July 31st. The date had been both circled in black ink and highlighted in yellow from the day it was first written in her calendar. Time seemed to fly by as the day inched closer and closer, days concomitantly seeming shorter and shorter. Luckily for a certain SOLDIER, Lauren was never one to wait until the last minute to start a project. Well...one that she truly cared about, anyways. By the time she asked Zack if he had any plans for his birthday - which for his own sake he was lucky to answer with his smirk and an exaggerated “MY birthday? The one next month? No, why ever would you ask?” instead of any level of “Yes” or “Sorry” - she had already decided on every detail of the night, from the candles and blue balloons she’d scatter across her apartment to how long she’d need to cook the chocobo. She had even bribed Reno well in advance to take any missions that may fly her way on the day in question.
And for the most part, everything did go as planned. He arrived on time, the grin spreading on his face as he saw the balloons littering her floor causing her to laugh to herself. Despite her protests, though, the man did force his way into the kitchen to help finish preparing dinner. They spent the majority of the night thoroughly stuffing their faces and talking about nothing and everything. Drinks, laughter, soft touches and a warming fire by their feet….things went exactly as planned. Eventually the man’s features softened as he placed worn hands around her waist, lips meeting hers in between small “Thank yous”. Each peck was returned with a vigor that betrayed her attempts to seem composed, and repeated whispers of “yeah yeah...it’s not that big a deal SOLDIER boy..”
Though in that moment, she couldn’t help but let her thoughts slip from her lips.
“Zackary...happy birthday...let’s do this again next year, alright?”
A silent promise phrased as nonchalant as she could muster, and one she knew he’d be more than willing to accept.
