December 31st

There were no celebrations. Along with their former lives, their identities, their birthdates were deleted from all records but Eden's. They remembered them though. And after having lived together for quite some time at the Shibuya mansion, they opened up enough to tell each other their birthdays, even if it did take longer for some of them.

So despite there not being supposed to be any awareness of the Code:Breaker's personal information, Sakura had decided that they were celebrating Ogami's and Toki's birthday simultaneously, since they were so close together.

The party was still going strong, but the two being celebrated had slipped out of the mansion, taking a short break from it all. Toki loved parties, but it had been so long since anyone had wanted to celebrate his birthday, that he felt emotionally exhausted. Ogami, well, he had never been much fond of such gatherings.

Toki leaned back against the wall surrounding the mansion's garden, hand travelling toward his pocket before coming to a halt, fingers twitching. There were no cigarettes to be found there. He didn't smoke anymore, but some habits were hard to break.

Ogami snorted as his eyes trained on the shorter boy. Their birthdays were just one day apart. He wasn't sure he was expecting, but he had been surprised when he found out. Maybe it was the way that Toki's attitude would shift from one moment to the other, one second flirting and trying to get girls into bed, the other seemingly shy about things such as sex, making his exact age hard to pinpoint. At times he acted older, like an annoying sempai, and the other he was acting so immaturely, like he was so much younger.

He looked the boy over, eyes moving from his slipper-clad feet, his exposed ankles, to his hips and slim waist, very nearly as narrow as a girl's. His gaze shifted further up, to his chest, and his bare neck, partly hidden by blond hair.

For one day, they were the same age.

He met Toki's clear blue eye, dark in the shadows of the late winter night, and he saw a swirl of confusion sweep through the iris, dyeing the eye a royal blue for just a moment, only made visible by the lamp post on the other side of the wall, sneaking traces of light beyond them.

“What?”

Ogami held back a face of annoyance as his observances of the other was disturbed, instead settling for slipping a grin onto his face. ”Aren't you supposed to be older than me? You need to grow more, shrimp.”

Toki choked on his breath, and while coughing, he sputtered in anger and confusion, not understanding what brought that on. “You- You asshole, don't call me that!” Ogami looked at the shorter boy in amusement. Toki's face was flushed in anger and embarrassment. So what if he was shorter than most other guys, it wasn't like something like that mattered when it came down to strength.

Ogami laughed, and even though it was on Toki's expense, it was a genuine, happy laugh. It made the blonde freeze all movements, and stare at his fellow Code:Breaker in amazement. Times when Ogami looked like this were rare and far between, especially when the raven was around Toki, and it made the pit of the Joker's stomach flutter, feeling as if they were filled with butterflies. It was stupid, he told himself, to have feelings for Ogami of all people.

But he couldn't help the blush from brightening the shade of his cheeks, and Ogami didn't miss that. He leaned down toward the other boy, a slight grin ghosting over his face. “What's wrong? You falling for me or something?”

Well that didn't help in the least, because Ogami was spot on. He tried to look as if he wasn't bothered by what the other was saying, and not counting the still prominent blush on his face, he managed it pretty well. “Y-Yeah, right. Who would fall for a guy like you.” He averted his eye, looking to the side, as far away from where Ogami was standing as possible. It wasn't easy, considering how close he was standing.

Toki kept himself from fidgeting in the stretching silence, his fingers itching to fiddle with the hem of his shirt. But he refused to show such a side of himself to the other, there was no way. Then, what felt like several minutes later, with Toki feeling more and more awkward under Ogami's stare, and said raven looking at him with a smug grin on his face, the silence was broken.

Toki's blue eye met Ogami's black ones. “Happy birthday, Ogami.” He sounded not just a bit awkward. Neither of them were used to really speak those words. Toki would, on his sister's birthday, but not while anyone was present. It was just too painful to let himself be seen on that day.

Ogami blinked for a moment, then, his lips quirked a bit upwards. He didn't say anything in response, instead reaching out his hand, raising it toward the blonde's face. Toki was confused, not having any idea what Ogami was about to do. With a slight grin on his face, Ogami took a hold of the stick between Toki's lips, and with a tug, he pulled it out of his mouth. With the grin slowly growing, he ran his tongue across the flavoured hard candy, before letting it slip between his lips. He spoke around the lollipop. “I'll take this as my present from you.”

“Wha–“ The blonde's could feel his cheeks burn. That was- wasn't that like a complete indirect kiss? Ogami laughed at the look on Toki's face, only to have a hand shoved into his face. “Asshole!”

“Hey, it's my birthday. You have to be nice to me.” The smug look on Ogami's face made Toki once again question what he saw in this guy. He could be such a complete bastard, and it could really get on his nerves, especially since he seemed to know exactly what to say to strike them.

Ogami leaned in, and when he spoke, his breath was scented sweet of candy, warm against his cheek, grazing his ear. The white stick tapped against Toki's skin. “Thank you.” His voice was teasing, and it made the blonde's chest tighten, and he bit his lip, mind whirling with thoughts.

Then they could hear a distant clock strike midnight.

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