Kaneki looked around Anteiku's back room, shocked to find everyone that he knew and loved packed in the small room, alongside a platter of ghoul food, a couple of bottles of blood wine, a banner, some balloons, and a whole table stuffed with presents.
"Happy Birthday!" everyone called out loudly, waving and grinning at the birthday boy.
Kaneki was very, very stunned - in a good way. All of his friends were here, and they had prepared a cake, and presents, and…
He honestly hadn't meant to tear up, but inadvertently, due to the happiness, Kaneki started to.
He felt four arms around him, and while he didn't see the faces of the people hugging him, he knew full well who they were - the tanned, freckly arms belonged to Hide, while the cool, long arms belonged to Tsukiyama.
"Hey, Kaneki, are you ok?" the two voices asked in unison, their tones being so very concerned.
Kaneki nodded.
"S-sorry. I'm just… Overwhelmed, I guess. Thank you for doing this for me, everyone…"
The people in the coffeshop, however cramped and tired they were, smiled at that - they knew Kaneki was going to be happy about them celebrating their birthday. They had never even doubted it.
Kaneki took a glass of the offered blood wine, and joined along in everyone's laughter and celebration. He was proud to call everyone here a friend, an ally or an acquaintance of his, and he was delighted that they did this for him - it must've taken ages of planning to do, and he was amazed and surprised by their dedication to him, again and again.
Only when Tsukiyama and Itori, both slightly drunk, called him over to open the presents did he shake off any of his thoughts. He should stay in the present. That way, when he needed this memory most, he would remember it.
Arima walked into his dark, rather empty and foreboding apartment with a sight. Today, this year, like every year was his birthday. And other then a small gift from Fura, Ihei, Ui and Hirako, he had received no acknowledgements.
That wasn't unusual for the stoic and rather awkward man - despite wanting very badly to have someone else, other then his four closest… Friends? Allies? to acknowledge his birthday, he also wasn't a public person. Unlike Mougan-san or Marude, he wasn't one to yell about his birthday, nor talk about it. And his friends, too, were not ones to talk about it. Fura was a private person, Ihei had few friends, Ui wasn't someone to talk about others and Hirako was always quiet.
He walked into the kitchen, and turned on the kettle. Evenings were always better spent with tea, after all.
Putting his briefcase down, he took off his suit jacket and put it on top of the briefcase, and carried the jacket to his room. He didn't want his nicer clothing to be ruined, since he didn't have many nice things.
He slowly went back to the living room, and sat on a barstool near the kitchen island. He prepared himself a cup of tea, and sat back down, hoping that nothing would distract him for the day.
Arima slowly realized that there were… Unfamiliar noises coming from the living room. Suspicious, he crept forwards, holding his briefcase in a position to open it if he saw a ghoul. Opening the door, he saw a sight that made him gasp, and gasp quite loudly.
His coworkers, quite a few of them, were there. Aura, Mougan, Shinohara, Suzuya, Akira, Amon, Seidou, Houji, the previously mentioned quartet and several other high-up CCG personnel members were here.
As he stood there, briefcase in front of him and eyes wide, Shinoara stepped up to him and patted him on the back. "Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?" He called out jovially, his mouth in a grin and his eyes smiling brightly.
Arima smiled awkwardly back at everyone in the room, who looked at Ihei expectantly.
She blushed awkwardly, but smiled at Arima and spoke. "Well, you seemed to be lonely today, so I told some Special Classes that it was your birthday and…" She stopped, hoping that Arima understood what she meant.
Arima smiled at the group of loud, obnoxious, and yes, mildly strange people gathered in his room. They might've not been his closest friends - in reality, he probably had no close friends, but they had taken time out of their busy lives to celebrate his day, and that was more then good enough for him.