Ritsu went to be eleven and woke up twelve.

He woke up not because it was his birthday but because he'd heard movement outside of his door. He had been sleeping really lightly these days, he'd had to. Most nights Sho came to see him. Sho was more important than sleep, besides that was what coffee was for. He snuck it whenever he could, and Teru had convinced Reigen to get one for the office in addition to the electric kettle, so really Ritsu didn't need the sleep at all. He could sleep when Sho was gone.

Gone from Seasoning City, not just gone from Ritsu's room.

His side of the bed was empty. Of course it was. He shouldn't have fallen asleep in Ritsu's room in the first place. They both knew that it wasn't safe for either of them…but it had been raining last night. Sho had a thing about water. Part of the whole awakening process involved a lot of drowning in very cold water. They held you under until you started to pass out and then they let you go…over and over again…and at random times so you couldn't even brace yourself. Ritsu had known that Sho hated swimming and didn't really take baths, something Ritsu was learning to live with, but he hadn't known that Sho hated the rain too. Ritsu had never given much thought to the rain. It fell from the sky, when he had been little he used to like to jump in the puddles, and he hated it when water ran down his raincoat and into his boots…but he had never been afraid of it…

If Ritsu ever met Sho's dad then he was going to pay.

But that, if it happened, would come later. Right now he had his own parents to deal with. Not in that way, of course, his mom and dad weren't supervillains. They were just normal people who always got super excited for his birthday. Probably because they had missed so many of Shieko's. She would have been a year older than him, so thirteen, and since she had died when she was two it had been eleven birthdays that they'd missed….that was a lot to make up for.

Ritsu didn't mind…that much.

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He would have liked another hour at least. It was Saturday, he didn't have school, and even if they had decided that school on Saturdays was a good idea he still wouldn't have gone. Sleep wasn't an option, though. He stretched and tried to come to life. Mom and Dad had been worried about him for the past few weeks. So had Reigen and Teru…and Tsubomi….and his teachers had been starting to complain too…Sho had it easier, nobody cared if he was tired during the day. He didn't have school or parents…

Ritsu was too tired, he shouldn't have been thinking like that.

There were footsteps outside of his door. Mom and Dad. They may have made a big deal out of his birthday but that didn't make him love them any less. He had both of his parents, not like Sho, and neither of his parents were trying to take over the world…and they were both there, too. Teru's parents hadn't even bothered to see him on his birthday. Ritsu was lucky to have his parents…he was lucky and he was happy…and he was going to get through this birthday as best as he could.

His doorknob rattled.

"Hana!" said Dad. The rattling stop. Mom was allergic to knocking and waiting. Sometimes she knocked and opened his door at the same time. He didn't know why she even bothered to knock at that point. Tsubomi's parents were the same way. Adults thought that they could do whatever they wanted because they paid the bills, at least that was what Tsubomi's mom had said, even though it didn't make any sense. They all lived together so it was all their house….when he and Sho got married and had their kid Ritsu was going to be a lot better about some things than his parents had been.

If they got married….when they got married.

They were going to get married, there was no way around it, even if Ritsu had to move to one of those countries where they would be allowed to get married, even if he had to leave everything behind then he would. But he hoped it wouldn't come to that. He kind of liked it here. Mom and Dad were here, and Tsubomi, and Reigen…and Teru, even if he could be kind of annoying sometimes...and Shigeko was here too, in spirit. He didn't really want to have to move but he did want to spend the rest of his life with Sho…and they would. They were boyfriends and that was the next step…Ritsu felt like he was going to throw up but in a good way. Sho had described it like having a goldfish in his stomach. Ritsu could see that. It did feel like something was swimming in his stomach. He had heard the expression 'butterflies in your stomach' but he had never thought it made much sense. Your stomach was full of acid and acid was a liquid and butterflies couldn't swim….but he couldn't think of anything that could swim in acid…wait, it depended on what kind of acid since lots of things were acid….wait, he had been thinking about stomach acid before…

He needed some coffee. Now.

"What? It's nearly eight in the morning. He can't sleep in again, not even on his birthday. He's going to ruin his sleep schedule." Said Mom.

"Just knock first. I think he might be a little too old for us to be letting ourselves into his room." Said Dad

"You're probably right…Ritsu! Come on, time to wake up, Mr. Twelve year old!" Said Mom. Ritsu could have hugged Dad, actually he would when he got up. He loved Mom but he didn't really want to wake up to birthday hugs and kisses. He wanted to wake up to…well to Sho being here with him. Even if his bed was way too small for the both of them and even if Sho had skipped a few too many baths having him there, next to him, would have been the best birthday present Ritsu could have asked for.

There was no point in being sad, he and Sho would be able to be together forever once they had taken Claw down, he only had to wait for…he didn't know how many more birthdays. More than Mom and Dad had missed of Shigeko's, probably, since he was only eleven-twelve, he was twelve now. He was still too little, too young, to do what he wanted to do…what he had to do. If he had been older, stronger, then he could have finished off Claw and then he and Sho could have been together and…and stuff like that. Stuff that he didn't want to think about right now….

It was his birthday. He wasn't supposed to be sad on his birthday. Mom and Dad probably wouldn't have let him.

"Coming, Mom!" Said Ritsu loudly. There was more shuffling on the outside of his door and his doorknob turned once more before stopping.

"Hana, you know how he gets when you wake him up too early in the morning, he's kind of like you before your coffee, and I don't want to get into it with him today. Not on his birthday, he'd never forgive us for ruining it. I'm pretty sure that's the sort of thing he'll be describing to a professional in twenty years." Said Dad

"Ichimaro, you're being ridiculous and I can see where he gets it from…but you're right. Not about the seeking professional help thing. Ritsu's a good boy he would never need to do anything like that. He's just becoming a teenager and with that comes moodiness I suppose." Said Mom. Ritsu rolled his eyes. For years now, all he'd been hearing about was how Moody he'd be when he was a teenager, how he'd be mad at everything, how his hormones would be making him go crazy... He didn't see it. Teenagers could be kind of weird, but they weren't always mad or crying or whatever. They were kind of like either really big kids, or really short adults, The more he thought about them. He didn't really think he'd be that different, that he changed that much, Terror was a teenager and he was the same as he'd always been.

Wait a second...

Did that mean that when Ritsu turned thirteen he was going to end up like Teru? He was going to fill his head with thoughts about stupid things like what clothes went together well, what colors went with his skin tone, thinking up new lotions and potions to put on his skin, obsessing about girls…well, boys, actually. Was he going to spend all of his time thinking about guys and kissing and…and stuff like that? Well, he already thought about kissing guys…but he had a boyfriend already! He had Sho so maybe he wouldn't think about kissing other guys, just Sho…and he already thought about that a lot. Teenagers did more than kiss, too, didn't they? He knew that Teru had, he still bragged about it sometimes, and…and Ritsu didn't know if he wanted to think about doing stuff like that. He liked Sho a lot but the thought of doing the stuff he'd read about and seen online…that was kind of scary….and Sho was older than him so maybe he was going to start expecting…

Maybe Ritsu really did have something to worry about when he became a teenager…

"Hana, no! Don't say that word! I don't want to think about it!" said Ichimaro. Ritsu didn't want to think about that either. He didn't want to change. He didn't want to stop being himself, to lose sight of what he was doing, to let himself get distracted. Claw hadn't bothered him in a long time but he couldn't forget what had happened. He couldn't….well there was nothing that he could do about growing up…but he could make sure that he din't forget who he was.

"I don't want him to grow up either, Ichi. I mean he's already got a boyfriend and he'll be going to middle school soon-" said Mom

"And he's getting to that age where he can't be skipping baths anymore…" said Dad. Ritsu wasn't going to tell him that it was Sho's fault if he smelled bad. That wouldn't have gone over well…

"I can hear you both, you know that right?" asked Ritsu

"Ritsu! Son! Um…what do you want for breakfast. You can have anything you want." Said Dad

"Ok, I want a cheeseburger Merry Meal, pork miso soup, and a bacon pizza." Said Ritsu with a smile. Dad started stuttering…served him right for waking him up on his birthday.

"Ichi! See what you've done!" said Mom

"Ritsu, something your mother can make." Said Dad

"Can I have toast?" asked Ritsu

"Yes you can, you can have whatever you-ok, ok, poor choice of words!" said Dad

"Happy birthday, Ritsu, now get ready for the day and come downstairs." Said Mom

"Ok!" said Ritsu. Well he wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon…he wondered if Mom and Dad would finally let him have coffee. He needed one and if they were going to spend the whole day hovering over him like he was a little kid then he had might as well have been awake. He waited until Mom and Dad's footsteps could be heard going down the stairs before climbing out of bed. As he threw the covers off of himself he heard something hit the floor.

A piece of paper.

He stared at it. it must have been in the nest of blankets that Sho had made. Either that or the world's most polite burglar had left him an apology note. Ritsu swung his legs out of bed and just stared at the piece of paper on his rug. Hiragana. A lot of it. Sho had said before that he didn't really like to write…but it looked like he had written a whole birthday message or a love letter or something….something that…that Ritsu didn't want to disturb. It might have been a good thing but…but it might not have been, too.

It might have been a goodbye note.

Now Ritsu really did wish that the world's most polite burglar had left him an apology note. At least then…well at least then it would have been good news. Even if he had lost his life's savings, his collection of journals, and all of his notes on Claw it still would have been better than….than a goodbye note. He knew what Sho's life was like, he travelled all over the world but not in a fun way, and…and there was a big chance that this was it. Sho had even told him that any day now he expected his phone to ring and his sister to call him and tell him to come home….today might have been the day.

No.

Ritsu wiped his eyes. Maybe this was the moodiness that everyone talked about. He had gone from zero to crying in…well not that long but…but this was still really sad! He hadn't been expecting to spend his birthday with Sho but he also hadn't been expecting him to just disappear and…and he had no idea what that even said. Sho had the worst handwriting that Ritsu had ever seen in his life, outside of when he had been little, and…and for all he knew it could have been a love letter. Ritsu had gotten plenty of those over the years, even before his class had been taught how to write! Once when he had been in preschool some girl had drawn him a heart and then stuffed it into his shoe…and then she had gotten mad at him for ruining it. Girls were crazy…though if he had ruined this and it turned out to be a love letter then he would have been mad at himself…

It never hurt to check.

Well it could have…but…but there was no sense in tormenting himself like this. He had things to do today. He knew how this was going to go. Mom and Dad were going to make him breakfast and then get really sad and talk about how he used to be a little kid and how great that had been and then either Mom or Dad was going to take him somewhere, probably to the arcade or the stationary store or something, and then he was going to come home to the world's smallest surprise party. Mom and Dad and Tsubomi and Reigen, and Teru too. He and Teru were going to pretend to be a couple, probably have to sneak off somewhere to really sell it, and then Mom or Dad, probably Mom since Dad was still weird about the whole 'his only son having a boyfriend' thing was going to drag him back to the party and then they'd do cake and presents and then that would be it. Just like his last birthday had been…

He never got what he wanted for his birthday.

When this was all over, when Claw was destroyed, then Ritsu would have been able to have the kind of birthday he'd always wanted. He didn't care where he went or what he did, he just wanted to share it with Sho. He just wanted to be able to hold Sho's hand and say 'this is my real boyfriend, I love him, and when I grow up I'm going to marry him and then we're going to adopt a bunch of cats and hamsters and then probably a bunch of kids too' but less wordy. He just wanted to be able to be…to be normal. To be able to see his boyfriend whenever he wanted to. To be able to just…to be able to walk down the street with Sho and not worry about being spotted and then kidnapped and brainwashed. To be able to go on normal dates and have normal sleepovers and just…and just be normal. That was all he wanted for his birthday…

But birthday wishes didn't come true. No wishes ever came true.

He'd spent so long wishing to be normal. Wishing for a normal family where everyone was alive, wishing to feel the normal way people felt about girls, wishing that people would stop acting like it was such a bad thing to like guys instead of girls, wishing that he could just be normal for once in his life…and now he was wishing for a normal boyfriend. That was too much wishing and not enough acting. Things didn't happen just because you wished for them, you had to work for them, and no matter how much you wanted to just be able to live a normal and fun life it wasn't going to happen unless you put in the work.

So that was what Ritsu did.

"Dear Ritsu, happy birth…that's supposed to say birthday. I'm sorry that I can't be there when you wake up but I left you this drawing for your birthday and….ok, I have no idea what that's supposed to say…..I heart you." Muttered Ritsu as he read. He hadn't signed his name. Smart. It would have been stupid if he had just left a drawing with his full name…that was what was on the other side…and…and it didn't matter if he signed it or not. Ritsu didn't even know why he cared. He knew it was Sho, he knew that Sho was the one who…who had hearted him….

Whatever that meant.

Well hearts meant love but…but also it might have just meant a heart. Like like…that was a heart and…and this was real life and not the internet. This was…if it meant love then…Ritsu wondered if it was possible to die from your heart beating too fast. If this was a way to break your heart. He had heard of people dying of broken hearts before and…and he felt like he was going to die now. He missed Sho and…and he wanted Sho to be there with him but…but he didn't want Sho to see him like this, to watch him blushing and…and he must have looked so dumb. Sho…loved him, maybe, and….and this was….

This was the best birthday ever. Ritsu decided that maybe he was going to like being twelve.