A/N: So, I decided to sort of two in one this for Whip's birthday and KOFtober. For one, I swapped 12(Business) and 16(Love), because I wanted to make her birthday fic more 'fun' than business, and Love seemed nice for that. (Come 16, I'll be posting something Business-oriented.) This is extremely slice-of-life oriented.

Until then, however…Happy Birthday, Whippy! The lady deserves happiness.

Looking down, Adel pushed a bit of Whip's hair back; both of them were nicely worn out from the evening's 'festivities'.

Having gotten back to Germany this morning, Whip had been picked up at her hotel by Adel, who took her immediately back to the Sky Noah for breakfast and a rather nice day together.

They also thankfully had lots of privacy, and this had been their second round today.

"Feeling alright?" he grinned, his own hair disheveled.

"Very," she said, her voice low as she curled up next to him. Neither had anything on except for a blanket thrown over their legs-given their activities, that was to be expected.

Sliding a hand into her hair, he debated ringing the kitchens to bring them up a cart of snacks. He was typically a type that liked to snack after sexy times.

"Hmm," he said.

"Let me guess. You're…"

"Yeah."

She tickled his side before leaning over to kiss his chest, which she was lined up with. "Of course." Laying back for a moment as she felt his hand tracing over her toned midsection, she grinned. "I'm kinda hungry too, to be honest. Didn't eat much today."

"I'll call soon. When I feel like moving."

"Take your time."

He looked over at his nightstand, absently grabbing for the watch that sat there. He slid it onto his wrist while checking it. "Huh. We lost track of time."

She shrugged, nuzzling up to him. She was feeling particularly cuddly with her afterglow tonight. "These things happen."

"I mean, it is your birthday."

She grinned. "You always remember."

"Of course, I do. I was there when you picked it."

Whip smiled warmly at that, her hand sliding over to grab one of his as they interlocked their fingers.

It had been early in their relationship, and the two were discussing birthdays. Whip didn't really remember her actual birthday, not really remembering much at all of her life before NESTS. Adel had suggested that she figure something out for herself; a day that meant a lot to her.

Plus, clones…didn't have birthdays, something that had stung her…until Adel had explained that she was still Seirah.

She had, in the end, chosen the day she had joined her new 'family', the Ikari unit. It felt like she had started her new life, and a birthday on that day was as good as any. Since then, she had celebrated it on this day.

"Not sure what I want to do yet," she said, a finger tracing over one of the scars on his hand. "I never want to do anything big."

"You don't have to. I'm the same."

"Might want to go out this year. At least to some little place."

"Anywhere in mind?"

"Hmm," she thought, leaning back and pulling his hand closer toward her and playing with it absently. "Has any new places opened?"

"A couple of places," he said. "Some new bistro that apparently has good burgers."

"Ooh. That sounds tasty."

"And just between us," he said, "I'm pretty sure that place could do better than my cooks. They have problems with dressing down stuff like burgers, you know them." Adel's cooks were excellent-some of the best around-but they had problem making things more…simple. They did pretty well with breakfast or brunch, but when it came to dinner, if one just wanted a good, quality burger-well, his cooks could definitely make a high quality one, but it would likely end up coming with all sorts of garnishes and embellishment that one might serve at a thousand-dollar restaurant…and be about the size of one, too.

Which meant it wouldn't have filled someone with a small appetite, let alone a larger one. The cooks had, to be sure, gotten much better at making more casual food, though Rose was ever demanding of the finest of everything, while Adel could be equally happy eating burgers or pizza from a place in Frankfurt as he could eating foie gras, quail's eggs, and gold-leaf sundaes.

Indeed, both he and Whip preferred this at times. During their first year together, she admittedly had indulged in all of the fancy stuff his kitchen offered, but after some time, she began to see where her lover was coming from with wanting to go simple now and then.

"I love your cooks," she said immediately. "I can eat their crepes all day. But I sort of realized what you meant when I saw how you sometimes liked to go someplace casual." Whip had first been surprised when he asked her to a more middle-class place, before she realized he was much, much different than his sister when it came to the 'rich person' stuff.

"Yeah."

"When was the first time you did that?"

"Hmm," he said. "I was never…the focus beyond training and some business," he said. "Except for Henrik and the servants. So, I was pretty free to do what I wanted. I used to like just almost getting lost in new cities and exploring them. I'd always end up going to regular places."

"I liked exploring, too," Whip replied as he tightened his grip on her hand for a moment. "When I'd go traveling with the unit, I always would go around the cities and towns instead of just staying on the base or whatever hotels we were in. I totally get it. When you're kinda…locked up for a while…"

"Gotta get out somehow," he said, leaning over to kiss the side of her head gently.

"Yeah. I was late getting back a few times. They never seemed to mind."

Stretching his large frame out, Adel started to sit up and lean against the padded headboard, taking the first steps toward rolling out of bed to the showers.

"Damn, I feel lazy today," he said.

Whip moved to sit up as well, a very pleasant ache in her midsection from their rather extended session. "Don't blame you."

Deciding to see if a window would help, he finally slid out of bed and wandered across the room, still nude; reaching the windows he shoved a curtain out of the way and cracked one open. It wasn't quite six, so it was still light out this time of year, but given it was mid-autumn, there was a very nice breeze that blew in to cool down the room and perk the pair up some.

"Mmm. Nice evening," she said, the cool air blowing over her bare skin and making her shiver ever so slightly. It was pleasant, though.

"Yeah." He stood in front of it for some time, stretching and letting the breeze blow onto him. Wandering over, he opened up a couple more curtains, letting most of the room get lit by the remaining natural light.

Turning, he came back over to the bed as she slid out of it, looking over at the bathroom.

"Think it's time for a shower," she said. "I might just skip the cart and go right out after."

He looked up and down her sleek, nude body, letting a hand trace down her side. "Want it to yourself?"

She turned her eyes toward him, a sly smile on her face.

"You can join."

Adel sat on the chair as he laced his tall boots up. He had thrown on his usual outfit-his cargos and tight, sleeveless shirt-given they weren't going anywhere fancy tonight. The bedroom windows were still open as the sun continued to set after their…extended shower.

Whip walked in mostly dressed herself in jeans, black sneakers and a tank top, brushing out her still-drying hair. She felt even better after that shower, coming over to tease him, pushing a little of his damp hair back.

"Didn't expect that," she smirked.

"On your birthday?" he nipped at her side as he finished tying his boot.

She laughed as she heard something at the door-or as she knew, someone. Walking over, knowing damn well where the scratching sounds came from, she opened it as Gwan's large form slid inside to run immediately to the bed.

"Trying to escape the little guy?" Whip asked him as she walked over to rub the sides of the panther's head. A low, rumbling purr emit from his throat as he nuzzled her back, licking her face once.

"Cinder's been wearing the big fellow out," the blond laughed. Cinder was his cub-still a little guy-who Adel had picked out from the sanctuary after Gwan had spent his requisite time there in their program. Or, it should have been said, Cinder picked him , immediately crawling over to him and nuzzling up to his hand. He was named for his molten color eyes, which stood out against his blue-black fur.

Gwan was amicable toward his progeny, but he also liked to sleep a lot and Cinder was still very much in the small, playful stage, so the big fellow would take off to whatever room was not housing the cub at the moment. He was likely with Rose for now, if he had to guess, trying to snatch her food.

"He's still a big baby," the soldier said as she kissed the top of his head, letting him prowl off and lay on Adel's giant bed after a spell. She went to grab a long-sleeved overshirt, as the nights were quite chilly now, likely dipping close to freezing by the time they got back.

"Where are we going, anyway? Birthday lady's choice." He slid a black hooded sweatshirt over his head before going to grab his longcoat.

She leaned against the wall as she grabbed her military jacket, draping it over her arm. "I…never know," she said with a chuckle. "Let's just wander around until we find places. Wasn't that what we did often early on?"

He smiled warmly at this. "Yeah. Seems to be a thing now."

"Tradition." She moved closer to him, sliding her hands onto his face; she could smell his familiar, soft aftershave. They kissed for a moment before separating. They still, even after these nearly three years, enjoyed physical contact a lot-when you spent a life completely devoid of such things, one could want to make up for lost time, so to speak.

Sliding on their coats, they headed out of his room and down the extensive halls of the massive Sky Noah, eventually reaching the bottom after an elevator trip.

Henrik, his long-time head butler and confidant, was waiting for them by the door. He bowed politely, as always, smiling.

"Good evening," he said. "City Center?"

"Yeah," Adel said. While he liked driving himself, tonight he was likely drinking a bit too much to drive back, so he had Henrik handle the duties tonight.

"Call me when you are ready to return, as always." The three left toward the vehicle bay of the Sky Noah, chatting quietly on the way.

It was dark when they got out of the car, waving goodbye to Henrik as he drove off, likely returning to the Sky Noah for whatever he had to do while he waited for their call.

Adel shoved his hands in the pockets of his leather longcoat, the wind whipping his thick hair around his head. He had grown it a little, as he would when it got cold; while he always kept the front about down to his chin, in the winter he'd let the rest get slightly longer. Whip's was slightly longer too, though similarly styled to what she usually had. Pushing some behind her ears to keep it out of her face, she fastened her jacket and looked around.

"You know what we haven't done since one of our early dates?" she said. "Just sort of bar and restaurant hop."

"We did that a couple of times way back in Vienna," he said. "It was fun." Vienna was where the pair had gone on their first date. They had revisited the neighborhood the year before and found the bar was gone, but they had stocked up on snacks from the place that had popped up instead.

The two started walking toward an area where they knew there were a lot of places to choose from, her reaching over to slide her hand into his.

"I think I know why I like doing this," she said suddenly. "It's like…nostalgia. Even though we just started this not long ago."

He looked softly at her as he squeezed her hand. "I remember we talked about making new memories one night. That's what the past few years have been." He smiled, happy that she had sort of finished finding her place. "And you'll make more. Lots of them."

The two walked quietly some more until they ran into a place that seemed to be a cafe; looking at each other, they walked in.

"Let's just get something to go and take it to that one park nearby," she said. "Then we can find a proper place to eat."

Quickly grabbing large drinks to go-both of them indulging in the now more widespread pumpkin spice phenomenon-they pocketed a couple of packages of heavy, buttery cake they purchased as well.

The evening breeze now cooling it to a mere four or five, they were nonetheless content with their warm drinks and beloved company. The pair weren't the type to hang off of one another, crowd out each other or need to be together all day every day, but whenever they were apart for a week or so on business, they were always grateful to be back together again for the time they could, and that went triple for when it was one of their birthdays. Whip was able to work out of the Sky Noah fairly often, at least, and she had as much free run of the place as Adel and his family.

"Here we go," he said, wandering into the place which had people milling about, and was illuminated with streetlights. It wasn't even seven-thirty yet, so despite being dusk it was still plenty busy. He leaned by a tree and took a big gulp of his still-hot coffee while fumbling the piece of buttery cake out of his pocket.

Whip moved close to him to join him in what seemed to be a calm session of people-watching. Sipping her own drink, she debated digging her own cake out, though he quickly held out his own, letting her take a bite of it. It was quite buttery and moist but needed a pretty big swallow of coffee to help get it down.

"Wow. That's good," she said.

"German butter cake," he said. "Butterkuchen. Henrik loves it. I grew up eating this. I'd steal extra for breakfast."

"I can see why," she grinned, digging her own out to open.

"Happy birthday?" He held the cake up. "Not a typical birthday cake, but…"

"One that's about perfect," she said, taking another big bite of hers. He followed, the two allowing the sweet, buttery taste to fill their mouths. She finished one more bite before wrapping the rest up to shove in her pocket for a bit later; unsurprisingly, he wolfed down the rest of his and sighed contentedly.

"I might have eaten mine too fast."

"Not surprising," she teased, turning toward him and cupping his face in her free hand.

"What's that mean?" he teased back before nipping at her jaw. She moved his face to quickly meet him in a kiss; it lingered a few moments before breaking.

"You and your appetite. I'll never forget the first time I saw you actually eat an entire meal."

"Impressive, wasn't it?"

"I still don't know where it goes. To this day. I'm reminded of this every few months."

He took another sip of coffee as he tickled her side, though through her jacket she didn't quite feel it as much. Feeling this, she leaned forward into him…feeling particularly cuddly today. Despite the fact the two did not do a lot in terms of public displays of affection, the park was dim enough, and they were out of the way enough, that she didn't mind curling up to him.

His hand sliding into her soft hair, he rubbed her head affectionately as she leaned into his chest. Leaning down to kiss her head lightly, he inhaled, her scent relaxing him.

"I love you," he said quietly.

Looking up again, her free hand slid up to stroke his face. On a day like this, she too felt a lot more sentimental than normal. Neither were too sappy and clingy-not at all-but whenever she had a birthday-given the circumstances of choosing her first-she would always get a lot touchier than normal.

"I love you too," she whispered, kissing his neck as they leaned together. Her free hand slid under his longcoat as she rested against him, most of the people wandering through the park fairly far away and not paying too much attention.

"Know what you want to do yet?" he asked softly, after a few moments.

"Staying here for now is fine."

He chuckled. "Anything you want." He stroked her hair gently again, leaning against her.

As they stood in their embrace, Whip finally heard her phone buzz. Shaking her head, she looked up at him a moment before adding one more kiss to his mouth.

"Should I?" she said.

"Yeah, go ahead." He rubbed the back of her head a moment before standing up and leaning back again.

Looking down at the device, she blinked. "It's Leona," she said.

"Oh?"

"She said to come meet up at Nachtmusik," she said.

"That's the metal bar she and Duo Lon go to, isn't it?" One of Duo Lon's interests, besides things like Mah Jongg, biology, and morbid scenarios, was extreme, raw, underground black metal music, which he liked to collect on vinyl when possible; it wasn't really discussed much in the tournaments. Leona had taken a liking to it as well since their time together.

"I think that's the one. The small place. I'm up for it."

"Let's go."

Interlocking fingers again, the now very chill breeze whipping their hair about their heads as the leaves scattered and filling the air with that fond autumn leaf smell, they made their way through the park and toward the part of town that the bar was located at. The area wasn't really seedy, per se, but it was a bit dimmer and out of the way…something the other pair would definitely like.

Coming up to the front, the bar itself looked nondescript; no big windows in the front, there was a battered, black and white sign on the wooden door. It looked more like the front of some eerie shop, but when one stepped inside, you were greeted with a bar that looked larger on the outside but was mostly sparsely furnished. Booths among the side, a few tables, and decor mostly of the heavy metal variety. A bar sat in the center.

As usual, it didn't take them long to find Leona, who was in the back booth…along with Duo Lon, who they didn't even know was in the country.

Raising her hand, Whip smiled.

"You guys are both here!" she said.

Adel grinned. "Hey! Didn't know you were coming."

Duo Lon smiled. "I decided to come early." His voice was soft, as always.

"We figured we'd call you to see if you were up for a couple before you two went out and about again," Leona added.

"I think I am," Whip replied.

The two joined them in the booth; Duo Lon briefly slung a sinewy, tattooed arm around Whip as she bent for a hug, with Leona joining. The assassin's sleeved arms were always cool to look at, the pair thought; it seemed that he would add to them whenever he would get a chance. Even Leona added her first over a year ago on her shoulder.

Neither Adel nor Whip had them-they liked piercings a bit more. Whip's earrings were her favored, and she had gotten extra added at the top of her ears; besides his earrings, Adel had added two nipple rings and a tongue stud almost a couple of years ago.

"What are you having?" Leona asked.

"We're buying, by the way," Duo Lon added. "I know that Adel has no issue with this but…"

"Awww," Adel said.

"Oh, let them buy," the soldier said, tickling his side. The two slid their own jackets off, Adel pushing up the sleeves of his hoodie.

"I think I can," the big blond said. He was always free and generous with his money around his companions, and often insisted buying because he had more than he knew what to do with, but he wouldn't deny friends wanting to buy another a birthday drink if they insisted.

Smiling softly, Duo Lon stood to slide out of the booth to walk up to the bar; he would get the four their favorites for this one.

"What were you guys doing?" Leona asked.

"Just…reminiscing. It seems like I do that every birthday. But…about more recent things."

"Yeah. I know that feeling."

The assassin rubbed the back of Leona's neck briefly with a strong hand as he walked back with the drinks, causing her to smile. He had placed two on the table to free up one hand.

"Whatcha got?" Whip grinned, leaning briefly into Adel's shoulder.

"I know he likes old whiskey," he said, sliding Adel his double. "You liked that honey liquor, correct?"

"Yes!" she said, taking it. "Adel…what was this called again?"

"Bärenjäger."

"I should have remembered that," she said. She had been learning German more over the past couple of years and was quite decent in it these days, though she would still forget certain words.

Duo Lon smiled, sitting again with his absinthe, as he slid Leona her bourbon.

Another birthday had come and went, and for Seirah, they had just kept getting better.

A/N: Well, I think it hit both her birthday, and the "Love" prompt decently? I hope.

It was perhaps just a little bit sappy at times, but, eh, the prompt was 'Love', so I let it go just a little bit. Adel and Whip really aren't a sappy, clingy couple at all(if you're familiar with my other work), but now and then they get a little cuddly-they were more than a bit touch-starved in their lives before they were together, after all.

There's a lot of HCs involved here, like Whip choosing her birthday(Clones, I imagine, might not have them as normal, and she probably didn't remember her own as Seirah's…so I thought it'd be nice for her to pick a day that meant a lot to her. (You can read about this in A Special Day, if you like!) Adel's monstrous appetite is another. Duo Lon's interest in underground metal music is yet another HC-as are his tattoos, and Leona had gotten one on her upper arm in 14 Nights.

These guys like low-key birthdays. They just like to spend time with people they care about. Having some friends surprise her made her even happier, even if the friends were just chilling in a bit of a dark bar.