gojo sat awake in bed, watching the first snow fall. he thought it might mean something that the first time that it snowed that year was on his 35th birthday, but he didn't want to overthink it. it was beautiful and comforting. the overcast weather allowed just enough light to pour in through the curtains so that gojo could see how y/n slept beside him, with her arms wrapped securely around him as her chest pressed against his every time that she breathed.
gojo always felt like his birthday was a big deal, but this year was different. it wasn't that he didn't want those nice birthday wishes that made him feel warm inside or he was going to turn down any gifts, but after the past few years that he had had, he felt like he wanted to relax.
he wanted to spend hours just as he was, with the person that he loved most so close to him that he could feel her heart beat while the sweet scent of the vanilla candles that y/n had bought imprinted on the room. he wanted to stay underneath the blankets where he felt like nothing could get to them.
but, as he felt his stomach rumble and his mouth begin to water at the taste of his breakfast, he lifted himself out of bed anyway. he watched for a moment as the woman in bed shuffled to his side of the bed, pressing her face into his pillow while her body instinctively told her that he was still there. it made him smile as he pulled on a deep blue shirt and baggy white lounge pants that pooled around his feet.
he first walked down the hallway to the left towards the bathroom at the end of the hall. he brushed his teeth with an absent mind while he looked over himself. he viewed himself entirely, wondering if he looked any different than he did yesterday.
he leaned over and spit into the sink and rinsed with cold water after.
"i don't feel different," he whispered to himself. "maybe i will when i'm 40."
he rinsed out his mouth with the minty mouthwash sitting on the counter and ran his tongue left and right over the top row of his teeth, seeing if maybe something was different in his mouth.
he had done it every year since he was a kid. he felt like his birthday was such a big deal that he inspected himself so closely because he expected to find some major change. sometimes there was, sometimes there wasn't.
this year, his eyelashes were the same length. he was sure that he was done growing, and he hadn't gotten his hair trimmed in a few weeks. there were small love marks littered up his neck, but he knew that that didn't count.
if that wasn't different, then what was?
he couldn't think about it for much longer once he heard the sound of water running in the kitchen down the hall. he silently huffed as he hoped to make breakfast before y/n woke up. he shook his head and glanced at himself in the mirror a final time, running his fingers through his hair and sighing.
he left the bathroom and walked slowly over the cold hardwood with his hands in his pockets until he could see y/n moving around the kitchen with a pensive look on her face while she looked to be tasting something that she made.
it didn't take her long to catch his movements just out of the corner of her eye and she quickly turned towards him with a smile. she wiped her hands with a white towel sitting on the counter and walked towards him with a beaming expression.
gojo's smile grew as the distance between them decreased until y/n could wrap her arms around his waist like she had while they slept, keeping him tight in her embrace. gojo pulled his hands out of his pockets and they trailed up from her shoulders until he was holding her face to look up at him.
"happy birthday," y/n said quietly, as if afraid of disrupting the peaceful atmosphere.
"thank you," gojo replied. "i'm sorry that i couldn't-"
