A/N: I AM SO SORRY THAT IT HAS BEEN THREE MONTHS. College is really coming between me and my favorite queer ladies, and that's really uncool. But, um, yeah, here's Gillian's birthday event! I meant to publish it on her birthday, Jan. 18th, but then that came and went, so I thought, Valentine's Day! I'll do something cute for Valentine's Day!...and now it's March. But anyway...I hope this makes up for it a little ;)

Also, y'all should listen to the song 'I Do Adore' by Mindy Gledhill, it's about a kind of uptight girl and a really outgoing girl annnnd it really reminds me of Maddie and Gil. I've been listening to a lot of sickeningly sweet girl pop songs lately, ok.

Maddie tugged on her favorite red sweater, adjusting her appearance as she surveyed herself critically in the mirror. She actually looked kind of cute for once, she thought, twirling a honey-colored curl around her index finger before letting it spring loose; at least, she didn't look as mousy as ususal. These dark tights underneath her snug grey skirt made her legs look pretty great too, if she didn't mind saying so! She smiled at herself with a rare burst of confidence before collecting Gillian's present from where it rested on her bed, patted Kuma affectionately, and went downstairs to where Amelia and Arthur waited in the kitchen.

"Aw, you look adorable, Mads," Amelia greeted her sister cheerfully, looking over at her and turning off the small kitchen TV. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," she said, tucking the parcel under her arm. "Thanks for taking us, Arthur." He had offered to drive them—really, Amelia had coerced him—but he refused to stay for very long, on the grounds that Mr. Beilschmidt was terrifying and, more importantly, Francis would be there.

It was only a ten minute drive to the Beilschmidt's, and Maddie stared at the homemade gift wrapped present in her lap.

She realized as Arthur pulled up in front of the modest, two-story suburban home that the last time she had been at Gillian's was the night of the winter formal. She frowned slightly at the memory, only to have an image of Gillian in that tight red dress appear in embarrassing detail in her mind's eye. She felt color flood into her cheeks as she tried to make it disappear as the Ford Anglia pulled up behind several other cars in front of the Beilschmidt's perfectly manicured lawn. When she and Amelia waved good-bye to Arthur and walked up the brick steps to the front door, the door opened and loud, cheerful music poured out, Maddie knew Gillian's father would never have allowed so much noise if he had been home. She breathed a sigh of relief. Parents usually liked her, but he was downright intimidating; he was like a bigger, scarier version of Ludwig, and smiled even less frequently.

She cautiously followed Amelia inside, glancing around the foyer, which was full of students, from seniors on Gillian's soccer team to freshmen that she didn't even recognize. She guessed that people-loving Antonio had been put in charge of the guest list, because she was pretty certain that three fourths of the school were present. Amelia was quickly snatched up by two of her passing team mates, leaving Maddie alone in a swarm of students that she didn't recognize.

Fortunately, she spotted Francis hovering by the entrance to the kitchen, welcoming people into Gillian's home like he owned it.

"Allo," he said happily, upon seeing her. He gave her a quick hug and said, with a slight smile, "Gillian will be so excited to see you. She's playing beer pong right now. I'll take that—" He reached out and grabbed her gift and added it to the stack of presents on the nearby table. "Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"Wait," Maddie said, not wanting to sound desperate, but she didn't really like parties and she was kind of intimidated by the sheer number of people present. "Where's Gil—" But he was off, probably looking for Arthur, and she was left standing empty-handed in the foyer. She sighed to herself and looked around.

She recognized Lili, Vash Zwingli's younger sister, talking to another freshman, Emil, as well as a cluster of antisocial sophomores from the chess club, but no one else her age. She awkwardly made her way past a number of players on the guys' soccer team, looking for Gillian. She spotted her through the window over the sink, in the small, fenced-in backyard, standing on the patio on the right side of a large plastic table, eyeing the rows of red cups in front of her critically. She smiled in relief and headed outside.

Gillian looked great. She wore tight jeans and another of her typical band tees under her dark leather jacket. The fading wintry sun glinted off her light hair as she leaned over the table, sticking her tongue out slightly in concentration as she tossed the small ping pong ball neatly into the nearest cup. "Damn, I'm good," she said, doing a little victorious turn. Elizabeta, next to her, smiled slightly at her antics, shaking her head.

Across the table, an exuberant Feliciana and a much less enthused Ludwig retrieved the ball and set up for the next match.

Gillian sashayed past Elizabeta and hugged Maddie, grinning hugely. "I thought you'd never show up," she said teasingly, but there was an oddly shy note in her voice as she pulled away from the hug. "Ya hungry? Francis made lots of good food!" She grabbed her hand and led her back inside to the kitchen.

Maddie tried to focus on following her through the crowd instead of the warm, slender fingers wrapped around her own. "Oh, I'm not that hungry—"

"I insist!" Gillian said grandly, leading her back into the crowded kitchen. "You want a drink?" Gillian queried, offering her a beer. "You should try this. It's a lot better than that Coors Amelia drinks."

Maddie accepted the Heinekin bottle uncertainly. She wasn't too fond of beer, but she'd try it. It was her birthday, after all. "It can't be worse than Coors," she agreed, chuckling at a memory from last summer, when their parents had left for a week and the two girls decided to try their dad's beer. Maddie couldn't stand the taste, but Amelia declared she liked it, even though she wrinkled her nose every time Maddie passed her the beer can, sitting on their front porch and feeling extremely grown-up.

She followed Gillian out into the living room, where a bunch of upperclassmen were playing Mario Kart. Several of the seniors surrounded Sakura, a sophomore, who sat on the floor, her calm brown eyes watching the screen intently as her character, Toadette, continued to sail past Mathias, Heracles, and Sadik's icons.

"I don't understand how you keep winning," Sadik grumbled. The good-natured junior seemed incredibly put out as he sulked on the couch behind Sakura, glaring at the screen. "I was winning for the first three laps."

"You aren't good at other video games. Why would this be any different?" Heracles suggested mildly from his spot next to Sakura, not turning to look at Sadiq's outraged expression.

"You know where you can shove your opinion, you pita-loving son of a—" Sadiq began, but Gillian stepped in calmly and said, "Okay, break it up, you two. It's time to celebrate the awesome me's birthday!"

"Isn't that why we're here?" Mathias said, confused.

Maddie grinned at Gillian's frustrated expression. "Obviously. Now come on, I want to open my presents! TONIO!" She yelled. "Where is he?" She looked at Heracles and Mathias expectantly.

Antonio appeared from the hallway, wearing a paper crown that read 'Birthday Girl'. "Hey, Gil," he said cheerfully.

"Nice crown," she quipped, smiling at her best friend.

"Oh," he said, slightly puzzled. "I forgot I was wearing this." He placed it on her head regally. "I'll get the gifts!"

"Sweet," she said contentedly, dragging Maddie over to the couch and sandwiching herself between Mathias and Sadiq. "Present me with gifts!"

Maddie chuckled, taking a drink of beer as Antonio reappeared with a stack of gifts and several other people. The living room filled up quickly, and Gillian looked truly delighted. As much as she claimed to not care about other people's opinions of her, Maddie knew she really did appreciate it when people liked her. At least, Maddie assumed most of the people here liked her; it was possible they had just shown up for the free alcohol.

The gifts ranged from well-meaning to awesome to plain laughable—new workout clothes from Elizabeta along with a wonderfully tacky 80's home work out video, along with a snarky card from Roderich; a new Bayern Muenchen jersey from her soccer team; and concert tickets from Francis and Antonio to go to the Vans Warped Tour.

When she got to Maddie's, she hastily tore it open. "Tolstoy," Gillian said, surprised, but delighted. "How did you know he was my favorite author?"

Maddie smiled shyly as the rest of the party turned to look at her; many of them hadn't realized she was sitting next to Gillian. "You talked about War and Peace so much, I thought you might like Anna Karenina, too. And the CD just has a bunch of random songs on it," she added, when Gillian held up the blank CD curiously. Songs that made me think of you, she thought silently, but didn't say.

"Thanks," she said, beaming at her friend. She opened the card before Maddie could protest too much. "Happy birthday, Gillian," she read aloud. "I can't believe we've only been friends for a few months. It feels like forever. Mostly because I can't get rid of you." Gillian pretended to sulk while her friends chuckled appreciatively. "I'm lucky to have an 'awesome' friend like you. Lots of love, Maddie." Gillian's cheeks turned a brilliant red when she read that, but she hastily stood up and said, "Okay, time for birthday shots!" before anyone could really call attention to it. Eagerly, everyone followed her back into the kitchen.

Maddie noticed, though, and wondered about it.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it, however. She followed Sakura and the other teenagers, who surrounded the tiled island in the middle of the Beilschmidt's kitchen, where Francis was pouring shots. Maddie wrinkled her nose distastefully when she read the label on the bottle: birthday cake-flavored vodka. Why? She wondered silently. Why is this a thing?

She hovered at the outskirts of the little assembly, hoping that she would get passed over, but Gillian's eyes fastened on her and she smiled deviously. "You have to try at least one," she commanded, forcing a shot into her hand.

"It looks so gross," Maddie complained, but her will was already wavering by the way the older girl pouted.

"Pleeeeease? It's my birthday," Gillian wheedled.

"Fine," Maddie said, sighing gustily.

As soon as everyone had a shot glass, they clumsily slammed them down on the table and downed them.

Maddie winced as the sickly sweet alcohol burned its way down her throat. She could never understand why Gillian liked alcohol so much. Maddie didn't mind wine, but this was just terrible.

"Gil, I'm gonna go put some music on," Antonio suggested, to cheers, and several of the guests followed him back into the living room, where they began clearing furniture to dance. Gillian waved him away and poured herself another shot.

"Okay, let's go," Gillian announced, hopping back down.

"Eh…I'm gonna hang out in here…" Maddie said awkwardly. She didn't really care for dancing. Especially not around a bunch of cool upperclassmen that didn't even know she existed most of the time. Suddenly, hip hop burst out of the next room, making Maddie wince. She didn't really care for loud music, either. Maybe Amelia was right. Maybe she was a bit of a grandma.

"Not acceptable," Gillian disagreed, tugging on her sleeve. "Come on. You can have fun for once, you know." Her eyes twinkled mischievously.

"I have lots of fun, thank you," Maddie protested, unwillingly allowing herself to be dragged into the living room.

"Prove it," Gillian challenged, raising her pale eyebrows and sashaying away from her dramatically.

"Don't leave me here alone," Maddie grumbled, as she tried to avoid being sandwiched in between Mathias and another senior guy, who were dancing rather close together.

"Then get over here!" Her friend tugged her into the middle of the makeshift dancefloor.

She didn't realize Gillian was such a good dancer until now.

Maybe it was because she simply didn't care how she looked. Her hair flew around her wildly as she shook her head, swaying her hips and moving her body in a way that made Maddie feel vaguely uncomfortable-among other things-especially when she saw the way some of the guys were leering at her. She ran her hands slowly up her tight jeans to her hips and then held them over her head, bouncing and laughing.

It was pretty hot, Maddie had to admit. There was something to be said for self-confidence.

Maddie realized Feliciana was dancing next to her, so she danced next to her and it wasn't so bad—she definitely couldn't dance with any of the guys, they were kind of intimidating; except Antonio, who was dancing with Lovino and grinning like an idiot. Had they finally gotten together? Maddie could never tell, but Lovino wasn't frowning for once.

"C'mon, Maddie, that's not dancing," Gillian protested playfully.

Maddie stuck her tongue out at her. "It is too," she argued, making the most ridiculous gestures with her arms. Maybe the vodka was starting to rub off on her. Wait, she had had only one shot. Maybe she was just having fun, she thought, laughing a little to herself.

"No, it's not," she insisted. She swayed over to where Maddie was, and placed her hands on her hips. "Dance with me."

"Ahh, umm, okay," Maddie said nervously, feeling bright color flood into her face. Girls danced with each other all the time; it's not like it was weird. But Maddie was pretty sure most girls didn't have crushes on their best friends, either. She tried to relax a little and swayed in time with Gillian, unable to wipe the blush off of her face. The bass was so loud that she felt it pulse in her bones. It was kind of cool, actually. This wasn't the kind of party that Maddie normally attended, but she was having fun. She could do this. She could be social!

She caught Francis' eye in the corner, and he sort of smiled and shook his head before turning away. She stuck her tongue out at him. Silly Francis. She could only imagine the teasing thoughts he was sending her way.

The room was crowded, too crowded, and more people had come into the now cramped living room after the music started playing, forcing her to press even closer to Gillian.

"Are you having fun?" Gillian yelled over the music. Her eyes shone joyfully; obviously she was having fun. Maddie wondered then how many shots she had downed before she had shown up.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Maddie laughed, unable to keep from smiling when Gillian started purposely running into other dancers. "You're a mess, you know that?"

"But you love it," Gillian called out over her shoulder, waltzing away from her, squeezing between Mathias and Caterina as she disappeared through the doorway.

"Where are you going?" Maddie called, but she disappeared. Amelia and Sakura made their way over to her in order to talk over the noise.

"Are you having fun?" Amelia hollered, cupping her hands over her mouth even though Maddie was right next to her.

"Yes," she said, wincing. Was she really that boring that people had to constantly check on her?

"I think I will be going soon," Sakura said, barely audible over the blaring Jay-Z lyrics. "Heracles and I are going to get ice cream. Do you want to come with us, Amelia?"

"Nah, I'm gonna chill with Mads," Amelia said amiably. "Besides, I need some more beer."

Gillian returned then with jello shots. "Hey, Amelia," she said cheerfully. "Glad you could change it! Where's your nagging boyfriend?"

"Artie's at home," Amelia laughed. "I think Doctor Who is on tonight."

"Damn. He's missing out. Here ya go, Maddie! Cherry!" Gillian handed her friend a jello shot before she could protest.

"They're pretty light," Amelia reassured her. "I already had, like, three."

That didn't help Maddie's reservations, but if it was for Gillian…she shrugged. "Okay. To Gillian."

"To Gil!" Amelia agreed.

"To me!" Gillian said enthusiastically, expertly scooping out the jello substance and devouring it.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of dancing, beer pong, and more dancing. Maddie refused to drink any more after her third shot, but she was already feeling slightly dizzy, and was talking quite a bit more loudly than usual.

In the middle of a Katy Perry song, Gillian took her by the arm and said, "Hey, I wanna show ya something, Birdie."

"Alright," Maddie agreed amiably.

She followed her away from the slightly inebriated teens, up the stairs to the hallway that led to Ludwig's room.

"Uh…where are we going?" She wondered pleasantly as Gillian carelessly shoved the door to Ludwig's bedroom open. Normally, she would have been appalled—and scared—about invading private Ludwig's space, but she wasn't exactly level headed at the moment.

"Over here!"

Gillian sat perched on the wide windowsill. She carefully unlatched the window and pushed it up high over her head, letting in a chilly January breeze. Her hair flew erratically around her head, making her look like some kind of strange fairy, sneaking into children's rooms at night. She turned to Maddie with a wide grin, her teeth glinting in the dim light of the room. "Come on!" She hopped off the ledge, and Maddie cried out in fear, before she raced over and realized she had just landed two feet below on the sloped roof.

Gillian was already scrambling up towards the top of the A-frame roof, her bare feet clinging to the shingles like a monkey's.

"Gillian, you're not sober, I don't think this is safe," Maddie protested, but she found herself clambering out after her.

Gillian sat perched high above her on the very top of the house, her legs crossed Indian-style. She looked indescribably pleased with herself, as if she had managed some great feat, although Maddie suspected she broke into Ludwig's room quite often for this very purpose. "Join me," she said magnanimously, spreading her hands high over her head before leaning back on them.

Maddie cautiously climbed up next to her, taking her proffered hand as Gillian tugged her up beside her.

They sat on the roof top together, watching the dancing teenagers in the back yard below them. Maybe it had gotten too warm in the living room, or maybe they just wanted to be out in the night air, too.

"Pretty nice, isn't it?" Gillian asked conversationally. "This is probably one of my favorite views."

"It is. This was really fun," Maddie ventured, looking over at the girl next to her with a warm smile. It was a little chilly up here, but well worth the view. The hilly suburban neighborhood twinkled around them for miles, only slightly dimmed by the brighter lights of the capitol that shone like a beacon in the night. "What's it like, being a legal adult?" She teased.

"Pretty damn boring, actually," Gillian said blithely, popping the top off of her beer can that she had pulled out of the inside pocket of her jacket. "I ate Activia yogurt for breakfast, took Gunther for a walk, and complained about the news. Also my back hurts."

"You're a regular old lady," Maddie said, giggling slightly. It wasn't that funny, but she had had a bit to drink, and she felt giddy.

"A wise old lady," Gillian amended, grinning.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, just sipping their drinks and watching the dancers sway to bad 80's pop, before Gillian said, with a slight note of teasing, "So you think I'm awesome?"

Maddie chuckled. "Sometimes. On occasion. It's been known to happen," the Canadian girl said loftily.

She was busy watching Amelia and another girl on the soccer team dancing, so she didn't notice her friend's face redden noticeably, even in the dark.

"I think you're pretty awesome, too."

Something in the older girl's tone made Maddie look over her.

Gillian was watching her uncertainly, her jewel-colored eyes flickering dimly in the night light. She looked back at her questionably as her pulse sped up, although she wasn't completely sure why.

"I, um, I like you," Gillian said bluntly, her words stumbling over themselves to get out. "A lot."

Maddie's eyes widened as she tried to process the words laid out carefully in front of her. She had imagined this scenario a couple times in her head, if she was being completely honest; didn't everyone fantasize about their crush confessing to them? But it was so weird because it was Gillian, beautiful, confident, Gillian, who liked her, the underwhelmingly average Maddie Williams, who talked to cats and made passive aggressive comments about people in French.

"You…but why?" She managed, thoroughly confused. As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to die of embarrassment.

A tiny frown appeared on Gillian's pale face. "Why?" She demanded. "What do you mean, why? You're sweet, you're smart, you're adorable, why wouldn't I like you?"

Maddie couldn't look at her anymore; she was blushing too hard. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh."

"Well, if you have no objections, then," Gillian said, laughing self-consciously, and Maddie realized she was nervous, too.

"What?" Maddie asked, still a little starstruck as she finally raised her gaze to Gillian's smiling face.

"Come here," she said, sidling over to her on the roof and gently cupping her face, running her thumb along Maddie's soft cheek. "Can I kiss you?" She asked quietly.

Maddie's breath caught in her throat. She didn't reply, but leaned forward to meet her halfway, her lips clumsily bumping against Gillian's mouth. Her nose was cold where it brushed Maddie's but her lips were surprisingly warm, and Maddie found herself snuggling closer to her, parting her lips slightly. Gillian's arm slipped around her waist, pulling her flush against her body, and Maddie wondered, briefly, if anyone could see them up here.

But it was kind of difficult to focus on that right now.

Because Gillian's lips were so, so soft against hers, but demanding, and Maddie wondered in the back of her mind how long Gillian had waited for this. How much of her seemingly harmless flirting was genuine. And she realized there was a lot about Gillian that she had yet to learn.

Gillian pulled away, a blissful smile on her face. "I think I wanted to do that since I met you," she said, laughing a little in embarrassment.

"Really?" Maddie asked shyly, wishing she had something wittier to say. But at the same time, it was Gillian; she felt so comfortable around her.

"Yeah. I saw you, and I thought, man, she's so cute. Too bad she'd never be interested in me." She raised her eyebrows, daring her to disagree.

"Well, it's definitely not the first time I've proved you wrong," Maddie replied saucily.

Gillian snorted. "I don't think you've proved your point enough."

Maddie surprised both of them by initiating the kiss this time, hungrily capturing Gillian's chapped lips in hers. "I like you too," she murmured, feeling her heart pick up at Gillian's adorably happy expression.

Their hands found each other on the rooftop, and Maddie noted how cold hers were. She realized she was pretty cold, too, especially with the wind blowing. "Did you…plan this?" She asked, laughing a little. It seemed like the kind of corny thing that Gillian would secretly enjoy.

"Well, I kind of hoped you wouldn't shoot me down on my birthday," Gillian admitted, chuckling. "And, you know. Stars. Romantic shit." She gestured to the sky grandly, as if she could take credit for that, too. "It worked, didn't it?" She added defensively, as Maddie burst into laughter.

"Yes. It did," she agreed. "But can we go inside now?"

"Yes. Good plan. It's too damn cold." Gillian stood up and took her hand, carefully guiding her down the roof back to the window.

Both girls slipped in, giggling at Maddie's clumsy movements, and had just stumbled into the little alcove when a light flipped on.

Ludwig was standing by the door, glaring unabashedly at them.

Maddie shrank away instinctively; how could he possibly be related to Gillian? He was so scary!

"I told you not to use my room to get to the roof," he growled, folding his arms across his chest angrily. "I told you not to invade my space."

"Ah, but it's my birthdaaaaay," Gillian protested. She slid off the windowsill, tugging a mortified Maddie behind her, who kept mumbling apologies that Ludwig didn't seem to hear. "Lighten up, Lud!"

He closed his eyes and massaged his forehead, looking incredibly vexed. "And you're drunk. You could've killed yourself." Poor Ludwig. He really did seem worried.

"Psh, me? No way," Gillian disagreed, shaking her head violently. "C'mon, Luddy. Lighten up." She hugged him, but he just stood there and continued to glare at a spot over her head, looking not the slightest bit mollified by his older sister.

"Just get out of my room," he grumbled when she finally released him.

"Sorry," Maddie apologized again, shuffling past him awkwardly as they left the room.

"Heh, don't worry about it," Gillian told her in a conspiratorial tone as they walked back down the stairs. "That's just how he shows he cares."

They spent the rest of the night staying up late with Antonio, Francis, Amelia, and a few other guests that were staying the night until they passed out in front of the TV. Gillian contentedly lounged between Maddie and Antonio on an air mattress, taking up far more than her 5"1 frame should warrant. But Maddie couldn't find the will to be upset as she fell asleep next to her, their hands tightly clasped under the covers. She thought she would have been too wound up to fall asleep, but the dancing combined with the alcohol made her pass out almost immediately, a slight smile on her face as she drifted off to sleep.

There it is. The moment you've all been waiting for. Now to figure out where I'll take it from here...I have a few things planned, and things are going to pick up from here if it's going to end in the summer...hmm.

I'M JUST REALLY HAPPY THAT THEY KISSED. I kept grinning when I wrote this. Writing about your favorite people getting together is so satisfying, especially when they're completely adorable dorks. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it...and pardon the cheesiness, it was Gillian's idea. I have no control over this story whatsoever.