Envy's Duplex, The Hegemony Compound, Ribeirao Preto, Wednesday

[whenshewasnice]

There was a bouquet of roses on Envy's coffee table. Happy Valentine's Day to our Valentine. Some things just didn't seem to change

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[lockestheway]

And lo, there was a knock on her door.

Peter'd be lying if he said he had a lot of time, but he'd managed to wrestle an hour or so off his schedule.

He didn't have much of a gift. After the particular madness of Gideon, he wasn't sure she was really aching for one.

[whenshewasnice]

Not really.

Besides, she had a small mountain of gifts from fans waiting for her at the New York office. She just didn't know it yet.

When she came to the door and opened it, she looked more like a stylist's idea of a rock star beauty queen taking a day off than she did a normal person's real life version of the same. It was a thing that happened when your stats were the way hers were. (The robe helped. So did, possibly, her mostly-bare legs.) "Hello there."

[lockestheway]

"Happy birthday," Peter said, smiling. "Unless my calendar app got it horribly wrong, and I have to go drive a business into bankruptcy somewhere."

(He knew it wasn't wrong.)

[whenshewasnice]

"It didn't, and you don't."

And he knew he knew that. She stepped back, giving way.

"So come inside, and tell me happy birthday like you mean it."

[lockestheway]

Peter tugged his suit jacket off his shoulders as he stepped in - he hadn't had time to change, and rarely did. "Happy birthday, Envy," he said warmly. "I hope you're having a good one so far."

[whenshewasnice]

Envy closed the door behind him, then stole a kiss - even if it was just a quick peck on his cheek.

Taking the initiative, for once.

"I would say I am, yes."

[lockestheway]

Peter's mouth curved up at the touch of her lips. "I see you're being buried in a veritable mountain of gifts," he joked. "All I've got to offer is a delivery lunch from downtown."

[whenshewasnice]

"It saves me the trouble of an order of my own," Envy replied easily. "Well, depending on what it is. I'm not eating whatever on my birthday."

[lockestheway]

"It so happens to hail from our favorite steak restaurant," Peter said. "It felt apt."

[whenshewasnice]

"Aww, Peter, did you get me meat for my birthday?" Envy teased. "What a gentleman."

There was a dirty joke in there somewhere, left untouched.

[lockestheway]

"I would have gotten you the T-bone steak, but that felt crude," Peter said, wiggling his eyebrows as he sank down on the sofa.

[whenshewasnice]

"A slap-worthy offence, I'm sure," Envy drawled as she took her seat next to him. He wasn't that attached to his personal space anymore, right? Because she didn't leave him much of it.

[lockestheway]

No, not that attached.

Not when it was her, at least. In fact, he leaned into her.

"And I pride myself in only the most high-quality of dirty jokes," Peter said, "So I'm glad we got to avoid unpleasant slapping."

[whenshewasnice]

You know what? Envy was just going to go ahead and try and maneuver his arm around her shoulders. It was cozy, and she was bossy.

"As opposed to pleasant slapping," she said, affecting just the slightest hint of that phone sex operator-y voice that could make men like Scott Pilgrim tremble. It went with the joke.

[lockestheway]

"As opposed to that," Peter said, letting her maneuver him with some amusement. "But I feel like it's early for those kinds of pleasantries."

He kissed her cheek. The phone sex voice demanded it.

[whenshewasnice]

That was about the sweetest reaction the voice had ever incited. Envy draped his arm around her shoulders, leaning against his side.

"Early in the day or early in... this?"

Whatever this was.