Well, after the new bonus episode for Despair Time. You know what you have to do right?
Reader celebrating Arei’s birthday!!!
Have a good day!
Celebrating Arei's birthday
A/n:we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of new fandom posts for a celebratory post for the new bonus episode. I needed to do this soon because I wanted to ride the wave of the new episode coming out so i'm sorry if this isn't good enough as I literally finished it a couple of minutes ago. Also it gives me the opportunity to fuse this with the other request that I hadn't gotten to yet...also wow I wrote way more than I expected but I guess that's what finally getting new content does to a drdt fan
Arei never told you or anyone of her classmates about her birthday, November 3rd, she didn't really care at all to celebrate it. Her whole life basically no one had ever done anything for it and so she saw no reason to do anything either. She wanted joining Hope's peak to be her brand new start and so worrying about things like that was useless
She celebrated yours but she never expected you to celebrate hers, now that she was an ultimate normal people were celebrating her and worshipping her basically every day. That was all she wanted, what was one day where she was considered special just cause she got older in comparison to being an idol to hundreds of people every day?
And so whenever you brought up her birthday and asked whenever it was she just ignored you or changed the topic, you tried asking eden or david but not even they knew and so eventually you kinda gave up asking because you knew you wouldn't get an answer and almost forgot about it
At least that was until one day close to her birthday you were having a date at a bowling alley arei apparently used to frequent a lot when she was in high-school when it seems like someone recognized her
"Oh hey is that you arei? It's been a while huh?"
"Hm?"
"do you know that person arei?"
"Oh it's nothing just ignore it"
"I think this is the first time I've seen you come here with anyone else, did you finally find a boyfriend?"
"Eheh yeah, we've been dating for nearly an year right?"
"Y/n!"
"...wait seriously? I was joking"
"Listen washed up loser how about you leave before I throw this soda on your face and get you fired for yelling at a customer"
"*sighs* guess you didn't change at all, i'm glad you found someone though. Oh and since I assume you won't be coming here soon, happy early birthday"
"Huh?"
"Wait, her birthday is soon?"
"Yeah I think it's in like 3 days or something, she always spent it here when-"
"THE HELL DID I JUST SAY FUCKER!?"
"Fine, fine"
"....so your birthday....is it really soon?"
"....why did i even decide to come here?"
And so arei had no choice but to tell you that her birthday was indeed happening in a few days, but she immediately made you swear to not tell anyone else as the last thing she wanted was a big party
You agreed but the moment you left you started planning out how to make the best birthday party arei had ever experienced....which to be honest wasn't much of a challenge considering what you had heard about her previous b-days. Even if she said she didn't want a big party surely she wouldn't have complained about at least her boyfriend celebrating with her
To be frank you didn't really know what to get her, you had gotten her gifts before, like on Christmas but birthday gifts were a totally different, more personal thing. you knew her hobbies were bowling and....bullying people and she seemed like the type of girl who liked to receive expensive things so with that in mind you looked for some presents she'd hopefully enjoy
The things you ended up getting her were some fancy azure nail polish cause you heard her complain she didn't have enough and that was definitely her favorite color. A new pair of gloves almost identical to the one she already had so that she could put both on and match or just use it whenever the old one was dirty. A candle labeled "smells like the cries of my bowling opponents" you didn't really know why that was a thing but you thought it was perfect (fun fact that's an actual thing they sell on Amazon, i saw it and knew i had to add it it's the most arei coded thing ever)
As for something more personal you also decided to gift her a photo album, since the one year anniversary of your relationship you thought that was a good gift, you wanted her to know that no matter how horrible or traumatic her past and family life were, you would make sure your future together would be a bright one
As for the cake you actually just bought a giant tub of birthday cake ice cream as you knew that was her favorite flavor and one of her favorite foods, you could have ordered a cake but this made it feel more personal
And so as the third of November came you made sure to act normal and not spoil the surprise to arei until classes were over and you invited her to your dorm
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"
"H-huh? What is this?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's your birthday party"
"...i-i told you I didn't want anyth-"
"You told me you didn't want a big party but I maintained my promise and didn't tell anyone about this, this is just for the two of us, I didn't even put any balloons"
"Tch....this is so dumb"
"Hey at least open the gifts before judging"
"You've bought me gifts?"
"Duh, what kind of birthday would it be without gifts?"
"....fine i guess
[You hand her the first small box as she begins to open it]
"Huh it's....nail polish?"
"Yeah, i don't think I've ever seen you without your nails painted blue, I was wondering how much you must pay for it"
".....it's a really good brand too...it's more expensive than the one I use"
"Oh is it? I didn't know which one you used and asking would have ruined the surprise, I hope it's fine"
[Arei looks embarrassed at your smiling face but doesn't answer and just takes the next box]
"Are these... gloves?"
"I tried to grab the ones that looked close to yours"
"Why did you grab two?"
"Huh?"
"I only need one for my dominant hand since it's the one I use to hold the ball, the other's useless"
"...wait those are bowling gloves?"
"....yeah obviously didn't i tell you? They leave the fingers i use to grab the ball free but improve my grip and stabilize my wrist....why did you think they didn't have fingers in such specific places?"
"...I...didn't think of that"
"Dumbass"
"I'm not the bowling expert here, and now you have two for....well you have one for backup!"
[She rolls her eyes but grabs the third box]
"A fucking candle? Seriously?"
"See what it smells like first"
[She turns it around and sees the label]
"Smells like the cries of my bowling opponents, infused with an hint of asskicker, a roll of precision and tons of bowling lane glory"
"I know, i know it's stupid and corny and all that but come on you have to admit it's just made for you"
[Arei looks at the candle and all the other gifts]
"Y/n....what is this?"
"Hm?"
"..all of these gifts....you actually thought about me while you bought each one"
"Of course, it's your birthday and..I love you after all"
[Arei's eyes widen as she grits her teeth and suddenly throws the candle on the ground]
"Y/n what the fuck is this!?"
"H-huh don't you like the gifts? I'm sorry i-"
"Are you trying to make me feel bad!? This is all...so fucking perfect"
"...what?"
"Every one of these gifts is for me, it's not bullshit generic stuff you pulled out of your ass at the last minute to feel good about yourself. you thought about what I like and bought me things accordingly...you actually wanted to make me happy with these gifts"
"Of course, that's what a birthday is supposed to be, gifting things that you think will make the people you love happy, you do that too on my birthday"
"NO I FUCKING DON'T!"
[Her screaming catches you by surprise]
"How did you not realize that? I never remember when it's your birthday and when I do i just ask your friends for some shit or grab some stuff last minute to save face, i don't want you to think i'm an even shittier girlfriend i already am, I don't buy you the stuff to actually make you happy, did you think that i did?"
"....arei you-"
"Did you seriously not realize how terrible of a girlfriend and a person I am!? I don't buy you things, I fight with you over the dumbest and insignificant crap, my hugs and kisses just suck, I like to see people cry and am terrible to hang out with. I always get into fights with everyone and always expect you to take my side when even I know i'm in the wrong, I actually beat up people and don't see anything wrong with that, i swear a shit ton, I'm a manipulative two faced bitch who acts nice only to get what she wants and when that doesn't work i'm fully ready to ruin the other person's life, do you want me to keep going!?"
"......."
"How can you seriously love someone like that? Are you an idiot? Or just thought i'd change when we started dating? No that's not it. We've been dating for about a year now and you see, nothing's changed, i'm still the same old bitch I was and you still didn't break up with me. You don't yell at me you even treat me nice and buy me things like this just to see me happy. Why? Why do you want to see a terrible person like me happy? Why do you love me? How can you love me?"
"....you seriously think i can just answer that? Love is not that simple arei"
"Huh?"
"I love you because I love you, that's all there is to it. I don't care how horrible you think you are or how bad of a girlfriend you view yourself as, I love you. And love means accepting your partner and everything about them, i'm not trying to forcibly change you, i just want to give you love...because well i love you"
".....love?"
"And despite what you just said I know you love me too"
"....i..."
"You still buy me things even if they're not perfect, you still hug and kiss me and even if you might be inexperienced in that they're still great trust me, you still laugh and smile around me so genuinely, you beat up the people who say mean things about us which might as well be the most arei way to show love. You do things that before you would never think of doing with anyone else am I right?"
"....I...I guess but i'm still-"
"And it's not just with me"
"What?"
"You started hanging out with eden too and David sometimes and you don't make fights with your classmates nearly as much as you did when you first started, even if you're trying to deny it you're making connections and you're enjoying it too. You have friends now and even a boyfriend... would a completely shitty person really care enough to make connections like that? Even if you're not seeing it, you're trying to change yourself, even if it's little by little even if it doesn't change much...thanks to the people around you. you're trying to change"
[Arei looks down at the bed, she raises her gloved hand up to her eyes]
"....before I came here I thought joining Hope's peak was all that I had left in life, that it would be the thing that brought me out of my shitty life, i wanted aaaall the people who bullied me to see me rise to the top of the world and eat their own shit as they realize they treated a future ultimate like crap, i wanted to step on them and see them cry and beg for forgiveness as they saw me become someone. I thought that's what would finally make me happy"
"......."
"And i don't think i was wrong, seeing all those people who treated me like garbage get their karma is fun as fuck....but it doesn't really fill my heart like I thought it would....that's what you do"
[She lifted her hand off her head and you saw she had started crying]
"You're right y/n, I love you and I try my best to show that even if I do a totally crap job at it. I wouldn't do the things I do for anyone else...you're so special and I still treat you so badly. That's the only thing my rotten heart can do....and you still love me despite all that? Despite how horrible I am?"
"I already told you, I love every part of you, and even if you don't see it, you are changing, you are trying to become "better" or less shitty if that's the way to see it, I don't care if you fail or succed at that, or how much you succeed. I will still love and support you the same, because you're trying and that seriously takes some impressive determination and spirit. But most importantly because you love me back and now you admitted it too"
"Y/n..."
"I'd much rather love a self proclaimed horrible person who loves me back and is trying her best to be a good girlfriend, no matter how she does it or how much it actually works than a so called good person who doesn't see all the wrong things she does and doesn't try to change anything about herself and expects me to love everything about her"
[Arei does a singular giggle and wipes her tears a bit]
"You're so weird y/n...but i guess no normal person could actually love me....i'm sorry"
"It's fine"
"No it's not, it was supposed to be my birthday and I yelled at you and ruined the whole mood, I fucked up again huh?"
"No arei like I said it's more than alright, plus the birthday is not over yet, I still have one more gift"
"Another one?"
[You hand her the final box and she opens it]
"Huh? Is this a scrapbook or something? There's places to put photos in"
"Yeah it's a photo album, where you can put all the memories you make from now, consider it an early anniversary gift too"
"...really? That seems kinda dumb"
"Maybe so, I don't care if you don't use it, but if you do then please promise me something, don't put a picture of yourself alone in it"
"Eh?"
"Put only pictures of yourself with other people, it can be me or your friends or someone else as long as its not you alone"
"Why?"
"I want you to understand how important the connection you made here and will continue to make are. Later in life I want you to look at it and not even remember the period of your life when you were alone and bullied i want you to understand that the people you met and made bonds with were what made you happy"
"......*sighs* fine if you really want to then I guess I will"
"I'm really glad you-
"Starting wiiith"
[She suddenly pulls you next to her and kisses you while taking a picture of it with her other hand]
"My first actually decent birthday, happy birthday to me yay!"
"Do you want that to be the first picture in the book?"
"Yep, of course it had to be with you and this party you made....it's seriously one of the best experiences I've ever had, i'm sorry for ruining everything"
"You've not ruined anything, you're even happier than you were before now right?"
"Yeah I guess"
"And the party isn't over yet, we still have to eat the ice cream and play videogames and do whatever else you want"
"Oh can we go bowling later? Maybe to that place we went a couple days ago?"
"Hm? I thought you said you never wanted to go to that place again"
"Well i guess I changed my mind, plus who am I to deny an opportunity to destroy you at bowling on my birthday? And they'll give us free stuff cause it's my birthday...even if the food kinda sucks ass"
"Eheh guess that's fair"
[You two kiss again as arei wraps her arms around you and flashes a genuine true smile]
"Happy birthday arei, I love you"
"Thanks....i think you're the first person to say those things and actually mean them....and so I will do the same! I love you too"