Work Text:
“Birthday...?” Jotami blinked, the information hitting her like a road roller.
“Uh, yeah. Hasn’t he told you?” Polnareff sipped his apple juice, not minding his own business. “It’s next week.”
“No...” Her brow furrowed.
“Maybe he doesn’t trust you like he trusts us. I mean, we are his best friends after a-” Polnareff was cut off by a harsh pinch of Jotami. “OW! Don’t hurt me! I’m just joking!!”
“To be fair, you deserved it,” Avdol chimed in.
“I don’t get it. You two haven't even been to his house before. Why would he tell you...” The girl scowled.
“We needed his birth date to create a neopets account,” Avdol informed her.
“Don’t ask why,” Polnareff recovered from his injury fairly quickly.
Jotami gave the two an odd look but decided not to ask. She walked away, her mind still plagued by the thought that Kakyoin didn’t trust her. Why wouldn’t he? They had been dating for at least 2 months now. Isn’t that enough to tell her his birthday? And it’s not like they both didn’t know each other’s birthdays. Jotami had told Kakyoin her birthday when they were studying once. Maybe it was just because she never asked? But still.... It just didn’t make sense.
So she decided to approach him about it.
“Noriaki,” Jotami confronted Kakyoin that day on school grounds. “Why didn’t you tell me that your birthday was next week?” She got straight to the point, as always.
“My birthday?” Kakyoin blinked, turning to face Jotami. “Oh, I guess my birthday is next week, huh. I guess I forgot.”
Jotami’s brow furrowed and a menacing aura started to appear around her, “You don’t just forget your birthday. Why didn’t you tell me? I had to find out through your dumb friends. How come they knew and I didn’t?”
“I don’t know... you never asked?” The boy shrugged, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. “They just wanted my birthday to make a new neopets account because their old one got banned for being inappropriate.” The three of them will never forget the loss of their beloved pet, pussyslayer69, who left this earth all too soon.
“You should have told me anyway... Couples are supposed to know each other’s birthdays...” Jotami mumbled, suddenly looking at the ground.
“No, I-” Kakyoin could feel the guilt crawling on his back. “I just.... I don’t know... My birthday’s never really been a big deal. I think my parents gave up on throwing me birthday parties a long time ago since I never had anyone to invite over or anything like that. Plus they’re usually busy on my birthday and just get me a video game I want or something. I just didn’t think my birthday was that important, I guess...” His expression turned into one of determination. “But I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I promise not to keep anything from you, Jotami. Couples should be honest with each other.”
Honest.
Hm, for some reason, that word made Jotami uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure why though.
“Yeah... we should be honest,” Jotami nodded. “Thank you...” She turned around to walk off.
“Wait! Don’t you want to walk home together?” Kakyoin called out to her.
She just shook her head, suddenly feeling a little sick. “I’m busy.”
When Jotami got home, she went straight to her bed and hid in her pile of stuffed animals. Honest. Honest. That word kept attacking her like a plague. It confused and angered her. Why did that word make her so angry? Was she not honest? There was nothing that she was lying to Kakyoin about.... Well, except for that one thing. But it wasn't lying per se, she just hadn’t brought it up.
Why hadn’t she brought it up?
Well..... He never asked.
She groaned into her stuffed dolphin, frustrated at her own thoughts. She decided then to push those thoughts and feelings into the back of her head, like she did with most things. She stood up and walked to the kitchen, where her mom was preparing dinner.
Holly noticed her right away, “Jotami!” She stopped what she was doing and immediately leaped on her daughter for a hug.
Jotami let her mom smother her with kisses just this once, only protesting a bit.
Holly noticed right away the slight changes in her daughter’s behavior, picking up on her mood with her expert mom senses™ “Jotami... Is something wrong? You seem a little down.”
“Not really,” Jotami shrugged.
“Are you sure? I’ll always be here for you when you need it! That’s what moms are for!” Holly smiled in that way she does that can practically light up a room.
“I know...” Jotami decided to change the subject, feeling a bit uncomfortable. “Hey... um, can you teach me how to bake?”
“Bake...” Holly looked a little surprised for a moment before tearing up. “Jotami... you want to have mother-daughter bonding time!?”
“Good grief...” Jotami sighed. “I just wanted to learn ‘cause Noriaki’s birthday is coming up. But if you’re gonna be weird about it...”
“No, no! I won’t be weird about it!” Holly said even though tears of joy were streaming down her face.
“You’re being weird right now...” Jotami was becoming hesitant about the idea.
“I won’t be weird, I promise!” The woman quickly wiped her tears. “So, what would you like to bake for your boyfriend?”
“Ah,” Jotami felt a light blush on her cheeks upon hearing the word ‘boyfriend.’ “Um, I was planning on making a cherry pie... ‘cause he likes cherries so...”
“I know how to make that! I can teach you!” There were practically stars in her mother’s eyes.
“Ok...” Jotami gulped, still hesitant but willing nonetheless.
The next day, they got to work. Holly carefully instructed Jotami on the essentials of baking. It was nice, spending time with her mother like this. Yes, Jotami wasn’t exactly the nicest to her mom, most of the time, but she did care for her deeply. She knew how good of a person her mother was and how hard she worked for her, busting her ass ‘cause her stupid father was always away on business. She never understood what her mother saw in that guy.
Nevertheless, things were going pretty well so far. Jotami was working on the cherry filling while Holly baked the crust. But suddenly the thing that Jotami had been trying to avoid thinking about had come into her mind once again. Honesty.
“....Hey, uh, mom,” Jotami tried to approach the subject cautiously. “So... being honest is important, right? You know, not lying and stuff?”
“Hm?” Holly looks up from her work. “Oh, of course! It’s always important to be honest, especially with the people you care about!”
“That’s what I thought...” The raven-haired girl sighed, trying her best to get the pits out of the cherries she held.
“Is something on your mind, Jotami? We can talk about it if you like.”
“No,” She shakes her head. “Not really... It’s just... It’s hard to be honest sometimes... What if... What if after I’m honest to this person, then they don’t like me anymore... or something...”
“Jotami...” Her mother’s expression turns serious. “If this person doesn’t like you after you tell them the truth, then they don’t deserve you.”
The girl just looks at her hands, not replying.
“Hey, Jotami,” Holly took her daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “It’ll be okay.” She wasn’t sure what exactly was troubling her daughter, but she felt like she needed to hear that.
Jotami looked away for a moment before squeezing her mother’s hand back and nodding, “Ok.”
Holly smiled again, “Now, let’s get make the best pie your boyfriend has ever eaten!”
Holly couldn’t see it but Jotami was smiling, just a little bit.
Kakyoin birthday had finally come and Jotami proposed the two take a walk in the park to celebrate. Kakyoin didn’t think much of it, he still didn’t think his birthday was very important.
He was waiting on a bench, playing some dumb game on his phone and losing for the 50th time when he saw Jotami approaching. He stood up and waved, “Hey!”
His girlfriend waved back, as she got closer, it seemed she was carrying something in her purse.
“What took you so long?” Kakyoin smiled.
“I’m not that late,” Jotami said, grabbing something out of her purse and handing it to Kakyoin. “Here. Happy birthday.”
“Eh?” He blushed a bit, taking the gift. It was a plain looking box with a ribbon on it. “You didn’t have to get me anything, you know...”
“Open it.”
Kakyoin looked at his girlfriend and then back at the box. He nodded and slowly opened it, revealing what looked like a homemade cherry pie. It wasn’t very flashy and it didn’t even look that appetizing but for some reason, seeing it made the boy’s heart beat faster. “Is this... for me?”
Jotami nodded, “I made it... with a little help from my mom. I think I put too much sugar but it’s my first time baking so don’t judge.”
“I love it!” He blurted out, his eyes looked a little watery. “I love it so much!”
Jotami blinked, “You haven’t even tasted it yet... how would you know if you liked it?”
“I just know! I just... I don’t know! This is the first time someone other than my family has given me a birthday present and I’m feeling a lot of emotions right now!” It was true, he was definitely feeling a lot of emotions at the moment. “I just... Thank you, Jotami.” And he smiled, and his smile was so beautiful, Jotami almost felt bad for looking at it. Like she was tainting it with her presence somehow.
Oh right, she then remembered the other thing she was going to do today. It felt wrong to ruin the moment, but it was now or never at this point. She clenched her fists, her expression turning into something troubled, “Noriaki... You... You’re too nice to me...”
“Eh? Why would you say that?” It was now Kakyoin’s turn to be puzzled.
“Just...” She took a deep breath. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Something important, that I should have told you earlier...”
Kakyoin looked right into her eyes, not wavering for a moment.
“...I’m transgender,” Her grip tightened. “I’m sorry for deceiving you...”
Kakyoin blinked, suddenly caught off guard. “...Ah...”
“I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore, but I just wanted to be honest...” She looked down at her feet, not wanting to see Kakyoin’s face when he inevitably dumped right then and there. Her eyes felt a little wet, but she refused to cry.
“...Wait, I’m confused. Why would I break up with you?”
Jotami looked up at Kakyoin, puzzled, “...Huh? What do you mean?”
“I mean, well... I don’t know a lot about that kind of stuff but I’ve seen some things about it on tv and... I don’t know, I don’t really think that’s a deal breaker, to be honest.” He shrugged. “That doesn’t change anything about you, you’re still Jotami and I still love you.”
Jotami’s lip quivered, “....Things will be really hard for you if you stay with me. I can’t have kids, and... you could get made fun of...”
“I don’t care about that,” Kakyoin put down his pie on the bench. “Besides, we can always adopt. And if we wanna get married and can't, then we can go somewhere where we can, I’ve always wanted to go overseas.” He blushed a bit, realizing what he was saying. “S-Sorry, we’re a little young to be thinking about that now...” He looked back at Jotami. “I’m just really happy when I’m around you, Jotami, and I don’t think anything could change that.”
The taller girl could feel her eyes watering. She wasn’t planning on crying today but she supposed that plan was already thrown out the window the minute Kakyoin acted the way he did. “That’s...” Before her boyfriend could process what was happening, he was pulled into a tight hug. “That’s so corny. You’re such a dork...” Jotami buried her face into Kakyoin’s neck, trying not to sob more than she already was.
“Yeah, but I’m your dork!” The redhead hugged back, petting Jotami’s long hair. He closed his eyes and smiled. “...You’re really cute, you know.”
Jotami just squeezed her boyfriend tighter, “...You’re cuter...”
“No way! You’re way cuter than me!” He chuckled.
She shook her head. “Nope.”
Kakyoin smirked, “You’re cute when you’re stubborn.”
Jotami’s blush spread to her ears, “...Stupid.”
“I know...” Kakyoin sighed, content with holding his girlfriend like this. He wanted this moment to last forever. “I love you.”
“... I love you too,” Her voice was a little muffled. “Happy birthday, dork.”
You’re the best birthday present a guy could ask for, is what Kakyoin wanted to say, but he decided that it was just a little too corny even for the master of corn™ himself. So he just smiled.
Being with Jotami made him happier than any other present could.