcorn button?" he hollered.

She marched over to the machine and pointed out the button that read "Popcorn." Matt sighed and covered is eyes. "I was looking all over for that button but couldn't find it."

"It gets better," giggled Stephanie, who was keeled over with laughter. "If you press the popcorn button, it goes back to the normal wattage and would've popped it in the normal amount of time."

Matthew peaced out faster than a controller in a raging gamer's hands. He wandered straight into the bedroom and flopped on their stripped bed.

Stephanie laughed and followed her husband into the next room. Her laughter managed to die down when she saw the empty bed. "Hon, what happened to the bed?" she asked, still coming down from her laughter.

Matt popped up at the mention of something that he did correctly. "I can't tell you, I have to show you. Grab the popcorn and meet me in the living room." He ran into the living room and finished cuing up the movie on their tiny television.

Steph nervously picked up and opened the steaming package of popcorn. She gasped as she saw the pillow fort when she walked in. "What do you think?" asked Matt, emerging from the pillow fort, who's set up was being benefited by two rocking chairs pushed together.

"Is this for Valentines day?"

"The eighth and of fourteen."

Stephanie rushed up to him and gave him a huge hug. "Do you think I could check your tongue again?" she teased.

Matt went in for the kiss and gladly accepted when Stephanie slipped into his mouth. He hummed into the kiss and wrapped his arms around her. He slowly lowered them down to the ground and snuggled into the pillow fort.

Steph let herself be lead, kiss-first, into the little enclave that Matt had made. She pulled from the kiss and rubbed her hair against his forehead. Matt pulled open the popcorn and set it between them. The pressed play, smiling at the small squeal from the woman on his right. He knew she recognized Pride and Prejudice. They cuddled up with each other, and between one little interruption by Skip(who wanted to get in on the fun), they just enjoyed each other's company.

*

The hand grab was inevitable. There was only one small slot for them to grab popcorn (they didn't put it a bowl in fear of Skip choking on some), and as more of the popcorn was eaten, they had to dig farther down the bag. It was only a matter of time before their hands met.

Luckily, they only found each other when the popcorn ran out. Matt tried to take her hand, but Stephanie resisted. "Your hands are all buttery," she argued.

"So are yours," he argued.

Sighing, she let their fingers intertwine. Their heads rested on each other as they continued watching the show. During the proposal Stephanie squeezed his hand hard and clutched his shoulder. Matthew let his cheek push up to hers as the scene progressed[Guess who's never seen P&P]. His lips lazily drifted down to hers.

Stephanie gladly accepted and deepened the kiss. They allowed themselves to be absorbed by their love and completely missed their kitten's activities. Skip licked their fingers clean and had a wonderful feast in the empty popcorn bag; until the Patricks finally had the sense to pull him out.

"You taste like popcorn and butter," giggled Stephanie as they separated.

"It felt too good to pay attention to flavor. Then again, you only had the same thing as I did. Maybe you taste the same. Mind if I try again to find again?"

They kissed all throughout the credits.