Hello! Today, the 10th of March, is the anniversary of Lemonhope part 2 first airing and Lemongrab 3 making his debut as a character – so in a way it's his birthday! And I wanted to write something for him Massive thank you to everyone who reads my writing.

"When's your birthday, Lemongrab?"

Lemongrab looked over at where LSP was lying on the floor of his bedroom - she was reading a magazine while he was doing paperwork for the Lemon Earldom's first ever census. They normally did their own things when they hung out together. It was pleasant not to have to talk if he didn't want to, or even look at her facial expressions, but he wasn't sure how normal it was. She'd left her magazine open with her purple hand resting on a glossy page, and her other hand propping up her cheek. Her usually orange star was grey because she'd turned off her power to fly.

"Pardon?" He asked.

LSP made a face as she realised what she'd just asked of him and mentally kicked herself. "Do you have a birthday?" she rephrased. "Like I guess it'd be complicated for you, but do you have one?"

Lemongrab crossed his arms with a hmm and leaned back in his chair. He was still holding the fountain pen he used for paperwork, and twirled it with his fingers as he spoke. "I had not given it much thought. I suppose I was never truly born so I cannot have aaaa birthday. My predecessors had birthdays, but not meee…"

"What about the day you got brought back to life? I mean, it's basically a birthday. Also you can still celebrate their birthdays as your own, right?"

"Nnngh no. The day of my activation is the same day that my predecessors died. I do not seeeee anything to celebrate," Lemongrab said grimly. He didn't like their anniversary. He was never sure how he should feel about it, and each year that he still couldn't make up his mind about his emotions, another year had passed, and they were still gone, and the pain never went away. He was still waiting for it to get easier, but it didn't.

He normally went down to the cemetery to place some flowers on their graves - Lemongrab 2's would be covered in lilies and lemon blossom by the lemon people, while he was the only one who put flowers on the first earl's grave. Mainly because he felt sorry for his older brother. He'd created the lemon people so he wouldn't be alone, and they'd all decided they didn't love him anymore. Even if he deserved it after all he did, it was a cruel fate. His worst fear came true. The lemon people avoided him, the third earl, as well. He had few things in common with the first lemon person, but that seemed to be one of them.

"Besides I am not a particularly… noteworthy creature. I do not believe a birthday is necessary," he added.

"Dude you're worth a ton of notes! But if you don't want to have a birthday then I get it. I just thought…" she trailed off, sounding almost sad, "Anyway, doesn't matter. Sorry. Hope your census stuff is going math." LSP turned her attention back to her magazine.

Lemongrab was now intrigued. "Whyyyy did you inquire as to my birth?"

"I dunno I don't wanna like- make it into a whole thing if you don't like birthdays."

"Tell me."

She fiddled with one of the pages. "I just thought that you might like a birthday present or something," she said quietly.

Lemongrab's eyes widened and his pupils briefly narrowed. "Aaaaa present? For me?"

"Yeah! Like… maybe you don't think you're a big deal but I think you're totally great and acceptable. So I thought maybe you'd like it if I got you something." LSP slowly raked her claws through her hair, looking flustered. "But I get that it's difficult and I don't want to make you feel bad by like, bringing you a something-something when you're grieving. I understand if you just want to be left alone. I wanna be alone too sometimes," she said the last two sentences softly, gently in a way that sent a tingle down his spine.

Lemongrab looked down at his paperwork and reread the first lines of the formal clauses to calm down his hammering heart. It always made him feel giddy when she worried about him. He still wasn't used to someone thinking about his feelings (would he ever be used to it?) so each time she revealed how much she cared about him, it was overwhelming. "I-Iiiii see. Hm. I have never been the recipient of aaaa gift before…" he admitted awkwardly. "A present would beee acceptable. But do not force thineself!" he added quickly.

"What sort of present would you like?"

"O-oh. Hm. Let me seeeee… hm. I do not know. Nnngh… surprise meeee?" he said uncertainly. That was something people said about presents, right? He added his signature to another piece of paper, but could barely control the shape of the line as he wrote his name and drew a neat lemon. It was the same signature his predecessors had - no point changing it, he'd have to redo all his paperwork. He turned the sheet over and stopped, smiling to himself. His own birthday…

"My birthday is the 10th of March. This is the day I was reanimated," he told her.

"Awwww you have a Spring birthday! I guess that fits your personality."

"It does?"

LSP nodded. "Yeah you're kind of curious about things and like, you're sensitive, you're nice- I dunno it just feels right I guess? Ha ha." she coughed awkwardly. "I have an autumn birthday so that fits how I'm kind of moody and sullen."

"I do not believe you are moody!"

"Eh. Count yourself lucky you haven't seen me in a bad mood yet." There was the papery sound of her leafing through her magazine, looking for something. "Also apparently you're a pisces - that's the fish constellation."

Lemongrab smiled, "I like fishing!"

"I'm a Libra, which is the scales. I was born mid-October, so I narrowly missed being a Scorpio. But I think it still rubbed off on me. Lol. I don't really believe in that stuff though," LSP said as she checked to make sure their signs were romantically compatible in her magazine. They were. Lemongrab made a hmm noise and the soft scratch of his pen resumed. She liked listening to him writing, or turning pages as he was reading while she did her own stuff. She liked that they could hang out without looking at or talking to each other, but she wasn't sure how normal it was to enjoy it as much as she did.

She worried a lot about stuff like that: she didn't want to mess up. She'd messed up with people she liked before in the past, very badly, and she was determined to be better. But being better was hard. At the time when she'd gotten easily upset over every little thing and lashed out at people, and lied about living in the woods until she couldn't hide it anymore, or when she'd stood people up that she really, really wanted to be close to just because it was easier to leave than to slowly watch them drift away from her like all her friends in Lumpy Space had - she'd thought it was all fine to do that. She'd been so sure. How could she trust herself to know that what she was doing now was the right thing? And Lemongrab was a strong person - much stronger than he'd ever give himself credit for, but he was also so, so very fragile and he didn't even realise.

LSP nervously stroked her fingers through her fur again. "Are you sure about me getting you something for your birthday though? I don't wanna do anything uhh, unacceptable. I don't wanna overstep if you're gonna be like, mourning and sad all day…"

"That is precisely why I would appreciate a present from you."

"Oh. Okay." LSP turned back to her magazine but the words were unreadable. It always made her feel giddy inside when she realised how much she meant to him.

Lemongrab had set up his cane seat in the cemetery grass. It was waving in the breeze around his ankles, with a few flowers dotted through the green around the three graves. They read Lemonblombo, and then the same name twice. As he'd expected, Lemonblombo and Lemongrab 2 had been buried in flowers as lemon people came in and out of the cemetery to pour their grief onto the stones. Some of them placed lilies, others roses, and most of them dropped lemon blossoms. Lemonlamb and Ploptop both came up to him to hug his legs when they visited, and he patted both of them on the head. Maybe some of the Lemon People did like him after all? In the corner of his eye he could see the grave laid out in the darkest tree shade, with no flowers anywhere near it.

He tapped his fingers on the underside of his seat and looked down at the mourning display. White lilies, blue forget me nots and white roses, with a few dark red ones thrown in. A dark red rose meant enduring, undying love for the departed. An oriental lily meant eternal life. A life that carried on being lived after death. A soul not allowed to rest, but forced to go on alone. But at least he got to go on…

"It is myyyy…. Birthday today." The word tasted foreign on his tongue, like he'd taken a bite out of a cake meant for someone else. That same stale taste of guilt, no matter what you'd eaten. The grave he addressed didn't say anything. But that was to be expected. He didn't know why he'd even said that.

There was nothing else to do in the cemetery, and he was beginning to grow tired. Some days the fatigue was better, other days it was worse and he felt overwhelmed by lethargy. It seemed today was one of those days- he felt exhausted though all he'd done was sit in the cemetery for a while. It wasn't shaping up to be much of a birthday.

Lemongrab shakily got to his feet, picked up one of the dark, brooding roses and tossed it on the first earl's grave before leaving. Just because he still loved his brother didn't mean he had to like it, and it didn't mean he'd ever forgive him for anything. But if it was him buried, he would want flowers, gifts…

Lemongrab hadn't actually given LSP a time to show up. Maybe she was waiting for him right now? The thought made the corner of his mouth twitch. He'd felt empty all day but the thought of seeing her made his heart prickle with feeling again. He realised he'd been mistaken when he said no one had ever given him a gift before. LSP had given him a parting gift once…

"Oh my glob… is she going to kiss me again?" He'd asked her to surprise him. And he got the exciting, tingling feeling that she was going to do just that. "It would be nice if I got given another kiss. Oh goodness. What am I thinking? Maybe she will just get me a pair of socks. Shameful thoughts- my predecessors are dead yet I am preoccupied with courtship. Unacceptable." But as unacceptable as it might be, Lemongrab kept guessing what his gift was going to be.

Back up in his room, he leant his cane seat by his desk and rang the servant bell.

"Squire," he addressed the lemon subject who scampered into the room. "Has anybodyyyy visited three castle since my absence?"

"No, my lord."

"Oh. I see. Yes. Yes, of course. Mmmm you may go, BUT-" the lemon subject turned and looked at him over its shoulder, "call for meee if you seee… anybody purple." The subject looked confused and left.

Lemongrab sat on his bed. Now that he took a moment to notice it, his body felt heavy. Like he was full of lead, or weighed down by the chains Lemongrab 1 had kept in the dungeon. Unacceptable behaviour from his body. Didn't it know it was supposed to be his birthday? Of course not. It didn't mean to hurt him, it just did.

He changed into his pajamas and lay under his bedcover, his eyes closed. Sleep didn't come for him anymore the way it once had. He used to be able to sleep in the afternoon, but now he couldn't sleep even at night. No matter how tired he was, or how much he wanted to escape into the nice dreams he sometimes had. Where nobody was dead, and they were all together again in a way that wasn't a stitched together mess.

He was jolted from his misery by something tapping on the glass of his small window.

"Nnngh WHAT?" he called. He sat up slowly and swivelled around to see who'd distrubed him. LSP was floating at his window, waving at him. "Oh my glob!"

It had slipped his mind that she was going to visit him. He hobbled over to the window and fumbled with the clasp. She floated in like an awkwardly smiling, huge balloon and sat on his bed. She was holding a wrapped present (though it was mainly strips of wrapping paper cellotaped together, it seemed) and a flower bouquet.

She'd clearly combed her purple fur and put some hair clips in. Her eyelids were a pinker purple than the rest of her face, and her lips were shiny and glossy. Lemongrab realised he was in his pajamas and bowed stiffly at her.

"Pleeease most gaciouslyyyy forgive me for myy, ahem, unacceptable attire. I was… abed. The tiredness- I apologise."

She waved her hand dismissively, and he realised she'd painted her claws a lovely, pretty pink colour. "It's fine. I think you look sort of cute in your pajamas."

"O-oh… I see…" Standing up was starting to make him feel dizzy, so he crawled back into his bed. Her weight pressing down on the mattress meant he slid down towards her ever so slightly. "I am sorry for myyy improper conduct. You see… I am fatigued due to myyyy condition…"

"Hey it's okay! You told me ages ago." He had? He really was becoming forgetful. "It's fine. Whatever makes you comfortable."

"It is a breach of conduct… You are a princess…. Iiii am an earl," he fretted.

"Yeah but it's your Earldom, under your jurisdiction. So it's fine because you're in charge over here. Plus I come from another dimension where we don't have any formality rules anyway, so since I'm a foreign dignitary you have to respect my customs or whatever. Plus you're my boyfriend so it doesn't even matter. And it's your birthday." LSP smiled at him and extended the flowers.

Lemongrab took the bouquet from her, trying not to smile too hard. The flowers were shaped like upturned tear drops and each had a speckle of orange nestled inside. Crocuses, purple and yellow. He'd seen a few white ones blooming in the fields when he went out on his camel, and more blossoming in the cemetery, but he hadn't taken notice of them. Spring had come without him even noticing. He thought about what LSP said about how it fitted him to have a Spring birthday.

There was something about the earth coming to life again after the cold dead winter, and the sun starting to shine a little more bravely each day that he felt connected to. But it was hard to keep going on like that. Recovery wasn't linear, and even though the Earldom was prospering and he'd never been happier, he was still so tired all the time. And so weak, and so sad. How did the saying go? March comes in like a lion, and leaves like a lamb. One day so strong the next so weak. He supposed it was something like that.

"They are nice. Thank you," he said eventually, and rang his bell so the lemon squire could put them in some water, and set them on his desk. LSP grinned to herself.

She pushed the gift towards him. "Open it."

"Aaaa command?"

"Nah. But y'know, it's for you so…" Lemongrab took the wrapped present gingerly. It was much lighter than its size would suggest, and softer too. Lemongrab tried to peel the wrapping paper off without tearing it, but the huge amount of cellotape made that impossible. He made frustrated noises and ended up ripping it off to reveal-

"Aaa…" Lemongrab picked up the curious object and held it up to examine it. "Toy?"

"It's a shark!" LSP said quickly. "I learned how to sew so I could fix my own clothes and my sleeping bag and stuff when I lived in the woods, so I thought I'd try and sew a plushie for you. And you said you like fish and I thought that sharks sorta have teeth like you, plus there's a species called a lemon shark!" LSP rambled on and then asked desperately, "D-Do you like it?"

Lemongrab looked into the lemon shark's face. It had two black button eyes, and an open mouth full of sharp felt teeth. He ran his tongue over the back of his own fangs as he turned it over, noticing that she'd sewn gills on - he did like sharks, so the attention to detail made him happy. "Hm! I do!" Lemongrab hugged his new doll and stroked his hand down it. Real sharks had sharp dermal scales on their skin, but he liked that this one was soft.

"It will not break if I drop it. What a lucky lemon I am." Lemongrab set his shark down next to him, so it's head was resting on the pillow. "Hm! Thank youuu princess. I was not expecting toys…"

"Oh my glob do you not like dolls anymore?" LSP panicked. "I thought you said-"

"I dooo! I dooo! I simply, hm. It is a rather frivolous and- and silly past-time. I am after all aaaan adult. Not to mention a government official…" He scratched at his cheek, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"I think you can still like dolls and toys as an adult," LSP said, "I mean… I like plushies and furbies and stuff. They're really cute, and they just make me feel nice, y'know?"

"Yes. Iii also feel nice, because of myyyy shark. Hm!" Lemongrab patted his shark like a pet. "Iiii shall name him LSP."

LSP looked flustered. "W-what after me?"

"It stands for Little Shark Playmate," he explained. "But also… it is named after you I suppose. Thank you. I shall cherish my new boy." Lemongrab smiled at her and she smiled back. It was early evening outside, so the hazy, fading sunlight glinted off her star prettily and her fur was speckled with shine. She looked soft, and glossy, and so pretty. His hand twitched as he thought about stroking her, but then thought better of it.

Lemongrab looked down at his hands to avoid looking at her any longer. No matter how many times he saw them, they never quite looked like his. He had one hand from each predecessor. His left hand had silvery stretch marks around his fingers and wrist, with a sewed on thumb. Lemongrab 1's claws were sheathed inside each of his fingertips, and he had to be careful with them. The second Earl was made in a hurry in a pantry, so he didn't have some of the less necessary lemon features - so no claws. His teeth had been blunter too. His hand had lost each of its fingers in the explosion, so Lemongrab's right hand looked like it was wearing five strange rings with red stitches instead of jewels.

He pushed his hands under the covers to hide them. While it was obvious even without knowing anything about Lumpy People and their beauty standards that LSP was very beautiful, it was equally obvious that he was the ugliest candy person to ever exist, even without being told this was the case. He often wondered exactly what she saw in him. It was easy to make a list of all the reasons someone might hate him, but like him? Love him? Bring him flowers and gifts and sit with him, comfort him? It was unusual. It was unexpected. It felt almost unreal.

LSP took one of his forearms in each hand, and he realised he must have been silent for a long time. She seemed concerned. Her black eyes were shiny with worry, and he liked it when she looked at him like that. Like he needed to be looked after. "Do you want to talk about it?"

By it she meant the three graves buried under the lemon trees. He felt quite ashamed that actually, on the anniversary of the death of the only family he'd never had, he'd been worrying about whether she found him attractive enough, of all things. It was a frivolous concern. He'd never told anyone about these feelings, because vanity was ridiculous. And also because he hadn't felt like he could talk about it, or had anyone who would listen. That meant he hadn't realised that it did matter to him that he didn't feel worthy of love, or that this was an important thing to tell the person he loved.

Sometimes he would randomly remember his mother standing in a stone mirror in the place of his forlorn reflection, smiling at him. Come Earl of Lemongrab, let us enjoy the game of catch. I am eager to relate to you. But it wasn't her voice coming out of her mouth. It was his way of speaking, his strange, formal, awkward way of addressing people. It hadn't been real. It had just been his reflection. But when he remembered it, it was like a cold, clammy, corpse-like feeling came over him, because she would never say anything like that to him in real life. Because she didn't love him, and that was what was real.

"LSP…"

"Yeah?"

At other times he would remember when it was real. The sound of bird wings and the distant smell of smoke. The war was right next to them but for the moment, things were quiet. They were going to die, but they were alive then. And they were together. Oh tender lad, I give you the parting gift of my lips. That was his way of speaking, but it wasn't stiff and formal, coming from her it was like poetry. His heart had been practically banging against his armour. The adrenaline and the fear of dying, and the danger, and her hands touching him without flinching from how disgusting he was had all felt dreamlike. It had been like a dream. A dream come true. She'd kissed him, but it hadn't been a dream. It had been real. He kept reminding himself that this - all of it, was real. She did love him. She did.

But it was one thing to love an earl in shining armour, and another thing to love a grieving, fatigued, neurotic mess who still played with dolls and was hanging on to life by one red thread.

"Even though I am… not a knight, or a hero," he began sadly, bending his head over so she couldn't see his face, "or aaaa prince, or even someone who has a place among theee living. And I am lemoncholy, not to mention I have aaaaa difficult personality. And I look weird." he glanced up at her, pleading, "But despite all this- am Iiii still your tender lad?"

LSP's hands moved up his arms and around his torso. She was warm and the fur against his face was soft. "Of course you're still my tender lad! My dearest chuck. My fine fellow. My glory of the morning and my- Is that too much?"

"Oh no not at all!" Lemongrab did an anxious dance over her back with his hands as he tried to figure out where to put them. "Anyone would like hearing such sweet things. No one has ever made me feel so okay inside as you do." He finally rested his hands on the back of her top lumpy, stroking the curl of fur under his right thumb slowly.

"I like you too, Lemongrab. Happy birthday." she pulled back and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a clear smear of lipgloss behind. He let out a short scream, because a lemon cared by yelling. And he cared. He really did.

Lemongrab's mouth split into a sharp toothed grin, and his pupils narrowed into two thin slits. That meant he was happy. She'd always loved how expressive he was. But all this was probably tiring him out and he'd already been exhausted when she came in.

"You should probably go to sleep now, yeah?" LSP said pleasantly.

He nodded and looked like he was trying to muster up the courage to say something. "Princess… if you are tooo leave…" he fidgeted under his bedcover and moved his hand to rest on her arm, "may I offer you aaaa parting gift?"

"Yeah?"

"The- the parting gift of myyyy…" Lemongrab paused before mumbling; "sour kiss…"

LSP looked surprised and then she nodded, blushing. "I accept."

Lemongrab leaned forward. He'd never actually initiated a kiss before, so he was scared he wouldn't do it properly. But once she kissed him back, and let go of him to put her hands on his face so she could hold him there the fear all melted away like it had never mattered. He still wasn't sure what to do with his hands but she didn't seem to notice. When they pulled away he leaned his forehead against hers and nuzzled her gently.

He realised how tired he really was. The realisation had been creeping up on him, and now that he felt safer than he'd ever felt in his life, he wanted to rest. LSP pulled the covers up over him when he lay back down, pulling his soft toy close to him. He flopped one arm on top of the blanket, so she could hold his hand.

"Goodnight dearheart," she said to him.

"Good night, Princess," he closed his eyes and gave her hand a final squeeze, "My Princess…"

The thing about the seasons was that they were always shifting. Winter started on a different day each year, due to the tilt of the Earth's axis and old pre-Mushroom war calendars. Spring normally started in March, sometimes on the 20th, sometimes on the 1st, sometimes it would even start on his birthday. But until then, Spring and Winter could share.

The hands may have belonged to other people, but the sensations were all his.