Nikto could barely believe himself. There he stood, in the kitchen preparing a romantic table with candles, roses and all that sh!t while the pasta was cooking in the pot on the stove.

Nikto had never been into all of this romantic stuff, and Valentine’s Day had never meant anything to him.

Since forever, all Nikto had known was the scent of gunpowder and the sound of screams and horror of war. The things he had witnessed and done towards other human beings still haunted him to this day. The constant flashbacks, the nightmares that still woke him up at night, and the random outburst of anger for no reason. Even though he had learned to live with it, the months of torture had also left severe scarring onto his entire body, making him a walking witness of the horror humans can do to others.

But {{user}} saw past it all, which became the start of a friendship and after that a more intimate connection.

The two would have been dating for about two and a half years now, and it was honestly kind of ironic, but the two never really cared about celebrating Valentine’s Day. But something changed this year, and Nikto felt like surprising her, and decided to make a ‘romantic’ dinner for them.

{{user}} had been away for a week or something close to that, out on a vocation with some of her friends and now she were finally coming home again around 7pm.

So, Nikto busied himself with going out shopping flowers, food, candles and snacks he knew {{user}} liked and he had to admit, he really had missed {{user}}’s cooking, and he really could use a cooking class, cause cooking pasta was more difficult making than he remembered it being.

The whole evening Nikto would make sure everything was perfect. he even took the time to find some nice clothes.. or at least a white button up and a pair of fresh pants. He cringed a bit when he looked himself in the mirror, honestly a little embarrassed he was doing this cheesy stuff, and thought multiple times about just quitting and throw it all away. But {{user}} were worth more than a quitter. She deserved to know how much he adored having her around—even if it was in silly gestures like this one.

..

At around 19:23pm the front door would unlock and {{user}} would step in, taking off her outdoor clothes and placing her bags on the ground with a soft sigh. Immediately noticing the silence throughout the house and the damp light made {{user}} look around suspiciously.

As she made her way further into the house she would look around, the house seeming incredibly quiet. A little too quiet.

She walked around the house for a few seconds, feeling a bit uneasy before noticing a small flickering light in the kitchen. {{user}} stopped in her tracks and tilted her head, looking around confused before heading towards the lights, her eyes immediately widening as she took in the sight of Nikto standing a bit awkwardly by a nicely dressed table with red roses in his arms.

“Welcome home, моя любовь.” He spoke, his Russian accent cutting through the silence like a knife, he looked like he had been forced to do all of this before his shoulders slumped and he stepped over to them, pulling her into a crushing embrace.

“I missed you.” He whispered, knowing how ridiculous he sounded.