Birthday pt.1

Hiro looked at the horns and swung the rag on his finger with a triumphant expression as he said "Perfect!" he looked around before grabbing the air. An Ice mirror appeared and Zerotwo gasped at her shiny and beautiful horns.

She looked at Hiro saying "Wow! Darling! You're amazing!" Hiro held his hands on his hips and snorted, turning his nose into the air as he said "I am, aren't I? Heheheh!" Zerotwo giggled and the rest rushed in.

Hiro looked around saying "Is this a robbery?" Ichigo shouted "Miku's missing!" Hiro scratched his neck and said "She's having a panic attack in the room on the first floor." Goro said "Panic attack?" Ikuno said "First floor?"

Hiro coughed and said "Yeah, go check on her." they all left to the first floor, Hiro scratched his neck and said "These guys, Hais..." Zerotwo pursed her lips and said "Want to go see?" Hiro crushed the mirror and said "Let's go then, Angel." Zerotwo hugged his arm and they went to the first floor to see a trembling Miku.

Hiro never understood this part in the story. Why would the realization of a former squad getting wiped out shake her? It's not like people die around here all the time, Naomi is pretty much dead and they kill Klaxosaurs almost every day.

He scratched his head in frustration. Goro looked at a picture and said "Who..." Hiro said "Hey... Obviously it's the previous squad 13. Is this a big surprise? They got wiped out and we replaced them. This isn't something new, why are you all shocked?"

Miku shouted "How can you be so calm?! Those people died! It's only a matter of time before it's us who gets replaced!" Hiro said "Ohhhhh. I see. That's what you're shaken up about." He walked over and patted her head saying "Cheer up, buttercup. When you die, you'll be old and grey with wrinkles all over your face. You'll have lived out a complete life and return to the earth as all things do."

He smiled and said "Death is inevitable, the key is delaying it and making the most of your time." he turned to the rest and added "If you can't control your Franxx, you will die against a Klaxosaur. If we all work together and learn more about out partners, then we can delay the death for decades to come!"

He walked out of the room and turned around with a smile "Everyone dies. That's life. It's what you do before you die that counts." before walking away, leaving a thoughtful group behind. Zerotwo pursed her lips into a smile and skipped next to him saying "So handsome~"

Hiro giggled and said "I'll blush!" Zerotwo burst out laughing and jumped onto his back saying "A shameless guy like you? I don't believe it." Hiro resisted the strong urge to shout 'Believe it!' and said "I will! Watch!" as he held his breath and his face turned purple.

Zerotwo slapped his back and he let out the air before inhaling deeply as she said with a laugh "Are you dumb? Turning purple for a laugh? Is it worth it?" Hiro said sweetly "If it's a laugh from you, it's worth every second." Zerotwo blushed and buried her head into his neck, muttering "Such a cheeseball..." Hiro giggled and hummed to himself, walking in the halls.

A few days passed

Hiro was sitting at the table in the lounge room with Zerotwo next to him. There was a book on birds in between them on a table. Hiro looked at the book with a depressed look, Zerotwo bit her lips, trying not to laugh.

Hiro said in a bad mood "Go ahead and laugh. You won't get the chance to laugh at me again!" Zerotwo burst out laughing and covered her mouth saying "It's okay... You can... haha... learn about... birds! HAHAHA" Hiro wanted to drag out old Hiro and beat the shit out of him, who gets a book about birds as the sole gift a year. Out of EVERYTHING, this guy wants a book on birds!?

He opened the book and flipped the pages quickly, memorizing everything before pushing away the book and flipping it off. Zerotwo held her stomach and fell off her chair laughing, Hiro rubbed his nose and caught her arm, spinning her into his lap.

She sat in his lap and smiled, he kissed her and said "Want to know about the red horned swuagle?" Zerotwo laughed hard and Hiro smiled softly, chuckling a little bit. She calmed down and looked over to the rest, who were opening their gifts with great excitement.

She said "What is this?" Hiro said "The clown king of the apes uses the gifts to keep them happy, once every year. Basically a birthday present." Zerotwo said "Birthday?" Hiro said "Yeah, you know. Like the day you were born. Even I don't know when mine was so, who cares?"

Zerotwo mumbled "I've never gotten a birthday gift..." Hiro's eyes flashed and he said "Maybe you will in the future..." she looked at him and smiled "So mysterious?" Hiro put on a wise look and said "Surprise, it is." Zerotwo giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Hiro took out his Comms and said "Hm. Nana needs me. I'll be back, okay?" Zerotwo nodded and got off him, he slid the bird book over, saying "In case you get bored." Zerotwo laughed and waved the book saying "Yeah, when you get back, I'll tell you all about the birds."

Hiro laughed and left, with his uniform on, going out of the Bird cage.

He got away from the bird cage and looked around before letting out a breath of relief and sneaking off to the kitchen. He cracked his knuckles and looked around before locking the door from the inside.

He looked at the industrial kitchen and grinned. He started working and making batter for the absolute best birthday cake there ever was. When he was finished he threw the cake layers in the oven and started finishing his book. He was really close, some nights he didn't even sleep, just continued working on it.

The pictures were a bit crude and semi-rough by the end, which made him scratch his head in annoyance. He wrote the words were carefully, making them as beautiful as possible. Writing was a lot easier than drawing, but every drawing was full of care, not to mention sweat and tears.

He worked nonstop on the book, going over and revising everything 4 times. He even changed the ending. Basically the story was about a monster girl who fell in love with a prince, she wanted to be human so that the prince would like her. She made a deal with a witch and ripped her own wings off, becoming human so she could be with the prince.

They lived together getting married happily until one day the girl started turning back into a monster. The witch had told her that she would always be a monster and that if she killed the prince she could go back to her original form. The girl refused and flew away, leaving the prince safely.

The prince saw the feathers and was drowned in sadness, not wanting to lose the love of his life, he set out, searching all across the land to find his wife to no avail. Nobody had seen her.

You were expecting more? No, that's it. A terrible ending.

Hiro changed it so when the Girl changed back into a monster and left, the prince chased her, becoming a monster himself so that they could be together forever. The last drawing was the prince and the girl, flying in the air together, happy, forever.

He smiled happily and closed the book before drawing on the front and adding 'The Beast and the Prince.' he opened the over and wrote on the first blank page. He smiled happily at his little paragraph of words. He closed the book and before he could say anything, gift paper wrapping appeared along with strings.

Hiro chuckled and packaged the book in gift paper, tying a little bow on the top in pink ribbon. He smiled in satisfaction and sent the wrapped gift into the system space before starting to make the icing from scratch. He made the icing and tasted it before adding a few things and repeating the process. His cake had to be absolute perfect or he would restart it, it was as simple as that.

The amount of detail that went into this cake was absolutely massive.

As Hiro was spending, literally hours making a cake for Zerotwo, she was at the residence bored and lonely.

She walked around, looking at the group, who were having fun by themselves, doing whatever, and ignoring her. She looked at them and they would occasionally look at her with distant eyes, subconsciously moving away from her.

This made her feel bad. She wasn't a monster but everyone, except Hiro, seemed to think so. She really just wanted her Darling to come back and keep her company. It was so lonely and cold without him.

She went to the roof and touched the 5 little holes in the concrete with a soft smile before sitting on the roof, over looking the entire birdcage, waiting for Hiro to come back. She hugged her knees and rested her chin on her arms.

She didn't like being alone, despite being alone for so long. The feeling of being with Hiro almost all the time was addicting, she wanted him to be with her every moment of the day. Even going to sleep alone was lonely for her, she really wanted nothing more than to hug him to sleep.

She even contemplated locking him up and staying with him forever. Maybe later. She turned her palm and a flame burned above her palm, shaping into a humanoid form and posing in different ways. She giggled to herself and patted the little flame person's head, this was the power her Darling gave her.

She knew that it was precious and yet he gave it to her without hesitation. 2 powers in fact! She didn't understand why, but it made her feel really warm and bubbly inside. The way he looked at her, cared for her, catered to her needs and wants, every action he did made her feel like her heart was doused in honey.

It was sweet and she loved him, so much. Without him, she didn't know what she would do. She assumed she would just keep going from partner to partner, killing each one and devouring them before moving onto the next one.

Maybe, if not for Hiro, she would really become a monster.

She sighed to herself and hugged her knees tighter, crystal tears dripped from her eyes and she whispered "Darling.. come back soon... I miss you..."

Hiro felt his heart throb in pain and he was washed in sadness. He bit his lips and felt Zerotwo was probably sad and lonely without him. There was nothing he could do, he had to finish here. He steeled his heart and finished, still pouring in attention and care, but a bit quicker.

A while later

Hiro looked at the completed and decorated cake and let out a breath of relief. He picked it up on a plate and covered it before leaving, walking with fast steps as he didn't want Zerotwo to be sad for a moment longer.

He came back to the birdcage and hid the cake behind his back as he walked into the Residence. It was night time now and everyone was getting ready for bed. He slipped into the kitchen and put the cake on the table before pulling out candles and lighting them with a lighter he found.

He put the lighter into his system space and let our a breath of relief, he heard "Darling?"