Twelve.

Chris stared contemplatively at the bookstore. They had been given full access to a mall, which was pretty much devoid of people. It was temporarily closed to the public for security reasons, while Shawna and the band did some recreational shopping, and overall, it was kind of creepy.

"You feeling okay?" CJ asked.

"I don't know when the last time I was in a bookstore was."

"That's because you're illiterate." CJ grinned.

"I am not! I just don't read… much…"

CJ raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up. I should have gone with Nick instead of you. You're no help!"

"Yes, but if Nick knew you were shopping for Alejandro's birthday present, you'd have to deal with… Nick."

"Point." Chris glanced around. "Where did Shawna and Richard go?"

"Last I knew, they were groping in Victoria's Secret. It was kind of disgusting, and kind of hot."

Chris shrugged. "I'll take your word for that." He still had a hard time picturing Rich and Shawna together, though by all accounts they were quite happy. And it was nice to have some extra space on the tour bus, as she seemed to keep him chained to the bedpost a surprising amount of the time. When they did see him, he tended to be both exhausted and very smug.

"So you're gonna buy him a book?" CJ asked.

"Well… He's smart. What else do you buy smart people?"

CJ stared at him.

"What? He doesn't care about clothes and he doesn't play video games or anything. He watches movies, but DVDs are what you buy your brother, you know?"

"I thought that we were all like brothers… Isn't that what we keep telling reporters?"

"CJ, shut up."

"So you're saying you don't love us. I see how it is."

"CJ, shut up. And help me find a book for Alejandro."

"How is buying a book better than a DVD? Books are boring."

"But he likes them."

"They're all full of… words. Except picture books."

"And you called me illiterate. Let's go."

CJ shrugged and followed Chris into the store. "You look cheap when you buy him a book."

"He got me a math book and a calculator."

"Because you're dumb." CJ smiled.

"Right, well, he's not. So I'll get him…"

"An encyclopedia?"

"I was thinking of a fun book, actually." Chris stared at the titles at the front of the store, under new releases.

"Alejandro doesn't like fun things, he likes geek stuff."

"He's not a geek."

"Um… Okiedokie."

Chris scowled. "He's not a geek, he's just smart. He's cool."

"Yeah, that's what he is."

"Are you saying you don't think he's cool?"

"Hey, I'm not saying anything!" CJ said, holding his hands up in a gesture of innocence. "What I'm saying is, you think he's cool."

"…Yes…"

"No, that's all I'm saying. Who do I look like, Nick?"

"You sound like him. Okay, how about…" Chris picked up a book and regarded it. "The Collected Sonnets of William Shakespeare."

"You're both very gay and very in love, aren't you?" CJ mused.

"What? Shakespeare's a smart person thing!"

"Ahem." CJ picked up the book and leafed through it, and began to read aloud: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…"

"Okay, so not love poems. Um…" Chris looked around desperately. "Gone With The Wind."

"You really want to have this end up with, 'Frankly, my dear Kristoff, I don't give a damn.'?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You really have no culture. It's another love story. And this one's an unhappy one."

"Oh." Chris picked up the next book on the shelf without looking, and CJ glanced over his shoulder.

"Bridget Jones' Diary?" he laughed. "Chris, quit while you're ahead."

Chris dropped the book. "Fine! What do you think I should get him!"

CJ shrugged. "Well… I mean, I do think you're on the right track, with books. Because you know he likes to read… And that says something, you know? That you care enough to think of what he likes. That's what you need, is to find something that makes it clear you were thinking of him when you got it."

"What did you get him?"

"The restored DVD of Gone With the Wind."

"Remind me again why I'm friends with you?"

"Hey, guys! Band meeting!" Chris declared, striding into the room.

"What's up?" Alejandro asked, looking up from his book.

"Oh… You're here. Um, band discussion in my room! Not you."

Alejandro blinked. "What?"

"I mean, um… Not you. I don't want to… interrupt your reading. Yeah."

"Well, if this is something about the band…"

"It's not! I mean, it is. I mean, it's about my costume, which I hate, but you hate it when I complain about that stuff, so you sit here and read and everyone else come with me. Okay? Great!"

He grabbed Nick's arm and CJ and Richard followed him into the hallway.

"That was subtle," Richard said.

"Shut up, Mr. Rivers."

Rich smirked. "I'd change my name for her."

"I bet you beg like a dog for her, too. That's not what I want to talk about." He ushered everyone into his room and shut the door. "So, Alejandro's birthday is in two weeks and it's the last week of the tour, right? And it's his eighteenth birthday, so it has to be special!"

"Couldn't find a book, huh?" CJ asked.

"Shut up. I want to do something nice for Alejandro for his birthday."

Nick squeaked, and then put a hand over his mouth. "What?" he asked, when Chris glared at him. "I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking it. This isn't anything like that. It's just… I mean, Alejandro does everything for everyone around here. We don't even have to ask and he just does stuff. Like taking care of me when I was sick and dying. And we owe him anyway for jumping in when Johnny quit, and we'd be nowhere without him. So I wanted to do something really cool for his birthday."

Richard blinked. "That's uncharacteristically nice and unselfish of you… and mature… and… did I mention nice?"

"Bite me," Chris answered, and Richard kicked him. "Anyway, I was thinking about what it is that Alejandro actually likes. More than books. And what would be really special and… I mean, we've been on tour for months now. And I was thinking, you know, he misses his family a lot. And even though we'll be home the week after his birthday, it would still be really great if they could get out here and actually see a show and spend some time with him."

Now Richard was gaping. "Who are you, and what have you done with Chris?"

CJ laughed. "I, for one, welcome the new alien version of Chris."

"Shut up! I'm serious! So… what if we all chipped in for plane tickets and hotel rooms? I mean, if his parents were here on his birthday, and especially his sister, he'd just about die. I think."

"I think that's kind of brilliant," Nick said. "And just… so sweet. Chris, baby—"

"Nick, shut up."

Nick shrugged. "I promised to be good and not do anything, but the two of you… I mean, this is the sweetest thing you've ever done for another human, and—"

"Are you in, then?"

"Of course."

"Ditto," CJ said.

Chris looked at Richard, who nodded. "I, uh, kind of got distracted when we went shopping. I forgot to look for a present. So…"

"You and Shawna need some form of hormone reduction drugs." CJ shook his head in wonder.

"No, I don't think so. I think things are good just as they are. Very good. One might say, very good indeed."

"I suppose Shawna's hot, for a girl…" Nick mused. "And you two are quite the hot couple. You're in every magazine."

"Weasel keeps saying he's proud of me." Richard shuddered. "I hope to god he means for the publicity."

"Okay…" Chris said. "I'll call the plane and the hotel where we'll be and stuff and see how much it's going to cost. Okay?"

Everyone else nodded, and there was a pause, then, "So, I'm supposed to go meet Shawna. Not that I don't love you all and all, but, yeah. Bye."

"Drink milk, Rich! I hear it's good for your bones!" CJ called after him.

"That was unnecessary," Nick said to CJ, who shrugged. "But, I have to go call… call my folks, I told them I'd give them a call. 'Night."

"Maybe we should fly his family out for his birthday, too," CJ mused.

"Well, Alejandro's is first. So… whatever." Chris shrugged.

CJ raised an eyebrow. "Not to sound like Nick or anything, but you really have never even considered…?"

"Considered what?"

"You've never looked at Alejandro and, uh… You know, he's kind of hot. I'd tap it."

"Don't say that!" Chris yelped. "We're talking about Alejandro Cortez here. He's got groupies and he's still a virgin, and if you think he'd let you near him…"

"Whoa, back off, stallion," CJ laughed. "I'm not saying I'm planning to seduce him or anything; I'm not Wayne. But you have to admit, he's a pretty hot guy."

"Yeah, so?"

"So… He's a hot guy who's been half in love with you since he was twelve."

"He's over that." Chris shrugged. "We're like brothers."

"Yeah, of course. Definitely brothers."

"What?"

"You just… Didn't sound too thrilled about being Alejandro's brother, is all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

CJ rolled his eyes. "You know what? Now I know why Nick was so frustrated with the two of you. You're very dumb."

"What?"

"Chris. If it was my birthday, would you have cared?"

"I got you a birthday present!"

"Right, and I appreciated the DVD. Which is what you get your brother. And for Alejandro, you not only are dropping the cash for it, but you actually spent long enough thinking about it—about him—to come up with a birthday present which will probably make him cry with joy. I'm your brother. Alejandro? Not so much."

Chris rolled his eyes. "CJ, you're hallucinating."

"Suuuure I am." CJ chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to go make Alejandro play a video game for awhile."

"Why?"

"It keeps me entertained. Have you ever heard him say 'motherfucker'?"

"No!"

CJ shrugged. "I didn't realize he knew words like that. And he swears like a pirate in Spanish. I spent hours looking up everything he said."

"Wow."

"He's hot and bilingual. Yeah, I'd tap it." CJ dashed out of the room before Chris could react.

Chris stared down at the figures he'd come up with and shook his head. Unless the calculator Alejandro had given to him was broken, there was something very wrong with this picture.

Plane tickets across the country were expensive, but it wasn't on a holiday or anything. It wasn't even a weekend. But the round trip tickets were still five hundred dollars a person, and two hotel rooms for several days for where their band was booked ran almost two hundred bucks a night per room. And even if Rosalia shared a room with her parents, it was still about two thousand bucks for Alejandro's parents to spend three days, and over fifteen hundred for just overnight.

Which worked out to five hundred and thirty dollars for each band member to pay.

And Chris checked his bank account and discovered he had a measly two hundred dollars in it. Which made no sense; sure, he'd never gone over his expenses on tour, but he was also a member of one of the most successful bands of the year. Their debut album had gone platinum, they were on their third tour (which was selling out every venue, including some downright huge places). And their other merchandise—dolls and trading cards and he was pretty sure he'd even seen V-Tones themed chapstick—must have been licensed.

So where the hell was the money from it all?

He frowned again. More importantly, he couldn't pay his chunk of the money for the trip, and even if the other guys were willing to pick up the slack—if they had the money—he'd wanted it to be… his present. Even if that was kind of selfish of him.

The other guys were coming in to discuss it in a minute, and he wasn't sure what to say—no matter where he tried to cut corners, he couldn't find a way to get cheaper airfare. And he wanted it to be a nice trip for the family, so he didn't want to leave them in some horrible shack of a motel.

They filed in, and Chris turned around. "Where's Alejandro?"

CJ looked a little guiltily. "You know that textbook he's been lugging around for the last week?"

"Yeah…"

"He doesn't know this, but it's locked in the filing cabinet in Weisel's office. It'll take him an hour or two to realize I hid it."

"What's your excuse for hiding it, when he asks?"

CJ shrugged.

"CJ?" Nick prodded.

"It's not my fault he's good at everything! He beat my high score! He deserves it!"

CJ sulked until the laughter died down.

"Okay, well, if he's not suspicious… Guys, we've got a problem. This is expensive."

"So?" Richard asked lazily. "We should be able to afford it."

"How much money is in your bank account right now?"

"I dunno."

"Check." Chris nodded to the laptop he'd been using. "For real, check. Because I haven't spent all that much, and I'm broke. And I don't remember getting paid on this tour yet."

"So…" Richard began to check. "Worst comes to worst, we ask Weisel to give us an advance."

"I already did," Chris said. "I went in and I talked to that horrible, disgusting old man."

"And?"

"'Sorry, kid, that ain't in your contract.'"

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I said. But it's in our contract that we don't get advanced any money on tours in case we get sick and have to cancel shows or something."

"Well, that's shitty." Rich checked his bank account. "I'm broke. I mean… I have a few hundred, but…"

Nick and CJ exchanged glances. "I think that's about what I've got."

"Yeah… I was counting on getting an advance."

"This sucks," Chris muttered. "So what do we do about the present? I mean, there's no way we can get two thousand dollars together without an advance. And I don't want to go to our parents… I mean, Rich, your mom…"

Richard rolled his eyes. "She hates Shawna, did you know that?"

"I didn't. Anyway, back to important things, what do we do?"

"Well… uh…" Nick hesitated. "I mean, his birthday's in the middle of the week, maybe his parents wouldn't have been able to come anyway… And Rosalia will have school, so… Maybe it wouldn't have worked anyway?"

"Come on! For his birthday, they'd come! Wouldn't they?"

"I think they would," Richard agreed. "They seemed pretty close."

"We could… offer to do… half?" CJ said hesitantly. "If they can pay half?"

"That would take all of our money," Richard said. "If not still more. Damn it."

"Well, I'll give my two hundred!" Chris snapped, frustrated.

"Chris, chill," Richard said. "If we can't, we can't… We should call and ask them, anyway. In case they can't come." Something in his voice implied it would be a relief if they couldn't make it.

Chris nodded, sulking, and reached for the phone. Everyone else sat around as he dialed and waited.

"Hello? This is the Cortez residence," a high pitched voice said.

"Hey… Rosalia?"

"Hello?"

"Guess who," he said, grinning to himself.

"I… I don't know…"

"It's Chris."

She squeaked loudly on the other end of the phone, then said, "I, oh! Hi, Chris! How are you?"

"Hey, I'm fine. How're you?"

"I'm good. Um, did you, I mean… Um, did you want to talk to… Mom and Dad? Is Alejandro okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's great, really. He says he misses you a lot. He's, um, reading right now. Can I talk to your dad?"

"Okay. Daddy!"

Chris winced and held the phone away from his ear while she yelled, though he couldn't help smiling.

"Dad's coming! I'm glad you called, Chris! I saw you on MTV today!"

"Oh yeah? What did you think?"

"You were great."

"What'd you think of your big brother?"

"Oh… He was okay too, I guess."

Chris laughed a little, and her dad picked up. "Hello?"

"Bye, Chris!"

"Bye, Rosalia. Hello, Mr. Cortez. Uh, good evening."

"To what do we owe the pleasure, Chris?"

"Umm… It's kind of a long story."

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah! No, it's nothing bad. Nothing at all. Actually, it's good. Except for the part that's bad. I mean…" He trailed off. "It has to do with Alejandro's birthday. I wanted… I mean, the guys and I waned to do something special, so we… we wanted to fly you guys out for his birthday so you could be with him, but, uh… Our plans aren't going so well."

"What's wrong?"

"Well… Uh…" He hesitated. "It's kind of embarrassing, but… we don't have the money for it. And when we're on tour we can't get an advance on our salary from the tour… we want to talk to our manager about it again, I mean, this is pretty… dumb… of him…" He wished he was a better speaker, but he was only used to talking in interviews. "But we'd still really like you to come… I mean, it's expensive…"

"Well, how much are we talking about?"

"Uh… We can put together about… About half? About a thousand. But the tickets and the hotel and all…"

"Two thousand? That's a little steep."

"I know!" Chris said. "I'm really sorry and we wanted to be able to cover it all and if you guys don't want to we understand but we wanted to ask. Because Alejandro… I mean, he misses home a lot."

"Yeah, lay it on thick," CJ muttered.

"Shut up, CJ!" Nick hissed.

Chris explained the breakdown of airfare and hotels, while Mr. Cortez listened, and he sighed. "Well, it falls in the middle of the week—we'd have to arrange to get days off. And it's certainly a lot of cash, if you can't get an advance, and a very expensive present altogether. We appreciate the thought, but…"

"It's okay," Chris said. "We understand. We just wanted to…"

There was a murmur on the other end of the phone, someone talking off of the speaker, then, "Hang on a second, Chris," and more hushed conversation. Chris waited, until finally Mrs. Cortez picked up.

"Chris, hello! We're glad to hear from you."

"Thanks, ma'am. How are you?" he asked politely.

"Oh, frazzled with work, but we're just so proud of Alejandro and you boys. But Emilio has just explained the situation to me—it's very generous of you boys, you know."

"Well, uh… Alejandro means a lot to us. And we know you mean the world to him. So…"

"We do miss our boy. But I don't think Emilio and I would be able to make it—I have meetings all that week, unfortunately, and Emilio's work is quite demanding. But if you're still willing, I know a certain young lady who misses her brother terribly, and who just talked us into letting her take three days off of school."

"Oh… That would be great! I mean, one person for airfare, and hotel…"

"Don't worry about the room, Chris; I'm sure she could stay with her brother."

"Well, yeah, but…" He shrugged. "I mean, we'd be willing to pay for it."

"That would just be silly, she and Alejandro are very close; they shared a room until she was five."

Chris smiled at the image; he could picture Alejandro reading her to sleep every night.

"Well, that would be… excellent, I think," Chris said. "We could definitely afford that… If it's okay, I'll go ahead and book the tickets and all, and I can call you back with the flight information."

"That sounds great… Rosalia is jumping up and down, I think she'd like to say thank you."

"Okay—" Chris started, but was cut off.

"Thank you! Thank you Chris! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Hey, no problem, cutie," he said, laughing. "I'll just go get your flight booked, okay?"

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Okay! Bye! Thank you!"

Chris hung up and glanced at the other three. "So… Rosalia's coming to visit," he said.

"Oh, is that what the squeaking was all about?" Richard asked. "I could hear it from the other side of the room."

"Yeah, well… She's only eleven." He shrugged. "So we're only paying for the flight, I guess, so it's not that bad—"

There was a knock on the door, and then it was pushed open. "Okay, CJ, I give up. If it means that much to you, delete the high scores and I promise not to play anymore. Now where the hell is my book?" Alejandro paused. "And what are you all doing in here?"

"Talking," Richard said. "Um. About my sex life with Shawna. We didn't figure you'd want to hear. Boy, is it hot."

Alejandro blinked. "Uh… okay. CJ—"

"You'll never find it!" CJ cackled and bounded out of the room, and Alejandro dashed after him.

"Great show tonight, guys!" Alejandro said enthusiastically. "We were really on!"

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Come on, change faster!"

Alejandro gave him a strange look. "Uh… Okay. Um, you've been kind of hyper all day."

"Yeah, well, I have my reasons! Hurry!"

There was a knock on the dressing room door and one of the security guards stepped in and noted, "Everything is all set up in the green room."

"Great!" Chris said. "Thanks! Awesome! Alejandro, hurry! Everyone hurry!"

"Mm." The security guard nodded. "The present seems to be a bit… impatient."

"Hurry hurry hurry! Is everyone ready? Okay, we're going!"

"Present?" Alejandro asked, as he finished pulling on his shirt. Chris was already bored of waiting and began to push him towards the door, with the other three boys following in various states of vague undress, still pulling on clothes. (CJ was hopping on one foot, trying to get a sneaker on while he moved forward.)

"Present!" Chris agreed. "Come on, it's not like we'd forget your birthday. Give us a little credit!"

"You guys didn't have to do anything…" Alejandro mumbled.

"Yes, we did," Richard said, slinging an arm around Alejandro.

"If nothing else," CJ agreed, still hopping, "to see the look on your face. Ow!" He tripped and fell against the wall, swore, and pulled on his sneaker.

"You're gonna love us so much," Nick agreed.

"Okay…" Alejandro said, as they reached the green room door.

"Ready?" Chris asked, and Alejandro nodded. He pushed open the door and Alejandro walked in, as Chris hit the lights.

"Happy birthday Alejandro!"

Rosalia launched herself across the room and Alejandro barely had time to react but still managed to catch her, his big brother instincts kicking in. He looked a little shocked, even as he picked her up and spun her around, dropping her on the couch before noticing an oversized cake on the coffee table next to it.

"Oh, my god," he said, sounding shocked. "Rosalia… You're here."

"I know! I had to be on a plane for ten hours all by myself because it was so late taking off and then they circled around in the air like a million times, and then they sent a guard to meet me at the airport! But I got here in time for the concert!"

"I can't believe you came!" he said, leaning over to tickle her, a giant smile lighting up his face.

"Stop it!" she squealed, twisting away. "Have cake! I wanted to bring a cake that Mama baked but they said it wouldn't go on the plane too well."

"I'll bet not," he said, and finally looked over at the four other band members, who were standing quietly inside the room, watching. "You guys did this?" he asked.

They all nodded, and he was still smiling an impossibly wide grin.

"No one has ever done anything like this for me before," he said.

"Alejandro, cake!" Rosalia insisted.

"Yeah, I—one second." He was still staring at the other four.

CJ coughed and pointed at Chris. "His idea," he mouthed.

Alejandro stared at Chris, who shrugged, and looked down at the floor.

"Chris…"

"Yeah, well, it's your birthday."

"I'll bet Chris wants cake!"

"I sure do!" Chris agreed, sounding a little relieved to have something to do. "You want to cut it, Alejandro? We couldn't find any candles. By the way, she's staying in your room."

"Excellent," he said, and ruffled her hair fondly. "Shouldn't you be in school, squirt?"

"Mom and Dad let me out for the rest of the week! I can stay until Sunday!"

Alejandro wrapped her in a giant hug again, but he looked up at Chris, who was busily setting out plates on the coffee table.

"Chris…" he said quietly.

"Whatever. Happy birthday. Cake!"

"Cake!" CJ repeated, and bounded across the room.

Alejandro knocked on Chris's door, and Chris opened it, not sure who to expect, but pleasantly surprised. Chris was already wearing his pajamas—striped pajama pants and an old t-shirt—but he clearly wasn't asleep yet. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," Alejandro said. "Can I…"

"Yeah," Chris said, standing aside to let him in. "Happy birthday," he added.

"Thanks. Chris, I…" He stared at Chris, who sat down on his bed, and gestured for Alejandro to sit next to him. Alejandro sat, a little awkwardly. "I mean… Jeez, I don't know what to say. Thank you."

Chris shrugged. "It wasn't just me, you know, we all went in on the tickets and all…"

"CJ told me you put in all your money."

"I guess. Whatever, I'm just glad you're happy. Because we wanted your whole family to come, but we couldn't afford it, so… I hope that this is good enough."

"Chris, it's fantastic."

"Okay… Good. Where, uh, is she?"

"Asleep. I gave her my bed, I figure we can trade off taking turns on the floor…"

"I can take a night, if you want." Chris shrugged. "If you're tired or something. It's your birthday present, after all."

"No one has ever…" Alejandro trailed off. "I don't think… I mean, I think you're… You're the closest friend I've ever had. I didn't realize I meant… I meant so much. To everyone. To you… To everyone."

"You do," Chris said, turning slightly to stare into Alejandro's face. "To everyone. To… To me. And everyone."

"Look, Chris, I just don't want—I don't want to be thinking the wrong thing… And I know I am." Alejandro inched slightly away. "But it was still really nice of you."

Chris nodded. "I've just… I've never met anyone like you, Alejandro. You're really… You're so amazing. You always think of other people before yourself—you just do it, without thinking. And I just wanted… I mean, we all appreciate it."

"You didn't have to do anything for me. I like… I like being there for people."

Chris swallowed. "I think I do too," he said. "I'd never really tried it before, though."

"That's a pretty good start."

"Uh… Alejandro?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever…" He trailed off. "I don't know, I'm going to say something stupid. So don't make fun of me, okay?"

"Okay."

Chris stared down at his feet. "Have you ever met someone who you think of all the time? I mean, for no good reason. You just… Think about one person all the time."

Alejandro nodded, then realized Chris wasn't watching him. "I… I guess."

"Because… I mean, why? Why does it happen, I mean. Getting a person stuck in your head like that. Like a song."

"That's kind of poetic," Alejandro said quietly.

"But… why? Because I also love CJ and Nick and Rich, but… You're stuck in my head, Alejandro."

"Chris, I should go," Alejandro said, starting to stand up, but Chris grabbed his sleeve and he sat back down. "I should go…" he said again.

"If you want to, you can," Chris said. "But I don't want you to. I like having you near me. I like… I liked seeing you smile like that, today. I don't know why, but I feel better with you. Like you're something real when so much of my life is fake. You're real, and I want you around, because you… You make me feel real. Like a person and not just…" He shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just babbling."

"What does this mean?" Alejandro asked.

"I don't know," Chris said, frustrated. "I just know that you're… You're the song that's been stuck in my head for months now. Longer maybe. But it's like I never learned the words, just hummed along, and now I know it by heart."

"Chris…" Alejandro said, his voice almost breaking. "You've been stuck in my head since… since I was twelve."

"Even when I was horrible to you?"

Alejandro nodded. "I… I wouldn't have joined if anyone else had asked me."

Chris slowly slid his hand across the bed to brush his fingers against Alejandro's. Not quite holding hands, but touching gently. They both stared down at their hands, seeing the play of light and dark skin together.

"I don't know what I'm doing," Chris finally said. "I just know that when you were happy tonight—it made me happy. And I want to feel that… I want to feel it all the time. I want to make you happy all the time."

"Chris…" Alejandro breathed, and moved his hand so their fingers were interlocking.

Chris smiled at him. It wasn't his usual semi-smug smirk, or fake smile for cameras, it was just a quiet, almost shy-looking smile.

"Can I kiss you?" Alejandro asked. "That would make me happy."

Chris nodded, and Alejandro leaned in, not letting their hands separate, and gently brushed his lips over Chris's.

"Was that okay?" Alejandro asked.

Chris leaned over and kissed Alejandro, his heartbeat speeding up as he felt Alejandro's gentle lips against his, felt their hands together, felt Alejandro's skin. He stared into Alejandro's eyes.

"It was okay," he said softly. "Happy birthday, Alejandro."

AN: Is it a bad sign when your own fic makes you swoon? I need to go carry Leah off to get the smelling salts…