A couple of weeks ago, Aditus and I decided to try something different with the Friday prompt blog, and asked you to finish a story we started.  We ended up with a sweet story for Valentine's Day, actually two stories, which I will copy/paste below.  I really enjoyed reading what everyone came up with!  Let us know in the comments how you liked this new feature. Thank you to all who participated!  Even if you already read the comments in the Valentine's Day blog, be sure to check out the entire story for a surprise at the end.  

Story One 

Jason leaned against the stone wall and set his backpack down at his feet.  He smoothed out the crumpled map of the zoo and traced his finger across the labeled exhibits.  "Lions and tigers and bears... oh my, where are the freaking capybaras?  I swore they were just past the elephants," he muttered.  He'd been looking forward to seeing the renovated capybara exhibit for months.  "I think I took a wrong turn at the otter exhibit."  He yelped as another zoogoer suddenly slammed into him, tearing his map.  "What the hell?" 

In front of Jason stood someone in a gigantic plush penguin costume, holding a heart-shaped balloon. "Is that a map? I need to find the penguin exhibit."

Jason let his gaze wander up and down the guy. "Obviously."  Then he looked at the pink balloon. "Hot Valentine date?"

The penguin shook his head. "I'm on a treasure hunt, so if you see people running around in animal costumes, that's us." He passed Jason the pink ribbon with the bobbing balloon. "Happy Valentine's Day."

“You mean to tell me that a person holding a torn map was part of your treasure hunt?" Jason questioned as he took the balloon without thinking. 

"No, just a person holding a map," the penguin guy responded. His free hand gripped a clipboard, which he handed over for Jason to see.

Jason immediately looked at the checklist. A child with a painted butterfly on their cheek, a mother with more than one child, a person holding a map... "Oh, I guess I am part of the treasure hunt," he mused aloud.

Jason's eyes widened, however, when he saw the next line of the treasure hunt. A person perusing the renovated capybara exhibit. "Wait, if you help me get to the capybara exhibit, I'll help you hunt someone down for the next checkbox!"

The penguin man held out his hand in agreement, and said, "Deal."

Jason took the offered hand with a pleased grin. "I'm Jason."

"Adam," the penguin man said. "So, what are capybaras and why do you wanna find them?"

"Capybaras are the largest living rodent in South America and I haven't seen one since I was a foreign exchange student in Brazil,"  Jason replied.  "It was the family pet and was the size of a St. Bernard dog, but it was a really friendly and loving pet, and I was just thinking about it, since it's Valentine's Day!  Some of the other kids were cruel and called it a 'rat-pig', but I loved Adriano.  That was the capybaras name."  

Jason scanned the Penguin suit for what it might reveal. "Are you a King Penguin," he asked "or maybe a little bit Queenie?"

"You'll have to come with me to the Capybaras enclosure to find out. And remember it's Valentine's Day."

"But what about your treasure hunt?"

“Oh, I think that will end when you see the hidden treasure that I have in the Capybaras enclosure. I'm quite sure of that.

You will enjoy It on Valentines Day, tomorrow and till the end of time.”

"Where did you get the list for the treasure hunt?" Jason asked Adam, examining the penguin costume.

"Our group has a small subcommittee which makes up the list," Adam replied.  "Ervin and Christopher have expansive imaginations.  Preston adds unusual touches to the lists, and Vicky helps keep things reasonable -- or as reasonable as possible, considering the lists which are made."

"So you have both males and females in your group."

"Not at present," Adam replied.  "Vicky --  V I C K Y -- is the nickname of Victor."

"I'm not into dressing up like some animal and I'm not into that whole furry thing," Jason said, "but putting that aside, your group sounds quite interesting." 

"It is," Adam replied, "and we do a whole bunch of different things.  We also have a great time together." 

"Then how does someone join this group?" 

"Well, you have to be invited by a member, but if you're interested, I can take care of that." 

"Yeah, sure.  I'd like that a lot.”

"Great!  The capybaras are this way."  Adam pointed a flipper to his left.  They walked a short distance, past the mountain goats, and then stood in front of the capybara enclosure.  Two of the giant rodents basked in a pond, while others stood nearby, munching on grass.  Adam smiled, touched by the look of pure joy on Jason's face as he watched the creatures float and eat.  

"So, what's this hidden treasure you mentioned?  Nothing jumps out at me," Jason stated, as he looked around the exhibit.  

"Uh... I kind of... lied about that. Sorry." Adam bowed his penguin head.  

"Oh."

"OK, I had this dumb thought that I would ask you to dinner and that would be the hidden treasure, but then it sounded stupid so I decided not to.  It's not like we won't see each other again because you want to join the group.  Right?" Adam spoke rapidly, a glimmer of hope in his voice at the end. 

"If that's your attempt to ask me out, then the answer is yes.  As long as you don't wear the penguin outfit.  I like penguins, but not that much." 

Adam laughed.  "It's a date.  And I promise not to wear the penguin costume."  

"Or any other animal costumes?" Jason raised an eyebrow. 

"Fine.  No other animals, either. Now, let's get a selfie together with the capybaras." 

 

 

Story Two

Jason leaned against the stone wall and set his backpack down at his feet.  He smoothed out the crumpled map of the zoo and traced his finger across the labeled exhibits.  "Lions and tigers and bears... oh my, where are the freaking capybaras?  I swore they were just past the elephants," he muttered.  He'd been looking forward to seeing the renovated capybara exhibit for months.  "I think I took a wrong turn at the otter exhibit."  He yelped as another zoogoer suddenly slammed into him, tearing his map.  "What the hell?"  

“Why weren’t you—”  Jason started a good rant and stopped it abruptly.  Jason knew he wasn’t short, standing just under 6 feet, but as he started to raise up from the half-crouch he had unintentionally gone into and started to look at the guy that ran into him, realizing he was staring at the middle of the guy’s chest.  A very wide, very muscular chest.  As he stood up to his full height he realized he still had to look up several inches to see the guy’s eyes.  The most gorgeous green eyes he had ever seen… but set in a face that had the saddest, most lost, haunted expression he had ever seen on anyone’s face.

The guy lowered his head and stared at the ground as he almost whispered, “I am so, so sorry I ran into you and tore your map.  Please take mine, I’m gonna leave now anyway.”  The guy handed Jason his map and turned to leave, head still bowed and staring at the ground.

Jason took a few quick steps and put his hand on the guy’s bicep (fuck, they couldn’t be any bigger or more muscled if the guy lived at the gym, Jason thought).

Jason gently put his index finger under the guy’s chin and brought his face up so he could look into his eyes again.

“Why don’t we go to that bench over there and sit down for a minute and talk, ok?”

“You don’t have to do that, it looked like you were heading somewhere else.  You should just go on and enjoy your day while I leave to go back home,” the guy said.

Jason shook his head slowly and said “No, we’re going over to that bench and chat a bit, ok?”  Jason gently took the guy’s elbow and guided him over to the bench where they both sat down.  “Now, the first thing you are going to do is tell me your name.  Calling you ‘Hey, You’ or ‘Hey, Guy’ is not acceptable, but if you do refuse to tell me your name I’m not above doing it,” Jason said with a small grin.

“Ok, ok, I’ll tell you… my name is Aiden,” the guy said.

“Cool, Aiden, I’m Jason.  Now that we are making headway, do you want to tell me why you tried to tackle me like you were going for a goal and I was in the way?” Jason asked with another grin.

Aiden seemed to slump down and make himself as small as he could–almost as if he was afraid he was going to be hurt–but he did answer.  “I was at the entrance to the capybara exhibit and I saw someone I used to know–I wasn’t ready to see them again and I ran.”

Jason noticed the body posture changing and wondered what this big, muscled, six foot three or four hunk was afraid of at the zoo, but decided to try and take things slow.  “Wow, Aiden, what a coincidence, that is where I was heading to.”

“Ah… ok, I can give you directions to the exhibit from here and you can get going while I head home,” Aiden took his next stab at leaving.

Jason looked at Aiden and realized that there was no way he was going to leave the guy alone, not after seeing the expressions on his face.  He wasn’t sure just how, but he instinctively knew this guy needed someone to talk to.

“Instead of you going home, why don’t you take me to your car and we can go to a little coffee and chocolate place I know and have something decadent to drink… and maybe talk about why you are so sad?” Jason asked hopefully, knowing it was going to be a hard sell.

“But you’ll have to leave your car here and… and…” Aiden started.

“Not to worry, I took the bus today, and the coffee shop is off one of the stops on my way home, so do you want to try your next excuse?” Jason asked with a grin.

Aiden shook his head with a half-hearted grin.  “Ok, we can go to my car and head to this chocolate and coffee shop of yours… but I’m not promising anything about talking.  I do have to say, the way you’ve built it up I hope I’m not disappointed.”

“Ok, let’s head out,” Jason said happily.  “And you, Mr. Doubting Thomas, should know that this place sells the most amazing drinking chocolate laced with espresso beans that you will ever have.  It is guarantee to do either one of two things–ease the saddest heart or keep you up for a couple of days… in fact, from personal experience, I know that if you indulge in several it can do both!” Jason said.  He also whispered, “It can also loosen the most reluctant of tongues.”

Aiden had to shake his head and laugh, “Ok, let’s get going.”

“Sounds good.  And maybe sometime we can come back together and visit the capybaras.  I hear they may be lonely without more people coming to say hi.”

Aiden looked over with his first real smile of the day and said, “Maybe…”

Then he whispered, almost to himself, “I’m so glad I ran into you.”