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Birthdays were always an exciting time for Tsubasa.
Not just his own, though he couldn’t deny he became very excited when he turned one year older. Seeing the joy on his family and friends’ faces as they blew out their candles always filled him with warmth.
Naturally, he couldn’t contain his excitement as he carefully placed the finishing touches on his father’s present, the morning of January 25th.
“So this is why you’ve been skipping your classes?” Hayato scolded when he entered the kitchen, fully made up and ready for work.
Phoenix wasn’t far behind him, blinking in surprise at the mess of chocolate and various modeling tools spread across the kitchen table.
“I got Mai-chan to give me her notes,” Tsubasa waved him off.
“What are you doing?” Phoenix asked, peeking over Tsubasa’s shoulder at the box lined with tissue paper that he was working on.
Tsubasa proudly held it up for her to look at.
“It was so hard, it kept melting in my hand, even though I was careful to temper the chocolate!”
“Uwa, that’s so detailed…” Hayato exclaimed in surprise.
“I don’t know, I think it’s kinda creepy.”
“Phoenix!” Hayato scolded as Tsubasa’s face drooped.
“You think it’s weird?” Tsubasa murmured.
“I think Tsubasa used a medium he’s used to and created a beautiful work of art,” Hayato continued to defend his boyfriend.
Tsubasa pouted, but before he could join the argument, his phone rang in his pocket.
“Good morning, Papa!” he cheerfully answered, as Hayato and Phoenix argued their way out the front door to go to work.
“Good morning!” Riku cheerfully replied, “I hope I didn’t interrupt you during class!”
“Ahaha...yeah…no you’re okay! I don’t actually have class today!” Tsubasa lied, knowing Riku would take the bait.
“Oh, that’s so nice! Isn’t it a wonderful day today?”
“Yes! I’ll be over later today!” Tsubasa reassured him.
“Ah, that’s just what I wanted to talk to you about-” Riku started, before two very small voices in the background kept interrupting him. Tsubasa could hear a hushed ‘you can talk to niichan later’ from Riku, before the voices faded out.
“I’m so sorry,” Riku apologized, “they miss you.”
“It’s fine, I miss them too!” Tsubasa reassured him.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to come over now instead of later,” Riku sheepishly requested, “you see, I tried making a cake for Iori after he left, and…”
“Say no more,” Tsubasa sighed, “I’m on my way.”
“Just be quiet coming in, I need to put the girls down for a N.A.P. and I don’t want them waking up too early.”
“Why did you spell the word nap?” Tsubasa asked.
“Because Nozomi always starts screaming when I say it,” Riku bluntly replied, “and Mirai has started copying everything her sister does.”
“Yikes…”
“Anyways, I can’t wait to see my little boy again!”
“I’m nineteen, and I come over every week!” Tsubasa reminded him.
Riku laughed, “I know, I know! Still, I miss having you home!”
“I know, but you know this place is closer to school, and all my roommates are potty trained.”
Riku laughed, “do say hi to them for me, and hurry over!”
“I will, Papa!”
When Tsubasa hung up the phone, he gazed down in dismay at the huge mess he left.
“I sure hope Mai-chan won’t be too mad when she gets home…” Tsubasa sighed, packing up his chocolate creations and praying they won’t melt on the train.
When Tsubasa opened the door to his parents’ apartment, Riku was on top of the kitchen cabinets, trying to reach something deep in the cupboards.
“You’re going to fall,” Tsubasa scolded.
Upon hearing a new voice in the kitchen, Riku bumped his head hard against the top of the cupboards, jolting his head out, and subsequently losing his balance.
Tsubasa dropped his bag and caught his Papa just as he toppled over the edge.
“What did I tell you?” Tsubasa teased.
“Ahaha, whoops!” Riku laughed sheepishly.
“Dad has his hands full, maybe I should move back home.”
“Hey!”
Tsubasa helped Riku steady himself, who was embarrassed by the fall.
“Thanks.”
“No problem, I just hope I didn’t break my present when I dropped my bag…”
Riku eagerly eyed the bag that was lying on the kitchen floor.
“What did you get him?” Riku asked in excitement.
“Ah, I just made him a little something. Phoenix thinks it’s creepy…”
Tsubasa pulled out the box opening it and breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was undamaged. Riku peered over his son’s shoulder to see what he had created.
“Uwa, Tsubasa, it looks amazing!” Riku exclaimed happily, “Iori’s going to be so impressed!”
“I hope so,” Tsubasa replied sheepishly, closing the box and setting it on the kitchen counter.
“Ah, I got so lucky with such a good son!” Riku exclaimed happily, ascending back up the countertop to rummage through the cupboard again.
“What exactly are you looking for?” Tsubasa asked, carefully spotting him in case he fell again.
“Vanilla extract, we don’t use it much but I think I have some from the twins’ birthday…”
“Ah, getting ingredients for the cake?”
“Aha! Here it is!” Riku triumphantly pulled the small bottle of brown liquid from its hiding place, “I was worried I was going to have to go to the store!”
Fortunately, Riku maintained his balance as he climbed back down.
“Alright, I think that’s everything we need! You know fonte chocolat’s recipes, right?”
“You want to use an Izumi family recipe?” Tsubasa asked in surprise.
“Of course! It’s Iori’s birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to eat a cake that tastes like home!” Riku exclaimed with stars in his eyes as he remembered his beloved’s special day.
It seemed Tsubasa wasn’t the only one excited about birthdays.
Tsubasa didn’t have the same tools as he would at the shop, and Iori wasn’t the type of person to bring his cakes home to finish, especially with two toddlers in the house. So, he knew he was going to have to improvise quite a bit.
But, he had a very happy Riku to help him out, even if he mostly watched in awe.
“You look so much like your father when you’re concentrating like that,” Riku murmured, his chin in his hands as he watched Tsubasa mix the batter by hand. With his lips pursed in annoyance, and his brows stiff, he probably did resemble an annoyed Iori on that moment.
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” Tsubasa laughed breathlessly to himself, “at the shop, when dad’s concentrating, the other employees scatter.”
“When your father was your age, he was so handsome,” Riku sighed, “he still is, of course! But my goodness I was so in love with him back then.”
“You tell me all the time, Papa.”
Tsubasa had minimal complaints when it came to his parents showing affection, or talking about their love for each other. While his friends would gag and complain when their parents did it, Tsubasa thought back to a time when it was just him and Papa, and never took one second of his parents’ happiness for granted.
“I can’t believe he’s forty,” Riku sighed, “I still remember his twentieth birthday like it was just yesterday…”
Tsubasa hummed to himself, pouring the slightly lumpy batter into two pans to go in the oven.
“Actually...that’s a lie, I don’t remember anything after Iori and I having our first beer,” Riku murmured to himself, “but you were conceived, so it must’ve been fun!”
Tsubasa’s eyebrow twitched. Riku’s loose tongue definitely made it hard not to complain about...certain topics.
“Oh, you weren’t supposed to know about that!” Riku exclaimed with a nervous laugh when he realized what he had said aloud.
“I never heard a thing,” Tsubasa lied, placing both cakes in the oven.
“And you’ll be twenty this year…” Riku sighed heavily, already moving on from the subject, “time goes by way too fast.”
“It does,” Tsubasa agreed, closing the oven door and instinctively moving to start cleaning up.
“Ah, I’ll clean!” Riku exclaimed, jumping up and gently nudging Tsubasa out of the kitchen.
“I can clean!”
“Nope, you cook, I clean!”
“But-”
Before Tsubasa could protest further, a series of babbling noises began to emit from the nursery.
“I knew they wouldn’t nap long,” Riku sighed.
“I’ll get them in exchange for you cleaning!” Tsubasa insisted.
“Mmm, go ahead, just bring them into the living room where we can watch them.”
Tsubasa obeyed, eagerly walking down the hall to the source of the sound.
When he gently opened the door to the nursery, poking his head in to make sure they were awake and not sleep-talking, the babbling between the two stopped as they looked to see who was intruding their space.
“Hey ladies, don’t let me interrupt your conversation,” Tsubasa teased.
“Nii-chan!” the two happily exclaimed, extending their arms out to be lifted out of their cribs.
The twins were blessed with thick, deep red hair that was kept in matching sprout-like ponytails on top of their heads. Despite being fraternal twins, their eyes seemed to be the only differentiating feature between them. Mirai had big, honey brown eyes which melted the hearts of everyone she met, while Nozomi had sharp, mischievous pink eyes that sent shivers down Iori’s spine when he first saw them.
Their grandmothers’ eyes, Riku commented happily on the day they were born.
“Well well well, if it isn’t my favourite set of twins,” Tsubasa smiled, scooping up Mirai first and balancing her on his hip, before picking up Nozomi with his free hand, “don’t tell Papa or uncle Tenn that, though. That’s our little secret.”
Tsubasa had initially planned on allowing them to waddle out to the living room themselves, to help strengthen their leg muscles, however both twins had firmly latched to him.
“Down?” Tsubasa asked them.
“No.” They replied, terrifyingly in sync as they tightened their grip on their brother.
“Alright, I see how this is going to go,” Tsubasa caved, kissing both of their heads before carrying them back out to the living room, which was in full view of the kitchen.
“I told you they missed you,” Riku smiled when he saw the twins clinging tightly to Tsubasa.
“I have no idea how to get them off of me,” Tsubasa admitted.
“No!!!” The twins cried out when they heard the word ‘off’.
“Girls, come on now, nii-chan has to help Papa with a special project,” Riku gently scolded in an attempt to get them to let go, “he’s going to make a special cake for Daddy.”
“Daddy?” Mirai asked.
“Cake?” Nozomi echoed.
“Yep, and I can’t do it if you’re holding onto me,” Tsubasa added, happily noticing that their grip was loosening.
“Here,” Riku picked up the remote and turned on the TV, “watch the usamimi friends show.”
“Usamimi!” They exclaimed happily, suddenly much more obedient as they sat on the floor to watch their favourite show.
They might not look it, but they were definitely Izumi Iori’s daughters.
“Thanks for the help,” Tsubasa chuckled when he finally returned to the kitchen to get started on the frosting for the cake.
“They’re at the age where they’re very clingy,” Riku explained, “they love you very much, as do your father and I.”
Tsubasa nodded, “I know, I’m very lucky.”
There was an unspoken understanding between Riku and Tsubasa in that moment. If it wasn’t for Tsubasa’s stubbornness and terrifying persuasive abilities when he was just a first year in high school, the twins would have never been born, and today wouldn’t be a day worth celebrating.
Of course, Tsubasa would never take responsibility for reuniting his parents, or coaxing idolish7 back to the stage for one last performance, however he couldn’t deny he was a catalyst for the events that occured that year.
“Alright, let’s get back to work!” Tsubasa announced with a smile on his face.
“Aaaaand, done!”
After several hours of work, and even more distractions, Tsubasa had Iori’s birthday cake completed. It was a simple vanilla cake with white buttercream and blueberries sprinkled on top. Tsubasa didn’t have as many resources to create anything elaborate, however he was confident that his father would be pleased with something simple.
“Hey, why don’t you put your chocolates on the cake?” Riku suggested.
“They’re a gift, though!” Tsubasa replied.
“So is this cake!” Riku insisted.
“But-”
“Just trust me!”
Riku opened the box, and arranged the chocolates onto the top of the cake.
“See? Look how cute they look!”
Tsubasa had to agree that it was the perfect touch that the cake needed to be truly special.
“You have a good eye, Papa,” Tsubasa praised, “it’s perfect.”
Riku beamed happily from the praise he had recieved.
“Speaking of perfect, come see what I got Iori for his birthday! It’s in our bedroom!” Riku tugged Tsubasa away from the cake and towards the hallway.
“Should I be looking at it if it’s in the bedroom…”
“No, that’s where I hid it!” Riku laughed at Tsubasa’s concern.
When the two men were out of sight, two little girls, who were no longer interested in usamimi friends, eyed the cake in envy.
Riku proudly pulled out a framed photo from under the bed. The large wooden frame was divided into five smaller frames, each one with a baby picture. In the end two frames, Tsubasa assumed, was Iori and Riku’s baby pictures. Tsubasa and the twins were in the middle.
“What do you think?”
“Very cute, but incredibly corny. It’s perfect for dad.”
Riku laughed in response.
“Come on, help me wrap it, he’ll be home any minute now!”
“Is it that late already?!”
“Yes, come on!”
While the two scrambled and fumbled with the wrapping paper, Tsubasa had a weird feeling in his gut that something wasn’t right.
“Papa…”
“Yes, Tsubasa?”
“Are we forgetting about something?”
“I don’t think so, come on hand me the tape!”
Tsubasa handed Riku the tape, but the feeling in his gut never went away.
“No, Papa, I really think we’re forgetting something important.”
“Don’t be silly, Tsubasa, we-”
Riku’s eyed widened in realization.
“The twins!”
A loud crashing noise came from the direction of the kitchen at that exact moment, causing both Riku and Tsubasa to leave the present half wrapped and make a mad dash to the kitchen.
The cake was smashed on the floor, covering the two girls in buttercream and cake.
“What did you two do?!” Riku exclaimed in horror at the sight of the cake on the floor.
Upon realizing they had done something bad, Mirai’s big brown eyes began to fill with tears, but Nozomi was happily eating the mashed up cake she held in her hands.
“Oh my god, we were gone for five minutes!” Tsubasa exclaimed in horror.
To make the situation much, much worse, the front door opened.
“I’m ho-”
Iori stared in shock at the sight before him. His daughters covered in cake on the kitchen floor, his husband and son staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights.
“What on earth is going on here?!”
The floodgates opened for Mirai, who began to sob next to her much more relaxed sister.
“Oh, baby,” Riku instinctively picked her up, cradling her to his chest despite how filthy she was.
“What happened?” Iori asked a shocked Tsubasa.
“I guess they wanted cake…” Tsubasa stammered in reply, “I spent hours on it, too!”
“Well, at least we know who the instigator is,” Iori glared in Nozomi’s direction, who was continuing to eat to her heart’s content.
“Iori, she’s a baby!” Riku scolded, continuing to soothe Mirai.
“A baby who needs to be watched, like you were supposed to do!”
“We weren’t gone that long!”
“Clearly, long enough!”
While the two squabbled, Nozomi stood up, holding something in her hands as she waddled towards her father.
“I’m angry with you,” Iori scolded.
“Daddy,” Nozomi replied bluntly, holding up the chocolate scultpure in her hand.
“Ah, did my chocolates survive the fall?” Tsubasa asked, digging through the mess to try and find the others.
Meanwhile, Iori gently wiped the frosting off the chocolate to reveal a scale model of himself.
“It’s daddy!” Nozomi repeated proudly.
Now, Iori knew he should be firm with her and discipline both her and Mirai appropriately, however, the situation before him was beginning to look more and more ridiculous.
Holding a chocolate figure of himself in his hands, as Tsubasa fished out the rest of the family and lined them up on the kitchen table, Iori let out a laugh.
“...Iori?” Riku murmured in concern.
Iori began to laugh even harder in response to seeing scale models of his husband and children covered in frosting on the table.
“Oh no, we broke him,” Tsubasa whispered aloud.
“...I love you all so much,” Iori laughed breathlessly between his words.
Scooping up Nozomi, he walked over and set his chocolate figurine next to the one of Riku.
“Next time, we wait for daddy to get home before we eat cake, okay?” He pinched Nozomi’s cheeks, “my goodness, you’re going to have quite the tummyache!”
“I thought you were mad…” Riku asked.
“I am,” Iori insisted, “but...they’re so cute, it’s making it hard to stay mad.”
Riku smiled in response.
“Now, let’s get these troublemakers cleaned up, and then why don’t we go to a family restaurant to celebrate?” Iori suggested.
“I hope this didn’t ruin your birthday,” Tsubasa sighed. After saving his chocolates, he was busy cleaning up the mess on the floor.
Iori smiled in reassurance.
“The only thing I wanted for my birthday is to spend time with my family,” he insisted, “I got exactly what I wanted, no matter how messy it gets.”
Iori meant every word he said, and even though he ended up blowing out his candles on a store bought cake, he still made sure Tsubasa’s chocolate family was on top.