Sho got thirteen pancakes his year.

That was how it went, he got one pancake for every year he had been alive. He couldn't remember when they had started this tradition but he liked it a lot. Better than how birthdays had been back in the Castle. Just him, Mom, and Big Sis. Dad when he had been around…Sho couldn't believe that he had ever wanted Dad around for his birthday. He had been such a dumb little kid back then. He was smarter now. The last person he wanted here was Dad. He would have just pissed everyone off and, besides, he didn't even like pancakes.

Sho did, even if he had to eat thirteen of them at once.

"Here you go, Sho, one pancake cake for the birthday boy." Said Shibata as he dropped a stack of pancakes in front of Sho. Sho had to hold it together with his powers, it was that tall. Thirteen pancakes…it looked like a lot when it was all stacked up like that. It kind of was a lot. He didn't know how he could possibly eat this many pancakes at once.

But he had to try.

But not now. Everyone else was still being served. They also had to sing happy birthday so he could blow out the candles and make a wish. He had no idea what he would have wished for. Everything that he had ever wanted had, mostly, come true. Baby sis, well she was Little Sis now, lived with them again and Dad was gone…that was most of what he had wanted. He wanted Claw to burn to the ground so Dad could see his life's work go up in smoke…and also he kind of wanted Mom back…and to be stronger…

But he was happy now. He didn't want to jinx it.

"And here's twelve and one for you, since I missed out on your birthday." Said Shibata as he put a stack of pancakes in front of Big Sis. Twelve all stacked up and one on a little plate next to hers. Her eyes darted over to Shimazaki before she nodded…he didn't get it. If she wanted to talk to Shimazaki then she could have. He was in the alone zone, not Mars.

"Do I get thirty three since you missed mine, too?" asked Shimazaki from the alone zone. It was just a hula hoop that Shibata had put in the corner. That was where Shimazaki had to sit for all meals. For movie nights they moved it into the living room. He wasn't allowed out of it and nobody else was allowed in it. Seemed kind of dumb to Sho since Shimazaki could teleport. He didn't even know what Shimazaki was being punished for. Really it was kind of weird, how big of a deal everyone was making out of it. Sometimes people broke up, it happened, and anyway Big Sis was the one who'd broken up with him. Adults were so weird sometimes.

Maybe Sho would understand them better when he became one.

"You just consider yourself lucky that I'm letting you have the misshapen ones…and even then only because Sho asked me to let you have them." Said Shibata as he shoved a plate of lumpy, uneven, and slightly burnt pancakes into Shimazaki's arms.

"Sho shouldn't get a say, Hiroshi, he shouldn't be here in the first place." Said Tsuchiya. She held Mukai close and gave Shimazaki the side eye. He didn't get it. Tsuchiya had been so weird ever since the big fight, well she had always been weird, but now she was extra weird. It was like she thought that Shimazaki was one of those guys who hung out under the jungle gym so he could look up girls' dresses or whatever it was the guys did when they grew up…weird…and anyway she didn't get a say about this. It was his birthday and he got to decided who did and did not get pancakes and he decided that Shimazaki was getting pancakes!

They were still friends, of course, and all of his friends got all the pancakes that they could eat.

"Can we not do this now?" asked Minegishi as Shibata put a short, much shorter, stack of pancakes in front of them along with a bowl of that strawberry syrup they liked. Sho glared at them. They were lucky that Sho had even decided to let them come to his birthday party. Sure Big Sis liked them a lot but if they were going to be a jerk to everyone else then they should have been the one in the alone zone, not Shimazaki.

"Please don't be mad." Said Big Sis softly as she cut her pancakes with her powers. Sho glared at Minegishi. Yeah, it sucked when the person you liked didn't like you back or was into someone else or whatever…not that Sho had ever gone through that since he knew how to keep a boyfriend, but he was sure that it must have hurt. That was no excuse to make Big Sis sad and ruin the party and shit.

"Please don't be sad, Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa. He looked scared, as usual…fuck! If he got too scared then Big Sis was going to end up having to take him back to his room, which was Dad's old room since Minegishi had kicked Shimazaki out, and then Big Sis would miss the whole party. Serizawa too but if he didn't want to be there then Sho wasn't going to tie him to a chair and force feed him pancakes with a blender and a funnel or anything like that.

"Please don't piss people off, how about that, Minegishi?" asked Sho. He glared at Minegishi. They just raised a space where an eyebrow should have been…which was so stupid. They didn't even have eyebrows so all they had done, really, was look super dumb. He didn't know what Shimazaki had seen in them…not that he still cared about anything like that.

"Sho, no." said Big Sis softly

"How about the birthday boy minds his own business and eats his goddamned pancakes already?" asked Minegishi

"I can't eat until everyone has theirs. Then we'll sing and do presents like every year. So there." Said Sho crossing his arms. There, now he'd won. Big Sis was still shushing him. He nearly shushed her…that would have been mean even if she kind of deserved it. It was his birthday and he was thirteen now. He could do whatever he wanted.

"Sho, come on, leave Toshi alone." Said Shimazaki. A piece of pancake hit Sho on the back of the head. He could feel the sticky syrup in his hair…fuck! He'd just taken a bath too. He didn't want to take another one…but he was going to have to unless he wanted ants in his hair again…well fine. If Shimazaki was going to throw pancakes at him then he was going to get pancakes right in his hair right back!

If Big Sis ever let go.

"Sho, please? It's your birthday." Said Big Sis as she held his arm in place. He had just been about to fling one of his pancakes at Shimazaki like a frisbee, one of the ones on top with all of the syrup. Even if he missed Shimazaki's hair and hit him in the chest or something it still would have been a gross, sticky mess…and it would have served him right. Then they could have been even and shit.

"It's my birthday and they're my pancakes and I can do whatever I want with them." said Sho

"See what you've started, Ryou?" asked Minegishi

"I know what I started, and I can end it too. If Sho thinks he's big enough to take me then he can have at it." Said Shimazaki. Sho didn't know if he was big enough to take Shimazaki in a fight…but he did know that he was better at food fights than he was. At least he had been the last time they had done this. It felt like a million years ago or something, the last time that they'd hung out and had fun like they'd used to. Before all the stuff with trying to take Dad down and Shimazaki not being on his side…and the way he'd fallen in love with Big Sis, too…it was amazing how much could change in, like, a year…really amazing.

"I'll take you if you don't leave him alone." Said Shibata

"If you think you can then get over here and try." Said Shimazaki

"Stop it! Nobody's 'taking' anyone!" said Tsuchiya. Sho thought that it really should have been his decision if people were going to be taking each other. The kitchen wasn't big enough to fight in but they had plenty of room in the living room if they moved the furniture, or the backyard if everyone put their jackets on. It would have been cool, seeing Shimazaki and Shibata fight. Though he already knew the outcome, Shimazaki would win because he could teleport and had a really good barrier, but then again Shibata was super strong…

"It's my birthday and if they want to fight then they can." Said Sho

"Sho! No! We can't have fighting. It's supposed to be a nice day." Said Big Sis

"Fine, no fighting…but only because it bothers Big Sis, I guess." said Sho. It may have been his birthday but he had to be nice to Big Sis. He needed her on his side for the uprising and also because he loved her and junk.

"No, yes fighting! Fight right now! With forks!" said Mukai holding her fork up like it was a sword. Tsuchiya took it out of her hands and put it down on the table. It was joined by a plate of pancakes, only three, that Shibata put down in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Mukai, I shouldn't have said those things. Your brother and sister are right, this isn't the time for fighting…and anyway Shimazaki isn't worth it." Said Shibata. Shimazaki stuck his tongue out at Shibata. Sho did the same.

"I want more pancakes! Be sorry about that!" said Mukai as she pushed her plate away. Tsuchiya reached over and slid it back in front of her. Mukai just tried to slide it away again.

"Eat the ones you have and then we'll talk, ok?" asked Tsuchiya, holding the plate in place. Mukai tried to push it again, this time with her powers, what little powers she had. All she managed to do was make the plate shake in place a little…but that was more than Sho had been able to do when he had been three and a half. Maybe she was going to end up being a powerful esper even without going through…what Sho had gone through…not that it mattered. He didn't care if Mukai was a powerful esper, a weak esper, or not even an esper at all. He still loved her just the same no matter what.

He wasn't Dad. He was better.

"No talking, more pancakes!" said Mukai banging her plate onto the table. Her pancakes nearly went flying off but Sho managed to catch them. He even got to them before Big Sis did…did that mean that he was finally catching up to her? Not that he still cared about that kind of thing…it just would have been nice, that was all. To not have had to go through all of that just to still be…himself.

"Let her have more. It's my birthday and I decide who gets pancakes and I decide that Mukai can have as many as she wants…so get back to cooking and don't stop until she tells you to." Said Sho. He got to be bossy today, it was his birthday, and anyway he was being bossy for a good reason so it was ok.

"Alright." Said Shibata

"Hiroshi! You can't be serious." Said Tsuchiya

"Haven't you heard? We live our lives according to the whims of teenagers." Said Minegishi, once again making things worse. It was their favorite hobby next to being a bastard and reading boring books without any pictures in them, not even on the front cover. Next birthday they were sitting in the alone zone, he didn't care how Big Sis felt…oh, yes he did…

"Um…we shouldn't fight so…so how about we do the candles? And then presents? And then…and then we can see if Mukai is still hungry?" asked Big Sis. She didn't mind that plan…that much. He wanted to get to the presents, the best part of any birthday, but he wanted Mukai to be happy too. She deserved to be happy and he loved her, and when you loved someone you gave them whatever they wanted. He didn't think that it would be so bad to let her have a giant stack of pancakes even if, of course, she wasn't going to eat them.

He could always throw them at Shimazaki later.

But Big Sis didn't want him to do that….and he wanted to make Big Sis happy. She was the only one who could really beat Dad, even Fukuda had said so. She had most of the Awakened on her side, was just as strong as Dad was, and was a lot smarter than him, too. She was smart enough not to act like a dickhole to everyone. She was really the better President. He knew that what Claw was doing was wrong, trying to rule the world was what the bad guys did, but if someone did have to rule the world then he would have rather it had been Big Sis instead of Dad…with him at her side.

If he wanted to be by her side then he was going to have to give her reason to keep him there.

"Sure thing, Big Sis, whatever you want." Said Sho. Immediately a big '13' got stuck in the middle of his pancake stack. Big Sis turned off the lights and closed the blinds with her powers. Sho wasn't a big fan of this part, the singing, he would rather have gone right to the presents but he knew better than to ask. He was thirteen, he had been to a lot of birthdays parties, and the singing was just a part of it that you couldn't escape. Even though the singing took up valuable present opening time…and even if everyone looked at you when they sang…and wished you a happy birthday…

Birthday were supposed to be happy.

Birthdays weren't supposed to make you think about how you were getting older, about how much stuff changed, about how much it was going to keep on changing. Birthdays weren't supposed to make you think about…about other birthdays. He was thirteen today. Neither of his parents were there…but he didn't want them there. Dad was a dickhole's dickhole and Sho hoped that he choked on an omelet and died. Mom was…gone. Even if by some miracle someone found her and dragged her back home she still wouldn't have wanted to be there. Fukuda was at work, but that was ok, the fighting would have been a million times worse if he'd been there. He didn't care if his parents weren't there, his friends were there, and his sisters, and that was what mattered the most.

Also, presents.

Art supplies, like he'd asked for. Big Sis had done the best job, she had gotten him new versions of the stuff he used the most. The good pencils, that paper he liked, the real artist's crayons and markers. Little Sis had done a good job too. She'd gotten him Crayola crayons, ninety-six of them, and a Zootopia coloring book. He was kind of too old for the crayons and the coloring book but he wasn't going to tell her that. He wasn't a dickhole. It was his birthday and that meant that he was allowed to be bossy, not a dickhole, and anyway he didn't really want to be one.

Not even to Minegishi.

"Memorize it." Said Minegishi as Sho opened their present. He was going to save the giftbag, it was one of those pictures with the velvet that you had to color in. Inside were fuzzy animal stickers, which he wasn't too old for, and a new sketchbook. The big kind with the pure white paper, and yes, there were different kinds of white. He felt the pages…just the right amount of roughness. Perfect…somehow. Ok, so they weren't a total dickhole…or they had just gone shopping with Big Sis. This seemed like the kind of thing that she would have gotten him. The book at the bottom of the bag was more like something that they would have given him.

Wait…they'd already gotten him this book.

"You already got me this book…and I don't like memorizing things….but thanks, I guess." said Sho. He mostly just thanked them because Big Sis was watching and she cared about that kind of stuff. He didn't need another book about growing up and stuff. He already had the one they'd gotten him years ago, back when all that stuff had happened with Big Sis.

"The last one I got you was for kids, that one's for teenagers." Said Minegishi. Tsuchiya reached across the table and took his book from him. Rude…but if she wanted it then she could have it. He didn't know why she needed it, though, she was already all grown up and a girl, too.

"This is actually kind of thoughtful." Said Tsuchiya

"Well, it's not like anybody's going to teach him these things." Said Minegishi crossing their arms.

"I-I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that it didn't seem like you…cared. Sorry, that came out wrong too." Said Tsuchiya

"I care, I just don't always have the energy to show it." Said Minegishi

"Yeah, I'd believe that…but thanks, I guess." Said Sho. They were like a sloth, really. They slept all the time and moved really slowly…but it was kind of nice that they cared. Kind of.

"Address the thank you card to me and Matsuo. He's the one who picked out the bag and the stickers." Said Minegishi

"What's a thank you card?" asked Sho

"It's exactly what it sounds like." Said Minegishi

"I don't want to-" said Sho. No way was he making cards…actually that could have been kind of fun, and he could have broken in his new pencils…but drawing wasn't at all fun when someone else told you what to draw and shit!

"Toshi, you're still talking to that guy? I mean not that I care or anything like that. You can do whatever you want with whoever you want." Said Shimazaki

"Then why even ask?" asked Minegishi. They sounded pissed off there…well Sho was going to piss them off even more if they didn't stop. It was his birthday and they weren't going to sit there and start fights on his birthday. He didn't start fights on their birthday, not that they ever had birthday parties, but if they had Sho would have been on his best behavior. He would have even stopped cursing and everything!

"I just wanted to-" said Shimazaki

"Sho! Why don't you open Shimazaki's present?" asked Big Sis. She didn't wait for him to say anything, she just picked it up with her powers and put it on the table in front of him. She kept on looking over at Shimazaki and then at Minegishi. Serizawa was holding her hand, of maybe she was holding his. Both of their auras looked freaked out. Serizawa's was more freaked out, of course, since he was Serizawa but Big Sis wasn't happy either.

He did as she asked.

The present was wrapped up in Easter paper, pink Easter paper, but Sho wasn't going to say anything. He had at least done a better job than Serizawa had. Someone needed to tell him that he didn't need a whole thing of tape and a whole roll of paper for one present. Sho wasn't going to say anything, though, he didn't get to be a dickhole today, or even. Big Sis was worried enough already. Besides, it didn't matter how the present was wrapped up, the only thing that mattered was what was inside.

Not that Sho had any idea at all what was inside.

"Ryou…what the hell is that?" asked Minegishi. Sho didn't know what it was…but if Minegishi was pissed off then it must have been something good. Sho pulled it close, nearly knocking his pancake cake off the table in the process.

"I love it. I don't know what it is but I love it." Said Sho. He recognized the ink and the rest of it…needles…and a….wait, he knew what this was!

"Did you get him a tattoo gun? Why did you get him a tattoo gun?" asked Shibata. He tried to take it away but Sho just pushed him away with his powers. This was the greatest present ever! Now he could do real tattoos. He had stopped doing them since they took way too long with just a needle and ink he made himself, and he always got bored halfway through, but this…this was like what Shimazaki's friend had used. This was going to make it all go much faster…Sho was going to do so many tattoos. He was going to draw his sisters on each arm, of course, and then on his chest a hamster riding a dragon, and then on his back…wait, could he reach his back? He could with his powers…oh…this was the best present ever!

"Because stick and poke takes way too fucking long." Said Shimazaki. He was right, it did take forever, that was why Sho had stopped doing it in the first place. Now that he had actual ink and needles and…wow…you could put in more than one needle at once!? Ok, this changed everything. He was going to be able to work so much faster with this.

This was the best present that he had ever gotten in his life.

"Sho…maybe give that to someone else…" said Big Sis. She was reaching for his stuff with her powers now, too. He tried to push her away…she left on her own. He could tell. He still wasn't as strong as she was…but it didn't matter. She wasn't nearly as good at drawing as he was and she didn't know shit about giving tattoos so…so they were even!

"No way, it's mine! I don't ask you for your birthday presents on your birthday so you shouldn't ask for mine." Said Sho. That had come out kind of…mean…but it was true. He had never once asked her for one of her presents. If she wanted a tattoo then he would give her one but if she didn't then she needed to mind her own damn business and leave him alone with his birthday presents.

"I agree with Shigeko. That's not a good present for someone your age…or anyone for that matter. said Tsuchiya

"What is with you guys? You're acting like I gave him a brick of coke or something." Said Shimazaki

"A brick of coke would have been better than this. This is a terrible present, Ryou. I don't even want to know what was going through your head when you picked this out." Said Minegishi

"I think it's a great present! Or…um…I think whatever Miss Suzuki thinks." Said Serizawa. That wasn't a surprise. Sho wondered how he even got dressed in the morning without Big Sis's help. If there was anyone that Tsuchiya should have been treating like a little kid it should have been Serizawa…or Mukai, the actual little kid. She was trying to crawl on top of the table to get at his tattoo stuff. He put her back into her chair with her powers. She was three, of course she was too young for all of this. He was thirteen. That was ten years difference. He knew what he was doing.

"Of course, you agree with whatever Big Sis says." Muttered Sho. Felt Big Sis's aura on his. He looked up. She looked worried…for no good reason whatsoever.

"I think that…Sho, I love you a lot but last time you tried to do tattoos you got a bunch of infections and I don't want that to ever happen to you again so…so maybe give that to someone and…and if you want to drawn on yourself then you can use markers like Mukai does." Said Big Sis

"I draw on the walls, too, and in the books." Said Mukai, picking up her pancake like a taco and trying to fold it over again. Tsuchiya reached out to take it but Mukai pulled it away. She was smart like that. What was it with moms and always having to kill the fun? Dads too. Parents were weird and boring. Sho hoped that he didn't end up like that when he and Ritsu got married and had kids.

"How about everyone draws on paper? Why isn't that an option?" asked Tsuchiya as Mukai bit into her pancake and then spat the chewed up pieces out onto her plate…kind of gross…so maybe Tsuchiya should have been more worried about that and less about what Sho had gotten for his birthday!

"Hey! It's my birthday and if I want to give myself tattoos then I get to give myself tattoos! And I will! Whenever I feel like it!" said Sho

"You see what you did, Ryou? You see what you did?" asked Minegishi, running a hand through their hair. Sho hoped that there was syrup and strawberry sauce on their hands. Then their head would have gotten covered in ants. They deserved it.

"Me too! I want one too!" said Mukai, standing up in her chair spitting more of her pancake across the table.

"No! Nobody is getting tattoos. Those are for yakuza members and-and you're only thirteen." Said Tsuchiya as she tried to sit Mukai back down into her chair.

"Hey, lay off of him. If he wants to tat himself up from head to toe then let him…but me first. I can't see it but I know for a fact that mine are faded to hell so, yeah, kind of a present to myself." Said Shimazaki. He pulled his shirt up over his head…yeah, those were really fucked up…but wait. Shimazaki was going to let SHO work on his tattoos? Even the dragons? The room was spinning. This was…for some weird reason it felt like it counted as cheating on Ritsu…but of course it didn't. He wasn't in love with Shimazaki anymore and it wasn't like Ritsu had or wanted tattoos and…and ok, maybe he had been looking at Shimazaki for a little too long…

It was his birthday and he could look at whoever he wanted to for however long he wanted to…but he was going to stop right now because he got the feeling that Ritsu would have been pissed at him if he had been there.

"Stay away from Sho, I mean it." Said Shibata, taking off his apron and throwing it at Shimazaki. Shimazaki ducked, of course, and stuck up his middle finger…and then Mukai did the same…it was actually kind of funny.

But Shibata was being a complete and total dickhole!

"What the fuck is the matter with you? Do you people honestly think that I actually want to fuck-" said Shimazaki

"Hey! Don't tell him what to do and don't tell me what to do! I can give tattoos if I want to and-and I will, right here! On this table! So everyone move your stuff!" said Sho. The only person who tried to move their stuff was Mukai. She tried to pick her plate up but Tsuchiya stopped her for some reason.

"Ok, we're going outside now to have a picnic. Right now." said Mukai as she tried to get up. Big Sis stopped her with her powers.

"Um…it's December…and Tokyo…so it's cold out but…um…maybe we could eat in here and then we can figure out what we're going to do next….but without any fighting. Ok?" asked Big Sis

"Yeah, good idea….I guess. everyone eat and then, I don't know, we'll play something or do something….I don't know." said Sho as he picked up his fork and got back to eating. That seemed to signal to everyone else that it was time to eat, too. Sho didn't really want to eat right now, even though these were really fucking good pancakes, he wanted to get to tattooing…but Big Sis obviously didn't want him to.

He wasn't clueless.

He knew that it bothered her. He didn't know why. If Sho made any mistakes or gave himself any more infections then Fukuda could have just taken care of it. Also he didn't care if he looked like a yakuza member, those guys were cool. Shimazaki had told him all about it. They spent all day beating people up and smoking weed and drinking and fighting with each other. The missions were a lot cooler, too, and you got to do whatever you wanted when you ranked high enough. Sho, if he got a choice in what he could be when he grew up, would totally have joined the yakuza if he could have. It seemed a lot better than Claw.

But Big Sis wouldn't let him.

He had to stay on her good side, even if it meant doing things that he didn't really want to do or like…or not doing the things that he wanted to do. He wanted to get to work right now but he couldn't…that was ok, there was always next time she went to work. What she didn't know about couldn't hurt her and, anyway, he was thirteen now. He could do whatever he wanted to do.

But right now he had to do what he had to do, and that was eat all thirteen of these pancakes.