Its Mikage's Birthday! Yes, today's the only day I'll excuse myself for being loud and hyper active. You have no idea how much I've been waiting for an opportunity to write this–for a year to be precise. I remember the remorse I felt when I had just missed his birthday last year. Anyhow, let's move on, we have a big day ahead of us! I'll reply to reviews in the normal chapters of the story. ^^
Note: The timeline for this chapter is different. They're back at the Empire now, so it's like right after Teito.
Disclaimer in first chapter.
Happy Birthday Mika-kun!
6 A.M. Ayanami's eyes automatically flung open as the clock hit six. He sat up and smoothly pulled the sheets back, glancing at the younger once to affirm his presence before climbing off. Heading to the bathroom bare chest, he removed his pajamas and entered the shower doors. It only took exactly eight minutes for him to finish up and draw the glass doors back open to fetch a towel. He brushed his dripping silver hair off his forehead and approached the huge mirror above the sink to give his teeth a brush. Another five minutes and he was all dressed and ready to go. The chief only needed to bestow the finishing touches such as his cloak, hat and sword which would come after breakfast. While buttoning his cuffs in the room, he noticed Mikage still soundly sleeping and the clock's pointer a little less than a quarter after six. He also noted the date and day on his night stand calendar. 'Friday March 3rd 2017.'
"Mikage-kun, it's time to wake up." He felt like a parent trying to wake up their teen. Every morning was the same routine, no exception. Ayanami was an early morning person, the type to arrive in office way ahead of time while Mikage on the other hand could probably sleep until the afternoon without worry, if not disturbed that is. However, because of the elder's merciless punctuality—especially in the mornings, even the blond wasn't exempt from that.
When the teen showed no signs of shifting, Ayanami sighed and stepped over to him. 'Even a second late was no excuse.' If an event moved even a minute out of line, everything had to be relocated and that in itself was disapproving to him. "Mikage-kun," He tapped the younger's cheek and drew himself closer. "If you don't wake up this instant, I'll have no choice but to do you here and now…" The silverette cooed in his ear, hand crawling inside the covers. The blond's eyes snapped open.
"G-good morning…" Mikage closed them again in order to urge a smile. Ayanami smirked upon seeing that.
"Looks like you're awake. You have a little more than twenty minutes to get ready and meet me downstairs for breakfast." He said and stood up again, walking out the room. Mikage lazily sat up but fell back after no more than a minute, blinking himself awake to his situation as always.
'So much for calling out five more minutes.' The only days he had a bit of extra freedom was the weekends, unless they would be called in for extensive work—being the elite squad and all. 'Well better get up, any more time wasted and Ayanami-san probably won't even give me time for breakfast.' With that the teen jumped up and ran to the bathroom. A shower first thing in the morning was too much work so he washed up instead and brushed his teeth. After coming out he took off his plain T-shirt and shorts and pulled his full uniform out from his side of the closet. 'Okay done.' He smiled accomplished before passing the full view mirror and gawking at his bed-headed hair. Quickly fixing them, he curiously glimpsed at the clock. Only one minute left to make it to the dining table. Mornings always went by so fast, it was practically stressful.
"Have a seat. The chef made your choice of breakfast today. Extra fancy and loaded with sugar." Ayanami exaggerated when he saw the blond standing at the door frame, already seated and pouring himself some tea. Huffing, the teen came and took a seat beside him on their twelve-chair dining set since sitting on the other end (directly across) felt too far away.
"Sounds delicious…" Mikage let out, not entirely enticed after the darting clean-up.
…
6:45 AM. The two entered the back seat of Ayanami's limousine and the driver hit the pedal. Mikage rubbed his eyes once. 'Sleepy…' He pouted until a hand on his head startled him. He rotated his neck to face the elder, gazing at him. "Ayanami-san?"
"Is there something you would like?" The silverette asked.
"Eh? No…not really?" Mikage scratched his cheek regarding the question.
"Is that so?" Ayanami expressionlessly responded, lifting the hand. In no time, the car stopped in front of the Empire. The blond opened the door first and exited from his side, waiting for the other right outside.
"Ayanami-san, aren't you getting off?" The teen questioned when the elder made no move to depart.
"I have something urgent to take care of first. Go on without me." Mikage only had a face of 'that's unusual today' as he stared at the other.
"Ah, okay. If you say so."
"Have fun. Call me if anything." The silverette stated before the windows slowly curled up.
"Take care." The teen waved as he watched the car stroll away. He made his way to the top floor of the Black Hawk's headquarters and entered his and Ayanami's office, unlocking the door with a card and turning the lights on. 'I wonder what kind of important business Ayanami-san had today, first thing in the morning no less. Oh well, I should get some work started so I can impress him by finishing it before him, hehe.' The blond thought, gathering papers from different files inside their office. There was still ten minutes before work officially started. He noted, gazing at the digital watch on his phone directly above the date that read March 3rd.
'Wait.' The blond blinked at that. 'Ah! I almost forgot it's my birthday today! It's hard to remember anything so early in the morning anyhow haha.' He accused their busy mornings for making him forget. That's when his door creaked open. As he continuously stared at the ajar door, no one came into sight which was beginning to frustrate him. Then a head with four eyes popped inside and scanned the room.
"Hyuuga-san? What are you doing?" Mikage sighed, standing up from his desk.
"Ah, Mika-chan is here everyone! And the coast is clear too!" He then shouted out the door again, ultimately swinging it open and entering. In another minute the whole Black Hawks' gang was collected at the door, excluding Katsuragi.
"Happy Birthday Mikage!" Hyuuga and Kuroyuri exclaimed in unison while Konatsu said it in a much softer voice with them. Kuroyuri walked over with a necklace of flowers. Haruse had to give him a small lift so that the young teen was able to throw it above the blond's head.
"Wah, thanks a lot guys. But how did you all know?" Mikage asked.
"Everyone in the Black Hawks know! We have reminders for special members." Hyuuga bragged.
"Wow, I had no idea."
"By the way, where's Ayanami-sama?" Konatsu posed the question on all their minds.
"Oh, he said he had something urgent to take care of." The teen answered.
"Does he even know it's your birthday?" Kuroyuri asked. Before the blond could respond to that, Hyuuga interjected confidently:
"Of course, he does! He knows the profiles of all the first rank employees here, and sometimes even of the most outstanding students." (Mikage was one of those outstanding students, wasn't he?)
'Is there something you want?' The sentence replayed in Mikage's head. 'Was that really about his birthday? Then how come he didn't mention it that morning?'
"So, are we having a party?" The pink haired teen needled jovially.
"I'm not sure about that, actually." Mikage honestly replied.
"We'd have to ask Ayanami-sama regarding that." Konatsu deadpanned. "Also, I hate to ruin the fun but it's seven already. We ought to be heading back to work."
"How old are you know Mikage-kun?" Haruse asked while Konatsu attempted to drag Hyuuga out of the office.
"Oh, seventeen." The blond answered with a polite smile, never anticipating when the other would speak to him. Haruse smiled back, though it was hard to read the emotions behind it.
"That's nice, still relatively young." He remarked before picking his begleiter up and bidding farewell.
'Well, that was refreshing.' Mikage thought two seconds after his squad left. 'They are all such nice people. Speaking of which, I wonder how old Haruse-san is, really?' (currently 23 in this fic)
Lunch break
12 P.M. Mikage grabbed a tray full of food from the cafeteria and since Ayanami wasn't back yet, he decided to eat at one of the tables in the cafeteria instead. Food always tasted better with people than without. Moreover, he was glad he stayed.
"Hey Mikage!" He heard Hakuren's voice call out and take a seat in front of him. "Happy Birthday." Haku grinned. "Here, a blueberry muffin, just for you." He lifted a muffin off his tray and brought it to the other teen's mouth.
"Hakuren! Ha, thanks!" Mikage rejoiced as he took a bite, taking the rest in his hand.
"It's rare for you to come eat down here. Are you elites really that busy?"
"Well, sorta, but Ayanami-san just wants to eat together most of the times—so we have a private lounge for Black Hawk members." The birthday boy elaborated between bites.
"Gross." A third voice interrupted their circle of conversation. "Look at you two acting all friendly." Mikage and Hakuren both glanced sideways to find Shuri standing above their table.
"Is someone jealous?" Hakuren disregarded, instantly firing his brother up.
"What timing." Mikage chuckled.
"Shut up long haired idiot! I'm not even here for you so back off." Shuri pointed out to Haku, before turning back to Mikage. "Um, look—H-happy Birthday, okay…" He bashfully muttered, fighting all his pride. Mikage didn't see that coming so when he regained his senses, he began laughing. "Jerk! What do you think you're laughing about, huh?!"
"Sorry, sorry Shuri-chan. You just caught me off guard—thanks though, I appreciate the thought." Mika grinned causing his ex-classmate to blush a faint shade of red.
"And also, are you…going to be coming back to the manor tonight?" Shuri then questioned, crossing his arms and averting his eyes.
"Huh? Why?"
"Obviously! Isn't it your birthday? Plus, Kokuyou always says how much you never come back anymore—geez that idiot only talks about you." Shuri told enviously.
"Ah…I'll have to ask Ayanami-san about that, really." Mikage apologized.
"Whatever."
"I'm still here, you two." Hakuren intervened, bored of simply listening.
…
'I wonder if Ayanami-san is back yet.' He pondered, sipping on a juice box on his way back to the office. As he threw the emptied box into a nearby trashcan, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He read the caller ID: Kokuyou-nii. Awe washed all over him before he picked up the phone.
"Nii-chan?" Mikage confirmed on the line.
"Happy Birthday Mika-nii/onii-chan!" His younger siblings, Kohaku and Rinka cried out respectively. 'My ears…' Mikage thought helplessly.
"H-hey, guys, wow, you two sure surprised me. Thanks a lot, Ko-chan, Rin-chan." Mikage stopped walking and peacefully leaned against the wall, taking in their innocent childish voices. He realized with a pang how much he suddenly missed them. Perhaps it was time to visit home already.
"We wanted you to think it was nii-san, hehe. I'm glad you were shocked—hear that, Rinka, mission accomplished." Kohaku boasted. Mikage only chuckled at that.
"Are you two done yet? Move along, it's time for your lessons Kohaku." A more mature resonance was heard on the other side of the line, taking the phone from the younger. Kohaku's 'aww' vibrated through the phone before disappearing in general.
"Mikage?" Kokuyou's graceful voice echoed through his ear.
"Nii-chan, hey, how are you?" The blond's eyes glinted once, heart warming up to the serenity spreading in his chest.
"The question is: how are you? I would think you completely forgot about us all?" The elder blurted in a nonpoisonous way.
"Uh, sorry about that. A lot of things happened one after the other—I'll try to call more often though."
"It's understandable, I guess. Anyhow, Happy birthday otouto*. Congratulation on turning seventeen." Kokuyou congratulated. "We all miss you and look forward to you stopping by sometime."
"Yeah, thanks. I miss you too. By the way, how's dad?"
"He's a sturdy old man, he's doing just fine." His brother answered, while Mikage noticed a few officers crossing the other end of the hall way.
"Looks like lunch break's over. Sorry Koku-nii, I'll talk to you later."
"Sure thing. Ganbare*." With that, both of them hung up and Mikage resumed to walking back to the office, briefly forgetting all about Ayanami-san.
~*.*.*.*…*.*.*.*~
5 P.M. Another hour and the sun would be prepared to set. Ayanami never made it back to the office. Mikage had the urge to call but didn't want to impose on the other so made his way down to the entrance of the building where their chauffeur awaited him. While the blond was momentarily struck by his thoughts, he noticed the driver take a wrong turn.
"Um, excuse me? Isn't the mansion the other way?" He automatically asked.
"Actually Ayanami-sama has requested to take you somewhere else first." The driver answered without shifting his eyes or skin.
"Eh? But where is Ayanami-san himself?"
"You'll soon find out." 'Great, this was beginning to get even more puzzling, what was Ayanami-san thinking? Why was he avoiding him? And why today of all days?' The thoughts made the teen slouch back in his leather seat. 'Well, we're about to find out, right?'
The limo soon braked before a professional clothing store. Mikage only gazed at it baffled, until the driver requested him to go inside. As soon as he did and introduced his name, the ladies immediately knew what to do.
"Please come this way and choose anything you like. We'll help stich it to perfectly suit you." One of the female employees claimed.
"Is this also Ayanami-san's orders?"
"Yes." She smiled in return. 'If he plans to give me a gift then why not be here himself, weird.' He still went along with it and tried his best to pick something that exalted him. 'Blazers are too extensive.' The blond decided and changed into a two piece with a lavender vest, silky black dress pants atoned by a solid white shirt and all polished with a simple bow tie. 'Wow, I already feel ahead of myself…I guess it's not so bad to dress up once in a while.' He began admiring himself back and forth in the mirror.
"Would that be all?" The lady asked and the blond nodded. "In that case, here is a bag for you to fold your uniform into. Have a great day, oh and happy birthday."
Mikage's cheeks turned a light pink. "Oh, thank you." He took the bag, shoved his uniform in and bowed before leaving. Returning to the car, the driver opened the door for him and drove him to his new destination: this time a multi floor five-star hotel, illuminated by warm colored lights lining its vicinity— further enhanced by the twilight sky. Mikage stepped out, the cool dusk breeze tingling his skin and waving his hair in one direction. He wondered what surprises were destined for him here. As he stepped inside the reception hall and towards the lounge, he abruptly sensed his nerves weighing on him, butterflies fluttering in his stomach and heart pounding by the minute. Fixed on regaining his composure while he staggered up the stairs, he didn't even notice when a certain silverette appeared at the top of the flight.
"It appears as though the guest of honor has arrived." The evenly silky voice snapped his attention, causing his head to jerk up at the elder. Ayanami elegantly stood at the final step to the top, the blond was surprised to see him out of his uniform. He wore a complete black three-piece suit and tie, curly wavy hair slightly off his forehead from a side and no hat or sword. The silver hair glimmered so well with the black outfit and well-lit room. Dark purple eyes looked down on him at an angle, while his pale face presented a faint yet affectionate smile.
"Ayanami-san?!"
The elder uncurled an open hand in the blond's direction. "Mikage-kun." He called. The teen swallowed whatever was in his throat and quickly paced up the steps without even knowing.
"Ayanami-san, what's going on?" He inquired when he was merely two steps away from his lover, unconditionally laying his palm on to the other's, who squeezed it pulling him closer.
Ayanami scoffed at his bewilderness. "Patience, my prince." The chief teased, making the younger feel embarrassed again. Still holding on to the younger's hand, he latched another right below the blond's shoulder's and guided him in the main room. Mikage gawked at the presentation before him. It happened to be a banquet room, blared with fancy golden lamps and a center glass chandelier. Since the room was empty, all the long tables were moved to the sides against the walls with the exception of one large square table in the center. The table was decorated with fresh flowers, plates, eating utensils, and flanked by champagne glasses and two wine bottles. However, what really caught the blond's attention was the massive dessert in the gist of it: a two-layered cake! Now according to Mikage's standards that was highly extensive. In fact, everything about this place was apparently extravagant. He later noticed there weren't any balloons or people at all to pronounce this as a birthday party but realized that would all be a part of Ayanami's intentions.
"Happy Birthday Mikage-kun." Ayanami ushered. The teen pivoted his neck to face him, absolutely speechless. This was the first time anyone had gone to such lengths just to accentuate his birthday. Overwhelming ruptures of emotions took over him as he threw his arms tightly around the silverette's neck, burying his face deep into his shoulder. What was he supposed to do? He was just so happy. Tears threaten to leak as he stood slightly above ground on his toes, given the other's height. He could imagine Ayanami's lips stretching into a smirk about now, as his arms embraced him back.
'This sensation, is so rewarding…' The elder closed his eyes and concentrated on it. However, sooner or later he had this itch to pull the teen back and survey his facial expression, which he did. He inched back and propelled the blond's face in view with both his gloved hands.
"Why are you crying?" Ayanami blurted, watching silent tears stream down the other's flesh.
"Un, I'm not crying," Mikage wiped them with a hand and forced a smile. "I'm just so happy."
The chief let out a small chuckle before licking the rest of the blond's tears away. 'Yes, very rewarding.' "I'm pleased."
"Thank you Ayanami-san. This is the best birthday so far." Mikage grinned. Ayanami patted his head for a change and moved on.
"Now then, shall we have dinner first?" The silverette asked, pointing to a small round table for two on the other side of the cake table.
"Yeah!" The blond couldn't agree more.
…
After casually eating their dishes, all the while with Mikage chatting away about the events of the day, they stepped over to the cake to cut it. The blond picked up the knife but paused briefly.
"Isn't this still too much for only two people? Perhaps we should have called the others?" The teen posed. The silverette's lips downturned a bit, eyes suddenly darker and transiently directed in another direction. Noticing his own displeasure, he quickly exhaled and turned back to his teen.
"We can distribute the rest tomorrow if that is what you really want, but I would rather not ruin this special moment right now with others." The elder rediscovered his dubious smile. Unbeknownst to his actual feelings, Mikage innocently smiled back in response. 'Monopolizing as always.' He thought with a laugh, but even that made him feel so much more special/precious.
"Okay." He resumed to cutting the top layer of the cake into a neat triangle. As the chief watched the younger scrupulously slice the cake for precision, he contemplated how much under normal circumstances this kind of ordeal would bore him death. However, his love for Mikage rendered all those actions otherwise. "Should I take the first bite?" The blond's questions snapped the other's thoughts away as he refocused on him.
"As you wish."
"Mh! It's really good! Ayanami-san would you like some?" Mikage insisted, but before he could cut another slice or share the one he had just cut, Ayanami came over and licked his lips. Subsequently, roaming his tongue inside and picking up the leftover crumbs and frosting.
"Too sweet." The elder concluded.
"Haha of course it is." The younger held back a blush.
Since Mikage was too young to get drunk, they retired for the night and decided to head back home, where the rest of the surprise was waiting to entertain the younger.
9 P.M. The blond jumped out of the car and proceeded towards the mansion door. "That was amazing Ayanami-san, but I can't believe I'm so tired already." He claimed, voluntarily unlocking the main door with his share of keys. The living space inside was conspicuously dark, however two dotted beams of golden orange flames lucidly lit the room. There was an interval of panic when Mikage's eyes caught the flames on the floor but that immediately vanquished when he registered them as candles. Who on earth put candles on the entire floor? Except it wasn't randomly on the entire floor. The two lines of candles made a clear path, starting from the door, following up the stairs all the way on to the second floor where they turned and faded away from sight.
"Ayanami-san what is this?!" The teen swerved around to face his lover in shock. The silverette didn't even flinch as if he was all expecting this, a smirk playing on his face.
"Allow me to introduce you to the second part of your birthday gift." The elder declared.
"Eh? Second? Wait, there's more? Like what?" Mikage directly disclosed the swarm of inquiries suddenly overwhelming his mind.
"Walk down the path lit by the candles if you seek the answers that desperately." He harassed. Mikage shook the abasement away and turned back to the path of candles, secretly enthusiastic to learn what was at the end. Ayanami silently tailed behind. The lights stopped in front of a guest room, two doors away from their bedroom. 'What could possibly be in here?' The blond curiously, almost instantly conquered the knob of the door with his hands and rotated it. The silverette aided him by switching on the lights to the not-so-large room and revealed a mini version of an office. The walls were painted a rose blossom color** with solid white borders outlining the ceilings and floor. There was a polished wooden black desk top and comfortable swivel chair against the window. An open shelved closet occupied one side of the room while a hybrid drawer and TV stand was placed on the other corner. The setting of the equipment was all at a perfect location where the window was right behind the desk to pour in ample light and at the same time promise a nice view of the sea ahead of them. Aside from that, a bookshelf and a two-head floor lamp, the room was quite simple and open for decorations.
"…Ayanami-san what is all this?!" Mikage exclaimed, eyes scanning every inch of the professional room.
"I asked what you wanted and you gave no answer so I had to rely on my agility—since you are a part of the Black Hawks and will have immense work to look forward to including your own military training assignments, I figured a home work study place would provide the most benefit and ease." Ayanami elucidated.
'That's too good to be true!' Mikage wanted so badly to jump in excitement. He had a work study place just like Ayanami's, although the elder's was a bit more professional and well managed. He looked back at the room. 'It even had a TV in it. His own TV! He'd definitely play games on that while working, considering there was drawers below it for CD's and stuff.' The blond was already beginning to mentally adjust all the imaginary items in his office.
"Well?" The silverette asked.
"This is surreal! I absolutely love it!" Mikage wrapped both his arms passionately around one of the elder's. "But…Ayanami-san is this really okay? All this stuff looks pretty expensive… to hand this over to a teen—" His insecurity was cut off by a hand on his chin, yanking him to look up.
"Mikage-kun, if you worry about more than what's necessary, I will get angry." The chief proclaimed with a pretense smile.
"Sorry." 'Of course, money wasn't a problem for Ayanami-san, but receiving this many things along with all the other privileges that he had accepted just seemed too sinful to him.'
"However, it's your birthday, so I won't." The silverette pushed back his mood and kissed the teen. Mikage smiled gratefully and responded to the kiss, placing his hands over the other's shoulders.
"Thank you."
"Hmph. Shall we do it here? To commemorate the opening of this new place?" Ayanami suggested with a sneer, pulling the younger's tie loose. The blond turned a shade of red at the perverted thought. That wasn't exactly how he was planning to begin his journey in his new office but…well, he also didn't have the nerve to ruin the mood. He watched as the elder automatically undid the buttons of the vest and slid it off, letting loose his own blazer as well. 'He actually looked twice as more handsome in that outfit…' Mikage silently adored. "…I might have forgotten to include a bed or sofa here…" Ayanami thought out loud, surveying the space beside them.
"Ayanami-san…" Mikage had no come back to that, deciphering the subtext.
~.ThE EnD.~
Aw man, why'd that have to end? I actually took my sweet time with this chapter—probably the reason why it's so long, the normal chapters won't be 10 pages lol. We'll go back to the usual word count for the story. Yes, don't worry, the story is still ongoing, this is only 'The End' for this special/bonus chapter.
Time for clarifications:
*Otouto: Little brother in Japanese.
*Ganbare: Good work/Hang in there.
**Rose Blossom is a light peach-ish pink color.
First off Mikage is now 17—in this fanfic: He was already 15, then I missed his birthday last year (16 yo) and now his birthday is upon us again, hence 17. Yup, we're following real time, isn't that cool haha—unless I deliberately introduce a time lapse and skip years.
For those that haven't read the manga and stuff—recall that I mentioned back in a few chaps that the Celestine family lives and serves the Oak family. Well, Shuri and Hakuren are both Oaks, so that's why Shuri was asking if he's coming back to the/his manor & in a way Shuri could be considered Mikage's master haha. But since they are also classmates and know each other since childhood—they probably consider themselves classmates more than master-servant. On the other hand, Kokuyou, Mika's elder brother/eldest of the Celestine family has more of a master-servant relationship with Shuri. Then again, he and his father are butlers.
Anyhow, hope you enjoyed that, if you did: PLZ REVIEW! See you back in Teito's season :D
By the way, I drew a cute pic of how these two looked in this chapter (if you're curious), captured when Aya says 'happy birthday' to him—you can check it out on my deviantart page: "Zerocooldemon. deviantart. com" (get rid of the spaces b/w the dots)