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It came out of nowhere. There was no warning beforehand or nobody talking about it before, but it was just a normal day of the gang celebrating the Eldest's birthday with Tsubaki included since his birthday was tomorrow, so the chibi decided that he and the others would do a double birthday party event. However, it wasn't going to be so easy considering the fact that the Eldest and Tsubaki didn't get along very well due to past events. Tsubaki still resented the Eldest for killing the Creator and Kuro was in no mood to deal with the youngest's constant questioning about why he did it. Therefore, Misono and the others had no choice but to come up with the perfect plan to try and force them to get along.
"So you're saying that we kidnap them both, strap them to chairs and make them talk about their feelings til midnight?" Mahiru summarized once Misono explained everything. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, Shirota, it's the best plan of action for them two. Besides, we have plenty of rooms for them to be stuck in for awhile, it's just we'll have to tape something onto their hands so Sloth won't take out his claws and Tsubaki won't summon his katana. It's the perfect plan." Misono said in pride, to which Lily smiles softly. "I say that's a great idea, we'll have to take Nii-san's jacket as well due to the tails, but other than that, both of them would be powerless the whole time they're in there~" Lily adds, looking at Mahiru, whom is thinking it over. "It's a simple solution and they wouldn't hurt each other, so I suppose it's fine. But who will we be getting first? Kuro?" Mahiru asked as he peered over to the dining hall door to where Kuro would be eating his cake by now with the other Servamps and Eves, he was worried if Kuro would hate him for what they were about to do, but an intervention is what Kuro and Tsubaki needs, even if sacrifices need to be made. "Yeah, we can get Sloth first since he's easier to get than Tsubaki. So I'll go pick a room and you will bring Sloth in and onto one of the chairs while Lily can go get the Fox." Misono told Mahiru sternly, getting up from the couch of the living room to do what he needed to do, leaving Mahiru to get up from the couch as well to head to Kuro. "Alright, we'll meet you there." Mahiru said as he waved Misono off once he left down the hall, moving towards the door to the dining hall to locate his partner.
Meanwhile, Kuro, who slightly getting annoyed due to a certain fox, who was sat three chairs down from him, was glaring into his soul while he was trying to eat his cake in peace. Others that were in the room went silent as they sensed the hostility between the two siblings. "I knew it wasn't a good idea to put Kuro and Tsubaki in the same room together. They look like they are one step closer to murdering each other and it's scaring me. Someone please say something." Niccolo commented quietly, leaning against Iidio, who is distracted by his own piece of cake. "Yeah, he's right. Nii-san, Tsubaki, could you two chill? C'mon it's your birthday Nii-san, relax and Tsubaki, yours starts at midnight, calm down you'll have your own moment to shine!" Hyde speaks up, looking at the two mentioned of course. "He's the one that started staring at me maliciously, I just want to eat my damn cake but he won't let me." Kuro grumbled, glaring over at Tsubaki. "Hah?! You have no proof, big brother. Don't be so sensitive, I'm just looking at your cake, not you." Tsubaki countered, and being fed up with both of their arguing, Freya slammed her fist on the table to get the attention of them both, making the others jump from the sudden noise. "If you two don't shut up, I'm going to make you two choke on your damn cake. Now shut it and get along." She warned, which ended up being obeyed since Kuro and Tsubaki looked away from each other with one last glare, eating their cakes with low grumbles of "Yes m'am."
Mahiru had just reached the dining hall when he noticed that everyone was being oddly quiet. "Did something happen? Why's everyone so quiet?" he asked as he started heading towards Kuro. At that, Tsubaki looked at Kuro, glaring once more. "It's Nii-san's damn fault. He got annoyed at me for no good reason." Tsubaki accused, which gotten Kuro to react. "My fault? You started this whole damn thing, what a pain, just let a man eat his food in peace." Kuro glared but didn't hold it so Freya wouldn't bang her wrist on the table again. "Hey, that's enough, you two. Kuro, do you wanna just come with me? You can finish your cake here first and then follow me. There's a surprise I wanna show you." Mahiru offered, to which Kuro nods in agreement and finished off the last bite of his cake, setting his fork down and getting up to follow him. "It'll be better than being in the same room with that brat." Kuro mumbled under his breath for only Mahiru to hear.
"Good riddance." Tsubaki muttered under his breath as the Sloth pair walked out of the dining hall together. Mahiru waits until the two of them are out of sight and completely away from the dining hall before subtly pulling out a blindfold from his pocket. Kuro noticed it the moment it became visible, raising a brow at it in question. "What's that for?" Kuro asked as he gestured to the black cloth in his Eve's hand, but the Eve didn't reply of the reason of it, Mahiru simply went behind Kuro to tie it over his eyes to cover them. "It's a surprise, Kuro, I'm not going to tell you til after." Mahiru said sternly as he led Kuro by the hand to the chosen room Misono picked out.
And once they arrived, Mahiru helped take off Kuro's jacket first, to whom he allowed it before he let himself be pushed into the chair. "Mahiru, what is this surprise you have here? This feels way too kinky." Kuro commented, but really, he didn't mind it, but he really isn't into this sort of stuff on his end, he rather tie up his victims instead. But with that comment said, Mahiru blushed a vivid red, smacking his Servamp on the head lightly. "It's not like that I swear! Just hold still!" Mahiru defended as he tied his partner's hands behind the chair to keep him there. "Now just sit tight, I gotta go get it." Mahiru added before leaving the room, to which Kuro wasn't able to say anything before he left, so thinking simply, he just sat there obediently in complete quiet.
After closing the door behind him and slowly walking away from the room, Mahiru spotted Lily halfway and gave him a sign that he could go and lure Tsubaki into the room. The Servamp nods and transforms into a butterfly, flying into the dining hall and landing on Tsubaki's shoulder. "You know, Tsubaki, there's actually a surprise waiting for you too, if you would like to follow me, I'll show you. It's an early birthday surprise so you wouldn't feel left out when Nii-san gets his surprise, y'know?" Lily told him nicely, transforming into his human form to offer the youngest a kind smile, the one he always wears. However, Tsubaki was cautious at first, eyeing the seventh in case there was a lie, just waiting for him to crack under the stare. But once Lily didn't break, Tsubaki sighed and finished his cake so he could get up. "It better be good because this isn't interesting at all." Tsubaki said in a bored tone, but nonetheless followed Lily out of the dining hall as well. "I can assure you that it will be fine, it's just gonna be a few bumps, but it will be worth it, I promise~" Lily reassured, pulling out a blindfold from his jacket pocket. And once seen, Tsubaki stopped and stared at the thing, looking at Lily with a warning look. "What is that for?" He questioned, but when Lily smiled to attempt to relax him, he raised it up for him to see it better. "It's a blindfold, it's to cover your eyes so you won't see the surprise just yet, you know? What's the fun in that?" Lily explained, but it took Tsubaki just a bit longer to agree to it. He did like surprises, only if they were the good type. "Fine." Tsubaki decides to relent, allowing the seventh to tie the blindfold over his eyes and lead him to the room. "Now this may seem strange, but we have to tie your hands back too, so you wouldn't touch anything yet, deal?~"
To that, Tsubaki faces the seventh, even though he couldn't see. "What are you gonna do? Send a stripper in to do a lap dance on me? That's a bit too much." Tsubaki deadpans, but he allows to be lead in and seated with his hands being tied behind the chair. "I can promise you that the surprise isn't that, not when I can do that myself~ But I choose not to, not this time at least~" Lily assured. But the time that Tsubaki got situated, both the blindfolds come off and the first person that spoke was Misono, who is standing by the doorway with Mahiru. "You have until midnight to talk about your feelings. You two won't be allowed out until you two make up and get along, or until one of us gets you both. So good luck."
And with that said, the three leave the room, leaving Kuro and Tsubaki staring at each other at the betrayal they have just witnessed. "I'm going to kill them." Tsubaki spoke out first with a glare.
"This is the only time I will agree with you." Kuro replied with a tired glare, sighing heavily. "What a pain."
"This is not interesting at all... So why do you think they set this shit up for?" Tsubaki spoke up after a bit of silence between the two.
"Dunno, maybe cause our family and the Eves decided that we needed an intervention because we don't get along." Kuro answered, letting out another heavy sigh. "Look, Tsubaki, I don't entirely hate you. I understand why you wanted revenge and I get that, I can't be angry at you for wanting to kill me and the others, so I don't hate you for that. You're just annoying, you slam your hand loudly on anything close by when you laugh, your laugh is too loud and obnoxious so that's kinda annoying, and when you say nothing is interesting to you and you go mope around being bored, that's irritating, plus you're always trying to start fights when I don't want to fight you, so that is on you, not me." Kuro told Tsubaki, looking off to the side, he couldn't hold eye contact for longer than a few minutes at a time when it came to the youngest and he didn't understand why.
Tsubaki was slightly surprised by the cat's brutally honest response that he was left speechless for a while. Not making any eye contact with the Eldest, he opens his mouth to respond. "I hate that Big Brother face of yours. You know, the one you always have up when you're around the others but not me. I also hate that you never want to do anything but just sleep and play video games. You can blame it on your sin but still, it's like you never want to spend time with anyone and while I'm always saying that nothing's interesting and moping about being bored, you're always constantly complaining about how everything's such a pain and that you can't deal with it. If everything's such a pain, then why are you even going with this? That eager to get the hell away from me?" Tsubaki accused, getting the attention of Kuro, who looks at him directly. "What big brother face? The face I use for everyone is the same. And technically, you're right, I would rather be alone than deal with the noise of others, but I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm being forced to be around everyone, so actually do my job as big brother. But I know I complain too, but eventually I do something about it. But at this point, we both can't do anything. I didn't ask for this more than you did, but I guess this is the only time we will be actually talking in a calm as possible manner instead of yelling at each other like children. So no, I'm not in a hurry, if I was in a hurry, it would to get more cake before the others eat it all." Kuro defended, trying to twist his wrists enough to get out of the binds, but ended up in failure since it was too tight but not tight enough to make his hands go numb.
Tsubaki tries to do the same but sighs in defeat. "We're really stuck here... I guess you've got what you've wanted after all. A civil conversation. So, what do you want to ask? About Sensei? About why I was made the Eighth?"
"I suppose I did, but those aren't important to me, so there's nothing really to ask. That's really none of my business. It it how it is. Really, the only thing that I really want is for us to act more like a family rather than enemies, that's why we included you after the war was finished, because it was just time to stop and just give you what you wanted, a family and less loneliness, right? I don't know why he made you or why he never told us about you, but I really don't care. You're family and we need to understand that. Besides, we have bigger problems than that. We have the same enemy, the least we can do is defeat that enemy as a family. But if you have questions, go ahead and ask them, I'll try to answer them honestly as I can." The Eldest said as he leans back against his chair, slumping his shoulders since he knew that he might have to answer personal questions, probably.
The fox blinks at that in surprise and slight disbelief. "Y-You really think of me as family? This isn't a joke, is it? Are you just pitying me? The two of us don't really see eye-to-eye but you actually want to be with me? Aren't I just an eyesore?"
Kuro gives the youngest a raised brow at that, questioning why he would think so negatively about himself. "Yeah, I see you as family rather than thinking of you as such, but no, I'm not kidding and this isn't pity. And the reason why we don't see eye to eye is because of the past, but that can be healed with time if we try, so yeah, we want you around. And if you want an eyesore, then just look at our sixth brother's Eve. He's the eyesore of the whole family and friend gang we have going on here. You're fine." Kuro reassures, letting out a breath. "Besides, you've been around for awhile, if you were to disappear, we would notice on the first day. It would be way too quiet without you around to laugh or talk really loudly, which you end up getting Hyde, Angel-chan, Bastard-chan and End going off before Mahiru adds himself in, so really, I wouldn't change anything about you, stay how you are, but we should at least get along."
Tsubaki gives a small genuine smile at that as he starts looking up at the Eldest. "If that's how you really feel then... I don't see why we can't. I don't mean to start fights with you. It's just the only way I know how to catch your attention." He admits, receiving a head tilt from Kuro. "I do, and I agree. But I thought as much, it did grab my attention after all. So we can agree to agree that we'll celebrate our birthdays like the kings we are, right?" Kuro asked, as he attempted to untie himself so he could free Tsubaki as well. The Eighth nods at that, widening his smile just slightly. "Right. Well, I guess instead of killing those who tricked us, we should thank them instead, huh?" Tsubaki decides, to which Kuro had to think for a second about. "Nah, imma still kill them for trying us up, but I'll thank them later. But what time is it? Surely it must be around 11, should we call out that we made up or something?" Kuro implored as he looked towards the door, looking around for a clock on a wall to see if it was close to midnight yet. "I don't want to miss the ball dropping and the fireworks." Tsubaki looks towards the door as well before looking back at Kuro. "Yeah, call them. I don't want to miss the ball drop either."
Nodding at that, Kuro calls out to whoever could be outside of the room. "Oi! We made up now! Can we be untied? My hands are going numb, you tied it too tight Mahiru!" Kuro lies, but knowing Mahiru, he'd be the first one in to help. And with the door opening and seeing a familiar set of brown hair, he knew he was right. "I'm sorry Kuro if it's too tight, but you two really did make up? Prove it, I'm not letting you two go unless you both are for real." Mahiru stated as he looked between the two siblings questionably.
"How are we suppose to prove it? What? Hug each other? How can we do that with our hands being tied like this? Such a pain, you didn't think these things through." Kuro complained with a huff, rolling his eyes, to which Mahiru smacks him lightly for. "Well I'm sorry! I just don't want you two fighting anymore, but if you two want to hug, than that's fine. But don't kill each other when I untie you both, got it?" Mahiru warned as he pulled out a pair of scissors from his pocket to cut the ropes. "You shouldn't smack Nii-san like that... that's not nice. You care about him, don't you? So you should stop hitting him less. He doesn't deserve that treatment from you." Tsubaki defended, giving a slight glare to the boy. Mahiru was left stunned at that, blinking slowly since he was caught off guard. "Yeah, what he said, I didn't do anything to deserve that. You abuse your cute pet too much. Nyah." Kuro whined, but isn't able to rub his head to punctuate the said pain. "Oh he's fine." Mahiru grumbles as he cuts the rope binding Kuro's wrists first, moving over to Tsubaki to cut his as well.
And at that immediate time, Kuro got up from his seat, already feeling the numbness of his legs from sitting in the same position for awhile, hissing at the pin pricks traveling up his legs. "Not all the time I'm not." Kuro says but leaves it at that, looking at the youngest with his arms open, a clear invite for the other to stand up as well so they could hug it out. Holding back tears, Tsubaki got up from his seat carefully before immediately hugging the Eldest tightly. And upon seeing the watery eyes of the youngest, Kuro pressed a gentle kiss onto his head.
Not caring about the count down the others were yelling in the living room, or the loud booms of fireworks afterwards when the clock struck 12. Really, this is what they both needed, and that, Kuro agreed wholeheartedly with. "Happy birthday, Tsubaki." Letting the tears fall slowly, Tsubaki lets himself get lost in Kuro's embrace. "Happy birthday to you too, Nii-san and thank you... for accepting me."
"It's what family does, little brother."