Author's Note: Hello everyone! I want to first thank everyone that has reviewed, fav, or followed this story! I'm glad that I was able to get this up before Licht's birthday! This birthday shot could have been done several days ago, but I kept getting distracted, what with the holidays creeping up and me frantically trying to make sure that everything is done, or at least mostly done. Also, both Licht and Hyde were major pains in this. They just would not cooperate, neither with me nor with each other. Anyways, I hope all of you enjoy this chapter!
Licht's Birthday
Licht, Hyde, Crantz, Guildenstern
The audience within the concert hall were on their feet, applauding loudly as tears streamed down their faces. Licht Jekylland Todoroki had just finished another wonderful and breath taking performance, and the young pianist was taking his last bow before the curtains on stage started to glide shut. He could still hear the audience applauding him, even as he mused his hair out of its slicked back performance style and started to walk backstage. He had been in his dressing room less than two minutes before the door was opened and Crantz walked in with a beaming smile on his face.
"Bravo, Licht! I have to say that this was one of your more inspiring performances. Ah, it was a beautiful rendition of those pieces."
Licht had already finished changing by the time Crantz had finished praising him. "…Crantz, where's the shit rat?" he asked, scowling as he did so. He had been expecting Hyde to be first to come bursting through the door with an 'Angel-chan~! You were so cool!' But he hadn't seen Hyde at all during the concert, not that he had been looking for him. It was just hard to miss him when he wore his usual attire and the rest of the audience was dressed up to the nines.
"Hmm? He's not backstage? I haven't seen him since we arrived, and I don't think he had any odd jobs planned for tonight," Crantz replied, just as lost as Licht was on where the vampire could be.
"Tsk. The damn rat better not have gotten captured again," was all that Licht had to say on the matter as he slipped on his angel backpack once again. "I'm going out," he said as he tried to make his way past his manager.
Crantz stopped the angel before he could leave though, "Licht! You can't go out for karaoke tonight!" he scolded.
"Why the hell not?" was the irritated question.
"It's Christmas Eve, Licht! All of the karaoke bars have already closed for the night. Besides, today is your birthday, and I believe that your parents have already planned a party for you."
The self-proclaimed angel blinked in surprise at that announcement. Had he really forgotten that today was December 24th? His birthday? They had just been so busy lately that things had started to blur together. It was unbecoming of an angle like him to forget such an important date. He blamed the shit rat for it. It was his fault that he had been pulled into a world of demons that needed to be purified. He'd make Hyde pay later, when he found him again and after the party was over with. "I guess karaoke can wait," he finally conceded.
"Wonderful! Here, your parents sent over some clothes that are a bit more formal. Put these on and then we can leave," Crantz said happily as he handed over a package.
Licht took the clothes without complaint before changing once again. "Will my parents be at the venue?" he questioned lightly.
"I believe so! They flew in from Austria to be here tonight."
Licht hummed happily at that. It had been a while since he had seen his parents, so he was excited to see them again. "Where will we be going?" he eventually asked after he finished getting dressed.
"Oh, I believe that your parents rented out one of the hotel's banquet halls for tonight. They were a bit disappointed that several other venues that they had looked at were already booked for this evening."
"The venue doesn't really matter. My parents being here is enough," Licht replied as they made their way out of the concert hall. Hyde still hadn't shown up, and even though Licht would never admit it, not even under the threat of death (not that an angle like him could die), he was getting slightly concerned. It was a microscopic concern for the vampire, but it was there. He didn't want to experience the distance limit problem again, especially not with his parents here. If he even so much as felt slightly off tonight whoever had the shit rat would be the least of Hyde's problems.
Crantz smiled after him as they left. It was nice to see Licht smiling again without Hyde popping up and ruining it. Though he was more concerned about the vampire's disappearance than Licht was, but that was mainly because he didn't want another abduction to deal with. "Do you want me to try calling Lawless, Licht?" Crantz asked as they continued to walk back to the hotel. It wasn't all that far from the concert hall so there had been no need to rent a car.
"Tsk. Do whatever the hell you want. I don't give a damn about that stupid shit rat. He can go and die for all I care," was Licht's response.
That was pretty much a 'Yes, please call him. I'm worried about I'm too stubborn to call myself.' With that answered Crantz pulled out his phone and dialed Hyde's number. The phone rang for a few seconds before Crantz went to Hyde's voice mail. He sighed wearily before hanging up. "It went to his voice mail," the manager informed Licht. It was slight but Crantz did see Licht's arms tense up slightly as he clenched his hands into fists. "I'm sure that he's fine, Licht. If anything, I bet that he's running around to get last minute Christmas presents," he reassured.
The self-proclaimed angel just 'harrumphed' unhappily, obviously upset with Hyde's sudden disappearance. "I'll kill the damn rat myself when he turns back up." Decision on the matter made, the two finally reached the hotel where Licht's parents were waiting for him. A small smile graced his lips when he spotted them and he hurried his way over to them.
"Licht!" his mother called before embracing him in a tight hug. "My little angel~ Mommy's so proud of you~!" she gushed before placing a kiss on his cheek. Licht blushed slightly but was still incredibly happy about seeing his mom and dad to really care. Plus, he liked it when his mother showered him with affection. It went to show him that even though they didn't get to spend as much time together as they would like, his parents would always love him. His father clapped him on the back once his mother had released him, showing Licht his own kind of silent support and love.
"Come on, son. Your mother has the entire room decorated just for you," his father said as he was steered into the rented banquet hall.
His mother had really gone all out for his this year. The entire hall was decorated with balloons and streamers, and all of the center pieces on the tables where either angel or music related motifs. His eyes lit up when he saw that a karaoke machine had been rented out for the evening. A small section of the hall had been portioned off as a dance floor where music was already playing in the background. A long table that had been pushed up against one of the walls was laden with some of his favorite foods as well as a large birthday cake that read, 'Happy Birthday Licht!'
The hall was also already filled with people, mostly acquaintances of his and his parents that were in the area. Though a quick scan around the room confirmed that Hyde was not here. He was slightly put out and hurt that the idiot hedgehog hadn't even wished him a happy birthday, nor was anywhere to be seen to celebrate it. Licht quickly shook those thoughts from his mind. He was not going to let that idiot ruin his birthday party with his parents. It wasn't like he wanted him to be anywhere near his parents in the first place.
It wasn't long before the party was in full swing. Licht had made his rounds through the guests that had been invited and had thanked each one of them for attending. With that over with, Licht found himself enjoying the party. Another glance around the room showed that his mother had somehow managed to convince his father to dance with her and there was a small queue at the karaoke machine, but other than that, everyone looked to be having fun. He hadn't been able to enjoy himself like this in a while. There was no bickering, no dodging blows, and most importantly, no annoying shit rat hanging off of him. However, a glance at the clock showed that the six hour mark was swiftly approaching and he couldn't help but to grow a little anxious. A worried look from Crantz told Licht that he too was growing concerned with Hyde's continued absence. A few tense minutes later and the six hour mark came and went leaving Licht as perfectly healthy as before. He scowled slightly since that meant that the shit rat was obviously nearby. A glance around the room once again showed that Hyde's familiar head of two toned hair was nowhere to be seen. Licht even made sure to scan the floor, just in case he was in his animal form, but there was no sign that the hedgehog was in the room.
A flash of familiar orange from outside the hall caught Licht's attention and his gaze quickly zeroed in on it. Licht's icy blue eyes locked with Hyde's searing crimson and he couldn't help but to scowl slightly at the vampire. He spotted a small white box that was in Hyde's hand and it piqued his curiosity slightly. What the hell had the shit rat been doing all of this time? He watched as Hyde's expression changed from startled confusion to unreadable and eventually to…hurt? Hyde broke eye contact first as he turned on his heel and continued walking toward where the elevators were located. It was only after he saw Hyde's black scarf round the corner that he noticed that Gil had been with him. Now he was burning with curiosity as to what the two of them had been up to but as much as he wanted to follow and confront the shitty hedgehog, he could not in good conscious leave the party that his parents had thrown for him. He would wait until his parents had left and the party had ended before he went and kicked some answers out of the vampire.
With his mind resolved to confront Hyde later, Licht went back to spending time with his parents. It would be a while before he would get to see them again as they would be leaving to go on their own tours soon. However, try as he might, Licht could not get the look that he had seen on Hyde's face out of his mind. He was not going to let that shitty hedgehog ruin the rest of his night. He did not care one bit that Hyde's expression had started to turn from confusion to hurt before he had turned and rounded the corner towards the elevator.
It was nearing 10:30 p.m. when the party finally ended. His parents had to leave soon to catch a midnight flight back to Austria and the rest of the guests had already filtered out to return to their own families. Licht made sure to bid all of his guests' farewell as they left before spending a few extra minutes with his parents. They were disappointed that they were not going to be able to spend Christmas with him as well, but Licht reassured them that he didn't mind and that he was glad to have seen them for his birthday. With tearful hugs from his mother as she told him to continue being an angel and the rare hug from his father with a reminder to remain strong, Licht finally bid his parents farewell. Once they were out of sight was Licht finally able to turn his thoughts to Hyde and whatever scheme the vampire was obviously up to. Crantz had already retired for the night, having left earlier to give Licht some time and privacy with his parents.
The elevator ride up to their floor was short and he quickly made his way towards Hyde's room. "Shit rat! Open up the damn door!" he demanded as he pounded against it. He received no response which only furthered angered Licht before he tried again. Thankfully Crantz had managed to get them a suite on a floor with no other guests so he was disturbing no one. "Hyde! Open the damn door!" he growled out in frustration. The door remained closed with irritated Licht to no end. He did not have Hyde's card key and Crantz was the only one with everyone's spare. There was no way that Crantz was going to open Hyde's door for him. Licht glared at the closed door in front of him for a minute or two before he spun around and went to his own room. Hyde couldn't avoid him forever.
It didn't take him long to enter his room and it took even less time for him to sense that Hyde was inside. "What the hell are you doing in here, shit rat?" He saw Hyde spin around from whatever he had been doing, eyes wide from surprise, but there was no answer or quote with coming. It was still dark in the room as Licht had not had a chance to flick the lights on.
"O-Oh! Angel-chan! I was just-!"
Licht glared at the vampire before finally flicking on the lights to angrily make his way toward Hyde. He had only taken two steps before he noticed everything. Some of it was already thrown into a small box at Hyde's feet, but most of the room was still decorated. There were balloons tied to the back of all of the kitchen chairs that had been provided while others were tied into bundles and held down with weights and were scattered around the room. The table itself had a small assortment of different melons as well as the small white box he had seen Hyde carrying earlier. Behind Hyde was a banner that read 'Happy Birthday Licht-tan~!' Hyde was just in front of it and the half full box of decorations made a little more sense. "The hell is this, shit rat?"
Licht watched as something akin to hurt flash through Hyde's eyes before it was quickly covered up by the vampire's usual bravado. "What's it look like, Angel-chan? I was going to throw a little birthday party for the birthday angel, but it seems that it was already covered," the vampire replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he shook his head slightly.
"Stupid Hyde," Licht said before continuing, "Is this why you couldn't be found after the concert?"
Hyde glared at him mildly with a slight pout. "Licht-tan's the stupid one! You told me that the concert would end when it normally does! If you had wanted me out of the way so then your parents wouldn't see me then you should have just said so!"
It was at this point that Licht realized that Hyde was genuinely hurt with his accidental misdirection. He had forgotten that today was Christmas Eve not realizing that his performance would be shown at an earlier time than usual. So he had snapped at Hyde earlier when the vampire had come asking, telling him that it was the usual time without thinking, called him an idiot and then proceeded to slam the door in his face. That had been the last time that he had seen Hyde until the vampire had returned to the hotel later this evening. However, he was an angel, and angels didn't make mistakes…nor did they apologize to demons for telling them the wrong time to concerts. So instead, he asked Hyde a question, "Where did you go during the concert?"
Hyde frowned at him before shoving his hands into his pockets and looked away from him. "…I spent the first part here, getting the room ready…" the vampire eventually grumbled out after Licht glared at him.
"And after?"
Hyde pointedly did no look at him before waving vaguely over to the small table that held melons and the small white box. Curiosity slightly piqued again, Licht made his way over to the table before opening said white box. Inside was a small, round chocolate cake. The chocolate frosting had obviously been frosted by hand and piped in white was another 'Happy Birthday Licht-tan~!' As he stared at the simple chocolate cake in his hands did he turn to face Hyde once more. The vampire was trying to not look interested in his expression, but it was plain to see that Hyde was waiting to see how he would react.
"Did you make this for me, Hyde?" Licht asked evenly. He watched as Hyde gained a light blush before muttering something under his breath. "What was that, shit rat?" he demanded.
Hyde glared at him slightly before responding, "I only frosted it, okay?! I don't know the first time about cooking let alone baking!" he exclaimed before quietly adding on, "…I went to nii-san's and his house wife Eve's apartment for help with making the cake."
Licht watched Hyde for a moment as the Servamp scuffed his foot against the floor. Hyde had definitely went out of his way for this, and even though Hyde was a demon, as an angel it was his duty to acknowledge the fact that Hyde was trying. "Hmph, why are you taking the decorations down, you damn rat?" he asked, which caused Hyde to stare at him for a moment before the Servamp broke out into a huge grin.
Licht had just turned and placed the small cake back on the table when he felt Hyde barrel into him and hug him tightly, which caused him to grow irritated. "Lil Angel's the best!"
"Stupid rat. I'm not doing this for you," he scowled slightly before shrugging the vampire off of him. "I'm celebrating the effort that you put into this. Why? Because, I'm an angel~" Licht replied as he struck his purifying angel pose.
"That's right! He's an out of this world lil angel!" Hyde continued as he got caught up in their little performance.
"Die!" Licht replied irritably as he tried to kick Hyde away from him. The Servamp merely laughed and moved out of the way.
"Licht-tan~ I'm glad that you don't mind celebrating your birthday with us 'demons'," Hyde suddenly said as he motioned over to where his subclass Gil was standing uncertainly in the door frame.
"Yo Lawless, Licht," Guildenstern greeted with a slight wave. Since Lawless was waving him in he entered Licht's room. It didn't take him long before he was in front of the angel that was able to keep Lawless in line. "Happy Birthday, kid," he said before handing over a small wrapped gift.
Licht still wasn't used to seeing Gild outside of the whale costume, but the few times that he had seen him without it on the subclass had always been polite to him. His manner of speaking may have been a bit gruff, but his manners were always considerate. He was completely opposite to Hyde, so Licht was always left wondering just how Gil came to be Hyde's subclass in the first place. Licht took the offered gift regardless and opened it a moment later. Inside the package was a black cat plush that was extra soft to the touch and extra squishable for cuddles. Licht's eyes were wide and held a childish look of absolute wonder as he cuddled with it immediately.
"Ah, I'm glad that ya like it, kid. I figured that since you like the twit's-"
"Hey! Gil! I'm your master! You shouldn't-"
"-older brother's form, you'd like this," Gil continued as if Hyde hadn't interrupted him.
"Thanks, Guildenstern," Licht replied. "Hmm…I already have Michael…and Neko-san is already Neko-san… Ah! Nikolas," Licht decided with a nod.
Hyde sighed heavily at Licht's non-existent naming scheme but knew better than to bring it up. There would be no way to change his mind once he had decided on something. "Licht-tan~ Licht-tan~! Here! Open my gift now~"
Licht frowned slightly before taking the long, thin package from Hyde. Unwrapping it showed a thin white box and upon lifting the lid a delicate looking chain laid inside. His eyes followed the chain down and rested on the tag. It wasn't a dog tag, like Hyde's, but rather the tag had been shaped into the image of a wing. Etched into the tag was his name. Licht wasn't quite sure how to feel when he saw it. On the one hand, it was Hyde that had given it to him, but on the other hand, Hyde obviously knew him well enough to know that he would appreciate a gift like this.
"Well~? What'd you think Licht-tan~? Now we match!"
"Hmph. Did you engrave this yourself?" he asked instead.
"Yep! Angel-chan engraved my item with my name, so I wanted to show just how much Angel-chan means to me too!" Hyde replied with his usual grin.
Though he hid it well, Licht was still able to tell that Hyde was nervous about how he would receive the gift. "Hmm…you did well, Hyde," he eventually stated as he put the chain on. As soon as he had the chain clasped again did Hyde throw himself onto him.
"My lil Angel is sooooo cooooool! He's the best lil angel that this would has ever seen!"
"Shut up and die!"
Before a fight could break out, Guildenstern separated the two. "Quit bein' a brat, Lawless and instead get us some of that cake," the subclass ordered. Hyde pouted and glared at Gil for a moment before giving in. Today was supposed to be about his Angel and he had kind of, sort of, promised Gil that he wouldn't antagonize Licht too much today.
It didn't take Hyde long to return with cake for the three of them. The chocolate cake was sinfully divine and Hyde made a mental note to get his big brother to make it again. "How's the cake, Angel-chan~?" he eventually asked as he saw Licht enjoying his cake with a look of heavenly delight.
"This tastes like I'm walking through the starry heavens as the stars light a path to a star fall of paradise," was Licht's reply.
"Whoa-ho! That's some high praise coming from you, Licht-tan! I'll be sure to tell nii-san that you thought it was divine~"
"Hey Lawless, what kind of cake is this anyways? It's too complex to be a simple chocolate cake," Gil asked as he started on his second piece.
"Huh? Oh! It's Devil's Food Cake!"
There was a slight choking sound heard from Licht as the pianist glared sharply at Hyde. The Servamp was ignoring said glare as he continued to eat his own slice of cake, though Guildenstern was sure that Hyde had timed that revelation to coincide with Licht taking another bite. Gil glanced at the digital clock that was in the kitchen and saw that it read 12:17 a.m... Technically it was no longer Licht's birthday but… He glanced at the two again,and upon seeing Lawless' cocky smirk and Licht's glare that promised a world of pain, he sighed quietly.
Thankfully though, the cake was too tempting to be wasted, and the self-proclaimed angel continued to eat it, though Gil was certain that he heard Licht mumble something about purifying demons later.
Author's Note: I'm glad that I was able to finish this before Licht's birthday! I struggled slightly with how to start this but once I had it was much easier to start writing. Hmm, I have to say, writing Licht and Hyde was a little more difficult that I thought that it would be, especially with the focus being on just them. Either way, I hope that all of you enjoyed this! I have a few more one shots that will be coming out, so hopefully I can get them all done! If you enjoyed this one shot, please leave a review, fav or follow! Happy Birthday Licht, and see you all in the next chapter!
