Newly-pressed suit? Check. 

New cufflinks? Check. 

Fresh breath? Double check. 

Gotta brush your teeth or else you’ll be funky. Thank you, Del the Funky Homosapien.

Uriel Cortez looks at himself in the mirror in his room, spending extra time to make sure that he’s got his dress shirt smoothed out. A nice birthday at a local club later tonight with Holly, Mateo, and a few other people. September 10th. But even though this was his day… he was looking forward to eight days from now. 

Holly’s birthday. 

He was nervous as hell. 

He knew exactly why. 

He wasn’t necessarily looking for someone at the time that he met Holly. It was just after a whacked-out Christmas party that DEFIANCE held and there she was, fixing a busted flat in her truck. Uriel gave her a ride home and from there, it was history. 

There were only two serious relationships and a number of short-lived flings before her time, but all of them paled in comparison to her. She loves a good fight, she knows what she wants, takes no shit from anyone. And knows how to fix cars. 

Fuck that, I’m paying someone to do that for me, Uriel thinks to himself with a small laugh. 

But after he adjusts his collar… 

He found someone he was lucky to find. 

“Fucking jitters…” he mutters lightly.

It was still gonna be a little while longer while Holly was getting ready and Mateo was messaging someone hard on his phone lately. It’s been hard for him to get away from his phone, but whoever he met and had been talking to, he had to trust it. 

He pulls out his own phone and looks at the same listing he’s been looking at for the last week and a half...

Three-bedroom townhouse. 

Way closer to the arena than where he and Mateo had now. 

And enough room for all his belongings… and someone else, if they were so inclined. 

He got lucky. He fell hard quickly, and apparently she did too. She jumped head-first into helping he and Mateo against whatever Tom Morrow was cooking up and against the Kabal… but she also did like her independence at times. She put in way more hours at the DEF-Plex and other things than he did. She liked fixing up cars. She liked working out. He refused to do anything with cars, but he did owe her a lot for helping get healthier. He shed twenty five pounds this year and has been in the best shape of his career. 

But she had her own place. He didn’t want to do anything to push her away. 

On this day, his 33rd full trip around the Sun… that was the only thing the birthday boy wanted...

To make this a memorable first birthday and spend many more with her. 

But this was a risky move with many risky steps. 

The first step? 

Talking to his best friend. 

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