a birthday present for @lockedfighter
he had planned the entire night in the most quiet, thorough way, and with enough patience to make the end feel inevitably perfect. he kept it secret from the first whisper of the idea, for he wanted every part of it to feel like a revelation when it reached her, something she could unfold piece by piece until the final moment could take her breath away. he had left the dress where she would find it without being able to mistake the intent behind it ⸻ it was placed with unmistakable care, knowing the fabric deserved to be treated like something precious. the colour had been chosen to suit her, to catch the light in a way that would make her look almost unreal when she wore it, and when she discovered it there would be a note beside it, brief and maddeningly simple. the chauffeur had already been arranged by the time she read it, waiting with the same discreet professionalism sett had insisted on, because he wanted the whole thing to feel effortless to her, even though it had taken him hours to organise. he had wanted her to think she was being led toward a surprise and not toward a man who had spent the whole day thinking about the shape of her smile.
and by the time she arrived at the rooftop restaurant, he was already waiting. the tallest building in the city rose ( an exquisite blade into the night ), all glass and light and silver reflection, and the restaurant at its crown felt almost separate from the city below it. there, the city stretched out beneath them in a glittering field of distance, becoming naugh but a scene that he was certain she would love. sett had chosen it because he wanted the night to feel larger than ordinary life, because he wanted the sky to look close enough to touch, and because there was something fitting about giving her a place high above everything else. such a commemoration deserved its own place, and so did she: in every room she entered, in every breath she took, in every future he dared to imagine for them.
he stood near the edge of the rooftop terrace when she finally appeared, broad shoulders outlined by the warm aureate light spilling from the restaurant behind him, his posture still and impossible to ignore. even before she reached him, he could see the way the dress settled on her with elegance and made her look devastating in the most beautiful way. it hit him all at once ⸻ the helpless awe that could only belong to a man in love and was too proud to look anything but stunned by it for the first second. he went still for a beat, spheres fixed on her, half-riveted, half-enamoured, half-desperate, half-excited. but he knew there was more to come, and dared not to waste another second.
sett crossed the distance betwixt them, halting for a second to take hold of a devastatingly colossal bouquet of roses. the moment he was close enough, his calloused hand would come up to her waist, a thumb brushing over the expanse of her side. he looked at her dressed in the most exquisite way, and felt the heat rise through his chest so fast it nearly made him lose his own calm. she was radiant, she was poised, she was utterly, and irrefutably maddening to him. but he kissed her then, a mouth meeting another with all the hunger he had been trying to keep in check, all the affection he had dressed up in secrecy, all the devotion he had hidden behind planning and logistics and the discipline of getting every detail right. the kiss was deep and warm and sure, certain that if he dared not to stop, nothing would actually would. but he did ⸻ he did pull back only enough to breathe, forehead almost brushing hers, his hand still at her waist, caring, tending.
❝ you're absolutely ravishing. ❞ he whispered, spheres fixed on hers, the intensity of his gaze almost intimidating, if only she did not know better. ❝ happy birthday, princess. ❞ and there it was: a smile that reached the extent of his lineaments, a beam that cared not about hiding the happiness and mirth of being able to be part of such an important day. ❝ had to make sure tonight was right... ❞ he would gesture towards the view then, towards the place he had reserved with its candlelight and glass and skyline spread beneath them. the rooftop would not feel like a restaurant anymore but like a kingdom built just for one person's evening, and he would make sure she understood that was exactly how he wanted it to feel.
❝ a princess deserves her own place, so i got you one. ❞ he held the bouquet out for her, then, and if she took it, his hand would likely stay near hers just a second longer than necessary, his thumb brushing lightly over her petite digits before he let go. his gaze cared not about averting, however: they were locked on her lineaments, taking in the way the light touched her, the way the night seemed to frame her perfectly, the way every detail of her presence made the whole evening make so much more than sense. he almost looked possessive for a moment, but softened by love rather than sharpened by jealousy, for the sight of her in that dress had made him forget the entire rest of the world existed. ❝ i wanted you to have a night that felt like you... something beautiful... something that belongs to you. ❞
