Cobalt woke up to an unusual lack of noise.
No quiet humming from Astra, no barely-concealed chuckles from Luna at the latter, no sprinkling of water as Lily watered her plants, even though she really didn't need to anymore. It was quiet enough that Cobalt briefly wondered if he'd woken very early, until he looked out the window and saw that it was fully daylight.
Glancing over to Luna and Astra's beds, he also noted, to his surprised, that neither of his teammates were even there. Had he woken particularly late, then? And wait, if he had woken late…was it a weekend? Or had his teammates randomly gone off to class without waking him up first? He was far too sleepy to figure out what day it was, but he certainly hoped it was a weekend.
Blearily, he sat up, his ears brushing against the roof, and climbed down to the floor, where he noticed that Lily was absent too. Her plants, which had just about doubled in number and size since she'd unlocked her Semblance, sparkled slightly with fresh water. She'd insisted on continuing to take care of her plants normally even though she could bring them back to life with one touch, apparently taking comfort in looking after other beings.
Confusion rushed through him. It wasn't like his teammates to just leave without telling him where they were going, even if they had to wake him up for it. Had he just looked particularly fast asleep that morning? He felt a prick of concern. What if they were mad at him?
He walked over to the electric clock that Luna kept on her bedside desk, only to be even further confused when he saw that it was only 8:04 am, so he definitely hadn't just woken up late.
Concluding that they all probably just had things to go and do, he shrugged and wandered towards the kitchen in search of breakfast, figuring they'd probably be back by the time he finished his cereal.
Just as he got close to the kitchen though, he stopped short as Luna, Astra and Lily leaped out from behind the other room's walls and tackled him in a group hug.
"Surprise!"
Cobalt almost lost his balance at the weight of the three girls hugging him. He was certainly surprised that was for sure, but still confused.
"What's all this about?" He asked as his teammates let him go. "Did I do something to earn this?"
Astra grinned. "Uh, yeah! You were born!"
Cobalt blinked. "Huh?"
Luna smirked and crossed her arms, shaking her head at him. "You forgot, didn't you? Truly shameful."
Astra's mouth fell open. "Did you forget your own birthday!?"
Oh. Cobalt ran through the dates in his mind. It hadn't really registered to him that the day was even close. "Is that really today?"
Lily lifted her scroll to show him; the date was indeed June 25th. "Unless all three of us somehow remembered the date wrong.
Cobalt blinked at it, wondering how in the name of Remnant he'd managed to forget. He'd never forgotten before. Then again, he'd never woken up outside of home on his birthday before either.
"Oh," he replied, "I guess I'm just used to having today hyped up by my family several days in advance."
Luna chuckled. "We would have too, but we wanted to surprise you," She looked warmly at Astra. "It was Astra's idea."
Astra bounced on her feet. "You're the second one of us to turn eighteen! That means we need to have a fun little party!"
"Especially seeing as we've only got two days before term holidays," Lily pointed out. "Seemed like a good time to spend some time together."
"After classes." Luna added.
So it wasn't a weekend, then. Cobalt felt dumb. He'd managed to forget his birthday and what day it even was. The last couple of weeks had been busy as students wrapped up the last of the term's tests and study, and apparently, it had affected him more than he'd thought. Thankfully though, the last of their papers would be turned in today, and they would indeed have the time to relax and throw a bit of a party afterward. It was a nice thought.
He smiled. "Well, thank you guys," He told them sincerely. "This was really sweet," he chuckled, "And it's good to know you didn't all run off and abandon me."
Classes continued as usual, aside from the almost universal breath of relief from every student as they handed over the last of their work for each class, a weight finally lifted off their shoulders. Cobalt wondered how many others were planning to throw a little party of their own to celebrate another term's worth of work over and done with.
The last class of the day was sparring, headed by Coco, as usual. Luna and Astra had gone up against June Celadon and Dodger Blu of Team CDMM, a fight they'd actually lost, but only marginally. Cobalt had still seen June rubbing her back after one too many hits from Astra's semblance.
After the final match finished and the class was brought to a close, Coco approached him and wrapped him in a warm hug.
"Sorry I didn't get to say happy birthday earlier," She apologized. "Busy day."
Cobalt hugged her back. "Hey, don't worry about it," He assured her, "We've all been busy." He grinned sheepishly. "I actually didn't even realize what day it was until the team let me know."
Coco raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't think you've ever forgotten before." She smiled fondly. "I remember how excited you always got for it, too. Always running around the house in your pajamas the night before. Took us forever to get you to sleep."
Cobalt remembered. Very vaguely, he remembered his father chasing him around the night before his fourth birthday, tickling him and riling up his excitement before Velvet took over and settled him down. And then, ever year after that, it had been Coco and Velvet instead. Just before his eighth birthday, it had hit him that Silver would never be the one to chase him before bed again. He'd tried his hardest not to cry that night.
Regardless, though, he'd woken up to his family's celebration every year. The moment the day drew close, it was all they ever talked about, the same applying to Bailey and Kahlua once they'd gotten old enough to understand. Birthdays were a big deal in the CFVY household, so it was weird to have gone the whole month barely even remembering it, because his family hadn't been around to remind him. Both Coco and the twins had celebrated their own birthdays just two weeks ago, and while he and Coco had been able to have a nice lunch together in the cafeteria, all he'd been able to do for his sisters was video chat with them and send Coco over there the night before with their gifts. He understood how crushed Luna had been when she'd thought she would have to miss Blaze's birthday. To celebrate without family…it just didn't feel right.
"I guess it just didn't register, without you guys being around to celebrate with and remind me," he admitted with a sigh. "This is the first time I couldn't celebrate that way I usually do."
"Aw hey," Coco placed a hand on his shoulder. "It was the same for my first birthday at Beacon too. I felt alone without my parents and brothers to celebrate with me. But then, that night, my team surprised me with a giant cake. They'd baked it themselves and had been working on it the whole time I'd been studying that afternoon."
She took off her glasses to look at Cobalt properly. "Your team can be your family too," She told him. "Remember that. You might not be able to celebrate with us, but you can still spend your time with them. I'm sure they have something nice planned for tonight."
Cobalt smiled and nodded slightly. "Yeah. They do."
Coco grinned at him. "See? You'll still be able to celebrate, even if it's a little different. And they're probably waiting for you right now." She ruffled his hair. "Go have some fun. Enjoy yourself."
"Okay," Cobalt chuckled. "Thanks, mom."
On his way back to the dorm, he spotted Storm and Yarrow in the hallway and hurried to catch up to them, an idea sparking in his mind. Even if he couldn't spend tonight with his family, he could still surround himself with as many people he cared about as possible.
"Hey," he tapped Storm on the shoulder, who spun to face him.
"Oh, hey Cobalt!" Storm's face lit up. "Did you need something?"
"My team and I are having a bit of a party later to celebrate my birthday," Cobalt explained. "Did you guys want to come? I think it'd be more fun with more people there."
Yarrow peered up at him, looking surprised. "Both of us?"
Cobalt smiled at him. "Of course!" He replied warmly, suddenly feeling bad at the idea of Yarrow feeling excluded from anything he and Storm did together. "I wouldn't want you having to hang out at your dorm all by yourself. And we're friends, right?"
Yarrow perked up, a smile spreading across his face. "Right! Um, thank you!"
"Of course we'll come," Storm added. "When can we show up?"
Cobalt reminded himself that his team would probably want to take him shopping for supplies before the party actually started. "We should be ready around eight."
"Great! We'll be there," Storm replied. "And hey, happy birthday! I'll have to write the date down for next year."
Cobalt tried his hardest not to blush. He'd be ready for things soon, but not quite yet. Not right at the end of term just as things were calming down. "I'll see you there, then."
With a quick goodbye, he continued on his way to his own dorm, pushing the door open to an impatient Astra.
"Where have you been?" She demanded. "We need to take you shopping!"
Cobalt saw Lily roll her eyes from where she sat on her bed. "He was only gone for, like, fifteen minutes, Astra," She reprimanded. "It's fine."
"Sorry," Cobalt chuckled, "Coco wanted to give me birthday wishes." He hesitated, remembering Astra's uncertainty about Storm, before adding, "I also invited Storm and Yarrow to join us later. Is that okay?"
Astra grinned. "Hey, it's your birthday. You can invite whoever you want. And I talked to Storm, remember? He's…" She seemed to search for the right word. "…Fine. I know he's trying, and that's good enough for me."
"Good," Cobalt replied. "Thank you for giving him a chance."
Astra shrugged and waved a hand. "Ah, don't worry about it. That's not what's important right now." She grabbed Cobalt's shoulder and waved a wallet with her free hand. "Right now, we've got birthday shopping to do."
