The Anatomy of Cross-Dimensional Pirates (One-shot Collection)

Happy Birthday To Me

Lexi woke up and rubbed her eyes, yawning tiredly. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Well, shit, she hadn't really gotten a lot of sleep for about a month now. And if the feeling of exhaustion and the urge to go back to sleep was any indication, it was beginning to stack on top of one another, cumulating the lack of sleep to a larger degree. Shrugging and standing from the bed, the brunette wandered over to the bathroom to shower for the day. The room smelled predominantly of her perfume nowadays, almost overwhelmingly so. It was a bit nauseating, to be quite frank.

She managed through the shower, in no rush to really go about the rest of the day. It would be pretty mundane as usual. They'd be landing at their destination soon, but until then, their days had been spent lounging around and keeping on the lookout for any enemy ships passing by. They'd taken care to avoid a fight if at all possible the last little while, just for precaution. Lexi didn't think today would be much different, save for the obvious.

Lexi was turning 24. The crew was eager to celebrate. Herself...not so much.

Figuring she'd only be wasting water if she stood there any longer, prolonging the inevitable, Lexi turned off the showered and stepped out into the slightly chillier bathroom air, snatching the towel from the rack to avoid the cold. The brunette went through her usual routine of drying off, dressing, blowdrying her hair, and putting on her makeup for the day. She felt sluggish still.

With a deep sigh, she prepared herself for all the well-wishes she was bound to receive for the rest of the day, and, debating only for a moment if they would notice if she never left the room at all, Lexi stepped out into the hallway outside and closed it behind her.

"Happy birthday, Lexi-chan!" She immediately heard to her left, where Holly and Ikkaku stood with excited smiles. She managed a half one in return.

"Thanks guys." She raised a brow then. "How long have you been waiting out here?"

"Hmm...what time is it?" Holly questioned with a giggle.

Lexi recalled the time on the clock in the bathroom. "About 10."

Ikkaku looked surprised. "Oh, then only an hour."

"Seriously? A whole hour? You didn't have to, you know..."

Holly waved Lexi's words away, disregarding them entirely. "So what? We wanted to. Now, let's get you to the kitchen for your birthday breakfast!" And, without waiting for her approval, they turned her by the shoulders and marched her off towards the mess deck where the rest of the crew was bound to be.

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The morning went by in mostly a blur, with dozens of 'Happy Birthdays' tossed her way. Lexi tried to be as positive as possible, considering it was an unusual occasion onboard the sub, and the others were only trying to be nice, after all. It would be rude to simply be depressed the whole day. So she put on a happy face and smiled along with the others as they talked and socially celebrated the special occasion.

After breakfast, the majority of the crew went off to do their jobs for the day, promising Lexi that the gift the crew had collectively gotten for her would be given after dinner that night. She'd widened her eyes in surprise, not expecting a present at all. But they insisted, and she was powerless to refuse anyways, so Lexi had to accept it either way.

Holly and Ikkaku accompanied her wherever she went, whether it be the training room to work out, the infirmary to study some more, the kitchen to grab a light lunch, the top deck to help Bepo fish, or the bathroom to pee. They were practically attached to Lexi's hip, and no matter how many passive aggressive hints that they didn't have to remain with her the entire day, they didn't seem to notice or care. It was like they'd made it their personal mission to make sure Lexi had a fun birthday, in the only way they knew how.