Miraculous Hunters Rewritten: Book 2

Chapter 13: Bittersweet Sixteen Part 1

In the week after Marinette's birthday, things had quieted down a lot on both the sibling's sides of the globe... which had them on pins and needles. While they were glad for the break, considering both Marinette and Jim had grown to expect some form of violence at the drop of a hat, they didn't like the week-long quiet. Granted, the newly given free time the siblings had was spent in training, so it helped ease the edge off their shared tensions. But it soon became a distant thought in the back of their minds when Jim's birthday drew nearer with each passing day... neither of them having any idea how eventful it would truly be.

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The sun had already risen on Arcadia hours ago... bringing a new danger along with it. But Jim was unaware of it as he slept comfortably in his bed, only to be startled out of his slumber when hearing a loud growl nearby. Upon being rudely awakened and calming his racing heart, Jim's electric blue eyes quickly twisted to the door, finding his mother arriving.

"Wake up, wake up!" Barbara sang as she walked into her son's room, a tray in her hands as she advanced towards him. "Don't want to sleep through your birthday! the doctor nearly squealed, sitting on Jim's bed.

"Birthday?" Jim asked gently, an unsure smile gracing his still-tired face.

"And the big day you start with–" Barbara began as she raised the tray in her hands from her lap and up to Jim. "Mom's special birthday pancakes!" she proclaimed, handing the tray to Jim with a large smile.

However, as her son took the breakfast tray from her, he looked at the meal with a sad look. A candle had been stuck in the stack of flapjacks and a trail of syrup had created a disturbing smile, the eyes of the pancake no help at all as one slowly dripped. In summary, the decoration on the meal had caused the simple food to look - well there were no words Jim could describe how it looked except...

"He looks like he's screaming." Jim observed, wincing at the face on the top pancake.

"He's excited." Barbara stated, hoping to ease the awkwardness already building. "I know, you'd rather forget your birthday. But you're 16! This is a big one and we should do something tonight!" the ginger-haired woman declared as she stood up from Jim's bed and headed to the door, placing a book that had been lying helplessly on the floor back onto a shelf.

"Oh, Mom, you know I don't want to-" Jim whined, only to be cut off when his mother opened his window, letting the fresh air flow in and greet the birthday boy.

"This isn't up for discussion. No one should be alone on their birthday." Barbara argued with a smile, Jim groaning with a roll of his eyes while his mother headed to the door. "When you've had your fill, I have another surprise for you downstairs." the doctor announced as she headed down the steps, Jim sighing to himself again before glancing at his pancakes, the candle still lit ablaze. Deciding to try and be a good sport for his mom, Jim took his fork and poked into the food just before the familiar call of the walkie-talkie pulled him from his misery.

"Warhammer to Trollhunter. Copy?" Toby called out from the device, causing a suddenly surprised Jim to dive into his desk chair.

"Copy. What is it, Tobes?" Jim replied, picking up his own to speak to his best friend in the hopes of distracting himself from his birthday.

"Look out your window!" Toby commanded excitedly. Immediately, the Trollhunter quickly stood over his desk and peered out his window, only to find Toby standing in his room waving his arm happily as he held up a paper birthday cake.

The drawing itself had been made with two layers and three candles were cut out on top, with the first layer having been bitten into and missing a piece while saying: Jim. Fortunately, the bottom layer was still intact and had the number Sixteen written. Even seeing it from his window, Jim was amused to see the cake drawing his best friend had made for him.