Rated K+ for one curse word! :P

Anyhow, this is a little bit old. I posted it on deviantArt on August 24, 2011. It was for my FirionXBartz club's first anniversary. I recently read once more, and I really loved it, so I decided to share it here.

Don't forget to review and fav! :D

"Bartz... It's not my birthday..."

Bartz wanted to sink in the ground and hide.

This started only a few hours ago. Bartz was walking with Zidane when he overheard Cecil and Cloud's conversation. Curious as he was, he hid behind the corner and listened in. (Zidane played along as well.)

"... a rose is probably a preferred gift," Cecil said, lightly chuckling.

A rose? Bartz thought. They must be talking about Firion. Why does he need a gift though?

"Maybe it's Firion's birthday...?" Zidane answered him in a whisper, as though he was a mind reader.

"His birthday?" Bartz said. "That guy seriously has a birthday?"

"Bartz, Zidane?" Cecil called out suddenly. "What are you two doing here?" It had come to Bartz's mind that he may have spoken a little too loud.

Jumping out of hiding, Bartz said nervously, "Who, us? We were just passing by, but we can't stay around for long. Gotta run!" With that, he ran off, Zidane trailing behind him. Despite leaving an awkward situation, he was deadset on finding a present for Firion. Since he was serious when it came to birthdays, Bartz made sure that he attended to everyone's birthday. Birthdays were important to Bartz, and Firion's was no exception.

"Let's have another race!" Zidane offered. "Whoever's gift is preferred over the other's by Firion is the winner."

"Sounds like a deal!" Bartz agreed, grinning. With that, Zidane ran off, starting the competition. Instead of running off himself, Bartz paused to think for a minute. Let's see... he thought. What kind of present would Firion want? If I were to mimic him right now, what would I want?

Straightening his back and arching his arms, Bartz said with a rough voice, "I only have one wish, and that is to bring an end to this war." Pausing, he shook his head before muttering in his normal tone, "World peace? That's a little far-fetched." Back to using his Firion-impersonation, he continued, "As long as I am by my friends' side, nothing can overcome us... No, he's already got more than enough friends."

Bartz continued to try and brainstorm as to what Firion would want. Finally, it came to him. "A wild rose... Of course! Even Cecil said so earlier that "a rose is probably a preferred gift"! ... But he already has one. Would it be alright for him to have another? Ugh, I got to be more original than this..." For a moment, it seemed like this would become a lost cause. However, Bartz decided that he would make a rose, preferrably out of paper. (Let's pretend that Bartz was an origami whiz.)

Now, we are here. After looking everywhere for Firion, Bartz had eventually found him.

"Hey, Firion!" Bartz greeted him, lightly hitting Firion's arm. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hello, Bartz," Firion waved, giving a nervous smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, a little birdie told me that it was your birthday today," Bartz stated teasingly, holding a paper rose behind his back. This surprise was certainly going be great; Screw Zidane's competition!

Suddenly, Firion stopped walking, having a confused expression on his face. "What...?"

Bartz returned the look, saying, "I... heard that it's... you're birthday...?"

Looking as though he didn't want to disappoint the scrawny man, Firion slowly said, "Bartz... It's not my birthday..." As an awkward silence settled in, Bartz felt like a complete moron. He wanted to be anywhere but there, to go hide under a rock. "However," Firion continued, "I did hear that it was Lightning's birthday. Perhaps you got that confused with me."

"L-Light...? Oh..." was all Bartz could muster. Damn that Cecil and his unobsctructive, quiet, inconspicuous ways...

"Sorry for the confusion," Firion tried to apologize.

"No, that's alright," Bartz said, "it wasn't your fault. Anyhow, I should go. See ya around!" With haste, Bartz turned around - hiding the paper rose in front of his chest - and ran away. Stupid, stupid, stupid... Bartz blamed himself, even though just a moment before, he was blaming Cecil. He heard Firion call him from behind, but he pretended that he was just out of range. How red was his face? From now on, he has to make sure that he is 100% sure whether or not it was someone's birthday.
Taking a break, Bartz stopped in his tracks to look down at the origami rose. What was he to do with it? I guess it can be Lightning's gift,Bartz thought irritantly, like that makes any difference... Deciding that he didn't even want to approach that woman with a pathetic gift, Bartz tossed it to the side...

... only to have someone approach from behind.

This someone was, in fact, Firion.

"Whoa!" he called as he snatched it. "What's this?"

"H-Hey, give that back!" Bartz exlaimed hesitantly, trying to snatch the paper back. However, Firion's well-built structure had an advantage over Bartz's own scrawny body.

"Well, it's not yours if you threw it away, now is it?" Firion taunted him. Examining the rose more closely, Firion asked, "Did you make this for me?"

Giving up, Bartz became flustered as he muttered, "Y-yeah, it was supposed to be your present, before I knew it wasn't... Yeah..." This was not what he needed. Whatever he had planned before was in shambles, and this situation was even more awkward, now that the gift was in a birthday-less boy's hands. Really, if anyone else was around, he would be out of there faster than lightning. (No pun intended.)

"It's great; really detailed," Firion complimented the artificial rose.

"Really...?" Bartz asked. He shouldn't be that surprised that Firion would give him a compliment; After all, it was in his nature to look at all the positive things.

"Of course," Firion replied, giving an encouraging smile. "If it's alright, am I still allowed to keep it?"

"Yeah, o-of course," Bartz answered, giving a small smile back.

"Let's go see if we can get Lightning anything," Firion suggested, walking up to Bartz's side.

Grinning, Bartz nodded as they began to walk. Perhaps it wasn't a lost cause...

Next time, Bartz will definitely get the birthdate correct.