Valentines Day (finished)

February 13th

{{Thank you to Lilly-Patrick on tumblr for the awesome doodle}}

"Okay," called Stephanie. "I want your honest opinion."

"Steph," complained Matt. "I thought you looked great in every dress you wore. We've gone through eighteen now. I don't know how going through another twelve will solve the fact that you look great in everything. It also won't solve the fact that you don't believe me when I tell you that you look great in everything."

"You didn't like the last one."

"I really liked the last one. I told you that you looked wonderful, and you did look wonderful."

"You weren't sincere about it."

"What do you mean I wasn't!?" Matthew cut short his surprisingly loud exclamation. "There's no winning with you, is there?"

"I just think this a really good dress. And I don't want to be told that it looks like a Bulbasaur threw up on a Charizard."

"I dis one dress and all of a sudden you're trying to please the queen. You do realize that you said that you really didn't care for that dress before you came out? And then the moment I agreed that the red and green did not complement each other you suddenly became defensive about a dress you didn't like in the first place."

"It's not about dress. It was your attitude toward dresses in general."

"My attitude!?" Matt cut himself off again. "Hurg," grumbled MatPat, lightly beating his head on one of the walls of a Walmart dressing room.

"Hey," yelled the stranger's voice from inside.

"Sorry," Matthew apologized, blushing a bit. He returned to his path that he was pacing in time to watch his wife exit the changing room.

Stephanie stepped out with the low cut ocean blue sparkling dress. "Well," she grinned hopefully.

Matt struggled to close his mouth. His simple wife had disappeared from in front of his eyes and was replaced by a goddess. The dress shimmered and contrasted her shimmering brown eyes. Stephanie's smile sparkled and her left arm crossed her body and helped her right hand hold her purse.

Steph shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Um, Matt," she egged on. "What do you think?"

Matt snapped out of his daze. "It's... uh... wow. It's amazing."

"Thanks." Stephanie walked around to try to get used to the feel of the dress. "I really like this. It's just a plain dress to the ankles that doesn't need to be split to show off my legs. It covers a decent amount so I don't have to be constantly pulling it up."

Matt slipped back into his lovestruck state. "Sure," he mindlessly agreed.

"Do you think any guys will be sizing me up if I wear this?"

Matt shook himself back into reality. Would it be sexual? He was too busy just noticing her beauty to even think about it being sexual. "Um, probably not. Is this the one you want?"

Steph shook her head. "Check the price tag."

Matt went over and picked the price tag off of her shoulder. Matt had the exact same reaction as he did when he first saw her wearing the green and red dress; a bit of physical illness and the flashing question of how soon could she change into something else. "So that's a no?" he asked, lightly dropping the tag.

"It's a no," she sighed, heading back into the room. "I just thought it'd be fun to see what it'd be like to wear it.

Matthew sighed and went back to pacing. This, was on September 5th.

*

Now it was February 13th, and Matt was browsing through the dress isle. "This does not help fight off people thinking I'm gay," he thought as he held up a dress that was clearly too small for him.

Matt hoped to get Steph something pretty. He didn't know if or when she'd ever use his gift, but he wanted to give her a dress. Then, as he was flicking through the rack, he found it. The dress that Stephanie had tried on last year. He was certain that it was the same dress. Well, maybe not the same dress, but the type for sure.

"What are you doing here?" he muttered to himself. Matthew turned the dress back and forth, making sure there wasn't a glaring rips or tears. "I like you," he personified. "You'll do well on her. She's gonna like to see you."

Matt looked up and caught the eyes of a man who was staring, wide-eyed, from a nearby rack. "It's for my wife," Matt defended, hoping that would make him seem less crazy. It seemed to work somewhat.

Matthew glanced at the price tag. The feelings began welling up again. Apparently there was little goodwill towards men at this Goodwill. It was fifty dollars now, which seemed like a bit much. Then again, he could afford the dress now.

Matt rushed to the check out and emptied out his wallet on the counter. The woman at the register raised an eyebrow at the forty dollars laying on the counter. Matt signaled a 'one sec' finger and ran out to the car. He scrounged around in the overhead-visor for a few seconds before running back inside with a wad of bills and coins.

He slowly counted out eight dollar bills. Then four quarters. One, two, three, four, five, six dimes, one nickel, and- Matt glared at the pile of pennies before beginning counting. He glared sadly at the thirty four pennies underneath. "Forty nine, ninety-nine," he mused, his hand landing glumly on the counter.

The saleswoman rolled her eyes and took a penny from the 'lucky' jar; a jar reserved for people who were short one one or two on pennies or dimes.

Matt sighed in relief, thanked her profusely, and raced home as fast as he could.

*

Matthew had set a timer. It was only ten seconds from when Stephanie got home and clearly saw her new dress on the table, to when she stormed into their living room. She opened her mouth to speak, but her man cut her short.

"Before you say anything," interrupted MatPat, "I bought it at a Goodwill."

Stephanie opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. Then she turned to leave, then she turned back to him with her hands on her hips, then she left. Then she returned into the room, put up her finger to say something, and promptly left again.

Matthew watched the little charade play out from the comfort of the easy-chair. When he saw Steph was continuing her charade, he was almost tempted to get popcorn. Finally, she left for a long enough time that Matt could consider her gone for good.

After a while of typing for this idea he had in his head called 'Game Theory,' Stephanie walked back in, wearing the dress. "How do I look?" she asked, examining the dress.

Matt set aside the computer and just let his eyes fall onto her. He stammered with his mouth for a bit, trying to find the right terms and words to say. "Perfect," he finally settled on. "You, my love, look perfect."