His gaze landed on the water as it lapped away incessantly at the supports for Mother Base. He glanced at you where you stood beside him and how the light from the sunrise cast gorgeous beams of fire-like light that danced across your skin and framed your features to a state of perfection. To be fair, he already thought you were perfect but the sunset seemed to highlight that.

As corny as Valentine's Day was, he had to admit it was in some odd way, comforting. It reminded him of the more lackadaisical days he'd spent before the incident at old Mother Base. When he found it easier to have a guy or gal on each arm as he enjoyed his days, making sure to always go back to John whenever he felt he'd been away too long. But John hadn't been there for him and you had. You'd been there before and after his years spent being tortured and hadn't abandoned his for a misguided dream of a legacy you had to fulfill.

So here he was, watching a gorgeous sunset with an amazing partner and lover whom he wasn't constantly having inner turmoil over whether he should even love or not. After a few more moments of silence, he planted a kiss on your jaw and fished around in the pocket of his trench coat before producing a baggie of chocolates that he'd spent the night prior hand making. The most difficult part had been getting the shells out of the molds without breaking them which having to do one-handed made an almost Herculean task. Regardless, he handed them to you with a smile as he spoke: "Happy Valentine's Day."