I wrote most of this a while ago, and I wasn't sure about uploading it, so I asked whether anyone would like to read it, and I got a review from Dreamlive saying yes, so here it is! I hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think!

Also, quick question: would anyone like me to do a Gantlos/Duman story for Valentine's Day? If so, please let me know sooner rather than later:)


'I can't believe that failed! Not only did we fail to destroy Gardenia's belief in fairies, but those irritating Winx are somehow stronger than ever!' I nod along distractedly to Ogron's rant, watching him pace back and forth in the small alcove in the sewers that we've been living out of for the past week.

'Well, in all fairness, what were we expecting?' Ogron spins around rapidly, glaring at Duman, who is sprawled against the wall.

'What?' Ogron's voice has a dangerous edge to it; it's never a good idea to interrupt him mid-rant.

'I said, what were we expecting? We gave three high-school mean-girls temporary dark powers, trained them for an afternoon and sent them off to fight the three-time saviours of the Magic Dimension. What were we expecting to happen?' Ogron's eye twitches. Discrediting his plans is an even worse idea than interrupting one of his rants, though Duman looks unconcerned.

'Well perhaps in future you would like to come up with a plan!' Ogron rages. 'Because, I guarantee, it's a lot harder to think of a plan than it is to mock one!'

'You sure? Because with the number of plans that have failed recently, it's getting pretty difficult to think of new material.' Duman grins at Ogron, whose face is rapidly turning the same colour as his hair.

'Why you...' Ogron takes a few steps towards Duman, who simply looks amused.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' Anagan rapidly scrambles to his feet and steps in front of Ogron, putting his hand firmly on his shoulder. 'Calm down, Ogron. Duman, quit aggravating him; it's not helpful. You know Ogron's trying to come up with a plan that works, and it's making him stressed. Stop it with the teasing.'

'Sorry.' Duman shrugs, not looking particularly sorry. 'But seriously, if that's the best plan we have, we might be in trouble.'

'We are living in the sewers!' Ogron shouts. 'You don't think we might already be in trouble?!' Anagan has to tighten his grip on Ogron's shoulder.

'Duman! Seriously, stop it.' Anagan's voice is starting to sound strained; acting as the group peacekeeper can't be easy for him at the best of times, but with everyone stressed and low on magic, it must be starting to take its toll on him.

Duman huffs and rolls his eyes. 'Fine.'

Anagan breathes a sigh of relief. 'Thank you.' He turns back to Ogron. 'Ogron, I know it's disappointing that the plan failed, but it's late and there isn't anything we can do about it now, not to mention that everyone's a little on-edge and stressed. Let's leave the planning there for today and get some sleep, okay?' It's charitable of Anagan to call Ogron's two-hour rant 'planning', but bluntly telling people the harsh truth has never been Anagan's strong-suit, and besides, he seems to have calmed Ogron down.

'Alright, let's leave it there for tonight,' Ogron concedes, giving Duman a glare. 'We'll do some recon tomorrow and look for a way to get the White Circle.'

'Great.' Anagan gives Ogron's shoulder a gentle squeeze and lets go. 'We'll figure this out, I know we will.' Duman opens his mouth to say something, but Anagan shoots him a look and he shuts it again.

'Okay, then. Goodnight, everyone.' Anagan walks over to a corner of the alcove and curls up to go to sleep.

'Goodnight,' Ogron replies, lying down next to the far wall with his head on his arm; he falls asleep almost instantly, his breathing becoming soft and steady, more worn-out from today than he let on.

'Goodnight,' I yawn, taking my hat off and lying down; the floor is hard and uncomfortable and I'm absolutely freezing, but I'm completely exhausted, so I close my eyes.

''Night,' Duman murmurs. I hear a quiet scuffling sound and the sound of footsteps, before I feel Duman's warm body settle in next to me.

'Room for me?' he whispers softly, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

'Mmm...always...' I murmur back, burrowing deeper into his warm embrace. Duman and I don't get a lot of time to be a couple, and with all the plans and patrols, this is the closest we've been in days. I'd love to roll over and kiss him, maybe even make out for a few minutes, but I'm absolutely exhausted, so I settle for reaching up and taking his hand in mine before I pass out. I feel him give it a gentle squeeze, then I'm asleep.


'...say we try their pet shop; they're likely to hide it there.' I stir to the sound of Ogron's voice, and I open my eyes to see him pacing back and forth in front of Anagan, who's eating a sandwich and nodding. Anagan's probably been up for a few hours; he gets up much earlier than the rest of us, heading out for a morning run, getting some fresh air and, lately, picking up some breakfast for the rest of us. His gaze lands on me, and he notices that I'm awake.

'Good morning,' he says, getting up. 'You two sleep well?' There's a smile playing across his face, and I realise that Duman is asleep half on top of me, still holding my hand. I smile, relishing the closeness of our bodies. Going off how tense Ogron seems, I doubt we'll be this close for a little while; Duman will be out on late patrols, and he'll fall asleep pretty much as soon as he gets back, and I'll be too tired to wait up for him without risking being too tired to use my magic the next day.

'Can you get him up?' Ogron asks tersely, looking at Duman's sleeping form with some irritation.

'Ogron.' Anagan's voice has a slight warning tone to it, letting Ogron know that his stress and desire to get on with whatever plan he has are starting to make him a little less than pleasant to be around. At Anagan's tone, his body slumps a little and he takes a deep breath.

'Sorry, I don't mean to be terse, it's just...' He doesn't need to finish that sentence. I know what he means.

'It's fine.' I smile at him, letting him know I'm not mad and that I do understand why he's being even more of a tense control-freak than normal. Not that I'd say those exact words to him. I nudge Duman gently and squeeze his hand. He squeezes back and hugs me tighter, but his breathing is still slow and regular. I nudge him again.

'Duman.'

'Mm...' he mumbles, burrowing his head into my shoulder. 'Not yet...'

'Duman, wake up.' I sit up, but he just clings to my shoulders and very firmly remains a dead weight.

'No...'

My gaze falls on the sandwich Anagan's almost finished eating and the bag next to him and an idea occurs to me.

'Anagan got breakfast,' I coax. I feel his body stiffen a little.

'...Good breakfast?'

I laugh at his question. 'Good breakfast,' I assure him, and he lifts his head from my shoulder, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

'I got hot sandwiches,' Anagan says, holding the bag up and showing it to Duman.

'Mm...' Duman yawns. 'Okay then.'

'I picked up some coffee too, seeing as how we're all still pretty tired from yesterday,' Anagan says, walking over and handing us a wrapped sandwich and coffee cup each.

'Thanks,' I say, stifling a yawn and taking a sip of the coffee. Duman's already opening his sandwich and making quick work of the food.

'Are you ever not hungry?' Anagan asks teasingly, watching Duman with a grin.

'Nope,' Duman replies between bites. 'You go eleven years with almost no food, you'll be hungry all the time too. Thanks for picking these up.'

'You're welcome,' Anagan replies. 'I thought everyone would be hungry after yesterday, not to mention that Ogron's got some pretty intense scouting planned for today; I think we're going to need the energy.'

'We are,' Ogron agrees, draining the coffee Anagan brought him. I'm not sure coffee for Ogron was a great idea; Ogron's already pretty high-strung right now, so adding caffeine into the mix might not help. I take another sip of my coffee, willing the drink to wake me up a little; I'm not exactly a morning person, but I usually don't have this much trouble waking up. The events of the last month, especially the last week, have left me exhausted, and I down half the coffee in one gulp to try and jump-start my system. Anagan got it exactly the way I like it, just enough milk to take the edge off the bitterness, but no sugar. On the other hand, Anagan gets his with so much sugar, milk and cream that there can't be much room for actual coffee in the cup. He's got a pretty sweet tooth, not to mention that his super-speed burns so many calories that he actually needs to eat more than Duman most of the time. Duman, while he'll eat and drink pretty much anything that's going, prefers his coffee with plenty of sugar, and Ogron drinks his black, preferring not to let anything get in the way of the caffeine hit.

I eat my sandwich quickly and get to my feet, finally feeling a little more functional.

'So what's the plan?' I ask, helping Duman to his feet and looking at Ogron.

'We split up and trail the Winx for the day. We want to see if they hide the White Circle anywhere, and we need to stop them using their Believix powers to strengthen Gardenia's faith in them. Don't engage with them; even one-on-one their powers will weaken us too much. Don't use more magic than necessary: we're low enough on energy as it is. Meet back here at the end of the day. Let's go.' He turns and walks down the passage towards one of the manholes we use to go topside.

Anagan turns to us. 'Good luck!' He waves and heads off after Ogron. I turn to Duman.

'Well, I guess I'll see you tonight...'

'See you.' He kisses me swiftly and walks off to find a way up to Gardenia. I watch him until his pink mohawk vanishes around a corner and let out a sigh, before turning and walking away.


I've been watching Musa singing at the Frutti Music Bar for the past hour, and I've learned precisely nothing beyond discovering that her boyfriend has serious jealousy problems, and I'm not sure how useful Ogron's going to find that information. I sag against the side of the roof I'm on and sigh. Watching a fairy sing about her emotionally-detached boyfriend. Not exactly how I wanted to spend today. Today is one month since we came to Gardenia after the last fairy on Earth. It's also the fifteenth. My birthday.

I know how important it is to get the White Circle, and we haven't exactly got a calendar hung up in the sewers, so I'm shouldn't be mad at my friends for forgetting it; I'm centuries old, after all. It's not like my birthday should be a big deal. It's my 729th birthday; I've had 728 birthdays before it, and if the Winx don't free the Earth fairies, I'll probably have 728 birthdays after it. So I really shouldn't care that my friends forgot, but I can't help being a little childishly annoyed that nobody remembered my birthday.

It's not like we usually make a big deal of each other's birthdays - we don't have a party or anything - but we at least wish each other happy birthday and acknowledge the occasion. Anagan usually makes a cake or cooks something whoever's birthday it is likes, or if it's Anagan's birthday then the rest of us struggle through trying to make a cake or cooking something he likes -which isn't easy, seeing as how Ogron and I are fairly mediocre cooks and Duman's honestly a hazard to life and limb in the kitchen - and we spend the day together. Not sitting on a roof waiting for a fairy in a seriously damaged relationship to possibly maybe get out an artefact that could destroy us all or try and convince someone to believe in her with a shower of butterflies.

I could have said something this morning, but I didn't want to guilt my friends, or make Ogron any more stressed than he already is with obligatory friend-time. Besides, I don't mind watching the Winx (well, I do, they're incredibly boring), so I'm happy to help any way I can.

I adjust my position and settle back in for another few hours of lyrical complaining, wondering when exactly these fairies work; they always seem to be jetting off to this place and drinking smoothies-slash-arguing with their boyfriends. As though summoned by my thoughts, Stella walks into the bar carrying that bag/pet-carrier she keeps her strange little fairy-dog in. (How did nobody question those animals when the Winx first started selling them?) I scowl a little as she walks up to the bar and kisses her boyfriend. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm very jealous of the Winx's ability to spend time with their boyfriends whenever they want. I'm with Duman a lot of the time, but we almost never get any alone-time, like Stella's getting as she drags Brandon off to an out-of-the-way table and starts talking to him, probably about shoes or pet clothes or some nonsense. After a few minutes of chatting, she leans in and starts kissing him, and within a few seconds they are full-on making out. My mood drops another few notches. Duman and I haven't been intimate with each other in months; even before we came to Gardenia, we were all searching for the last fairy on Earth and there just wasn't time, not to mention that we actually live with Ogron and Anagan, so getting our own space is tricky. After all, we can't exactly ask them to go away for an evening and let us have sex, though I know they would.

Despite the bad mood it's putting me in, I stay on the roof and keep an eye out for the White Circle for the rest of the day.


At about one, it started sheeting it down with rain, so by the time I get back to the sewers I am cold, wet, miserable and exhausted and I just want to have a filling meal, take a hot shower and sleep in a real bed. Unfortunately, I'm going to get whatever Anagan's managed to pick up on the way back, the stench of the sewers and a cold stone floor.

I walk into our hideout and notice with consternation that Ogron and Anagan seem to have managed to stay perfectly dry, while I am dripping and shivering.

'Gantlos!' Anagan gets up as soon as he sees me. 'You got caught in the rain?'

In actual fact I was standing in the rain for six hours thanks to Ogron and his brilliant plans, but I decide not to mention that. 'Something like that.'

'How did your scouting go?' Ogron asks, walking over.

'Didn't see the White Circle, and they didn't use their Believix powers. You?'

'I didn't spot the Circle, though Bloom tried to use her powers to settle a dispute at Love & Pet, but I managed to disrupt the spell.' Ogron looks a little annoyed that that's all today managed to accomplish. Join the club.

'No White Circle here either.' Anagan shakes his head.

I sigh. 'Duman's not back yet?'

Ogron sits back down. 'No, he's still out, but he should be back soon.'

'Speak of the devil,' Anagan says, looking behind me. I turn to see Duman walking into the alcove, his mohawk still perfectly dry. So I'm somehow the only one that got stuck in the rain? Seriously?

'The devil? Should I be offended or flattered?' Duman raises an eyebrow and gives Anagan a mischievous grin.

'Welcome back, Duman,' Ogron says. 'Did you see anything useful?'

'...I don't think so...' He sounds hesitant, like there's something he isn't saying.

Ogron clearly thinks the same thing, because he says, 'You don't think so? What did you see, Duman?'

Duman frowns. 'Well, as I was coming back, I thought I sensed the energy of the White Circle near our old hideout, but it was weak and just for a second. I'm almost certain it's nothing. Nothing worth checking out at least.'

Ogron clearly disagrees. 'If you think you might have sensed the White Circle, we need to investigate.' He starts to get up, but Duman stops him.

'If you really think we need to go look, there's no point in all of us heading out there. We're more likely to be spotted in a group, and if the Circle was there, I doubt it's there now. We just need to perform a spell to see if it was at the warehouse, and I can do that alone. I'm a decent enough tracker.'

Ogron frowns. 'I agree that we're more likely to be seen or sensed if we're all together, but you also shouldn't go alone. Take Gantlos with you. He's better at tracking magic than you anyway.' I just got back, and now Ogron's sending me back out into the freezing rain. Fantastic.

'Okay, if you say so.' Duman shrugs. 'The spell might take a while; don't wait up for us. C'mom, Gantlos.'

'Coming.' I turn and follow him, trying to keep my frustration from coming out in my voice and body-language, but it's hard. It's my birthday, and I'm about to head back out into the rain and freezing cold when all I want to do is rest. And even though I'm going with Duman, we're not going as boyfriend and boyfriend. We're going as teammates with a job to do, and it's exactly what I've been feeling bad about all day.

'You coming?' Duman asks, climbing up and out of the manhole. I groan inwardly and grab the rungs and drag myself up and into a back alley. We're under a fire escape, so I'm out of the rain for a moment, but I'm going to get drenched the second I step out.

'Hey.' I turn at the sound of Duman's voice. 'You okay?' I'm not sure what to say to that.

'Sure, I'm...' I trail off. I'm not good at lying to Duman. He always sees through me, and it looks like this time is no different.

'You're not okay, Gantlos. What's wrong?' He puts his hand on my shoulder and I sigh.

'I...I'm just feeling bad today. I'm soaked, I'm freezing, I'm tired, I'm hungry and I...I miss you.' I startled myself with that final thought. I wasn't expecting to tell him that.

'You miss me?'

'Well...Yeah. Even though we're so close most of the time, we never really get any time together. Just us. We're always with Anagan and Ogron, or there just isn't time, or like now, we're together, but we have to go to the warehouse and cast a spell to find the White Circle!'

'Yeah...' I'm confused as his mouth twitches into a smile. 'Good thing we're not going to the warehouse, then.' I open my mouth to ask what on Earth he means, but I don't get a chance as he grabs my hand and I feel him teleport us away.

We materialise again, and I stare at him in surprise. 'Duman, we're meant to conserve our energy, what are you...' I stop talking and look around in surprise. We're not at the industrial estate we were meant to be going to; instead I'm standing in what looks like a hotel room with candles on just about every surface, casting a soft, warm light over the space. I turn to Duman in confusion, and he just smiles.

'Happy birthday.'

'You remembered?'

He laughs. 'Of course I remembered, Gantlos. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I forgot your birthday?'

I'm so touched, I'm a little overwhelmed. 'And this...'

'Is for us,' he finishes, gesturing at the room. 'I know we haven't had a lot of time together lately, and I thought this would be a good way to get some alone-time. I spent the day arranging it for you. Well, that and coming up with a way to get you here and surprise you.'

I laugh. 'So the White Circle...'

'Isn't at the warehouse; I didn't sense anything. I just needed an excuse for the two of us to head out on our own.'

'Do not tell Ogron; he'll completely lose it.'

Duman laughs. 'Probably.' He walks forward, wraps his arms around me and kisses me and I practically melt into him. I feel so good; it's just the two of us, so nobody's going to interrupt. We can just be together, like I wanted. It's honestly the best thing I've ever got for my birthday.

Duman pulls back and smiles at me. 'We have plenty of time to make out; why don't you get out of those wet clothes? Part two of the surprise: you can finally take that shower I know you want. I'm going to get some food up here. This won't be nearly as romantic if we're hungry.' I laugh and walk into the bathroom. He's right; I've wanted to take a real shower instead of trying to wash in a stream for a week, and as soon as I step under the hot water I realise just how unclean I've actually felt. There's a bottle of shampoo waiting for me, and when I open the lid I'm hit with the fresh smell of pine. That's my favourite. Duman has actually thought of everything.

After several blissful minutes of finally washing our hideout off me, I step out of the shower and dry off. I really don't want to put my other clothes on, and I notice with a smile that Duman has laid out a pair of dark-grey pyjamas on the radiator, so they're warm when I put them on. How perfect is my boyfriend?

Duman's waiting for me on the bed when I come back into the room, and he's got changed too, now dressed in a dark-purple t-shirt and black sweatpants. He looks so hot, and it's all I can do to keep from jumping onto the bed and kissing him until we both fall asleep.

'Hey. Feeling better?' He raises an eyebrow at me. I grin and flop backwards onto the bed, staring blissfully up into his golden eyes.

'Much.' I haven't felt this good in...well, I actually can't remember the last time I felt this good.

'Perfect.' He leans over and kisses my forehead. 'I missed you too, y'know. I love Ogron and Anagan like brothers, but sometimes we just need to be alone. After all, when people have actual brothers, they don't invite them to tag along on their dates.' I snort at his comment. He's pretty much summed up my feelings on the past several months.

'Thank you,' I murmur, reaching up and caressing his cheek. 'This is perfect. I have the best boyfriend in the world.'

'I have the best boyfriend in the world. I love you so much.' He takes my hand in his and kisses it softly, making me blush in a way I never would in front of anyone else, not even Ogron and Anagan.

'You hungry?' he asks. 'I got some food. I was going to try and cook, but after 20 minutes of almost burning this place's kitchen down and creating some kind of mush that may once have been pasta, I decided to order takeout and let you enjoy your birthday without food poisoning. So we've got pizza. That okay?'

'Mmm, yes. I'm starving.'

'Thought you would be.' He grins and levitates a pizza box over to the bed. 'Another benefit of pizza: we can eat it on the bed, and I don't have to remember all the rules around using cutlery.'

'I know you know how to use cutlery,' I laugh, opening the box and taking out a slice.

'Well, I suppose I do, but that doesn't mean I don't think this is a much more practical way of eating.' He takes a bite, and is presented with a long string of melted cheese. He narrows his eyes at it and tries to get it into his mouth, but he only succeeds at making it even longer.

I grin at him. 'Yeah, that looks super practical.'

'That's not an argument,' he says after he finally wins the fight against the cheese and swallows. 'Nobody eats pizza with cutlery, so everyone eats pizza like this.'

'Well then I must be eating wrong, because that isn't happening to me.'

'Give it a minute and I'm sure it will.'

'I'm sure it won't.'

'Will.'

'Won't.'

Duman rolls his eyes. 'Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.'

'I guess we will.' I swallow another bite. 'So how did you get this room anyway? We have enough money for food, but there's no way Ogron wouldn't notice you taking the money for this even if we could afford it.'

He looks sheepish. 'Technically, I'm not paying for the room. The hotel owner was going out of town for a few weeks, so I waited for him to leave, shape-shifted into him and told the receptionist that I needed to put a room aside for some friends of mine, no charge, before I left.'

'Clever. How'd you know he'd be going out of town?'

'I only found out when I was out front and I heard him talking about it; I wasn't really sure how I was going to manage this beforehand, if I'm being honest. It was a real stroke of luck.'

'I certainly feel lucky.'

'Me too.' We stare into each other's eyes and I blush again.

We finish the pizza, just laughing and talking in a way we haven't got to in ages. Fairies and the White Circle don't come up once, and it's honestly a weight off my shoulders. Duman makes me relax in a way no-one else can. He's the only person who can get me to completely drop my cool, stoic exterior and just be totally vulnerable and myself.

Duman gets up from the bed and walks over to the small fridge across the room. He reaches something out. 'Um, I tried to make you a cake, but it didn't turn out great.' He turns around and I see a small lopsided cake with a candle that seems to be barely hanging on to the top. Duman snaps his fingers, lighting the candle, and sits back down, smiling at me sheepishly.

'Happy birthday. I'm sorry.'

I laugh at his expression. 'You don't need to be sorry, Duman. This is really sweet. I love it. Thank you for going to so much effort.'

His face brightens immediately. 'It took me six tries, but I think I managed to make something that definitely qualifies as food!' He moves the cake towards me. 'Make a wish.' I feel a little old to be making a wish on a birthday cake (I'm 729 today after all), but the gesture is so sweet that I take a breath and blow out the candle. I wish for Duman and me to always stay together.

I open my eyes to see Duman grinning at me. 'Well? What did you wish for?'

'I can't tell you that!' I laugh, playfully nudging him. 'Then it won't come true!'

'Aw. Alright then. I hope it comes true, though.' He snaps his fingers and two forks fly over. 'I will admit that perhaps cutlery has a place where cake is involved.'

'Glad you're acknowledging cutlery's uses.'

'I've only acknowledged one instance where it may have a place. Moment of truth.' He takes a forkful of cake, and I do the same. Despite how sweet the gesture is, I'm still a little nervous as I raise the fork to my mouth; Duman isn't the best baker ever. He's probably not the worst baker ever, but still. However, I'm pleasantly surprised when I taste the cake. It's rich, moist dark chocolate, which is my favourite.

'Hey, it actually tastes good!' Duman says, staring at me in absolute shock. 'I was not expecting that.'

'It's really good. Nice job.' I take another bite.

'Thanks. Who knew I could bake? I mean, after the disaster we all made for Anagan's birthday a few years back...'

I wince. 'We agreed to never speak of that again.'

'Oh, come on. We eventually put that fire out. Plus, I finally learned why Anagan always says to never mix magic and cooking.'

'I still don't understand why you thought the solution to the cake not rising was to cast an expansion spell on it.'

'Oh, relax. The world isn't covered in a forever-expanding cake, so we undid the spell.'

'Eventually. But it took Ogron three hours to figure out how.'

Duman rolls his eyes. 'Say what you will, at least we surprised Anagan.'

'Not exactly the surprise we were aiming for.'

'What's that thing Ogron says? About minor differences?'

'Semantics?'

Duman snaps his fingers. 'Yes! Semantics.'

I laugh. 'Anyway, this cake turned out well.'

'Yeah. Maybe I'm actually great at baking, I'm just better baking solo.'

'Maybe...' I really don't think that's the case, but I'll let him have this one.

'You want the last bit?' Duman gestures at the remaining forkful of cake. 'It's your birthday, after all.'

'Thank you,' I say, eating the last piece. Duman snaps his fingers and the plate and forks vanish.

'This is perfect, Duman.' I lean into him and he strokes my hair. 'I haven't felt this relaxed and happy in a long time. We haven't got to be together in months, and it feels so good being with you. Thank you for doing all this.'

'You're welcome,' Duman replies. 'I've really missed this.' He kisses the top of my head, before working his way down to the back of my neck. I sigh with pleasure; no-one except Duman knows it, but the back of my neck is my sweet spot, and I practically melt. He moves round to my mouth, kissing me passionately, and I kiss him back, feeling everything except the two of us slip away as he runs his hands through my hair, and I just want us to stay this close forever.


I slowly open my eyes, blinking in sleepy confusion, not quite sure where I am. Then the bliss of last night comes rushing back to me, and my face breaks into a grin that only gets wider as I realise that my head is on Duman's chest, and his arm is wrapped around me as he sleeps.

'Mm…' Duman stirs, and I look up to see him open his eyes.

'Hey…' I murmur, stroking his cheek. He yawns sleepily, and I smile; I love his yawn. It's like a cat's, and every time I see it I can't help but think how adorable it is.

'Good morning,' he mumbles, taking longer than me to reach full functionality upon waking. 'Happy day-after-your-birthday.' I laugh.

'Thank you. Not just for that, but for everything. You're incredible.' Duman yawns again and nestles into me.

'I really am. You know, I think I might actually be a genius.' I snort with laughter, and Duman grins. 'I'm serious! Maybe Ogron should let me make the plans in future.'

'I'm not so sure about that.' Duman nudges me playfully.

'Hey! I could so make the plans. I could be the leader.' He puts on a terrible version of Ogron's accent. 'Wizards of the Black Circle! Fight the Winx! Do a bunch of unnecessary patrols! Now do something else!' I burst out laughing.

'Ogron sounds nothing like that,' I say through my laughter.

'Oh, c'mon. It was like he was right here.'

'Never let him hear you do that. I think it's funny, but he will not.' Duman sighs.

'Fine. I'll hide away my comedy genius. But only because you asked me.'

'Thank you.' I sigh contentedly and lay my head back down on his chest. 'I could stay like this forever.'

'Me too…' Then I groan.

'But if we don't get back to Ogron and Anagan, they'll start to worry.' Duman groans too.

'Stupid reality.' He sits up, and I reluctantly let him go. 'I wish we didn't have to go.' I nod.

'Yeah…' I caress his cheek. 'But this…us being together…that doesn't have to end. We just need to work harder to get some us-time, even when we're with Ogron and Anagan.' Duman smiles softly.

'I'd like that.' He leans in and kisses me, and I kiss him back, and it's perfect. He's perfect.