You say it's your birthday
Just another cute little one-off – this time it's a few months after Nightlife, and it's Niko's birthday. The satchel idea comes from the Author's blog, who wrote a list of things to remember for each character, and one of Niko's items was "Do not kill Cal for writing "Super Sexy Boogeyman Slayer" on your carrying case for class."
Cal heard Niko quietly moving about in the kitchen. Normally he would have rolled over and slept to a more civilized hour, say one with a 'PM' attached to it, but damn, it was his brother's birthday. He supposed he should see him off. Cal tossed back the covers, fished his knife out from under the pillow, and tucked it in the waistband of his sweats. It had only been a couple of months after his trip to hell with Darkling. The knife was an extension of his hand at this point.
Cal shuffled out to the kitchen. "What time is it?" he mumbled, standing in the doorway.
Niko glanced up in mock surprise. "Lo, it wakes!"
Cal snorted. "Smartass." He slumped down at the table and leaned forward to rest his chin on his folded forearms. Niko dumped the eggs he'd been cooking onto a plate, added some toast, and set it in front of Cal with a bottle of ketchup.
"That's your breakfast," Cal said with a frown.
"Eat it. It won't take more than a couple of minutes to make more."
"I feel like I'm stealing from the birthday boy," he grumbled, but he doused the eggs in ketchup and started in. A glass of orange juice appeared at his elbow. As Niko sat across from Cal with his own breakfast, Cal raised the orange juice. "Here's to another year of survival," he said.
Niko raised his soymilk. "And to our future."
Pollyanna, thought Cal, but he drank anyway. He was satisfied with being alive here & now, but he wanted Niko to have a shot at that future. "Promise was taking us out to someplace nice, tonight. Robin and George are coming, too. It will be like a mob compared to our last few years."
"Goodfellow alone is a mob," Niko agreed gravely. He finished up and cleaned their dishes efficiently. On his way to the door, he put a hand on Cal's shoulder. "I'll be back around six."
"Thanks for the show of faith, Grandma." Niko had only just recently begun to leave Cal alone for short periods of time.
Niko squeezed his shoulder, then tweaked his ear. Then he was out the door, going to the university to stand in line all day and fill out paperwork.
Cal got dressed and started on the bathroom first. As he was scrubbing the tile down to Niko-worthy cleanliness, the doorbell rang. Cal grabbed his Glock and went to peer through the peephole. Promise. Cal opened the door and gaped at a Promise he'd never seen before: she wore a short sleeve t-shirt & jeans. Her hair was pinned up, her cloak over one arm, and in her other hand she held a bucket of cleaning supplies.
Promise smiled up at Cal. "Well, am I too late to join the cleaning party?"
Cal stepped aside to let her in and barely remembered in time to take her cloak before she hung it up herself. "Um, you clean?"
"I have done many things in my lifetime, Cal, including cleaning. Now, the same-day laundry service will be here by nine. Let's start with that, shall we?"
Cal followed her through the living room and into his bedroom. "How did you know about this, anyway?"
"Niko said you do this every year."
Cal laughed, and glanced down at the pile of clothes on his floor. "Yeah, it started when we had no money and were on the run. It was all I could think of. Made him happy, though. I guess I should have thought it through before I did it. Now he likes to point out that if I can do it once a year, I can do it anytime."
Promise patted his arm sympathetically. They spent most of the day cleaning. Cal found Promise to be good company and surprisingly good at cleaning. She tackled the kitchen floor and got out the ingrained dirt that had probably been there since the first occupant. Of course, vampire strength and vision probably helped, thought Cal. Every book was shelved, every molecule of dust was evicted, and even the windows (Cal did these) were cleaned. Halfway through the day Promise ordered up sandwiches from the local deli. The sparkling clean and folded laundry arrived soon after, and they remade the beds and put everything else away. At last the apartment was spotless, and would pass even Niko's inspection.
Promise took her leave, saying she'd pick them up at 7:30. After she left, Cal found an outfit on the back of his door he knew hadn't gone out with the laundry this morning. The shirt was dark blue linen and there were some black slacks to go with it. He checked Niko's door, and found another outfit in dry cleaner plastic hanging on the back of it.
"Watch out, Nik. She's domesticating you," Cal smirked. He took a shower and collapsed on his bed for a well-deserved nap. He didn't wake until he heard Niko tapping on the doorframe.
"What did you do, little brother, throw a bleach grenade into the kitchen?"
"Actually it was more like a vampire lady. Promise helped, today." Cal rolled over and stretched.
"Did she?" Niko seemed pleased by that.
"Yeah. Turns out she's as much of a clean freak as you are. Who knew?"
Shortly before Promise arrived Cal was attempting to do his tie again. "I don't see why I have to wear a noose to a restaurant," he grumbled.
Niko came over and brushed Cal's hands away. As he tied the silk strip neatly, he said, "When it's your birthday we can all go to Chuck E Cheese's." He pulled the tie up extra firm at Cal's neck.
"Seriously?" Cal pretended to look happy about this. Niko snorted and swatted Cal's hand away from the knot.
"Leave it. It's right where it should be."
They were dressed and ready when Promise called to say she and George were waiting down below. On the way to the restaurant Promise and George wished Niko a happy birthday and carried a light conversation. Cal kept glancing at George, who sat across from him. He tried, really tried, not to stare. She wore some sort of brown velvet dress and copper earrings that shimmered as she moved her head. Her rich coppery coils were pinned back in a loose bun that made his fingers itch to take it down. She caught him staring a few times and smiled at him.
The restaurant was a posh place that probably charged a hundred dollars for a glass of water. As the host led them through the tables, Cal noticed more than a few heads turning their way. Of course, his brother and Promise walked ahead, and he had to admit they were a striking couple.
They had barely sat down when Robin joined them. It was like their party of four became a party of ten, what with the puck chatting and flirting with the wait staff. Dinner was a cheerful affair, with the other's quizzing Cal about the birthday boy's past.
"Tell us something about Niko we don't know," Promise said to Cal, leaning forward with her chin cupped in her palm.
Robin leered. "Yes. For example: does he sleep in the nude?"
Cal grinned. "Well…"
"Cal." Niko's expression promised all sorts of dire fates if Cal answered that one.
Cal ducked his head and coughed. "Right." He looked at Niko, and mischief lit up his eyes. "He has a middle name."
"Really!" Promise sat up straighter.
"Do tell," Robin leaned in.
Cal's grin broadened. He sat back with a smirk and said, "Alright. Let the bidding wars begin!"
"I'm the one who determines how and when you wake up in the morning," Niko said coldly.
Cal's grin vanished like water on a hot skillet. "Oops, sorry folks! This item has been removed from the auction block."
And no amount of cajoling could get Cal to confess after that. Luckily, Robin realized that George probably knew what it was as soon as Cal brought it up, so he spent the rest of the dinner occasionally throwing out guesses to the seer. She just laughed and shook her head each time.
Promise changed the subject. "So what else have you done for Niko's birthday, besides clean the apartment?"
Cal shrugged. "We've always been on the run with next to no money, so sometimes I have to get creative. Let's see. A couple years back it was a knife I got off my first mugger, all polished up. And last year it was a week of no whining."
Robin leaned towards Niko and stage-whispered, "How many times did he have to start over?"
"Six."
The puck sat back and laughed with the rest of the table. Cal gritted his teeth and said, "The point is I eventually finished the week out."
"And it was exactly what I've always wanted," Niko said fondly, tousling Cal's hair.
When dessert arrived, Niko studied his plate.
"C'mon, Cyrano. It's good for you," Cal said.
Niko's eyes cut over to his brother. "Just because they call it 'carrot cake' doesn't mean it isn't loaded with fat and sugar, Cal."
"Yeah, but it's got carrots, too. See? The best of both worlds."
Niko surrendered, and ate several bites. Cal ate his with gusto, and polished off Niko's as well. He knew his brother would have him running it off tomorrow, so he made sure to savor every bite.
They eventually left the restaurant, full and content. They made it back to the brothers' apartment. That's when the presents came out. By then Niko seemed embarrassed by the evening's worth of attention. It's nothing less than you deserve, big brother, thought Cal. He set his present in front of Niko.
"Open this one first."
So Niko opened it. Cal had found a used leather satchel and cleaned, conditioned, and polished it until it looked classic and broken in. Perfect for lugging books to class (or weapons to a business meeting.) Cal had also added a small brass tag on the flap with the letters SSBS.
"Very nice, Cal," Niko said, and he could tell Niko was genuinely pleased. "Do I even want to know what this stands for?" His finger touched the tag.
Cal snickered, and sat back while George handed over her gift. Niko opened the box, and pulled out a set of gauntlets – like the heavy leathers ones knights used to tuck into their belts. George smiled mysteriously. "I think you'll find that these will be very useful to you at some point in the next year."
"Thank you." Niko said gravely. He tried them on, and they suited him perfectly. Cal tried not to think of Niko using them to slap some rich, old codger who got too close to Promise.
Niko removed the gauntlets and opened Robin's present. It was a black leather duster meant to replace the one that had been shredded in the fight with Darkling and the auphe. He tried it on at the others' insistence. It fell in soft, velvety black folds around him. It was perfectly tailored, and Niko was even more pleased when Robin pointed out the nearly invisible interior pockets, including the ones in the sleeves. Cal was privately amused at the glints in both Promise and Robin's eyes.
"You wouldn't believe what it took to talk him out of the matching buttless chaps," Cal quipped.
In the blink of an eye, Niko swatted the back of Cal's head with the gauntlets. He regarded George's present again and smiled at her. "You're right. These will be useful."
George laughed and shook her head at him. "That's not what I meant," she scolded, and she touched Cal's hair gently. Cal stiffened as if electrocuted, and shifted away.
"You got one more present, Nik." He said hurriedly.
Promise's present was perhaps the most appropriate. It was a thick old tome written in dense script – a 14th century collection of supernatural lore written by a mystic Spanish monk. Niko's eyes lit up as he opened the book and scanned over the pages. If it weren't for his impeccable manners, Cal new they would have lost him to the book. Instead he closed it carefully and looked up and around the room.
"Thank you all," he said with a small smile – the equivalent to a broad grin from him.
Later on, when the others had left, Cal reclined on the couch and surveyed the presents. Niko sat in their battered easy chair, scanning his new book.
"Shit, Nik. It was like your leather anniversary or something."
The corner of Niko's mouth quirked. "It does seem that way, doesn't it? Are you going to tell me what SSBS stands for?"
"You'll figure it out." And when he does figure out it stands for Super Sexy Boogeyman Slayer, Cal thought to himself, I'll be in for a little post-birthday ass-kicking.