Birthday-Appropriate Mansion on Phoenix Way, Monday Evening

[newroutines]

It was Brooke's birthday today. And Mike had had an idea for a celebration for a while now. Or, more to the point, a wish for what he'd have liked to do if the weather outside complied - or, this being Fandom, went wacky in a way that benefited him. That hadn't happened, though.

But he'd still liked his idea enough to convert it into an indoors one. Now he just needed Brooke to show up to actually go through with it.

And while he was waiting for her, he texted Eddie a reminder that this was date night, so it might just be safest to stay somewhere else for the night. Sorry, Eddie.

[ooc: For the girl. And so much SP.]

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[gobrookeyourself]

Brooke's birthday hasn't actually been a big deal for a while, between moving away from friends and just work in general, but she was curious to see what was in store for her tonight. Because she liked attention and deserved it.

So here she was, knocking.

[newroutines]

And here was Mike, opening the door.

And holding a scarf.

"Hey, babe," he said. "Gonna have to blindfold you before you come any further." Because sometimes you had to be a little extra about surprises. "I mean, if that's cool with you. And I'm not gonna let you walk into anything."

[gobrookeyourself]

"I'm intrigued," Brooke said, totally fine with this. "Are we using this later, too?"

[newroutines]

Mike grinned. "Almost definitely." Because she'd asked. "But first, something else."

He was, for the record, very good at tying makeshift blindfolds on people. Didn't accidentally pull a single strand of her hair or anything.

[gobrookeyourself]

""You're too good at that," she noted. It was not a complaint. "You didn't do anything crazy, did you?"

[newroutines]

"Dallas had us doing blindfolded hot seats for a while."

Because every skill he had that didn't have to do with building furniture or houses was probably from stripping. That was just how it was.

He stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, then gave her a little gentle push to start walking. He would guide her. "Also, crazy's in the eye of the beholder. Watch your step."

[gobrookeyourself]

"Okay..." Brooke said, shuffling a little since she couldn't see. "Eye of the beholder is easier when I can't see..."

[newroutines]

Mike snorted. "I'd tell you not to be a smartass, except you're not gonna listen to me, And it's your birthday so I should probably let you do whatever the fuck you want, anyway."

He was taking her into the living room. That much was probably obvious to her, giiven how familiar she was with the house.

[gobrookeyourself]

"Which is a dangerous thing to say..." she pointed out.

[newroutines]

"Not really," he retorted. "First, 'cause you don't scare me. And second, because I already pretty much do whatever the fuck you want." Because he was just that easy when it came to her.

But now they came to a stop. And he reached up to untie the scarf (for now). "Okay, time for you to judge for yourself." He pulled the scarf away.

And when she'd open her eyes, she would see he'd turned his living room into a cozy and dimly-lit indoor picnic space. He'd built a canopy of fabric to go over the couch to give it more of an intimate feel (and to simulate something tent-like though more open) and there was a lavish spread of food and drinks on the coffee table in front of it (yes, strawberries and all that kind of stuff included). The table was lit solely by candles, though he'd hung twinkle lights along the walls of the room for extra light and that vague night sky feel.

He was pretty sure it didn't count as crazy, though it did count as something he'd spent half the day setting up.

[gobrookeyourself]

Brooke opened her eyes, and her jaw immediately dropped. She looked around, taking it all in.

"This is the good kind of crazy," she decided. "Are you serious?"

[newroutines]

"No, I'm not serious, actually," Mike quipped. "This is actually all just Eddie's crap he left lying around, he's gonna come clean it up in like five minutes."

Nah.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a quick kiss behind her ear. His voice lost its joking tone. "I wanted to take you for a picnic, but I guess you really shoulda been born later in the year for that," he said. "So I brought the whole thing indoors."

[gobrookeyourself]

"Next year I'll wish for a heatwave," she said, leaning back against him and sliding her arms around his. "Mike, this is perfect."

[newroutines]

"Next year, maybe I'll take you somewhere warm instead." This year, he'd put his money towards something else.

He rested his head against hers, which conveniently left his lips near her ear.

Which meant his voice could be slightly quieter and softer as he said, "Happy birthday, baby."

[gobrookeyourself]

"Have I mentioned lately that you're the best?" Brooke asked, turning her face more towards his. "I'm too lucky."

[newroutines]

"You haven't mentioned that lately, actually," he joked, smiling at her. "Feel free to make up for that, though."

[gobrookeyourself]

She turned herself so that she could fully face him. "I don't think anyone else ever would have done this for me."

[newroutines]

"That... really doesn't sound right," Mike told her as he loosened his hold on her waist enough to let her move - and then went right back to pulling her close once she had. "You sure about that?"

[gobrookeyourself]

"If I had, I might not have been single when we met," she pointed out.

[newroutines]

"The fact that you were seems fake as shit, too," he retorted. "But that one at least worked in my favor."

He stole a quick kiss. Except 'stealing' was probably not the right word at this point.

[gobrookeyourself]

"What can I say," she said, kissing him back, "guys made bad choices."

Because she was great.

[newroutines]

"Really bad choices," he mumbled. Because kissing her was just slightly more important than actually talking properly. "Sucks to be them."

[gobrookeyourself]

"Mm hm," she agreed, pretty good with the kissing at the moment.

[newroutines]

Mike was pretty good with the kissing, too.

But he was still going to multitask and try and guide her in the general direction of the couch, all the same. Because otherwise, at this rate, he would forget to give her the actual, non-picnic gift he'd gotten her.

[gobrookeyourself]

"It's like I'm just letting you direct me tonight," she grinned.

[newroutines]

"Only because I'm the only one.who knows what's where," Mike replied with a laugh as they came to the couch. "Trust me, I'm not getting ideas above my station from this."

[gobrookeyourself]

"It's good if you to know that," Brooke teased.

[newroutines]

"I would never stray into thinking otherwise," Mike quipped back. Although there was probably some truth to it, too.

He gave her a nudge. "Come on, sit down."

[gobrookeyourself]

"Okay," she said, doing so.

[newroutines]

Mike knelt in front of her.

Although even as he was doing so, he said, "This is definitely not a proposal, by the way."

Had to make that clear. Even though he was also reaching into his pocket for something, yes.

[gobrookeyourself]

"Okay...." she said again, slowly, "What is it?"

She was intrigued.

[newroutines]

"What it is is that I'm gonna be, like... fucking sappy as shit right now," Mike replied with a chuckle and a sort-of sheepish shake of his head, "so we can get it over with and get to the eating and the drinking and the sex and all that good stuff."

Because there was seriously a lot of picnic-appropriate food laid out on the table right now. And, also, she had to know she wasn't going to be spending very much of this evening fully clothed, either.

But right now... There was this.

He looked up at her. "I just wanted to tell you that this, like, year and some change that you've been here has been probably the best time of my life. Not only are you hot as hell, but smart, definitely way smarter than me, and funny, and you bring me Mooby Land when I'm hungover and definitely don't deserve it, because I'm not sure I deserve you just in general, because how the fuck do I deserve someone with their shit together as well as you have yours who'll still somehow also be down for sneaking out of a high school dance to go bang in a car?"

That was a cherished memory, okay. And yeah, those words did all just kind of tumble out of him. He wasn't great at speeches, but on the flipside, he sounded really just like himself.

He shook his head again. "But here you are, and I'm so grateful, because you make me happy in a way that, I don't know. Not anyone else has been able to make me feel like you do. So... Thank you." And he held out a small box for her. Yes, it was Tiffany blue, like she could probably tell. "And happy birthday, Brooke. I love you."

He'd come close to telling her that before, but here it was. In full.

[gobrookeyourself]

She'd get to the box in a second.

For now she broke out into a huge grin and said, "Really? I mean, I love you, too."

That was pretty easy for her to say.

[newroutines]

That was somehow something Mike hadn't really thought about. He'd thought a fair bit about saying it to her, but he hadn't --

He hadn't really put any sort of expactation on whether she'd say it back to him or not. So he also hadn't really thought about what it would feel like to hear her say it.

Turned out it felt really fucking good.

"Okay," he said, then realized how awkward that sounded, and laughed. "I mean, awesome, great. We're on the same page. Because I really love you."

[gobrookeyourself]

He was adorable.

"You said that," she smiled, leaning over to kiss him again.

[newroutines]

He was a dumbass in love, he couldn't help any of it.

"I know," he murmured, but leaning up to meet her halfway for the kiss was more important.