Work Text:
When Valko enters your apartment — still getting used to using the front door — the first thing he notices is how dark your home is.
It’s late at night. Both of you just got done with work, and quite frankly, Valko’s a little too bummed to be overanalyzing things. Having to work on his birthday, alongside other technical mishaps happening at EonCore Tech… it’s all too much, even for a man like him who treads through problems with a bright smile and jokes.
But your apartment is quiet. Too quiet.
Zayne, a dear friend of his who is definitely still working at this hour, would nudge him and say that word was forbidden. But how else would he describe your dim lights, the lack of your hums, and the absence of everything that is you?
Valko sighs. It’s too much, really.
“Sweetheart, I’m home!”
No response.
“Sweetheart?”
The only response he gets is a giggle.
He welcomes himself a little more, steps echoing from the front door all the way to your living room. Placing his duffel bag and his coat on your sofa, where he can so clearly see the laundry you haven’t folded, he observes every inch of this place with a racing heart.
Your scent’s near. That’s for certain. He could sense it miles away.
But Valko doesn’t see you.
“Sweetheart?” he repeats once more, and this time the responses he gets are whispers hidden in a darkness he cannot see.
“Zayne! Scoot over!”
“My back is already pressed against the wall, Caleb.”
“Shh! Valko will hear.”
Oh lord, is all Valko thinks as he smiles. Those voices are awfully familiar and vastly different from the silence he was so worried about earlier.
But before he can call you out, the lights to the living room turn on abruptly and a cacophony of unharmonizing yet happy voices ring loud enough for the N109 Zone to hear.
“Happy Birthday Valko!”
You, Zayne, and Caleb jump from behind the sofa with smiles on your faces. Valko has to take a step back when you lunge at him for a hug, and he laughs — actually laughs — when you squeal in his ear out of sheer happiness.
The boys hold out a cake to Valko as they wait for you to let go of him, but because you show no signs of doing that anytime soon, Valko tilts his head towards the dining table. Put it there.
“You want Zayne to eat more of the chocolate cake? I’ve already had to tell him off twice!” Caleb complains.
Zayne scoffs, a sight Valko has never seen before. “That’s an exaggeration.”
Oh, lord. Did that look like a nod to them?
Valko tilts his head a little more, balancing his love for you and his frustration towards his good friends.
Caleb gets it now. “Ahh, gotcha!” he says before pushing Zayne over to the dining table, whispering words that sound a lot like stupid banter. Valko laughs it off, putting his focus on you again.
“Sweetheart. You can let go of me now.”
“No.”
He raises a brow. “And why not?”
You look up, and he realizes his response was a mistake. Your eyes are full of mischief, your words laced with the same. “Do you want me to?”
“Oh, lord!” The other two yell from where they stand in the dining room. Valko makes a mental note to talk to them later about etiquette when around his beloved.
“Of course not, sweetheart,” Valko whispers in your hair, placing little kisses on your forehead as atonement for the only sin he regrets committing. “I’m happy to have you here on my birthday.”
“Mmm, good.”
Good indeed, because he loves the sound of your laugh and the warmth of your presence, and he loves that the day of his birthday is the same day he met you.
But good doesn’t last forever.
Caleb and Zayne come to join in the cacophony, ruining the moment with their harmonious complaints. “I didn’t cook all this food for nothing,” Caleb says, and Zayne simply smirks in the same way he did when Valko once misread a measurement on a test tube.
Your ears perk up at the reminder of food, and you instantly let go to grab Valko’s hand, dragging him over to the sweet scent of a buffet-like dinner. His senses are overwhelmed in the best way possible, making him forget he was even exhausted in the first place.
Caleb is the first to snap him out of his reverie with a strong slap on his back. A friendly gesture, Valko has to remind himself. He doesn’t mention the cool of Caleb’s arm or the memories that come with it. Only the brotherhood of today remains.
“Happy Birthday, Valko! I hope you liked what we’ve made for you,” he greets, and Valko responds with a genuine laugh. The gold balloons on the wall spelling out Happy Birthday Valko! and the chocolate cake sitting front and center… What more could he ask for?
Zayne’s a little more quiet, but he does offer a soft pat of his own. Valko knows him well enough to see the support behind the gesture, so he offers a nod. Like brothers born from the same brutal cloth, they understand each other like no other.
And you?
You lead the song, the melody clashing with your jumps of excitement, and Valko can only stare. Your happiness is infectious, allowing him to break from his earlier exhaustion to fall into your arms.
“Thank you,” he whispers in your hair after your song has ended. “I’m so happy we met.”