Happy New Year, everyone!

Sorry, I haven't disappeared. University's simply been keeping me very busy. Immense thank you's to Egoistfangirl for reviewing each of my chapters!

Here's the last part of the birthday arc which just ties up a few loose ends. Now, without further ado…

Hiroki's Birthday - Part 10

It wasn't until the next day that Hiroki actually looked through and opened all his presents. He thanked God that yesterday was Friday and today was Saturday as Nowaki had kept him up well into the night with their "activities".

Sometime during last night, the tie had finally loosened and fluttered down onto the bed, undone by Nowaki and his straining hands. That resulted in, of course, Nowaki promptly flipping the brunette over, immediately switching their positions, easily overpowering Hiroki, and proceeding to show just how much he disliked the teasing. Although, Nowaki was quite successful in showing his lover his appreciation and pleasure at Hiroki's sudden forwardness.

Hiroki reckoned that his lover had probably wanted to have sex until the brunette's day of birth ended, meaning up to the very last second, as the clock struck twelve. Yet, as always, Nowaki had gone above and beyond, continuing their night well into the dawn, allowing Hiroki to fall into an exhausted sleep only after several rounds and to the sound of birds chirping innocuously.

He woke up late, of course, grumbling at the soreness he felt emanating from all sides of his body. Nowaki had woken up alongside him and had exasperatingly refused to let the brunette leave from within the confine of his arms without his morning kiss and cuddle.

By the time Hiroki finally relented, the morning cuddling turning into a session of groping and second-base activities, it was almost noon. Hiroki and Nowaki simply decided to have a big brunch, combining breakfast and lunch into one meal, from the food that Nowaki had made yesterday.

Naturally, Nowaki didn't relent, attempting to pour and lavish the brunette with attention, trying to compensate for the day before. Hiroki refused pointblank, but one look at Nowaki's puppy-dog, sad eyes had him swallowing and succumbing to his lover's antics with a resigned sigh.

-x-

And that's how a flushed Hiroki found himself sitting between Nowaki's long legs, leaning back into his lover's chest, bending his head forward to take the egg roll so kindly held out to him between a pair of chopsticks.

They were currently in the living room of their apartment and Hiroki didn't know what to focus on. He knew he should definitely be concentrating on chewing and swallowing his food, and the presents he was preparing to open, but his thoughts kept being distracted to the agreeable weight of the warm arm around his waist, draped in a lax manner, and the equally warm front he was snugly pressed against. His thoughts in a whirl, Hiroki wondered if maybe he should be more disappointed that Nowaki, for once, was strangely not err...hard.

Eyeing his lover's gift, Hiroki accepted another bite of food, all-the-while ignoring the raven's ridiculous comments as well.

"Say ah~, Hiro-san!"

Hiroki scowled, but did not make any other movements, though he was sorely tempted to pinch a certain raven who was proving to be quite incessant that day and whose thighs (an extremely sensitive spot for pinching) were conveniently quite close to his twitching hands.

As for Nowaki, he was quite satisfied with the situation right now. It agreed with all the plans he had imagined about for spending the day with his Hiro-san yesterday but never got to.

"Nowaki, you didn't get me anything suspicious, did you?"

Hiroki seemed to be asking that question a lot lately. But it was just his luck that he ended up with the oddest of presents and in a crappy way at that. Not that he didn't appreciate them (albeit, he had to do so with a lot of effort sometimes) because it's the thought that counts, but couldn't they have been just a tad bit more tactful? Hiroki wondered sometimes.

He had received a yukata last year from his mother (To use when? He didn't know. But which Nowaki nevertheless had liked for its openness and easy access on him) and had received those damned Junai Egoist novels from Akihiko (which, again, Nowaki had more fun with). Let's also not forget Nowaki's present: a box full of briefs (not boxers) because his lover was just too much of an idiot and thought that briefs were sexier than boxers. Hiroki was completely lost on that little bit of the raven's reasoning but still couldn't stop feeling as if he was being pranked by all the people in his life. The recollections made him wince.

"Of course not, Hiro-san!"

Hiroki didn't believe it and narrowing his eyes, he reached for the silver box. However, Nowaki intercepted quickly, saying, "Ah….Why don't you open the other presents first, Hiro-san? Open mine last."

Hiroki directed a suspicious glance at his lover but only found twinkling eyes gazing back so he reached for the shiny, red, gift-wrapped box next. He vaguely remembered his mother reaching out across the table, yesterday, handing the gift to him.

Curious to what his mother had gotten him this year, and especially one in so small a box, Hiroki deftly and neatly slit the gift wrap, tugging the item out of the enclosing shiny paper. He blinked once and grinned excitedly as he saw the Mac Apple symbol and realized that it was an iPhone.

An iPhone! His mind repeated again needlessly. Freeing the contraption from all its packaging, Hiroki admired it, turning it this way and that, and found his name already engraved on the back as light glinted off of the metal.

"Nowaki," Hiroki shifted slightly so that he could show the gadget to his lover.

"Wow, Hiro-san! Now, we can take lots of good pictures with it," Nowaki replied excitedly. And Hiroki suddenly felt something foreboding at the edge of his thoughts, warning him to keep the device as far away from his lover as possible.

"Err, right," Hiroki hurried to say, getting the item out of his lover's hands and following his weird hunch.

He moved onto the next present, the one from Akihiko. Leaning his head forward to close his mouth around another bite from Nowaki, Hiroki fingered the teddy-bear patterned gift wrap and unwrapped it. His eyes widened and the brunette was bewildered as he held in his hands a familiar journal of Akihiko's. Flipping through the first couple of pages, the writing confirmed the originality and its author.

Hiroki was mystified.

The thin notebook was one of Akihiko's journals from childhood. But it had a red cover instead of the ubiquitous blue colour Hiroki remembered among all the other journals he had read when they were young. Frowning, Hiroki flipped back to the first page to see the first words.

"What is it?" Nowaki asked, not particularly liking the stunned look and wide eyes on the brunette's face.

Hiroki was startled out of his thoughts by his lover's voice. He blinked once before showing the journal and saying somewhat fondly, "It's a journal - from Akihiko. I've only ever read the journals which contained his stories. But this seems to be a personal account of when he first met me."

Nowaki frowned. His lover's tone unsettled him. The underlying sense of nostalgic remembrance in his Hiro-san's tone left him feeling excluded and only enforced the fact that while Nowaki knew Hiro-san the last couple years, that damned Usami knew his lover from childhood.

"Oh?" He attempted to say nonchalantly. "Why don't you open my gift now, Hiro-san?" Nowaki tried to subtly direct his lover's attention away from that irksome man.

Hiroki set the journal aside and picked up the silver present again. Tearing the paper, and opening the cardboard box, Hiroki blinked as he found a silver, premium wristwatch.

"Nowaki," he said uncertainly, shifting his position and facing his lover.

Relocating the bento box filled with food to the floor, Nowaki was compelled to pull his lover closer, burying a hand in those soft brown strands, at his Hiro-san's questioning tone.

"It's a Titan* wristwatch," Nowaki explained. "Turn it over."

There, on the back, was engraved in impossibly small letters:

Always with you.

Hiroki looked on with wide eyes. An engraving on a watch asserting their love, Hiroki thought disbelievingly, astonished.

"I knew you wouldn't want to wear a special ring or a chain everyday, especially publically in front of your students. So this was the next best thing I could think of. A watch that you can casually wear everyday, but whose true intent only you can understand. And it will always remind you of me. So, Hiro-san, wear it everyday and let your thoughts only be filled with me!" Nowaki said enthusiastically.

Hiroki blushed, both at the thought behind it and that Nowaki would now really be haunting him at every thought when he wore it. That brat! He should have gotten a chain or something so he could have collared the idiot too, Hiroki thought, scowling. But he couldn't deny that he was pleased with the gift.

"But really, an engraving?" Hiroki asked.

"They wouldn't let me have a bigger sentence on there," Nowaki pouted in response.

Hiroki unexpectedly felt a laugh building in his chest. Overcome with how grateful he really was for having Nowaki in his life, Hiroki leant forward with a grin and stole the breath from Nowaki, placing a searing kiss meant to convey all the fondness, desire, affection, and devotion he held for the raven.

"I love you," It didn't matter who whispered those words between them. Both knew the other felt the same.

Omake:

"Here, Miyagi-kyoujyu told me to give this to you," Hiroki said, handing over a small gift bag to Nowaki. Hiroki hadn't peeked into the bag despite how very much he wanted to for his superior to gift his lover.

Nowaki slid the content out of the bag...and his eyebrows shot up. It was the Kama Sutra**.

For the Gay.

Hiroki's blush reached the roots of his hair and he snatched the book away from the raven.

In the next moment, Nowaki could barely restrain his incensed lover from throwing the book out the window.

"Hiro-san! Really! What would the neighbours think if they see that book coming out of our window?"

Miyagi Yoh was a dead man, Hiroki thought with a ferocious expression.

Somewhere, someplace, an oblivious Miyagi innocently whistled a tune merrily.

*I know nothing about the company. I just saw an ad then, of watches, when I was writing this.

**I don't know much about the Kama Sutra either. Artistic liberty was taken to the usage of this title. I don't mean offence to anyone.

And that's the last of Hiroki's Birthday arc! Phew, I'm happy to have it finished and relieved to get it out of the way. Now that I look back, I realize that it was a bit drawn out and could be more concise. Well, it was a beginner attempt, so I will just have to work more on that in the future.

As for this final part of the arc, it was written very rushed and in scraps of time, so I'm not quite satisfied with it, but again, I'm glad to get it over with.

Expect another update before or on the new year. Next chapter title: The Demon and the Typhoon.

Thanks!

-Black