#brackett.writes.

There’s something off with some of the recruits. Gyre and his friends. Ran’s not sure exactly how long it’s been going on for. But suddenly Gyre’s pulling him aside to ask for feedback on a kick Ran’s been teaching him. And then instead of showing him, Gyre starts talking.

“There’s this new restaurant that just opened up nearby.”

Ran raises an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“Yeah, it’s really nice. Me and the gang went and checked it out.”

“Glad to see you’re getting along.”

“Thanks!” Gyre beams for a second, then it’s back to business. “But yeah, it has some nice… uh… seafood.”

“Right.”

“Like what you got the general a couple of days ago?” Gyre rocks on his feet, portraying an overly exaggerated casualness. “So, you know, he’d probably like it.”

Ran frowns. “What does General Brackett have to do with this?”

“Uh…” Gyre freezes, eyes going a little wide. And then he quickly starts walking back to the main group with a hurried, “don’t worry about it!”

Which only heightens Ran’s concerns. Especially when he realises that Gyre never even showed him the kick. He turns to go stand with Jackie, only to realise that the rest of Gyre’s friends are huddled around him. Strange timing.

Ran gets close enough to the group to hear Gyre loudly change the topic when he joins in, the rest of his friends immediately latching onto the topic change. They’re all dispersing by the time Ran reaches them. But he gets the uncomfortable feeling of many eyes casting looks at him as they pass.

He’s not sure whether it’s something he should mention to Jackie or not. This could just be… a normal Overworlder thing. Maybe.

Which means he almost audibly sighs in relief when Jackie asks, “were they acting weird to you?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Jackie turns from thoughtfully staring after the group to smile at Ran. “What did Gyre ask you?”

“He told me about a new restaurant opening up?” Ran shrugs. “Apparently, the seafood there is good. What were they saying to you?”

“Asked me what my favourite flower is.”

Ran hums. And they both go back to watching the recruits complete their exercises. Until Jackie bursts into startled laughter.

“Oh my gods!” Jackie claps his hands together. And when he turns to meet Ran’s perplexed expression, his face is a little pink. And Ran knows it’s not just from the heat because he was fine beforehand. “They’re trying to set us up.”

“What?” Ran searches through his knowledge of Overworld customs to figure out what that means and comes up blank.

“Like a- like a date.”

Jackie’s face is growing steadily redder now. Which is fine because Ran’s sure his own is a distinct shade of green.

“Oh.”

Suddenly, Jackie gets a sparkle in his eyes and his grin turns sharper. He leans in, resting a hand lightly on Ran’s shoulder. And at that touch Ran feels every remaining coherent thought swiftly exit his brain.

“Well, pretty boy? If you pay I’m in.”

“I…” Ran scrambles around for something to say. This is a bad idea, his brain screams at him. He hasn’t even forgiven you yet. But look in Jackie’s eyes firmly beats those thoughts back and what eventually exits his mouth is a simple, “okay.”

“Great!” Jackie pats his arm and moves away. Ran keeps himself from outwardly reacting to the loss. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

Jackie winks at him, then runs off to instruct the recruits on their next exercise. Ran feels eyes watching him and follows the source to Gyre and his friends. They wave at him, then give him exaggerated thumbs ups. He scowls and takes a breath to compose himself, then walks after Jackie.

Ran knows he needs to kill Jackie soon. He can’t just keep putting it off. At the very least, he could probably wait until the party though. The distraction of it might keep Jackie’s guard down around him as well as provide opportunities for him to kill Jackie.

Maybe.

Or this is just another stalling attempt so Ran doesn’t have to go through with it. But, he can’t get into a debate with himself about it right now. Jackie is giving the last talk to the recruits for the day and Ran should probably be listening.

“Oh and by the way,” Ran tunes in to Jackie saying, “it’s my birthday today! I’m officially eighteen.”

That’s way too young to die.

Wait.

Half the recruits immediately start protesting at not being told sooner so they could’ve done something special. While the other half – much like Ran – stay silent.

“We could’ve thrown you a party!” Crumb says, frowning.

“Or got you something!” Gyre adds, just as much displeasure in his voice.

“Guys, guys,” Jackie laughs, “you don’t need to worry about it! I don’t really like to make it a big deal.”

Ran tunes the rest of the conversation out. It’s Jackie’s birthday. That’s significant for Overworlders. He can’t believe Jackie didn’t tell him sooner. Although it’s probably for the best. Ran probably would’ve tried to plan a party because, well, birthdays interest him. But if this light-hearted argument is any indication then Jackie wouldn’t have wanted that.

He at least could’ve told Ran so he could get a present. Now he’ll have to give one late. Which is extremely undesirable. Ran’s pretty sure that’s some kind of faux pas, actually. And he doesn’t even know what to get Jackie. Maybe some kind of jewellery at the markets. It’s probably not worth getting anything long term, though because-

Because Jackie’s going to be dead soon. Ran’s going to kill him.

And maybe Jackie doesn’t want to make a big deal out of his birthday but this is going to be his last one. Ran may as well make it nice. It’s the least he can do.

After the arguments die down the recruits leave in a rush. And Jackie turns to him, about to say something when Ran interrupts.

“Do you want to do something for your birthday?”

He’s half expecting Jackie to wave him off just like he did with the recruits. But his face softens and he nods. And then he points a warning finger at Ran.

“I mean it though – nothing big.”

“We could go get dinner?” Ran suggests. “I don’t really know any places but I can pay.”

Jackie grins. “Well lucky for you I do know a place.”

He loops his arm through Ran’s and starts dragging him out of the pit. Jackie’s so casually affectionate. Ran doesn’t know what to do with it, but he doesn’t want him to stop. Jackie just has so much life in him. And Ran’s taking that all away.

He’s barely even eighteen.

The restaurant they go to is nice. And Ran can tell that Jackie is trying to order something cheap so he insists that Jackie doesn’t need to worry about it. He doesn’t mention to Jackie that he doesn’t really have that much money. But – as he said before – making Jackie’s birthday nice is the least he can do.

After the restaurant, they spend some time wandering around the markets. Ran keeps an eye on what Jackie seems interested in. And when his eyes linger on some nice blue gem earrings, he sends Jackie to another stall so he can buy them secretly. Gives the store owner some extra money so they can wrap it. He’s been told that that’s how you’re supposed to present gifts.

Now Ran just needs to find a time to give them to him. The markets probably aren’t the best place. It might bring too much attention to them and specifically the fact that it’s Jackie’s birthday. And this is supposed to be perfect. He can’t ruin it by making Jackie uncomfortable because he accidentally made it into a big deal.

Maybe he’ll just give them to him before they part ways at the castle.

But just when Ran’s about to do that, Jackie invites him to his room so they can keep talking.

Now they’re sitting on the small couch Jackie has tucked up in a corner of his room. The gift feels heavy in Ran's pocket.

“I haven’t celebrated my birthday in years.” Jackie tells him.

“I hope you had a good time.”

He hopes that it was more than a good time. He hopes it was perfect. It has to be perfect. Because Jackie’s going to die soon and it’s going to be Ran’s fault and this is the least he can do.

“It’s been great!” Jackie flaps his hands a little. “It felt special but not like… overbearing, you know?”

And Ran doesn’t know but he nods anyway.

“I have a present for you.” Ran pulls the gift out of his pocket and presses it into Jackie’s hands.

“Oh- you didn’t have to-“

“I wanted to.”

Jackie goes silent. And Ran would be more worried that he did something wrong if it wasn’t for the fond smile on Jackie’s face. He doesn’t put much care into opening the wrapping – tearing it rather than unfolding it. When he opens up the box and sees the earrings inside he grins and immediately tries them on.

“Well? How do I look?”

There are lots of compliments Ran could give Jackie. Words that are genuine, but have an emptiness to them. Words that don’t have any further implications or commitment. There are lots of things he could say, but he doesn’t say any of them.

What tumbles out of his mouth instead is a probably a way-too-sincere, “they match your eyes.”

Jackie’s cheeks turn pink. “Thanks.”

They continue talking for most the night. Until Jackie falls asleep on the couch and Ran has an internal debate about whether he should move him to the bed or leave him there. And then he has an even longer internal debate about whether he should leave or stay.

Both trains of thought come crashing to a halt when he remembers that he’s supposed to kill Jackie. That that’s the whole reason he went to so much effort to make this perfect. Because Ran likes birthdays and the culture surrounding them but this didn’t really fit into that. This was all for Jackie.

But now would be a perfect time to kill him. He’s asleep and defenceless. Ran could be done with this mission right now.

The dim light of the room catches on Jackie’s earrings as he shifts slightly in his sleep. And Ran comes to the conclusion that he can’t kill Jackie now. Because there’s that party coming up and that’ll give him ample opportunities (maybe). And this is supposed to be Jackie’s perfect day – his last perfect day before he dies. And Ran can’t ruin that by, well, killing him.

When Jackie wakes up in the morning Ran is still there. They don’t talk about it. Jackie just smiles sleepily at him from the other end of the couch and stretches.