Garvin, having just figured out the 'Siri' feature on his phone recently, determined to use it, while shopping with Nico and Aries, trying to verbally send a text to Revan, trying to figure out the name for a coupon and absolutely refusing help from either Nico or Aries because bothering Revan is funnier: "Hey Siri! Text Revan Rowland 🤓🐍 and ask him "What do you call the piece of paper that gets you a discount in the store?""

*Nico and Aries laugh, well aware that they are in the middle of a fucking store and Garvin is not being quiet, lol*

Garvin, trying to quickly add on: "Oh! And Siri, Siri! And send- Send. Send! Siri send."

*Garvin fumbles with the phone a little*

Garvin, glaring at his phone, waiting for the message to send before realizing he needs to add more because he doesn't want to have to read if Revan responds in text: "Are you ready now? Yeah. Siri! Also send to Revan Rowland 🤓🐍, "Respond to the question with voice memo only!" Send."

*Nico and Aries both laugh again while Garvin snickers*

Garvin, realizing the phone didn't understand what he said for some reason, repeating himself: ""Respond to the question with voice emote only!" End."

Aries, looking over in confusion while Nico cackles: "End?"

Garvin, ignoring Aries, trying to get his phone to cooperate: "Siri, send that."

Nico, regaining composure only to tease Garvin: "She's not aligned with you!"

Garvin, getting slightly frustrated, ignoring Nico as well: "Siri send!"

Aries, snickering: "I think- I think you and Siri need to have a little sit down."

Aries, glancing over at Nico as Garvin examines his phone critically: "You know, giving him his phone was our first mistake."

Garvin, not even looking over, drawing out his words in hopes it works better: "Siri! Send to Revan Rowland 🤓🐍 that you must answer that quest- no- Over. Stop!"

Nico, patting Garvin's shoulder comfortingly, holding back a laugh: "It's okay, I'm with you."

Garvin, still ignoring both Nico and Aries who glance at each other, snickering: "Hey Siri! Send Revan Rowland 🤓🐍 a text message!"

Siri: "What do you wan-"

Garvin, grinning in success: "Yes! Send to him-"

*Siri sends the message 'Yes!'*

Garvin, laughing nervously: "Nope, not yes- Nope-"

*All three laugh*

Garvin, regaining composure: "Hey Siri! Send Revan Rowland 🤓🐍 a text message!"

Siri: "What do you want to say to Revan?"

Garvin, nodding confidently: "Ignore the 'yes' message above. Please answer the question with a voice memo only! About the thing that gets you a discount at the store! Send!"

*The message sends and Garvin and Nico crack up while Aries shakes his head, smiling slightly*

Aries, teasingly, knowing damn well him and Nico both know what a coupon is called: "And it's that easy-"

-

Garvin, slightly out of it, talking to a very done Revan about some random shit: "Rev, I'm not goofin' around..."

Revan, clearly just wanting to be left alone: "I don't ever think you're "goofing" intentionally, I think it's just you're true self coming through."

Garvin, smirking: "Don't you think it's kinda endearing though?"

Revan, deadpan: "No."

Garvin, ignoring Revan's answer: "It's like 'Oh man, he's really tryin'.'"

Revan, shaking his head: "No. Not at all."

Garvin, snickering and looking over: "Don't you think I'm kind of a sweetheart?"

Revan, so tired of this shit: "No. It's good I only have to see you in 10-20 minute bits at a time."

Garvin, chuckling: "That's true."

-

Garvin, slightly delusional, stumbling into the room and looking directly at Revan: "What is circulation?"

Revan, after struggling to process what was just asked, looking up in utter disbelief: "That question took a year off my life. It just sucked it out of my lungs-"

-

*Nico and Revan shopping together*

Nico, spotting a watch that holds bugs in the kid section: "Oh, woah, a bug watch! I feel like Vinny would like this!"

Revan, pausing in disgust before nodding in agreement: "You're not wrong-"

Revan, after examining the watch for a moment, sighing and putting it in the cart as Nico very happily giggles: "Yeah, okay. That's for Garvin."

-

*Garvin and Akira were somehow left alone in a fucking kitchen together (huge mistake. The biggest mistake, even-), and trying to make cookies for the rest of the polycule (god save them, lmao), recording the whole thing to "Prove they aren't as bad as the others say they are"*

Akira, sighing as Garvin mixes in the wrong ingredients, looking directly at the camera: "See, I'm usually dumb for a bit. He's actually dumb sometimes."

Garvin, mocking Akira in the background: "He'S aCtUaLlY dUmB sOmEtImEs!"

*10 minutes later, Garvin and Akira semi-successfully made semi-burt cookies... not good ones, but at least they didn't destroy the house, and are sitting eating together, still recording*

Akira, glancing over, well aware that Garvin was in the streets as well, mostly just trying to be funny: "Did you ever leave cookies out for Santa?"

Garvin, oblivious, focused on his cookie: "It's not... It's not Christmas yet, I'll do it later."

*A few seconds of silence and confusion and amusment on Akira's end pass, and Akira looks back between the camera and Garvin, holding in a laugh*

Garvin, finally processing the question and looking up, laughing: "Oh! You mean in my past! Okay! I fully thought you meant like, have I done it yet!"

*They both die of laughter*

-

*Briar hanging out with Nico, who dragged Revan along, before they were officially dating*

Briar, knowing Nico likes Revan, smirking slightly as Revan gives up leaving and just leans against a wall beside Nico, typing on his phone: "So is all this going to culminate in you guys getting married and getting a house together?"

Nico, no hesitation: "We talked about it!"

Revan, unfazed, without looking up: "No, you talked about that."

Nico, shrugging and looking back at Briar: "I talked about it."

-

*Garvin and Nico, after doing something stupid when the others were at work, resulting in a hole in the wall, planning how to get out of trouble with Revan and Ingall, mostly Rev because Ingall would more panic than anything else*

Garvin, taking a deep breath and looking at Nico: "Okay. What we need to do is we need to hide the evidence."

Nico, nodding: "Mhm."

Garvin, nodding along: "So Lecture never sees it."

Nico, nodding seriously, eyes trailing toward the door that Revan just walked through: "Mhm..."

Garvin: "Because as far as anyone knows, Lecture has not seen the hole."

Nico, well aware Revan has seen the hole: "That's right."

Revan, sighing: "I'm looking at it."

Garvin, jumping slightly and turning around, quickly playing confused: "What?"

Revan, already done with this shit, planning on how to take care of everything before Ingall gets back: "I'm looking at it."

Roses Are Red

Characters; Briar and Aries. The polycule, Haila, Clio, Fida, Karma, Kostas, Devery, Narin, and Narin's sisters mentioned

Word Count; 1832

TWs; Uhhh, I don't actually think there's anything other than swearing in this one, actually. Just a wholesome Briar and Aries (AFCS) story :)

Oh, and very messy writing, this was written so quickly, lmao

Contex; A little late, but happy Valentine's Day! Glad we met <3

Now, I'm lonely, so I wrote wholesome characters that aren't lonely, lmao

Also, fun fact, Nico used to call Briar Rose/Rosey as one nickname for them, but after getting closer to Aries, he switched that to his nickname because they thought it matched better, and swapped Briar's nickname to 'Thorn,' as it works well with the name Briar. Once they started dating they were Rose and Thorn, two halves of a whole :)

Enjoy!

---

Briar found themself glaring at the seemingly endless aisles of a grocery store, sighing heavily as they debated where they even needed to go first. Then again, maybe they should have stopped by the bookstore first, they probably would have had an easier time there anyway. A better idea of what all the hell they wanted to get.

This needed to be perfect.

"Queenieeeeee!" Nico poked their cheek, dragging them out of their thoughts just to find their friend glaring with narrowed eyes. "You look like you're being forced into a corner. What's going on?"

Briar groaned and allowed their head to slump over onto Nico's shoulder. "Don' know where to start! An' what if 'm rememberin' somethin' wrong and I get 'im somethin' he actually hates?! Ya know he's too nice ta say anythin' 'bout it! He'd just do that dumb fake smile he does an' say thanks like nothin's wrong!"

Nico patted their head and smirked. "Don't be silly, Thorn! You know what you're doing! You know Rose better than anybody, you'll do just fine. Now, come on, we've got an hour here before we head to the bookstore so we can have a while there before meeting everyone for family-friend-Valentine dinner! We really need to think of a better name for that-"

Briar smirked at that and nodded slightly. "'Right."

"Let's start with snacks, hm?"

They took a deep breath and nodded. "Sure, yeah. Sounds good."

Nico smiled encouragingly and grabbed their hand, pulling them through the store toward the back. "Okay, sweets or savory first?"

They thought for a moment, humming quietly. "Savory, know what they like from there."

Seconds later they were in the chips section and Briar's eyes skimmed the shelves, a bit of frustration starting to build again when they didn't immediatly spot what they were looking for. However, a moment later, their eyes landed on a large bag of trail mix, most importantly, one that contained the heavily seasoned chips that Aries seemed to enjoy the most. They grinned and grabbed the bag, tossing it into the cart and earning a knowing smile from Nico that they quickly brushed away with a soft huff in return. Unfortunately, Nico found this hilarious more than anything and burst out laughing, leaving Briar to hide laughter of their own as they lead the way to the candy aisle.

"Shut the fuck up, asshole." They snapped, words holding no weight with the accompanying grin on their face. "Ya look like ya won the lottery or some shit."

"In my mind, I did." Nico stated, looking all too proud. "I told you you'd know and you did. I was right!"

They rolled their eyes. "Fuck off."

"Hmmm," Nico leaned against the cart, pausing as though thinking before simply shrugging. "No."

They huffed again, earning a chuckle, and examined the cany aisle. A bit of their anxiety calmed as their brain cooperated, reminding them of what all their partner liked versus what he didn't. Savory things were good, but nothing too sweet, so dark chocolate was a good option as opposed to a sweeter candy bar. After another few moments of looking around they found what they needed. 100% cocoa, unsweeted. Perfect.

They grabbed it and, as Nico started talking about something or other, the two made their way to the aisle housing the stuffed animals and, to their surprise, something stood out to them immediately. A little red cardinal, placed toward the back of a shelf, isolated but somehow managing to capture Briar's attention quickly. They grabbed it and held it up to Nico curiously.

"Is it special to ya?"

Nico blinked in confusion and tilted her head slightly. "No? Why?"

"Jus'... stood out I guess."

A smile spread over Nico's face again. "Well, it is red."

"So?"

He raised an eyebrow. "So..."

"Oh." Briar's face flushed slightly and they put the cardinal in the cart, causing Nico to burst into another fit of laughter. "Asshat."

"You're dense sometimes."

"Hey!"

"What? 'Hey, Nico, does this red bird remind you of anyone? I don't know, he looks kinda pretty. I like that he's red. Red is such a pretty color, don't you think, Nico? Oh, I wish I knew why I was so drawn to red! Crazy!'"

Briar slapped their friend lightly on the arm, feeling like their cheeks might completely burn up at this point. "Nico!"

Nico cackled and the two slowly (and loudly) made their way to the last section in the store they needed, the flower section. The choice there also proved easy.

Red roses. Cliché, but carrying more meaning between themself and their partner than most at this point.

Finally, the two made their way out of the store and carefully placed everything in the trunk of Nico's car, first arranging the snacks and stuffed bird neatly in the purple woven basket Briar had picked out before. After a quick trip to the bookstore, they added two new books on greek mythology to the collection as well while Nico carried a book for Akira in her own arms. Something he wasn't planning on getting, but couldn't turn away after laying their eyes on it and recognizing how much Akira would enjoy the story of it.

---

The dinner went smoothly, with Briar, Aries, Haila, Clio, Fida, Karma, and Kostas all piled into Nico, Garvin, Akira, Ingall, and Revan's appartment, all enjoying the food Ingall, Haila, Clio, and Kostas had prepared happily. Hell, even Devery, Narin, and Narin's sisters had stopped by for a little at the tail end of the event to snag some food and talk for a bit. There was laughter, excitement, and a shit ton of noise, and Briar loved ever second of it.

Now, though, as they pulled into the driveway of their own appartment, they glanced over at Aries and felt their heart melt for what must have been the millionth time. They really had no clue how they'd managed to get so lucky with the most amazing boyfriend in the world.

Aries looked over and tilted his head slightly. "Are you alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, you're jus' really fuckin' pretty." Aries' face flushed and Briar grinned, reaching over to run a gentle hand through the red strands of hair. "Hey, ya wanna head inside? I'll join ya in jus' a sec, gotta grab somethin' first."

The other looked slightly confused but nodded, getting out of the car slowly and heading inside. Briar waited a few seconds before hoping out and grabbing their gifts from the trunk (which they'd snuck from Nico's car with some help from her shortly before the dinner ended). A bit of the anxiety from before returned, but, looking at the basket and the bundle of roses in their hands, they knew internally that they'd made the correct decisions.

They entered the appartment and found that Aries had seated himself at the table, long red hair taken out of its braid, falling over his shoulders and temporarily taking Briar's breath away.

"So, uh-" Aries looked up as they spoke, eyes widening slightly at the sight of everything in Briar's arms. "I... gotcha somethin'. Uh, not much, but..." They hesitated, gently placing everything on the table and sliding it across their table before bringing a hand up to rub the back of their neck. "Hopefully you like 'em all."

Aries just stared for a moment before blinking and looking at the gifts, eyes sweeping everything, widening further, and going right back to Briar's face.

"Uh- Do ya? I mean-"

"They're perfect," Aries' voice was quiet, full of surprise, and slightly confused. "You didn't have to... Thank you."

Briar let out a breath and smiled. "Good, glad ya like 'em! I jus' thought it was a good way ta show ya how I really like ya an' all. I mean, nothin' can really express all that, but-"

Aries stood suddenly and Briar paused, brow furrowing a little. "Sorry, give me a second." Aries hurried out of the room and, for a second, Briar panicked, questioning if they'd somehow managed to fuck everything up. Fucked it up so badly that Aries actually ran away.

However, that thought was silenced quickly as Aries returned, a small red and black bag in his hand, which he held out quickly. "Um, it's not much, but I got you something too..."

Briar blinked, confusion melting into relief as they processed what was happening. "Oh, thanks!" They accepted the bag and carefully pulled the wrapping paper out, hyper-aware of Aries' anxious gaze on them.

The second the items came into veiw though, their heart melted yet again.

A slice of apple pie, bought from the small bakery a few blocks away, a small box of heart-shaped chocolates, a rose pin with golden outlines and petals painted a vibrant red, and, held in a small box, a ring in the shape of a curled snake, with black diamonds down its back and eyes made of small ruby stones.

A conversation from a month ago jumped to the front of their mind, something Nico had brought up about ring size, how it would be 'fun to measure and see,' and realization that Aries had not only planned so far ahead, but also reached out to Nico just to make sure everything was perfect set in.

The bastard knew the whole fucking time what Aries was doing and didn't bother mentioning that maybe something more grand was in order. He'd definitely be getting and earfull later.

Tears formed and, without really thinking, they rushed forward and practically tackled Aries, burying their face in his chest as the taller, caught off guard, slowly reciprocated the hug.

"Thank you, love, this is... 't's perfect. All of it."

Aries tightened his grip slightly. "I'm glad."

After a minute or so, Briar looked up and smiled, examining Aries' face carefully. "I love you, ya know?"

Aries smiled slightly. "I know. I love you too."

"I know." They lifted themself up on their tiptoes and stole a soft kiss from their boyfriend, heart fluttering just as it had the first time they'd done this.

And, honestly? They didn't think it would ever stop doing so.