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Taylor was so excited to be spending the day with Nicky. It was a biweekly thing and Taylor was still getting used to having a dad around to do fun things with him while Cassandra was at work. He loved not having to be alone now and best yet Nicky knew about all of the best anime and Taylor didn’t have to waste his time explaining the plot when he wanted to talk to him.
Today the pair would just be hanging out watching whatever was on the actual television and eating whatever snacks Nicky had brought with him. Nicky always had the best snacks and all the soda Taylor could ever drink, even if Cassandra wasn’t fond of him having so much sugar. She always let it slide because she could never say no to Taylor. Taylor knew how to play his cards right to get what he wanted.
“I’m surprised you weren’t hanging out with Hermie today,” Nicky stated like Taylor and Hermie hung out often. In reality, it was much more common for Normal to be hanging out with him. Taylor only really talked to him if Hermie reached out and Hermie had been doing that less and less recently.
“Why would I be hanging out with Hermie?” Taylor questioned, brow furrowed in what was almost offense.
“Jodie said it’s his birthday.” Nicky shrugged. “Could be wrong, God knows Jodie isn’t a reliable narrator, but I just figured if it was you’d be spending the day with him.”
“It’s his birthday?” Taylor’s eyes that were once skeptical were now wide with shock.
“You didn’t know?” Nicky got a shake of his head in response. “Hermie really didn’t tell anyone?”
“I need to go,” Taylor stated in lieu of a response and Nicky nodded.
“Do you need a gift for him?” and Taylor nodded.
“I have a plan though. So don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried. Not when it comes to you, kid.” Nicky ruffles his hair. “You know my number if you need me.”
And with that Nicky was gone leaving Taylor to plan everything he needed to do. He knew that this needed to be a big deal to make up for the fact that he hadn’t known about Hermie’s birthday sooner.
~~~~~~~
Hermie was used to spending his birthday alone. This year was no different to any other, even with the exception of everything he had been through. His adoptive parents never made a fuss for his birthday and hardly even knew he was there on a good day. On a bad day, he so badly wished they didn’t remember he was. That had changed after their adventure. His parents had never returned. Hermie was more than happy to pretend they were dead, even if the empty house was rather uncomfortable.
Today would be like any other Saturday for him. He would spend the day cleaning up from the past week, doing dishes, and maybe making a few meals to heat up on days when he didn’t want to cook. If he felt up to it. It was getting harder and harder to use the stove with the memories of the Papa John’s clogging any memory and his birthday would just add to it. That’s why he had answered the door in his pajamas still, a set of joker pajama pants and a loose hoodie. His hair dangling from the bun he had put it in and his glasses low on his nose.
He wasn’t expecting anyone, let alone Taylor, Normal and Lincoln.
“What do you want.” It came out sharp but Hermie didn’t think anyone could fault him for that. The only one who kept up with him regularly was Normal, who stood sheepishly holding two large balloons, both square, one red and one yellow showcasing Joker and Batman respectively.
“Happy Birthday,” Taylor stated, hands holding two boxes, one brightly wrapped and the other plain brown. Lincoln was holding a wrapped box as well now that Hermie was looking at them. Taylor began to push past him and Hermie quickly blocked his step.
“How do you know it’s my birthday.” Hermie turned his attention back to Normal who looked a bit uncomfortable under his gaze.
“Taylor told us.” Normal offered, his voice gentle like he would scare Hermie if he spoke too loud or made a sudden movement. “Nicky told him so Taylor said we should come see you.” He remembered telling Normal that he didn’t do anything for his birthday. At least Normal looked a little uncomfortable at intruding.
Hermie stood for a moment before sighing and nodding, moving to the side to let them in.
“I’m not cooking for you.” Cooking would wait for another day. And the house was already spotless. He didn’t have anything to do and got rather bored. Cleaning helped.
“We brought cake.” Lincoln smiled, it was gentle and genuine and Hermie felt himself get a little excited at that. No one had ever brought him cake before.
“And presents.” Taylor declared setting his things down on the counter of the kitchen.
“Take your shoes off.” Normal reminded both of them before Hermie even could and a small smile tugged at his lips before he could stop it.
“What kind of cake?” Hermie asked before he could stop it, even more curious when Normal stopped him from looking.
“You’re not allowed to look at your cake before he put candles on it!” The both of them flinched at the volume of his voice and Normal looked apologetic. “It’s confetti though. We made it ourselves.”
“Why?” Hermie looked at all three of them suspiciously. It didn’t make sense that they made it just for him.
“Well…” Linc looked slightly embarrassed, looking away from him. “My dad, Marco not Grant, helped us make it.”
“What do you mean why?” Taylor looked offended. “It’s your birthday we need a cake. Now go to the other room so we can put candles on it. Normal take him away. Make him wear the hat too.”
Normal took him by the hand, his non-burned one, though the touch was so gentle Hermie wasn’t sure it would even matter, and lead him to the living room before settling on the couch next to him. Normal dug through the bags for a moment before pulling out a large pointed birthday hat with an elastic cord wrapped around it. The kind you would put on a young child, maybe Hermie had worn them before when people actually cared enough.
“You don’t have to wear it.” Normal whispered, presumably to keep Taylor from hearing him. “Taylor went a little overboard.”
“A little.” Hermie raised an eyebrow at him and Normal did everything he could to stifle a giggle. “He got you all involved and made a cake, which I’m horrified to see by the way.”
“Hey! I decorated that cake!” Normal exclaimed.
“Exactly my point.” Hermie countered.
Normal squaked indignately looking offended for a second before doubling over in laughter. It was rare that Hermie hear him laugh like that but he treasured every time he did. The laughter died down replaced with a genuine smile. The exact smile that would never cease to give Hermie butterflies. It was contagious, Hermie felt himself smiling back.
“Put on the hat.” Normal grumbled but dissolved to laughter again at the absurdity of their argument, before helping Hermie put the hat on in a way where it would stay but not aggravate his burn scars further, his hand lingering longer than it normally would, only pulling back when the other two entered.
“If you start singing I’ll kill you all.” Hermie cut off Taylor’s deep breath with a glare, causing the other to grumble and complain but set down the cake, two candles burning at the top.
Hermie flinched a bit at the fire. He had never been particularly fond of any kind of fire but especially not anymore, he could practically feel his burn itching just looking at it, but Normal and Linc looked ready to blow out the candles at a moment's notice if something went wrong and that alone eased his worries before they could really even spread.
“You have to make a wish,” Taylor commanded and Hermie closed his eyes to humor him before blowing out the candles. Normal and Taylor cheered quietly on either side of them as Linc began to cut the cake splitting it among them. Hermie took his large slice hesitantly but tucked himself back on the couch with his knees up to eat on them.
The cake was decent, Hermie couldn’t complain. There was far too much green and purple icing to the point where it began to bleed to brown against the white confetti cake but it tasted like sugar all the same. The other three were talking about how good it turned out, so Hermie wouldn’t be the one to point out to them that the cake was slightly burnt. Especially with Taylor practically wiggling at his side.
“Presents?” Hermie guessed and that seemed to be what Taylor was waiting for as he launched himself across the room towards the packages they had brought. A Taylor with enough sugar for a small village was not one Hermie was prepared to deal with. The sooner they could get through presents the sooner everyone would leave and he could go back to pretending it was any other day.
Before he could really situate himself properly, three distinct boxes were set in his lap. The top and smallest being a silver box with a bow wrapped around it. The middle a slightly larger and more square box that had clearly been neatly wrapped in green wrapping and taken care of and the final largest box being hastily wrapped in purple wrapping with doodles around it in smudged sharpy marker. If Hermie had to hazard a guess at least he knew which one was Taylor’s.
“Smallest one last.” Normal commanded with a smile. “That one’s mine.”
“Mine first!” Taylor cut off whatever Linc was in the process of saying, removing the topmost packages and leaving only his.
All eyes in the room were on Hermie, something that was both familiar and so deeply unfamiliar in this moment, still he nodded and began to open the present. Even though it was hastily done and there was far too much tape, Hermie tried to salvage the paper. It wasn’t often that he received a gift and the paper had Taylor’s art on it. So, even though Taylor looked like he might explode if Hermie took a second too long, or like he would step in to help if Hermie hesitated, he took his time until all of the paper was peeled off the outside. Breaking the tape covering the box and pulling back the tissue paper revealed a small magazine-style book. Pulling it out revealed a, rather poorly, hand-drawn version of what Hermei assumed to be him and Taylor.
“It’s our manga. Every hero and sidekick needs one.” Taylor looked overly proud of himself for the gift, and the fact that his signature was in the corner definitely didn’t help his case. So Hermie didn’t say anything about the gift. Just put it back in the box and thanked Taylor which seemed to please the boy, before turning to Linc.
Linc’s box was slightly less hard to open but Hermie opened it with the same amount of care that he had the other, if not to savor the way that Linc was squirming. Clearly, he was nervous about whatever the gift actually was and Hermie was enjoying soaking up someone else's anxiety for once. Inside the box was a clearly labeled Marvel’s action figure set. If Hermie was feeling crueler he would point it out but with the way that Linc was shifting and the nervous look in his eyes, Hermie knew that he already knew that he had messed it up. Plus he was sure that if he pointed it out it would just take longer for them to leave. Instead, he thanked Linc and set the box aside ignoring the relieved look on Linc’s face and the sympathetic look Normal shot him as he picked up the smallest of the three boxes.
“It’s not fair. Normal knew it was your birthday he had longer to prepare. You can’t open his gift.”
“I opened everyone else's,” Hermie stated looking over Normal trying to decipher his expression but finding nothing that he could figure out. “It’s not polite to not open a gift.” And the sooner he opened them the sooner they would leave, Hermie thought.
Tearing into the gift Hermie wasn’t sure what to expect. The gift wasn’t wrapped just in a decorated box with a ribbon around it meaning there wasn’t anything to cause tension in Normal as he opened it. The ribbon fell away and Hermie lifted the lid carefully at Normal’s warning that the gift was fragile. Moving the tissue paper to the side revealed a framed photo taken of Hermie in his Joaquin Phoenix makeup that he had been using for his performance he was supposed to be in. He wasn’t sure when Normal had managed to take the photo but it was a good photo. That wasn’t what caught his eye, however, as he was too busy focused on the signature in the corner of the frame. Joaquin Phoenix himself had signed a photo of him in his costume for the performance, and it was all because Normal had remembered that it was his birthday. For the first time in his whole life, Hermie was stunned into absolute silence.
“There’s more to the gift.” Normal prompted gently making space on the coffee table for Hermie to set the frame down revealing two tickets to the production of The Phantom of the Opera that he had been trying desperately to get for weeks now. The website never worked properly when he tried but here were two tickets, and not just any tickets but prime tickets, the best seats in the house. Both gifts must have been a fortune but together they were way more than Hermie could bring himself to accept or express his gratitude for.
“How…did you get these?” Hermie was still a tad too stunned to speak.
“Abuela Mercedes got them for us a few weeks ago. Her and Grandpa Henry have ties everywhere.” Normal began to explain the picture but before he could even get a word out, his arms were full of Hermie who was squeezing him so tight it was impossible for either of them to speak.
“We’re watching a movie now.” Taylor cut in clearly annoyed his gift hadn’t spawned that kind of reaction.
Without asking he reached over and put on some movie that Hermie had never seen before. It didn’t matter much anyway, Hermie was more interested in cleaning up the mess they had made with whatever this celebration they had forced on him was and putting the tickets away in a safe place. It was a very generous gift from Normal’s grandparents that he had never met. He hadn’t stopped thinking about it even as he heard footsteps behind him in the kitchen.
“Hey,” Normal’s voice was soft and gentle. “You’re supposed to be watching a movie with us.”
“Did Taylor send you?” Hermie turned from where he was loading dishes into the sink to find Normal a lot closer than he was expecting him to be.
“Yeah, but I also wanted to make sure you’re not cleaning on your own. It’s your birthday. You shouldn’t be in here cleaning and alone.” Normal took his nonburned hand gently. “Why not remind us your birthday was coming up so the others could plan something big?”
“Why didn’t you plan something?” Hermie hadn’t meant it to be as cutting as it had come out.
“You didn’t mention it so I didn’t think you would want something big.” Normal was rubbing the back of His hand now more for his comfort than for Hermie’s. “Uncle Lark doesn’t like celebrating his birthday and you kinda act like him about the topic. I couldn’t stop Taylor who was convinced we needed to all be here all afternoon though.”
“I don’t celebrate. Never have.” Hermie admitted, letting himself be pulled into the hug. He was accepting the hug for Normal, not himself. And as long as he remembered that it was fine. The hug was nice.
“We can change that now. We had some cake and presents and we’re all here. Now we’ll rest and have a good day.” It occurred to him at this point that Normal was guiding him back to the living room.
Hermie wasn’t sure how long he had been away from them when he and Normal got back to the room, but the movie was pretty much over and Taylor and Linc were asleep, leaning together on the couch. Normal plopped himself in his usual spot on the far end of the couch pulling Hermie along with him down onto the couch beside him and wrapping the blanket around the both of them.
“Lego Batman?” Normal suggested and Hermie knew for a fact that he hated that movie more than anything.
“You don’t like Lego Batman.” He stated trying to take the remote away from Normal only for it to be held outside of his reach.
“But you like it so we can watch it.” Normal smiled reassuringly, selecting the title and pressing play pulling Hermie against him. “Relax a bit with me?”
“Yeah…okay.”
Normal took down Hermie’s hair tussling the curls away that reached his shoulders before playing with them gently, separating them from each other and detangling them, uncaring how long it had been since Hermie had washed them. Hermie snuggled closer, though he would deny that he had to the end of the earth, and allowed himself the comfort of being with the people he found comfortable and the movies that were familiar to them. Maybe his birthday wasn’t so bad this year, and maybe, just maybe, it won’t be so bad ever again.