A/N: Happy New Year my friends! Welcome to 2018! I hope you had a wonderful holidays with your friends and families and here's to a safe and happy year for us all.
ThatFanFicGuy: I second that! Thank you so much my friend, I'm so glad you've stuck with my works for so long and enjoyed them; your kind words mean the world to me.
Shigiya: That's my dastardly plan, to flood the world with so much fluff that everyone suffocates and goes into diabetic comas.
Magicantix: Thank you friend! Your tears of joy are my sustenance. I thought it was about time, and Constanze would definitely go for the mistletoe strike at Christmas so it was the perfect opportunity. I hope your holidays were as joyful as mine friend!
A Potato: Merry Christmas my friend. I felt that double smoochies were an adequate present for you all, and from what I've heard in feedback, my assumptions were correct. Thank you so much!
And yeah I'm not sure what happened with that, there was a whole section cut off in the document. I probably fucked something up, but it's fixed now!
I've had a few issues with the middle of this chapter as I had already exceeded the word quota with just the beginning and ends. I then fell into the vicious cycle of WritersBlockStressProcrastinateBlockGetsWorse. Shit sucked.
But its done! And I hope you all enjoy it.
Sucy Manbavaran used to have a rather negative view of birthday parties, which became joy when the date of her birth was actually acknowledged and cared about.
But in a house so full of people, it was always someone's birthday. always a party being thrown. And over the years the alchemist's special day turned into just another party without meaning.
"It doesn't have a meaning." The elderly witch had said when a younger Sucy voiced her concerns. "It instead has feelings."
The concept of birthdays was still new to her at that point, having never received anything like it in all her years before living with Ramzan. Sucy had tilted her head at her adopted mother, a silent plead to elaborate further.
"It's about the ones you love giving thanks for your existence. A day to reflect on how their lives would be lacking without you."
She remembered huffing sardonically on this day just a year prior, Ramzan's words echoing in her head. "People would be better off without me." She had growled, looking at her pale and creepy face in disgust.
"Sucy~ wakey wakey!"
This year was different however.
Akko was bent over the alchemist desk, her face supported by elbows resting on the wood, hands squishing her cheeks cutely. Her smile was bright and sunny; her eyes twinkling with excitement and passion. Sucy wished she could get that excited about something.
The birthday girl rolled her face away from the window towards her girlfriend, the rays of light shining from her teeth causing Sucy's mask to crumple. She smiled back, swapping the hands used to prop up her face.
"I've been awake for many hours now Akko; been awake for the whole class." Sucy snarked, using her non supportive hand to poke the brunette's nose. "Unlike someone I know."
Akko's face scrunched up from a mix of pressure to her olfactory system's main organ and the alchemist's jab. "But it's your birthdayyyy! We need to throw you a big party!"
"Please don't." The alchemist huffed desperately, pouting and giving Akko the closest thing she had to puppy dog eyes. "I don't want a party, I don't want anything loud. All I need is a nice evening with our friends."
The girl seemed to deflate slightly, her dreams of bombastic celebration shutdown, but straightened her spine in a rare show of discipline. "Alright. Anything you like Sucy, It's your birthday!"
Sucy's smile returned, a small but genuine thing that made the brunette's heart skip. "We can watch tonight's fireworks if you like. Bring a few blankets to stay warm?"
Cuddling together on that bench at Christmas was a new addition to the alchemist's favourite memories; something about having a pocket of warmth all to themselves, sustained by their beating hearts, was incredibly cozy to her.
Nodding excitedly at the proposition, Akko pushed her hands against the desk and leaned closer, pressing a sweet peck to her girlfriend's forehead. "It'll be the best fireworks watching ever! Just for you!"
"Just don't go overboard."
But that would be difficult, as for Atsuko Kagari, going overboard was as natural as breathing.
Her next few classes were without Akko, and were mostly spent accepting nervous well-wishes from her frightened classmates that wanted to stay in her good books. It was exhausting, responding to hollow words that held no feeling behind them, though the rare few girls who genuinely wished her the best made it bearable.
Jasminka was one of those rare few, greeting the birthday girl with a bright smile and a homemade cupcake. It was purple with white frosting, like those Akko prepared in culinary class, though further care was taken to make it look like a species of mushroom.
"No matter how much you dislike people, you still gave us a chance. This is to say thanks, for being our friend." Now that was feeling, and it hit Sucy right in her still defrosting heart.
"Thank you Jasminka." She murmured with real gratitude, a tiny smile forming as she watched the kindly Russian light the candle.
She could have said something similar, about how grateful she was for Akko's friends treating her as one, but that would have gotten too real too quick.
"Make a wish." Constanze demanded as she appeared suddenly beside the larger girl.
A part of the alchemist resented Constanze for forcing mistletoe over her head at Christmas, but that was overwhelmed by a loud majority that was grateful for the push.
"Can I take a rain-check on the wish? I don't have anything right now." Although she didn't particularly believe in the magic of birthday wishes, Ramzan raised her to never waste one on something frivolous; the sentiment still stuck.
"You have until midnight." Constanze agreed, stone-faced as ever but with a glint in her eyes.
Midnight came quicker than the alchemist expected, the entire afternoon and evening eaten up by mindless fun with her friends and favourite girl.
Sticking to the birthday girl's wishes while still keeping that party spirit, Akko had stuffed their dormroom with balloons, streamers, and other decorations but constrained the celebratory events to a simple marathon of some of the alchemist's favourite movies.
The movies were entertaining enough, but what Sucy found infinitely more so was having a quivering Akko snuggled tight against her during the movies' more gruesome moments.
She wrapped a comforting arm around the girl's body, pressing three kisses to her temple; from that moment onward, Akko kept her overactive imagination busy by choosing different snacks to feed to her girlfriend.
It was such a haze of cuddles, kisses, and general sugar that Sucy sort of floated along for hours on end, her hand never separating from Akko until the time had come to watch the fireworks show.
They had found a spot on the hillside a little ways away from the actual gathering, benches magically grown out from the tree's bark to give them a dry place to sit. Almost everyone in the alchemist's sight had a thick blanket around their shoulders; some blankets held multiple people, all cuddled together to efficiently generate heat.
Around them people started chanting, counting down the time left in the year while looking up at the sky.
"Ten!"
The alchemist looked to her left and right, at all of her friends sharing this night with her.
"Nine!"
Constanze and Jasminka had a video camera moving across the field, capturing the last moments of the year, and preparing to capture the first of the next.
"Eight!"
Amanda winked at her, gesturing to the brunette and making an obnoxious kissy face.
"Seven!"
Lotte caught her gaze, smiling brightly before returning her eyes to the stars. Her glasses were missing from her face, placed carefully in her lap, and Sucy could see how much the girl had grown. Akko seemed to bring out that growth in people.
"Six!"
This is what she wished for, thinking back to the past year and how quickly her life had turned around. Real friends that treasured her existence, the future ahead bright, Akko at her side. She wanted what she had now, wished for it to remain until the end of days.
"Five!"
Sucy turned her head to the brunette, who had joined in with the chorus, counting down excitedly, her ruby red eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Four!"
Akko looked so damn cute, cuddled up against the alchemist's arm, head of chocolate brown hair resting on her shoulder, cheeks flushed pink from the cold outside their wool sanctuary.
"Three!"
And as the year ticked to a close, Sucy's heart overflowed with a sudden uncontrollable urge; she cursed Amanda's name for putting the idea into her head. But it wasn't too bad of an idea: wasn't there a thing about kissing someone as the year turned over?
"Two!"
'Fuck it.' The need burned through her reservations and the alchemist turned, lifting a hand to Akko's cheek. Their gazes met, half lidded to curious.
"One!"
The sky lit up in gorgeous plumes of colour, sparks showering down from the sky like falling stars. The crowd around them cheered, oohing and ahhing as the new year began with a bang.
But for Sucy, the new year began in darkness: eyes shut to fully immerse herself in the lips of another. She felt Akko's arms wrap around her neck, the brunette taking in a deep breath of the chilly night air. In response, her hand took hold of Akko's neck, giving the alchemist leverage to intensify the kiss.
It was a deeper kiss than their first two; longer and full of fire. They may not have been looking up at the sky, but the two did indeed see fireworks.
Eventually they broke apart, foreheads pressed together and breathing heavily. Two pairs of red eyes met, two smiles exchanged.
"Happy birthday Sucy."
"Ah, but it's not my birthday anymore is it?" The witch teased, baiting a flustered response, her smile turning into an impish grin. "You missed it."
But instead of a red face and puffed cheeks, all she got in return was a hug, a soft and sweet embrace filled with love.
All things considered, she liked that outcome better.
A/N: ONE KISS AH AH AH. TWO KISS AH AH AH. THREE KISS AH AH AH.
Happy New Year Nerds.
So there's gonna be a scheduling change with Day After Day and Rose in Winter in the new year. I also may just end Day After Day here and start up a separate oneshot collection. Tell me in reviews what you would prefer.
The scheduling change is as follows:
Day After Day (or whatever I call the oneshot thingy) will be on Monday's
Rose in Winter will continue to be on a 'When it's Ready (tm)' schedule but I'm aiming for Friday's
There's just gonna be a lot on my plate in the first few months of the year and it will be difficult keeping up the bi-weekly updates.
Until next Monday friends!