Decided to update twice today as a Friday treat and a thank you gift to my readers! :) Hope you guys enjoy!
It was mid-November. "Ahhhh," she yawned obnoxiously as she stretched, sitting up on the bed. She had been reading articles all night about the powerful families in Japan for her research paper; unsurprisingly, she was very familiar with many of the names: Suoh? Ootori? Hitachiin? Mitsukuni? Takashi? She knew the names, some of the members, but she realized she didn't really have any clue about their background… Which family shall I investigate first? She closed her eyes and pressed a random key on her keyboard.
O? Ahaha Kyoya senpai. She smirked and clicked on the first link to his name. Name: Kyoya Ootori, youngest heir to the Ootori cooperation. Birthdate: November 22. She gasped and quickly glanced at the calendar. Monday, Nov. 21. Ah, it's Kyoya's birthday tomorrow… I see. She sighed sadly, carefully recalling the moments in her day at school and the host club. I guess nobody had anything planned for him… it didn't even seem like he knew what tomorrow was… busy rich kids.
She squinted at the clock. 2am?! 2am already?! Whatever I guess I won't sleep tonight, she decided, jumping out of her bed and running towards the kitchen. It was already his birthday. What do I have? What do I have? She quickly pulled out some sugar, flour, eggs, salt, lavender cardboard box for pastries, and a cookbook, a gift from her mother. Next, she ran into the room to retrieve some construction paper, wrapping paper, scissors, acrylic paint and a small stretched canvas, tripping on the way. Ouch. She took a few seconds to recover and laughed to herself thinking about how ridiculous she looked running around her house by herself. Her only hope that night was that she would be able to finish by the morning.
She arrived to class a little late the next morning, since she had to stop by her locker to hide the presents. "Sorry I'm late," she greeted the teacher with a warm smile and hurriedly rushed to the back of the classroom.
"Yeah yeah," the teacher laughed. "You seem like you're in a good mood today."
"Ehh.. No sleep," she shrugged. The twins looked back at her; she did look a little brighter today. By the end of class, they ran over to her desk to ask what was up. She laughed, "come on… what's today?"
"Tuesday," they responded in unison, looking at her with a straight face.
"No sillies," she frowned at them. Do they really not know?
After classes were over, she entered the doors of the host club. Some of his clients should know; maybe the other members will know, she reassured herself, feeling a little sad for Kyoya. He was a great friend, whether he knew it or not, and an integral part of the host club. He did deserve some recognition. But to her surprise… the host club ran like a completely normal day today, even Tamaki didn't even seem like knew. Maybe, they'll do something towards the end… she thought, slowly losing hope.
"Ahh good work today guys," Tamaki complimented his club as he closed the doors on the final customer. He sighed, leaned back on his couch, and looked towards the vice president. "Kyoya." Yuubi immediately looked up. He knows! "How much were the sandwiches for today?" ARGH ARE YOU SERIOUS?!
"Hmm? We spent about a little less than usual," Kyoya chuckled. "I'm still looking for a new company to cater for us, since they might close down soon."
They had forgotten his birthday! She couldn't believe it. She hurriedly pulled the twins, Honey, Mori and Haruhi into the back storage room. They all looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong Yuu-chan?!" Honey asked worriedly.
"You guys it's Kyoya's birthday…!" she announced, almost laughing at the sadness of this situation. Their eyes widened: Is it his birthday? When is his birthday? Have they ever celebrated his birthday before? No. They planned their own birthdays; Kyoya just let his slide. They bowed their heads, feeling partly selfish and partly ashamed. "Hahaha! It's okay," she laughed. "I brought a cake… we can sing to him and say we all baked it together!"
"Is… that really okay.." Kaoru hesitantly asked. He felt like a jerk. How could this be the first time they ever celebrated his birthday?
"Yeah it's better that way," she excitedly reassured, pulling out the sparkler candles and cake from the box and putting them on top of the cake. "Haruhi, go tell Tamaki, and then, someone go turn off the lights of the room." She handed Kaoru the cake and pulled out the lighter.
"On it!" Honey and Mori rushed out of the room.
"Haha fine. I'll go tell Tamaki," Haruhi shrugged and walked out.
"Whoa… Why did the lights turn off…" Kyoya asked Tamaki, who ignored the question and smiled.
"Let's go," she exclaimed, lighting up the sparklers on the cake and pushing Kaoru out of the storage room. Hikaru and she followed close behind.
"HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO YOUUU~" The host members began singing, walking to their confused vice president with a medium sparkling homemade cake. "HAPPY BIRTHDAAY TO YOUUU KYOYA SENPAI. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO YOUU~" Kaoru smiled and gently set the cake on the table in front of the couch in which Kyoya sat.
He gasped. His eyes were wider than ever, even he had forgotten his own birthday because he learned to disregard it over the years. "You guys…" he said as his lips formed into a smile. Did the Shadow King just feel emotion?
"Make a wish," Tamaki placed a hand on his shoulder. Kyoya tried to hide his happiness by keeping his posture rigid and blew out the sparkler candles. The lights went on and the members clapped in joy, pushing him to hurry up and try the cake.
"Mmm," he said. "Who made this?"
"We did," Yuubi exclaimed, before anyone else could answer.
"It's pretty good… interesting flavor," he nodded, taking a slice for himself and cutting slices for the others. They dug in.
"AHHHHHH," the twins and Tamaki turned purple, coughing out of control. "What… is in… here…" Yuubi shrugged and started laughing loudly; her mother had given her a cookbook as a gift because she was so so bad at cooking. Looks like, she never changed…
Haruhi took a bite, "Ahh… it does taste kind of weird, but I don't mind it." She smiled at Yuubi, who laughed nervously and apologized in response.
"Mhm! Me and Mori don't mind…" Honey senpai reassured, taking a big bite. "See?"
"HOW ARE YOU EATING THAT," the horrified trio of the twins and Tamaki questioned, glaring at the homemade cake in repulsion. They laughed.
"I like it," Kyoya defended as Yuubi walked up to him. "Hmm?"
"Here! Happy birthday Kyoya senpai! The youngest son of the Ootori family cooperation…. Eyes: Brown. Hair color: Brown black. Birthday: November 22." she playfully mocked him, handing him his gift, which was small but neatly wrapped and tied with a ribbon. The other members looked up at the two, wondering what it was that she gave him.
"My very first gift from a commoner," he joked back, chuckling while slowly accepting the gift.
"It's nothing really…" she said. "Sorry… wish I could've gotten you a better gift. Unwrap it when you get home… I still hope you like it."
"Heh… I probably will. I don't have much to compare to…" he murmured softly and looked back up with her with a light smile. "Thanks Yuubi."
He unwrapped the gift as soon as he closed the door of his room behind him. The ripped gift wrap revealed the back of the stretched canvas with a card stuck in between the wooden support. A painting? Of course, she's an art student, he smiled. He pulled out the card and began to read it: Happy birthday Kyoya senpai! Why didn't you tell anyone? You know… you're surprisingly selfless underneath that cold front you like to put up. LOL. Well, that's your style. Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful birthday today with your friends and family! Enjoy the little gift; the idea just kind of reminded me of you. I don't really know.! –Yuubi. He laughed, what a bullshitter. He pulled away the gift wrapping paper to look at the painting she had done for him. It was a surrealist style piece. There it was, a large vivid multi-colored flower – filled with bright blues, oranges, reds, and pinks – that seemed to be leaking out the borders of a much smaller traditional looking painting of three plain lavender flowers. The supposedly emotionless vice president stood there looking at it momentarily, unable to separate his gaze from it and hung it up over his bed. Even his insomnia didn't dare to visit him that day; he finally slept like a baby, for once.