"Okay! Okay! I gotta be fast! And Qiqi! You're going to help me!" Hu Tao said as she took the small girl's hand and hurried inside a kitchen, she was holding a bag of ingredients, which she placed on a table nearby.
Qiqi seemed uncomfortable with the physical touch but she didn't say anything to the ghostly girl.
The reason for this hurry, is because a few days ago, when Hu Tao and Y/N were returning from the border, Y/N had said something surprising.
"I actually just remembered, but apparently today is my birthday." He said casually, as Hu Tao was still in a state of shock from their kiss. "Huh? Today!?" She asked, 'I don't have anything planned! I don't know how to bake a cake! For today?' She thought as they walked forward.
"Well, um, happy birthday! One year closer to death... Hehe" She said, still planning her next moves.
'When I get back, I'll buy some stuff to bake but... Should I throw a party...? I don't know if he'd like a birthday party...'
And as such, she decided to bake a cake, and somehow she dragged Qiqi into it.
"Y/N and Jinhua are out spying on the Fatui Bank or something, still, we need to hurry..." She said, as she opened a recipe book she bought minutes ago.
"Birthday? I do not understand the human need to celebrate such a day." Jinhua said, as she cleaned one of her gauntlets with a handkerchief. "Oh come on, Jin? Just make sure he doesn't come back for a while!" Hu Tao holds both of Jinhua's hands together as she asks. "Hmph. Whatever." "Thank you Jin!"
Hu Tao quickly reads the recipe and memorizes it. "Qiqi, can you please just put a small layer of butter on this cake pan?" She hands Qiqi the cake pan, which she holds. "Qiqi wants cake. Qiqi will help." She says, as she uses a napkin to put butter on the pan. "Thank you, Qiqi." Hu Tao says, before grabbing a few of the materials and a bowl.
'Hm, seems like Qiqi is still wary of me... Ugh... Well, at least she's not running away like before...'
She thinks as she placed the eggs, butter and sugar on the bowl, and began mixing it with a large spoon, muttering to herself as she mixed it. "I wonder if he's going to like it..."
After a few minutes, the mix was made, so she added flour and milk, and began mixing it once again. 'Wow, this is actually kind of tiring...' She thinks as she mixed the ingredients together. "Qiqi's done..." Qiqi said, as she placed the pan on the table. "Oh, good job Qiqi! Can you please just turn on the oven now?" Hu Tao said, unaware of the growing fear inside Qiqi.
She looked at the oven, which was about her height, however it looked giant in her perspective, it was a dangerous enemy, maybe even her arch-nemesis. It would take a lot of courage and strength to be able to face the machine. In Qiqi's mind, lava flowed down from the oven's insides as the heat made her skin rot as she approached it.
The distance between her and the oven was that of about two or three steps, but in her mind that seemed like traversing a desert with no water, and the sun hitting her face at every moment. However, after a long battle of struggles, and surpassing her own fears, Qiqi finally pressed the on button, and the oven turned on.
To Hu Tao, she watched with a confused expression as Qiqi slowly took two steps forward and slowly placed a finger on the button, and backed away quickly afterwards.
She almost asked Qiqi to check the oven's temperature, but after careful reconsideration, she decided against it, due to Qiqi's last attempt.
Meanwhile, Qiqi stood still, wary of both Hu Tao, and now the oven, which was getting hotter at every moment.
"Enemy..." She muttered, as she stood behind a chair.
Hu Tao simply walked to the cake pan and filled it with the mix she had made, making every last drop fall into the metal. "I hope I didn't do anything wrong..." She says, opening the oven's door, and placing the soon-to-be cake inside.
Closing the door, she turned around with a smile, facing Qiqi. "Welp, now we wait!" She says, slightly anxious, but hid it off well with a smile. The girl wondered if a cake was enough for Y/N, what if he, perhaps, did not like sweets? Upon having this thought, Hu Tao began to panic internally.
'Oh god. Why did I have to think that now.' She thought, walking in circles, as Qiqi followed the girl's movements with her head, who was quite wary and yet she seemed to relax by seeing Hu Tao panic.
'No, it can't be, doesn't he make those sweet mixes all the time? He talks about them frequently, so he probably likes it.' Hu Tao thought, placing a hand on her chin, closing her eyes and upon regaining her confidence, she opened her eyes and smiled cheerfully.
"Geez. It's his birthday, after all, he's not going to be mad at anything..." She said to herself. 'Although his actual birthday was days ago, we're only going to celebrate it today since he's been busy...' She thought, watching the oven.
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"Hmph. Pitiful humans. No interesting thing was inside that place. Only papers and papers!" Jinhua spoke, in her bird form, as she stood on Y/N's shoulder.
"Well, I can't say I expected to be nothing there..." I say, slightly dissapointed.
The bird wondered if Hu Tao had finished her duties, it had been two or three hours since they left, with multiple incidents taking more of their time as Jinhua had secretly planned them out.
"Still... I expected some of them to use the Bank as a base of operations of some sort, or at least to have a connection with the rest of it... But I suppose that would be too obvious..." Y/N says, while walking home.
"Your guesses are often wrong. And I'm often noticing that you seem more distracted in our fights than you were when we battled." Jinhua said, in a serious tone of voice, while it was hard to notice her expressions in her bird form, he could tell she had some type of worry in her face.
"Huh? I do?" He says, slightly surprised at Jinhua's observation skills. He wondered if she caught on what was going in his mind.
"While I'm not going to ask you what's troubling you, I do ask that you sort it out as soon as possible. It may ruin my revenge against the Fatui." She spoke, while closing her eyes and looking away.
"Oh, well, I'll try." Y/N says, his mind wandering off.
'Hm, of course, for a second I thought she was worried about me. But, I guess Jinhua only worries about herself always. And sometimes Qiqi.' He thought, glancing over at the bird for a moment, and looking away in the distance, looking at the buildings in his path.
'I should leave these people. Only worry about myself, remember?' He thinks, before hitting himself in the face, causing Jinhua to look at him weird for a moment before minding her own business.
'Stop thinking about that! You're not fighting for your life in Inazuma anymore! Shut up!' Y/N stopped his own thoughts, deciding to not reminisce over his past anymore.
This chain of thoughts were quite often entering his mind, ever since he remembered his own life in Inazuma, due to the memories his mother hid from him. While he doesn't regret meeting his mother for a second, it was still a tad annoying to have his mindset from before clashing with his mindset from now.
'Whatever. I just hope Tao hasn't noticed as well.'
While having such thoughts, he opened the door to Hu Tao's home, and walked inside, waiting for Jinhua to walk in to close the door.
Afterwards, he walked to the kitchen to-
"SURPRISE!" Said a lot of people at the same time, who were all inside the kitchen.
"H-huh?" He said in a low tone, surprised at the reception he had in the kitchen. In there stood Hu Tao who had used some machine to launch confetti into the air. Further stood Zhongli, next to Xiangling, Xingqiu, Chongyun, Qiqi and Baizhu, who were later joined by Jinhua.
On the walls, there were balloons and decorations, with were matching the birthday cake which stood on top of a table, alongside a few plates of food.
"Happy Birthday, Y/N! I know it's a few days late, but I wanted to celebrate anyways, and I called a few people!" Hu Tao said, with a large smile.
"..."
"Y/N? Are you crying?" She asked, her expression changing from a cheerful one to a worried face.
"N-no, I mean- kind of, it's just-"
He was reminded of the last time he ever celebrated his birthday.
His mother had made food and a cake while he was asleep, and surprised him when he woke up. As he opened to eyes from cleaning his own tears, he couldn't help but see his mother in Hu Tao.
He cleaned his own face, and smiled at the people in the room.
"T-thanks, you all." He said, before Zhongli walked next to him and rubbed his back, "It's fine to cry, don't worry, we're all here to wish you a happy birthday. And the one down there seems to want to say the same." He said, as he motioned Y/N to look down, where Qiqi pulled his shirt right after, saying "...happy birthday".
He smiled, "Thank you, Qiqi." Patting her head, she seemed satisfied.
"Happy birthday, Y/N, I wish you won't have to see me too much for the rest of your life." Baizhu said, smiling warmly. "Happy birthday assss well, Y/N..." Changsheng said while on Baizhu's neck. "Well, I don't mind seeing you two if I'm not sick, and thanks, as well." He answered, as he now turned to Xingqiu and Chongyun, who approached him.
"Happy birthday, Y/N! The book you gifted me last week was terrific, as usual! You have a nice intuition for a good book!" Xingqiu said, while Chongyun looked a bit shy, he wondered if he should be here, as he didn't know Y/N that well, and the others here seemed to know him much better.
"Um, happy birthday, Y/N!" Yet, he congratulated Y/N, "Thank you, Chongyun, I'm happy you came!" He was answered by a warm smile, which easily took out his worries.
"Y/N! I made your favorite food! I hope you enjoy the Jade Parcels! Well, at least I think it's your favorite, since you ask it almost every week!" Xiangling said, as she pulled a surprisingly shy Hu Tao with her, "But she's the one who made the cake for you!" Xiangling says, pushing her towards him.
"You did?" He asked, as Hu Tao seemed to be gaining courage. She tackled him in a hug, embracing him with her arms. "H-happy birthday. I hope you like the cake." She says, as she stopped hugging me and stood in front of me.
"If you made it, then it's sure to be good, Tao." He answered, with a smile, blushing slightly because of the physical contact. "And I didn't think you'd get shy about it!" He said, in a teasing tone. "Shut up, you, at least I had the courage to speak, different from someone else!" Hu Tao retorted Y/N, before glancing at Jinhua, who stood behind her, having changed to her human form while he was being surprised.
"You have something to say, Jin?" She turned, with a mischievously evil smirk. "What? I couldn't possibly... Uh, have something..." Jinhua tried to maintain her facade, but she soon gave up, and just walked towards him, glaring at Hu Tao, who smiled sweetly.
"I don't get why you humans need to comemorate such a simple date. Here, and don't bother me again." She said, as a bright yellow light appeared in her hands, and two golden gauntlets appeared in her hands, quickly handing them to him.
"You can just make those that easily...?" He said, shocked at the gift he received. "Hmph. It takes some time to produce. But don't think of yourself as special just because of this gift, okay?" She answered, before walking away. "Thank you, Jinhua." Y/N said, as she walked off. "...happy birthday." She muttered, with her back to him, when she went back to her spot, she wondered if he had heard it.
'Thanks, Jinhua.' He answered in thought only, as she would probably make a mean comment if he said it out loud.
To Jinhua, of course, while she could kill a hundred men before embarrassing herself over a gift, it still didn't leave her mind that something could ruin their lives at any moment. So it was safer to give this gift today, instead of a day when she had courage to do so. Which would be in a few years, at least.
"Oh, is it the time to give a gift...?" Chongyun said, breaking the silence, as others were waiting for the chance to talk to Y/N again. "Huh? You all prepared gifts...?" Y/N answered, getting multiple reactions from everyone.
'... I'm happy, then...'
======
Afterwards, the people ate together a meal, and most were taking their leave, most had gifted him something.
Xingqiu had noticed that the silver necklace which held his Cryo Vision was rusty, so he gifted him a pair of black gloves, with the left one having a holder for his Vision.
Chongyun had made some type of amulet, he had said it staved off evil spirits.
Zhongli had gifted him a handmade scarf, "I knitted it myself." He had said, which was surprising to Y/N because Zhongli did not seem like the type of person to know how to knit, when questioned by Hu Tao, who had the same surprise, he answered: "I've had a lot of free time, therefore I supposed it couldn't hurt to learn new things."
Now, there was only Hu Tao and him at the house.
He went to say goodbye to Jinhua, Qiqi and Baizhu, but he noticed a very specific object in the table of the kitchen when he came back.
"Huh? Was this here before?" He picked it up, it seemed to be a butterfly made from leaves, but it also had adepti energy in it? "Who left this here...?" He wondered, as he stored it on himself.
Unbeknownst to him, Xiao had appeared from nowhere a few moments before, placed it on the table carefully, and dissapeared right after.
"Hu Tao? Where are you?" He asked, as he didn't see Hu Tao around.
"Hold on, I'm getting something here...!" Hu Tao said, as she apparently was holding something behind her back, as she opened the door from her room, hiding the item from him.
"Oh? Is that a gift I see...?" Y/N smiled, as he wondered what it could be.
"Shh, you're ruining the moment!" Hu Tao placed a finger on his lips, shutting him up, afterwards, she took a few steps back.
"So, um, I know you've been working a lot for the Adventurer's Guild, and I know you have used that sword quite a lot, right? But, I still think there might be some chance you need a new blade, so um, here!" She revealed the thing she was holding, and it was a long sword, contrary to the katana he was used to.
"It used to belong to my grandpa, please take care of it!" She said, and she handed him the sword. He unsheathed it, and it had a beautiful blade, and it had black and red details on its handle, almost seeming like a sword version of the Staff of Homa.
"Wow... Thank you so much... Are you sure it's okay to give it to me? Didn't this belong to your grandfather?" He asked, looking at the blade. "Don't worry, he'd be fine with it, if anything, he'd be worried that it wasn't used for a while!" She said, with a smile.
He pulled her for a hug, after carefully sheathing the sword. She quickly returned the hug. "Thank you, Tao. I love you." He said smiling with a blush.
She was caught off guard, her face reddening up immediately. This was the first time he said he loved her, however she managed to not freak out immediately. "U-uh, I uh, I-I l-love you too..." She answered sheepishly.
"Hahaha!" He laughed, as he knew it would make her blush. "Stop it! I always think you make these things just to see me like this!" She said, her face still red. "Maybe I do!" He answered, smiling.
"Geez. You're lucky I love you, though." She said, holding his cheeks with her hands. "I am, yeah." He retorted, smiling with his eyes closed.
"You're so spoiled..." Hu Tao said, stealing a kiss from him. "W-well, and I wonder who's spoiling me, then..." Y/N said, blushing at the sudden sign of affection.
"H-how was the cake?" She asked, looking away. "Terrible." He said, nonchalantly.
"W-what? R-really?"
"Of course not, dunce." He said, laughing as he poked her cheek. "Well guess who's not having another kiss then." She said, looking away angrily. "I'm sorry!! It was just a joke! It was incredible, okay!?"
"Shouldn't have said it!" She said, smiling. "I'm sorry!" He apologized again.
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2880 words!
you know i wrote jinhua to be just really egoistical and reserved but now I can't help but write her as a tsundere