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February 14th, 2028
“So, Logan, got any plans for today?” Kick grins knowingly at his younger squadmate. Logan just shrugs and keeps eating his lunch.
“Not really. Why?”
“You do know what day it is, right?”
“Monday. A boring Monday.”
“February 14th, Walker!” Kick slams his palms on the table in a slightly dramatic gesture. The noise draws the attention of a few fellow soldiers, who turn to look at them with curiosity.
Logan looks at his best friend for a few seconds, clearly uninterested, then nods.
“That’s great, Kick. For people who actually have a partner.” Logan emphasizes the word *partner* with sarcasm. “Which we don’t.”
“Speak for yourself, blondie!” Logan’s expression changes instantly.
“Wait a second… you already—? Seriously?!”
Kick nods proudly. Getting an official partner is, in his mind, one of his greatest personal achievements of the year so far.
“I don’t believe you. Are you messing with me?” Logan’s face is pure shock. “Who is it?”
“Kitsune.”
Logan nods, pretending he knows who Kitsune is.
No fucking idea who she is.
“Oh, well, good for you, bro. At least you won’t be spending Valentine’s Day alone.”
“Not this time. I’m going to the movies with my girl, and then we’ll have se—”
“Okay, I really don’t want to know what happens after that!” Logan cuts him off.
“Romantic dinner under the stars afterward. That’s what I was going to say.” Kick punches Logan’s shoulder playfully.
“Good luck, man. I’ll be locked in my dorm room playing video games the rest of the day.” Logan finishes his lunch and stands up, tray in hand.
Kick follows him toward the cafeteria exit.
“You should get back with your ex just to spend Valentine’s together, then dump her again.”
“Wow, that’s a brilliant idea, Kick. I wonder how that never occurred to me before,” Logan replies sarcastically. Kick rolls his eyes.
“I’m offering practical solutions. I don’t want to see my best friend alone on a day like this.”
“Trust me, Kick. Being alone today doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t even care. Screw all those cheesy couples. They’ll break up eventually anyway.” Logan says it in his usual mocking tone.
“God, Logan, you’re like the Grinch of Valentine’s Day.” Kick pats him on the shoulder.
“Maybe.”
After that conversation ends in the hallway, each of them goes off to do their own thing.
Logan heads out to take the K-9 unit to the field, as he does every Monday after lunch.
Once there, he lets the combat dogs run freely before starting the scheduled exercises.
“Hey, Riley!” Logan pets the German shepherd as the dog approaches to sniff his boots. “Happy Valentine’s Day, buddy.” He scratches Riley’s ears and plays with him.
Logan hears footsteps behind him and turns around.
Keegan walks toward him at an unhurried pace, spotting Logan crouched down, playing with the dog rolling around in the grass.
“Hey, kid,” Keegan greets calmly. Logan only nods in response. Keegan stops about a meter away, watching Riley roll around, biting at his harness. “Ready to work out, buddy?” Keegan kneels down to pet Riley.
Logan notices the change in Keegan’s voice when he talks to the dog—it becomes softer, friendlier. Logan watches in silence as the sergeant scratches Riley’s belly, praising him.
“Good boy.”
He says it in that gentle tone he never uses with anyone else—only animals.
Logan lifts his gaze slightly, focusing on Keegan’s eyes, still fixed on Riley.
Love for life.
Logan sees the feeling reflected in Keegan’s blue eyes as he watches him interact with the dog.
Logan looks away when Keegan turns to look at him.
“There’s nothing to do at the barracks right now, so I asked Merrick if it was okay for me to help other soldiers with their tasks. He didn’t mind,” Keegan explains as he stands up. Logan does the same. They’re about the same height now. “Mind if I help you with the canine training?”
“Sure,” Logan nods, blinking twice.
“Great.” Keegan looks at the dog. “Alright, Riley, up.”
The dog obeys, standing on all fours and wagging his tail, waiting for the next command.
Keegan gathers the rest of the dogs, Riley following closely. Logan stays frozen in place for half a second longer, then follows Keegan… and Riley.
Logan stops, mouth open in surprise, when he sees the dogs perfectly lined up a few meters ahead, Keegan standing in front of them, waiting for him.
“Wow. You organized them fast,” Logan murmurs, genuinely impressed. Keegan smiles faintly at the reaction.
“They’re smart. They know the formation.” Keegan rests his hands on his hips, thoughtful, then looks back at Logan. “Do you have the exercise program sheet?”
“Ah—yeah, of course!”
Logan quickly digs into his uniform pockets and hands over the slightly wrinkled sheet.
Their fingers brush briefly as they exchange it. Keegan doesn’t seem to care, focused on reading, but Logan tenses up. A few seconds later, he feels stupid for reacting so dramatically to something so… trivial.
“Alright. Let’s start with warm-ups. Ball exercises,” Keegan finally says, handing the sheet back and heading toward the bags with the equipment.
Logan turns slowly, paper in hand, takes a breath, and exhales. He follows Keegan.
Logan explains where everything is while Keegan listens and searches on his own. Then they return to the dogs. Logan watches the skill and efficiency with which Keegan moves. He can barely keep up when it’s time to run ten laps around the training field with the dogs.
Logan falls behind, embarrassed as Riki and Roki pass him more than once.
His uniform shirt clings to his skin with sweat. Logan braces his hands on his thighs, bent over, completely exhausted after five extra laps.
“Come on, Walker! We’re just warming up!”
Keegan passes him on the fifteenth lap, Connie and Moy following the sergeant with too much energy. Everyone still has plenty left—except Logan.
After a little over an hour, the training ends.
Logan’s face is bright red from the sun and the intense workout (which clearly wasn’t just for the dogs—Keegan had worked him hard too).
“The training was supposed to be just for the dogs,” Logan grumbles, towel-drying his hair in the locker room. He hears Keegan’s soft laughter beside him and lowers the towel, meeting the sergeant’s eyes in the mirror.
“Valentine’s gift for you, kid. Kick told me you didn’t have any exciting plans today and that you were just going to train the pups and waste the rest of the day. So I came up with something exciting so you wouldn’t feel alone,” Keegan says, amused.
“Making me sweat under the sun at 95 degrees.”
Logan rolls his eyes.
“Something like that. Honestly, I don’t have plans today either, believe it or not.” Keegan pulls off his shirt to change. Logan gets distracted by the tattoo on Keegan’s back as he turns to grab a clean shirt from his locker.
“I’m surprised the highly sought-after Sergeant Russ doesn’t have Valentine’s plans,” Logan says with irony, splashing water on his face again to avoid looking.
Five seconds of silence.
“Valentine’s Day is overrated bullshit,” Keegan says bluntly.
Logan looks up at the mirror and finds Keegan staring straight at him.
“Couldn’t agree more, sarge.” Logan smiles.
“Seriously. Humanity invented a whole day just to prove affection to your partner, when you could do that any day of the year.”
Logan laughs. He’d thought the exact same thing. He can’t believe Keegan thinks the same—and doesn’t have someone calling him the Valentine’s Grinch for it.
“Valentine’s Day is just consumerism,” Logan jokes. Keegan laughs at the stupid joke, and Logan has to pretend it doesn’t affect him more than it should.
Logan turns around to face Keegan, now in a clean uniform, leaning against his locker with arms crossed.
Logan feels heat rise to his face. The man is attractive—really. What a waste that he’s stuck trash-talking Valentine’s Day with Logan in a smelly locker room instead of being on a romantic date.
Keegan raises an eyebrow, noticing Logan zoning out.
“Walker?”
Logan snaps back.
“Uh—just thinking you should be on a date with a beautiful woman instead of here with me talking shit about Valentine’s Day,” he laughs.
Keegan looks at him and slowly shakes his head.
“I like talking shit about Valentine’s Day with you.” He shrugs. “Better than pretending to care about buying flowers for someone out of obligation.”
“That doesn’t sound great.”
Keegan smiles slowly.
“No. Now that you say it, it kind of sounds like I’m an asshole.”
“You are an asshole,” Logan repeats playfully as he heads for the exit. Keegan follows.
“What happened with Katie?” Keegan asks directly about Logan’s ex. Logan shrugs it off.
“We broke up about a month and a half ago. Nothing serious. We just didn’t understand each other anymore.” He remembers Kick’s suggestion from earlier and jokes about it. “Kick told me to call her and get back together just for Valentine’s Day.”
“And would you?”
“No way. Kick’s crazy.” Logan laughs. “I’d never get back with an ex. I have dignity.”
Keegan nods silently. They walk down the hallway without speaking.
Logan doesn’t know how to change the subject, so he doesn’t. He glances at Keegan, who looks lost in thought. *What’s he thinking about?* Logan wonders, but doesn’t dare ask.
They part shortly after—Keegan is called into a last-minute meeting with Merrick, and Logan has the rest of the afternoon free. He heads back to his dorm to follow his original plans.
At 1700 hours, Logan decides to rest his eyes from screens and goes for a walk around the base.
He’s not expecting to run into Keegan—but he does.
Keegan steps out of the military convenience store, hair tousled by the wind.
They bump into each other, and Logan instinctively steps back.
Logan raises his hand in a formal salute. Keegan shakes his head with a small smile.
“No need to be formal here, kid.”
“Sorry, sarge. Reflex.” Logan swallows. He notices Keegan is in civilian clothes—dark sweatpants and a loose black shirt. He’s holding a plastic bag. “Dinner?” Logan gestures to it, immediately feeling stupid again for trying small talk.
Keegan looks down at the bag and nods. “Yep. My romantic Valentine’s plan is instant noodles and an action movie with my cat.”
“That sounds great,” Logan says honestly. Keegan looks a little embarrassed admitting it out loud. His gaze lingers on Logan, dressed comfortably, headphones around his neck, phone in hand.
“You… just out for a walk?” Keegan asks.
“Just heading out, actually.”
“Oh. Nice.”
An awkward silence. Keegan steps aside from the doorway.
“You going in?”
Logan suddenly forgets what he was doing there.
“Huh? No—I was going that way!” He points in a completely random direction. Keegan nods, suddenly feeling the urge to end the conversation.
“Alright then. See you later, kid.”
“Oh—yeah. Sure.”
Logan can’t focus on his walk afterward. He keeps thinking about the interaction.
Something was off.
Or maybe not.
Maybe he just imagined Keegan being nervous.
Logan stops after running a few laps around the private housing area.
He pauses his playlist and walks to a bench, resting his hands on his knees, looking around.
Just one street over are the private apartments for higher ranks—including Keegan’s.
Logan runs a hand over his face, stands up, and without really knowing why, heads that way.
—
Keegan is sprawled on the couch, Neko the cat curled up on his thighs, purring softly. Keegan’s eyes are barely open as he fights boredom from the terrible movie playing.
A terrible choice. The movie is awful.
Between blinks and yawns, Keegan can’t help thinking about Logan. Maybe inviting him over wouldn’t have been a bad idea—though maybe he’d be bored too.
The doorbell snaps him out of his thoughts. Keegan gently sets Neko down and goes to the door.
*I don’t usually have visitors.*
He opens it and finds Logan standing there, which surprises him.
“Hey, sarge.”
Logan gives a shy little wave.
“Logan? What are you doing here?”
“Honestly… I don’t know,” Logan answers truthfully. He takes a deep breath. “I was nearby and remembered you lived here and— I know we just saw each other earlier, and I don’t want you to think I’m stalking you. It’s just—I—”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
Keegan cuts him off and gently pulls him inside. Logan lets himself be guided, cheeks burning at the hand gripping his arm.
“You just saved me from that awful movie.” He gestures at the TV.
“You could’ve turned it off,” Logan says, then looks down as the black cat rubs against his legs. “Oh—hi there.”
“Logan, this is Neko. Neko, Logan.”
Logan crouches and picks the cat up.
“You’re so cute.”
He cuddles him, surprised that Neko allows it—he usually hates strangers.
Neko purrs in Logan’s arms. Logan smiles, lifting him slightly and repeating how pretty he is.
The sight is… nice.
Keegan smiles.
“He likes you.”
Logan looks over Neko’s head and smiles back. Keegan looks away, suddenly nervous.
“Want some water?” Keegan says, making an excuse to leave. Logan nods, and Keegan heads to the kitchen.
—
2300 hrs.
Time has flown since Logan rang the doorbell.
Keegan is enjoying the company. They watched a better movie Logan recommended, ate popcorn, then played board games. Logan learns that board games are Keegan’s favorite hobby outside work. He has a lot of them—and he’s very good.
He also likes puzzles.
“I framed the one in the living room last week. Took me a month to finish,” Keegan explains.
They work on another puzzle together at the kitchen table while Keegan talks about the image of the ship.
“And this one I bought somewhere in Germany. It’s a Bismarck.”
Logan feels like he’s listening to a podcast. Keegan’s voice is calm, soothing. Neko loafs on the table. Logan smiles.
“That’s an iconic German navy ship,” Logan says.
Keegan hums in agreement. “Look—we’ve almost finished half in just half an hour.”
They exchange a longer look than before. No words. Just comfort.
—
Midnight.
Keegan quietly leaves the dining room and returns with a blanket, draping it over Logan’s shoulders. Logan had fallen asleep on the glass table.
He stirs, lifting his head to see Keegan finishing the last puzzle pieces.
“I should go. It’s late.”
“Or you could stay.” Keegan clears his throat. “It’s dark, cold… you shouldn’t walk back alone.”
It’s an excuse. The area is safe. Still, Logan nods.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”
“You’re not. You can take the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“I won’t take your bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
After a short argument, Logan settles it.
“We’ll share the bed.”
Keegan scratches the back of his neck, unsure. Logan insists.
Keegan does his nighttime routine while Logan fixes the pillows.
Keegan lends Logan pajamas—insisting he won’t sleep in sweaty clothes.
Keegan enters the room in blue silk pajamas, hair damp and messy.
“Ready,” Logan says, gesturing to the neatly made bed.
“Pick your side.”
“By the wall.”
Keegan turns off the lamp.
0230 hrs.
Logan Walker can’t sleep.
He shifts, accidentally waking Keegan.
“Come on, kid. Sleep.”
“I can’t.”
Keegan turns to him.
“What’s wrong?”
Logan exhales, scooting closer.
Keegan doesn’t push him away.
They move closer until they’re nearly touching.
Logan breathes heavily. Keegan’s lips tremble.
Even in the dark, they see each other.
Logan presses his lips to Keegan’s.
They kiss.
Slow at first. Then deeper.
Logan’s hand cradles Keegan’s neck. Keegan pulls him closer by the waist.
When they break for air, Logan hugs him, kisses his head.
Keegan trembles slightly.
“It was a good day,” Logan whispers.
“Never thought I’d say that on February 14th.”
They laugh softly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, kid.”
“Happy weird Valentine’s Day, Keeg.”