for @nataliarushmanﾟ✧*☆

• First things first: Chris 100% would’ve guessed that Beth wouldn’t be into Valentine’s Day, but he was pleasantly surprised to learn she thinks it’s cute and a fun excuse to do something a little extra special, just not anything outrageous. 
• That being said, the first Valentine’s Day they have in space once they’re /official/ is in the very middle of their long-ass trip, when it’s become kind of difficult (and useless) for them all to bother keeping track of exactly what day it is. Like they always know what month it is and generally what part of the month (beginning, end, y’know), but otherwise, eh. 
• And then one day Martinez teases them that it’s coming up and they just laugh, but later Chris and Beth challenge each other to come up with the dorkiest, most resourceful “we’re stuck in space and have nothing to celebrate with” gifts for each other. 
• So Beth spends a few days coding a silly little computer game for him. She draws a little cartoon Chris in an EVA suit, which is the player going through a maze. And he has to avoid getting zapped by an alien. And when he “wins” by making it to the end, a little cartoon Beth in her EVA suit pops up along with a bubble that says “you found me! (and I’m really fucking glad you did. xoxo)” 
• Chris thinks it’s the greatest fucking thing in the world and (after calling her a nerd) he plays it like six times while she just giggles next to him. And he basically exercises all the self-restraint he has to keep himself from showing everyone and parading through the ship yelling “I HAVE THE COOLEST GIRLFRIEND IN THE WORLD” 
• Chris clips off a bunch of Watney’s plants (he figures Mark would excuse this behavior given the intention) and tries to replicate a folded paper flower he remembers his sister making when he was like 10 (it looks like a giant blob but he tried, bless him). So basically it’s like a white paper flower on a stick with a bunch of fern leaves tied around it with a strip of fabric. And he ties a little card in the shape of a heart to it that says “you’re out of this world, valentine!” and she laughs so hard she cries and then kisses him stupid because it’s adorable 
• And also she steals a cup from the kitchen to act as a makeshift vase for the “flowers” on the desk next to her bed
• The next Valentine’s Day falls a little while after they get home. They land around Christmas, spend most of January doing medical/debrief/press stuff, and then take their beach trip sometime during the end of the month/beginning of February idk 
• So basically they’ve just moved Beth into Chris’s condo and they’re still mostly just relaxing and adjusting back to normal life and it’s actually really nice 
• They go out for dinner somewhere fun but not fancy, and when they get back Chris has a heart-shaped ice cream cake waiting for her in the freezer that just says “LUV U” on it (because ice cream is the actual only thing she loves more than him) and it’s kind of a joke but he knows she’ll legitimately be super excited about it 
• She screams “A WHOLE ENTIRE CAKE!!!” and then oops! they quickly end up christening the kitchen 
• She gives him tickets to a concert in Austin for the next weekend so they can take a lil roadtrip and do something new and fun together 
• And I feel like going forward their Valentine’s gifts for each other are always sort of funny and joke-y but always with an underlying really sweet intention (like she’ll sneak a heartfelt card into his bag for him to find during his lunch break at work or he’ll take one of her nerdy action figures and make it hold some flowers for her to find on the counter when she wakes up in the morning) 
• And once they have their daughter (their baby is a girl you can FIGHT ME on this) they still do nice things for each other but she’s their lil valentine and as she gets older their tradition becomes buying bunch of candy (like a BUNCH of candy) and eating chocolate with breakfast because she’s a kid and thinks that’s the COOLEST THING EVER 
• And I think that’s about all I’ve got folks 
• fin 

‘Make sure you’re not in here when this thing goes off.’

sorry, having a moment of these supernerds in love are too precious for my weak heart to handle 

Be careful out there. In space.