Steve Saga Short Stories ♡

Bitter Birthdays

Authors note** this one's sad/bittersweet, as the title suggests. I'm sad 'cause I thought of and wrote this and now I shall make you sad, too. Big angst - No ship

926 words

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Rainbow woke up, his head pounding. He knew it was today, but he looked over at the calendar. He crossed off the day with a pen and checked to time on the clock next to it. It was seven o'clock, still dark out because of the cold months. He didn't dress for the weather; snow, as he didn't need to. He simply threw on a t-shirt and jeans, setting his boots aside for later. He walked to the kitchen and had toast for breakfast, as he would spend the rest of the morning baking.

He mixed to dry ingredients and whisked the wet ones, combining them into a batter made from scratch. He would be the first to admit to being rusty in the kitchen, but he would never forget how to make a cake. He put a dish of the batter into the oven and prepaid everything else as it cooked. He made buttercream icing and left it in the fridge for the time. Sabre came in as he checked on the tin in the oven, not a half hour later.

"Mornin', Rain," He said, standing next to him.

"Good Mornin'"

He looked over his shoulder and Rainbow stuck a toothpick into the center of the cake. He took out the cake with oven mitts and placed it on the counter.

"Could'ja get me a plate, please?" He asked as he worked a knife around the edges. Sabre gave an unseen nod and took a platter from the cupboard above. Rainbow cut the top off the cake to give it a flat bottom before turning it onto the plate. He placed it on the table to cool, while whisking the buttercream again.

"What color do you think he'd like?" he asked Sabre "Or should I leave it plain?"

Sabre thought for a moment "Maybe just cancel out the yellow?" he said

Rainbow nodded "That'll do"

Once Rainbow mixed in some purple dye and had snow white icing, the cake was cool enough to work with. He carefully and cleanly spread it onto the cake at the table as Sabre finished his own breakfast. As Rainbow perfected the cake's edge, Sabre went to fill the balloons they'd bought the other day in the living room. They were both quiet, a suitable silence for that day. It was like the day sapped all their typical humor and energy and left grief in its place. It was the birthday of a boy who will never grow again.

Rainbow piped letters onto the top, carefully in fancy letters. He decorated it with leftover buttercream which he dyed bright colors. He frosted balloons on one side and a box on the other, carefully correcting and smoothing it with more toothpicks. Sabre tighter colorful helium balloons to strings into bundles of three. Three years since we lost him he thought, but shook it off. He knew Rainbow would see that too, as he filled the next.

Sabre waited by the door as Rainbow tighter his shoes and grabbed the cake. It was one of the best he had made in many years, cut so cleanly it could have been made by a crafting table or a machine. They walked into their town and down part of the path that was like a web tieing place together. Sabre lead the way up the stairs of the hill to the shrine, where the birthday boy lay. Rainbow crouched down to place the plate on Light's shrine. Sabre put the balloons next to it, weighed down with rocks.

"Good morning, baby" Rainbow said with a smile of a parent talking to a child, which wasn't far from. His eyes watered as he spoke, with the bitter truth of knowing the child was not fully there.

"Happy Birthday," He said softly "

Sabre took the candles out of his pocket and handed them to Rainbow. He counted them in his hand and stuck them around the icing "You would have been ten this year. The big two digits" He told him. He took out his lighter and began to light the candles one by one.

"Are you excited?" He asked "You're getting so much older, hunny. "

He lit the last of the ten candles ad brushed a tired from his face "Blow out your candles, now. Make a wish, hunny."

He sat crossed-legged, rubbing his teary eyes. Sabre sat down next to Rainbow, the cake, and the imaginary, dead steve. He touched his hand to Rainbows.

"You've got this, champ," he said.

A small wind pushed against them, and the candle fluttered out. Rainbow cried hard, as Sabre plucked the half-melted candles out of the cake. Sabre rubbed circles on his back.

"Have a good birthday, baby" He choked "We miss you."

Sabre slowly lead him away, away he cried softly. Sabre held him, remarking that he held up better this year than the one before. The cake sat still by the shrine, the balloons swaying. Light sat across from where Rainbow did, looking down at the happy-looking cake. He always loved what Rainbow made him but it would be better if Rainbow shared it with him. Rainbow always said that he couldn't cook without Light's help, as it wasn't the same, but Light was there. He would be there each of his birthdays Rainbow spent crying by the shrine, to blow out the candles. He wished for Rainbow not to cry next year, and he got a little of his wish each year.