All of the guys, including Jonah, were relaxing on the back deck after having finished setting up the celebration for Rock's birthday, with all save for Wiley and Jonah enjoying a beer. Their conversation was casual, admiring their handiwork around them and the nearby table of dinner that had ben prepared for dinner. Koko had called the house briefly earlier to let them know that they would be returning en mass in about half an hour, right in the front hall, stating that Black Gold Saw warned to keep the hall clear so that no mishaps occurred in the arrival.
So, with Roxy roaming the deck and all the guys waiting for their return, they discussed a recent piece of news that they'd overheard during the prepwork earlier that afternoon; One of the Umbrella Corporation's top executives, their Head of Security, had died in an accident at their main headquarters in Raccoon City, which had also seriously injured another executive and a high ranking security guard.
"We all know Umbrella's not squeaky clean, but it still sucks that she bit the bullet like that. But I have the strangest feeling that this isn't some crazy conspiracy, sounds way too reasonable." R noted before sipping his beer.
"It's Tobias' mother." Jonah suddenly spoke up. "He told me and Koko during our first meeting with him for those Exosuits. His mom's their Head of Security."
"Oh shit... you think the guard that was mentioned is him?" Lehm asked, to which they all shrugged at the possibilities. "Koko might not like that, I mean, she does consider him a friend right?"
"Hopefully he's alright." Tojo sighed slightly, holding up his beer slightly before noticing Jonah glancing towards the side of the house, a telltale sign before Jonah even announced it.
"They're back."
Not a moment later the sounds of movement was heard from inside the kitchen, and Roxy was already eagerly sitting at the sliding glass doors, her perky ears and little tail immediately giving away her excitement to see Rock again.
"Evening boys!" Chiquita was the first to appear at the doors, followed by Dead Master and Hex, all of them breezing out to join the guys for the planned backyard barbaque dinner. And of course they were all clearly pampered and in good spirits as Empress, Koko, Valmet and Black Gold Saw quickly followed outside. Then the rest of the girls, save for Rock herself.
"So... where's she hiding?" Lutz asked Jonah with a smirk, knowing that Rock wasn't going to just flow in with the main cluster, instead favouring a more distinctive appearance.
"She just went to the bathroom." Beast heard him as she arrived, her crown and eye flame back in full view as she indicated over her shoulder with her thumb.
"Had a good time?" Lehm smirked at Koko, who was already holding a glass of scotch as she sat in one of the numerous spare folding chairs that was already set up for their return.
"Absolutely!" Koko nodded as she sipped her booze with a satisfied sigh. "You should go with us next time, old man." She smiled teasingly, to which Lehm chuckled dryly.
"I'd go just to see them try and get me and my old bones to relax, that'd be an exercise in futility, for sure." Lehm held up his beer with a smirk.
"Not even going to deny it, magic methods are not as effective as manual efforts like that." Black Gold Saw accepted a beer from Chiquita and easily popped the lid off with a wave of one finger. "Wouldn't you agree, my Queen?"
"Definitely." Empress - who had already set aside a bottle of wine that morning - calmly poured herself a glass of wine by hand. "Were their methods with the horn massages worth it?"
"It was clearly new to them, so it took a few moments of trying until it felt right for both of us." Black Gold Saw explained, since her horns were rather simple in structure, and smoothly glass-like in texture. Chariot's intricate tiara of horns had a very slightly rough, but noticeably metallic texture, in comparison.
Jonah raised an eyebrow at the commentary, staring at the two mages with a curious suspicion for a moment until a certain someone wrapped her arms around his neck from behind with a giggle at his rare moment of distraction.
"It vas unorsodox, but zey pulled it off." Rock explained, then held up her hands in his view, showing off her dazzling sparkly blue manicure. "Like it?"
"I can smell the hair dye, is that why you're hiding behind me like that?" Jonah asked, since he was the only one that could tell her current arm draped around his shoulder and the position of her own head were preventing him from turning his head even slightly.
"No." Jonah felt her cheeks shifting with her smirk. "'ex and 'er big boobs ver in ze vay for ze direct route."
"Jealous?" Hex challenged with a raised eyebrow at the cheeky comment from the pair.
"Of your back problems? Not really." Rock countered right back. "I'll enjoy my fabulous backside, zanks."
"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine." Hex chuckled as she accepted a second wine glass from Empress. "Thanks."
"I can see zat." Rock winked, again referring to Hex's large bust, but ended the conversation by suddenly releasing Jonah's head from her entrapping arm by turning his face towards hers with her free hand by pressing against his jawline and immediately kissing him with a smile on both of their faces.
"And I can see your new haircut." Jonah did indeed spot the red-tipped pixie cut that carefully ended just above her left eye.
"I vas tempted to do my 'ole 'ead in navy blue, but I zought it vould be too much like a gossic tomboy zing, y'know?" Rock replied cheekily. "And you vould 'ave to do some serious pussy licking to even dare get me to vear pink... Fuck. Zat."
"Aww, and I already had the perfect pink apron picked out to go with that little red thong you love to wear so much..." Jonah whispered tauntingly into her ear, earning a playful swat of her hand to his chest, coupled with her expression of mock surprise. "Or was it the blue one?" He knew he'd gotten her, so she linked her wrists at the back of his head as she smoothly swung her leg over his lap and straddled him, facing him with a cocky smirk on her face to match the gleam in her eyes.
"I could just go vizzout panties, y'know." Rock replied, forgetting that her adapter didn't take into consideration the difference between normal speech and whispering, so everyone heard her and started laughing. That of course made her face go red for a moment, during which Jonah leaned closer to her and took the chance while he still had it.
"Can I get that in writing?"
"Alright alright, enough of that. It's time to eat before you two get ahead of yourselves." Koko waved her hand to cut the lewdness off. "So grab your plates, then we can move onto the gifts for the horny little birthday girl." She added the last part teasingly, smirking at Rock as she begrudgingly started to get off of Jonah's lap, only to pause briefly and look down at his leg, then her gaze shot back up to his face and realized he was smirking. He knew, for sure... She hadn't imagined it.
During dinner, Rock couldn't stop thinking about what Jonah had in his pocket. It was small, but from the brief moment of contact against her leg she couldn't tell if it was square or circular in shape. But he definitely knew she'd touched it, and he knew what it was, so that lead her to believe he was planning something with it. Because it certainly wasn't a hard-on... What could it be?! She internally sighed at their mutual skill at hiding thoughts like that in their Lifelink, but she had no idea whether she was suspicious or excited by the surprise he was planning...
"Here."
With a soft thump a wrapped gift was dropped on top of her head, which she immediately grabbed and turned to see that it was Beast smirking at her distraction.
"Good, you're still here." Beast continued. "Finish eating so you can get your gifts and go bang your other half." She chastised her little sister knowingly, since Rock was currently the last one to finish eating, admittedly close to finished.
"Is zis vun yours?" Rock indicated the obviously clothing gift.
"Hex. Mine's the blue one on the end of the table." Beast pointed at the table devoted to the gifts from everyone.
"Well, I have something for you before we start on the gifts, alright?" Koko's voice caught the attention of the sisters, with the faint smell of something burning, so they both turned to see Koko carrying a birthday cake with a ring of lit candles. She easily placed it on the table of food, right in the middle, and beckoned Rock over.
Rock was on her feet immediately, half-tempted to do one of her flicker dashes but decided to walk the six feet. And without even wasting a second she blew out the candles, earning applause from everyone around the deck. She then gasped sharply when Jonah slid up behind her and sinuously matched up their bodies, resting his chin on the top of her head after kissing the back of her neck with a smile.
"Looking for this?" Jonah asked, sliding his arms around her stomach to hold up one of the last things that anyone expected to see...
A ring box.
