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“You never had a birthday cake?” Aki asked incredulously.
It was an off day for Aki and his devilish charges. Power laid on the floor, swinging a toy around for Meowy to bat at. Denji was on the couch, absentmindedly watching tv. Aki was washing the dishes…
The meal they just had encouraged Denji to ask about making a big meal for his birthday. While Aki was fine with it (even if he put a stern face on), he was surprised that Denji never had a cake.
“Yeah, see, Pochita and I always made this… flour mix every birthday and Christmas. I mean, we ate it all the time, but we added sugar to it since those were special days.” Denji explained. “I thought that it tasted just like cake, but now I wanna try the real thing.”
“Can’t you just buy a cake? Right now?” Aki pointed out.
Power sat up, holding Meowy while doing a loud exaggerated sigh. “Foolish human! Even I - a devil - knows that he wants his first cake to be a special occasion!”
“Yeah, just like how I want my first time to be with Makima!” Denji said.
Aki nearly dropped a dish at that. Though, he couldn’t muster up the same kinda rage he had beating up Denji over his interest like when they first met.
Aki thought about it. Now that he thinks about it, it’s been forever since he had a birthday cake. Birthdays pretty much disappeared the day the Gun Devil came, and he was too focused on work to celebrate a proper birthday. Himeno had encouraged him to take a day off and enjoy a birthday meal, but he refused.
Now that Himeno was gone, he regretted not taking up on that offer.
“Alright. I’ll make a cake for your birthday,” he said. Aki finished up with the dishes and made Denji scoot over to join him on the couch.
And then Power got up and laid on top of them. “Hey, can you make a cake for my birthday too?”
Aki and Denji shot her annoyed looks, but don’t really do anything to push her off.
“Do you even know when your birthday is?” Denji asked.
“It’s, uh, tomorrow,” she said.
“Absolutely not,” Aki said bluntly.
“Power, can you help me with something?” Aki asked.
Power eagerly came over. She didn’t like being alone, even after she recovered from most of her Darkness Devil trauma.
Denji was out on a shopping trip. It was the perfect time to enlist Power’s help.
“Power… I need you to help me make a cake for Denji,” he said.
“Right now? Isn’t his birthday later?” she asked.
Aki shoved forward the sleeve where one of his arms used to be, his own scar from the Darkness Devil. “I need you to learn how to bake a cake. I can’t do it on my own anymore.”
Power frowned in understanding. But it was quickly taken over with a smug smile. “Heh, you don’t need to teach me anything! I’ve baked hundreds of cakes before. Sit down and be amazed Aki, I’ll whip you up something good!”
Half an hour later, the apartment was filled with the smell of burning batter that had a bunch of unnecessary ingredients thrown in. There was somehow a bit of curry powder in the mix, which certainly contributed to the strong smell. Aki wasn’t sure why he sat back and let her try to cook. He supposed he wanted to humor her.
“Don’t lick that,” he murmured to Meowy, gently shoving the cat away while he cleaned up the cursed batter.
“...Yeah, so I’ve never baked once. Tis hard,” the fiend admitted.
“So I see,” Aki sighed. “Okay Power, will you let me teach you how to bake a cake?”
“Yeah, I can do that!”
Whenever Denji was out of the house, the two would practice their baking skills. They wanted the finished product to be a genuine surprise for him, so on the failed attempts, they tried to lie away what the burning smells in the apartment was. Thankfully, Denji usually bought whatever they told them.
Eventually, they did complete a basic chocolate cake. It wasn’t anything special, but it was serviceable.
“Ooh, what should we do with this?” Power asked.
Aki thought about it. “Have you thought about when your birthday was?”
“Huh? Ya know, I kinda forgot.”
Aki pushed the cake toward her. “I decided that it’s today. Happy birthday.”
Power gasped, genuinely touched. And then she started digging in in a monstrous manner. “Wow… amazing! I am an amazing baker! Cakes taste better when you work on it yourself, huh?”
Aki shook his head at her messiness, but he couldn’t help but smile. He got his own fork and stabbed a bit at a piece Power didn't touch. A bit dry, but there was always room for improvement.
Aki was gone.
Denji didn’t let his grief show that much, going on frequent walks to take his mind off things. Which was the perfect opportunity for Power to practice baking the perfect cake.
She tried her best to remember Aki’s words. She tried her best to work on the batter without looking up to get encouragement and advice from someone that was no longer there. She tried her best to not let everything bother her.
Power couldn’t bring herself to eat any of her increasingly better attempts, though. It just wouldn’t have felt the same.
...
The day before Denji’s birthday, there was a phone call, conveniently while he was out.
“Hello? Tis speaking to Power, the smartest devil of all time!” she greeted.
Normally that weirded out or scared callers, but the person on the other side was used to her.
“Hello, Power,” Makima said.
Power frowned. They haven’t heard from her since Aki’s death. Makima always gave her bad vibes she couldn’t fully explain, but suddenly hearing from her now turned her blood cold. Which wasn’t a good thing for a blood fiend.
“This isn’t Power, you called the wrong number.”
“Power.”
“...M’am.”
The fiend heard Makima sigh on the other end. “You know, I was looking through Denji’s file and I just realized that tomorrow is his birthday. Do you have any plans?”
Power felt compelled to speak. “Oh, I’m learning how to bake to surprise him!”
“Ah, that’s good. See, I was thinking about inviting him to my apartment tonight. You should bring a cake over so we can celebrate his birthday at midnight.”
Makima hung up before Power could respond.
Power felt nauseated, but she couldn’t help but follow Makima’s suggestion.
She scoffed at her inner fears. This isn’t about Makima! This is about Denji!
Perfectly baked. Perfectly iced. It was a cake that Aki would have been proud of. It was a cake that Denji would love.
“I’ll be back soon, Meowy!” she pet her beloved cat on the head before heading out, her best cake carefully boxed up in her hands.
She started heading to Makima’s, ignoring the growing fear inside. Why does Makima scare her? ...Why does she already know where Makima lives? She had a brief flash of Angel and Violence standing alongside her with an assortment of other devils and fiends, but it was still a blur.
She pushed that all aside. After all, she couldn’t wait to see the look on Denji’s face. She tossed aside the box the cake was in at a trash can in front of the building, preferring to carry it in on its basic but presentable platter.
Power stopped in front of Makima’s door.
It slowly opened.
Denji was there.
Why did he look so afraid?
Why was she so afraid?
“Denji…”
“He-hey…”
“Bang.”