Chapter Text
Katana didn’t like other people knowing his birthday. He hated it, in fact. Hated the annoyance of being the center of attention, of being known like that.
He did what he could to hide it from people, always avoiding the question when people asked him.
But even he couldn’t hide it from everyone.
September twentieth came like it did every year. With an empty house of covered mirrors and closed curtains.
Katana sighs, pulling himself out of bed, dragging his claws through his hair. His tufted tail flicks behind him as he untangles his hair from around his horns, glancing at the clock.
9 AM, on the dot, like always. Part of him wishes he could sleep in, but he can’t change nature.
He stands up from bed, pulling on his robe and tying it closed loose around his waist. There wasn’t a phight scheduled for today, which meant Katana got to stay home. He could tend to his bonsais properly today, maybe meditate outside. If he had the energy, maybe he’d cook a bit of a nicer dinner tonight.
He’s drawn out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.
Then two more.
He pauses, moving from his bedroom and to the door, leaning down and squinting through the peephole.
Three figures stand there, all shifting and wriggling like a pack of kittens.
Shuriken, Vinestaff and Slingshot. His neighbours. He lets out a long suffering sigh, slipping on his mask before opening the door.
“It’s nine in the morning. What do you three want?” he says dryly.
“Happy birthday nya nya!” Slingshot shouts out, barely waiting for Katana to finish talking.
“Happy birthday Katana!” Vinestaff says warmly, Shuriken beaming beside her.
“How do you three know about that?” Katana sighs.
“Shuriken hacked into the phighter files- nya! - and Vinestaff confirmed with Ghosdeeri.” Slingshot giggles, smoothing the ruffles of his dress. Shuriken nods in confirmation, and Vinestaff shifts to fix his hair.
“You three are quite determined, aren’t you?” Katana adjusts his mask, ignoring how his heart swells a bit.
“Very!” Vinestaff smiles. “You’re our friend, and we want you to have a happy birthday!”
“I’m not your friend.” Katana crosses his arms. The three shorter phighters giggle amongst each other, nudging each other with smiles on their faces.
“Well, friend or not, we still brought you something.” Vinestaff says warmly.
Katana raises an eyebrow, now noticing the red box that Shuriken holds in his hand.
The green-horned demon steps forward with a warm smile, offering the box up to Katana.
Katana hesitates before reaching forward and taking the box in his claws, glancing at the three smaller demons.
“What is this?”
“Well you have to open- nya! -open it, silly. It’s a present after all.” Slingshot giggles.
Katana gingerly inspects the red package. It was well wrapped, clearly done with care. The paper had what looked like a feathered pattern on it, or maybe those were leaves, it was too faint to tell.
Using the tips of his claws, Katata peels the tape off the paper, unfolding it with steady hands so as to not rip the delicate wrapping.
Shuriken giggles at the sight, his sister echoing the sound.
“It’s a present, not a glass ornament. You don’t have to be so gentle,” She points out lightheartedly.
Katana offers no response, easing the box out of the paper and setting the red wrapping aside. The box is taped shut as well, these three really were careful with this gift.
It was probably something foolish and trivial no doubt, like the sweets and trinkets they left in his mailbox. The sweets he definitely didn’t enjoy even on his tiredest days, and the trinkets he definitely didn’t store in his dresser, meticulously placed and organised.
They weren’t his friends, after all.
He peels off the tape, opening the box.
Inside the thin cardboard, in a bed of red and white tissue paper, sits six packets of seeds. Three spider lilies and three hibiscus.
“For your garden.” Vinestaff smiles, “We noticed a number of yours had died the last time you hid away.”
“We figured- nya! -figured you would like them.” Slingshot’s smile matches his roommates’, his eyes sparkling.
Katana swallows past the lump in his throat. He had a bad habit of letting his plants die when he had heavy days. He’d had yet to drag himself to the greenhouse again for more replacements.
“It’s… very thoughtful of you…” He says slowly, “But I am perfectly capable of buying my own flowers.”
“Well we know that,” Vinestaff giggles again, “But this way you don’t have to.”
“Do you like them??” Slingshot asks eagerly, mewing in surprise when Shuriken elbows him in the side.
“…they are nice,” Katana says quietly, reaching up to adjust his mask a bit. All three smaller demons look up at him in surprise and delight at his words.
“Really?” Vinestaff asks brightly.
“You mean you- nya! -you really like them?”
“They are nice. That is all.” Katana sets the box on the empty space on the shoe rack beside the door.
“If that is all?” He crosses his arms again. The three demons nudge each other, all smiling as bright as the stars.
“Yep! Just wanted to give you that!” Vinestaff says warmly.
“And if you come to the cafe today, I can- nya nya! -I can give you a free cake!” Slingshot bounces on the balls of his feet, “Or I can just drop it off tonight!”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“So tonight!” Slingshot giggles. Shuriken takes hold of Slingshot’s sleeve, rolling his eyes good-naturedly as he leads the cat-like demon away from Katana’s door.
“If you ever need help with that garden, just let me know,” Vinestaff offers with a gentle smile.
“I will not need your help. But thank you for the offer.” Katana steps back from the doorway as Vinestaff waves, closing the door as she walks away.
He stands there for a moment, palm pressed against the door as the white box of seeds sits in his peripheral.
Those three…
He sighs, taking off his mask and wiping his eyes with his knuckles, careful of his claws. He sets the mask back on its hook by the door, picking up the box and carefully carrying it to the kitchen.
He opens the fridge, glancing at the box of sweets that Slingshot had left on his doorstep two days before. He carefully takes the seed packets out of the tissue paper, setting them in the shelf of the fridge so they would stay fresh until he had the energy to plant them.
With a sigh, he closes the fridge, setting the empty box beside the recycle bin. He moves, picking up the wrapping paper and carefully unfolding it all the way. He peels off each strip of tape before sitting down on the floor in front of his living room table. He smooths the paper over the wooden surface, his eyes tracing the length and width of the paper.
With careful movements, he begins to fold the wrapping paper, using his claws to make precise creases in the red patterned paper.
A few dozen folds later, the paper has bloomed into a beautiful lotus.
Origami was one of Katana’s few joys in life, and he had it down to an art. He carefully picks the bloom up in his claws, standing up from the table and moving to his room.
He opens a drawer of his dresser, carefully setting the red flower down, surrounded by dozens of other origami shapes. Each one made from the wrapping paper off of one of the gifts he received from his neighbours.
He sighs softly, pushing the drawer shut.
Normally he hated gifts.
So why was this one making his heart twist in a different way?
Perhaps it was the care that was put into wrapping it, or the uniqueness of the gift itself.
Perhaps it was the gentleness with which Shuriken had handed the box to him.
Perhaps it was the understanding in Vinestaff’s eyes when she mentioned his heavy days.
Perhaps it was something else entirely.
Whatever it was, he did not have the energy to deal with it today.
With a heavy sigh that held more than a little self-loathing, Katana slips his robe off and crawls back into bed.
He nudges the thick blue blankets around, reorganising them into a proper nest shape before pulling one over his head and horns, his tail curling around his waist.
He missed…
No.
Not today.
With a sharp shake of his head, Katana presses his eyes shut and wills himself to go back to sleep.
With luck, he’d wake up tomorrow and this wretched day would be over with. He had a phight tomorrow, that was something to look forward to.
Something was better than nothing…
…
Katana’s eyes snap open to knocking on his door.
Not loud knocking, even, so why did it jolt him out of his sleep so suddenly?
Another knock.
With a heavy groan, he sits up in his nest, slipping out of bed and drowsily grabbing his robe, pulling it on and just holding it closed.
He makes his way towards the door, grabbing his mask and hooking it onto his horns before fumbling with the locks.
“Who is it and what do you—”
“Kat.”
He knew that voice.
Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Katana looks down to see the familiar blue mask of Hyperlaser.
Silence.
“Well gods Kat, are you gonna inv—”
Katana doesn’t even let the smaller demon finish his sentence, taking a single step forward and pulling Hyperlaser into his arms, enveloping him in a crushing hug.
Hyperlaser chuckles softly, wrapping his arms around the tall demon, rubbing his back.
“Easy there, owlet. You didn’t think I’d forget about your birthday, did you?”
“黙れ(Shut up),” Katana mutters, unhooking his mask to bury his face in Hyperlaser’s soft black mane, breathing in his scent as his mask clatters to the ground.
“Owlet, you’re gonna scratch up my helmet with those horns of yours,” Hyperlaser teases lightly. Katana grumbles to himself before reluctantly letting go and stepping back.
Hyperlaser leans down, picking up Katana’s mask and handing it back to him.
“So, am I allowed to come outside? Or are you gonna leave me out here in the cold?” Katana can hear the grin in his voice.
“It’s not even that cold tonight.” Katana huffs, but he steps aside all the same to let Hyperlaser inside.
The blue-suited demon steps into the doorway, taking off his shoes and setting them on the shoe rack. Right where they belong.
Katana closes and locks the door, hanging up his mask beside the door where it was before.
“You eaten yet tonight?” Hyperlaser asks, shrugging off his coat and hanging it by the door, beside Katana’s mask.
Katana shakes his head, his tail flicking behind him. Hyperlaser sighs softly.
“Have you eaten at all today?”
Katana turns his head away, his hands behind his back and his jaw tense.
Hyperlaser sights, moving and unclipping his mask, setting it on the nearest flat surface.
He moves over, reaching up and turning Katana’s head to meet his eyes.
“Kat, come on. What’s up, and don’t you say ‘nothing’ or I might have to smack you again.”
Katana’s red eyes flick over Hyperlaser’s scarred face, his lips pursing a bit in what was definitely not a pout.
“…I’ve been distracted,” He says instead.
“Well you seem pretty focused right now. So let’s eat.” Hyperlaser crosses his arms, drawing a huff from Katana.
“I’m not h—”
“Katana I swear to gods. Eat something. Now.” Hyperlaser has that tone in his voice, the kind he normally reserved for scolding Princess. Part of Katana’s pride baulks at being spoken to that way, but the rest of him knows he needs it. He wouldn’t listen otherwise.
Grumbling to himself, he turns on his heel and moves to the kitchen, Hyperlaser on his tail. He opens the fridge, eyes flicking towards the seed packets for a moment. He sighs, pulling out the package of sweets and setting it on the counter, crossing his arms.
“Is that all you have in the house?” Hyperlaser asks incredulously.
“Yes.” Katana’s voice is deadpan, his tail flicking behind him. Hyperlaser rubs the bridge of his nose with a long-suffering sigh.
“You’re going to be the death of me, I swear,” He grumbles, moving and leaving the kitchen to sift through his bag that Katana hadn’t even realised he’d brought.
He pulls out a bottle of soju and sets it aside before bringing out two bento boxes.
Katana watches from the kitchen doorway, his brow furrowed.
“What did you bring?”
“Shut up and sit down at the table. Come on.” Hyperlaser carries the bento boxes to the table and sits down, crossing his arms impatiently. Katana blinks before obliging, moving over and sitting across from Hyperlaser.
He opens up the bento box, pausing when he sees the contents.
In the main compartment, delicately organised, was rice with meat and vegetables in a thick sauce, sesame seeds sprinkled on top. In the secondary compartment, sliced strawberries and pitted cherries.
Katana feels a smile start to curve his lips. All his favourites…
“Hyperlaser?” his voice is soft. Hyperlaser looks up from his own meal, cocking an eyebrow.
“Thank you. For coming back, for making me eat. For everything.” Katana looks back down at the food. “I normally don’t like my birthday, too much attention in ways I don’t want. But this… This is the best one by far.”
Hyperlaser smiles softly.
“I’m glad to be back. I missed you, stubborn asshole.”
Katana chuckles, shaking his head.
“Soju before bed?”
“Soju before bed.”