祝你生日快樂, 花紅瑞 ! — @evincere ! For my birthday girl, Anthy !
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] It's okay if you can't make it, 哥哥 /ᐠ ·•᷄ ˕ •᷅マ
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] You're probably busy ₍^◞ ˕ ◟^₎⟆ doing non-Anthy related things .... which sound terribly unfun .... /ᐠ ¬`‸´¬マ
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] Let's just wait until your birthday and we can celebrate together
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] ദ്ദി/ᐠ｡‸｡ᐟ\
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] You just owe me double presents now ≽(• ̀⩊ •́マ≼ Doesn't that sound like fair compensation for breaking my heart?
[✉ 捣蛋鬼 :] /ᐠ >˵ ˕ ˵<マ ₊˚⊹ ♡
Thank god he'd been alone when the flurry of texts from Anthy had come through. The tone he'd assigned for her particular texts had been exceptionally obnoxious, and typically would have been silenced during his work day, but he was just about to leave for the day to meet with her for her birthday plans, anyway—
Until an urgent internal casefile regarding the had landed on his desk with an unfeeling shrug from the private who'd delivered it. Caleb cursed under his breath and pored over the file, taking frantic notes and furiously typing up his recommendation for action on the matter. Nearly an hour over the end of his day, but his plans were still salvageable. The flower shop he'd ordered a giant arrangement from was surely closed, but he'd still be able to pick her up for dinner.
Except one of the newest members of his personal staff was currently being written up on an NJP, and it was his responsibility to monitor and sign off on his quarterdecking ASAP, or he'd be on jankers for the entire weekend. He'd figured his subordinate might take about twenty minutes—thirty minutes top—to complete his vicious crucible of pushups and burpees and laps around the fleet grounds. Except the kid had to be some sort of personality hire or nepo baby or something, because how could someone just out of the Academy had such shit stamina and pathetic form otherwise?
It was almost 9PM by the time the private had completed his punishment. Dinner reservation was out of the question. Maybe Caloeb might have time to take her to a late showing of a movie. Wasn't there something she wanted to see? That would involve scrolling back through their messages to see, except he didn't have time for that. He had to figure out if he could make the last train of the night or not. And if not, he'd have to figure something else out.
And of course Caleb had had to figure something out, call in favors and threaten a few people with his colonel voice just to get his boots on the ground in Linkon by nearly midnight, and the whole night was shot. Caleb pulls out his phone to one last contact, praying he'd be able to manage at least one decent effort for Anthy on her birthday.
The horn on his borrowed motorized bike was a little pathetic, but maybe irritating enough to be effective. The motorcycle it was attached to fared little better, but wasn't too different from the one he used to drive for his midnight delivery job in high school. His unbuttoned uniform jacket is hardly the bright orange safety vest he wore over his bomber jackets, but he hopes she gets the nostalgia of sneaking out at midnight for an ice cream run at the convenience stores.
When she pops her head out and peers over her balcony, he sees the devastating smile that he's recognize anywhere. Like a newborn crescent that graces the twilight's crepuscle. And he knows she remembers from the shriek of laughter and the way she skitters back inside to race down and meet him.
Caleb manages to catch her with one arm when she takes a reckless leap at him, her arms coiling around his neck to attach herself to him in the usual way, while he manages to steady himself and the bike. "Double presents, for sure," he assures her, and she grins at him, her aureate eyes glinting bright. "For now, what about a peach ice cream from the corner store? Like you used to get in high school when you'd come with me on deliveries."
He takes his officer's cap off and fits it on her head. Unfortunately, she looked unnervingly charming wearing it, so much so that biting his lip to stop himself from leaning in was a little too obvious a feint to ignore. He knows Anthy sees it by the shit-eating grin she pulls as he lifts her up and sits her on the passenger seat.
"You remember the rules, right?" he asks, affecting a stern tone he knows she'll ignore. Because she always does. "Hold on tight, don't let go no matter what, and ice cream's on me. Just like it always is. And always will be. Until you get tired of ice cream. Or me."
He grins, pinches the tip of her nose for good measure before he mounts his borrowed ride. It's less than 10 minutes to their favorite convenience store. Certainly not the closest, but it has the best selection. He picks out her favorite peach vanilla ice cream and his standard favorite: a corn-shaped maiz y queso ice cream that Anthy has historically never liked, but always asks for a bite of anyways. Just in case it tastes good this time.
Just as expected, Anthy leans over, lips parted, waiting for him to offer up a bite of his ice cream to her expectant mouth. They're sat under a flickering street lamp on the curb of the corner store just like they used to when they were kids. It's a nostalgia that makes his heart ache, for the simplicity of a time he'll never recover. How different everything seemed then. Back then, the terror of the lab still lingered in the marrow of his bones, echoing hollow in the recesses of his memories in ripples of time he'd never be able to forget. He was certain then that the quiet, quotidian peace they shared was only an interim to another terror around the corner. And in a way he'd been right. They'd had a few years of a safety and surety that never felt quite right, except in rosy retrospect. They couldn't have known how different everything would become. How different he'd become.
And somehow there was a certainty that Anthy never failed to bring. A dogged resolution, an unwavering faith and faithfulness to their connection that he couldn't dismiss if he tried. She'd loved him in a thousand incarnations in this lifetime alone, in all the vast and disparate ways he's existed to her. And he knew she always would.
Caleb leans in and kisses her softly, before artfully replacing his lips with his proffered ice cream. "Happy Birthday, 花紅瑞," he says softly, meaningfully. "This isn't the birthday I envisioned for you, but the best laid plans of mice and men and all that .... but somehow, this is exactly where and how I'd want to be with you tonight, though. And every night. You and me, like the only people in the whole wide world under this street light with our melting ice cream and our hands that always find each other no matter what."
On cue, Anthy's hand slips deliberately into his.
Caleb laughs, squeezes her hand. "Promise me we'll always find each other. Just like this. Spend a hundred birthdays like this together, and I think I'd be the happiest 哥哥. What do you think?"
