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Ambrosius thought he'd done fairly well when Nimona found them again. Yes, he'd had a panic attack, but it had only been a few months after the fight; he'd still been having at least three panic attacks a week, whenever someone came up too quickly on his blind side or he heard something that sounded too much like the crunch his armor had made. He hadn't gone for his sword, and Ballister had been able to calm him down, and then they'd even had an incredibly tense meal together before Nimona left and Ambrosius had a breakdown in the shower. So, overall, a success.
He wasn't sure he and Nimona would ever be great friends, but things had gotten better in the months since. It had been over a month since Nimona had last triggered one of Ambrosius's panic attacks, partially because she'd gotten a lot better at not approaching him from his left and had stopped shapeshifting into things with big teeth where he could see them. And even if he wasn't sure they'd ever be friends, they had both accepted that the other was important to Ballister, and that meant they had to get along. It wasn't always easy, but for Ballister, they could make it work.
It was for Ballister's sake that Ambrosius had contacted Nimona and asked her to come over, even though Ballister himself was spending the day in the labs with Dr. Blitzmeyer. It was probably for Ballister's sake that she'd agreed. Ambrosius paced up and down the living room until his leg started hurting enough that he had to stop, and then he sat on the couch and drummed his fingers against its arm until he heard the door open.
"Okay, Goldie, what's up?"
Ambrosius stood, ignoring how his leg ached, and gestured at the couch. "Sit down. Do you want something to eat or drink?"
Nimona flung herself on the couch, but she stayed very carefully on her side. "I'm fine, but I still don't get why you asked me over when Boss isn't here. What's up?"
Ambrosius sat back down, staying very carefully on his side. He wondered sometimes if Nimona was afraid of him the way he was afraid of her, if she ever had been; he wondered if she'd ever really been in danger from him after all.
"Tomorrow," he said slowly, "is Ballister's birthday."
Nimona blinked. "Huh."
"And I think…" Ambrosius deliberately forced himself not to fiddle with the hem of his sleeve. "I think it would mean a great deal to him if we both were present. At a celebration."
"So you want to throw Boss a birthday party, and you want me to be there?"
If it was a matter of what Ambrosius wanted? No, he didn't want Nimona there at all. But if it was matter of what Ballister wanted, he knew things were different, and he wanted Ballister to be happy. He always wanted Ballister to be happy, but especially on his birthday. If that meant playing nice with Nimona for a day… Well, Ambrosius had done worse things for worse reasons. He could manage this.
"Yes," he told Nimona. "If you don't mind."
Nimona shrugged. "For Boss, right? Let's do this."
Slowly, Ambrosius nodded.
"So," Nimona added, "what sort of plans do you have for the party?"
Ambrosius picked up the tablet where he'd started writing down ideas and held it out. Nimona took it without touching him and began to look through it.
"Oh, man, these are lame. We can do better than this."
Ambrosius bristled. "These are things Ballister will enjoy."
"Yeah, probably, but we can still do better." Nimona looked up at shrugged. "You know him pretty well. I know him pretty well too. If we work together, we can probably give him a pretty perfect birthday."
Ambrosius was fairly certain his expression would show his suspicion, but he couldn't help it. "You want to work together?"
"For Boss? Yeah. Why, you don't think you can do it?"
There was a challenge in her voice, but Ambrosius thought he heard a note of vulnerability underneath it too. He didn't know if Nimona was afraid of him the way he was afraid of her, but he knew she wasn't entirely comfortable with him. For the first time, he wondered if that was because she didn't want to spend time with someone who thought of her as a monster.
Monster or not, it wasn't as if he hadn't done things just as bad as she had.
"For Ballister," he agreed. "What would you suggest?"
Ambrosius and Nimona were careful to hide all signs of their party planning when Ballister returned from the labs. Unfortunately, the sheer fact that they were both in the living room together was enough to make Ballister frown suspiciously.
"What are you two up to?"
"Jeez, Boss, lighten up," Nimona huffed. "I wanted to come over for dinner, and Goldie told me you weren't back yet, so I figured I'd wait. We didn't kill each other or anything."
"It's alright, Bal," Ambrosius agreed, kissing Ballister's cheek. "We still have leftover meatloaf. Do you want some, or should I look and see what else we have in the fridge?"
"I will say this for you, Goldie," Nimona said, "it's nice to have more than just genetically modified anchovies in the fridge."
Ballister looked about as surprised by that statement as Ambrosius felt. He hadn't thought that their minor truce for Ballister's birthday would extend beyond that. It was… less uncomfortable a thought than he'd expected it to be.
"Someone has to make sure that we eat around here," he replied, keeping his voice airy. "Do you want meatloaf too?"
"Do you have ketchup?"
"We do."
"Hell yeah."
Ballister's gaze flicked from Ambrosius to Nimona as they talked, back and forth and back and forth. "What are you two up to?" he repeated, more fervently this time.
"Why?" Nimona asked. "Scared we'll gang up on you?"
"I wasn't until you said that, but now I am, yes."
"I bet Goldie does have a lot of embarrassing stories about you that I don't know about," Nimona mused. "And I probably have a couple that he doesn't know about."
Ambrosius snorted. "I have far more than you do."
"You wanna share them?"
"What's in it for me?"
"If you two gang up on me," Ballister groaned, "I'm doomed."
"We'd only ever gang up on you for your own good," Ambrosius said. "Now, do you want meatloaf or not?"
"…Sure."
Nimona stayed for dinner. It almost wasn't awkward at all.
The next morning, Ambrosius woke Ballister by peppering kisses along his cheek, his jaw, his neck. "Happy birthday," he whispered when he felt Ballister wake up under him.
"You're a nice present," Ballister said, his voice raspy the way it always was when he'd just woken up.
Ambrosius preened, tossing his hair. "I do my best," he replied, and then he went back to giving Ballister as many kisses as he possibly could.
Just as Ambrosius's kisses were starting to get tantalizingly lower, they heard the front door slam open. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOSS!" Nimona bellowed into the empty living room, and then, apparently upon realizing it was empty, "Oh, come on, Goldie, you haven't even gotten him out of bed yet?"
Ambrosius pressed his forehead to Ballister's hip and groaned.
"Is this what you two were planning yesterday?" Ballister asked, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.
"Yes, and I'm regretting it now."
"I appreciate it," Ballister said, pulling Ambrosius up so he could kiss him on the lips. "I know it's still not easy for you, but I do think you two would get along if you gave it a chance."
"I thought you were scared of that."
"Only if you two weaponize it against me."
"And who says we won't?"
"Are you two still in your bedroom?" Nimona yelled. "If you're asleep, wake up. If you're having sex, finish up and get out here!"
Ballister laughed, shifting so he could sit up. "I guess we should go out there."
"See if I invite her next year," Ambrosius grumbled, but he sat up as well and reached for his clothes.
Nimona had helped herself to breakfast when they got out to the living room, and she saluted them with a piece of toast. "Happy birthday, Boss."
"We heard you the first time," Ambrosius huffed, pulling out the fresh fruit he'd gotten for a special breakfast. Nimona, he decided, would definitely get the last picks.
"Goldie and I made a plan of things to do for your birthday," Nimona continued. "I came up with the fun stuff, he came up with the boring stuff."
Ambrosius rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure it's all fun," Ballister said, although Ambrosius could see the grin he was struggling to hide. "And I appreciate it."
"Ew, Boss, don't get all sappy," Nimona grumbled, shoving at Ballister. "You don't get a pass just because it's your birthday."
"Is it sappy to say that I'm glad the three of us can spend the day together?"
"Incredibly."
Ambrosius kissed Ballister's cheek as he passed him a bowl of his favorite fruits, all chopped and ready. "I don't mind if you're sappy."
"Cause you're worse," Nimona accused.
"Are you two going to be like this all day?" Ballister asked.
Nimona stole a berry and popped it into her mouth before Ambrosius could smack it out of her hand. "Yeah, probably."
"Is it so bad?" Ambrosius asked, because to his surprise, he found it almost… fun.
Ballister smiled at him, and even though it was Ballister's birthday, Ambrosius thought it was the best gift he'd ever gotten.
"No. It's not bad at all."