Author's note: This is just a quick thing I wrote from Hong Kong's birthday. I was short on time so I did not edit this at all. So sorry for the errors!
The day started out like any other, but it was different. Today was a very important day, for a very important boy.
Sunlight beamed onto a teenage boy's face, and his face twisted in irritation.
"Morning already?" Hong Kong mumbled, not ready to get up yet. Giving into the tiredness, he pulled the covers back over his head to continue sleeping.
"Leon, are you up?" another voice called out. "Leon?"
Seeing the said kid was still asleep, China smiled and gently peeled the covers back, revealing Hong Kong's peaceful face.
"Wake up, Leon. It's already noon and I have a special lunch for you," Chun Yan whispered in a voice mixed with a teasing tone and a warning tone. Usually if Hong Kong was not up by nine, she would pull him out of bed, but seeing as it was a special day for them both, she was lenient.
Hearing that it was already noon, Leon jolted awake and threw the blankets off. He turned his head towards her, face twisted into a horrified expression. She simply giggled at his terror of the hour being so late.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Leon asked while struggled to get his clothes on due to the lack of blood flow in his legs.
"I decided to let you sleep in today. Just for today, though. You remember how I spoil you on this day, right?"
That's right. Today was Leon's birthday. China, the person he called "Mama" would always spoil him on this day. He would not have to do chores, she would make him his favorite meal, and she would not yell at him no matter how unacceptable his behavior was. He knew better than to get too riled up, though. Whatever punishment she spared him from on his birthday, would be saved for the next day.
However, as much as his mother appreciated his birthday, there was still something missing. Leon had a father as well, but he was not his father's only child. England had two more children, one sharing a birthday with Leon, and the other having a birthday just days away. For some reason, England never remembered Leon's birthday.
Leon grimaced his face in anger thinking about the person that he was supposed to call his father. He did not like how their relationship went downhill after being handed back to China. Ever since the handover, England and him rarely talked. On the anniversary of the handover, it was just Leon and his Asian family celebrating the day he got to come back home. He was happy, but simply having his Asian family there did not seem like it was enough. He had English blood in him, and that was something he wanted everyone to acknowledge.
"Eat the noodles from the bottom up," Chun Yan reminded him of that tradition. She was eating noodles with him, only he had an egg in his bowl. In their tradition, having noodles of long length was to symbolize a long life. The person with the birthday would have the honor of an egg in the bowl.
"I know that," Leon replied while internally rolling his eyes. He knew of the tradition, and he remembered it very well. There was no need to remind him.
Although Leon's feelings were very hard to read at times, Chun Yan still saw the irritation painted on her son's face. For a moment, she thought she had done something wrong, especially since their politics clashed a lot these days, but that thought quickly disappeared as she rationalized his behavior.
"Why don't we throw another party this year? We'll get you a cake, go to a restaurant, and maybe a karaoke bar. How about it?" Chun Yan asked hopefully, crossing her fingers that he would forget about the missing person.
"Why not," Leon answered in his usual monotone voice. "We do this every year, why would I decline now?"
"I was thinking this time we invite Arthur," Chun Yan suggested, taking the risk of angering Leon.
Hearing that name, Leon almost choked on his noodles. Invite that man? What was his mother thinking? He was either busy moping around and being depressed about the American holiday, or celebrating Canada's birthday. It was always the North American brothers with that man. Leon could not remember the last time his father even wished him a happy birthday.
"If he wants to come," Leon mumbled. "Doubt it though," he added in a lower tone, though not low enough for it to be deaf to Chun Yan's ears.
Ignoring the part that was not meant to be heard, Chun Yan left the kitchen and headed for a phone. She dialed Arthur's number, heart beating faster with each ring.
"Hello?" Arthur's voice answered.
"England, it's China," Chun Yan said, trying to remember how to converse with him.
"Oh," England replied, sounding surprised, "What can I do for you?"
Chun Yan bit her lip, her courage threatening to leave her. She had not spoken to this man about something that was not business related ever since they ended their relationship.
"I was calling to ask if you wanted to attend Hong Kong's birthday party," Chun Yan practically forced out. She was met with silence on the other end.
Arthur stayed silent. He did not know how to respond to that request. This was the first time he had been invited to celebrate his eastern son's birthday, and that was another thing he was not mentally prepared for. How could he go in the state he was in? The month of July was just horrible for him. First, there was Alfred's revolution. Then, there was Matthew's independence. It really did not help that the first day of July was also when Leon returned to China. And then there was France. His glorious Bastille Day also fell in that month. In all, it was not a good month for England, but he tried to make it work.
He forces himself to celebrate with Matthew and Alfred, reminding himself of how happy they are no matter what happened in the past. But Leon was a different case.
"Are you coming or not?" Chun Yan's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Uh…yeah. I'll come this year," Arthur slowly said. "Where shall I meet you?"
Giving him an address to the restaurant, Arthur agreed to be there. He had also promised Matthew that he would be at his birthday party, but the time difference allowed Arthur time to be at both. He would just need plenty of coffee.
Chun Yan stared anxiously at her watch as dinner was brought out. There was still no sign of Arthur, and the other guests had all arrived. Hopefully he would show up in time for the cake.
An hour passed, and Arthur had still not made his appearance. The cake was being brought out. Giving up on waiting, Chun Yan joined the other guests in singing for Leon. As she sang, she heard another voice chime in. She felt a presence behind her, and the unsettling feeling told her it was Arthur.
After blowing out the candles, the lights turned back on and Leon was shocked at what he saw. Arthur Kirkland had come to his birthday party. After all these years he randomly shows up? Not wanting to make a scene, Leon ignores him and begins opening his presents.
"I hope you like it," Arthur said, setting a present in front of his son after all other presents had been opened.
Leon did not say anything. He just glared at Arthur before grabbing the present and tearing it open. To his surprise, Arthur did not get him something generic or useless. In fact, it seemed Arthur had put a lot of thought into the present.
"I know you really like Jackie Chan, so I thought I would buy his latest movie for you. I even went the extra step and had it autographed," Arthur explained, tripping over his words.
"Yeah I like it," Leon responded, "Thanks."
The rest of the party was rather awkward. Leon did everything in his power to keep himself busy so he would not have to talk to Arthur, while Arthur awkwardly tried to make conversation with Chun Yan. She invited him, yet she talked to him about as well as he had talked to her.
"Leon, shall we go out for karaoke?" Chun Yan suggested, with her other siblings behind her looking very excited.
"Sure," Leon nodded, preparing to follow his mother out.
To his surprise, Chun Yan told everyone to go ahead while she gathered everything up at the restaurant. Leon felt bad about his mother having to clean up, so he decided to stay behind as well. Arthur felt an obligation to help with the cleanup, therefore staying as well.
"You don't have to help," Chun Yan insisted. "Go ahead with the others and sing!"
"No it's fine, really," Arthur replied with equal insistence, "I cannot leave you to clean all this up."
"Go," Leon cut in, voice sounding more rude and demanding rather than polite and insisting.
"Leon, I-" Arthur started but was cut off.
"Why would you suddenly just waltz back into my life after ignoring me for so long?" Leon shouted, throwing the various junk items he had in his arms.
Chun Yan looked away from both men, deciding not to intervene. This has been something that weighed on Leon's conscience for a long time, and from what Arthur told her tonight, it weighed on his too. It was something both men needed to talk over.
"I know it may seem that way, but-" again Arthur did not get to finish.
"But what?" Leon demanded, "Do you not see me as your son? You only care about Alfred and Matthew while I am always forgotten. And I see you did not pay much attention to Peter either when I was with you! When was the last time you cared enough to celebrate his birthday, huh?"
"Leon, please listen!" Arthur snapped back. He tried to be gentle, but it seemed the only way to get a word in edgewise was to shout back. "I had never forgotten you! In fact, since the day you left I never stopped thinking about you. You are my son just as much as Matthew, Alfred, and Peter are. It's just that I felt you needed more time with your mother. I had already spent so many birthdays with you, while your mother was left behind. I felt it was her turn and you two needed to catch up. "
Whatever anger Leon had, it was gone with those sentences. It was never Arthur's intention to make him feel left out. He was just thinking of Chun Yan. The teenage boy mentally slapped himself. He did not think about how either of his parents felt. They had parted on bad terms, and presently they were both trying to make him happy.
"We're a family, right?" Leon began. "We may be dysfunctional, scattered, and all around broken, but we're still family. Which is why I refuse to be a present between the two of you. Mama, what will you do when we've caught up? After so many years have passed, you will eventually have spent the same amount of time with me as Arthur did. Will you start ignoring me so Arthur can have his time?"
Chun Yan guilty looked at the floor. "No, I guess we cannot do that."
"I know you two don't love each other anymore, but please don't ignore me so the other can have their catch up time. It makes me feel like I am the problem," Leon continued.
"Now who said we did not love each other anymore," Arthur spoke up with a nervous smile. Both Leon and Chun Yan's eyes went wide at the statement. "Truth is, I never stopped loving either one of you, but I felt guilty after the whole ordeal."
"I never did either," Chun Yan confessed, face turning red.
Leon's surprised expression turned into a hopeful one.
"I promise I will change our relationship for the better," Arthur said, putting his hands on Leon's and Chun Yan's shoulder, before the family pulled into an embrace.
"Now let's go karaoke. I have a lot of birthday's to go to this month and I would like to have fun at this one," Arthur suggested, earning a nod from Chun Yan and Leon.
"But we better clean this up first," Leon reminded, pointing at the mess.