Birthdays were incredibly special and important days. Especially especially because of all that had happened to them and their friends. So, for the day, one of Kiran’s gifts to him would be, y’know, not being a cause for worry! A bit of a hard task, what with Alfonse’s overprotective nature but a worthwhile one. Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Alfonse! Great morning, isn’t it?”
It was a bit early, not so early as Sharena had been on theirs, but! Just a bit too early to be called ‘normal’. Oh well! Normal could wait.
“Happy birthday! I don’t know how much time you’ve got being a knight and all that sooooo, I thought I’d jump ahead to give you your gift.”
They held out a box and a bag of little treats, just some things they picked up on over the course of the war, y’know? Inside the box held some crocheted flowers, a scarf, a book holder cover thing and! One of their favourite books that they thought Alfonse might be into.
“So? What’d you think? Pretty good selection right? Oh, and if you thought this was it… You are very wrong my friend, for I have a puzzle—or, like, three… listen, they all looked really cool, okay?—with our names on it. Wanna go grab Sharena for it too? On the plus side with multiple puzzles, there’s some that are quicker and longer to do according to the packaging which would never lie, right? So, you in?”
Worst comes to worst, Kiran will simply have to deploy the tried and tested puppy dog eyes!! Gotta be doubly effective on his birthday, right?
Alfonse had entirely lost track of what day it was. Seeing Kiran on his doorstep was... well, actually, it wasn't really all that unusual. If someone knocked on his door, Alfonse would expect it to be one of three people, and only two of them were currently present at Garreg Mach to begin with. Kiran was always a welcome presence in Alfonse's life, no matter the circumstances. He wasn't one to readily open himself up to people, so ordinarily, visits to his quarters were things Alfonse preferred people not partake in. Kiran, however, was a rare exception to this rule, in part because Alfonse wasn't actually certain if he could stop them from doing it. The same was also true of the other two people he was used to having call upon him. Regardless of whether he could stop Kiran from randomly showing up at his door, Alfonse had no desire to do so.
Seeing Kiran show up with a gift, however... okay, that wasn't actually entirely out of the realm of normalcy either, but it was significantly more surprising. The fact that only one of them kept careful track of the current date contributed to this surprise. As Kiran greeted him, Alfonse could only stare owlishly back at them, the confusion etched into his expression taking a moment to fade into recognition. He had a sense for when holidays approached (he was Askran, after all), but his failure to consider his birthday a significant event meant that it was one date that was entirely absent from his radar.
What Kiran had gotten for Alfonse didn't matter nearly as much as the fact that they had done something for him at all. Any gift from Kiran would be cherished because it was from someone who meant the world to Alfonse. The fact that it happened to play into Alfonse's love of reading was just a convenient bonus. The scarf was, of course, also immensely welcome in Fódlan's often-frigid climates.
Really, Kiran had no need to get a gift for Alfonse at all, and the prince had expressed such a sentiment before. The reason for it, however, had gone unsaid-- just remembering Alfonse's birthday at all was a gesture of friendship that meant quite a lot to him. He hardly expected it of anyone, but it still made his heart leap. The puppy dog eyes Kiran was pointing at Alfonse were wholly unnecessary for this task. He was already delighted, even if it took a bit for the smile to finally appear upon Alfonse's features.
But Alfonse did indeed smile. Kiran was treated to a sight that very few people got to see on a regular basis, if at all. Kiran was, as usual, the exception to that rule; they above all others were the most frequent source of Alfonse's smiles. It was hard to keep their enthusiasm from infecting him much the same way Sharena's often did. Seeing them smile was one of Alfonse's great joys in life, even if he hadn't the courage to tell them as much.
"...This is terribly sweet of you. I-- I didn't expect-- that is to say, I'd forgotten today was-- er, that doesn't matter. Thank you. Truly. If you'd like, we could go find Sharena and celebrate with some kind of treat. Maybe chocolate from that store I heard was in the market?"
Alfonse didn't actually have any desire to celebrate his own birthday, he just wanted an excuse to give something back to Kiran. Besides, it was a nice way to spend time with a friend.
