Who: Leon, D and NPC!Chris What: Celebrating Leon’s birthday When: Today, August 18th Where: D’s apartment Ratings/Warnings: One brief reference to the violence of the week before, and language. Other than that, low/none. Status: Complete
It had been a long time since Leon was this tired. Not just physically, either. Between the Parademons earlier in the week, and his Dreams, Leon would have liked to do nothing better than to just sleep for a week - if that didn’t bring about the risk of more Dreams.
He’d almost forgotten what it was like to dread his Dreams. At the beginning, they’d been rough. He’d seen more dismembered, partially devoured bodies in those early Dreams than anyone had any right to see. Not to mention, getting shot, or the Dream about Harry that forewarned the actual event in real life. But then Chris had come, and things had… well, they’d changed. There’d been a shift. The strange animal-related deaths that Leon was certain D was behind all but came to a stop. His dreams were filled with finding cats that held crown jewels, and monkeys that held hearts to be donated, not mangled bodies.
But the dreams were shifting again. Oh, it wasn’t the same gut-churning horror that they’d started with, but they weren’t light like they had been. Chris and D had been kidnapped - Chris had been sure that he’d seen D mortally shot, though D didn’t show much sign of injury by the time Leon had shown up.
Then there’d been the plane crash, with the girl that had claimed she’d marry D on board, and the way that D had smiled after that had sent chills up Leon’s spine and made him certain that D had had something to do with it. And then his most recent Dream, with D acting the same way he had the day they’d first met - smiling, and cool, and distant. The FBI had come looking for D, and Leon hadn’t even had a chance to feel vindicated - he knew that bastard was behind some shady shit, and the FBI had been tracking him for years - before D sent Chris off with his family.
D hadn’t even called Leon to let him know. He hadn’t given him a chance to say good-bye.
Leon, both in his dreams and in real life, had nearly forgotten what kind of person he was dealing with. There was a reason that he was investigating him. There was a reason, and Leon had very nearly forgotten it so that he could…. What? Play house?
Pretend they were family?
There was part of Leon, a big part of Leon, that didn’t want to see D right then, and if it wasn’t for Chris, he probably wouldn’t have. Chris’ parents were dead, and Leon was his official, legal guardian. Chris’s sisters weren’t about to come out of nowhere and take him away. But he still wanted to see him.
Chris answered the door almost as soon as Leon opened the door, smiling widely at him, some sort of white powder smudged under his cheek.
You’re here! he exclaimed cheerfully into Leon’s mind. Come in, come in!
It was enough to bring a smile to Leon’s head, and without thinking of it, he licked his thumb and wiped whatever the white stuff was from Chris’ cheek. Chris pulled away, frowning, and then pulled Leon the rest of the way into the apartment. Leon went with only a little hesitation, but then beelined to the couch, still subdued, and Chris frowned at him before heading back into the kitchen.
He’s here, he told D, as if D hadn’t likely heard that very thing. He shot a concerned look toward the living room. He doesn’t seem very happy though, he added.
***
Well, D was happy. Very happy. Chris had been happy with him, too. The last birthday that had been celebrated was Chris’, but D was sure Leon hadn’t had his own birthday celebrated in quite some time. The grumpy Detective surely hadn’t even had much in the way of a present.
D was downright jovial as he and Chris worked together on what Chris had dubbed Whacky cake. It was a yellow cake on the bottom layer, chocolate on the top, with a chocolate buttercream frosting. D had set out a variety of candies for Chris to top the cake with and Chris had chosen some Oreo crumbles and gummi bears. D had placed a cherry on top to match his nails.
The pair had scrambled to clean up and had almost been finished when the Detective came home. There were also gifts, one wrapped neatly in gold paper with a maroon ribbon, the other wrapped not so neatly in bright Happy Birthday! paper with a purple ribbon. And, of course, there was a card leaning up against both gifts.
D finished cleaning the rest of the mess, his smile never wavering, even when Chris announced that the Detective was in a sour mood. What else was new?
The Count lit candles on the cake, then shut out the light. The small flames lit up his cherry expression as he moved toward the grouchy Detective, doing his very best rendition of “Happy Birthday” with words that Chris had taught him.
***
Leon tensed when the lights turned out, his hand immediately reaching for the gun on his shoulder holster, wonder what was it now? It had been less than a week ago when he'd seen a man torn apart in front of him before some other man dressed in a flying gargoyle suit had saved Leon from the parademons, and Leon had barricaded himself in with D and Chris for the remainder of the attack. He wondered, for a second, if they hasn't been too quick to declare everything safe.
And then the singing started, D's voice filling his ears, Chris' his mind, and he blinked in confusion.
Happy birthday to you You live in a zoo…
Whose birthday was it?
And D and Chris came out of the kitchen, an obviously homemade cake in D's hands, his face gently illuminated by the flickering candles, which was the last sight Leon ever thought he would see.
"Wha-" Leon started, his hand still ridiculously resting on the butt of his gun, and the question died on his lips.
It was his birthday. Leon rarely did much for it, except maybe get a a ridiculous card from work, but he'd managed to completely forget about it this year.
***
In hindsight, shutting the lights off might have been a poorly thought through idea since it would plunge them into complete darkness in a minute, but for now the look on Leon’s face was worth every part of the surprise. In D’s Dreams, everything felt almost two dimensional with the Detective’s head constantly on a weird swivel. Here, it was even more comical. So much that there may or may not have been a stuttered chuckle in the middle of the song.
Chris was already on his way to switch a lamp in the living room on when the song was over. D waited for him to return, then said to the Detective, “Make a wish.”
If it wasn’t to put the Count in cuffs, the Count might even have insinuated that he could make anything happen. Within reason, of course.
***
Leon was still flabbergasted, slackjawed, even when the cake was put in front of him, and he was a little surprised to find that a lump had formed in his throat. He snapped his mouth closed, and swallowed.
"Did you make this?" Leon asked, voice thick, turning to Chris, well aware that Chris couldn't have made this cake without D's help but not quite willing to admit it. No one had baked him a cake since his mom had made him one for his 18th birthday.
Chris nodded, and Leon shot D a look, not quite sure what he was feeling. The D in his dreams baked, sometimes, but it was mostly for D - Leon just got to share in the spoils because he was always there. He couldn't imagine that D ever doing something like baking him a birthday cake.
He looked away from D and back at the cake. "Thanks," he muttered.
***
“With Chris’ help,” he answered, not one to take complete credit. “The cookies and gummi bears were his idea.”
Make a wish! Chris exclaimed.
D had already told the Detective to do just that so he didn’t repeat it. The Count didn’t need thanks, but it did feel nice to get one.
***
Leon shot D one last confused look. "Well then, I wish that shit would just calm down for a while and we found not deal with any of the county bullshit for a while," Leon said and then blew out the candles. And that we'll all stay safe when the next thing happens, he added mentally as he blew.
When he looked up, Chris was pouting at him. You're not supposed to tell people what you're wishing for. Now it won't come true.
***
It was a sobering idea and, unfortunately, something that D couldn’t fix. He did wonder what it would be like if they just left the county, but for some reason, he didn’t think any of them actually wanted to do that.
“It’s alright,” D assured Chris. “I wish for the same thing. Maybe if we all wish for it, it will happen.”
Now blow out he candles! Chris demanded, nearly making D jump back in surprise. When was the last time either of them had been so excited? Especially Chris. D had seen Chris excited before, but birthdays were apparently a whole new level.
***
Leon’s lips twitched at Chris, and then he took in a deep breath and blew out the candles. Once all the flames were out, he plucked one out of the cake and offered it to Chris so he could suck the icing off from it, and then narrowed his eyes at D, wondering if he should offer the same to him.
But no, D was an adult, and if he wanted to lick the candles he could grab his own damn candle. “Chris, why don’t you go grab a knife and some paper plates from the kitchen and I’ll cut us some slices.”
*** As it was, D did not lick the candle.
While Chris ran to get a knife and some plates, D set the cake down on the table and went to get the presents.
T-Chan happily bounded over with a stupid birthday hat between his teeth. He nudged at Leon, growling at him to put it on.
“I’d do what he says,” D warned, stifling a laugh. It really was ridiculous. It had a propeller on it.
***
Leon turned his gaze to D when Chris went to get the supplies, frowning to himself, wondering if the D in front of him could really do the things his dream counterpart did. Could he smile that knowing smile to a backdrop of flames, as the teenage girl - not even sixteen yet - who had just professed her love for him burned? Could he send Chris away without even telling Leon, and then act as though it didn't bother him at all that Chris was gone?
Would the D in his dreams baked him a cake?
And then T-chan was nudging him, drawing his attention away from D. Leon stared at the totetsu, then at the birthday hat, and then back at T-chan.
"Not a fucking chance," Leon said, frowning at the hat, and then a glimmer appeared in his eyes as he grabbed it. "Bet you'd look cute in it though, T~chan," he added, nearly singing the creature's name.
***
If the Detective ever doubted that D would do all those things, then that was in D’s favor. D would do anything he had to do, but D hadn’t lived his entire life that way either.
T-Chan snarled and D sighed as the creature let go of the hat and moved to clamp his teeth onto the Detective’s arm.
“Told you,” the Count said.
Usually, he’d just allow T-Chan to continue to chow down, but being that it was the Detective’s birthday, D stepped in with a little treat for the Tetsu: a slab of liver he kept in the fridge. T-Chan reluctantly released the Detective and took his consolation prize to trot sourly away with. And with T-Chan off to gnaw at some poor animal’s liver, D picked the silly hat off the floor and brought it to the Detective to slip on and tighten the chin strap.
***
“Arg!” Leon yellow when T-Chan chomped down, flailing his arm - though the totetsu flailed with him instead of letting go. “Geroff of me!” he bellowed, though it wasn’t until D came back with a treat that the little bastard did let go, and Leon rubbed at his arm, frowning. “You shouldn’t reward him for trying to eat me,” Leon muttered, glaring at T-chan’s retreating behind.
He scowled and grumbled to himself as D affixed the hat, but he didn’t fight him. “This thing is ridiculous,” he muttered, glaring up at D. “Just you wait until your birthday.”
***
It was ridiculous, but Chris loved it and D’s gaze blinked to the kid, a hint that the hat wasn’t just for his Darling Detective. Just like a lot of the things D did these days was not for himself.
“You have gifts,” he said cheerily, giving the Detective’s shoulder a little squeeze.
Open mine first! Chris insisted, shoving his gift the Detective’s way. Was it surprising that Chris’ gift was the one that had been professionally wrapped? They’d gotten it at a place that did the wrapping, but D had wrapped his in private.
***
Leon frowned, looking from the cake to the carefully wrapped presents, then from Chris to D, and then finally back at the presents. Chris had put the knife and the paper plates next to the cake, and Leon probably should have started working on cutting that, but before he had the chance, Chris was already shoving his gift in Leon’s hands.
Leon hadn’t really had a proper birthday like this since before his mom had died, nearly a decade ago. Sure, the guys on the force would give him some raunchy card, and Liz Forbes would sometimes get him a small present or invite him over to dinner. And even though he’d dated Alex for close to two years, off-and-on, they’d never really done anything for any birthday’s but Chris’ - his first birthday with Alex, Alex had been in prison because of Leon, and the second one… well, they were just starting to figure things out between them again. Leon had been trying to deal with having got Laurel shot, and Alex had just told him the truth of what had happened in prison, and he wouldn’t have been in the mood for celebrating even if anyone had remembered.
And now here he was, with a cake in front of him, and a present in his hands, and a lump in his throat.
“You guys didn’t have to do all this,” Leon said gruffly, blinking away the stinging in his eyes before he tore off the paper.
He barked out a laughed when he spotted the Star Wars waffle maker. “You’re supposed to get me something for me on my birthday, not something that I’ll use to make you waffles, you brat,” Leon laughed, catching Chris in a headlock and planting a kiss on the top of his blond hair. “Thanks, I love it,” he added a little softer. “How the hell did you buy this anyway?”
I saved up my allowance, Chris said cheerfully. And did some work for the neighbours.
Which really didn’t help with the stinging in his eyes, so Leon just scowled, putting the waffle-maker next to him and reaching for D’s gift. “And what did you get me?” he asked, already tearing into the paper. “Raccoon food? Is Pon-chan gonna attack me next? Ha ha, very funny.”
***
At this, Pon-Chan looked positively scandalized.
D gave her a little pet, but focused most of his attention on his Darling Detective. A sudden realization hit him: the Detective might hate the gift. D frowned momentarily as he considered swiping the gift back and saying he knew it was defective and going to get the Detective something else.
That would have been ridiculous though. Absolutely ridiculous.
It was too late anyway.
There were two pieces inside the box. The first was on top. Here, he would find a box containing a Playstation 4, along with four controllers and, of course, a gift card for a few games to download. Underneath it, hidden, was another gift wrapped in more paper. This was the one D was considering taking back. Surely, the Detective would be too distracted by the PS4 to open it up and D planned to snatch it away and hide it while the Detective hooked up his games for him and Chris to play.
***
Leon stared at the PS4 for a moment, at a loss for words. He’d never really been one for video games - he and Harry had played a couple two-player games when they’d been teenagers, on rainy days when it was too ugly to go skateboarding or surfing, but he hadn’t really touched them since Harry moved away. But he knew that Chris would like it - if he hadn’t known before, the excited look on his brother’s face would have given it away - and he thought he could probably have a lot of fun sitting on the couch playing Mortal Kombat or whatever with his brother.
But he also knew that PS4s weren’t cheap, and his brow furrowed, and he looked at D for a long moment before he managed to find his voice around the frog in his throat. “This is too much,” he said huskily, and then cleared his throat. “Why - How -” he shook his head, and swallowed. "This didn't fall off the back of a truck someplace, did it?" he asked after a moment.
***
The Count folded his arms loosely across his torso.
“You’re welcome,” he said, mildly irritated. He owned his own business and did have money, he just preferred to live more simply. These days, however, he had a television for Chris and the Detective and liked seeing the two spend time together and this was just another way for them to do so.
Even Chris was staring wide eyed at the machine.
Can we hook it up? he asked.
D just kept looking at Leon, leaving it up to him as to what to do. It was his Darling Detective’s birthday, after all.
***
Leon flushed, feeling instantly guilty. It was somehow even worse that D didn't snap back at him for it. He should thank D, but he couldn't quite get the words out, and he handed the box off to Chris. "You can probably figure this out easier than I can," he said. "Why don't you hook it up and I'll join you in a bit?"
He needed a minute. A minute and a cigarette. He was about to stand up so he could go outside for one when he caught sight of the second package, and he frowned at it.
"What's this?" he asked, frowning, and gave it a shake.
***
“Oh.”
D had been so annoyed with the Detective’s questions that he’d momentarily forgotten about the second gift at the bottom. He quickly snatched the entire box from the table and held it tight against him.
“It’s rubbish, my Darling Detective,” he answered. “I’ll take it out.” Then he turned on his heels so he could take it out to the hall garbage chute and dispose of the box and the thing inside it.
***
Well, that was nothing if not suspicious. He sprang up from the couch, and grabbed D by the elbow in am attempt to turn him around.
"Not so fast," he said, reaching with his other hand to pluck the package from the box, feeling a little more in his element. "I'll be confiscating this," he said. "What is it, D? Drugs? Illegal weapons?"
Sure, it was wrapped and in a box with his other present, but that didn't mean D had got him something else. He'd already got him a PS4, which was already too much. There was no way he'd gotten him something else on top of that.
***
The Count gasped and tried to grab the package back, but the Detective had him in a painful grip. Pon-Chan was coming over to sniff around them in what she probably thought was a threatening manner, but it was just sort of cute. T-Chan had been alerted long before that and was already on his way over to snarl and chomp down on the Detective’s hand.
The Tetsu missed and ended up tearing off part of the poorly wrapped paper. In it was not drugs or weapons. It was a photo frame. In the corner T-Chan had uncovered (he was currently eating the wrapper, confused as to how he’d gotten that into his mouth) was the Detective, smiling at the beach with Chris on his shoulders, holding a beach ball over his head.
If the Detective remembered, it was a shot Sirius Black had taken of them all while at a party.
***
Leon glares at T-chan, before, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the framed photo, and the arm holding D abruptly let go. Tentatively, as if scared about what might be behind the rest of the paper, Leon pulled back the rest of the paper to reveal D.
"When…" he started, but he found he couldn't actually form any other words. At least, not until he said, "I'm going for a smoke," and turned and left the apartment.
Once he got outside, he sat down on the bench, lit a cigarette, and stared at the photo, wondering how D had gotten his hands on it, and what it meant, and why it was affecting him so much. He wondered if D would chase him out, part of him hoping he would, part of him just wanting to be alone until he could compose himself again.
***
D let the Detective go. He’d wanted to snatch it away to toss it, but that felt wrong. It was the Detective’s birthday present so let him have and take it home to burn it if that’s what he wanted to do.
“What an idiot,” T-Chan said.
D sighed, not answering T-Chan. In the living room, Chris was looking at him, one of the controllers for the game in his hand. D didn’t expect that the Detective would be back today so he didn’t feel the need to chase after him or even chase him away. They’d see him again when the Detective came in drunk or with a pair of cuffs.
***
Leon lit a second cigarette with the cherry of his first, trying to get his emotions into some semblance of order. It didn’t make any damn sense. He wouldn’t go so far as to say he hated D, but he sure didn’t like him, and so it made absolutely no sense why he was so affected by… well, all of this. It might’ve been the most thoughtful thing anyone had done for him in close to a decade, and the picture was definitely one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone had ever given him, but it was still D and it didn’t make any damn sense.
Unless D had some sort of ulterior motive. Like, making Leon let down his guard or something. That at least, would make sense.
He was lost in his thoughts, trying to figure it out, right until a group of teenagers walked by and burst into laughter at the sight of him. Leon blinked, confused for a moment, until his hand went to the top of his head and he remembered that he was still wearing that ridiculous hat D had forced him into. Leon bristled, pulled the hat from his head, flipped the teens the bird, and then flicked his cigarette into the gutter. Fucking teenagers. Then, dignity thoroughly destroyed, he stormed back up to D’s suite.
“You’ll be pleased to know that your hat got exactly the reaction you were hoping for,” Leon grumbled as he walked back in, placing the photo carefully by the door so he wouldn’t forget it when he left. As he walked past her, Leon carefully affixed the hat to Pon-chan’s head, and then sat back down on the couch, picking up the knife and starting to cut into the cake. “Let’s eat some of this damn cake. I’m starving.”
***
They didn’t need to talk about the picture. D wished the Detective would have just let it be. He didn’t see the picture when the Detective walked back in so maybe he’d thrown it out himself.
Pon-Chan didn’t react much to the hat other than to remove it from her head. There was too much tension here, even enough that T-Chan had gotten bored with it and had made himself scarce.
As if seeking a bit of normalcy, the Count decided to pick a fight. Enough of thinking the Detective actually cared about any of this, that was ludicrous.
“You don’t cut a cake like that,” he nagged. “You cut into squares.”
***
Leon eyed D a little uncertainly as he came over to the couch, and opened his mouth to thank him for the gifts, even if he didn't quite know how to go about it or if the words would come.
But before he even had a chance to formulate some sort of response to them, D was going on about the cake, and Leon rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on, it obviously gets cut into slices," Leon snapped back. "If you don't like it, then you can just not have any cake at all." Even if he was currently cutting D an extra large piece of cake.