Yuugiri: Hi there! Hehe! I was supposed to do a DeaMilly one-shot, but as a reader had emailed me and requested for a KiraLacus one, and his birthday is sometime next week, I simply could not refuse him. : ) I hope you like it, Golaits.
Author's Notes: This kind of is a part of The Insatiable Heart, but unfortunately will not be mentioned in the story as the time line of that story is only up until late fall. However, if it were to be included there, it would most definitely be like this.
Possible major OOCness of characters. I just had to make it a birthday theme because it's for a birthday boy LOL!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed.
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February 4 – February 5, AW
Regardless of the coldness the February late snowfall outside, Kira felt sweat pop out of his forehead as he nervously fidgeted in his seat positioned in the middle of the living room of their dorm, cowering under Miriallia and Cagalli's gaze. His eyes darted from one place to another, seeing Athrun, Dearka, Yzak and Kari between the gaps his friend and sister left for him to peek through. Although it did him little good, if any at all. The looks on the four's faces said more than enough that they will most certainly not help him with this predicament.
Athrun was shaking his head when he tried to ask for help from him. He looked at Dearka pleadingly. The Buster pilot merely shrugged helplessly and turned away from him, suddenly finding the ceiling so appealing to look at. Desperately, he gazed at Kari. The girl shook her head serenely, as if saying 'you brought this upon yourself, Kira'. Which he probably did… But even so… He was so desperate he even turned to Yzak for help. The Duel pilot was not even looking at him! He was fiddling with something small and flat in one hand, a deadpanned expression on his almost always cocky face.
He was dead…
It was Lacus' birthday tomorrow, and they wanted someone jumping out of the big birthday cake Miriallia and Kari had whipped. To make matters worse, he had to do it donned in a pink bunny outfit.
"What the heck do you need me jumping out of the cake for, anyway? And in a costume, of all things!" he whimpered as he swallowed hard.
Cagalli was furious as she bore down on him with blazing eyes. "Wait a minute. It was your idea to give her a surprise birthday party."
Kira groaned. "I know, but – "
"A birthday party she will never forget," Miriallia put in, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Kira felt like dying. "I know! But – "
"And who did you assign to think about this said birthday party she will never forget?" his twin inquired mockingly, cupping a hand behind her ear and leaning even closer to him.
Kira sighed dejectedly, wilting on his chair. "You, Cagalli."
This satisfied the princess to no end, making her step back and eye him from head to toe. "You should be thanking me! She hasn't even so much as smelled we were planning something!" She smiled smugly. "I should consider a career in throwing great birthday parties…"
Kira held out his hands wide. "All right, all right! I agree that you have done a good job with the party and everything. I like the idea of it being in a cottage in Higashimokoto, and I like the idea of all the work you've put into it. I like the way you've been secretly planning everything that Lacus hasn't suspected a thing. But Cagalli, where on this planet have you gotten the idea of me popping out of a cake in a bunny costume?"
The princess did not answer. Instead, Kira saw Yzak stop fiddling with the thing he was holding, which he finally saw as the same tape recorder Kazui and Sai had used to blackmail him. Grinning dryly, the Duel pilot pressed on the play button and Kira felt all the blood drain out of his face.
"So it's your birthday soon," came a fuzzy voice that was obviously Yzak's.
"Why, yes it is!" came Lacus' cheery voice through the tape recorder. "I am turning seventeen! How wonderful!"
Kira heard Yzak cough. "So any plans?"
"None that I know of. Why?"
"Nothing. Are you looking forward to anything on that day at all? Isn't Kira going to be taking you out somewhere nice?"
Lacus giggled. "He hasn't said anything about it"
"What do you want to happen on that day anyway? You look like you're not the least bit planning at all."
More giggles. "Well, don't tell anyone all right?" She paused before she continued. "Last night, I had a weird dream. I dreamt there was this big, pink cake. And when I was to blow the candles on it, Kira suddenly popped out of it wearing a fluffy pink bunny costume and gave me a big sloppy, icing-coated hug!" More giggles. "I know that would never happen, though. Kira would never do that. But it does make you think about it a lot, doesn't it?"
With that said, Yzak clicked on the stop button.
Kira felt like dissolving into nothingness. Lacus actually dreamed about him popping out of birthday cake dressed as a mascot? Dear, sweet mother of mercy…
"She wants you popping out of her cake, Kira," Athrun said, a neutral expression on his face. Kira wanted to smack him on the head. It was obvious his best friend was holding back peals of laughter from him. The mere knowledge of it made him want to scream. He did not want to get sealed into a cake! More so wearing something as ridiculous as that.
Kira gritted his teeth together and grumbled. "Back me up here, Athrun! I'm sure you know what I feel right now."
Athrun pursed his lips tightly together, his face getting a bit red all over. "I wouldn't know. She's never dreamed of me popping out of a cake before."
Dearka snickered meanly, and even Kari giggled a bit. This was impossible!
HE DID NOT WANT TO GET SEALED INSIDE A CAKE!
As if dressing up in a bunny outfit was not bad enough…
"Look at the bright side, Kira," Dearka said, moving forward and placing a hand at the small of Miriallia's back. "At least all you have to do is pop out of the cake wearing something like that."
"And that is going to make me feel better, how?" Kira asked forlornly.
Dearka shrugged. "You don't have to pop out of the cake naked?"
That was the final straw. Athrun made a small, scratchy noise and everyone exploded into loud, boisterous laughter. Cagalli stumbled away from him, clutching her stomach uncontrollably as she sagged against Athrun, who – the traitor! – was laughing with all of them!
Milly tried to control her laughter at first, but when Dearka buried his guffawing face into her shoulder, she broke down completely. Even Yzak and Kari were chuckling. Chuckling! It was so creepy that even Kira forgot he was the butt of their jokes.
"All right, all right. Now can we stop laughing at my expense? I'm right here after all," Kira grumbled, shrinking on his seat. May the floor of their dorm room open up and swallow him whole…!
"Yeah, whatever," Cagalli said as she finally gotten hold of herself, pushing against Athrun and staggering forward again, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Well, I'm going to check on some stuff for tomorrow." She patted Kira on the head, as she would a dog, and then grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking it painfully, making Kira wince. "You have forced onto me the responsibility of giving Lacus a party she will never forget. You, her boyfriend, should be the last one to even think of ruining it." Letting go of his hair, she straightened up and started for the door, Athrun following close behind her. He cast his eyes down and heard the door slamming loudly behind them.
Those who were left in the room were silent for a brief moment, until Yzak, of all people spoke up. "You know, Kira. I don't see the reason why you are making such a big deal out of this."
Kira's head shot up. Was this guy for real? "I'd like to see you popping out of a cake dressed as the eater bunny."
Yzak blinked, stared at him weirdly. "If it were for Kari, why not?"
"Oh, Yzak. Thank you," Kari said sweetly.
Kira smirked. In all honesty, if it were simply for Lacus alone, he would not have hesitated. But as he looked at Dearka's naughty face, and as he thought of Cagalli's blackmailing nature, popping out of a cake, more so in a costume, he just knew that they would be hiding some cameras in the room to annoy him with photos later. "I'd like to see you do it with those people watching you." He pointed at Dearka, who smiled at him toothily.
That shut him up. He thought about it for a minute, then lowered his head. "You have a point there."
Even Kari, who he thought would have been offended, nodded at his statement. "Well, it really isn't Lacus' fault. She doesn't even know this is happening tomorrow."
Whatever. All he had to do was get rid of anything that resembles a camera in the cottage they were renting. He just needed to get them out of there. He shook his head in annoyance and stood up. "I'll do the cake. So long as there would be no cameras. Now will you all please leave?"
Miriallia pouted. "Why?"
Kira groaned. "Because Lacus is coming over in – "
Someone knocked on the door.
Kira groaned even more. "She's here." He darted them a hasty glare. "She will be suspicious if she sees you here. Now please leave."
Yzak rolled his eyes. "Where will we go, genius? There's only one door." Not really caring, he took Kari's hand in his, grabbing their coats he had flung carelessly over the back of the chairs in the dining room and trudged to the door. Kari waved goodbye to them all and followed her boyfriend, who murmured a loud, "You are such a loser." He opened the door, revealing a smiling Lacus clad in a pink windbreaker on the other side of it. "Hi there," Yzak greeted.
Lacus smiled widely, her eyes closing in the process. "Oh! I didn't know you would be here." She peeked inside the room and frowned. "Oh, my. All of you are here. Is anything wrong?"
Dearka shrugged casually. "We were just on our way out." He picked up his coat from the couch and threw it over Miriallia's shoulder. "So we'll do just that. Shall we?" He placed his hand behind Milly's waist and nodded at Kira knowingly. "We'll see you later then, all right?"
Milly nudged Lacus on the way out and winked at Kira before all four of them rushed out of the room, closing the door behind them, leaving Kira staring at the birthday girl with a nervous expression on his face.
Lacus approached him and lightly touched her lips onto his for a brief kiss. "Hello there, Kira. Are you all right? You look quite... preoccupied."
The Freedom pilot felt a shiver run down his spine at the memory Yzak had revealed to him about Lacus' dream. He shook his head. "I'm fine. So you wanted me to accompany you somewhere?"
She nodded enthusiastically, her cheeks turning pink with excitement. "I hope you are feeling in the mood for cake."
Kira almost fell to the floor. "Wha- what?"
"Cake!"
"C-cake, you say?"
She nodded eagerly. "A new pastry shop opened downtown and when Cagalli asked me to get some stuff for the dorm, I saw there was this really yummy-looking chocolate cake near the window." She touched her cheeks excitedly. "May we go?"
In spite of himself, Kira laughed. He could not possibly say no to her. She was simply too adorable to refuse. "Sure, Lacus. Anything for you."
Lacus' face brightened even more. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kira immediately interrupted.
"Ah, no Lacus. I am driving us downtown…"
"Aww…" She said whiningly, but immediately giggled and threw her arms around Kira's neck, making the Freedom pilot's bones turn into mush. "You always do give me everything I want, huh Kira?" She kissed the tip of his nose lightly.
Almost everything… Kira thought to himself, returning Lacus' embrace, all images of him hopping about in an icing-coated bunny costume were flying out the window when she kissed him again.
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Lacus sighed as she looked out the window of the backseat of the rent-a-car Athrun was driving down the snow-cleared highway to only the heavens know where. For the first time since she and Kira had started going out, this was actually the first time she's felt this disappointed in him.
It was her birthday today, but it seemed like the Freedom pilot had ceased to exist. He hasn't called, or greeted her at all in any sort of means. Kira wasn't usually this insensitive, but now… well… It was weird. She wondered if he was doing all right… More so, where the heck could he be?
Cagalli looked over her shoulder from the passenger seat of the car and smiled. "It'll be but a little while now, Lacus."
The songstress smiled back then looked back out the window with a forlorn expression on her face. Cagalli had been looking really hard for the last week, she could not dare to tell her that she was on to them. Who wouldn't be? For starters, Dearka had been sitting all over her for the last couple of days, making sure she was under his supervision while Milly, Cagalli and Kari were nowhere to be found. Which normally seldom happened. Dearka would normally be glued to Milly's side. And of course if it weren't the Buster pilot, it would be Yzak, who in reality arose much of Lacus' suspicions more that Dearka would. The light-haired boy had been tailing her all over, asking strange questions she doubted would interest him in normal circumstances.
It really seemed like they were doing this seriously, and so she simply couldn't find the heart to tell them that they were simply too obvious. She was actually looking forward to it. Now this day could actually be happier, perhaps if a certain brown-haired boy would show up.
"You okay back there, Lacus?" Athrun asked as he looked over to her through the rearview mirror.
Lacus nodded wordlessly, then leaned her head back with another melancholic smile. "I am. Thank you." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Where are we going?"
She saw Cagalli stiffen in her seat and giggled nervously. "You'll just have to wait and see… "
Lacus blinked, suddenly feeling naughty. "I hope this is not a surprise party or anything like that… "
Athrun's hand slipped a bit, causing the car to swerve dangerously to the other lane. Luckily, there weren't any cars there, as everyone seemed to be avoiding the slippery highway. "Ah, man!"
Lacus gripped her seat nervously and swallowed hard. Maybe it would be a good idea to let them carry on this little surprise. "Err… let's take it easy shall we?"
What with that set aside, it was smooth silent sailing all the way to Higashimokoto to Lacus' 'surprise party', which started with the typical conspicuous dark cottage that they had rented and the typical bursting of the lights with Dearka, Milly, Kari and, surprisingly, Yzak screaming, "Happy birthday, Lacus!"
Lacus feigned shock and pressed her hands to her cheek, admittedly pleased with their effort. And truly, she was. The only thing that did not make her feel happy as she should, is that there was a face that was not present in the room.
Kira was nowhere to be found…
Lacus' eyes scanned the area, for some weird reason peeking through the gaps of wicker furniture, somehow hoping Kira was hiding somewhere among the low white couch or the wooden dining table crowded with a variety of food which tickled Lacus' enhanced senses. She found herself peering through the spiral stairs that led up to the second floor where the rooms were, but still no Kira hiding there.
Where could he be…?
Cagalli's arms were suddenly around her, and Milly had swiftly snapped a yellow party had on her head.
"Happy birthday, Lacus," Kari said with a smile as she handed her a purple heart-shaped balloon after hugging her.
Momentarily distracted by the balloon, she grinned, tugging at the string and making it bob up and down joyously in the air. "How wonderful! Thank you so much, everyone!" She looked over to where Dearka was, seeing him hover over a small pile of gifts arranged on the center table in the living room. "This is such a surprise…" Well, it could be a surprise, although it was a bit too obvious.
Cagalli grinned proudly, satisfied with her handiwork.
Lacus sighed happily, tugging again at the string of her cute balloon. "Does anyone have a camera? This is too priceless to let pass…"
Everyone fell silent for about five seconds before they broke into simultaneous talking.
Lacus blinked in confusion. "Err… well, okay…" She was about to say something when suddenly, a wide-smiling Athrun came out of the kitchen, pushing in front of him what appeared to be the biggest frosted cake she had ever seen, candles rounding the topmost layer of it. The sight of it made the songstress gasp.
It was a large, five-layer cake that looked strangely lopsided… But my! It was an enormous cake!
It reminded her of –
Oh, God… He can't possible be… can't possibly be –
Oh, no…
Lacus saw Yzak snickering in the corner.
Oh, no!
Her thoughts were drowned by her friends singing "Happy Birthday to You" in different off-tune octaves as Athrun wheeled the cake towards her.
Kira can't… He would never do such a thing…
"Happy birthday toooooooo youuuuuuuuuuu!" they sang, ending to endearingly off-tune song, and Lacus found herself backing away from the cake cautiously, nervously anticipating her boyfriend popping out of there like a Jack-In-A-Box.
Lacus saw Yzak raise his eyebrows knowingly. Lacus' eyes widened even more. "You have got to be kidding me…"
And it took her more than all her self-control not to jump into the cake itself. So he was here all along, given that he is in there. And he could be in a –
She was not given the chance to continue what she was thinking, as the cake sitting in front of her suddenly erupted into a shower of pink icing! Everyone around her screamed along with her as she threw her arms over her face, shielding herself from the raining sweet froth from her cake. So that was why the cake looked lopsided. All it was made of was icing. No cake base!
Lacus slowly peeled her arms away from her icing-smeared face, finding the humor in all of this as she giggled, somewhat anticipating the sight she will be seeing. So Yzak actually told Kira!
What stood in front of her almost made her burst into unstoppable chuckles.
Oh, it was definitely Kira all right… and he had a fluffy white tail in a furry sea of pink. Pink Bunny ears sagged down the back of his costume from all the icing covering him. His back was to her…?
"Err… Lacus?" Kira asked as the songstress watcher his head turn from side to side. Good Lord! He was a sight she would love to remember for the rest of her life…!
Athrun, who was all red in the face along with everyone else, tapped the bunny rabbit shoulder. "She's right behind you."
Kira's back view was more than enough to make her weak, but nothing – absolutely nothing! – could have made her laugh in pleasure this hard in her life!
Kira's face was framed with fuzzy pink material, and a whiskered nose was perched on top of his cute face that was undeniably pale to the point of blueness. His beautiful lavender eyes stared at her as if pleading for her to stop laughing along with the others. Yes, Cagalli and the rest had all burst into tactless laughter.
Kira looked like he wanted to die, his rabbit-clad hands scratching at his rabbit-clad head, uncertainly shifting his weight from one rabbit foot to another. "Uhm… happy birthday?"
Lacus bit her lower lip, truly, sincerely speechless. Kira had gone out his way to do this for her…? She did not know whether to cry or laugh. "Oh, Kira…" she started weakly before spreading her arms wide and wrapped her cute little bunny in a tight embrace, having all the icing covering Kira's costume smear all over her.
"Awwwwww….." Everyone drawled as they finally stopped laughing and just stood there with satisfied looks on their faces.
Lacus pulled away and peered into Kira's face, plucked at the rabbit nose and tossed it aside to clearly see his wonderfully icing-streaked face. "This is definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life."
Kira smiled crookedly, somewhat looking fulfilled from some weird reason. "That's a relief."
Lacus smiled, then started to dig into her pant pocket intently. "But just to be sure…"
Everyone watched in anticipation at what she was trying to get. At the sight of what she did pluck out of her pocket, Dearka gasped along with Yzak.
It was Lacus' cell phone.
The songstress flipped it open and unceremoniously took a shot of Kira's already panicking face.
Click!
Everyone fell into a dead silence…
Kira blinked a few times, and then his lower lip trembled uncontrollably. He grabbed at his bunny ears and tugged violently. "God, noooooooooo…!"
Lacus stared at him blankly after checking her wonderful stolen shot of the wonderful Freedom Pilot in a wonderful pink bunny costume. "What? What is it?"
Kira shook his head after taking a deep breath and looked like he was counting from one to ten. "Nothing. Nothing. Now that you have that shot, I don't see the reason why I even prevented everyone from bringing ca – "
Just then, out of nowhere, came six flashes from six different angles of the room. Kira screamed bloody murder as he pressed against Lacus.
Lacus laughed, putting her arm around Kira's fuzzy costume and shot everyone a disapproving look, nonetheless finding herself giggling uncontrollably. "Oh, come on everybody. Stop it. Put those away!" She grinned evilly. "Just make sure you give me the film later."
Kira sagged against her. "Can I take it off now?"
Lacus pressed her hands to her cheeks again. "Oh, but you look so cute in it…"
"Don't start."
She giggled naughtily. "Can I have one request?"
Kira bit his lower lip and doubtfully shrugged. "It's your birthday. Sure."
Lacus squealed. "Can you… " she twirled her finger lazily. "Can you hop around a bit? For me?"
Athrun, Dearka and Cagalli burst into another round of wild chuckles.
Kira went deathly pale. "Do you really want me to?"
Lacus shook her head. "Not really." She clasped her hands behind her and shyly looked over to Kira's icing coated face. "Thank you for this, Kira. I know you normally wouldn't do this…"
"No one normally would…" Yzak muttered under his breath.
The pink-haired girl smiled at her bunny boyfriend for a long time and then pursed her lips tightly. "Just a few hops?"
"Don't even think about it…"
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Happy birthday, dear! You know who you are!
Anyone who has a good idea for a one-shot, feel free to email me.
