AN: This is my birthday present to you. Yes, you, my wonderful beta and friend: Silver Ecstasy! And because it's a gift I just couldn't ask you to beta it, it would be like telling someone to wrap their own presents, so I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes this story contains but I hope you, and possibly others, will enjoy reading it anyway. I also hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Happy birthday

"Arc!" A voice called in clear desperation.

Upon hearing his name the brown haired boy sighed before closing the book he was reading. He got up from his seat in the living room sofa and walked to where the voice had come from, the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen his chocolate brown eyes widened in surprise, the one who had called him was of course his brother Luneth and here he was, slumped down on the floor and looking like a pathetic mess. He was covered in some white powder that concealed his silver hair and the apron he was wearing did not do its job correctly as his freelance outfit was just as white as the rest of him.

"What happened?" Arc asked carefully while holding out a hand to help his brother up from the floor.

"Well," With the help from his brother Luneth stood up and shook his head in an attempt to get rid of all the white powder, it failed big time. "I was looking inside that bag of flour," he pointed to an empty paper bag on the floor. "When I suddenly got some of it in my eye, thinking I'd go blind I panicked and when I tried to quickly clean my eye I accidentally threw the bag which apparently resulted in this," he gestured towards his flour covered self.

"I see," Arc understood. In normal cases this wouldn't make sense, like something as unfortunate as this wouldn't happen but with Luneth it was as normal as the sun rising every morning. "But what were you doing with flour anyway?" That part was still mysterious to Arc.

"I was going to bake a cake," the silver haired boy replied casually, although there was nothing casual about it. Luneth may like to eat, but he was terrible at the whole cooking and baking part.

"I thought your job was to buy a cake?" Arc put some emphasis on the word "buy" to remind Luneth of his actual task.

"I know, I know," Luneth sighed. "But that won't make it any special, will it?" Luneth had been dating Ingus for a while now and today was Ingus' birthday, meaning Luneth wanted it to be special. He had already failed in finding the perfect gift, he had a gift, it just wasn't perfect, actually nothing was perfect enough for Ingus in Luneth's opinion. But he wanted to make up for that by baking the cake himself.

"No. But it will be edible."

"Arc!" Luneth protested against his brother's remark. He wasn't mad though just…desperate.

"I'm sorry," Arc failed to hold back a chuckle.

"Will you just help me?" Luneth pleaded.

"Of course," Arc smiled, he may find his brother's situation amusing but that didn't mean he was going to leave him in trouble. "You should clean yourself up first."

Luneth agreed.

"While you do that I will prepare the ingredients you will need. Where's the recipe you're trying to do?" Arc's brown eyes scanned the kitchen in search of a cookbook or something similar.

Luneth blinked before giving him a puzzled look. "Recipe? What's that?"

Arc experienced a few seconds of shock before he sighed and shook his head. "Just go. I will make the preparations."

Luneth gave his brother a quick hug before rushing out of the room to take a shower and change his clothes. And he was lucky he was running because it only took a moment for Arc to realize that he too was covered in flour after receiving the hug.

"Great," he tried to dust off the worst of it before turning to a small bookshelf attached to the kitchen wall. He ran his finger across the back of the books while his eyes quickly registered the different titles until he found what he was looking for. A book specifically for cakes, it had all kinds of recipes and at least one of them was bound to be easy enough for Luneth to make.

The recipe for the strawberry cake didn't seem too complicated and luckily enough Arc was sure they already had the necessary ingredients, despite Luneth's waste of flour. They even had strawberries growing in their backyard.

When Luneth returned fifteen minutes later he found Arc sitting by the kitchen table, flipping pages in a book. "Is the cake ready yet?" He asked, invading Arc's personal space by placing his arm around Arc's shoulders.

"What?" Arc looked up from his book, finding Luneth's face right next to his own. "Oh. No." He was since long used to Luneth's habit of being too close and when it came to Luneth he didn't really mind.

"Why not?" A puzzled expression on his face.

"I never said I would make the cake for you," Arc explained with a soft voice. "Like you said, you have to make it for it to be special you know."

"But you said you would help me!" Luneth exclaimed desperately while slightly shaking his brother's shoulders to accentuate his despair.

"And I will," his arm gestured towards all the ingredients he had placed on the kitchen counter together with the necessary tools. "Everything you need is there and I will be supervising you to make sure you take the right amount of everything, do it in the right order, and more importantly," he gave his brother a stern look to emphasize the importance. "Not cause a disaster."

Luneth seemed to be considering the plan for a few moments before nodding. "Alright sounds good to me," he flashed Arc a smile before turning to the counter with the ingredients. "So what do I start with?"

With Arc's pedagogic supervising skills Luneth managed to produce a cake base that actually looked like it had potential to become a cake with the right decorations. While the base cooled down after its time in the oven Arc instructed Luneth to start with the strawberry filling, as the base was going to be cut into a bottom half and a top half with the filling in between. For the filling Luneth had to mix strawberries and a few other ingredients to a jam-like consistency and to his own surprise it seemed to go rather well. He also managed to mix the whipped cream, which would cover the cake, without turning it into butter. Luneth was actually quite proud over himself.

He turned to his brother with a ridiculously broad smile. "Arc, what would I do without you?"

"You're welcome!" Arc was just as proud as Luneth. "Now you just need to decorate it."

"I can do that!" He pumped a fist into the air.

But this is where things went a little downhill. Luneth had big difficulties in handling the pastry bag to shape the whipped cream beautifully around the cake. He squeezed it too hard and when he finally learned the correct amount of pressure to put on the bag it was too late.

"Arc, it looks like a three year old made it…" he spoke with sadness.

"No, it doesn't," Arc replied firmly, a little surprised over how fast Luneth's happy mood disappeared. That boy sure had a lot of mood swings. "It looks homemade, and that's the whole charm in baking yourself."

Luneth didn't agree.

"Luneth," Arc spoke in a softer voice when he realized the boy didn't cheer up. "You are not a pastry chef so don't be too hard on yourself," he got up from his seat by the kitchen table and went over to the cake for a more closer look. "Just place some strawberries on top and it will be perfect. And don't forget the candles."

Luneth was nowhere near convinced that his sorry excuse of a cake could be made perfect with just a few strawberries, but he did as Arc told him anyway.

Arc appeared satisfied but Luneth just shook his head sadly. There was no way he could present this disaster to Ingus, it just wasn't special and frankly, Ingus would laugh his ass off. Luneth just knew it.

And like Arc could read Luneth's mind he laid a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "Ingus will love it."

"No," Luneth shook his head vigorously. "I need to make a new one," he declared and looked at Arc with pleading eyes. "And you help me decorate it!"

"I'm sorry Luneth, but Ingus and Refia will be here for dinner in half an hour. There's no time."

Luneth's neck almost cracked at how fast he turned his head to look at the clock on the wall. "Shit, it's that time already!" He felt the need to panic but knew he didn't even have time for that, he needed a plan, and he needed it now. Thoughts rushed through his head, half of them so bad they disappeared faster than he could actually consider them and only one idea lingered long enough for him to realize it was the only choice he had.

"Arc," he spoke in all seriousness. "I need to buy a cake," and without further ado he dashed off towards the door and slammed it behind him as he left.

Through the window Arc could see the silver pony tail sway as its owner hurried down the street and disappeared around a corner. "Luneth, sometimes you are really stupid," he sighed, turned to the cake and picked it up to put it in the fridge.

When it was only a few minutes left before Refia and Ingus' arrival Arc was starting to get worried if Luneth would make it back in time. It would be such a shame if the guests arrived only to find out their host was out on an errand, a pointless errand at that. He shook his head at his brother's erratic actions and got ready to set the table for tonight's dinner. When he was almost finished with the plates the front door burst open followed by a forceful kick to close it again. Luneth had arrived. Panting he rushed into the kitchen, placed the packaging for the cake on the table and threw on an apron.

"Arc! Quickly, throw flour in my face!"

"Wait, what?!" Arc was dumbfounded.

Right that second there was a knock on the door.

"Gah! No time!" Now Luneth did panic, and they seemed to be out of flour after his earlier incident with the substance. Instead he had to go for the next best thing, the pastry bag, there was still some whipped cream left. "Perfect!" he exclaimed before grabbing the bag and smearing some of its contents onto his face.

Arc had no idea what the hell Luneth was doing, but he knew it was stupid and therefore he stared at him with eyes that questioned his sanity. Luneth didn't even notice so Arc gave up and left to open the door.

"What's wrong with Luneth?" Refia asked as soon as Arc opened the door to let her and Ingus in.

"I've been baking!" Luneth appeared in the hallway before anyone, meaning Arc, could reply her. Apron and whipped cream to prove his statement.

Refia eyed him suspiciously. "Oh really? That's why you just rushed past us on the street with what clearly was a package from the bakery."

"That was…" Luneth took a few seconds to form a lie. "That was just bread."

Refia clearly didn't believe him so she turned to Arc for the truth. He just shrugged his shoulder unable to know what to say but she interpreted it as "Of course he's lying but please play along" so she did. "Okay then," she patted Luneth on the shoulder as she passed him on her way to the dining room where Arc had prepared the table.

Ingus believed as much of Luneth's story as Refia did but he said nothing, instead he approached the liar and gave him a hug while trying to hold back a laugh, the cream sure made him look ridiculous. Luneth happily accepted and hugged back as he whispered a "happy birthday" in Ingus' ear.

They let go of each other and Ingus made a move towards the dining room only to stop when he saw the pout Luneth was making. He smirked evilly knowing all too well what Luneth wanted.

"I will not kiss you when you look like," he gestured towards the mess in Luneth's face.

"What?" Luneth faked an innocent look pretending he had no idea what Ingus was talking about.

"This," he reached his hand towards Luneth's face and stroked his cheek with his thumb to wipe off some of the whipped cream before showing it to Luneth.

"Oh," Luneth was still playing dumb.

"Go clean yourself," Ingus wiped his thumb on Luneth's apron and left towards the dining room.

"Mean!" Luneth yelled and stomped off to the bathroom while he heard Ingus snicker from the dining room.

Five minutes later, Luneth returned looking his usual self, he stole a quick kiss from Ingus to make up for the one he missed earlier, and sat down next to him ready to have dinner.

They all had a pleasant time while eating, he food, that Arc had actually fixed, tasted amazing and they were all chatting and laughing about what had been going on in their lives lately. Until Luneth decided it was time for dessert, the cake so to speak. He excused himself from the table and went to the kitchen where he placed the bought cake on a decoratively painted plate, put some candles in it and lit them. As he headed back to the dining room, cake in hand he made a poor attempt at singing the happy birthday song. Luckily Arc and Refia were quick to join in so no one had to listen all too long to Luneth's tone-deaf singing. The birthday boy was clearly uncomfortable with the attention this gave him, but as the gentleman he was he decided to bear with it.

As the song came to its end Luneth placed the cake before Ingus. "Make a wish!"

Ingus blew out the candles like a pro before turning to a very excited Luneth. "You made this cake?" he asked warily.

"Yes, isn't it awesome?" Luneth lied without shame.

"Very…" he clearly didn't think it was as awesome as Luneth did.

"You don't like it?" Luneth asked carefully.

"I don't like it when you lie to me."

"I'm not lying!"

"Don't you think I know you well enough to tell when you are lying."

"I said I'm not-"

"L-Luneth." Arc's soft voice interrupted the lover's quarrel.

"What?" he turned his attention to his brother who only replied him with a look that indicated his clear disapproval of Luneth's behavior. "Alright," he sighed feeling defeated. "I didn't make that cake."

"We know," everyone spoke in unison.

"But only because the one I made was a complete failure," Luneth desperately tried to defend his lie.

"You actually made one?" Ingus looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"He did!" Arc cut in happily, he hoped this would make Luneth realize that it's the effort that counts and not its appearance.

"Well then," Ingus voice was gentle as he locked his gaze with Luneth. "May I please taste the one you made?"

The mental image from earlier of Ingus laughing at his cake popped into Luneth's mind. "No."

"Oh dear," Arc sighed and got up from his seat to get the cake.

He was half way to the kitchen when Luneth quickly followed him. "But Arc," his voice whining like a three year old (which could explain why the cake looked like a child's handiwork).

"But you are being unreasonable," Arc declared. "No one wants that bought cake, don't you understand that?"

"But when they see it…"

"No, how it looks doesn't even matter. You should know better than anyone that the one you made is special. That's why you made it after all."

"But-"

"No, no more "buts" take this cake to Ingus," he ordered and gave Luneth the strawberry cake from the fridge.

Luneth winced as he received his failed creation but knew there was no point in arguing anymore. So with a deep breath he returned with it to the dining room, Arc following close behind to make sure Luneth didn't do anything more stupid, like make a run for it.

Luneth refused to look at Ingus as he placed the cake before him, which was unfortunate because the look upon Ingus' face was pure happiness. And because of that enormous amount of happiness that Ingus felt he was at a loss of words, all he could do was to get up from his seat and give Luneth a tight hug. "Thank you," he whispered softly.

"You're not laughing at it?" Luneth asked surprised.

"Why would I?" Ingus released the hug but kept his hands on Luneth's shoulders. "No one has ever made me a cake before," he explained, his eyes soft and warm. "And that you took the trouble to make it, which must have been a real struggle for you I imagine, means a lot to me."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But-" The only way to shut Luneth up was to kiss him, so Ingus did. With one hand on Luneth's cheek he pulled him into a soft, yet passionate kiss.

"The cake is perfect, so turn your self-confidence back on, I know you got plenty of it," Ingus spoke after breaking the kiss and ruffled Luneth's silver hair, totally messing up his pony tail much to Luneth's dismay.

"Alright!" And Luneth was happy again. "Lemme cut you a piece, you want a big one right?" He made an attempt to cut the cake in half.

"Maybe not that big," Ingus chuckled.

"Kidding," Luneth cut him a little bigger than a normal piece and eagerly waited for Ingus to taste it and give his verdict.

"It's delicious!" Ingus quickly took another bite to prove his point.

"Hooray!" Luneth swung his arms around Ingus neck and kissed him repeatedly on the cheek.

So despite Luneth's different mood swings though the day, Arc was please to see that he would probably end the day with a smile. Actually, all of them would end the day with a smile on their face as it had truly been a happy birthday.

As the birthday came to its end, Ingus was seated upon Luneth's bed waiting to receive his birthday gift.

"I know I put it here somewhere," Luneth muttered while rummaging through one drawer after another. "Ah, here it is!" He held up a small red box with a silver ribbon tied around it. He tossed it over to Ingus before taking a seat next to him on the bed. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you," Ingus studied the box for a short while, trying to figure out what it could be.

"Oh come on," Luneth poked him in the ribs as punishment for being so slow.

"Alright, alright," he untied the ribbon and removed the lid letting his blue eyes fall upon an elegant leather wallet, his own name engraved in the corner. Once again, he was beyond words.

"Open it!" Luneth demanded.

Slowly Ingus flipped the wallet open and inside, in the transparent photo holder, was a picture of a boy he knew very well, violet eyes, silver hair and that genuine smile that Ingus loved above all else. He couldn't help but laugh a little. "Told you that you have plenty of self-confidence."

"You don't really have to keep the picture there though, I just thought it would be funny."

"No, no. I'll keep it," Ingus studied the photo with a content smile. This had been his best birthday ever and it was all thanks to Luneth. "Luneth…this is…" he didn't know how express his gratefulness. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Well," Luneth smirked. "It's a good thing I know of a way then," with a firm hand on Ingus' chest he pushed him down on the bed while crawling forward, successfully straddling the blonde male.

Ingus got the hint. "I like the way your mind is working," with a grin he pulled Luneth into another passionate kiss, but more rough than soft this time. "I love you, Luneth" Ingus spoke when they had to break away for air. "Thank you for the most amazing birthday ever."

"I love you too, and you're welcome." Luneth smiled but it quickly returned to its former smirk. "Now take off your clothes and thank me properly!"

The End.

AN: I don't know why I'm making Arc mature, I hope it doesn't feel too OOC. I'm thinking, Arc is with his friends, and therefore not his usual shy self…or something.

Anyway, Silver Ecstasy, I hope this made you smile, because that's what one should do on a birthday :D

And all you other readers, I hope you smiled too, and if you did, why not leave me a review and tell me what kind, was is wide smile? A smirk? Maybe a grin? Lemme know!