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Sucking in a few deep breaths, Vin lightly kicked his foot against the door in lieu of knocking. Stepping back, Vin waited… A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his head.
Finally, the door creaked open, revealing Xenovia in her sleepwear, a confused expression on her face.
"Vin? What's all this?"
Vin smiled brightly, holding the tin of cupcakes out, "I know that people around here don't usually celebrate birthdays, but you've done so much for me over these few months, and I felt that it was only right to do something to show you how much I really appreciated you."
Vin continued, "You've saved my life, and have stuck with me, even though I'm so weak. It's impossible to tell you how much you've helped me. So… I guess what I'm trying to say is: thank you, Xenovia. For being a part of my crazy, fucked-up life these past months, and being someone I can depend on. It...It means a lot. Happy Birthday."
Looking up, Vin was taken aback as he saw Xenovia's expression. Her jaw slightly open, stunned, her eyes wide, and her face red.
"Uh…" Vin waved the hand clutching the iPod in his hands in front of Xenovia's face, "Are you alright Xenovia? Hello? Xenovia?"
Suddenly, the bluenette snapped to attention, and quickly snatched the presents out of Vin's hands. Setting them down somewhere in her room, before standing in front of Vin once more. Her flustered expression had dimmed down slightly as she regained coherency, her blush subsiding down to simply a thick twinge of pink.
"A-Ah, um, ehh, eee," Xenovia slurred and stumbled her words, before she slapped her cheeks, and stared at Vin, "T-Thank you."
Promptly, the door was slammed in Vin's face. Well, that certainly didn't go the way he thought, but whatever, at least he gave Xenovia her present. It was a shame that they didn't do any major birthday celebrations in the church…
In that moment, a saddening realization came crashing down onto him.
If Xenovia was raised by the church…
Did… Did she never celebrate her own birthday?!
Meanwhile, within Xenovia's room, the swordswoman stared down at the gifts with watery eyes. She may have been the stoic, responsible Durandal wielder for the church, but how long had she been dreaming of having presents on her birthday. It was a silly little dream in a pile of silly little dreams that everyday Xenovia struggled to restrain in the tightest, darkest corner of her brain.
A small part of her mind screamed at her, demanding to know what she was doing, getting so worked up over some food and a gift. This behavior was a disgraceful display of immaturity and selfishness. If she were anywhere else, she might have listened to that voice.
But here, in her room, she told that voice to go fuck off right to hell.
Reaching out with a shaky hand, Xenovia grabbed a green-frosted cupcake out of the muffin tin, it didn't have any cupcake paper, so it stuck to the pan as she pulled it out, the bottom breaking off the cupcake as she pulled. Regardless, Xenovia opened her mouth, and took a large chomp out of the cupcake.
It's frosting was overly sweet, and the cake itself was dry and maybe a little burnt, but still, Xenovia took bite after bite of the sloppily baked treats in front of her.
Happy tears flowing freely down her cheeks, Xenovia swore that nothing in her life ever tasted as amazing as those overly-sweet, overly-baked, wonderfully imperfect cupcakes.
[Arc One: Unwanted Beginnings]
[Three Chapters Remain]
UPDATE DAY! UPDATE DAY!
You know, I woke up today, and said to myself, "I'm going to spend this day working on schoolwork, and I'm going to get caught up with all my stuff"
Flash forward to eight/nine hours later, and I got a sliver of work done, and I have a chapter 3/4ths of the way through in front of me. I swear, sometimes I start writing, zone out, and then by the time I recover, I've written an entire 15-25 page chapter. I feel like a sleeper agent.
Anyway, um… We had our most successful day in terms of views yesterday. That was pretty neat. You guys break every expectation I have, and it's the best! That's why, for you guys, I'm throwing another chapter at you all.
Can I just rant for a second? Obviously, I want to stay at the top of the page for DxD stories on here, because that means I'm the very first result people see, I get more foot traffic by default. Yet, every time I update, the story Dungeons and Devils by Flameclawsxx updates a minute later. I mean it, for the past three chapter updates, this has happened, within the hour, the guy's got a chapter up as well. No hate, obviously, I have my reservations about 'Gamer' stories, but if others like it, more power to them, I guess. Still, I know that because my story isn't chasing the DxD fanfic trends, I'll get less views, reviews, follows, etc by default; but I can't help but hope that one day, I manage to overtake that story in support. I don't know, a guy can dream… I'll just keep on writing with all the quality I can muster, and enjoy the wonderful feedback that you guys give me. We have a smaller fanbase in comparison, but I like to think we're more tight-knit as a result. I get to recognize people who repeatedly leave reviews chapter-to-chapter. It's a nice feeling of community.
Anyway, a bit of a shorter chapter this time, but nonetheless, still an important chapter with a lot of effort put into it on my part. So let's not waste any time, and get straight to the chapter notes!
Chapter Notes:
[Volunteering to get punched in the face:]
Vin may or may not be a little into sparring with Xenovia. It's mainly a joke over Vin's slow transformation into a battle maniac like Vali or Sairaorg, but it can also be interpreted as a cute reference to the legendary line from the first chapter of this story.
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want to read ahead or want to support you can join my patr-eon and u will be able to read ahead by 15 chapters
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