He sighed as he pulled out his phone, one year older and they still remembered. His bright red phone was cluttered with text messages.

Akashicci~ Happy Birthday! One proclaimed in neon yellow font. It was too early to see that colour.

Aka-chin, happy birthday and bines me shaufks. Akashi could practically hear the the muttered noise between the the crunching of salted potato chips.

Akashi-kun, this is an important text message. Oha-asa says your luck is the worse of the zodiacs. Your necessary colour to wear is green and your lucky item(s) is winter sports. Oh and happy birthday. Akashi chuckled as he recalled downloading the Oha-asa in order to figure if Shintaro was lying or not. Scrolling down he was greeted with an image of a woman's upper chest. Mentally groaning, he wiped his hand down his face in abhorrence. Honestly, who sends a text message of that at 6:30am? The image was accompanied by a short line of text.

Happy birthday. Enjoy.

As he reached to power off his phone, Akashi noticed a small voice message sandwiched between Daiki's sent image and Shintaro's rant. Pressing play, Tetsuya's voice filled the minimally decorated room.

"Happy birthday Akashi-kun," the message was followed by a brief line of static before he could hear another person bickering with the first. "Kagami-kun just say it."

"No. He nearly killed me." Akashi raised his eyebrows as he heard a thud of a fist hitting someone's stomach.

"Fine. Happy birthday." The recording ended there. Akashi blinked, bewildered by the effort it must have took for Tetsu to convince Kagami to say that. Sliding his phone onto his already made bed, he strode to his closet and picked out a winter jacket and his Razukan jersey.

"Otōsan, I'm leaving the house." Seijuro called to the empty atrium, knowing that his father had already left for work. He twisted the bronze doorknob and stepped out onto the already sweeped stairs. Snow gently flew around him as if it had chose that day to remain tame. Akashi trudged through the thin layer of frost covering the cobbled pathway. His riding boots piling up snow between the crevices of the outsole. He spotted a blur of white in the mahogany barn and broke out into a run. Akashi now transformed into a four year old boy, giggling as the horse nuzzled against his uncombed hair. The crisp morning air combined with the smell of fresh hay bit his nose as he saddled the horse and mounted it. Akashi nudged Yukimaru into a canter then a gallop, increasing speed as the snow-white horse tore through the winter winds. The rising sun reflecting off the silver buttons lining his coat as the duo sped off to escape the everyday struggles.

Happy Birthday to me

In the meantime, on Akashi's bed, a crimson phone vibrated. Once, twice, before cutting to voice mail.

"Hello?"

"Aka-chin? Did you get snacks for me?"

"Course he didn't," a voice scoffed.

"Akashi can you please stop ignoring us and pick up the phone?"

"He's probably busy."

"Should we just sing it?" A chorus of sures, yes, and sighs answered.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Akashi-kun-chin-icci-san."

"San? Who's that?" The voicemail ends with a small scuffle and the phone bleeping off.