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Billy stirred awake at the sound of a strange noise. His eyes fluttered open to reveal brown orbs, and he furrowed his brow sleepily. With a deep exhale, he rolled onto his back and stretched. Instinctively, he reached over to the other side of the bed. To his dismay, he came up empty, and he frowned in both disappointment and confusion.
What time was it? Had he slept in?
To answer his questions, he rolled back around to reach for his phone on the bedside table. When the screen lit up, in big numbers the time read: 8:17AM.
“What the hell?”
His usual alarm to wake up was supposed to go off almost an hour. It always went off. Did he forget to set it? No. Unless….
He sighed in exasperation.
Y/N. What was she doing up so early?
It was then that he became fully aware of the sounds coming from downstairs. He perked up his ears and couldn’t help but smile when he recognized what it was.
Music. Your music to be exact, and he could tell that you were singing along to it like you always did, and probably dancing to it too.
There was a clatter, followed by a string of curses. Billy couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the sound.
He sat up, and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. Luckily he didn’t have to work today, since you had insisted that he take the day off. It was crazy for him, considering that he was the owner of a major company, and never stopped working for anything. But he just couldn’t say no to you. Especially not when you were so stubborn.
Still, considering what the day was, he was wary of anything you had planned for the day. It wasn’t like you to be up before him, especially not this early in the day. You hated waking up early and usually he had to bring you a cup of coffee to bed to wake you up.
So, this was basically a miracle.
He got out of bed, brushed his teeth, and splashed his face with cold water before slipping on some sweatpants. Following the music, he headed out the bedroom, already having the idea of sneaking up on you from behind, but it seems you had it planned so it was the other way around.
He didn’t even make it past the top of the steps before stopping dead in his tracks.
There was black and gold streamers, twisted around and down the railing of the stairs. When he looked down at the steps themselves, they were littered with confetti made up of party hats and birthday cakes of the same color scheme.
It was definitely not something he expected to see in the morning.
Slowly and hesitantly, he went down the steps. When he reached the bottom, his eyes widened at the sight of the living room.
It’s usual pristine and well organized facade was now decorated from head to toe in black and gold decorations. Balloons littered the floor and were taped to the walls that were lined with streamers. Decorations that swirled down, hung from the ceiling in an even array, and confetti was spilled over the coffee table. Above the television was a large letter banner that read:
Happy Birthday Billy!
He looked at everything in child-like disbelief and awe, his eyes never knowing where to land from how much was going on. All he could do was smile like an idiot. The change of song and your moving figure in the kitchen ahead of him, tore his gaze away. You were wearing just a t-shirt and panties, and the way you were swaying your hips had Billy biting his lip.
“Ain’t got no tears left to cryyy,” you sang along to Ariana Grande’s voice.
With a smirk he made his way closer to the kitchen and then leaned against the wall at it’s entrance. He noticed that there were a few more decorations there too.
When you didn’t notice him, and kept on with your business, he finally said, “Sometimes I wonder if you do this to me on purpose.”
You gasped, almost dropping the plate full of French Toast (his favorite) that was in your hands.
“You’re awake!”
Your eyes were wide as you looked between him, the decorations, and the mess around you. Billy slowly made his way into the kitchen, towards you. You set the plate down on the kitchen island and turned off the music. When he was close, you wrapped your arms around his bare shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss. He snaked his arms around your waste and took in your scent.
“Happy birthday, baby,” you uttered into his ear.
He hummed into your shoulder, “Thanks, princess.”
He leaned away enough to look at you and smile. His attention went back to the entirety of the apartment. You looked at him expectantly.
“Ummm,” he started. “Is…all of this for me?”
You hummed, “Yeah. You’re the birthday boy after all. Although it was supposed to be more of a surprise.”
“Oh, I’m surprised.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah…I just..” he looked at you with a raised eyebrow and you knew the question that was there.
“I said ‘no parties’.”
“I know, don’t worry. There’s not going to be any party. Nobody’s coming over. It’s just going to be me and you today.”
He furrowed his brow, “Then what’s with the decorations? Don’t get me wrong - I love them, but don’t people usually do this for…well…parties?”
“Well, yeah, but…remember when you told me how much you hated your birthday?”
He nodded somberly, “Yeah.”
“And how growing up they were pretty shitty and that you never really celebrated with balloons and cake and all that?
“Yes.”
It was true. Most of his childhood was spent in foster homes and any attempt at celebrating his birthday was always shitty and on the off occasion that he got a gift, it would get stolen by one of the other kids. At the Ray of Hope group home it was already worse, and nobody cared enough to keep track of birthdays there. Since leaving, he did his best not to tell anyone about his birthday. He didn’t think it mattered anyway.
“Well….when you told me that, I decided that I wanted to give you at least one good birthday.”
Billy’s face softened, a softness that he only ever seemed to reserve for you. No trace was left of the intimidating ex-Marine who ran ANVIL. Right now, he was your Billy.
“My parents used to do this thing where they’d decorate the house on our birthdays even when we couldn’t afford to have an actual party. So I got the idea to buy as many decorations as I could find, dig up a great French toast recipe, and ordered a cake, which I have to pick up in a few hours. So it’s like a party, but a party for two.”
“And…you did all this yourself?” he asked in amazement.
“I miiight have had a little help from Karen, but for the most part - yes,” you smiled with pride, but then frowned, “It’s not too much isn’t it? Did I do too much? I-”
You were completely cut off when all of a sudden, your boyfriend took your face in his hands and crashed his lips against yours. When you got over the initial shock, you melted into him and let him kiss you with so much love that you felt it in your veins.
When you finally pulled apart, you smiled dazedly at each other.
“So, I’m guessing you like it?”
He chuckled, “It’s perfect.”
The smile on your face was enough to make him weak at the knees. Suddenly your eyes widened and you jumped from his grasp towards the counter.
“Breakfast!”
In a bowl you started cracking eggs and getting to work on scrambling them in a pan. Billy wasted no time in tearing off a piece of already made French toast and eating it while you weren’t looking.
When you finished making the food, the two of you sat side by side at the kitchen island.
“You know,” you said to Billy, “The plan was to wake you up and surprise you with breakfast in bed, but you woke up even after I turned off your alarm.”
“Which is sweet, but you forgot that I’m the morning person in this relationship. My body is basically programmed to wake up this early.”
You rolled your eyes. “I know. Fuck you for that. I hope you realize how hard it was for me to wake up early and do all this.”
He laughed, “I wish I was awake for that.”
“I bet you do, you asshole.”
“Hey, be nice to the birthday boy.”
You narrowed your eyes at him.
“Would it kill the birthday boy to say a simple ‘thank you’?”
He laughed breathily before leaning in closer to you and saying, “Thank you, Y/N. I mean it. I’m fucking lucky to have you in my life.”
Your own face softened and you reached over and cupped the side of his face with your hand. His beard prickled your palm, but it was soon replaced by a warm kiss.
“Yes, you are,” you said with a smirk.
He shook his head and kissed you on the lips.
“And I’m lucky to have you,” you added.
He sat back and in his chair. “So it’s really just going to be the two of us, today?”
“Yes. Well, we may or may not be having lunch with Frank and Karen, but other than that…you have me all to yourself.”
“Sounds fantastic,” he wiggled his eyebrows.
“And I’ll be giving you your gifts when we come back home.”
He perked up with intrigue. “Gifts? I hope one of them is you wearing nothing but a big red bow.”
You rolled your eyes but grinned, “Williaaammmm.”
“What?” he asked innocently.
You hopped off the stool and grabbed both of your plates to take them to the sink.
“No guessing,” you sang.