⌗ 24

                                    

                                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||| 0:05




suna never liked birthday parties. not as a child, not as a teenager, and certainly not now as an adult. 
it wasn't that he hated them or found them unbearable, he could tolerate attending his friends' celebrations, sitting through the awkward candle-blowing and joining in the birthday song. 
but the thought of hosting one himself? the idea always left a bad taste in his mouth. 
he didn't dislike the gifts, nor did he shy away from the affection that inevitably came his way on that one day of the year. he simply found the whole ordeal tiring. 
the decorations, the small talk, the pressure to seem grateful and joyous, it all felt like a performance, one he wasn't interested in staging.
as a kid, his parents would urge him to invite his friends over. every year, they'd gently prod him with suggestions of cake flavors, party themes, and potential guest lists. and every year, suna would firmly decline.
"what do you want to do for your birthday, rintarou?" his mom would ask.
"money." he'd reply.
he wasn't a spoiled child. he didn't have an extensive wish list or crazy demands. but the idea of receiving money and then deciding for himself what to do with it, held an appeal that no pre-planned party could ever match. 
when he was ten, he spent every last yen of his birthday money on a massive lego set. the memory of sitting cross-legged on the floor, carefully piecing together the model, still brought him satisfaction.
his parents humored his requests for years, until he turned sixteen and got a part-time job. after that, the birthday money stopped. 
he didn't mind. by then, he could afford his own lego sets or whatever else he liked. and without the gifts, his birthday became just another day.
"congrats sunarin, you're one day closer to death." komori muttered as suna slid into the seat across from him in the library.
"good." suna replied dryly, pulling out his phone. 
his notifications were flooded with messages, friends, random people, distant relatives, all sending him variations of happy birthday! 
he barely glanced at them, scrolling mindlessly as komori rifled through his notes. "i mean, it's kind of sad," komori continued, glancing up. 
"you're spending your birthday in a library. are you even going to do anything later?"
suna didn't look up from his screen, his thumbs swiping over his messages. "i'm going out with my girl. that's it."
 
komori stared at him, dumbfounded. "not even a party with friends?"
"why would i?"
"i don't know, maybe because it's your birthday? people usually celebrate that sort of thing."
his eyes flicked briefly to komori before he shrugged. "it's just another day. no point in making it a big deal."
 
komori sighed, "happy birthday, you depressing bastard."