re-shouto asked:
"Happy Birthday, Touya-nii."
Shouto had been surprised his brother's was only a week after his own. After Touya-nii's birthday celebration for him, Shouto had messaged Fuyumi to ask when Touya's was.
He holds out a small gift bag patterned with cats. Inside is a card and a wrapped gift. The card has a hawk on the front with Hawk's face for the head. The contents are written like an Animal Crossing letter.
「Touya-nii,
Happy Birthday Nii-chan. Thank you for always taking care of me. I didn't get to spend time with my siblings when I was younger, so I'm glad you're here with me now. I didn't know what to get you. But these make me feel better. Maybe they will make you feel better too. Also, now we can match.
Shouto」
The wrapping paper contains Studio Ghibli chopsticks. They have a purple cityscape in the background instead of the flowers on Shouto's.
If anyone had told Toya a few weeks ago, that he'd have nightmares of cats, he wouldn't believe them. But somehow, it turned to be the truth. They'd climb his bed at night, a herd of cats, that'd cover his whole body and they'd start licking every part of him as if he wasn't human, but a damn lollipop. Most of the time he'd manage to escape them, but when he'd storm into Shoto's room to save him, he'd come face-to-face with the most terrifying image of all. His little brother had turned into a half cat, too. With cat ears, eyes, a tail, everything. And instead of words, he'd only meow. Toya would wake up at this point, covering in cold sweat, realizing this had only been a dream. There weren't any cats in his room. And when he'd push the door in Shoto's bedroom open, he'd find him sleeping peacefully, looking his usual, human self.
That was the reason behind the terror written on his face at the sight of the gift bag. But he was quick to mask it with his usual cold stare, hoping the other hadn't noticed. After all, he couldn't let the fear of cats control him for his entire life. “ Thanks, ” he mumbled, with visible lack of excitement. It wasn't because of Shoto, that he looked that way. But he didn't feel like celebrating one more year of being a failure. Of having done nothing in his life so far. And what pissed him off the most was, that he was supposed to be happy this day. Look happy, because everyone else was, having him in their lives. What a joke, that was. What a joke life was. But, Toya knew he couldn't do otherwise with the little one around. Not when he'd keep an eye on him as if he was still five years old. Maybe because he had never been five years old.
First, he'd read the card carefully and then take a look at what was inside. Of course, the card gave Toya more information to fit to the missing pieces of what had happened to Shoto's life, and what his possibly different upraising was like. Yet, he couldn't tell for sure what had happened. The number one scenario he could think of, was that he had died at young age. Maybe, this was a chance to make him spit everything out, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to ruin his brother's day. Not if he was that excited for them to celebrate together.
“ Great. We are matching now, ” he said, forcing a wide grin. The chopsticks weren't exactly his style, but he was supposed to appreciate the sentiment, right? At least that's what he imagined was right. “ Now, how are we supposed to spend the day? Booze and women, I guess? ” He was joking, of course. He wasn't into women. “ It's my day, so we get to do what I say. ” He wasn't even in the mood to be his usual sadistic self. His plans for the day would normally have been a hook-up with Hawks, if he did him the favor, and if he didn't, maybe get drunk until he'd pass out. But his plans had changed now, because of him. “ We can watch a movie. We'll order food and drinks — don't get excited, you'll only drink cola — and maybe watch the Notebook. That way we'll end up crying in each other's arms, because Noah was too good for that bitch. ” And when Shoto would fall asleep, like he good kid he was, maybe he'd try this hook-up with birdie. After all, he was on night patrol.
@re-shouto
