if mason were to open his door, after one very persistent bout of doorbell ringing ... he's greeted not by a person, but by an enormous bouquet of flowers, so lavish it completely obscures whoever stands behind it. petals spill in soft cascades of color, the whole thing swaying ever so slightly as if it might topple over any second. then, a familiar face peeks out from the side. "a little birdie told me it was someone's birthday!" aerith beams at him, arms extending out in offering. "special delivery, for a very special guy!" her tone turns sing-song, "and look, it even comes with a bumblebee." she points proudly to a little stick nestled amongst the blooms, though instead of a bee ... it holds a tiny picture of mason's cat. "happy birthday, mason!"
the consistent ringing from his door has mason a little concerned as he bolts from his bedroom. who could be possibly trying to reach him this early in the morning ? a bunch of scenarios run through his mind before he can finally reach the door , though once he finally swings it open he feels relieved , now faced with a rather large bouquet ( or more accurately , a bush ) of flowers that somehow manage to completely hide aerith's whole body out of sight. the whole arrangement is nothing short of gorgeous & beautiful , no doubt carefully put together by his friend when he wasn't even at the shop working. to think she probably spent time outside of working hours to put this altogether ? the whole notion of it is sweet & touches mason deeply to a point of going red in the face. carefully , mason takes the flowers from aerith & balances them as best as he can in his arms before carrying them inside. the arrangement is surprisingly heavy ━━ how in the hell did she managed to get up the stairs with this thing blocking her view ?
❝ aerith . . . this might be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. ❞ there is strain in mason's voice , if only because the flowers are so heavy as he places them onto the dining room table. once he has it all neatly arranged in a spare vase he had laying around , he finally is able to greet aerith properly , bringing her in for a tight hug as his cat approaches with a meow , weaving in and out of their legs in greeting. ❝ i think bee approved of the little addition of her picture in the bouquet. ❞ as if able to understand them , bumblebee responds with a meow , which only makes mason laugh at the whole silliness of it. aerith has been a wonderful boss , but also a really great friend. he's not sure what he would have done if she hadn't offered him this job , but he's glad it's worked out so far & he can see them remaining close even once he moves on to new things. ❝ seriously . . . thank you so much for all this. you went above & beyond . . . thank you , pinkie. you're the best. ❞
