Author's note:

Well, this is a bit of an unplanned surprise. This plot bunny came to mind literally just earlier today while I was playing one of my new video games. Add in the fact that today's AJ's birthday, and viola! Also, this can kinda sorta be looked at as a follow up to Nothing Else Matters, since these two fics are related.

As for what game I was playing that inadvertently inspired me to do this, I won't name the game itself now, since it'll probably give away the plot, but trust me, it'll be worth it. Enjoy the fic, and always remember, read & review!

Somebody's Special Day

Chicago, IL - Wednesday Morning, March 19, 2014

With his self-consciousness reminding that now would be a good time to wake himself up from his previous night's rest, CM Punk emerged from his sleep almost instantly with an inward yawn and a limited stretching of his limbs while still on his bed. He did these actions with as little movement as possible, so he could not disturb the person that was still slumbering right next to him. After carefully getting out of bed, Punk took a moment to observe the beautiful visual that his eyes were laying on at that time.

It was AJ, his pride and joy quietly resting as if nothing else in the world was going on, curled up in a ball as she clutched the blankets to her person for extra warmth, all while displaying a content smile on her face. Punk could only let his heart be warmed at the sight, before moving on to the closet that was in the room, starting the preparing process for his creative plan. Usually, he would be sleeping in and enjoy the lazy morning on regular days like this, but this was not a regular day. Punk did this because this was a morning that was far different than most of any mornings that could take place all year.

It's because today was none other than AJ's birthday.

This known fact dawned on him when AJ had called him a couple of nights before, right as he was finishing up his appearance chatting with his good friends Chris Hardwick and Yvette Nicole Brown on Talking Dead. Punk had felt bad about not being able to make an appearance on Chris' late night Comedy Central program, aptly titled midnight, since it was just still too soon and recent from him leaving the WWE. He didn't want to cause an even bigger firestorm when the news surrounding his departure was still fresh and continuously being talked about. Luckily, those chattings and reportings cooled down at least somewhat when certain realities where acknowledged. These days, Punk was at last enjoying a complete and total break from the business that had nearly drained him entirely for such a long time. It was made even better that despite whatever differences he was having with the company, they were still willing to allow his girlfriend AJ a free choice of where to go on days when she wasn't needed for either TV tapings or house shows. And since she didn't have much to do in or around her apartment in Tampa, she comfortably took an attachment of visiting and staying with Punk in his Chicago home, growing even more warmly to the city, as well as him personally, each and every day.

So when AJ dialed up his phone for a little conversation with her Punky Bear on late Sunday evening, he was more than welcome to accept the call. After a brief chat on the phone that ranged from how hot she thought he looked on the show with his attire and how he styled his hair, to him praising the great match that she and Nattie had on Main Event the previous week. Before the conversation finished, AJ had let him know that she was would be taking a red eye flight right after she finished doing whatever she needed to do on the taping for SmackDown the following Tuesday, all so she could be back in Chicago with her favorite cuddle buddy, that being Punk.

After that, AJ innocently asked with a slow drawl, "So... you got anything planned for me?"

"What did you mean by that?" came his honest, to him at least, reply.

A brief period of silence followed, as AJ thought Punk was kidding around with that remark.

"Uh... baby? You do know that my birthday's on Wednesday, right?"

Punk was immediately taken aback with that statement, and a sense of dread soon poured over him. Shit, he thought to himself with sickening worry. In the time that they had been dating, he forgot one important date on the calendar. How could he have been so forgetful, and quite frankly, stupid. If he could kick his own ass, he would have done so right then and there, because he committed an almost Cardinal Sin in the rules of dating: don't ever forget your girlfriend's birthday. Before AJ could query any further on why Punk was silent for so long, he quickly rebounded and let her know what was up.

"Oh, yeah, that! Pfft, of course I knew that," he lied so vicariously. "But if I told you now, that would ruin the whole thing. And you know I wanna surprise you, right?"

"Yeah, you got a point," she acknowledged in response. "Well, I gotta go. Got plenty of things to do for tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll talk to you again when I'm about to board my flight, okay?"

"Okay, babe. That'll be fine." Just fine, indeed. After the call was over, Punk was in a bit of a panic, pondering anxiously of what the hell he was going to do for AJ's birthday. Luckily, he still had a couple of days to spare, so he still had time to think of something. But he needed to act, and fast. After staying in LA for one more night, attending a Kings hockey game (partly so he could meet up with his favorite Twitter troll buddy Bailey, the team's mascot), Punk was back in Chicago the next morning, still having time, but yet still having no plan.

As he was driving in his car down a main road in the afternoon, he was still pondering on what to do as AJ would be touching back down in the Windy City very soon. Luckily, he happened to turn his head at the right time, as the fates would have it. Soon after he had saw a particular store, with an intriguing banner displayed across on said store, Punk had his idea then and there. Once stopping by and purchasing a specific item, he returned home and began his preparations of what to do for the next day. When Wednesday morning came, Punk did his usual routine in the morning before heading out to the airport to pick up AJ, as it had been custom that way for quite a while since she started coming out to see him more in his hometown. After greeting each other with a tender hug and a quick kiss they were on their way back to Punk's home in the downtown area of the city. He didn't even bother AJ as she slept all the way throughout the ride, no doubt still tired from the red eye flight.

Once arriving back home, Punk first took care of the luggage before venturing back out to his car, where he carefully but quietly unbuckled AJ from her seat and carried her sleeping form into the house, holding her petite body in his arms bridal style. He had to chuckle to himself at how light AJ felt in his grip, while also admiring her content and warm status at the moment. After getting into the house Punk immediately went to the bedroom, placing AJ under the covers while shedding the necessary layers - her sneakers, socks and other clothes - off of her so she could enjoy her rest even more. After that was done, Punk stripped off his own clothes and found his place on the bed also, wanting to get some shut eye himself after an early wake up to do what he needed to concerning picking up AJ. He mentally reminded himself to make sure he would awake in a little while, so he could get to work on preparing and constructing AJ's surprise, last-minute as it may have been. His only hope was that she would find a way to like it.

Since he was in the comforts of his own home, Punk casually strolled out of his closet merely dressed in his boxers, with the items he needed carried in his arms as he went over to a nearby office of his. Though it didn't take long, he delicately prepared AJ's gift with great care and thought. Once that was done, he cleaned up any mess he made during this process before heading down to the kitchen and moving on to the next step of the plan: making some breakfast. After whipping up some morning goodness, and precisely putting together the setting of it all, Punk made his way back up the stairs and into the bedroom, finally and fully prepared to deliver the gift to his Geek Goddess. As he placed the tray down, he once again observed AJ's figure, and smiled warmly. She looked so peaceful and adorable in that state, that a part of him didn't want to disturb her from her slumber. But if she was going to get this gift, then this needed to be done now.

So, after a quiet but purposeful blow of air to her ears, AJ's face scrunched up as a sensitive reaction to it, causing her to stir. She felt slightly annoyed about being woken up out of her choice, but her irritation went away once she saw Punk's face. After a brief yawn of her own, AJ smiled hazily before greeting him with, "Good morning, baby." Returning it back with a smile of his own, Punk whispered, "Good morning to you too, birthday girl," before giving her a quick peck on the lips. "You feel any older today?"

"No," she replied. "But I feel great and happy, knowing I'm spending as much time with you as possible. I'm so lucky to have you."

"I should be the one saying that," Punk volleyed insistently. "Despite all this recent craziness, you're still more than willing to put up with me and whatever bullshit or baggage I bring. I don't deserve to have you."

"Well, you have me, and I have you, so I think it's safe to say we're both lucky, then," she surmised, getting a warm smile and a soft peck on the forehead from Punk, enjoying this tender moment that they were having together. AJ then shifted her attention to something else when her nose detected a new hint of aroma in the room. "I smell something," she remarked. "What is it?"

With a motion of his arms, Punk directed her attention to the nightstand next to her, and what she saw caused her to gasp in pleasant surprise. On a simple dish, lied a small stack of pancakes, a few links of sausage, and a grouped pile of scrambled eggs all bunched together in one delicious smorgasbord.

"Breakfast in bed? For me? Babe, you shouldn't have," she stated to him.

"Nonsense," was his response. "It's my favorite Crazy Chick's special day, so she's gonna be getting the special treatment."

After thanking him with another kiss, AJ sat up and propped herself up the right way as Punk placed the tray of food right across her lap before transitioning over back to his side, before officially helping her dig in to her birthday breakfast. It was a serene and calm moment for the both of them, filled with good laughs, playful banter, and great eating, as Punk personally fed AJ every morsel of the spread, sometimes flirtatiously, sometimes humorously, but all with loving intent throughout. After the scraps were finished, he asked her if she enjoyed the breakfast. "Mmm-hmm," she nodded with approval.

"Well, that's good, because that was only phase 1 of your surprise," he informed her. "To start phase 2, feel underneath the tray."

Doing as she was instructed, AJ, after carefully placing the now-empty plate on the nightstand, placed her hands directly underneath the tray, where she immediately felt something crinkle up against her touch. Curiously intrigued, she turned the tray upside down and was awed at what she saw: a somewhat long, but square-like object fully engulfed in wrapping paper, with it's corner edges duct-taped to the paneling of the tray.

"Go on; open it," Punk encouraged her to do. After picking off the taped edges, AJ picked up the object and eyed it curiously, before cleanly taking off other pieces of clear tape, slowly unwrapping her gift. When she at last unfolded the paper and revealed the object, her eyes bulged open in absolute wonderment at what she had seen. With her mouth widely open, AJ inhaled a long breath before screaming loudly and laughing mirthly with unbridled happiness and glee, moving around excitedly on the bed with the gift in her hands.

It turned to out to be none other than the packaged case of the PlayStation 3 HD remastering of one of AJ's all-time favorite games, Final Fantasy X. The front cover display was that of the two main characters, Tidus and Yuna, both together in upside down symmetric fashion. It was also packaged together on one disc with it's sequel, Final Fantasy X-2.

Just holding the game in her hand brought back childhood memories to AJ. The countless hours she was holed up in her room playing, the arduous process of long unending battles to unlock achievements, the satisfactions and the frustrations of playing Blitzball, the number of times her heart warmed at Tidus and Yuna's displays of affection, and the amount of tears she cried at finding out about Auron's true fate. It was a sentimental favorite of hers, and now one she could play once again, reliving old memories while creating new ones at the same time.

Somewhat catching Punk guard, AJ swiftly latched on to him, hugging him tightly while exclaiming "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" repeatedly.

"It was no problem, honestly," he chuckled after ending the hug to glance at her jovial face.

"How were you able to get it?" she queried in astonishment.

"Well... it kinda happened on good timing," he at last admitted. "As I was driving yesterday, I just so happened to catch a glance at a nearby GameStop, and on the front window was a large poster displaying that they had this in stock, since it was actually it's official release day. And I thought to myself: 'Hmm. AJ's birthday is tomorrow, she's a Queen game freak, and this is one certain game she would really love to have.' To me, it was no other better gift to get you than that."

Even though she found out that Punk was slightly not being honest to him on that phone call on Sunday night, AJ put those thoughts to the side as she looked upon again at the game. "You know what? I would have been just been just satisfied with the breakfast in bed and just cuddling all morning with you," she spoke honestly. "But... the fact that you went the extra mile and then some, that says a lot. Thank you so much, Phil."

"Anytime, Ape," he responded. "So now... does this notch up a few cool points for me on the scale?"

"Nope," she told him teasingly. "You're still not as cool as Solid Snake."

Being made once aware of that ego-hurting reminder of a conversation they not too long ago regarding another cherished video game favorite of hers, Punk countered it well as he crept up closer before uttering, "Oh, you still wanna be a little wise-ass, huh? I think I know what to do that can fix that," before grabbing and scribbling his fingers fast and swiftly along her petite ribs, playfully tickling AJ her across her sides and stomach, a known weakness spot of hers. "I-i-it takes one to know one!" she stuttered out while in laughter, being playfully tortured for fun. It became apparent that AJ wasn't gonna beg and plead for mercy this time compared to other times, but that didn't stop Punk from trying harder, digging his fingers into her armpits and hearing her laughter pour out of her body. After a few seconds and shared laughs among themselves, Punk eventually came to accept AJ's will was too strong to break this time and ceased his tickling, getting a chance to look his beloved in the eyes, getting lost in her soulful brown orbs.

Though they didn't have enough of the proper timing to spend more of moments like these together due to certain unfortunate recent developments ever since Punk's decision to walk out on the company, it didn't matter. It just made the moments even more valuable and treasured whenever they got the chance to have and share them with one another. Their desire for each other and the passionate bond they both shared became even more indelible and making their love even that more stronger. AJ and Punk had that, and they were more grateful of it more than anything else.

"You are one awesome boyfriend, Punky," AJ told him with sincerity.

"Well, that's why they call me the Best in the World," Punk slyly replied with a wink, causing her to giggle once more before fully engaging in another loving and tender kiss, making an incredible birthday even more the memorable.

Catch ya next time, guys!

#AJPunk

#Punklee

#PunkleeNation

#HappyBirthdayAJ