Birthday Special

Sorry for the late chapter, It's for a good reason!

So since yesterday (the 29th) was my birthday, I wanted to write self-indulgent fluff with my best boy,,, You can think of this as a continuation to my first story or it's own part. Also, I very clearly hint at nsfw at the end, just warning you.

There was still a rough spot between (y/n) and Naib, and Emily. They decided to not tell anyone about finally deciding what their relationship would be, though they were sure enough people could tell. They wouldn't be affectionate unless they were alone, but Naib had a bad habit of messing with her in matches, causing playful banter between the two until something happened for them to no longer be distracted. Some of the more attentive survivors would notice their passing glances between each other, just waiting to be alone together. Everyone noticed how much happier the two were, even if they didn't know what was going on between them. Emily eventually apologized, and they were happy to accept. Everything was great.

As (y/n) woke, she realized she was alone. This wasn't normal. No matter who's room they ended falling asleep in, they would always stay together. So for her to be waking up in his bed, alone, worried her slightly. It was still early; too early for her to be awake, but she got up anyways, with a purpose to find Naib. Three steps out of his room, and she was greeted by Eli.

"Eli, where is Naib?" She questioned

"I don't know, he may be in the garden, why don't you check there?"

She sighed, not wanting to walk everywhere this early in the morning, but went ahead to look for him. On her way to the garden, she realized she never checked her match schedule, and after making a quick detour to the match board, she was surprised to see her name nowhere on the board. She checked for Naib's name as well, only seeing him once, right after breakfast. She started again to the garden, bumping into a few others that greeted her. Before she could make it to the garden, Emma came up to her to strike up a conversation.

"Good morning, (y/n)! How did you sleep?"

"Good morning, Emma, I slept alright, how about you?"

Emma replied with a complaint about her lack of sleep, though she still seemed cheerful, and trapped her in a conversation about her weird dreams. After discussing dreams for a moment, Emma changed the subject to her plants, leading (y/n) to her newly planted herb garden, just in time for the coming winter, then she led her to her winter blooming plants. Snowdrops in one area, pansies in another, and in the center of her garden, Emma's pride and joy, Camellias. They 'ooh'-ed and 'ah'-ed over the beautiful pink blooms until Emily came to get them for breakfast. She noted on her way out that Naib wasn't in the garden, though she could've missed him on her way. Her forgotten search was soon unnecessary as she sat next to him at the dining table. They whispered good morning to each other and began to eat, holding hands underneath the table for a moment, Naib using this moment to silently apologize for leaving her alone. As they finished their meal, their hands separated, and they had to part again, she began to clean up while Naib left for his only match. She was stopped from cleaning as soon as she started, being told she was needed elsewhere. She was confused as to why everyone was acting so weird, but didn't question it and headed to where she was requested to go. Heading to the library, she walked inside and was met by a few survivors and hunters. Martha and Patricia as well as Michiko and Mary were waiting for her. They seemed to be in a disagreement. Before anyone realized she was there, the disagreement turned into harsh yelling. It seemed to be a fight between Martha and Mary, whereas the other two were pulled into it trying to calm them down. Only when Martha and Mary took a step closer to each other did she make herself known.

"You two, stop. What is going on?" She got in between them, causing them to step back. Taking their eyes off of each other seemed to help, as once they got out of the range of the other, they calmed down. The matter dulled down as neither wanted to explain the beginnings of their squabble, only apologizing for their behavior. That was until Martha accused (y/n).

"We shouldn't have to listen to you!" The sudden finger pointed at her face made (y/n) take a step back. "She's been hiding something, can't you see it?" While it was true that she was not telling the others the truth of her personal life, she didn't owe them an explanation, especially if her secret isn't hurting anyone else. Martha's statement earned her harsh glares from around the room. No one had ever had much against (y/n), and to be wildly accusing her of something unclear to anyone was uncalled for in their minds.

"Just take a break, Martha," Patricia interjected, calm as ever, "you're worked up, I wouldn't say anything else if I were you." Martha huffed and stayed with her arms crossed, staring down the accused girl.

"I'll leave when she admits that she's hiding something." Of course Martha would make things difficult for everyone. By this time, (y/n) could've been doing much better with her day. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she gave in.

"Yeah, I'm hiding something. It's my personal life, why do you care so much?" Martha ignored her last statement and kept pushing, but the others shut her down pretty quickly. As Patricia dragged a fuming Martha out of the room, the hunters apologized, and though Mary was still angry, she didn't blame anything on her; she left. Michiko stayed with her to comfort her, even if she wasn't affected by Martha's actions.

"Would you like to talk about it? Your secret, I mean." The woman in the kimono offered, then explained why. "It isn't good to carry a secret alone, I wouldn't want you to have to feel alone." As she finished her heart-felt sentence, the other girl giggled, confusing Michiko.

"It's nothing like that, Miss Michiko." Her giggles subsided after a moment, and she decided to continue on. "I'm," She realized this would be the first time to openly reveal her relationship to someone, but she didn't linger on the thought for long. "I'm dating Naib, that's what I've been hiding." The gasp the woman in front of her emitted caused three heads to pop into the room. "But we're trying to keep it quiet! Please don't tell anyone." She quickly added as the people they attracted came to join their conversation. Joseph wanted to see if you two were alright, but the others just left, no longer interested once they became quiet.

"Are you talking about (y/n) and the mercenary?" Joseph questioned while sitting next to Michiko on the couch. They turned their heads towards him, wondering how he knew. Without words from the other party, he realized the questions they were projecting. "In the camera dimension I created at the beginning of one of our matches, " he directed his attention to (y/n), then continued, "it was a cute sight, really. Frozen in time, you being held up and spun around in his arms." He sighed, taking in her reaction; the beginnings of a bright blush bloomed around her cheeks, and, even if she tried, she couldn't hide her smile. Her innocence reminded him of when he was a child, and his brother; it gave him a better understanding of her. Unconsciously, he pat her head. "You two are great together, I've noticed how much happier he is." His words created more chaos in the mind of the young survivor.

"Thanks, Dad!" She tried to retaliate sarcastically, though nothing she said could be taken seriously with the lovestruck look on her face. He smiled at first, then realized what she called him.

"I am not that old."

"You're right, I should be saying 'Thanks, Grandpa!'" She and Michiko shared a heartfelt laugh while the photographer huffed indignantly. Their laughs subsided as they delved deeper into conversations about love and past loves, then switched topics multiple times until Michiko was called to a match. (y/n) was going to leave to begin again her search for her lover, when Joseph stopped her.

"The mercenary is dangerous, I would be careful." She would've gotten mad right then and there, but his opinion was so similar to that of Emily's that she wanted to know why they thought that. Clearly, they didn't know him as well as she did. Joseph explained to her how, though he may seem like the perfect man for her, he could change in an instant. She explained to him that he would never do anything to hurt anyone, especially not her. She enlightened him on what she's seen of him, without exposing his secrets. As she tried to explain how he wasn't at all bad like the others thought, a memory flashed through her mind.

It was the middle of the night, and no one predicted the storm that rolled through. Normally, light storms helped her sleep, but this was no normal storm. Unpredictable, rapid flashes of light with louder-than-life bellows from the sky made the whole manor shake. Though most people didn't wake up from this, she did. It was a good thing she did. (y/n) thought that she needed water or tea to help her fall back asleep, so she began to head down to the kitchen. Wrapped in her blanket, she dragged herself out of her door and down the hall until a light whimper drifted to her ears. The source, Naib's room. Knocking once, the door opened at her touch. When the door opened, her eyes caught the mercenary in a corner. At first, he was balled up so tight, she though he was a pile of his clothes, until she noticed his slight rocking back and forth. She softly walked over to him, careful not to startle him.

"Naib, " She carefully put a hand to his shoulder, "are you ok?" There was no reply, but when a crash of thunder invaded their ears, he yelped and pulled himself in closer, though he was already as small as he could make himself. She draped her blanket around his shoulders and gently grabbed his wrists to pull his hands away from the sides of his head. "Hey, it's ok. Nothing can hurt you here." His wide, tear-filled eyes bore into hers, but he didn't say a word. She continued to whisper comforting words to him to calm him from the sudden attack he had. As the thunder died down to mellow rumbles, so did his cries. He didn't want to open his eyes. As she understood this, she lifted him up as well as she could without his help, and guided him to his bed, supporting most of his weight. He was comfortable in bed; she thought he was already asleep. She turned to leave, but was suddenly stopped by a firm, but still gentle, grip on her wrist, he faced her, but avoided looking in her eyes.

"Thanks." He said, quieter than the rain pattering on the ground. "Please, don't tell anyone about this." After she nodded and left, he snuggled closer into her blanket.

Of course she would never break this promise, especially not to Joseph. So she stopped talking for a moment, reliving the memory in sweet bliss. He could tell she was thinking of him, as she had the same look on her face when he mentioned the mercenary earlier. He was trying to smirk pointedly, but her genuine smile caused his face to contort into an approving smile rather than what he was going for. He left her to find Naib. After struggling so much earlier in the morning, she decided to take a different approach to finding him. She talked more than she would've liked to today, and was suspecting that had to do with the fact that she hasn't spent any time with her boyfriend, though she gave so much effort towards looking for him. She now became determined to find him. She spent a few hours in the library, the fight between Mary and Martha and her conversation took up the entirety of the time between breakfast and well past lunch. The time was 1:30, and she had yet to spend any time with the only person she wanted to spend time with. She walked to his room with a purpose, but she didn't find him there. She looked in her room, nothing. As she headed to the kitchen, she bumped into Aesop who, even though he didn't like many other people, tried his best to talk to her and use the opportunity to thank her for the many things she has done for the others recently. She didn't know what he was talking about. She was always as helpful as she could be to the others, and even the hunters, so why was he thanking her for something she's always done? Suspicion started to overcome her, and she was thrust back into another memory.

The crunch of the snow beneath her feet and the cold nipping at every piece of exposed skin filled her senses. There was only one cipher left, and she knew that one was already partially decoded, the problem was she didn't know where it was. The mechanic had been sent to the manor long before this point, and the perfumer was chaired and almost out of time. The mercenary tried to rescue her, but came too late and took a hit as the consequence. (y/n) was full health and decoding alone. She figured Naib was kiting, so she made sure to let him know of her cipher machine status as many times as possible, as to keep him motivated and decrease confusion as to when the cipher machine would be popped. She knew he was tired, after rescuing the mechanic twice and the perfumer once, and non stop running from the hunter he needed a break. Finally, her shout cleared the air.

"Cipher Machine Primed!"

She waited. Nothing was happening, no hit to incapacitate him, no sound of the hunter near her, only silence except for the wind. She was wishing for some kind of sign from him. She wanted to know if he was ok, or at least still kiting. Even the hunter would be tired at this point, right? She was so lost in her thoughts and worries that she failed to hear her heartbeat louden; she failed to hear the soft crunch in the snow behind her. A scream emitted from her lips as she was abruptly grabbed and lifted from her spot. The presence behind her that she couldn't see didn't feel dangerous. That's when she realized that it was Naib that had her trapped. She playfully struggled out of his arms, but he wouldn't let go. The sound of their heartbeats was from the nearby hunter, but he just smiled at their lively antics as he continued to rest. When the mercenary finally decided to put her down, he earned a soft slap on the back of the head, and after being lightly scolded, they popped the cipher and walked to the exit gate together, at that point still unaware of how much they loved each other.

After her conversation with Aesop, he reluctantly asked her to help him. An hour later, they finished. Once again distracted from her original task, (y/n) set herself straight and started once more. In her desperation to just lock eyes with Naib, she didn't realize how hungry she became. She stopped by the kitchen once more, to look for food and Naib. He was in the kitchen, and he was messy. He didn't notice her; he was too busy trying to clean up spilt flour off of the countertop. She took a subtle step towards him, then another, then another. She positioned herself to where she was as close as possible to him without him noticing.

"Watcha doing, Naib~" She purred softly, right next to his ear. He jumped ten feet in the air.

"Gah! What are you doing here?" Barely regaining his composure, he began to question her, as if she wasn't supposed to be there. She countered childishly.

"I asked you first! I'll tell you if you tell me what you're doing!" Her hands snaked around his waist as she continued to hug him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder. Heat rose to his face. He began to stammer out his answer, his plans being ruined.

"I only just found out about today, I'm sorry. I tried to get everyone to distract you so that I could make something nice for you," the look of confusion that took over (y/n)'s face stopped him.

"What's today?" She questioned.

"Your birthday?" He wondered if she really did forget, or he got it wrong. He thought it must've been the former, as he triple-checked the date when he learned. She gasped in delight when he explained.

"You did all of this for me." She gestured to the mess in the kitchen, but her genuine happiness outdid her worry for the mess. He nodded sheepishly and moved to where he would be facing her. Embracing each other in a tight hug, she whispered in his ear. "I don't want all this, all I wanted was to be with you." Ignoring the fact that she forgot her own birthday, instead revealing her true desire to him. He lifted her off of the ground, and she gave him a small yelp when he spun her around. She expected him to set her down after that; he did not. Instead, he held her close to his chest, while her legs wrapped around his waist, and gently pushed her back into the wall behind her. He brought his lips to her ear,

"Let's spend some time together, then." His words brought a shiver to her spine. He continued to carry her to his room, to his bed, gently laid her on the bed, and put his arm above her, effectively trapping her in this position. The door was locked. Once again, he brought his lips to her ear, stopping by her neck, and purred.

"Happy birthday, (y/n)."

Word Count: 3105

A/N: I wanted to write so much more, but I ran out of time! I'm so sorry, and I'm sorry I write so much for Naib, I can't help it. The next chapter (which will be a poll of sorts) is super important, and I really need your opinion on it^^ I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful day!