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"Give in to my desires, Mina." Maebe vibrated out, snapping at her teeth some more. She climbed higher, trying to get a better vantage point to come down at him from, but the unknown tilt in the chair only got worse when she pressed down against him, careening it - and them - back until they hit the ground.

Her face planted against his chest with a hard thud, and a muffled ow. Nothing about the moment was graceful, but it was extremely funny.

The quiet worried her, so she leaned her head up to check on him, and the question was barely on her lips when it was interrupted by the jiggle of his stomach in laughter. She jolted with surprise as she felt herself already slipping off of him, and her arms gripped around his shoulders to keep from falling off. She let out a high pitched scream that dissolved into laughter as she bounced with each wheeze he let out, and barely managed to hang on for life.

A few seconds in, she finally lost the control because her own laughter had her weak, and her arms fell away. She slid off of him and rolled onto her back, giggling with a childish innocence that should never have come from her. His laughter was infectious, and now that she'd started, she couldn't stop.

She rested her hands down on her stomach, and turned her head to look up at that face, all dimples and sunshine, and heart wrenching beauty. It was the only thing that stopped her from laughing, but that did not have the power to push away her smile.

"I don't know. Dawson, I don't know. You know me well enough by now. Figure it out yourself." Because the only present she wanted for her birthday was him, and he wasn't for sale.

"Unless, you know, birthday's mean certain things go back on the table." She mumbled out, pursing her lips innocently as she hummed the tune to Birthday Sex.

After a moment of silence, Maebe sat up to meet him, with pure, awed disbelief on her face. She'd needed that moment to process what he was saying, and whether he was just teasing her, or not. She still didn't know. Her brain had slowed to a crawl, unable to accept what she'd just heard him say.

Her head tilted with aching slowness to one side, waiting for the punch line. When it never came, her heart began to race with painful speed.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" She whispered, suddenly fearful that he was going to take it all back.

She couldn't breathe. It was a distant realization, and one she should have been more preoccupied with, but she couldn't bear to think on it for long. So what if she wasn't breathing anymore? Did she need to breathe? If she died, at that very moment, it would have been a perfect moment to end her life on.

With a shuddering inhale, she placed her hand gently on his cheek, but she didn't try to move his head. If she were in his position, she wouldn't be able to look her in the eye, either. Not after offering something like that.

It felt so frightening to say the words she wanted to say. It was as if each moment was different, and the outcome would depend on which exact second she chose to answer. Perhaps that was why she hadn't been able to breathe for so long. Even breathing had scared her.

"There is no way you could disappoint me, Dawson Grace." She whispered, an unexpected shyness creeping up into her own veins. At this rate, they were both going to explode from awkwardness. "I just. Never thought you'd want. I mean. With me. And that's." She breathed out a chuckle, and leaned in to press her forehead on his chest.

"That's some gift."

She lifted her head up to look at him, and put both of her hands on his face. They ran down the length of it, her palms flat against his skin. "I mean you do not have the capacity to disappoint me in that, Dawson. Don't be ridiculous. We're human, we're going to disappoint each other lots of times as long as we're friends. But - not when it comes to that. Believe me when I say, the power to disappoint me in that situation is completely out of your hands."

He was making this too complicated, which was why her first reaction had been fear. He was going to take it away, she could feel it like a painful inevitability. And then, then she would be disappointed.

She tried to stay strong.

"Probably. But I can't make it any less simple for you. You know I'd love that. If you really want to give it to me - " She couldn't help it, the wording made her lips purse in amusement, there was no getting away from that joke - "then the answer is yes. That's what I'd want for my birthday. Just, on your terms. Because I don't want to hurt you."

Her lips turned down for a moment, as she tried not to take offense. She tried so hard. They tilted up a moment later, but her expression was bittersweet.

"You didn't offer to screw me. You offered to give me something I've asked for, as a birthday present. I'm not sure that really deserves to be called the same thing, because if so, then my own judgement comes into question."

And she was not fully prepared for that.

"I don't want you to be someone you're not. But this is who I am, Dawson. And I want to believe that doesn't mean I'm a terrible person."

There it was.

She could breathe normally again, if only because she wasn't waiting for the inevitable, it was already here. She looked visibly disappointed, which couldn't be helped. She reached out and took his hat off, as if the disappointment entitled her the right to do so, then ran the fingers of both of her hands through his hair. When they reached the back of his head, they gripped, lightly, and she just held him there. After a moment, she let out a long, slow sigh.

"You, are lucky I love you so much, or I would be really, really annoyed at that cocktease you just pulled on me." She whispered out, her voice cracking with the kind of tone that said she still wasn't sure she could handle this. "And here I thought I was about to have the best birthday ever."