Hey guys, I just want to make a quick note before your read this chapter. There is some pretty bad stuff that's said here and so I'm just warning you if you get offended by that easily. I personally don't support it, but just keep in mind that it's part of the story.

M.O.

Chapter 6 Uh-Oh

It was February 11th and Kiku was ecstatic. Several months had passed and he and Alfred were still together. They enjoyed each other's company and spent a lot of time with one another. It was Kiku's dream, now today was finally his birthday. Alfred said that he'd gotten some things for him. Kiku didn't usually have a birthday party, and his friends in Japan usually forgot when his birthday was. It was almost weird for Kiku to have someone that wasn't his mom or dad give him a gift. But it was a good weird, Kiku was really excited. He walked into his first period and took a deep breath. Before he could say something to Alfred, Mr. Densen hopped in front of him.

"Good morning, Kiku."

Kiku frowned, Mr. Densen had been unusually mean to him over the past few weeks. Maybe he'd caught on to how happy Kiku had been and he just really wanted to drive his needle in.

"Hello Mr. Densen." Kiku looked down.

"I heard," He tried to make eye contact with Kiku. "That today is your birthday."

"It is."

"That's great, Kiku." He grinned, causing a rush of concern to wash through Kiku.

"Yeah, uh thanks, Mr. Densen." Kiku tried to step out of the way, but Mr. Densen stepped in front of him again.

"Do you know what that means Kiku?"

"Uhh, not really?" Kiku furrowed his brows together, he couldn't think of any time when Mr. Densen had done anything for anyone's birthday before in his class.

"It means that you're going to be the star for today." Oh no.

"What do you mean, Mr. Densen?"

"I mean that you're going to go up for every single thing I tell you to go up for. That way you can showcase your talents for the class."

"You've never done this to anyone before."

"No, you're right. I just think you're very special."

"Well, what if I don't want to.

"That's not your choice."

Kiku frowned. He stepped away from Mr. Densen and went to sit in his seat. His birthday was off to a bad start. Alfred fidgeted in his seat.

"Hey, what was Mr. Densen talking to you about?" He leaned over and asked.

Kiku scowled. "He's gonna make me perform a lot today."

"What? But it's your birthday!"

"I know. That's why he's saying he's gonna do it."

"That's completely unfair!"

Kiku just shook his head and scoffed. "I should have expected it from him." Alfred fidgeted again. "Why are you so fidgety today?" Kiku put his head on his desk and asked.

Alfred smiled nervously. "Well I was just thinking about your birthday gift."

"My gift? Do you have it with you?"

"Well I do, but I was actually just thinking. Could I give it to you at my house after school?

I kinda want you to open it just with me."

"Oh," Kiku was surprised. "Yeah sure, that's fine."

Alfred grinned. "Great!"

Mr. Densen walked to the front of the classroom and clapped his hands together. "Alright class, let's begin, shall we?"

Lunch couldn't come fast enough for Kiku. He was having a terrible birthday. Probably the worst birthday he's had in a long time. Mr. Densen had made a complete fool of him in drama. He knew that Kiku couldn't really act. He had Kiku do improv, games, and some random exercises that Kiku was sure he'd just made up. After that, Kiku had been so frustrated that he'd failed his pop quiz in English class, Miss Arlovskaya hit him for not paying attention because he had been thinking about the bad test and how angry his parents would be. He rubbed the sore spot and frowned. He hadn't even seen Ludwig or Feliciano in passing period.

Quickly as he could, Kiku made his way over to his usual lunch table. No one was there yet. No Arthur, Francis, Ludwig, Feliciano, Gilbert, Elizabeta, or Alfred. He plopped down on the bench and pulled his lunch out. He had made little candies to give his friends but no one was there. He pulled the bag of candies out and stared at them. Maybe all the friendships had been an illusion. He opened his lunch box. Today his mother had packed his lunch. Kiku's mother always packed his lunch on his birthday. She'd left a note inside. Happy birthday, my love! I hope it goes well! Kiku scowled and crumpled up the note. Shoving it in his pocket. He appreciated the gesture of his mother leaving the note, however he was having such a bad day that he couldn't bear to look at it. He picked at his lunch for about five minutes until he heard some very loud whispering coming up from behind him.

"Don't drop, it you clumsy oaf! I put a lot of work into making that."

"You know I could have made it!"

"My ass you could have made it! I think I'd rather just let you carry it."

"If you're so worried about it why don't you just carry it yourself? Bloody Frog!"

"Because I wanted you to feel like you helped."

"Please, you're just a lazy French bastard."

"Watch your mouth, you black sheep!"

"Shut up, we're getting close!"

The voices stopped. Kiku thought he heard some slapping noises too but he couldn't be sure. There was no denying it was Francis and Arthur but he couldn't even think to imagine what they were up to. He continued to pick at his lunch until they appeared in front of him. Both of them had these weird smirks on their faces. Arthur didn't smile often, when he did though it was either fairly adorable or pure evil-looking. Today it ventured toward the pure evil side. Francis looked just straight-out devious.

Kiku took a deep breath. "Hello."

The two of them looked at one another. "Kiku, today is your birthday, non ?" Francis asked.

"Yes it is my birthday, thank you for remembering. Would you like a candy?" He tapped the bag of candy and pushed it toward them a little. "I made it for you guys and the others."

"Maybe in a bit, because first we have something for you."

"Have something for me? You didn't have to get me anything, I'm actually fairly relieved you have shown up."

Francis and Arthur looked pained for a second. Arthur spoke. "No, Kiku we wanted to get you something! We worked really hard on it."

Francis cleared his throat. "I worked really hard on it."

Arthur glared at him. "We worked hard on it."

"Okay, sure. You did so much Arthur…!"

"I swear Frog I'm going to-"

Kiku didn't want to listen to the arguing now. "You guys. What is it?"

Both of them froze, Arthur revealed a cake from behind his back. In that moment Kiku had really hoped that it was just Francis who had worked on it. Though Arthur looked fairly smug. "We baked it just for you."

"Yeah! Happy birthday Kiku!" Francis grinned and sat down as Arthur put the cake down.

Kiku looked at it, it wasn't a very big cake but he didn't care. No one had ever baked him a cake before, only his mother and that wasn't even on every birthday. He blinked back tears of happiness. It had some frosting on it and it looked like it was chocolate. Happy Birthday Kiku was written out in really nice cursive script. "Ar-Ar-thank you!" Kiku finally blurted out. "Really thank you! This means a lot to me! L-Let's all share it."

"Kiku you don't have to share it with us." Arthur smiled at him.

"No, I want to! Please, let me go get some forks."

"Well if you insist Kiku, let me get the forks at least Kiku." Francis started to get up but Kiku stopped him.

"No, really let me get them!" He stood up quickly. "I really feel like it would be right." He hurriedly went over by the lunch lines. There was a place where they had forks, knives, spoons, straws, napkins and condiments. He walked over to the grey container with the silverware in it and grabbed four forks. Maybe if Alfred stopped by he could have some cake too. Kiku promptly made his way back over to the table and was surprised to find that Feliciano and Ludwig were there too.

Feliciano ran up to him and hugged him. "Ve~ happy birthday Kiku!" He quickly kissed Kiku on both cheeks and handed him a small gift.

"What's this?" Kiku asked, taking the gift and shaking it a bit.

"Your birthday gift, of course!"

"Can I open it now?"

"Of course~!"

Kiku carefully unwrapped the gift. It was a box of Italian food. Obviously made by Feliciano. There was pizza, pasta, some salad. Kiku had mixed feelings about it. "Wow, Feliciano did you make his for me?"

Feliciano nodded. "Yeah of course I did! I think my food is some of the best and you haven't tried it yet!"

"Thank you Feliciano, you're giving me a gift means a lot. Thank you for remembering my birthday. You know I've made some candies on the lunch table if you'd like to take one."

"Candies?" Feliciano's face lit up. "Sure I'd love one!" He happily skipped over to the lunch table and grabbed a few from inside the bag.

Ludwig approached Kiku and held out a gift as well. "Happy birthday, Kiku."

"Another gift?" Kiku set Feliciano's gift down and took Ludwig's. "Can I open this one now too?"

"I don't see why not." Kiku smiled and blinked back more tears. He opened this gift carefully as well. Kiku didn't really like to destroy paper. It was a coo-coo clock. "I made it myself."

Kiku's eyes widened. "You made it yourself? Wow! This is really well done! I mean really…" Kiku inspected the clock though there was nary a flaw. "Incredible, there isn't one mistake."

Ludwig blushed a little. "Danke, I mean- thank you. It's really just a hobby of mine."

"Well I really like it!"

Ludwig brightened. "Thank you!"

"Do you want some candy? I've made it myself, it's sitting near my lunchbox."

"Um sure! Thank you Kiku."

"Of course."

Kiku smiled and put his gifts down by his lunch box. He went to sit down but before he could he felt someone tap his shoulder. He couldn't mistake the laugh for any other. "Kesesesese, hey kleiner Japanische Mann. I have a gift for you and it's way better than some dumb clock."

Kiku turned around only to find Gilbert and Elizabeta behind him. He smiled. "Oh? You have a gift too? I wasn't expecting such kindness…"

"Please, you don't need to thank the Awesome me and kindness just comes naturally. I am after all the greatest and most-"

Elizabeta elbowed him. "Gilbert, shut up, you're doing it again."

Gilbert winced and glanced at her. "What? Oh, um sorry. Here you go." He held out a roundish gift for Kiku. "Happy birthday! It's from the both of us!"

Kiku took it and found it was very soft. "Arigato. I mean- thank you! If you want some candy I made it's in a bag by my lunch."

Gilbert instantly brightened. "Candy!? Awesome! Kesesese" He floated over to the bag and took a bunch.

Elizabeta patted Kiku on the shoulder. "Happy birthday, Kiku, I hope you like the gift."

Kiku gave her a small bow and she went to join Gilbert by the candy. Kiku opened his gift to find that it was a small circular pillow with a face that sort of resembled his own. It was cute. Carefully Kiku put the gifts into his backpack so they wouldn't get crushed. He then sat down in front of his lunch and smiled. Everyone who he cared about was here. Well, except Alfred. He couldn't help but wonder where Alfred might be. He knew that he was going over to Alfred's house after school today, but that didn't excuse the fact that he was nowhere to be found. It usually didn't matter if Kiku was going over or if Alfred was coming to his house, he always showed up at lunch. Still, all his friends had been so nice. He wasn't going to let Alfred's absence bring the day down. He ate his lunch happily and joked with his friends. Eventually Francis, Arthur and Kiku all started to dig into the cake. It was chocolate, and really delicious too. It wasn't until the last five minutes of lunch that Alfred showed up. Gilbert and Elizabeta had already gone and Ludwig and Feliciano were about a seat away. Lovino had showed up and mumbled a happy birthday to Kiku, but was really more interested in seeing his brother.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" He sat down next to Kiku and leaned into him a bit. "Oh, hey, cake!"

"Do you want some?" Kiku asked and handed him the unused fork. There wasn't that much of the cake left but it was a decent portion. Francis was still watching his weight, Arthur didn't have good sugar very often so too much made him sick, and Kiku had eaten his whole lunch before starting the cake so he was already fairly full and didn't eat that much.

"Heck yes, I want some!" Alfred took the fork and dug into the cake with gusto. "Fanks Kikoo!" He said with a mouthful of cake. "Happy birfday again by teh waee."

Kiku smiled. "Thank you, I've also made some candies for everyone. If you'd like the rest you can have them…" He handed Alfred the bag, whose eyes were now wide.

He swallowed the bit of cake in his mouth. "Woah! Kiku thanks! I feel like it's my birthday!" He laughed and shoved the candies into his backpack.

Kiku smiled. He liked to make Alfred happy. Arthur and Francis were looking at them funny, but they didn't really say anything. Kiku turned back to Alfred. "I'm meeting you by the stop sign after school right?"

Alfred nodded. "Yeah totally, where else would we meet?"

Kiku shrugged. "I don't know I was just making sure."

"Well that's where we're meeting." Alfred smiled and bumped Kiku's shoulder with his own. "Don't be late~!"

Kiku smiled. "I won't be, don't worry about me."

"Great! I'm looking forward to it!"

"Me too." Kiku tried hard not to blush, but he was sure a light one came through. The bell rang and everyone started to pack up their backpacks.

Alfred looked at the cake. "Hey can I take this, since you won't finish it?"

Kiku smiled. "Sure, go ahead. It was really delicious."

"Thanks Kiku, you're the best!" Alfred took the platter and leaned in to kiss him, though then remembering that he was in a public place stopped and just bumped him with his chest instead. "See you later bro!" He said and jogged off to his next class. Kiku slowly packed his things up as well and walked to his own class.

The rest of the school day went quite a bit happier than the beginning of the day had. It breezed by for Kiku, actually. He waited for Alfred impatiently by the stop sign. He was on time and after Alfred had said to be on time now he, himself, was late. It was kind of ironic actually. Finally Kiku heard Alfred's footsteps from behind him.

"Sorry, Kiku! I really had to go to the bathroom!"

Kiku turned around and rocked back on his heels. He looked up at Alfred. "It's okay, I just thought…well I don't know what I thought. I'm happy you're finally here though."

Alfred grinned. "Let's get to my house! Both my parents are out for the day, my dad has some work emergency and my mom had to go buy new groceries."

Kiku began to walk and Alfred followed. "How do you know your mom will be out grocery shopping?"

"Well I may have had a hand in cleaning out the fridge, and telling her that I really wanted a few things."

Kiku's mouth formed a small 'o' shape. "Alfred F. Jones you're devious!"

Alfred laughed and looked at Kiku. He licked his lips. "Well now we can be as loud as we want~!"

Kiku pushed him a little. "Quiet down."

Alfred only laughed and started to talk about Superman again. "You know what's so great about Superman?" It was another "you know what's so great about Superman?" conversation.

"That he's a hero?"

"Well yes, but that isn't what I was going to say."

Kiku raised his eyebrows a bit. "Oh, really? What's so great about Superman then?"

"That he has two identities."

"I don't really understand. You're going to have to elaborate."

"Well I mean like sometimes he's Clark Kent and sometimes he's Superman. Just like sometimes I try to act like a regular heterosexual male in school, but when I'm with you after school I really get to be myself and I get to be your hero." He grinned at Kiku. "So in a way, I'm like Superman, right?"

"You know, the same could be said for me." Kiku shoved his hands in his pockets and smirked at Alfred.

"Yeah but, you're not involved in as much as I am!"

"Oh, what's that supposed to mean? I'm not as popular?"

"That's not what I meant Kiku. I just wanted to talk about Superman."

Kiku frowned. "Let's drop it, it's my birthday today." Kiku hated pulling cards like this one but he really didn't want to fight on his birthday. Kiku and Alfred had fought a few times and it usually wasn't pretty. It never got too serious though, they never broke up. Kiku just didn't like fighting so he tried to avoid it as best he could. Sometimes Alfred could be so stubborn though, the fights then just couldn't be helped.

They reached Alfred's house fairly quickly. As soon as the door was shut both boys kicked off their shoes and charged upstairs into Alfred's bedroom. After that first time Kiku had come over, Alfred had never really bothered to clean his room up much for Kiku anymore. Though Kiku couldn't help but tidy up a little on his own, Alfred always stopped him. Like today, there were clothes strewn about the room and his bed was unmade. A poster had begun to fall off the wall and some of the things on his dresser were knocked down. Not to mention he had food wrappers and bottles of water everywhere too. Kiku put the poster back up and began to pick up some of the clothing.

"Alfred, you should really tidy up in here more often."

Alfred sat on his bed and crossed his legs. "Aw, come on, Kiku! You sound like my mother! It's your birthday I want to give you your gift…"

"I won't be able to do anything until it's at least a little neater in here." Kiku dropped a pile of clothing into Alfred's laundry basket. He then began to pick up the rest of the clothes.

"You should pick up after yourself. It's not healthy to sleep in such an environment."

"It's perfectly fine!"

"Alfred I'd like to enjoy my gift and not have to think about the mess." He dropped another pile of clothing into the laundry basket.

Alfred got up. "Okay, okay, okay. Let me pick the mess up alright? You sit and open your gift and I'll pick it up."

"Really?" Alfred almost never offered to do something like this.

"Yes really! Just open your gift."

Kiku went over to Alfred's backpack. "Well where is it?"

"It's right on top of all my books." Alfred had begun to pick up the empty water bottles and food containers and throw them in the trash bin.

Kiku opened Alfred's backpack and saw that there was something flat and soft on top of all the haphazardly placed books. They were all out of order to Kiku, who kept his organized from biggest to smallest. Alfred's books, on the other hand, had just been thrown randomly into his backpack. There was no order to them at all. He picked it up and sat down on the edge of Alfred's bed. He opened it gingerly, trying his best not to rip the paper.

"I hope you like it." Alfred said suddenly. He'd just thrown the rest of the trash into the garbage can and sat down next to Kiku.

"I know I'll like it." Kiku smiled and Alfred leaned behind him as he pulled it out of the wrapping paper. It was a red, white and blue kimono. Kiku's eyes widened. He'd never gotten such a nice gift in all his life. "Oh Alfred." He said as he held it up to get a better look at it.

Alfred scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Do you like it? I wasn't sure what size you were…"

Kiku grinned. "Like it? I love it! It looks perfect!"

"Really? That's such a relief!" Alfred threw himself back on the bed and Kiku put the kimono away in his backpack.

"I'm going to put it here with my other gifts because I don't want it to get destroyed."

Alfred nodded and sat up. "That makes sense."

Kiku went back over and joined him on the bed again after zipping his backpack back up. "So what now?"

Alfred grinned at him. "Well I did say both my parents were out."

Kiku scoffed. "You're always so straightforward with such things."

Alfred held Kiku by the waist and kissed his neck. "It can be part of your gift!"

Kiku chuckled and brought Alfred's face in front of his own. He kissed Alfred on the lips. Alfred grinned and kissed him back. It wasn't long until Kiku felt Alfred's tongue slide along the edge of Kiku's lower lip. Kiku opened his mouth and let Alfred spring his tongue into his mouth. Kiku gripped Alfred's hair and flitted his own tongue across Alfred's. Both of their eyes were closed. Alfred pulled Kiku in closer. After a minute Alfred pulled away and looked at Kiku.

"Kiku, I…I love you."

"What?" Kiku's eyes grew big. "You love me?"

Alfred pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah, I think I do."

Tears pricked in Kiku's eyes. "I-I think I love you too."

Alfred's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" Kiku smiled brightly and kissed Alfred. "I really love you."

Alfred continued to smile and kissed down Kiku's neck again. His nose stopped when it reached Kiku's shirt. Kiku froze.

"Can I?" Alfred asked. In all the months they'd been together, they'd never been naked, let alone shirtless, together.

Kiku swallowed and nodded. "B-But you too…"

Alfred looked down at himself and nodded also. Kiku had never gone this far with anyone before and he wasn't sure if Alfred had either. It was all really awkward. He thought back to when he'd caught Arthur and Francis the one time at the party. How had they made it look so easy and natural? Kiku pursed his lips and watched Alfred take his shirt off. He stared at his chest. It was toned and somewhat tan. Kiku blushed substantially. He began to feel self-conscious of his own pale, non-robust chest. Reluctantly, he lifted his arms up and Alfred took his jacket and shirt off. They both sat there awkwardly for a moment just staring at each other. Slowly, Kiku touched Alfred's chest. Alfred smiled and leaned in, he began to kiss Kiku again. Only this time he was a little more aggressive. So was Kiku. Alfred gently brought Kiku down on the bed so that he was straddling him. Kiku wrapped a leg around Alfred as he began to kiss down Kiku's chest and stomach.

They'd never gone this far before. Kiku could feel that he was getting hard and Alfred was close enough to him that he could feel Alfred getting hard too. Alfred's face got closer and closer to Kiku's belt. He even tugged on Kiku's pants a little. Kiku arched his back as Alfred continued to kiss him. There was panting and moaning, but they never heard the door open and close from downstairs. They never heard the footsteps coming up the stairs and they didn't hear the door to Alfred's bedroom open.

It wasn't until the voice of Alfred's father spoke that both of them froze. Alfred was as pale as a ghost. "Alfred F. Jones, what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Alfred slowly turned to his father and inched away from Kiku. "D-Dad?"

Alfred's father was angry, he was more than angry. Kiku had never seen someone react like this to something before. His whole face was red, and blue veins popped out of his forehead and neck. He started shouting at Alfred. "Don't you talk to me with that filthy mouth of yours!" He hit Alfred. He hit Alfred hard.

"Dad please-!" But Alfred's dad didn't stop.

He kept hitting Alfred and cursing at him. "You think behavior like that is acceptable in this house?! How long has this been going on?! My son is not a faggot! I don't raise sissy boys!"

"Dad!" There were tears coming out of Alfred's eyes.

His father kept smacking him, though. "I said not to open your dirty mouth!" He kicked him again.

Kiku tried to help. He tried to jump in and pull Alfred's father off of him. "Please, Mr. Jones! It's not Alfred's fault! Please stop!"

Alfred's father tossed Kiku to the side however, and spit on him. He continued to swing at Alfred. "Don't touch me! You ought to leave this house! And if I see you again, you'll be sorry!"

"Kiku, leave!" Alfred shouted hoarsely.

"No, I can't leave you here, like this! I should call the police!" Kiku ran up and tried to pull Alfred's father off of him again but he was just tossed aside again.

"Kiku, you'll get more hurt than me, just go!"

Kiku was crying. "I don't want to leave you like this!"

"Please, get out!"

Kiku wanted to help Alfred. To pull his father off of him and hit him back but he knew he couldn't. As quickly as he could Kiku gathered up his things and bolted downstairs. The sounds of Alfred getting hit by his father echoed in his mind. He tried to get his cell phone out of his pocket but he couldn't get a grip on it. He kept running all the way to the front door, pausing for a moment to see if Alfred's father had stopped rapping him. He could still hear those horrible noises. Kiku threw open the front door and ran down the stoop. He saw Alfred's mother pulling in and waved her down.

"What's the matter, Kiku?" She said as she rolled her window down. "Did you get into another fight? What happened to your shirt? Are you crying?" Mrs. Jones looked concerned.

Kiku tried to wipe the tears away from his eyes but they wouldn't stop flowing. "M-Mrs. Jones, y-your husband. He came home while Alfred and I were- I think Alfred is really hurt. He won't stop hitting him."

"Oh my God." Mrs. Jones turned the car off and ran inside. Kiku heard a lot of screaming. He didn't want to leave Alfred but he was scared, and he ran. He couldn't stop crying, though. No matter how hard he tried, the tears just wouldn't stop. To Kiku it had seemed like the whole event had happened in slow motion. Kiku kept running, he ran until he couldn't anymore and he collapsed on the sidewalk. Weakly, he pulled himself into the grass and put his shirt and jacket back on. He felt absurd without them on. He took that moment to just lay on the grass and think about what happened. Why hadn't he called the police? He couldn't now, he had no evidence against Alfred's father. He thought about texting Alfred, but he was too scared to. So he just laid on the grass and cried. Some birthday this had turned out to be.

Kiku stayed there until it got dark. He never got hungry and he only moved at least once. Finally he figured that he would have to go home and he didn't know what school tomorrow was going to be like. He got up slowly, his whole body felt heavy. Kiku dragged his backpack to the nearest bus stop and took the bus back to his neighborhood. He dragged himself home as if there were weights on his feet. Kiku walked into his house and set his backpack by the stairs. He had left his shoes at Alfred's house and just noticed now. Quietly, he walked into the kitchen. His mother was there. She saw that he had a few bruises.

"Kiku! What happened to you?" She came over and inspected his face.

He looked away from her. "I fell down the stairs at school, it's not a big deal mother." He pulled away from her and sat down at the table.

She sat across from him. "You always say that. Did you have a good birthday though?"

Kiku forced a smile and nodded with the best effort that he could. "Yeah, all my friends gave me gifts and two of them even baked me a cake."

His mother looked surprised. "A cake! Wow! Well I guess that will make two for the day then." She smiled and brought out the strawberry shortcake that she had made. It was Kiku's favorite.

Kiku's father walked in. "Ah, I see we're going to celebrate!" he looked at Kiku. "Kiku what happened to you, are you alright?"

Kiku nodded tiredly. "Hai, I just…fell down the stairs at school."

"Oh, you should be more careful next time!" He smiled and patted Kiku on the shoulder.

"Maybe it's just those old shoes you have."

"Yeah, maybe." Kiku shrugged and looked at his mother. "Can we start now mother? I'm really tired and I'd like to go to bed."

"Yes, we can." She leaned forward and lit the candles on the cake. "Now then, make a wish Kiku."

"And make sure it's a good one." His father added.

Kiku shut his eyes and thought. I wish that Alfred is alright.

He blew out the candles and opened his eyes again. His parents smiled and clapped, which brought a small smile out of him.

"And now for your gifts!" His father beamed.

"Gifts?" Usually Kiku only got one gift for his birthday.

"Well we figured since this year hasn't been all that easy on you, we wanted to get you more than one gift this year. So we got you two."

"Wow!" Kiku was genuinely surprised.

"Okay, first gift. I picked this one out." His father grinned and walked out of the kitchen. While he was gone, Kiku's mother cut Kiku a small slice of cake. He ate it lazily. After he was about halfway through the slice his father returned with a wrapped box. He set it down in front of Kiku and motioned for him to open it. Like he'd done with the other gifts, Kiku opened it carefully trying not to rip the wrapping. When he opened it, he discovered it was a new pair of sneakers. No wonder his father had made the odd comment earlier.

"Thanks, dad!" He said, and hugged them to his chest. This ended up being one less thing to worry about for Kiku now, considering he'd left his old pair at Alfred's.

His mother got up from her seat. "And I have your next gift." She grinned and pulled an envelope out of a cookie jar. "Your father and I figured that since you've found such good people like Alfred to spend time with, we thought it might be fun if you two went to a concert together."

She held the envelope out and Kiku took it, he tried to control his hands from shaking.

Slowly he opened the envelope and inside were two tickets for a concert that was going on in a few months. Kiku's mouth went dry. "Th-Thank you mom, and dad. These gifts are really wonderful." He felt tears coming to his eyes again. "I wish I could stay around and celebrate like I usually do but, I'm really tired. Is it okay if I just go to bed?"

Both of his parents smiled at him understandingly. "Yes. Don't worry about the dishes tonight. It's your birthday, so go get some rest."

Kiku nodded and walked upstairs gradually. When he got to his room he collapsed on his bed and sobbed. He cried and cried until he finally fell asleep.

Well that was it, this is a really big chapter! I was nervous about uploading this one... Anyway tell me what you think because I'd love to hear some feedback. You guys are great.

I hope you have a great week.

M.O.