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Voices and music drift between the cracks of the bathroom door in hushed, vibrant tones. Eichi catches the expression on his face in the mirror as the lock clicks into place behind him, the soft smile he's already wearing widening as he realizes it. There's a healthy rose flush across his cheeks as he steps forward to straighten out the part in his hair and smooth a few loose locks into place.
It had been five years since Eichi's last truly bad birthday. He was sixteen, and Tsumugi came to visit him in the hospital with a card he'd probably begged their classmates to sign for him. It wasn't the worst birthday he'd ever had; although he was convinced at the time that Tsumugi only bothered because Eichi had more or less hired him to, getting to watch videos of Wataru's videos in bed was preferable to being forced to socialize with his family's contacts who hated him but had to feign that they didn't for customs' sake. And nothing could've been worse than that Christmas, which he spent filled with guilt and utterly alone because Tsumugi was too busy with holiday bustle and traditions and cleaning and his mother's inane superstitions to visit. Still, though, Eichi's sixteenth birthday fell squarely at the beginning of the end of the worst times in his life.
His party the next year was a surprise, and although by eighteen he was important enough in the world to expect that there would be a workplace party for him, his friends did manage to pull one over on him with a second, more intimate, birthday party later that evening.
But the days of surprise parties were in the past. He remembers the feeling that overcame him in those times: wide-eyed gratitude to those around him, a fuzziness around the edges of his vision that made him wonder if it was all a pleasant dream, if at any moment he would wake up and be back in the bed he was in the year he turned sixteen.
This time, he and Tori enjoyed being inundated with questions about what kinds of gifts they'd like to receive for their birthdays. "We must be hard to shop for since we already have everything," Tori mused sympathetically. In previous years, Tori had been too nervous to mention how close their birthdays are to one another, but now, since Tori's big 20th had been the year before, their friends decided to throw a party for them on the same day. Another intimate get together, this time at the penthouse Eichi keeps rooms for fine in, although Wataru and Yuzuru insisted Eichi stay at one of his other homes while they prepared everything for this day. Yuzuru's planning skills are unrivaled now that he's learned not to be such a control freak, and the moment this party ends it's Eichi's every intention to start plotting with him for Wataru's birthday the next month... but right now, he's preoccupied with the glimmer in his reflection's blue eyes.
Isn't it wonderful to not be surprised anymore? he asks the person in the mirror telepathically. The other Eichi offers a shrug and a casual wink. He straightens out his sweater - cornflower blue, pushes a few more blonde strands behind his ear, and opens the door again, letting the cloud of dessert fragrances and the sound of Wataru's voice telling some amusing story to Ritsu and Tsukasa envelop him. Then he strides over to listen.