Oh my gosh I'm so late XD it took four days to finish because I'm that slow at writing.

Anyways, enjoy!

Oswald was having a bit of a long day, to be entirely honest. Though it was Valentine's Day, his mayoral duties persisted and gave him little chance for time alone. Besides that, he hadn't even heard from Edward all day, and had only scarcely seen him the day before. As such, spending time with his boyfriend of three weeks wasn't a very likely option. That was probably the only thing really weighing on him, come to think of it. They had only recently found out that their love for one another was mutual, so being alone on the day of love itself was a bitter blow.

This is why Oswald was overjoyed when Edward called him.

"Ed!?" Oswald asked a bit too excitedly.

"I don't have much time to talk," Edward explained quickly. "When you come back to the mansion, would you mind checking my room for something?"

Oswald was a bit confused, but answered, "Of course not. What is it that-" but Edward hung up before he could continue, without explaining what he should be looking for, exactly.

But at least it was a sign that Oswald would be seeing him at some point that day. It was a great relief when he quickly wrapped up his duties for the day and was allowed to rush home. He practically ran inside when he arrived, but the mansion was still and quiet. He called out, but there was no answer.

He was abruptly concerned about what Ed's surprise was. As he inched his way up the stairs, cursing his bad leg, he imagined the obvious reasons of why Ed would want him in his bedroom. He felt that it was too early in their relationship to be "intimate", but maybe Ed had other ideas? Oswald blushed as he slowly opened the door to Edward's bedroom.

And he breathed out heavily in a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure how he would have handled the situation if his worries had been correct. But he brushed that off and looked around the room for something that Ed might have meant. It would probably be something relatively obvious...like a green envelope with a purple question mark on it, propped up on the pillow. That was probably what Edward wanted him to find. So he opened it up, pulled out a letter, and read:

It has keys but no locks,

And feet with no socks.

Find the next note here.

A freaking riddle. Oswald couldn't have been happier.

Luckily he had heard a similar riddle before, and was fairly confident that the answer was a piano. Since there was no piano in the room, the only obvious solution would be to look for a clue on the actual piano. So he hobbled down the stairs and into the room where it was kept. At first glance it seemed almost untouched, but when he began to look around he soon found a red envelope. He opened it and read the letter inside.

Having fun yet?

Little Nancy Etticoat

In a white petticoat,

And a red nose.

The longer she stands,

the shorter she grows.

A petticoat? This riddle seemed much more difficult than the last, so Oswald had to sit and think for a moment. He took the riddle by pieces. She grows shorter over time...it must have been a candle! The first part must have been meant somewhat as a diversion. Maybe the riddles would continue to get harder.

In any case, Edward must have been planning this treasure hunt of sorts for a long time. A few days earlier he bought what seemed like a dozen candles or more, and after Oswald began to remember it, he could remember Edward talking about them a great deal. So maybe the riddle shouldn't have been so difficult. If he had simply paid attention he would have gotten it straight away. In any case, it only took him a minute to find the exact spot where Ed had placed them before.

There was only one candle now, and it was lit. It had been lit for some time, it seemed, since there were long trails of melted wax down its sides and gathering around its base. But at its base was another card, green and purple like the first one. Oswald was a bit overly excited as he unstuck the candle from the envelope and read the next letter:

I light another candle; dry the tears from my face...

Oswald stared at the paper for a minute. Was that it? The whole trail was leading up to a simple song lyric? No, it must have been another riddle. If so, it didn't quite match the difficulty of the last. But the Penguin raced off to the other room anyways to find the record player. When he got there it was already playing, very quietly. It was the song his mother would sing to him before bed every night...and the song that Ed had played for him when he was at his lowest.

Oswald wasn't sure when exactly the song had turned into his and Ed's, but as he listened to it he had only memories of when they were bonding over murder all those months ago. Memories of warm nights spent cuddled up next to his mother were growing fainter, while Edward was a constantly recurring face in his life. He would always remember and love his mother...but it felt good to have someone new he could depend on and turn to, and love whole-heartedly.

It was a moment before Oswald realized that he was tearing up. He dried his eyes on his sleeve and picked up an envelope next to the record player to read the letter inside.

A memory frozen in time and place,

Check your bedroom for a familiar face.

The stairs quickly started to hurt his leg, but he did his best to ignore it in his excitement. He opened the door and noticed that once again everything seemed almost untouched at first glance. But it took him only a moment to piece together the riddle, and notice two new picture frames lying face-down on his dresser. He walked over and picked one up, and almost dropped it just as quickly in shock.

It was a picture of his parents when they were younger. He could hardly recognize them; they both seemed so young and full of life and...happy. Simply happy to be together. It was hard to guess how old they were, and even harder to guess where the picture took place. Just seeing the two of them together, smiling at each other with love and affection, was enough to bring tears to his eyes yet again. How many Valentine's Days did they miss, simply because their parents disapproved of the match?

"Would you approve of Edward, Mother?" Oswald whispered in a shaky voice. "Would you, Father?"

There was no answer. But one last glimpse at their smiling faces and he was convinced that no matter what they thought of Ed, they would want him to be happy. They would want him to chase after the love of his life, and never let them go. Neither of them would ever dare to keep him from his one true love.

If it was a woman his mother would certainly have some choice words for him about it, but that was hardly relevant now.

He picked up the other frame and found the next note.

The same riddle as before

But hard at its core.

Find it on the basement floor.

Edward sure loved to send him up and down the stairs, it would seem. When he clicked on the basement light, it was immediately obvious that the answer was a statue. Specifically, the statue of his mother. It was the one that Butch had so ruthlessly ordered to be beheaded, which was now sitting in the basement where Oswald wouldn't have to be constantly reminded of his twice-murdered mother.

But when he found the statue he was shocked, once again, to find that the statue was partially fixed: the head was pasted on and one of her favorite scarves was wrapped around the neck to hide the line where her head had broken off. She was holding the next note in one of her hands.

You use it for work,

But most often to eat.

Look here for your final treat.

Of course he ate at the kitchen table, and often used it for meetings and such...but that was too simple. But it was his best guess, so he limped slowly up the stairs as he pondered the riddle, making sure he was correct. It would seem that the kitchen table was an excellent guess.

He walked into the somewhat dark room, and the first thing he noticed was an amazing smell. It reminded him of his childhood, of cold days when he would come home from school tired and depressed, and more than a little angry about one thing or another that had happened; but his mother would greet him with a warm hug and a smile, and he would sit down to a supper of her delicious home-made goulash.

Then his ears picked up the music that was playing: the same song as before. His mother's song...that they now shared with Edward. Just as he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by a flood of memories and tears started to gather in his eyes again, Ed struck a match and lit some candles on the table.

"Surprise!" he said cheerfully, though the tall man seemed a bit nervous at the same time.

Oswald's jaw dropped in shock. He was almost speechless. "Ed, wh-what is this!?"

"This," Ed explained, "is what I've spent all day preparing and putting together just for you!"

Oswald chuckled. "But what is all of this?"

Edward began to describe the scene as he pointed out the various things around the room and on the table, "It took some work but with some help I managed to move the piano here as soon as you left the room, I bought some candles for a romantic dinner, the record player with your favorite lullaby playing, the picture of your parents that I managed to track down after a bit of digging around, and I also tracked down the recipe for your mother's goulash.

"I remember you talking about it once, and how you could never seem to get the recipe right yourself. Of course I love cooking, so I made several different variations of the recipe to see which you liked the most. It took the better part of the day, but I really wanted to make it as special as possible for you."

"Wow," Oswald said, breathless in amazement. "Ed this is just-"

"Oh! I also have a chess set if you would like to play after. I seem to recall that you spent most of the time with your father playing chess and such," Oswald said excitedly.

Now Oswald was completely at a loss for words. The food smelled absolutely heavenly, the music stirred up his memories and brought a tear to his eye, and knowing that Edward had gone so far and dedicated so much of his time to making the day perfect for Oswald...words simply couldn't describe how he felt. So he ran forward as best he could and embraced Edward, squeezing his eyes shut and holding him tight.

"Thank you," He whispered, completely overjoyed. "This is the best Valentine's Day ever."

Ed hugged him back just as tightly, and rested his chin on his head. "But you haven't even seen next years' surprise yet."

Oswald pulled back just enough to kiss him tenderly on the lips, then said, "You didn't have to do all of this though. I didn't even think to get you anything."

"Seeing you so happy is a gift in itself, the best gift you could give me," Edward said softly. "Plus you solved all of my riddles; that was a lot of fun for me."

"They were much too easy, I'm a bit disappointed," Oswald teased.

Ed narrowed his eyes. "Then I suppose I will have to step up my game next time. I will stump you at some point. Are you certain you weren't cheating?"

"Yes," Oswald laughed, kissing him again. "But you are much smarter than me, Mister Nygma. You will outsmart me, I'm sure."

Ed smiled then, clearly delighted at the idea of a battle of wits to come. Maybe he could prove himself in chess later. Maybe he was over thinking things.

"Let's eat then," Oswald said with a giddy smile.

"Right, of course," Ed answered.

Again, sorry I was late everybody! XD I started writing this Monday morning and I just finished it now...writing is time-consuming! Anyways thanks for the reads and let me know what you thought of the chapter. And don't forget to vote if you liked it, keep an eye out for updates, and let me know what you want to see next!