Birthday Boy

(For Lylia)

When Natalie had to find a gift for her cousin's seventeenth birthday, she asked Henry for help. When she had to find something appropriate for her father's birthday, Henry helped her again. Even when Mother's Day rolled around, Henry helped her navigate through the maudlin teddy bears and cards to pick out something her mother would actually like.

So, when Henry's birthday rolled around, she was fucking clueless.

What were girlfriends supposed to get boyfriends for their birthdays anyway? Something cute like homemade baked goods was out of the question. The last time she tried that, Henry nearly wound up in the ER with food poisoning. (Whether or not it was actually the cookies she made was debatable, technically.) He was surprisingly picky about his wardrobe; it had to have the right amount of down to earth, but in a put together type of way. Henry didn't like video games, and he already owned every movie he ever liked, so…

"Give him sex!"

"Mom!" Natalie hissed over the phone. "Seriously?"

"All I'm saying is that works. Always has!" chirped Diana. Natalie groaned as she continued to pace in circles around the mall.

"I need like a gift-gift. Not that. Something boxable," Natalie sighed. "No offense mom but I don't have a lot of time before I see Henry tonight. If you're not going to help me then I'm just gonna hang up."

"You can box lingerie, can't you?"

"But aren't I supposed to actually wear-… hello?" Diana had a habit of hanging up the phone first without saying goodbye. She always liked to have the final full thought of a conversation. As she hung up her cell phone, Natalie slumped on the bench and let out a defeated groan. After a few minutes, she forced herself to sit upright and realized that maybe her mother had a point.

It's not as if she was some virginal goddess that had her virginity tightly tied to her. She and Henry already had the "first time". There was even a second and third time thrown in there. The only reason there wasn't a fourth was because they were both really busy with getting ready for college and summer jobs and unexpected things. Maybe her mother was right. If they both hadn't seen each other in a while, it could make for an…interesting gift. She took a deep breath, swallowed whatever existed of her pride at this point, and walked into Victoria's Secret.

God, she hated when her mother was right.

"Hey, you," greeted Natalie as Henry opened the door for her. She put the box she was holding on the floor so she could drape her arms around his neck.

"Hey yourself," smirked Henry as he held her tighter and gave a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hope you weren't expecting cake, birthday boy. Because I didn't make any."

"Thank God," he teased.

"If it wasn't your birthday, I probably would have just hit you. I'll make up for it later," Natalie rolled her eyes. "I brought peanut butter and Oreos instead."

"That's even better than a cake. That's like cake but better."

"Turning nineteen has made you gain such a way with words," Natalie sarcastically swooned. She squeaked as he picked her up and he carried her into his room.

"Hey old man, you're already going senile. Forgot to bring your gifts with you," she teased as he put her down on his bed. He motioned for her to stay where she was as he ran back to get what she brought. Henry sat next to Natalie and put the two boxes between them.

"Which one should I open first?"

"I suggest the one marked, "peanut butter and Oreos", maybe?" she suggested.

"But then the anticipation will kill me," he whined.

"Fine, go ahead and open the next gift. If you really want to…" Afraid of his reaction, she laid down on the bed and covered her face with one of his pillows. After a few moments of silence, the longest and most awkward moments ever, Henry spoke up.

"Nat, I'm not a 34B. Or, any bra size for that matter. Explain?" Natalie mumbled incoherent words from beneath the pillow until Henry pulled it away from her.

"I now realize I should've just worn it now…" she mumbled as she looked into her lap. "I just felt bad that we've been busy all summer and I've missed you and I couldn't think of what to get you so I called my mom and she suggested it because sex and I thought she was just being batshit but then she had a point and then I tried it on and bought it and boxed it without thinking and that's why you just opened up that…God I'm slow." She tried to return to the save haven under the pillow but Henry moved it out of her reach. "I'm sorry."

"I don't know what I like better. The fact that there's birthday sex involved or the mental image of you going into Victoria's Secret," he said has he laid next to her and nudged one of his legs between hers to create a mass of tangled limbs.

"I don't know," she let out a small smile. "Both have their benefits." She rolled over to get closer to him. He followed her lead and held her close to him, smiling against her forehead.

"So, I don't mean to rush things, but I really want to know how great you'd look in that," he whispered. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before untangling herself from him.

"As you wish, birthday boy," she winked, shutting his bedroom door before taking out the blue lingerie.

It was Henry's favorite birthday to date.