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It was on Artemis's 22nd birthday that Holly finally admitted to herself that she loved him and that their relationship could never be.
He was wide-eyed as he took in all of his friends and family standing around a cake that had precisely 22 candles on it. It wasn't truly his birthday, after all clones didn't have one. But it was his original date of birth, he supposed. Holly was reminded every time his birthday came around that he was actually three and a half years younger than he actually was due to their adventure to Hybras and the six months he'd been legally dead.
She didn't tell him until the 2nd anniversary of him coming back to life when she decided that living in heartache wasn't worth it.
And she was wide-eyed when he nodded and simply said, "I know."
Of course he knew. Of course he bloody knew.
"And?" She demanded.
"And the feeling is reciprocated."
Only Artemis Fowl would use the word reciprocated when describing his feelings. They were standing on a hill overlooking the ruined city of Dublin, because really, even the fairies hadn't completely rebuilt Haven yet.
She thought of birthdays and candles then. They had never properly talked about any of it. After he had regained his memories, he'd set to work with Foaly to try and replace the technology that had been destroyed with Opal. There hadn't been time for feelings. There hadn't been space for them.
"Artemis..."
"Yes?"
"I never got to properly tell you how happy I am that you're alive."
"I didn't think you needed to."
"I do. Because I just told you I love you. It's been two years since you came back and I'm only now telling you. I love you, Mud Boy." His response was to take her hand. "I love you and you're not going to live as long as I will and when you die for real I don't know how I'm going to live because six months without you was bad enough and--"
Artemis cut her off by pressing his lips to hers. When he pulled back his blue eyes were twinkling with mischief. "I suppose my elf-kissing days have been reset since this is a new body."
Holly let out a short bark of laughter and nodded, smiling when she pulled him back to her.