Kid Eustass hated his birthday, and always had. It fell two weeks after Christmas, so he never expected anything big, or had a birthday party growing up. They'd tried a few times but most often people wouldn't show up because they were coming back from visiting relatives out of town. When his parents were alive his mom would make cabbage rolls for dinner, his Dad would get a small cake from the bakery and that was that.
When his parents died, Killer began doing the best he could to make sure Kid still got cabbage rolls on his birthday at the very least. Sometimes that meant having to make them the night before his birthday because of his work schedule, or in the early morning. Kid had eventually asked him to stop doing that. They didn't taste the same when they weren't fresh out of the oven, even though he appreciated the effort. He shrugged and asked his brother just get him a cupcake, it wasn't a big deal.
With that being said, Kid never expected anything for his birthday. It was life as usual. Get up in the morning, eat breakfast, brush his teeth, shower, shave if he needed to, apply makeup and go to school. He'd often find the cabbage roll filling packed for his lunch along with his birthday cupcake. Deal with the snide comments about wearing makeup at school. Get asked by ten or more different people if he had a boyfriend yet, endure homophobic slurs thrown his way.
That was most other years, this year he got to eat lunch with his friends, Nia, Ace, and Sabo. Although he was certain Ace and Sabo were just there to be close to Nia. He didn't mind too much. They were stand up guys, and if either of them went for Nia, he'd be okay with it. He'd watch the dude like a hawk, ready to swoop in and kick someone's ass if they crossed her boundaries—but he'd otherwise back off and let whatever would happen, happen.
He'd gone to his afternoon classes like normal, the same stuff as he'd dealt with that morning. More snide remarks, sideways glances and homophobia directed at him. Some of the sideways glances weren't because of his appearance but rather because of his history. He was the town's 'bad boy', the guy who'd done a stint in Juvie for physical assault. How he'd managed to befriend Nia was still beyond his comprehension.
At long last the final bell rang and Kid was surprised to see Nia running up to him. She normally walked home alone after school, he went straight to the auto shop to work for a few hours. Nevertheless he smiled at seeing the 5'0 girl who had turned fourteen just before school started running up to him. He hadn't objected when she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him from the side. He returned her embrace with one arm.
He blinked however when he realized she'd tried to slip something into his coat pocket. It had nearly fallen to the floor but he was quick to catch it. He glanced at her seeing a small black pouch in his hand. He pulled the drawstrings to open it and look inside. He took out what looked like a silver necklace with a goat head charm on it.
"I wasn't sure what to get you but I figured since you're a Capricorn and the Capricorn is a goat-"
"You didn't have to get me anything," Kid interrupted.
"I wanted to," Nia objected, reminding him of what he'd done for her birthday last summer. He gave a nod of his head and acknowleged, "yeah, true. But—I mean it was as much to distract you from what was happening as anything else."
"I figured. So—I wanted to make sure your birthday wasn't looked over this year. I know Killer tries but—well I know how things are," she offered.
Kid stared at the necklace for a moment longer before thanking her and putting the necklace on. The chain wasn't thin or thick, he'd call it average. And it was silver just like the charm. He wouldn't admit it to her, but he could admit it to himself; this birthday wasn't anywhere near as bad as the others.