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[branbach]

There was an orchid on the pillow next to Ephram when he woke up. Bran had already abandoned him for the kitchen, but came back shortly after with fresh coffee. The rest of the day he'd made allusion to a surprise (usually accompanied by a slightly nervous fluttering in his stomach), and around late afternoon he disappears, after pressing a note

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[no_boyprotege]

Ephram has so far enjoyed what is ranking up there as the best Valentine's Day on record. Bran's been sweet, attentive, and he's looking forward to whatever surprise he has next.

He goes comes around the corner and sees the picnic spread. "Is this spot taken?" he asks.

[branbach]

"Just waiting for my boyfriend," Bran says with a grin, scooting over to make room. "I know it's not very new and different as locales go, but it's ours. Also the prettiest spot we have. You hungry?"

[no_boyprotege]

Ephram leans over to kiss Bran's cheek. "It's ours," he agrees. "If it can't be New York...this is the next best place. And I'm starving, but I usually am."

[branbach]

"Lucky for me," Bran teases, turning his head to catch the kiss on his mouth. "It makes it easy to seduce you with food."

[no_boyprotege]

"Oh, is that why you do it?" Ephram kisses him again. "Here's a secret--you didn't have to bother. You can seduce me with your eyes."

[branbach]

"Oh, right," Bran says, slipping an arm around Ephram's neck and kissing him a little longer, softer. "Food is for distracting Bright. But this time it's all for us. I couldn't remember if Jews eat oysters, which is too bad as someone brought in a lot of them. But then again, we're not really likely to need them?"

[no_boyprotege]

Ephram laughs and strokes Bran's cheek with his fingers. "Never been a problem before," he agrees. "But if you wanted to swallow some raw shellfish, I'd be okay with it.

[branbach]

"I'll pass," Bran laughs, kissing him again tenderly. "There are other things I'd rather--ah, well." He blushes, even though he didn't actually say anything. "Proves that point, I suppose." In the background music starts to play from somewhere under the plants.

[no_boyprotege]

Ephram turns his head at the sound. "...do you have a DJ stashed under there?

[branbach]

Bran grins. "Nah, it's Spot. I'll owe Dairine for about the next hundred years. But I thought we could have music, and a movie or something if we wanted...."

[no_boyprotege]

Ephram is completely touched, and leans over to kiss him hard, cupping his cheek. "...that's so incredibly...wow," he smiles, lost for words. "You thought of everything."

[branbach]

Bran looks smug, at least for the part of a moment before Ephram kisses him and he melts into it with a sigh. "Mmm. You're always doing sweet things for me. I had to work to come up with anything you hadn't already done."

[no_boyprotege]

"I'm...sorry?" Ephram laughs and nuzzles against Bran's neck. "What do you want to do?"

[branbach]

"Don't be," Bran says, smiling against Ephram's neck. "Should we go ahead and eat, or come back to that later?"

[no_boyprotege]

Ephram pulls back to pop a piece of fruit into his mouth. "Continually hungry," he reminds him. "But we can talk?"

[branbach]

Bran grins. "I'm glad," he says honestly. "We've got a while, and I'd hate all the chopping and slicing to have gone completely to waste." Behind them, Spot starts playing In the Sun. "There's some sandwiches in that one. It's not all finger food."