Work Text:
Sunny fidgeted with the small box in her hands as she rode the escalator down to the mall’s first floor. The gleaming red ribbon wrapped around it was the glittery kind that obnoxiously shed everywhere, including up your nose. Surely her and J’onn would be cleaning sequins out of their ears forevermore.
A goofy grin crossed her face at the thought. Her boyfriend , J’onn. He was the whole reason she was at the mall in the first place.
It was their first Valentine’s day together, and obviously she wanted to make it perfect. Which also obviously included buying the perfect gift. There was only one problem: What do you buy for a guy whose most intense joy was often derived from a cookie?
Along that line of thought she first had the idea of baking him the biggest Oreo in the world…or at least the biggest Oreo that she could feasibly fit in the JLI kitchen. However, the costs started adding up too quickly and Max nixed the plan before she could get anywhere with it.
Her second idea involved renting out a movie theater to watch some of their favourite classic films together. Unfortunately, Sunny wasn’t able to find a place that accommodated their tastes. (Seriously, how hard was it to screen 'Casablanca?' Wasn’t it, like, the most famous movie ever?)
The third idea was, admittedly, pretty stupid. Sunny refused to share the full plan with her friends, but hinted that it might have involved a Green Lantern ring and an Elvis hologram. She shuddered at the memory. No, certainly not.
Defeated, she decided to go the materialistic route and wander through the local mall looking for a random item that could accurately portray all of her innermost feelings wrapped up in a convenient (and cheap!) package.
Fortunately, Sunny was nothing if not determined to be the best, most sentimental girlfriend ever. She spent hours scouring every novelty shop, imported goods outlet, and food market until she eventually stumbled upon… it.
It was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on. All thoughts of cost flew out of her mind as she pointed to the item in the display case. The saleswoman proceeded to make bold claims about its origin, but Sunny was already hooked. She bought it immediately (alongside the stupid bow.)
A wicked smile crossed her face as she walked to her car, remembering the interaction. Oh yes, she was definitely winning Valentine’s day now.
J’onn wouldn’t know what hit him.
----
----
The Martian tapped his foot impatiently and re-crossed his arms for the third time in one minute. He trusted the jeweler that Bruce had recommended, of course, but that did not mean he wasn’t nervous all the same about the final product.
A final product that needed to be perfect, because it was for his girlfriend. The thought made him shiver.
His Sunny wasn’t the type of person who asked for extravagant things. Earlier that week, when J’onn tried subtly questioning her about items she’d like to receive, she simply shrugged and said "maybe a new whisk?"
A whisk? What kind of romantic gesture would that be? No, he needed something better.
Luckily, J’onn had much experience in the gift-giving-game after a few decades on Earth. He didn’t like to toot his own horn, but he was fairly good at it. Of course, being a telepath did help in that matter, but he liked to think that he could still do it without.
Case in point, the gift he was getting custom made for Sunny. He hadn’t prodded her mind at all for the idea.
A small box sliding into view broke him from his thoughts, and the jeweler gestured to take a look. It was exactly as he had described to her in the initial meeting, down to the subtle gold flecks. In a word, it was stunning, and he told the jeweler as much. He graciously paid for the item and slipped it into his cape pocket. J’onn exited the building and ran over the to-do list in his mind.
First, a quick run to a flower shop…across the world. Daisies (her favourite) were not in season in New York’s February, but they were plentiful in Australia’s. Then, he needed to pick up their picnic blanket from the dry-cleaner. Booster had borrowed and spilled wine on it trying to “woo” Beetle on his birthday. Finally, he would return to the brownstone and set up the picnic in the greenhouse.
He exhaled heavily. Despite the nerves attempting to jump out of his skin, he was confident their night would go well. J’onn refused to let himself believe otherwise. Even if all else went wrong, he still had the gift. It was a great gift.
No, it was a perfect gift.
Sunny wouldn’t know what hit her.
----
----
“Anybody in here?” Sunny whispered, peeking into the dim greenhouse. There was no response, so she slipped in and quietly closed the door behind her.
Good, she needed time to hang up the white Christmas lights she stole from the storage room. She flipped the light switch and watched the glass room fill up with fake fluorescence. The greenery had grown substantially since it was first installed, creating an almost impenetrable wall of plant life around the area. It made the space feel secluded, far from the ultra-modern bustle of city life.
Sunny had only just gotten up on the stepladder when she heard the door crack open once again. She whipped her head around at the sound.
“Oh! I guess we had the same idea, huh?”
J’onn stepped in and tilted his head down to smile.
“It appears so. Do you need help with those?”
“No, I’m good. You can hold the ladder though.”
He placed his armful of goods (a picnic basket and folded blanket) onto the ground before striding over to grasp the metal frame. Sunny smiled down at him.
“I like this height difference. I feel powerful.” She laughed and stretched up to hang the string lights.
“Please don’t fall. That wouldn’t be a very powerful look.”
Her laugh echoed off the glass roof. “You wouldn’t tell anyone, would you? That’d be so mean.”
“Of course not, Sunny. One of us has to maintain your reputation.”
“Tease. I’m very put together.” She finished her work by clicking the button on the string and clapping her hands. “Let there be light!”
“Very good job. Will you come down now? I don’t think I trust these steps.”
“I will…” She trailed off suddenly, a slow grin growing across her face. Abruptly, she outstretched her arms to the side with her back facing J’onn.
“Actually, I think you should catch me.”
“What?”
But J’onn had no time to think as Sunny pushed off her toes and fell backwards. Reacting on instinct he super-stretched his arms to wrap around her body several times and pull her into his chest. The force of the sudden movement knocked the air out of their lungs. Sunny ‘oofed’ and then laughed raucously, enfolding her arms around his neck.
“Oh, my hero!”
“What on Earth has gotten into you?” He asked, incredulously.
“Love, I guess. ‘Tis the season.”
“Love seems to be a dangerous feeling for you.”
“You have no idea.” She replied, nuzzling his nose with hers.
“I don’t think I should let you go. You’re clearly a hazard to yourself and others.”
Sunny kissed the side of his mouth as he spoke, working her way down and towards his jaw.
“I have no objections if you wanna hold me all night, but I did get you a present, sooo…”
J’onn cleared his throat abruptly and loosened his grip, arms returning to their regular length. A flush ran adorably from his cheeks to his neck.
“I also got you a gift that I am quite eager to share, after dinner.”
"Oh, fine."
She planted one last kiss on his cheek before dropping down to the ground and laying out the blanket. J’onn started pulling items from the basket and setting them up while Sunny poured them glasses of not-so-fancy wine.
“Here. The corner store’s finest.”
They ‘clinked’ their glass chalices (of differing sizes) and took a sip. Sunny immediately grimaced. J’onn didn’t fare any better.
“Eugh. Not my thing.”
“No, it's not for me either.”
“It’s so…dry."
“I believe that is what some people enjoy about it.”
“Nasty. Hand me a piece of bread to get the taste out of my mouth.”
As they ate they chatted about their day's errands, their colleagues, Sunny’s baking plans and J’onn’s newest favourite TV show. Talking with J’onn was so naturally easy that Sunny found they could speak for hours about nothing at all and she would still have butterflies when they parted. He enraptured her.
Suddenly, she noticed the vase of flowers and stopped, quiche halfway to her mouth.
“Where did you find daisies at this time of year?”
“Hm? Oh, Australia.”
She blinked a few times at him. Australia, he said, as if it was the most normal thing ever to fly across the world and back just to pick up some common flowers. Shaking her head incredulously all she could do was laugh.
“You’re something else, J’onn J’onzz.”
The cute colouring from earlier returned to his cheeks at her comment. Determined to take the attention off of himself he pulled a crimson felt box from the picnic basket and held it out for her to take.
“For me?”
He nodded.
“This doesn’t look like it’s a whisk,” She said teasingly, opening the lid.
Her laughter ceased when she saw the dangling circular disk earrings. They were a deep orange-red, with tiny scatterings of gold speckled throughout. At any angle they took on a different shade, never being the same exact colour twice. Shakily, she reached out to brush a finger against their smooth resin.
They were beautiful, certainly, but Sunny was confused at their meaning. She heard J’onn take a deep breath before speaking.
“They’re made from sand. From…my home. Mars. I gathered it myself.”
Sunny inhaled sharply and jerked her head up. At the intense look on his face she swallowed thickly and shoved her face back down.
"Oh.."
“Do you…are you alright?” He stopped himself from asking the question he truly wanted an answer to.
She shook her head. Then nodded quickly.
“Yes. Yes, I'm okay. I just don’t know what to say. I can’t believe you gave me something like this…are you sure?” She laughed weakly.
“I’m very sure.”
To carry a piece of him, his home with her…Sunny was overwhelmed. She swiped conspicuously at her eyes to stop any stupid tears from falling.
“I love them. I love you. Thank you.”
J’onn let out the breath he had been holding and smiled, wiping at her cheek.
“I love you too.”
She let out a wet giggle, “Well you’re never gonna believe what I got you.”
From her pocket she pulled out a similarly small yellow box, with a sparkling red ribbon wrapped around it. J’onn took it gently and unwrapped the bow (getting glitter all over his hands, as suspected.) He undid the tiny latch on the lid and pushed it open.
A pair of golden sun-shaped studs stared up at him from their place on the tiny pillow. The rich metal was only broken up by multicoloured shards from an unrecognizable mineral. They shone a brilliant iridescence, reminding him of the most beautiful rainbows he had ever experienced on Earth.
“The lady said they had meteorite chunks in them. I don’t know if it’s true though.” She hovered nervously across from him, trying to downplay her anxiety.
Funny, for how confident she was earlier in her gift, compared to J’onn’s it seemed lesser.
Fortunately, the smile he sent her way could have warmed the universe.
“A sun from my Sun. They are wonderful.”
Her knees felt weak and she lowered down to sit properly on the ground from her previous kneeling position. Suddenly she was very tired. All of the pent-up emotions had exhausted her.
“Oh…good.”
J’onn shuffled closer and cradled her face in his hands gently.
“How funny that we both sought out jewelry.”
Sunny held her breath at his closeness, “We must be on the same wavelength or something…”
He hummed in reply and leaned forward to brush their lips together. Even after sharing many other kisses, Sunny still felt herself melt into him as she gripped his waist.
They toppled backwards into the grass, glasses of terrible wine growing stale in the humid air.
----
----
Sunny traced mindless patterns on J’onn’s chest while she waited for him to recover. He often had difficulties verbalizing after they were intimate, though she certainly had no troubles feeling his emotions with how powerfully he projected them at her.
Sitting up to stretch and perhaps eat another quiche, she noticed the two earring boxes sitting side by side on the picnic blanket.
“Oh! I didn’t even put these on.”
J’onn matched her posture and reached out to take his gift. He then gently pushed the earrings into his lobes which easily gave way to the metal intruder. Sunny huffed faux-sarcastically.
“Lucky you’re a shapeshifter, huh? When I got my ears pierced as a kid I cried like a baby.”
J’onn cocked his head to the side, brow downturned.
“It hurts?” His voice was ragged.
“Only for a second, really. Technically not at all if they’re skilled at it. Unfortunately I got mine done in some tweeny-bop jewelry store where the girl was, like, sixteen. She used this crazy gun thing bigger than her arm. Any kid would cry seeing that.”
She pushed her own earrings in as she spoke before clipping on the back and smiling up at her boyfriend.
“There, now we match!”
He reached out and ran a thumb across her adorned lobe. In the soft light of the greenhouse the red accessory glittered and shone.
“We do, and I hope everyone notices.”
Sunny preened, “Well, happy Valentine’s day. Probably should have said that earlier.”
“Happy Valentine’s day.” J’onn replied before pulling her close again for another kiss.
Once again the boxes sat abandoned, now empty of their contents but certainly full of love.