Envy's Duplex, The Hegemony Compound, Ribeirao Preto, Wednesday

[whenshewasnice]

There was a bouquet of roses on Envy's coffee table. Happy Valentine's Day to our Valentine. Some things just didn't seem to change

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[lockestheway]

And lo, there was a knock on her door.

Peter'd be lying if he said he had a lot of time, but he'd managed to wrestle an hour or so off his schedule.

He didn't have much of a gift. After the particular madness of Gideon, he wasn't sure she was really aching for one.

[whenshewasnice]

Not really.

Besides, she had a small mountain of gifts from fans waiting for her at the New York office. She just didn't know it yet.

When she came to the door and opened it, she looked more like a stylist's idea of a rock star beauty queen taking a day off than she did a normal person's real life version of the same. It was a thing that happened when your stats were the way hers were. (The robe helped. So did, possibly, her mostly-bare legs.) "Hello there."

[lockestheway]

"Happy birthday," Peter said, smiling. "Unless my calendar app got it horribly wrong, and I have to go drive a business into bankruptcy somewhere."

(He knew it wasn't wrong.)

[whenshewasnice]

"It didn't, and you don't."

And he knew he knew that. She stepped back, giving way.

"So come inside, and tell me happy birthday like you mean it."