Isaac POV
14th of October, 2024.
Almost a year prior to the incident that would completely change Isaac and Aria's lives.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The alarm sitting on his bedside table awoke Isaac from his deep sleep.
"Ugh…."
He lamented the fact that he still had work even on his birthday.
"I should've just taken the day off."
The words that Aria had spoken just days prior rang out in his mind as he pulled the covers off his bed.
– Take your birthday off! You're always soooo busy, so you should take a break every now and then, dummy!
"Hahh…"
He sighed as he opened his phone screen.
'No new notifications.'
It was a slightly depressing sight for Isaac, who placed importance on such events.
'Well, at least I have Aria.'
Truly, without Aria, he would have been lost in life.
He sluggishly got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom to wash his face and take a shower before he inevitably had to cook for the jobless bum who was still asleep in the other bedroom.
Pshhh…
The hot water from the shower streamed down his body, waking him up.
As he looked at himself reflected in the mirror, his eyebrow twitched.
"Do I have to go to the gym again…?"
Although his body was slim and lacked muscle, his profession required him to stay in shape, regardless of the season, or he risked missing out on opportunities.
'It's such a pain…'
He had only stumbled into modelling by pure luck.
One day, while hanging out with Aria and a couple of other friends, a suspicious person approached their group and, before they could react, handed Soren a card, asking if he was interested.
At the time, he had laughed it off and spent the rest of the day with his friends, but the moment he returned home, his eyes kept returning to the card.
It especially helped that he was still living with his parents at the time, meaning he had no financial freedom, or really, any freedom whatsoever.
And in the end, only a couple of days later, he cracked.
He called the number and arranged a meeting with the scout.
"Looking back, I was way too easy."
Isaac's first few gigs, although successful, had paid him almost nothing, and he only found out later that he had been scammed.
However, thanks to his doing a decent amount of work in the time before the discovery, other agencies were willing to accept him.
Squeak
Isaac turned the tap off and stepped out of the shower, picking up a towel and lightly drying off his body before wrapping himself and brushing his teeth.
After roughly drying his hair and throwing on some clothes, he stepped out of the bathroom and knocked on Aria's door.
Knock knock
"Aria, you awake?"
– …
'Guess not.'
"Well, I'm going to work. There are leftovers in the fridge. If you need anything, just text me."
– Nnn…
'She must've been up late again…'
Isaac had noticed that lately, Aria had been staying up, doing God knows what, but since he didn't want to pry, he never asked.
"Welp, see you later." He said, turning to the shoe rack, where he slipped on his boots before leaving the apartment.
'I hope we finish early today…'
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Let's wrap it up, good job everyone. Make sure you all get home safe."
"Finally…" Isaac muttered as he slumped down onto a chair.
For some reason, the shoot seemed to drag on today.
It wasn't like they had done anything unusual; in fact, the schedule was extremely ordinary.
However, Isaac felt drained.
"Oh, and Isaac?"
A mature woman in her thirties walked over towards him.
"Is something wrong, boss?"
"It's nothing much, I just wanted to say happy birthday and give you this." She said as she held out a paper bag.
Isaac received the gift with a look of confusion.
'She got me a gift?'
Although he and his boss were relatively close, their relationship didn't extend beyond work.
"Thank you." Isaac felt awkward receiving the gift, but still showed gratitude nonetheless.
"Don't worry about it, you always work hard, so enjoy yourself. Now get going, you've got someone waiting for you, don't you?"
"Alright, see you later, boss."
His boss waved to him as he left the shooting location and walked towards the parking lot.
Then just as he was about to open the car door…
Vrrr… vrrr… vrrr…
His phone started ringing.
When he took it out of his pocket, he saw the name "Aria" listed on the screen.
Swipe
"Hey?"
[Isaac, have you finished work?]
"Yeah, we just wrapped up I'm about to start driving home now."
[Great! Hurry up and get over here.]
"Alright, alright. I'll be there soon."
[Move it!]
"I got it! I'm on my way!"
[Faster!]
"Shut it, I'm hanging up."
[Tch, asshole.]
Click
With Aria's words, Isaac ended the call and got into the car, placed the paper bag in the passenger seat and began his drive home.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Click
"Hellooooo! Anybody homeeee?" Isaac called out the moment he unlocked the door.
Then, the heavy footsteps of someone running were heard just as Aria suddenly appeared.
"I am!"
"Oh my, the lazy, jobless bum is finally awake."
"Why would I work? I'm loaded, dumbass."
"Tsk. The world's gone to shit…"
"If you don't shut it, I'll make you."
"And how exactly will you do that, midget?"
Throughout their meaningless banter, Isaac had taken off his boots, washed his face and made his way into the living room.
"So what exactly were you rushing me for?"
"Don't you already know?"
"No clue?" Isaac said with a feigned expression of cluelessness.
Given the date, it was hard for Isaac not to know, but he still acted dumb just for the hell of it.
"Ugh, you're so annoying."
"Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't already know."
"Should I just take it back…"
"Wait, no! I'm sorry."
"That's better, now wait here for a second," said Aria as she went into her bedroom.
'I wonder what she's got for me.'
He was curious, unlike her birthday, where he had directly asked what she wanted; Aria had not said a word about it, meaning he was entirely in the dark.
'Knowing her, it's probably something stupid…'
Aria would occasionally buy gifts for Isaac, but they were almost always gag gifts, something like bright pink bunny slippers or a boob mousepad, so he was already accustomed to her form of gifts.
"Here we go!"
"Hmm…"
Isaac looked at Aria skeptically as she walked out of her bedroom holding two boxes wrapped in hot pink wrapping paper.
"Are you excited?"
"...Yeah."
"Hey, that response was too delayed."
"Whatever, just hand it over."
"Ugh, fine. You're so ungrateful."
"Shut up and pass the boxes."
"This one first."
Aria handed him a small, rectangular box and told him he had to open that one first, and Isaac complied, carefully unwrapping the paper with the box on his lap.
Only after all of the paper had been taken off did Isaac finally lift the lid, only to immediately grimace.
"Aria…"
"Pfff…"
"What is this…?"
Aria rolled her eyes around the room, avoiding Isaac's gaze, but the grin on her face didn't fade.
"Why don't you try it on…?"
Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a sigh.
"You want me to wear a bright pink, frilly apron?"
Aria didn't respond; instead, her lips trembled, showing how hard she was trying to hold back her laughter.
"You know what, fine. I'll wear it."
Isaac got up from his seat, took the apron from the box and put it over his head, not forgetting to tie the ribbon at the back.
"There, are you happy?"
Once all was said and done, there he was, a tall, slim man with androgynous features and long black hair that was tied into a ponytail, standing in the centre of the living room wearing a frilly pink apron.
Aria couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Pffhahahaha! Ahahaha! This is, ahahaha! It's too much! Ahaha!"
She laughed so hard that tears started forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Does it not suit me?" Isaac asked with a smirk.
"Ahahaha! It, ahaha, it does! I promise!"
He couldn't be upset over the gift; it was precisely the type of gift he had expected, and just seeing Aria's reaction made his mood soar.
The problem, however, was that now that he was wearing the apron, Aria couldn't help herself.
Click
The shutter of her phone camera was heard.
"Hey, did you just take a photo of me?"
"Hehe… Whatever could you mean…? By the way, could you maybe strike a pose for me?"
"Isn't it enough for me to just wear it?"
"Aren't you meant to be a model? Don't tell me that you're embarrassed."
"No way."
"Then pose, c'mon, you can do it!"
"..."
"Isaac, won't you do it for me?" She fluttered her eyes with her best attempt at puppy-dog eyes.
"..."
Hug
She wrapped her arms around him and looked up at his face.
"Pretty pleaseeee…"
"...Fine, what pose?"
Immediately after he agreed, she jumped back and fist-pumped the air.
"Yes! Now do these!"
She showed him a collection of poses on her phone, and Soren's eyes glazed over.
'What the hell is she making me do…'
It was meant to be his birthday, and yet he was the one being humiliated.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
After humiliating himself further, Isaac finally threw the apron off, his face bright red, and collapsed onto the sofa.
"Did I go too far?" Aria asked, slightly worried.
"Sigh, no… just give me a minute."
Isaac felt like he was burning alive from the embarrassment he had just experienced.
Aria had forced him to pose in various ways, sometimes adding extra accessories like cat ears and things, for a long time, all the while taking photos and laughing at his expense.
"I have another present for you, y'know."
"Oh, right."
He had forgotten entirely thanks to… everything.
"You'll like this one."
Isaac raised his head to look at Aria with narrowed eyes.
"I don't trust you…"
"That's… fair, but I promise you will! I'm not horrible."
"Uhuh."
"I'm not!"
"Sure, sure. Now hand it over."
"Wow, so rude. Using me for my money."
"Yeah, I am, now shut up and give me the present."
"Yeesh, someone's feisty."
"Who's fault is that exactly?"
"Who knows... Anyway, here you go."
This time, unlike earlier, he didn't carefully unwrap the paper; instead, he just tore it off to get to the contents quickly.
"Why're you in such a hurry?"
Isaac didn't respond, just flipping Aria off before throwing the wrapping paper on the floor and opening the box.
"Oh!"
His eyes widened, and a wide smile crept onto his face.
"So you like it."
"Aria?"
"Yes, Isaac?"
"I love you."
"You're so materialistic…"
In the box sat a plethora of merchandise, including items from Isaac's favourite game of all time, ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱.
From figures of the three main heroines, to wall scrolls of official art, to even smaller things like pins or badges, it was the best gift he could receive, so much so that the smile on his face showed no signs of fading.
"Wow, you're so easy," Aria commented with a sigh.
"Shut up for a second, Aria."
"Hey, I was the one who bought all of that. Show some gratitude."
"My apologies, Miss Aria, but please may you be quiet for just a moment?"
"God, I hate you sometimes."
"Love you too."
Isaac jumped up from his seat, ran to his bedroom with the box in hand, and began placing the merchandise all around his room.
"Figures on the desk, wall scrolls above the bed, pins and keychains on the corkboard… then this…"
He looked at the final thing in the box, which was yet another boob mousepad.
"Thank god we live alone."
That was all he could say as he placed the risqué mousepad on his desk.
With everything placed, he smiled contentedly, then walked back towards the living room.
"Aria?"
"Yeah?"
He walked over and hugged her to show his gratitude.
"Thanks. I meant it earlier, I love you."
"Whatever, dumbass. I love you too."
Even though the two of them frequently made fun of each other and argued, their friendship was truly unshakable, and they cared for each other more than anyone else.
"I will get you back for the apron, though."
"...Oh god."
Isaac grinned at Aria's fearful eyes, then turned towards the kitchen.
"So what do you want for dinner?"
It was the perfect birthday.
————「❤︎」————