unbreakable - corpse husband

ii - birthday

june 28th; aviva's birthday.

she woke up, delighted to find she was in corpse's arms. she changed her position slightly.

"happy birthday viva," corpse said, planting a kiss on her head soon after.

"thank you love," she said happily. recently she had started calling corpse love, since she didn't feel there were any other nicknames or words in the dictionary to call him that could describe how she felt about him.

around 15 minutes later, she turned around so she was facing corpse. she looked into his eyes, corpse looking into her's.

"i love you," aviva said.

"i love you more."

they kissed, corpse pulling aviva even closer to him. a little later, they got out of bed and had breakfast.

aviva would be taking a break from her usual daily streaming schedule since it was her birthday. she had been working pretty hard lately, between streaming, filming, and editing, so she was going to just relax for the day.

she was sitting on the couch watching a random tv channel that had a harry potter marathon going on, when she heard corpse go into the kitchen. "love, could you grab me a glass of water?"

"viva, there's legitimately a glass of water right in front of you."

"it's not cold anymore. and y'know, if you ever asked me that i'd do it."

"oh fuck off," corpse said. aviva laughed, picking up the glass of water in front of her and going to the kitchen to put some ice in it.

aviva decided she just wanted to have a chill birthday and just stay home. she wasn't gonna have anybody come over, and she even asked her friends to not give her any gifts. all she wanted to do was hang out with her favorite person.

"so are you gonna call your sister?" corpse asked aviva, following her as she went back to the couch.

"probably, but vera's staying at my parents' house right now so i need to make sure she's discreet about it. i don't want them hearing us talking and trying to interfere," aviva said as she put her glass down and sat back down.

"are you sure you don't wanna talk to them?" corpse asked, sitting down next to her.

"not on my birthday. i don't need all their judgement and shit today. i know i need to talk to them at some point, but i don't know. i just don't want to yet."

"i get it, but you can't keep putting it off," corpse said.

"yes i can, and i will," aviva said.

aviva didn't have a great relationship with her parents. she grew up in pennsylvania with her mom, her dad, and her older sister vera. her mom was a doctor and her dad was a nurse, so they were completely set on both their daughters being in the medical field. that was the path vera took because it was what she wanted to do, but aviva was a different story. pretty early on in her life, she gained a passion for playing video games. around halfway through high school, she decided she wanted to try streaming, so she saved up her allowance, saved up almost all the money she ever received, and got a job when she could, which eventually got her enough money to buy everything she needed to stream (almost everything was cheap and/or used, but it was the best she could do).

aviva loved streaming more than anything. everyday after she came home from school and did any homework she had, she would go straight to streaming. her parents knew she was streaming, but just saw it as something she did for fun occasionally. by the time she was a senior in high school, her parents didn't even ask her what she wanted to go for college for or if she wanted to go to college at all. in their minds she was perfectly fine becoming a doctor. when aviva told her parents that she didn't want to be a doctor, they were hurt and confused. when she told her parents she wanted to stream professionally, they were rude and invalidating. they told her she was crazy if she thought she could play video games for a living, and even threatened to put her in a mental institute if she didn't become a doctor.

thankfully, vera was incredibly understanding. she gave her enough money to fly to california, specifically san diego, and rent a cheap apartment. 

fast forward awhile, and you're back in the present.

long story short, she barely ever talked to her parents, and she didn't want to or plan to.

after a nice day of just chilling and spending time with each other, corpse finally got aviva to text her sister.

aviva: hey do u wanna call

vera: i'd love to!

aviva: cool, r mom nd dad around?

vera: no, they just went to the store

aviva: great i'll call u

so she did. they talked for a bit just updating each other on how they've been doing.

"so are you planning on coming home soon?" vera asked timidly.

"i think you know the answer to that," aviva said.

"oh come on v, it's been so long since you've talked to them," vera said.

"i text them occasionally," aviva said, knowing it wasn't the answer vera was looking for.

"i mean in person."

"yeah, i know what you mean."

"please  v. they really want to see you. i  really want to see you," vera said.

"i'll come to see you," aviva said.

"i won't let you unless you see them too." vera waited a second for a response from aviva. "look v. just plan like a week long trip in a few weeks to come visit. i'm sure you'll feel a lot better when you do."

"i just don't want to vera. i know exactly how the conversation will go. 'hey aviva, we're so glad you came to visit! y'know, it's never too late to apply to college!'"

"aviva. they've changed."

"oh really?"

"i'm serious. please, just trust me. i will make sure i'm there the whole time, so if they try anything i can handle it."

aviva sighed. "i'll think about it."

once they finished talking, aviva made a note in her phone calendar to not schedule anything for the third week of july.

she would be seeing her parents for the first time in almost 5 years.

"welp, i guess i'm going to pennsylvania," aviva said as she walked into the living room and sat down next to corpse, who was already on the couch watching something.

"oh really?" corpse said, looking at her excitedly.

"yeah, just for a week in the middle of july," aviva said.

"i'm so glad viva," corpse replied, hugging her.

to finish off aviva's birthday, the two watched movies in each others arms until aviva fell asleep, and corpse fell asleep as well despite his issues with sleep.

their love for each other made both of them so much stronger. they trusted and loved each other more than words could describe, and they had an unbreakable bond.

--

"any updates?"

"no. she hasn't sent me any footage to edit that has him in it."

"then you need to get her to."

"how?"

"i don't know, suggest a video idea that includes him or something. just make it happen."

"fine, but i can't promise anything."

"i know."