'Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~' Mousie, Gnocchi and Dee sing.
The candles on the cake were slowly melting, the wax running down to pool on top of the cake's frosting. Kit's hand twitches at his side. He wants to pull them out before they can keep melting and ruining the cake.
He should, but…
"Master Kit!" Dee's voice breaks through his thoughts. "Make a wish!"
Kit snaps out of his stupor to see everyone surrounding him looking at him expectantly.
"Hurry up! Blow out the candles or I'll do it!" Dee says eagerly.
"Huh? Oh–" He hurriedly puts out the small flames.
Dee cheers. Gnocchi claps excitedly.
"Happy birthday, Master Kit!" Mousie cries.
"Alright, alright," Kit feels a bit flustered all of a sudden, "that's enough." He motions for his students to calm down. The three of them were definitely making too much of a ruckus. "Thank you but…" he rubs his neck somewhat self consciously. Birthdays had never held much significance for him, and at 28 years of being alive, they had completely lost all novelty.
So when coming to the office today, he hadn't been expecting any type of celebration. When lunchtime came around though, he had been surprised to see his three apprentices presenting him with a small cake and birthday candles.
"It's really not that big of a deal…"
"But it is that big of a deal!" Dee argues. Next to them, Mousie nods enthusiastically. "Look, Gnocchi's mom even went to all the trouble of baking a whole cake! It would be horrible to let it go to waste!"
Ah, so this was all about the cake…
"Dee's right," Mousie continues, "you can't say it's not a big deal. After all, just some time ago… we really thought…" her lower lip starts trembling and her eyes turn watery; just the memory of Kit's near death experience is enough to send her back into a crying fit sometimes. "No, no," she rubs her eyes with her sleeve, "I can't even say it…" she sniffles.
Gnocchi pats her arm comfortingly. "So, Master Kit, how does it feel to turn even older?" Gnocchi teases. "Next thing you know, you're retiring and taking out your pension."
"Gnocchi, you little–!" Kit raises his hand to smack him. However, he stops at the last minute. A few months ago he had almost died, so now, the thought that he was able to actually turn one year older was… It was recomforting, in a way.
So many things had happened in such a short period of time, it was hard to imagine himself from back then. Before, the thought of getting closer to 30 would have sent him into despair, but now, he finds he doesn't care all that much. In fact, he's glad. Turning older no longer seems like the dreaded thing it was a couple months ago.
"You can take all the time you want remembering past times later, old man!" Dee is growing impatient. "Cut the cake! Cut the cake!" She motions with her hands for him to hurry up.
"Okay, okay. " Kit looks around for something to cut the slices. "Where's the knife?"
Surprisingly— yet also not— Mousie pulls out a switchblade from her back pocket. "I have this."
Kit splutters. "Mousie! Give me that! You can't be carrying that around!"
"Aw…" Still, she obediently hands it over.
"Actually," Gnocchi speaks up, "I have one. My mom told me to bring one. She said there were probably none at the office, so…" From his bag, Gnocchi takes out a kitchen knife with its respective knife guard.
Bless Gnocchi's mom for thinking about everything. And for making sure to wrap it up in protection. Otherwise, knowing Gnocchi, someone would most likely have gotten harmed.
Kit takes off its protection and cuts a slice for each of them. They offer some to Jessica, but she declines.
"I'm on a diet," she says.
Dee shrugs and asks for seconds. Refusing her request for a third slice, Kit actually has to physically restrain them to keep her from trying to eat the cake with their bare hands. Dee with a sugar rush is not something Kit wants to deal with.
After securing the cake back in its box, Kit offers it back to Gnocchi.
"Oh, no," he pushes it back, "my parents said this was for you. So take it back home with you. Even the knife. It's not like they need it at the restaurant or anything."
"Well… Thank you." Kit stares at the box. What the hell was he supposed to do with an almost entire cake by himself? Perhaps he would try to share it with some of his neighbours. He's definitely not going to finish this alone.
The rest of the day goes by as normal. It's paperwork and more paperwork. Even after months have passed since the incident, the amount of paperwork has not slowed down.
He almost doesn't notice when closing time comes around until Mousie and Gnocchi are leaving.
"Bye, Master Kit!" Dee waves at him as they head out with Jessica. " See you tomorrow!"
(Even after things had returned to normal, Dee hadn't gone back to living with him. Instead, it was decided she would be better off living with more motherly influences than… well, him.)
"Ah! Bye, Dee." He only manages to look up to see them leaving already.
The office feels quiet. Aster is out; back on out of town missions. Kat had left last week back for the capital. And Baz…
He was out of the hospital already, but he still hadn't been coming to work. After that day at the hospital…
Kit blushes, remembering what had happened.
Everytime he found his mind going back to that moment, he would end up feeling confused, excited and embarrassed all at the same time. They hadn't really spoken after that day. Well, they had spoken, they just hadn't SPOKEN. But to discuss where their relationship stood now, it was more than Kit could handle.
Whatever, Kit thinks. They have time to sort this out later.
He finishes up the last page he had been working on and tidies up his desk. No use staying over time. After all, it was his birthday; he could indulge himself a little.
When he walks out, there is someone waiting for him.
"Baz?" Kit calls out to him.
"Kit!" Baz's face immediately lights up. "You're finally out!"
"How long have you been waiting?"
"Hm…" Baz taps his chin. "Not long. Got here at around the time Gnocchi was leaving. Had to bribe him to keep his mouth shut and not spoil the surprise, you know?"
"Surprise?" Kit asks.
"Me, of course. Aren't you surprised to see me here?"
Kit sighs. "Yeah…" He doesn't lock the door behind him. The Director is always the last to leave; she will take care of it. "Why didn't you come in, though?"
"And have Fluorite see me? She would kill me!" Baz shudders. "Seriously," he leans in to whisper to Kit, "she's so scary nowadays. Acting all fussy and taking care of me. It just makes me feel weird. It would be better if she were back to her usual bossy, sour-faced self. I mean, she doesn't let me out of the house. Talk about helicopter parent syndrome…" Baz huffs and starts walking away. Naturally, Kit falls into step beside him.
"She's not your mother, though," Kit points out.
"She might as well be, from how she's acting." Baz makes a face. "But enough about me!" He claps his hands together, but the sound is muffled from the gloves he's wearing.
Autumn has started, and the weather has been slowly getting colder. Normally, Baz would not have worn much protection in previous years, his fire powers keeping him naturally warm, but it speaks that he is still recovering that he is wearing gloves now. In fact, he's even wearing…
"Is that my scarf?" Kit narrows his eyes.
"Oh, you noticed?" Baz picks at the piece of cloth hanging loosely around his neck. "I was planning on giving it back, promise, but–"
"Well give it back now." He puts out his hand palm-up, asking for it.
"Come one, Kit…" Baz whines. "Don't be a sourpuss. Be a little bit more considerate, will you? Besides, don't I get special boyfriend privileges?"
Kit freezes in his tracks. "What?!" he chokes out. He can almost feel steam coming out of his ears, his brain going into overheating mode.
"What?" Baz turns back to look at him.
"What– What was–? What did you say?"
A mischievous grin breaks out across his face. "Boyfriend?"
Kit goes into a coughing fit. Damn you, Baz! You can't spring that up on me unawared!
"Isn't that…" Baz hesitates. "Unless–"
"No! No!" Kit hurriedly interrupts him. "I mean, yes! I do! It's just…" He's too embarrassed. He can't say it. He should run away. Right now.
"It's just what?" Baz has come to stand directly in front of him.
He refuses to look Baz in the eye, mumbling, "I guess we… We just never talked about it, and– and I wasn't…" Shit! he thinks. His entire face is red, he's sure of it. And he's sure Baz can see it too. "I wasn't sure… what to call you…" He hides his face in his hands abruptly. "No! I can't do this anymore! Argh, I feel like a 15 year old girl with her first crush…"
One of Baz's fingers suddenly touches the top of his head. "Your roots are really showing now."
"...What?" Kit looks up only to see Baz wearing a completely serious expression. Is this guy for real?! Why did Kit even like him in the first place?! "What does that have to do with what we were talking about!" He swats Baz's hand away.
"Hey, calm down. It's just you were getting so flustered, I didn't want you getting all worked up. So I just… changed the topic."
"You–!" This guy really is so… Kit sighs. "You're right. I've been thinking about re-dying it, but I just haven't had the time…"
"Leave it," Baz says.
"Huh?"
"Let it grow out. I like your natural hair colour."
Kit blushes again. "We'll see," he tries for his tone to sound casual.
They keep walking side by side. Kit has to admit that Baz has a certain way of calming him down, and the rest of their walk goes smoothly. (Kit manages to keep mostly calm when Baz reaches out and takes his hand so they are walking with their fingers interlaced.)
When they are standing across the street from his apartment, Baz suddenly stops.
"Kit." He makes sure they are staring into each other's eyes. "About what you said before…"
His tone has turned serious, and Kit feels his heart start beating faster.
"I realised that might have also been my fault… I thought I had been clear about how I felt, but I guess I never really said it. So, I don't want you feeling unsure, okay?" He places a hand on the side of Kit's face. "We're dating?"
Kit nods. It would be impossible to get any words out with how dry his mouth has suddenly become.
"Yes?" Baz asks. Kit nods again. And suddenly, Baz is leaning in. Kit's eyes flutter closed when the pair of lips land on his.
This kiss is different from the one they had shared before. It somehow makes Kit's heart race faster, and, unconsciously, he finds his hand going to rest on the back of Baz's neck, drawing him in closer.
It lasts longer too. The one before could be considered just a small peck, their lips barely brushing against each other that sometimes Kit wondered if it had even happened. But this time there's no doubt. He's kissing Baz; and what's even crazier, Baz is kissing him back.
When they break apart, Kit's cheeks are flushed and his breathing is ragged. Baz is staring at him, his eyes curved up in a smile. He lets their foreheads rest together, letting Kit catch his breath.
Then, slowly, very slowly, Baz brushes his lips over his once again. It's almost like an after kiss.
"Happy birthday, Kit," he whispers.
Let's spend many more years together.