I Favor the Villainess Oneshots

Heroine's Birthday

*A/N: Happy Birthday Rae! A bit of a shorter chapter this time, I kinda forgot today was her birthday so I threw this together last minute. I'm still working on the next chapter!*

*This takes place after the last Reversal of Fortune chapter, Claire does her best to celebrate Rei's birthday.*

*Claire POV*

I peek into our shared bedroom, and notice that Rei is still asleep. Good, everything is almost done being set up. I've dedicated myself to making this the best birthday possible for her.

I tried getting her family here for this, but they were all busy. So everything is now on me to make this great. But I'm Claire Francois, I can do this!

I used her computer to look up things that people use for parties in this world. Balloons, streamers, juice, a cake, and I bought a platter of food. I wanted to bake this stuff myself, but she still won't let me use the kitchen... I still wish I knew why.

"Okay, everything is all set! Now I just need to grab her gift that's... wait, where is it?!" I say out loud, panicking. I left it right here, I know I did! Oh no, oh no oh no oh no!

I can't have lost it, I can't! This is supposed to be perfect, I can't have lost the final piece of this... this is supposed to be perfect!

"Hey... you left this in our room," I hear Rei say from behind me, handing me the box.

"Oh, thank you Rei... wait, Rei?! I thought you were asleep!" I yell in surprise.

"I'll be honest, I was awake the whole time. But you were so busy, I pretended to be asleep," Rei admitted.

"You should still be resting, Rei. It hasn't been that long since-"

"I'm fine, Claire. It's not fair for me to lay around while you do everything," Rei tries explaining.

"But it's your birthday, Rei. I worry about you when you're up and about. Just leave it to me, alright?" I ask her.

"Claire, I appreciate everything you've been doing for me. But I don't like sitting back while other people do things for me," she insists.

"But... I guess I already did most of the preparations, so I'll allow it today. But tomorrow you're resting, got it?" I compromise.

"Fine... but I have to get back to work at some point. We'll run out of money at some point," she says.

"You're still on paid leave, so until you have to, you're resting. But come on, it's your birthday, let's enjoy it, shall we?" I ask, pulling out the food.

"Claire... why'd you buy so much food? We're only two people, you know. Wait, is that a wedding cake?" Rei asks.

"Wedding cake? Wait, I bought a wedding cake?! The computer told me these are what people buy for parties!" I exclaim.

"Claire... you bought wedding food. Are you trying to tell me something?" She cheekily asks.

"I'll let that slide. But hey, wedding cake is still cake, It'll taste the same, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, it will. So, what was in that gift you got for me?" She asks, looking at the box.

"Oh, here you go! I wanted to match your gift that you got me, so here you go," I say, handing her the gift box.

"Ooh, let's see... oh my, a penguin plushy! How'd you know I loved penguins?!" She asks, excited.

"You have a penguin calendar, Rei," I tell her, chuckling. She starts chuckling too.

"You got me there. You worked really hard on this whole thing, thank you, Claire," she says, pulling me into a hug. I decide to reciprocate the hug.

"Happy birthday, you big dork," I say, borrowing some of her vocabulary.

"You're actually accepting my hug?" She asks in surprise.

"Just shut up and enjoy it," I tell her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes, my lady. Your wish is my command," she cheekily states, as we stand there for what feels like forever. And honestly, I wouldn't mind if it was forever.