Archive of Our Own

The day already had a terrible start. Mizuki had woken up on his birthday to hear an onslaught of rain, followed by exactly four strikes of thunder. His birthday was already a bad omen in the making.

Mizuki slipped out of bed, quickly getting changed. He was ttrying not to panic about the heavy downpour of rain outside as he made his way to the base's kitchen. Mizuki was so full of panic, in fact, that he forgot to wear his kasa. He'd need to spread another line of salt in front every door and window on base for sure, given the direction this day was already heading. Whatever could come of this storm wasn't a good thing, he could tell just from the four strikes of thunder.

Perhaps it would've been a little different if there had been only three or if there had been an extra, but four definitely meant something was wrong. Especially in April. His luck really was the worst, the universe definitely had it out for him after he had turned his back on Hashimoto.

Mizuki just had to hope everyone else at Watchpoint: Gibraltar wouldn't pay the price for his misfortune. That was a burden he was always destined to carry alone. He kept his distance, outside of battle, from all of the agents for that very reason. That, and he was still certain some agents were wary of him, even though he'd come clean of the truth entirely of his own accord.

He just couldn't bear hurting everyone after everything. Mizuki was meant to expose their secrets to Talon and the Hashimoto, he'd come here gleefully thinking he'd manage to please his elders, yet he was soft. He'd started softening around the Yokai, hoped by joining Overwatch he'd find it easier, but if anything being a part of Overwatch had only made him softer. Even seeing them in action, how they interacted with each other, made him very hesistant to stab them all in the back.

In the end, he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it and ended up running to Sojourn and Cassidy to confess to everything and beg them for help. It made him cringe a little to recall that moment, mainly because he had been distraught about it to the point of being reduced to a mess of tears, his exposed face red as he sputtered out barely coherent apologies, explanations, and pleas for help.

To Sojourn's credit, she took it better than he had expected. He had anticipated her to kick him out, threaten him, or be full of rage. Instead, she had calmly listened to him and thanked him for being honest with her. She was stern with him, but never angry, frequently reminding him when he was doubting himself that he had made the right choice. Cassidy had been warm to him and told him a few tales about his time among the Deadlock Gang, mainly to assure him that few people were without sin.

They shared the information with Winston as well, who was also just as kind about it. With their help, Mizuki found a path to move forward, as well as to confess his original intentions to Kiriko and apologize. Kiriko had also taken it better than he anticipated. She had been upset, but after it had been fully explained, her initial anger morphed into feeling sad for him. Mizuki didn't really want him to pity her, but she had forgiven him easier knowing that it wasn't his fault he ended up getting roped into Hashimoto's schemes.

After that, Kiriko had told him given all of the information, it was probably for the best that he stayed out of Japan until the Hashimoto clan could be defeated for good. Mizuki missed his Yokai friends, but he agreed with her, and ended up becoming an Overwatch agent himself, as opposed to simply just an ally. It had worked out, somehow.

Overwatch had been a far better home and family to him than he could've ever expected, and he felt a deep obligation to protect everyone, given all they had done for him. He'd been with them for a little over a year now and it had quite honestly been the best year of his life, now that he actually was able to make choices for himself and was surrounded by caring people. Though, he still didn't really consider anybody to be a close friend, since he avoided mostly friendship like the plague as to not infect anybody else with his poor luck. Though a few people slipped in, mainly Wuyang and Brigitte, but he wouldn't say they were super close. He still deeply cared for them all, just from behind the scenes.

Which was exactly why this was happening in the first place. Everyone was in danger because of him and he needed to rectify it and protect them. It wasn't fair for them all to suffer because of his ongoing streak of misfortune.

Mizuki opened up the cabinet containing all of the spices. He knew exactly which cabinet it was, as this had not been his first time going on the hunt for salt. Given the widespread variety of cultures and people, the cabinet was full of various seasonings. His hand shot straight for the box of salt. He had failed to notice that there was a container of garlic powder wedged just in front of it, until it was too late and the container had fallen to the floor. The container was sealed, until it hit the floor, because of course the container would explode given his luck, leaving behind a large pile of garlic powder on the floor, at his feet.

The sound of rapidly pattering feet approached. Fika had witnessed the whole thing and falsely assumed the garlic powder was catnip. Fika gunned it for the pile of fallen seasoning, thinking she had just struck gold. Mizuki had caught a glimpse of her just in time to set down the box of salt and swiftly scooped her up before she could make poor decisions.

Fika, instead of making the connection that Mizuki was just trying to protect her from consuming something that was poison to her, became irritated that her plans to consume catnip were interrupted. She squirmed in his arms, desperate to taste the seasoning on the floor just beneath her. To her, he was keeping her from a pot of gold.

"No, Fika," Mizuki argued with her as he wrangled the frustrated kitty, "You don't want to eat that."

Fika hissed at him, as if arguing with him, that she did in fact want to eat that.

"Do you want to die?" Mizuki asked her, "Because that's garlic powder, you stupid cat."

Fika looked him in the eye and let out a loud meow of disappointment. She relaxed a little in his grip, no longer deadset on consuming the powder, but stared at him expectantly. He owed her a treat for this level of disappoint.

All Mizuki saw was an adorable ginger cat staring at him. He preferred black cats, since they warded off evil, but Fika was irresistably cute at times. "Awww," Mizuki cooed, unable to resist fawning over the adorable creature, as he stroked her fur, "You're a little shit, but you're so cute."

Fika meowed with dissatisfaction, bearing her claws to warn the lowly human that she would strike if he did not comply. She had only held off on immediately scratching him simply because he was at least giving her loving attention.

"Jeez, what do you want from me?" Mizuki questioned. He didn't even know why he asked. Fika was a cat. He did not speak cat, and she did not speak any human language as far as he was aware. "My soul?"

Fika hissed and scratched him. Mizuki should know by now that he owed her a treat.

"Ouch! You little—" Mizuki's grip slipped. Fika decided she had enough of his bullshit and jumped down.

"Oh there you are, Fika! I was looking all over for you!" Brigitte spoke as she entered the kitchen, not even noticing Mizuki was standing right there. She gasped as soon as she saw the pile of spilled powder, "Fika! Were you rumaging in the cabinets again?"

"I accidentally dropped the container of garlic powder while grabbing the salt," Mizuki told Brigitte, "but why do you let her roam into the kitchen? She almost decided to eat it. Then she would've been dead and everyone's day would've gone terribly. Today is already very unlucky." He was starting to grow a bit panicked. Fika almost died because of his misfortune.

Brigitte sighed, as she walked over to pick up her cat, "She gets into places she's not supposed to be in sometimes."

Mizuki didn't respond, just went to grab the broom and dustpan to clean up his mess.

"Well, thank you for keeping her safe," Brigitte said, carrying a purring Fika in her arms, "But what do you mean by today is unlucky?"

"It's my birthday," Mizuki muttered, hardly audible, as he swept up the fallen spice, "and there were four lightning strikes this morning."

"Oh! Happy birthday!" Brigitte replied, "But I still don't get why that means today is unlucky."

Mizuki looked up at her, his eyes sharp and intense, "Because I'm unlucky and four is a very unlucky number!"

"I'm sure it was just a coincidence," Brigitte tried to reassure him, but it only annoyed him. She clearly didn't understand.

"It was not just a coincidence," Mizuki hissed, "My misfortune is coming for us all!"

Brigitte blinked a few times in confusion before opting to walk out of the kitchen. Seriously, what was she supposed to say to that?

Mizuki grabbed the box of salt once he had finished cleaning up the garlic powder and made his way around base, sprinkling salt at every doorway and window to keep evil out. It was quite time consuming, but very necessary. The rain seemed to let up the longer he did so, which Mizuki took as a good sign that the salt was helping.

Protecting everyone meant he needed to stop by everyone's room and draw lines of salt at their doorways, at minimum. He didn't want to ask everyone if he could enter their room so he could leave salt at their windows, as most of the agents were already a little weirded out by the fact he left a line of salt at their doorways, so he opted to just accept the fact that he couldn't extend their protections that way.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Wuyang exited his room right as Mizuki was leaving salt at Anran's door. Mizuki paused as Wuyang emerged from the room, realizing what he was doing looked rather strange when Wuyang stared at him. He always liked Wuyang a lot, quite possibly the sweetest and most likeable person he'd ever met, also very insistant on being his friend. Wuyang almost felt untainted by the cruel world, felt pure in that sense. Being around him sometimes made Mizuki feel more at ease. The last thing he wanted to do was freak Wuyang out.

"What are you doing, Mizuki?" Wuyang asked. It wasn't a question being asked because he was weirded out, he was genuinely curious.

"Leaving salt at entrances keeps evil out," Mizuki said, slowly continuing to finish his trail of salt at Anran's door.

"Oh."

Wuyang was very sweet. Mizuki felt that Wuyang needed extra protection, so he decided to ask, "Can I go into your room?"

"Huh? You want to go into my room?"

"To leave salt at the windows," Mizuki said, "Can I?"

"O-Oh um... yeah! That's fine!" Wuyang opened his door wider to give Mizuki room to enter. Ever since Mizuki had showed up at Gibraltar, Wuyang had developed a little bit of a crush on him. It was hard not to, when Mizuki was so pretty and seemed so cool, at least in his eyes. It only grew stronger when he actually got the chance to work with him. They worked relatively well together and Mizuki had even helped him out a few times when he had particularly close calls.

Wuyang wanted to get to know Mizuki more, but he hadn't gotten much of a chance to actually interact with him, between Mizuki's tendency to hide and his own social awkwardness making it difficult to be able to approach Mizuki. Sure, he'd managed friendship, but there was still so much he didn't know about Mizuki.

"Great," Mizuki quickly ran into the room, left salt at the windows, and dipped out. He didn't want to stay too long, worried that him being there for too long would give Wuyang bad luck. He finished leaving salt at Wuyang's door before continuing down the hall.

"Ah! Um...Mizuki—" Wuyang called out to him, desperately trying to cling to this rare opportunity, "Today is your birthday... right?" He'd once heard from Kiriko what Mizuki's birthday was and had memorized it. He had picked up on little things he heard about everyone else, being as he was so desperate to make people happy, but had especially picked up on little things about Mizuki where he could.

Mizuki paused, his body tense, "Yes. It is my birthday today."

"Happy birthday! I-I uh... I actually have a birthday gift for you!"

Mizuki turned to face him, "What?"

"I said I have a birthday gift for you," Wuyang repeated. He slipped back into his room and hurriedly grabbed it before running to Mizuki with it. A shy smile spread across his face as he slipped the gift into Mizuki's hand, feeling his face light up with gentle warmth with the simple action, "It's nothing that exciting because I don't really know what you like but you have those paperdolls! When Anran and I went back home, we visited this shop and I saw this necklace and I immediately thought you might like it so I bought it as a gift for you."

Mizuki looked over the necklace in his hand. It was similar in style to Wuyang's necklace, a black corded necklace with a jade pendant with a similar shape to the paper dolls he was so familiar with making. He ran his thumb along the surface of the pendant, "For me?"

Wuyang nodded, "Yes! It's for you!"

Mizuki locked eyes with him, "Thank you." He turned the pendant over in his hand, noting the engraving of Kanji on the back of it. For luck. His heart fluttered in his chest. It was easily the best gift he'd ever recieved. He'd always thought of Wuyang as being sweet and kind, but this was kindness he was unworthy of. He almost felt like he shouldn't have anything this nice, "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

"You're so nice," When Mizuki said it, it was usually sarcastic or kind of sassy, but this time the words were soft and almost loving. Clearly he meant to come across as nonchalant, but his tone was weakened by the gesture, allowing some form of emotion and gentle affection to bleed through in his words. Hearing the slip of emotion in his voice made Wuyang's heart melt.

Mizuki slipped the necklace on and continued leaving trails of salt, smiling under the mask. Today wasn't so bad after all. He had a much better feeling about the day.

Wuyang internally kicked himself for not continuing the conversation. He had gotten so far and yet, made so little progress.

Then he got an idea. Wuyang wanted to bake Mizuki a cake too. Only, there was a problem.

He didn't know how to bake. Wuyang knew how to cook, that was simple and easy, throw tasty veggies and meat into a pan with some spices, add some carbs, and you've got an editible meal. Baking, on the other hand, was a technical science and math equation. He'd never baked, mostly for fear of failure.

Wuyang needed a helping hand and who better to help him than his perfect sister? Wuyang knocked on her door.

"Go away," She hissed, grogginess clinging to her voice.

"Please help me," Wuyang pleaded with her. He heard shifting on the other side of the door until it eventually swung open. Anran's hair was, for once, less than perfect, strands flying all over the place like she'd just been through a tornado. An oversized orange sweater hung over her shoulders, draping over most of her black shorts, almost like a dress.

"What did you do?" Anran asked.

"I didn't do anything," Wuyang said, "I need help with a task."

Anran blinked slowly, "What kind of task?"

"I don't know how to bake."

"Look it up, you'll figure it out," Anran waved a hand dismissively, clearly intent on getting back to her nice and cozy bed.

"Wait! I'll let that one thing go if you do this for me!" Wuyang said. He knew how tired she was about being pestered and reminded about it. As her little brother, it was his duty to annoy the shit out of her, but he'd definitely be willing to stop using it as fuel for his pestering if she'd help him with this.

"My embarrassing slip up with Lúcio?"

"Yup! I won't say another word about it if you help me bake a cake!"

She sighed, "Alright, fine, I'll help. But you better keep your word!"

"I will!"

Anran showered and got dressed (taking far too long in Wuyang's opinion) before meeting Wuyang in the kitchen, "Got a taste for sweets, huh?"

"Actually, I'm not making it for me," Wuyang admitted, "It's Mizuki's birthday today."

Anran raised an eyebrow, "You weren't this excited to bake me a birthday cake."

Wuyang flipped her off, "That's because you suck and I don't want to bake a cake for you."

She scoffed, "Rude, guess you don't want my help after all."

"I was just kidding!" He huffed, "I do like you! Just not enough to go through the effort of baking you a cake."

"Precisely my point," Anran said, "Why do you want to bake Mizuki a cake this badly?"

"I just want to do it to be nice."

"Uh huh. Right," She wasn't convinced, "Well what kind of cake are we baking?"

"Uh..." Shit, he hadn't thought of that, "Actually I don't... know what flavors Mizuki likes yet." Neither Mizuki nor Kiriko had given him any clues there.

"I know," Anran said, "Let's make it mustard flavored."

"Ew, gross," Wuyang's face crinkled in disgust, "Do you want him to hate me?"

"I don't know, maybe I don't want a super edgy brother-in-law."

"Hey!" Wuyang's face flushed, a vibrant red color dusting across his cheeks, "It's not like that!"

"Your face being so red tells me otherwise."

"It's just hot in here!"

Anran rolled her eyes, "If anything, it's a little chilly in here. You clearly have some kind of crush on the edgy turtle guy."

Wuyang almost brought up her little slip up with Lúcio but bit his tongue. Anran's help was based entirely on the fact that he wouldn't bring that up anymore. "Don't you dare say anything to him about it."

"Fine," Anran sighed. She pulled out her phone, "I've got Kiri's number saved. I'm sure she has some ideas." She called Kiriko's number, putting the call on speaker so Wuyang could hear the exchange.

"Hey Anran, what's up?" Kiriko asked.

"Do you know what kind of sweet stuff Mizuki likes?" Anran asked, direct and straight to the point, "Baking him a cake."

Kiriko's eyebrow raise was audible through her tone, "I didn't expect him to be your type, of all people."

"Oh, god no. This was Wuyang's idea. He's bullied me into helping him."

"Oh, I see," Kiriko said, "good thing Mizuki swings that way."

"He does?" Wuyang asked. That news was great to hear. He might have a chance!

Kiriko laughed, "Yeah, he does. You couldn't tell?"

"Nevermind," Wuyang said, "I want to know what kind of cake I should bake for him."

"My suggestion of mustard flavored wasn't good enough for him," Anran told Kiriko.

Kiriko snorted, "Oh my god, if you fed Mizuki that he'd be salty about it for weeks, maybe even months."

"You totally wanted him to hate me," Wuyang swatted Anran's arm.

Kiriko ignored Wuyang's remark, "Well, I don't have a whole lot of information to go off of, because Mizuki's kinda secretive but what I do know is that he does seem to gravitate towards things with strawberry in them. I know he doesn't like pineapple because he freaks about the whole it eats you back thing. So definitely don't feed him pineapple if you want him to like you. He seems to like coconut though," She paused, still thinking, "Oh! I remember one time I got these pistachio donuts and instead of reprimanding me for eating nothing but donuts like he usually does, he seemed really excited about them. I think he might like pistachio flavored things."

"Can confirm," Ryota's voice was heard in the background, "I once bought this pistachio pastry cake thing and he was definitely eyeing it, so I asked him if he wanted it, and he looked like a kid in a candy store when I gave it to him."

"There you go," Kiriko chuckled, "Pistachio is your answer."

The call concluded.

Anran looked up a recipe and they got to baking. Anran mostly gave him instructions and clarified when he became confused. Which was often, but they worked through it.

"What are you guys making?" Brigitte asked, cheerful smile on her face.

"Somebody woke me up early to bake the emo turtle guy a birthday cake," Anran replied.

"Hey! It wasn't that early!" Wuyang frowned.

Brigitte laughed, "It's nice of you to bake Mizuki a birthday cake. What kind of cake is it? I'm not even sure of what he likes."

"Pistachio!" Wuyang told her excitedly, "Apparently he really likes it!"

"We had to call Kiriko to unlock that information," Anran said.

"That's an fun flavor!" Brigitte said, as she chopped up some onions and peppers for her meal, "Sometimes the basic chocolate and vanilla cakes get boring after a while."

"How many layers do you think we should do?" Anran asked Wuyang, "Like two layers of cake and two layers of frosting?"

"Oh no, don't do that," Brigitte chimed in.

"Huh? Why not?"

"You'd have four total layers then, and Mizuki insists that four is an unlucky number. You know how superstitious he is," Brigitte explained, "He'd definitely freak out if the cake had four layers."

"Three layers of cake then!" Wuyang decided.

"You sure? That sounds like a lot of work," Anran said.

"It would look sad with less than two, but obviously we don't want to freak him out," Wuyang replied.

"Fine," Anran sighed, "Have it your way."

Brigitte continued with her cooking, pausing only to let them access the oven for their baking. Her meal was simple and quick, so she was out of their way pretty quickly.

"Wuyang," Anran said to her crouching brother, "You don't need to sit and stare at it. The timer will go off when it's ready."

"I know," Wuyang said, "But if it starts burning or something, Mizuki would definitely take that as a bad omen."

Anran rolled her eyes, "You look like a brain dead bird crouching like that."

Wuyang ignored her comment, which was a bit out of character for him. He just continued to stare at the cake in the oven.

Anran sighed, "You're that head over heels for him, huh? You love him so much you'll look stupid just to make sure he's happy."

"Shut up."

"No."

He flipped her the bird again.

"You're welcome, by the way."

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Mizuki had spent longer than he thought spreading salt everywhere, but the task was done. He could rest easier now, knowing the base was that much safer. Now he had to return the box of salt into the kitchen.

However, when he tried to enter the kitchen, he was blocked off by Lúcio and Brigitte. When he tried to slip past them, they moved to block him.

"Hey, what the hell?" Mizuki questioned.

"You can wait a few minutes, right?" Lúcio asked.

"Why are you blocking me off in the first place?" Mizuki asked, "Am I banned from the kitchen or somethin?"

Brigitte nervously laughed, "Maybe."

"Just let me in," Mizuki huffed, moving his hand to push her out of the way. Lúcio blasted him back to stop him.

"Please wait a few more minutes," Lúcio said.

"I want to get into the kitchen now," Mizuki rolled his eyes.

"There may or may not be a surprise for you in the kitchen," Brigitte said. Lúcio nodded.

"Oh? What kind of surprise?"

"You'll have to wait and see," Lúcio said.

"Aw that's cute," Mizuki said, "You think I'm patient."

"It'll only be a few minutes," Brigitte said.

"Chill," Mizuki said, holding up the box of salt, "I just wanted to put this away."

Cassidy walked up to them. Lúcio stepped aside to let the cowboy through.

"Now that's just mean," Mizuki said.

"I'll put it away for you, if you agree to be patient," Brigitte offered.

"Fine," Mizuki agreed, "Not like I care about some dumb surprise anyways."

Lúcio made a sour face at that comment, "Hey man, I think you'll like it."

"You don't even know me that well," Mizuki pointed out.

"I still know you."

"What's my favorite animal?"

"Turtle, obviously."

"No, you're wrong."

"You're telling me your favorite animal isn't a turtle?"

"What, because of the hat? Do you wear a frog on your head?"

"Sometimes."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Nope! I'm serious!"

"You're weird."

"So are you."

"Are you trying to insult me?"

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. Were you trying to insult me?"

"No."

"Being weird isn't a bad thing."

"...There is no way you wear a frog on your head."

"You want me to prove it?"

"I think I'd rather you not, actually."

Brigitte reappeared at Lúcio's side, "You can come in now."

"Oh that's cute, you think I actually cared about the surprise," Mizuki said.

"C'mon man," Lúcio said, "There's no way you stayed as long as you did if you weren't at least a little bit curious."

"I was entertaining you."

"For free?"

Damn it, Lúcio could see right through him. But there was no way Mizuki would admit that, "I'm such a nice guy like that."

Anran rushed over and grabbed Mizuki by the wrist, guiding (or yanking according to the person) him into the kitchen, "C'mon! Get in here!"

"Jeez, you're aggressive today," Mizuki said, following Anran into the kitchen. On the counter was a cake shaped like a turtle. He approached it, looking at it. The frosting wasn't perfectly distributed. Most people couldn't tell it was slightly rushed, but Mizuki could if only because he was a bit of a perfectionist. The design looked nice, though, in spite of it being a little rushed, "You made me a cake?"

"Yup! Wuyang made you a cake," Anran said, "Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday!" Lúcio and Cassidy chimed in.

Mizuki's eyes remained focused on the cake, "It looks kinda funny... a little dorky."

Wuyang's smile fell. Lúcio and Brigitte exchanged pained looks. Cassidy approached Wuyang, setting a hand on his shoulder, gently giving him a pat to try and reassure him. Anran saw red.

"It looks funny?" Anran questioned, keeping her voice admirably level for the amount of rage bubbling inside her, about to explode because this asshole made her brother stop smiling.

"I mean yeah... but like... in a really cute way? It looks silly, like it has no problems in life. I'd almost feel bad about eating it," Mizuki looked to Wuyang, "How often do you bake? I mean yeah, I can spot flaws but with a little more work, I'd bet you could become a professional baker or something."

"It's my first time," Wuyang told him.

"No way, you're messing with me," Mizuki said. Surely, there was no way a first attempt could look that good.

"He's not," Anran said, "It is his first time. I helped but he did most of the work."

"The one time I tried to bake, it burned and I was destroyed..."

"You gonna stand there, or are you going to have some?" Anran asked.

"What flavor is it?" Mizuki asked, slowly removing his mask.

"That's a surprise."

"Will I like that surprise?"

"Don't worry," Anran said, "It's not pineapple or mustard flavored."

"The way you say that makes me think it might be one of those two flavors."

"It's not!" Wuyang said, "I promise! Please trust me."

Anran stepped next to him and whispered in his ear, "If you don't try some right now, I will burn you alive."

"Okay jeez," Mizuki said, shivering slightly, "You don't need to threaten me." Anran could be surprisingly frightening. The fear he felt from her threat was enough to make him consider taking the risk that they were pranking him and it was actually a pineapple cake. The threat of being eaten by a fruit seemed less intimidating than Anran. He picked up the knife beside the cake and hesistated.

"Why are you hesitating?"

"What if I don't cut it perfectly and we all get bad luck because of it?"

Anran snatched the knife from him, slicing into the cake impatiently, "It's a fucking cake, dipshit. It's not that serious." She shoved the plate with the freshly cut slice on into his chest, "Now eat!"

Mizuki locked eyes with Wuyang, "Your sister is crazy."

"I said eat!"

"I will! Just give me a minute!" Mizuki looked down at the cake, carefully counting the layers. If there was four, he definitely couldn't eat it and risk everyone in the room getting bad luck.

As if sensing the reason for his apprehension, Anran said, calmly this time, "There's three layers of cake and three layers of frosting for a total of six layers. It's just a cake, don't overthink it."

"They were careful not to do four layers," Brigitte chimed in, "Since that's bad luck... for some reason."

"Shares a pronounciation with death, in my language," Mizuki explained. With his worries eased, he took a bite of the cake. It tasted of a sweet mix of vanilla and pistachio. How did they know pistachio was his favorite? Was he that easy to read? They shouldn't know. Though he was mildly concerned, he couldn't find it in himself to care. Not when there was delicious pistachio flavored heaven in front of him.

"We consulted Kiriko for help," Anran said, "Since Wuyang didn't know what you liked."

Oh, well that explained it. Kind of. He didn't realize the Yokai could tell that pistachio was his favorite though. His father had made one of his mother's dessert recipes one time, a pistachio dessert, and Mizuki always had a fondness of it ever since. It didn't help that finding pistachio flavored goods was rare.

"Sooooo," Anran said, "What do you think?"

"It's really good," Mizuki replied, "I don't usually get to have my favorite flavor..." Damn it, he was so happy he could cry and he was not ready to cry in front of these people.

"What flavor is it?" Cassidy asked.

"Pistachio!" Wuyang excitedly answered.

"Okay, can you all like... I dunno eat some too so I don't feel like I'm being lazered down while trying to enjoy a piece of cake?" Mizuki asked.

Everyone else grabbed a slice of cake and move the celebration to the dining room.

"You know I was planning on having something healthier than this," Cassidy said before taking a bite, "But I'm not gonna say no to some cake."

"Who can say no to cake?" Brigitte asked.

"Mm this is good," Anran said, "You did a good job, Wuyang."

"Didn't you both—" Brigitte started to speak but Anran slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Wuyang did all of the work himself and he did a great job," Anran insisted. Anran refusing to take credit for something she helped with was rare, but Wuyang appreciated it.

"Wow, it is good," Lúcio said, "You should bake more often, Wuyang."

"Really?" Wuyang asked, laughing nervously, "I don't think it's anything too special. I just wanted to make Mizuki something for his birthday."

"You're making me feel special," Mizuki said, "I could kiss you for making a cake this good."

Anran looked to Wuyang, stars twinkling in her eyes. Jackpot, the perfect time for him to swoop in. She might not understand why Wuyang liked Mizuki so much, but she could tell he was happier than he'd ever been. She'd be willing to put up with an edgy man as long as it made her brother that happy.

"Huh?!" Wuyang's face burned scarlett.

Anran gave Wuyang a light shove, "Make your move little bro!"

"H-Hey!" Wuyang sputtered, "I'm not ready!"

"Too bad! That's your man now!"

"W-Wait Anran! I think he meant it as a figure of speech!"

"Do you want me to kiss you?" Mizuki asked Wuyang.

"N-No! That's just... silly! Anran's just being weird!" Wuyang said, voice cracking slightly as he stumbled over his words. His whole body felt like it had been engulfed by lava.

Mizuki leaned a little closer, his voice slightly lower, "I'll kiss you if you want."

"I-I uh... um," Wuyang stood up suddenly, brain malfunctioning, "I just remembered I have something to do!" He rushed out od the room.

Anran looked at Mizuki, "Go follow him. He's full of shit. He's just flustered."

"I will, I'm just giving him a headstart," Mizuki said, taking one more bite of cake.

"I didn't know a human could get that red," Cassidy remarked with a chuckle, "outside of a medical issue, I mean."

Mizuki placed a katashiro behind his chair, "I'll be back for my cake later. You better not eat it all." He then bolted out of the room.

Thankfully, Wuyang hadn't gone too far down the hall.

Wuyang paused and turned when he heard the jingling of chains behind him, "Mizuki?!"

"You're not escaping me that easily!" Mizuki grinned mischeviously, taking advantage of Wuyang's shock to chain him in place, "I didn't say you could leave, did I?" He leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

"I... um... sorry," Wuyang apologized, "I got nervous... and bolted..."

"Why are you so nervous, pretty boy?"

"I was scared I was gonna say something weird!" Wuyang refused to look him in the eyes, his face and ears still red, "And then you'd... not like me... at all or anymore."

"Chill, do you take me for some kind of judgemental asshole?"

"No! I just... I dunno..." Wuyang sighed, "I've liked you for a while now. You're cool and interesting and... I like working with you. I'm just scared of messing up things between us. I really, really like you, Mizuki. I worry that I wouldn't be good enough or... that you'd find someone better."

Mizuki closed the minimal distance between them, hands moving to Wuyang's cheeks, forcing Wuyang to look at him, "How could I find better than you? Honestly? If anybody is the catch here, it's you."

"You think so?"

"Obviously. What's there not to like about you?"

"I'm not perfect. That was always Anran."

"Nobody is perfect, Wuyang. Anran is crazy and scary. I like you, you're stupidly nice and sweet. You're pretty cute, even when you make really bad jokes."

"My jokes aren't that bad."

"Oh, they are. But I don't really get annoyed when you make them. Unlike Winston. I'll lose it if I have to hear one more peanut butter joke from him."

"Hey, do you think Winston will appear if we say peanut butter three times, like bloody mary?" Wuyang joked.

That thought was mildly horrifying. "Normally, I'd just tell you to shut up, but maybe I want to make you," Mizuki said.

"Peanut butter," Wuyang said, smiling stupidly.

Mizuki sighed, "You're lucky you're so cute and likeable, and that I like you more than Fika."

"Peanut butter," Wuyang repeated.

"You know, you don't have to test that theory," Mizuki said.

"Pea—" Wuyang was cut off by Mizuki leaning down and kissing him. Wuyang was so caught off guard that he froze and didn't kiss back.

Mizuki pulled away quickly, "You know, if you just wanted me to kiss you, you could've just said so."

"I didn't think you'd actually..."

"I'm serious about the peanut butter jokes."

A voice came from behind him, "Did someone say peanut butter?"

Holy shit. Mizuki was going to die, "Winston is right behind me, isn't he?"

"What were you saying about peanut butter, Mizuki?" Winston asked.

Nope, Mizuki wasn't dealing with this today. He picked Wuyang up, bridal style, and returned to katashiro.

Anran gasped, "You two are back!"

"You're heavy," Mizuki complained, gently letting Wuyang down.

"I got an edgy brother-in-law sooner than I thought," Anran remarked.

"Woah," Mizuki said, as he sat in his chair, "We're not engaged or anything. Just... flirting and messing around."

Anran stared at him, as if trying to burn lazers into him with her eyes, "What my brother wants, he gets."

"Hey, I didn't say I was opposed to marrying your brother," Mizuki said, "I just said the wedding isn't going to be for a while. I need to break my curse first before marriage is ever going to happen."

Wuyang scooted his seat directly against Mizuki's and sat next to him.

Mizuki looked at him, "You're awfully close."

Wuyang didn't give a verbal response, just leaned his head against Mizuki's shoulder, melting into him. It was too cute for Mizuki to handle, his face flushed. God damn it. Wuyang was far too good for him and this world. How did he get so lucky?