AN: A small one-shot dedicated to aaxd4112, whose birthday was last Friday. Happy (late) birthday, A! Request and plot credit goes to DoctorWhoovesXDerpy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wreck It Ralph. Disney does.
Tamora Jean Calhoun did not keep track of the date.
For her game, there was no need. On their little nameless planet-which had a different orbit from the earth they had all called home, thus making it wrong anyway- there was no difference between the fifth and the fifteenth, except for the number of days they had been stuck there fighting bugs. Also, considering the fact that the system she uploaded her daily reports to added a time stamp to the end of each transmission, her memorization of the extra detail was useless and unnecessary. With almost every day the same routine of fight, kill, paperwork, and sleep, its numerical position on the forgotten calendar that hung from her wall meant nothing to her.
Besides, if she really needed to remember something important, the eight-bit handyman living in the game across the way that she'd been seeing for the last year would remind her in plenty of time to make it seem like she had known all along.
So, when Kohut gave her a note that Felix had asked the marine to deliver after their lunch break, requesting that she meet him in the clearing in the forest instead of at the entrance to her game like usual, she had no clue why.
"Fix-It," she greeted carefully as she pushed aside the tree limbs that surrounded the clearing Felix had asked her to, wincing slightly as they sprung back into place with a digital boing. Nodding to him as she slowly crossed the grassy expanse, Tamora swept her gaze across the layout that he had set up, carefully examining the spread of food he had pulled from the basket and placed on the blanket for clues as to why he had called her there. Their anniversary had a month ago (something he had 'casually' brought up to her the week before so she would have enough time to prepare), and as far as she knew, nothing else had happened in the past four weeks to prompt this. Finally deciding that he was just doing it to be nice, Tamora smiled before sitting down and pulling him over for a kiss, relaxing as she realized she hadn't forgotten something important. "Feeling spontaneous, short stack," she teased as she pulled away, tapping his hat over his eyes to hide his honeyglows. "This looks delicious."
"Not so much spontaneous as a surprise, Ma'am," Felix replied, his smile soft as he pushed up his hat to look at her, his other hand already reaching behind him to grab one of the plates he had brought with him. "I feel a bit guilty that I didn't do anything last year for you, so I wanted to make sure that this year was special. What would you like to eat?"
"Surprise me again," Tamora said vaguely, frowning to herself as Felix turned away to prepare a plate for her. Mod damn it, she'd missed something. Something important too, by the way Felix had spoken about it; something she probably should have been able to remember on her own, thus prompting him to forgo his usual reminder. Forcing back a smile as he passed her a plate piled with sandwiches and a root beer, she eagerly began to eat, her stomach reminding her that she had skipped the other meals of the day to do a few extra patrols. "Who told you about today?"
"Johnson was the one who told me initially," Felix revealed after a moment of thought, the look on his face asking her to not be too mad with her men, "then Kohut was the one who reminded me when he thought I had forgotten. They're good men."
"They are," Tamora mumbled, taking a swing of her drink to chase down the food she had just swallowed. So, it had something to do with her game, or else Felix would have gone on one of his long history lessons about the few extra holidays that the characters in the arcade celebrated alongside the player ones. Which meant she couldn't ask about it, using her still relatively new status in the arcade as an excuse for why she didn't know about this celebration. Double Mod damn. "This is…nice, Fix-It. Thanks," she finally decided on, leaning over to give him a kiss on his cheek. All she needed was to keep him occupied until she could sneak away, then she could give Kohut a call and figure out what was really going on. Then she could thank him properly. "It was sweet."
"You don't even know what day it is, do yah, darling?" Although his voice was light and teasing, Tamora couldn't help the frown as it reappeared on her face, glaring at the man cheekily smiling up at her besides her. Even if she wasn't really angry, at least she could act like she was.
"I do too," Tamora huffed, setting down her plate and crossing her arms, her eyes narrowing as she did so. "It's Wednesday."
"That it is," Felix conceded, though it was clear he was trying not to laugh. Putting his own food off to the side, Felix leaned over so he could kiss her cheek, his smile only growing as her look darkened. "Tammy Jean," he continued, shaking his head as he talked, "I know you're not the best with dates, but I thought you would have at least remembered your own birthday."
"My…birthday," Tamora asked slowly, eye blinking owlishly as she stared at the man before her. Turning her head to gaze out of the glass front that showed the player's world, for a long moment she remained quiet as she racked her brain, trying to find the date that Felix claimed it was. "Is it really-"
"The day, according to your backstory, you were born," Felix cut in, reaching into the picnic basket to pull out a little white cake. Across the top, someone had piped on Happy Birthday, Tammy in thin red icing, the tail of the 'y' curling into a little heart. "That it is, Ma'am." Placing the cake between them, turning it so that the words faced her, Felix smiled as he leaned over it to capture her lips in another kiss, his grin only growing as he pulled away to see one of her own. "Happy birthday, Tammy. I love you."
"You're being sappy again, Fix-It," Tamora warned as she pulled off one of her gloves, running her finger through the icing braid that encircled the cake. Pleased with the amount that she had gather, she reached over and tapped him on the nose, laughing as his eyes crossed in an attempt to see the spot of white. Pulling him over for one more kiss, her voice was soft as she replied, her words for his ears only before they both dug into the rest of their food, laughing and joking as they held their little celebration for the day her programmers had decided she would be born.
"Good thing I like sweet things. Love you too, Felix; love you too."