Work Text:
Cyan was annoyed. The atmosphere in the branch had been rather... weird, as of late. It wasn't that it was tense or anything serious like that, but it felt like the Branch Chief and others were hiding something from him. Everybody had been avoiding him recently, leaving the dokubutsu danshi feeling frustrated. Usually, he would have appreciated the distance, preferring to keep to himself, but something about all this upset him. He wasn't sure if the problem was with him specifically, but he would have much preferred it if the others just confronted him already if that was indeed the case. He would never admit it out loud, but being the only one left out left a bitter feeling in his mouth. He already had enough of feeling that way due to his origins.
Then, one day, Cyan was called to head to the multipurpose room. It was evening, and work hours had already ended, but nevertheless, a researcher approached him with a message from the Branch Chief requesting his presence. Cyan just wanted to go back to his room and continue working on the personal project he had been toiling away at for the past few days, but if it was an order from the Branch Chief, he had no choice but to go. It could be something important like having to be dispatched to fight a Void or something.
Cyan entered the multipurpose room with a sigh. "What do you want—"
"Surprise!"
The dokubutsu danshi flinched at the sudden and unexpected noise but quickly regained himself before anybody could notice his reaction. It took him a good moment to process everything. The Branch Chief and other dokubutsu danshi were standing by the entrance, each one wearing a silly little hat on their head while holding party poppers in their hands. A quick glance of the room showed it to be decorated with streamers and balloons. It wasn't anything grand. Rather, the decorations had a homely and cozy kind of feel. It felt... warm.
"...What are you idiots doing now?" Cyan asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
"What, you ask... We're celebrating your birthday of course!" Chain answered on behalf of everybody else.
Oh, right. Cyan hadn't noticed. He had been so busy fighting Voids as of late that all the days blended together. Well, it wasn't like he held any particular kind of excitement or anticipation towards his birthday anyways. Then, it all suddenly clicked for Cyan, and everything finally made sense. All that sneaking around was everyone preparing this for him.
"I had to call you over saying it was an order because I was afraid you'd ignore me otherwise and all of this would have been for nothing," the Branch Chief explained with an apologetic expression. "Are you angry?"
The birthday boy exhaled a heavy breath, crossing his arms over his chest. He had a frown on his face, but it didn't look like he was genuinely upset. "Don't waste my time with stupid things like this..." He grumbled. "But I'm already here anyways, so I might as well stay."
The Branch Chief beamed while Ergot and Hemlock looked at Cyan with expressions reminiscent of parents waving off their child's rebellious behaviour as a cute and endearing act.
"Then, since Cyan's here now, let's go and get this party started!" Dion cheered, pumping a fist up in the air to liven up the mood.
"Why are you the one most excited?" Cyan lifted a brow, his voice full of exasperation. "You just want to drink."
Dion pointed finger guns towards the white-haired man and winked. "That's right!" He admitted, completely unashamed.
"Um..." An shyly spoke up, catching Cyan's attention. The short dokubutsu danshi walked up to him and offered a blue party hat out to him. "Here's your party hat."
Cyan's expression twisted to one of horror and embarrassment at the idea of having that thing on his head. Nevertheless, since An was the one who was giving it to him, he couldn't just refuse. He accepted it with utmost reluctance and awkwardly held the hat in his hand. "You can't honestly expect me to wear this...?"
"Huuuh? Are you seriously going to reject An's goodwill?" C.B. frowned at him before going off. "Even though he was the one who made it? Branch Chief gave him the job of making the party hats, you know? An gave it his best, you know? Hemlock and Ergot even offered to help him, but he refused, saying he wanted to do it himself. And you're just going to throw all that effort to waste? Are you seriously that heartless?" He was half-joking of course, wanting to get a reaction out of Cyan.
Realizing that C.B. was trying to provoke a fight, An tried to get him to step down. Now wasn't the time and place for the two to get into their usual arguments. He shook his head and assured him, "It's okay. If Cyan doesn't want to, then he doesn't have to. We can't force him, after all..."
Even though he said that, An appeared obviously disheartened, his shoulders slightly slumped and head bowed. Cyan could feel everybody's intense and judging gazes on him. Those stares, in addition the guilt he felt towards An prickling at his chest made Cyan concede.
"Argh, fine!" He roughly placed the hat on his head, securing it properly with the string. "There! You happy now?!"
An answered with a bright smile and nod of his head. Cyan could only grumble his grievances underneath his breath. He must have looked ridiculous. He felt stupid wearing the accessory, and the feeling was only amplified when he heard stifled snickering and snorting from C.B., Chain, and Dion. He made a mental note to beat them all up later when nobody else was looking.
"Well, that's enough of that. Let's eat," Hemlock suggested, moving things along.
Ergot lightly clapped his hands together in agreement. "Yes. We wouldn't want the food that the Branch Chief worked so hard on to get cold, after all."
With that prompt, everybody shuffled over to the large circular table that had been set up in the room for tonight. In addition to the finely cake as the centrepiece, there was a wide spread of food available. Cyan noted that it had everybody's favorites and that all of their preferences were taken into account.
"I wanted to make Cyan's favourite food too since it's his special day, but he just doesn't have any!" The Branch Chief lamented. "Do you know what he says everytime I ask?"
"I don't care what it is as long as I can eat it," Cyan answered, repeating the same thing he always said.
"That!" The Branch Chief exclaimed, sharply pointing a finger towards Cyan, accusatory. "That is the bane of each and every single cook trying to make something for someone!!"
"Yeah, yeah," Cyan dismissively waved him away, having heard this many times before.
After that, it didn't take long for everybody to fall into lighthearted conversation with each other and to get the party going. Despite the simplicity of it, the party was quite thought out. There were many activities planned out that Cyan found surprisingly fun. Or maybe he just liked being able to beat everyone and coming out on top for most of them. He even received a bunch of new crafting tools and materials as gifts. He thought that it was only appropriate for him to thank everyone, but he immediately regretted it when Chain started to call him a tsundere and tease him, only to have Dion join in too after having too much to drink.
Despite all the noise, this kind of easygoing atmosphere wasn't all that bad. It was better than the cold silence of the lab from back then, and Cyan quickly shook those thoughts away. Even though they were celebrating him, the man found his way to the wall to get away from all the festivities for a break. As he watched everyone enjoying themselves, he couldn't help but curl his lips into a small smile. He was glad to be part of the Tokyo Branch.