Hi welcome back to this fanfic! Thank you all who have read "Birthday Wishes", I wasn't really expecting it to get over thirty views or anywhere in the double digit so thank you very much. Anyways hope you all will enjoy this chapter and maybe give a review ^^
By the time they got back to the Stronghold Craniamon had to go up ahead to Alphamon's office to get his report turned in and also talk with him about how the mission went overall, so he told Jesmon to just wait for him in his room while he gets that done. Jesmon, knowing it was probably going to take awhile, just did what Craniamon told him to do and headed over to Craniamon's bedroom. Entering the purple knight's bedroom, it was modest in its design and everything was neat in his room. The only thing that seemed to stand out in the room was the king-size bed he had. It was originally just a twin-size bed but he changed it out when he got into a relationship with Jesmon, just so it was big enough to hold them both on it. Overall his room just had the necessities he needed for work and relaxation. Jesmon crashed onto the bed burying his face into one of the pillows, humming happily.
The scent of charcoal, sage, sandalwood, and lavender was everywhere in the room, despite Craniamon using only unscented products, his natural scent was just like that and it lingers around in places he's been. It was something Jesmon found fitting about the purple knight but also a comforting scent to the sword knight. Lounging around on the bed, Jesmon's attention was caught by a leather planner resting on the nightstand, he propped himself up and reached over to check it out. For the most part looking through it, it was just Craniamon's usual routine for each day and occasionally what work he had to do for that day. The one thing really caught Jesmon's eyes and caused him to sit up, was during next week would be Craniamon's birthday. He probably would have skipped over it if he didn't notice the small little doodled birthday hat over the date. His interest peaked immensely, he decided to read what was planned for his Sugar Skull's special day.
"...WHY IS THERE NOTHING?! All it is, is just what he usually does and an assignment he has to do! He HAS to have at least something planned for his birthday!" Jesmon grumbled to himself, his brows furrowing looking for any possible birthday plans Craniamon had.
He may have spent maybe a half an hour looking through the planner for the maybe hidden plans when Craniamon entered the room, carrying his armor and bodysuit with a towel around his neck, clothed in just pajama wear. Craniamon raised a brow at the sight of his boyfriend hunched over, grumbling to himself, going through his work planner.
"...Is there something I can help you with?" It was a simple question but with Jesmon being so focused on the planner, he got startled by Craniamon's sudden presence, nearly tumbling off of the bed and losing his grip on the planner.
"AH! O-oh, um, Craniamon! I-I was just..you know looking around...nothing much." He gave a sheepish grin to Craniamon, who was amused at the sight.
" Really? Because it looked like you were going through my planner with the most serious facial expression ever. What? Was it the way I used my planner upset you? Oh! Maybe it's my handwriting that got you all serious!" He let out a rare laugh, causing Jesmon's face to burn up since he barely lets out a laugh normally, maybe a chuckle, but a full on laugh? It was like listening to music.
"What? No! I would never be upset on little things like that, plus your handwriting in general is pretty! I was just looking for something about your birthday, that's all..." Letting out a huff and looking away from the purple knight, trying to calm his nerves and get his face to cool down.
"Oh that's all? What is it you want to know about it?" He walks over to his closet to put away all of his armor and the bodysuit, his eyes burning with curiosity on what Jesmon wanted to know.
"Well um...are...are you planning or doing anything for your birthday? Like a party or dinner." He looked over at Craniamon, as he came over to sit next to him on the bed.
"Nope." Craniamon flatly answered, resting his head on Jesmon's chest and cuddling up against him.
"Wait really? I thought you would have at least something planned for it." His honey eyes were filled with genuine surprise at the answer.
"Yeah, honestly I see it as a waste of time to celebrate my birthday. I have better use of my time on getting things done. But if it's someone else's birthday, I will probably take some time out to celebrate their one." He let out a soft hum and relaxed completely against Jesmon.
"B-but everyone at least celebrates their birthday some way. Even Duftmon celebrates his own birthday! When was the last time you did actually celebrate it?" He asked in complete shock.
"Hmm...I guess it would be my third year as a Royal Knight was the last time I celebrated it. From what I can remember about my birthday." He just answered nonchalantly back.
Jesmon was just flabbergasted by it. Never in his life has he known anyone who doesn't celebrate their birthday, until now. He may have traveled the digital world for the majority of his life, but his Sensei and the Sistermons still found time to celebrate each other's birthday, even if it's small. But that long ago? He was still a Baohackmon around that time in his life!
" Dear Yggdrasil that long ago?! And you sure you don't want to celebrate it this year?" He still had some doubt about Craniamon's answer and plans.
" I am absolutely sure Jesmon."
"So you really haven't celebrated your birthday in ages?" Jesmon asked Craniamon once more, still astonished by that simple fact.
"Mmhmm...again the last time I celebrated was during my third year as a Royal Knight. But I really don't mind, I rather focus on keeping my completion rate high. Also getting just verbal acknowledgement is good enough for me." Craniamon hummed in contentment, snuggling his face against his chest.
Jesmon let out a pout, but then thought of something great, bringing him back to smiling. Craniamon not celebrating his birthday gave him the chance to really set up a surprise that would be a lovely gesture towards the purple knight. There will be a lot of planning and favors that need to be done, but it will be worth it, if it means he will be able to give Craniamon the best birthday he ever had. But he needs to be careful since the purple knight can be very perceptive when it comes to any surprises that are meant for him.
"Okay but if you were to-" He was about to get some sneaky answers from Craniamon but was cut off.
"Jes, you better not be what I'm thinking you're doing" Craniamon opened up his eyes and narrowed them, looking up at him.
"I'm not trying to do that Crania, just wanted to ask a hypothetical about your birthday." Slinging an arm around Craniamon, he continued " If you were to celebrate your birthday how would you do it? What would you want to have for it?"
Craniamon eyes were still narrowed down but he closed them in contemplation, actually giving thought to the question.
"If I were to celebrate...it would probably be small and relaxing. Not that many digimon there, only a couple who I would want to be there. Maybe a couple of presents, not sure what they will be but just things that others would think I like and I can appreciate the thought behind them. For the birthday dessert, Black Forest Cake with Chocolate liqueur to drink. Not sure what to do for dinner, maybe go to a nice restaurant but without telling the staff it's my birthday...I always found that uncomfortable. I think that would be the perfect way to celebrate it." He hummed in delight at the thought. " But that's just something to dream about how I would want it. There isn't really time to do that with my schedule."
The two jolted at the sound of a notification alert coming from Cranimon's tablet. Cranimon let out a disgruntled groan and got up from his comfortable spot against Jesmon. He walks over to his desk and checks to see what was sent to him. After a few minutes of reading it, he changes out from his pajama wear and into his casual clothes.
"Something came up with Ulforce and Rhodo. They need my help with..."getting Ulforce untied from a sparring accident."" He squinted his eyes at the text again, "...I am not sure what the hell that speedy bastard did to get Rhodo struggling with removing his ribbons, AGAIN. I swear sometimes all of the older knights does something idiotic. Ugh, see you later Swords, hopefully later we can have an uninterrupted cuddling session."
"Okay Sugar Skull. Maybe it's not that bad, couldn't be worse than Sir Omegamon getting a leg frozen, while upside down from sparring Sleipmon." He let out a hearty laugh remembering that event, even causing Craniamon to laugh at the memory as he exited the room.
Omegamon wanted to spar the equus knight awhile back. The spar went normal for the most part, it wasn't the first time they sparred. But this time around Omegamon tried to dodge an incoming blow but didn't see the second shot that was being fired just mere seconds after the first one, and ended up getting stuck upside in sort of an awkward position with a leg frozen. Took a good couple of hours before they could finally get them down, just due to how hard it was to get him unstuck from his position. Sleipmon was completely apologetic about it but really only Omegamon got the short end of the stick and got teased relentlessly about it from the other knights. Occasionally the others will bring it up, causing the DNA knight to get immediately all embarrassed from the story. It's a great story to talk about with the recruits and the rest of the Royal Knights.
Jesmon shook his head from the memory, it's definitely something that was never going away for the Second-in-Command. Though there was something now that was at great importance with having Craniamon out of the room.
"Investigate the room for anything that could give me an idea on the best present for my Sugar Skull!" He exclaimed out loud and slid off of Craniamon's bed to begin the detective work.
He carefully walked around the modest room, looking through every spot that could contain any clue on what Craniamon would enjoy for a present. He started off with his closet carefully going through its contents, making sure not to scratch up any of the items, or knock over his armor. There wasn't anything that really caught his attention, though he did notice how the majority of his pants were leather or black slacks, not that he minded.
"Well...I guess I can buy armor polish...but he's already got enough with how much he tends to his armor. But I could buy him one of those leather suits..." Jesmon softly mumbled to himself and his face heating up from the thought of Craniamon wearing those types of outfits.
"Okay Jesmon stop thinking about your boyfriend being in a sexy outfit and get back to looking for possible things that can help with figuring out the birthday presents for him."
He closes the closet and walks over to the drawer and goes through it. Again he found nothing of interest, just buttoned up shirts, undergarments and a couple of stationery items, and only gave him the basic ideas for presents. He let out a huff of annoyance, mostly at himself for not being able to come up with a good idea for a present, also at the fact that it was difficult to figure out a present for the purple knight. Walking over to his work desk, he carefully looks over it and all of the items that were on it. He was about to give up checking the desk, when he noticed a sleek and black fountain pen in a velvet container. He gently picks up the velvet container it was residing in. While the pen looks normal for the most part, it has some age to it and covered in scuffs. But overall it was still greatly cared for and by the looks of it, and was used lovingly.
"How peculiar..."
Jesmon continued to eye the fountain pen and that is when he noticed a small piece of paper, gently folded underneath it. He brought a claw up to coax the paper out from underneath the pen, until he could grab it. Setting the fountain pen back down on the desk and unfolds the paper, reading the contents out loud to himself.
""To Craniamon: I would like to commemorate you for becoming one of the Royal Knights. While this isn't much, I noticed you lack a reliable writing equipment ,and the pencil you have is not cutting it. So I took it upon as the lead strategist, also the others, to at least give you something reliable to use for the future. Sincerely, Duftmon"...never took Duftmon as someone to give gifts...though it still sounds like him...but this explains why Sugar Skull still has this pen, it marks the day he was officially a knight. It's a little worn out though and it doesn't look like it can give any more proper usage." He folded up the paper and put it back where it came from, his brows furrowed as the simple thought came through.
"...I can get him a new fountain pen! It may be simple but, I can get him one that is custom made and make sure to get ink cartridges for it. That way the old one can be preserved for longer and be more of a memento. Yeah that's it, thank you Duftmon for being a great gift giver!...Okay, saying that out loud did not feel right in the slightest."
Jesmon softly hummed in delight excited to finally have an idea on the present for his love. He moved a little too quickly in excitement to get started on getting in contact with a seller that can create the custom pen, but he immediately froze up hearing what sounded like his tail scratching up against the desk. His blood just went cold and his excitement replaced with dread. He turns back around to the desk, distressed that he scratched up something that did not belong to him.
"Oh Yggdrasil no! Ahh goddammit! Why can't I be more careful?! I'm in my boyfriend's room, crying out loud!" He hissed and crouched down to where he heard the sound come from. "Yggdrasil, please let it not be anything serious. Let it just be a small scratch or even better, none at all!"
He carefully inspected the desk drawer, his eyes looking for any scratch marks. He pulls out the drawer, trying to get a better view of all angles, in case he really scratched it up somewhere on it. Yet all of his worries disappeared upon seeing a quaint book residing in there. Its spine was bent, the pages worn and yellowed with age, and the recognizable musky scent of an old book. It was probably the most out of place item he had seen in the room and by the looks of the book's cover, it was of the fantasy genre.
" Huh, never took Crania as someone who reads fantasy..." He picks up the old book with great care, getting a better look on what the title of the book was. "..."A Journey to the Stars"...I think I heard of this book before during my travels with Sensei...It was about a child level digimon who wanted to make their wish come true...huh, it's kinda ironic I found this while figuring out presents. I wonder when he got this or if it's a used book."
He opens up the book to check behind the cover, on the back it says "Belongs to Kotemon." Not only that but it had his birthday alongside with a birthday note, giving away that this was once brand new. He carefully goes through the book, wanting to know if there was anything else. In each page there seemed to be a little note written in the margins and occasionally highlighted text, especially whenever an encouraging quote appeared. But what really caught his attention was a brand new bookmarker that rested in one of the pages.
"He still reads it..." Closing the book and putting it back into the desk drawer. "...I think I can find a hardcover version for him."
A small smile appeared on his face, happy he finally had full idea on what to get for Craniamon. And that they can actually mean something truly special to the purple knight.