Bennett/Melanie, Rated G
“You’re not at the helm tonight,” Javi frowned at her when she came in to try to take the spot he was currently occupying.
“Yes I am?” Melanie questioned, brow furrowed in confusion.
“Well yes, technically you’re supposed to be,” Javi continued, “But Bennett begged me to cover your shift, because he has a surprise for you. Don’t worry, he’ll cover me tomorrow.”
“Like hell he will,” she breathed, and then her voice became slightly louder, “I’ll take your shift tomorrow night.”
“Sure, whatever,” Javi turned back to face the window, “I really don’t care who does, as long as it’s not me. He’s in his room, by the way.”
Melanie debated getting redressed, before deciding she really did not have the energy for that. She trudged down to second, glad that Bennett’s room wasn’t too far downtrain. She knocked and announced herself, and at his quiet “come in” she did so.
Her breath hitched a little as she took in his room. On the coffee table in front of his sofa was a small plate of sushi and a tiny cupcake with an unlit candle in it. Her eyes met his then as she asked, “What?”
“It’s not much,” he sounded somewhat nervous, “But I wanted to do something. Happy birthday, Mel.”
“You did this?” she asked, her brain still struggling to catch up.
“I did,” he confirmed, nodding a little, “Jinju and Javi helped, too.”
“Yeah, I heard from Javi,” Melanie started to struggle to blink back tears brought on by the kind gesture after such a particularly bad day, “I’ll take his shift tomorrow, by the way. Since it’s mine he’s covering.”
“Consider me taking it the second half of your gift,” Bennett insisted.
“Ben…” she protested weakly.
“Mel,” he replied, equally as stubborn, “Let’s not argue about this right now.”
“I didn’t realize that you even knew when my birthday was,” she admitted, sitting down slowly-still a bit dumbfounded by the situation.
“I’ve known for a while, actually,” he didn’t meet her eyes, choosing instead to pass her the plate of food, “I just also knew that if you didn’t tell us, you probably didn’t want us making a big deal out of it. But since we’re… close, I wanted to.”
“You’re making me look bad,” she complained.
He laughed softly, “It’s fine, Mel. Really.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Any time,” his reply was equally as quiet.
They ate in a companionable silence that they broke only occasionally. When they’d polished off the sushi, Bennett found a lighter for the candle-and at the look she gave him, he replied, “Don’t ask.”
“I won’t,” she chuckled a little as she mimed zipping her lips-which earned her a somewhat exasperated look in return.
“Make a wish,” he told her, and then added, “By the way, this is yours-there isn’t really enough to share.”
She blew out the candle, making her wish-even though it felt silly and childish in the world they now lived in. When she leaned back, Bennett was looking at her, a soft smile on his face. Melanie couldn’t help herself, taking his face in her hands and kissing him slowly and deeply. She let go eventually to eat the cupcake.
She barely registered the arm around her shoulders; it felt too normal to be noticed, even though it wasn’t something he’d done before. She sighed, leaning back into his touch when she’d finished, completely content.
For the first time in a long time, she felt at peace. It was only temporary, she knew-but with Bennett, she could always just be herself. It was freeing.