The Games - A PP OUAT Fanfiction

Thirty-Two.

This is a birthday party?!

"Is today my birthday?" I asked hoarsely.

I looked up at Pan. He had a weird look in his eye, but he nodded. "Today is the seventeenth of December."

I looked at the cake, then at everything. "It looks..." - I looked at Pan, whose eyes shone hopeful - "wonderful."

He grinned and released my hand, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my forehead gently. Mikah was smiling the brightest, and she looked awfully proud. "I designed this myself," she reported victoriously, tilting her head towards the cake. "Pan brought it."

"It's perfect," I tell her, and she hands the cake to Jonathan before enveloping me in a tight hug. "Thank you," I whisper to her.

"Of course," she whispered back. "I wouldn't miss your birthday for anything." She pulled away and pulled something out of a pocket in her dress (my dress didn't have pockets, which made me jealous). It was small and messily wrapped.

I shook my head. "No. No gifts." I tried to give it back, but she wouldn't have it.

"Now you listen here, Ms. I-Just-Turned-Seventeen, it took me a long time to make this. You'd better appreciate it." I couldn't help smiling as I rolled my eyes and slowly ripped open the paper.

It was... beautiful, to say the least.

It was a ring. It was made out of wood and a bit of wire, but it was still absolutely amazing. I slipped it on my index finger. It was a bit too big so I slipped it onto my middle finger, where it fit perfectly. I hugged her again, this time for longer, and then she pulled away, taking the cake from Jonathan and holding it up so he could cut it. He offered to let me do it, but I just shook my head. "I'll probably cut my finger off or something," I explained. That made everyone laugh.

The cake was small enough that everyone got one piece. It was white chocolate frosting over chocolate cake, with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips decorating it. "Happy Birthday, Kasey!" was written in a blue-green color of frosting. And it tasted amazing. We sat on wooden chairs as the cake slowly disappeared. Once it did, the fairies began to hum. I looked up at them as they flitted around above us. The tune they hummed was slow and inviting. Do they want me to dance or something?

I looked back at everyone else. Jonathan and Mikah were setting their plates on their chairs and going to the center of the clearing. They were going to slow dance together. I looked back at Pan; He stood and offered his hand out to me. I shook my head. "No, no. I can't dance."

He smirked, but didn't pull his hand away. I huffed deeply and accepted his hand, letting him drag me out to the center of the clearing. Pan put his hands on my waist and I put my arms around his neck. He smiled a bit, and then we began to sway. I instantly looked down at our feet, trying not to step on his boots. One of his hands came up and lifted my chin with his fingers so I would look into his eyes.

I could have looked into his eyes forever. I could have swam in their beautiful green depths. He looked so happy, so relieved.

At the same time, I couldn't. It made me a bit nervous for some reason. I didn't want to swim in those green depths. The happiness seemed strange. The relief seemed overpowering. If anything, what I saw in them was more secretive than anything else. I looked down at our feet. "So I take it you put all of this together?"

He laughed a bit. It was husky and came rumbling up from his chest. "Yes."

"How'd you get the fairies to agree to this?" I asked, looking back up at him.

He shrugged. "I didn't ask the fairies to come."

"Really? They just came on their own?" He nodded sheepishly. It made me chuckle. His arms came around my waist and he squeezed me to his chest, lifting me off the ground and putting my boots on his. I burrowed deeper into the warmth of his chest: The temperature was slowly dropping.

"Are you having fun?" he whispered into my hair. I nodded, my face burried into his neck.

I inhaled his relaxing  scent. He smelled like the forest. Wood, water, dirt, and stone. I exhaled and drew back to look into his eyes. They were swimming with excitement.

"What do you want?" he whispered, his breath blowing all over my face. It smelled like mint and chocolate. "For your birthday, I mean."

I pretended to think about it for a moment. "A kiss," I muttered, extremely close to his lips.

"Is that all?" he asked, kissing me gently and for a short time. "Are you sure?" Another small kiss. "I could get you some flowers." Another. "Or a necklace." Another. "Or a ring."

I shook my head, trying not to laugh as I placed my forehead onto his. "Whoa, slow down, cowboy. The ring'll have to wait a few years."

He looked startled. He stopped swaying and pulled our foreheads apart. "That's not -" he stuttered, "that - that's - I didn't mean -"

I laughed. "I'm just kidding."

He shook his head, trying to hide his smile, and closed his eyes as he reconnected our foreheads. I pressed a small kiss to his lips. "So where's my kiss?" I whispered. He smirked and kissed me gently. Slowly, very slowly, his kiss deepened.

Suddenly there was a loud noise. We pulled apart and looked over at Jonathan and Mikah, who were frozen and looking at something in the forest. Pan lifted me off his toes and set me down carefully, drawing his sword and putting his hand on my waist, pushing me behind him a little. "Jonathan, Mikah, get back," he ordered.

They stumbled back towards us and Pan ordered me to stay with them. "Give me a sword," I ordered back, and he drew a second sword from his belt, handing it to me carefully.

"I'm going to see what it is." He turned to look at me and put his hand on my shoulder, his gaze staring into mine. "Stay here."

"Be careful," I warned him, my voice cracking. He nodded and headed off toward the sound.