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Legoshi frantically paced around the barren wasteland he called his apartment. No matter how many ideas he conjured, there were too many flaws to execute them. A surprise date at a restaurant? Legoshi couldn’t afford it. Go out together to a park? Too boring for Louis’ standards. Legoshi had to do something grand, he needed to.
The wolf was running on limited time: Louis could arrive at any second. Suddenly, Legoshi froze seeing the screen of his phone light up on top of the little table in the center of the room.
Legoshi immediately got on his knees, snatching the device in his hands and scanning the screen for the notification. The wolf partially expected it to be Louis, the deer informing the wolf about his nearing whereabouts. While it luckily wasn’t that, Legoshi was disappointed reading the contents of the message he’d received: Haru unfortunately wasn’t capable of joining in celebrating Louis’ birthday, rather, wanting Legoshi to tell the deer Happy Birthday in her stead.
Haru was the last person Legoshi had been waiting on for a response to the invitation, sadly it wasn’t the only refusal the wolf had garnered. As upsetting as it was seeing how busy everyone was nowadays—besides himself—the wolf tried being understanding. However, it still hurt seeing piles of: “Sorry”, “I wish I could”, and “I would but” stacked on top of each other.
Legoshi frowned, setting his phone back down. Having only one guest (the wolf himself) attend Louis’ party was pitiful. However nothing could be done. Legoshi plopped his phone back down on the table, looking at the other contents brought for the party: the banner (which was actually just a piece of paper Legoshi had written “Happy Birthday Louis!” on), the cake (in actuality a cupcake with its small size), and a singular chartreuse green candle poking out from above, the same one Legoshi had no way of lighting.
Legoshi grimaced. These, alongside the… makeshift balloons were the only things the wolf had gathered in the spirit of a party. Legoshi’s ears flicked, the sudden jingling of keys immediately catching his attention. The wolf swiftly got up, slip of paper in hand. Once the door was unlocked and opened, the radiant outline of the deer was clearly visible.
Louis slowly and silently crept in, shutting the door. Louis hadn’t seemed to have noticed Legoshi yet, the deer looking uncertain. Louis raised his hand and suddenly flipped a light switch, instantly illuminating the room. Legoshi had forgotten prior to this he had been working in pitch black, even with the curtain closed, his night vision allowing him to see everything clearly the deer couldn’t.
Now that he was clearly visible, Legoshi firmly held out the poorly made banner for Louis to read. The deer’s eyes briefly scanned the paper before being averted to the wolf. “Did you make that?” he asked with a small, clearly amused smirk.
Legoshi rapidly nodded his head before exclaiming, “Happy Birthday!” Louis approached, settling down and sitting by the table. Legoshi quickly followed suit, placing the paper on the floor.
The next thing that caught Louis’ interest was the vanilla cupcake—the cheapest option the wolf could find—set before the deer, purposefully placed closer to his half of the table. “I assume this is for me,” he surmised.
The sight of the depressive delicacy must’ve warranted disappointment from Louis. Legoshi lowered his head, finding himself incapable of looking at the deer. “Yeah…” he muttered.
“If you needed funding, you could’ve come to me,” Louis informed. While true—the deer was loaded with cash, he could buy all sorts of better looking and delicious pastries—in no way was Legoshi entitled to pay for party supplies with the birthday boy’s own money.
Legoshi’s ears lowered next, muttering a depressive apology as his head hung low in shame. There was a moment of silence. It was enough to have the wolf fall into a pit of deep shame, regretting even thinking of hosting a party if he couldn’t even scrape the money to afford anything nice for the deer, not even a gift.
However, his attention was soon recalled. “Legoshi,” Louis suddenly spoke, causing the wolf to look back up.
Louis hadn’t even a hint of resentment towards Legoshi. Rather, looking at the wolf in awe. The plastic tray which contained the small cupcake had been slid over to Legoshi. It was half eaten. “There’s your slice,” the deer remarked.
If this was what Louis wanted, Legoshi was eager to comply, delicately picking up the delicacy—so much smaller compared to his hand—and ate it all in one bite. It was bland, taste practically nonexistent. However, knowing Louis had bitten into it, the ends coated with the deer’s saliva, the cupcake became a lot more sweeter.
Louis smirked as he watched Legoshi devour the whole thing like it was nothing. Suddenly, the deer bent over the table. “You got a little something there,” he informed before placing a hand on the wolf’s snout.
Legoshi thought that was it, Louis wiped away the leftover icing and would return to his seat normally. However, that wasn’t the case: Louis got closer, close enough until their faces almost met. Then, the deer licked the corner of the wolf’s mouth. Louis quickly retracted himself afterwards, leaving Legoshi behind in a dazed state, blushing wildly as his eyes widened.
The deer appeared happy with the little stunt he pulled, his smirk looking all the more smug. “This is the best birthday I’ve had,” Louis revealed. However, Legoshi wasn’t so easily convinced.
“You’re not saying that just to comfort me, are you?” Legoshi asked, the rushing of blood to his face quelling to a more normal degree. “Because if so, I don’t need your reassurance.”
Louis shook his head, the soft look on his face not showing any betrayal in his expression. “I mean it. When I was younger, the cake was filled to the brim with sugar, there was a whole crowd of strangers chanting my name, and I was given a bunch of random expensive gifts. But that didn’t mean I enjoyed it.” Legoshi was usually capable of detecting whether or not the deer was pretending, and in this scenario, Louis seemed to be telling the truth.
“I never ate much of the cake, never made eye contact with the random business partners my father invited, and I always threw out the gifts I had no interest in,” Louis continued. The deer extended his hand across the table, grabbing a hold of Legoshi’s. “But you, you tried your best with what you had. Everything here you planned sincerely and meticulously. You poured all your time and effort into this, thinking what would look good. It may not look pretty, but it’s not the beauty that matters, it’s the attempt made.”
Slowly, Louis intertwined their hands, holding onto Legoshi’s firmly. “And I’m grateful for that. Your love is more priceless than any gift,” the deer remarked, softly gazing at the differing sizes of their palms.
Louis glanced back at Legoshi, thinking nothing of words—rather viewing them as a tirade that the wolf hadn’t asked nor cared for. The deer was surprised as he noticed Legoshi’s tail furiously whipping back and forth while the wolf himself carried a look of admiration. This gust of wind caused some of the balloons to roam and float the room, bringing them to Louis’ attention.
With his free hand Louis grabbed onto one and brought it closer. Instantly a flash of panic ran across Legoshi as he exclaimed, “Wait, you shouldn’t-!” But it was too late. Louis had already been investigating the balloon and its unnatural shape: not exactly round for a normal balloon, but rather cylinder-like.
The wolf frowned when he heard the deer emit a chuckle. “These aren’t actually balloons, are they? You’re certainly creative,” Louis spoke, amused with what Legoshi had done.
“But I hope you left some spares,” Louis began, dropping the balloon as he looked back to Legoshi, squeezing the wolf’s hand as the deer smiled mischievously. “Because you haven’t gotten me a gift. But I know just what you can do for me.”