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Eijirou would like to say that his birthday had been uneventful but that would be a big lie.
It had started as any other Monday; the classes were getting tougher every week, the teachers never allowed them any reprieve from the essays and homework and, to top it all off, they had had quirk strengthening training.
His mum had at least called him on his way back to the dorms and said she would try and get permission to visit him during the weekend, maybe they could even go out for dinner.
His mood had improved tenfold at that, until he saw he had a missed call from Fat Gum. He called him back several times but he kept getting his voicemail.
Eijirou called Tamaki-senpai instead, and he did answer, telling him where they were supposed to meet Fat Gum as soon as possible to assist him on a mission.
He turned and rushed back to the school to get his hero costume. He had foolishly left it in the locker room after training.
Eijirou cursed out loud, ignoring the confused shouts from his friends as he rounded back. He yelled back that everything was fine. He wasn’t sure if they had got his message but he didn’t have any time to stop and chat right now.
He got into his costume, rushing through the motions and sprinted back out, almost crashing into Aizawa-sensei when he made his way to the teachers’ lounge to let him know he had just been called on a mission.
Aizawa-sensei sent him away without asking too many questions, saying he had already talked to Fat Gum.
So, Eijirou ran towards the school gates to meet up with Tamaki-senpai. By the time he reached him, Eijirou was sweating, barely able to get enough oxygen into his lungs.
“Let’s go,” was all the greeting he got before a car stopped right in front of them. Eijirou raised an eyebrow but followed his senpai anyway. “Fat Gum arranged this,” Tamaki-senpai mumbled, his face turned away to look at the buildings as they sped away.
Eijirou nodded, nervous energy buzzing under his skin. A mission! On his birthday! He couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate, really. He was so excited he didn’t even realise they were heading for the centre of town until Tamaki-senpai told him they were nearing their destination.
“I’m ready!” he yelled, knocking his hardened knuckles together.
When they finally reached the place and got out of the car, they saw Fat Gum handing the bad guys over to the police. They were late.
“Fat Gum!” Eijirou raised a hand above his head in greeting, but his smile wasn’t as bright as it had been in the car getting there.
“Hey, guys!” Fat Gum said, patting them both on the back and almost throwing them off balance. “Sorry I made you come all dis way for nothin’! Especially you, Red Riot, since it’s your birthday and all. I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it but then the police officers arrived an’ well, here we are!”
“Nah, it’s fine! I’m kind of sad we were late, though.”
“We’re sorry we couldn’t make it on time,” Tamaki-senpai added with a small bow of his head, and Eijirou copied him immediately.
He should’ve been more careful with his costume. He could’ve saved a lot of time if he had had it with him. What if Fat Gum hadn’t been able to handle the situation? What if the police hadn’t arrived when they did?
“Raise your heads, heroes,” Fat Gum said, and they did as they were told. “Say, why don’t we have some takoyaki to celebrate Red Riot’s birthday after my shift ends in an hour? It’s on me, of course. We can patrol together until then.”
And so they did. Absolutely nothing happened, but Eijirou was happy to feel useful for once. Ever since they got their Provisional Hero Licenses, they hadn’t been able to do much with them. This way, he at least got to be part of something and see an actual hero at work.
They walked around the city, helping those who needed directions along the way, and the most action they got was taking a lost child to the nearest police station.
All of that walking made him hungry, though, so Eijirou was grateful for the treats Fat Gum bought for them. And he even offered to give them a ride back to the school, “for all the troubles you had to go through”.
Eijirou wasn’t going to complain, of course. The day had been long, and he still had a pile of homework that needed his full attention back at school.
When they arrived, Eijirou said his goodbyes and headed for the 1-A dorms, lost in thought. It had definitely been a different kind of birthday; nothing like his previous ones, that was for sure.
He distractedly opened the front door and sat down at the genkan to remove his tall boots and mask. He had to go and pick up his uniform and backpack from the locker rooms but he could do that later, after he had had a bath.
He rose and turned, only then realising just how quiet the place was. He frowned. It was strange; people were usually at the dining and living room areas at this time, getting ready to go have dinner at the school cafeteria.
He moved slowly across the darkened hallway, trying not to make any sounds.
Then, as he entered the common area, the lights were suddenly turned on and everyone started shouting happy birthday at him.
It was a surprise alright. He had no idea his classmates were planning any of this.
“You didn’t think we were going to just sit around and do nothing for your birthday, right?” Kaminari said while he put a ridiculous birthday hat on Eijirou’s head.
“Everyone…” Eijirou whispered, feeling overwhelmed at the scene; in front of him were all the students of classes of 1-A and 1-B.
“Happy birthday, bro!” Tetsutetsu greeted him, a twin paper hat on his head.
“Wait, it’s your birthday today too?! Happy birthday, man!” Eijirou hugged him.
“Yeah, they scared me about ten minutes before you arrived,” Tetsutetsu laughed as he let go before joining his friends at one of the tables.
“I can’t believe they went through all this trouble…” Eijirou mumbled, his sentence lost in the loudness of the room.
There was enough food for an army and a giant cake he was sure Satou had made in their honour. It was decorated with little rocks and everything.
Before he could ask how they had planned all of this, another loud voice rose above the rest.
“Oi, how long were you kids going to leave us outside, huh?”
Then, Aizawa-sensei, Blood King and Fat Gum walked in, followed closely by Tamaki-senpai, still in his hero costume.
“Fat Gum, Tamaki-senpai! What are you doing here?”
“Sorry to tell ya, Kirishima, but that whole patrol thing was actually all a ruse to give these guys enough time to get everything ready for the party,” Fat Gum said with a laugh and a strong slap to his back. “Say, have you opened your presents yet?”
“Presents? I just got here, Fat!” Eijirou was happy, he couldn’t believe what his friends had done for him today.
“Come on! Present time!” Sero yelled, getting a few excited whoops from the others, and brought Eijirou to the table where two big piles of boxes and bags were.
Tetsutetsu and Eijirou opened each box with equal levels of enthusiasm, thanking every person for their thoughtful or hilariously ridiculous gifts; it was about fifty-fifty. But really, what could they expect from a bunch of teenagers on a budget?
When all the boxes and bags had been opened and all the paper thrown away, someone cleared their throat.
“Excuse me, but you’re forgetting one, Kirishima!” Fat Gum announced, bringing a big bag from the entrance hallway.
“Oh, Fat! You didn’t need to get me anything!” Eijirou said, accepting the bag with both hands. “May I open it?”
“Sure, sure!”
Eijirou tore through all of the other gifts, but he decided to take his time with one, opening it with careful fingers.
Inside, there was a slightly smaller version of Fat Gum’s hero costume, along with a black mask identical to his.
“This… this…” Eijirou was at a loss for words, he felt so touched a happy laugh was threatening to erupt from the back of his throat. He looked over at Fat Gum, his hands holding onto the orange fabric tightly.
“Yeap! It’s my hero costume! What do ya think? Do ya like it?”
“I… I love it! Thank you!” he bowed fully; a few happy tears gathering in his eyes as the gesture registered.
“I thought you deserved one as my intern, but!” Fat Gum suddenly turned, putting a bag just like the one Eijirou got in front of Tamaki-senpai. “I have two interns so, here’s yours, Tamaki!”
“What?” Tamaki-senpai asked, staring so hard at the bag that he could’ve easily burned a hole in it.
“You didn’t let me get you anything for your birthday back in March, so I thought dis would be the perfect chance,” Fat Gum laughed, pulling both of his interns close to his chest before pushing them away in the direction of the bathrooms. “Come on! Go change and get back here!”
Unable to refuse Fat’s request, they went to the boys’ bathroom to change and returned to the party dressed in the giant hoodies and masks.
Everyone whooped and started taking pictures, prompting Tamaki-senpai to hide behind Eijirou’s shorter body.
“Tamaki-senpai, come on! It’ll only be a few minutes,” Eijirou tried to convince him to at least stop cowering behind him.
Fat Gum was delighted to say the least, pulling them back in easily against his chest and hugging them.
“I feel so proud right now!” he laughed right next to their ears. “I want a ton of pictures with you guys in the costumes! We should totally have a day where we dress up like dis, too! So dat the hoodies don’t go to waste!”
Tamaki-senpai kept covering his face, though, not used to this level of attention.
“Smile, senpai! It’ll be over once we take the pictures,” Eijirou cheered him on, and he finally looked at the camera, clearly embarrassed.
“Tamaki! Smile properly! Dis was all your idea anyway!” Fat Gum reprimanded him, his own smile unwavering.
“What? What do you mean it was his idea?” Eijirou asked, confused.
“Yeap, when I asked what I could get ya for your birthday, he suggested dis, thinking it would make ya happy,” Fat Gum explained to him.
“Fat Gum, no!” Tamaki-senpai whined, hiding his face behind the gigantic sleeves of his hoodie.
“He won’t uncover his face any time soon, will he?” Fat Gum asked Eijirou.
“Nope, don’t think so,” Eijirou said, turning back to the cameras with a toothy smile in place, matching Fat Gum’s.
It was definitely not a conventional birthday and he did miss his family, but Eijirou couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in the end.
