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Billy didn’t want anything for his birthday, except Steve.
No gifts, no party, no special dinner, and no cake. Steve could cope with the other stuff, but no cake?
(“What about blowing out the candles?” Steve had asked, practically in despair.
“I’m not fucking five,” Billy had snapped).
He collects Billy from Joyce and Hopper’s (they’d also been told no presents, though Billy begrudgingly accepted a card with money to have his car cleaned since they insisted it wasn’t a gift if it was ‘useful’). They take a walk, hit up a movie. Nothing special. They did this last weekend. Steve doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary, doesn’t even say happy birthday.
He didn’t buy cake, though he spent a long time in the supermarket yesterday trying to decide if he should anyway. Maybe Billy would be touched by the gesture, grateful despite resistance. Or, he’d be furious that Steve went against his wishes.
At Steve’s place, he makes noodles, and they put another movie on—Billy’s choice (by chance, it’s his turn). When it’s over, Steve turns to him on the couch. He can’t help but feel guilty for not getting him something.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything…?”
He thinks Billy might be irked, but instead, he looks sincere.
“I just want you.”
The same thing he’d said last week, and last month. Steve decides he should just believe him.
They go to Steve’s room. It’s normal. Steve doesn’t pull out all the stops for the birthday boy, even though he wants to. Steve fucks him slow and deep the way Billy likes when he wants to feel everything, until he’s unable to keep quiet. He opens his eyes when Steve’s not expecting it; it makes him almost stop. Billy looks beautiful. Content and vulnerable. They’re connected everywhere—Steve inside him, Billy’s legs hooked around Steve’s, hands clutching at Steve’s biceps. Steve leans down and presses their foreheads together, panting. Billy nudges their noses, whispers in the dark.
“Can I keep you?”
Steve can’t fight the smile, the way his belly flutters. He nods against Billy’s forehead.
“You’re really all I wanted today.”
Steve nods again, pressing their lips together. He doesn’t say happy birthday aloud. He doesn’t need to. It’s all in the kiss, in the way he’ll give himself to Billy over and over every year for as long as he wants to keep him.
And Billy wants forever.