It's a minute before Artie can do anything other than just--look. He's stunned speechless for a few seconds by the sight of Tina in-without a dress on. He closes his eyes so that he can think before he does anything and then leans in to kiss along Tina's shoulder and then down her arm. He's almost reached Uncharted Territory, but Tina's phone vibrates from the counter and it manages to cut through the haze of lust surrounding them.

Tina groans in disappointment makes a face at Artie. "Can I ignore it?" She buries herself in his chest, knowing that the moment has been effectively broken. "Make it stop ringing."

He smiles and rubs her back. "Sorry, Tee. But you might go check it anyway. Maybe we can try this again later?" He shifts. "I can go turn it off. I'll go do that while you--um. Here Want my shirt?" He offers the white button down hopefully.

"Nah, it's okay, I'll get it." Tina accepts she dress shirt with a grateful smile, and she moves from the sofa. "It's probably Mercedes and if I don't help her now, she'll threaten to murder me in my sleep later. She actually has a date tonight for Valentine's and I told her to text me if she needed anything." She gives a shrug in apology before crossing the room to grab her phone from an end table. "I thought Kurt promised me he had it under control," she muttered, mostly to herself, as she replied to the message.

"I know I say this every time you wear them, but I really like the way you look in my clothes," Artie says conversationally. "Mercedes has a date?"

"I like wearing your clothes, so I'm glad we're in agreement." Tina glances up from her phone. "Yeah, with some guy she met in her church's choir. But why is she texting me about what shoes to wear?" Tina points to her clunky black shoes near the sofa. "She must be really nervous."

"Doesn't she have Kurt for that?" Artie asks, confused. "They're best friends, aren't they? And I love your style, but I don't know that it would go over well for Mercedes on Valentine's Day."

"I know." Tina grins up at him. "That's why I think she's nervous." She sighs and sets her phone back on the table. "I think she'll be all right." She stretches slightly, and then her gaze rests on the guitar in the corner. "Hey, did you bring that over for a reason, Artie?"

Artie blushes, suddenly nervous. "Um, yeah. I did." He clears his throat and scratches his neck. "Do you--I wanted to sing to you. If--if that's--if you want me to?"

"Since when have I ever turned down a song from my favorite performer?" Tina brings the instrument to him on the sofa, then she settles comfortably into a wingback chair nearby. "I'm all ears, Artie. I'd love to hear you play."

He smiles and plucks out the opening chords before starting in with "I think that possibly maybe I'm falling for you..."

Tina listens to the performance with great interest, and as the song continues on, her expression softens more and more. By the end of the song, happy tears are prickling at the corners of her eyes. She's gazing at him with a look of pure adoration, trying to convey how much the song meant to her though her eyes alone. Because right now, she's so full of feelings, of love, of amazement (how can somebody love her that much?), and she's just too stunned to speak.

Artie sets his guitar down and looks at Tina curiously. "Are you crying happy tears again?" he asks and when Tina nods he opens his arms in invitation. "Come sit with me?"

Tina wastes no time flying across the room and wrapping him in an embrace again.

He laughs into her hair. "You liked it?" he asks softly, rubbing her arm.

"Loved it," corrects Tina. "You really meant every word of that song? It was so incredible. You're incredible. I love you. So very much."

Artie is beaming. "Yes," he says, kissing the top of her head. "Every single word. Love you, too."

Tina can't wipe the delighted smile from her face (she doesn't want to, not really), so she settles for wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and holding him close.

Artie hums contentedly and, after a few minutes of just being, he leans in to kiss her. Just as their lips connect, his stomach rumbles loudly and he pulls away, blushing and with a sheepish grin.

"Time for food?" comments Tina with a wry grin, even as she's pulling himself out of his lap again and reaching for her phone. "Let's order something and get it delivered. What are your thoughts on Chinese food?"

"Fine," he says, stretching his arms above his head. "Chinese food sounds fine."

Tina pokes him in the stomach with her hand while she places the order. "They'll be here in about 45 minutes. Wanna make-out again until then?"

Artie bats her hand away playfully. "Quit. And...I'd love to make out with you again. You know this. Unfortunately, we have a hard time keeping our clothes on when we do that and... the food will be here in 45 minutes." He kisses her forehead. "I love you?"

"Love you too." Tina grins at him and rests her head in his lap. "And point taken. I really don't want to be caught in a compromising position when the food comes. So, uh, talk to me." Her hands are raised above her head, and she's playing with them absently. "Why'd you decide to try and change my mind about Valentines?"

Artie thinks about it for a minute. "Well..." he says. "I just--it's kind of a couple-holiday and I--wanted to share that with you. Not that I can't tell you I love you or buy you flowers or sing you love songs every day, but it gives--it's a day where we get to just be silly in love and where we don't have to worry about anything else, really. And I wanted to share that with you--even though it's not red roses and chocolates and pink confetti--that's not what it's about and I wanted to show that to you. That Valentine's Day can mean different things to different people. And even though our Valentine's Day may never make it into a Hallmark commercial, it's ours and I wanted to share that with you."

Tina sits up and moves to place a gentle kiss on his lips. "Thank you," she says finally.

"You're welcome," he says happily, kissing her temple gently.

They sit like that for a while in quiet silence, and Tina eventually rests her head in Artie's lap again. Still lying down, she taps her fingers on Artie's shin gently, keeping time. Before he can start questioning her behavior, she closes her eyes and starts singing All You Need Is Lovequietly.

Artie joins her on the second verse, keeping his own time gently on Tina's arm.

When it's over, Tina smiles up at him. "Okay, that was nice. Although we're so sweet it's starting to worry to me. How do you feel about watching a gory action-adventure movie later?"

Artie laughs. "I think we are the only couple who think a gory action-adventure movie is a good ending to a mushy Valentine's Day," he says, and kisses her forehead. "That's fine. Great. Um, when did he say he would be here?"

Tina glances at the clock from her position on the sofa. "Eh, any minute now I guess. Do you mind getting the food? I'm sort of suffering from a lack of pants at the present moment, and I'm pretty sure you don't want me flashing the nice delivery people."

Coughing at the idea of Tina flashing the 'nice delivery people,' Artie shakes his head. "No. No, definitely not. But...you're going to have to move. I have to get in my chair at some point."

"I suppose I can do that." Tina reaches over and hands him the abandoned leather jacket. "Can you put that on? I kind of want to see you wearing it, without the shirt underneath." She puts on her best pleading expression, complete with a doe-eyed stare that would put his own puppy-dog eyed look to shame.

Artie looks at her for a moment, stunned. "S-Sure," he says, finally, tugging the jacket on. He turns, arms spread wide. "What do you think?" he asks, an eyebrow arched.

Tina gives a low whistle of approval. "Very nice, Abrams," she declares. She's about to lean forward to kiss him, but the doorbell rings. "Okay, moving now, so we can eat and your stomach can stop making embarrassing noises." She rolls over to the other side of the sofa so he can position himself back into his chair.

He rolls his eyes, but gets in his chair and wheels toward the door, returning a few minutes later with two boxes of takeout.

"And you feed me too," says Tina happily. "What's not to like--oh!" She gets up, dashing into the kitchen and returning a few moments later with the box of chocolates that Artie brought over earlier. "We have dessert, too! Now hand over the lo mien and nobody gets hurt."

Artie hands her hers and opens his. "Takeout and chocolates," he says dryly. "and action movies. We know how to do Valentine's Day, don't we?"

"And don't forget make-outs and freak outs and cell phone interruptions and yellow dresses and leather jackets, and and duets and serenades and orange and yellow roses and being stupid cute in love," finishes Tina. "I'd say we know how to do the holiday pretty darn well."

He grins. "Love you, Tee," he says, and offers her a bite of his food. "Want some?"

Tina moves forward to take a bite. "Yum," she declares. "This is so much nicer than going to some fancy snooty restaurant." She returns the gesture, offering some of her own food to him.

Artie takes it, nodding. "Yes. This is better. For one thing, you couldn't go dressed like that, and that would just be depressing."

Tina rolls her eyes at him. "Trust you to get down to the heart of the matter. Although I do like the leather jacket with no shirt look, so really, it's for the best we're eating take-out at the kitchen table." She reaches over to take his hand and hold it in hers. "Okay, so I might not hate the holiday anymore. Halloween's still better, though."

Artie beams at his girlfriend. "You have no idea how happy that makes me," he says, stealing some of Tina's food. "And I'd think you were sick if you said Valentine's was better than Halloween."

"Ha!" Tina looks vindicated. "I knew you were a food thief." She giggles at him affectionately and squeezes his hand gently. "I'm not going to love the holiday, but I do love spending time with you, and it's clear you're a romantic sap, so we'll bump Valentine's up to might actually look forward to it next year instead of hate with every fiber of my being. Hey, I might even get you a better present next year, too."

He sticks his tongue out at her but doesn't deny it. "You might actually look forward to Valentine's Day next year? I'm touched." He looks at her in confusion. "What was wrong with your present this year? I thought it was perfect."

Tina smirks at him, and holds out two fingers. "Two words. Body. Suit." Then, before she can lose her nerve, she holds up two fingers on the other hand. "Two more. Matching. Lingerie." She lowers her hands. "Plus, maybe another t-shirt or something. You never know," she says, her tone teasing.

Artie is stunned into silence by the idea of Tina in the body suit and of her in matching lingerie--actually just lingerie, it didn't even have to match. "Remember what I said a-about being able to essentially celebrate all of the commercialized Valentine's Day stuff every day?"

"I'll see what can be arranged." Tina is still giving him a sultry little smile, despite the heated blush on her cheeks. "Maybe next weekend. Who knows?" She fidgets with her food for a moment, then looks up at him again. "Plus we've got the yellow dress, and yeah, I could totally go for Valentine's activities other days of the year. We're in love, right? Let's celebrate it. Plus, I kinda liked the flowers."

He smiles. "Next weekend sounds perfect. I will bring you flowers. You ready to watch a movie?"

"And the chocolate and the song," Tina trails off, beaming at him. "Okay, I liked all of it. But I love you and if you bring me flowers, I'm definitely going to... I dunno, be sickeningly disgustingly happy. But I'm all right with that." She laughs and tosses him a fortune cookie. "First tell me your fortune, then we can watch super awesome action adventure movies."

Artie grins and cracks open the cookie. "Someone is going to make you very happy in your future," he reads and his grin widens. "That one might actually come true. What'd you get?"

"You are heading for a land of sunshine." Tina beams as she reads off the fortune. "I like mine too. It might actually happen." She nibbles at her cookie and smiles at him happily, her face vibrant. "So, movie time, Someone That Makes Me Very Happy?"

"I think I like Artie or babe better," he says nonchalantly. "Because "Someone That Makes Me Very Happy" is long. Maybe you could come up with an acronym for it. And yeah, I'm ready. What're we watching?"

Tina pokes him roughly in the side. "This is what I get for trying to be witty." She rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at him. "No more nicknames from fortune cookies for me!"

He laughs. "I like the idea of making you happy," he says, smiling.

"Even if I start crying happy tears sometimes?" Tina flops down on the sofa and motions for Artie to join her. "Come on, let's find a super awesome action flick."

"Even then. They aren't that bad." After he's settled on the couch, he loops an arm around Tina's shoulders and yawns. "I might fall asleep on you," he warns.

"Tired? Fair enough, I guess I can be your pillow for a bit." She grins down at him, the reaches for the remote control, finally settling on a showing of Fight Club. "Is this all right with you?"

Artie nods tiredly, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, this is fine. Very romantic."

Tina looks down about twenty minutes later, and is not too surprised to see that Artie's fallen asleep cuddled up next to her. With a yawn of her own, and a small sigh, she rests her head along his chest, and feels herself slowly drifting off to sleep as well. As far as holidays went, this one wasn't actually too bad. And Tina's definitely looking forward to next weekend.

Authors' Notes:

Miss Maggie: A pat on the back for you if you managed to read through all that in one sitting. Because I love you all, I love Artie, and I love Tina... but they totally ran away from the both of us several times throughout the course of the story. But it was fun to write, and I hope you all had fun reading it. Happy Valentine's Day--or Single Awareness Day--or whatever. I hope you all remember that somebody loves you. Even if it's just a crazy Artie/Tina writer. :) Hecate and I have about a dozen other fics/fics-in-progreses we're working on/have written already. I really hope you stick around to read some more of them with us.

Hecate's Rath: Including a totally kickass Grownup!Artie/Tina that is currently in the process of completing my life. Next up: the lingerie weekend, to be posted sometime Tuesday or Wednesday. Check it out! Thanks for reading! Drop us a review and tell us your Vday plans!!

Reviews are love, and so are each and every one of you. :)