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Diana's eyes flicked easily open. It was Saturday morning. She was very on top of things at the moment and, despite being increasingly carried away in her girlfriend's shenanigans, things were flying by relatively calmly. As ever she had woken up before her dorm mates, glancing across the room as sunlight poured through the window and illuminated a trail of dust as the two lay quietly in their bed.
The 30th of April. It was her birthday today.
She sat up straight and leaned against the wall, shutting her eyes against the thoughts that came flooding into her mind - below a thick emotional veil of loneliness and hurt, she looked back on some of her previous birthdays - they hadn't been a pleasant time for many years.
As if a scene from a fantasy, she recalled the early years of her life where her mother would make her birthdays exciting - she would be taken to all kinds of magical heritage sites and exploring through arcane forests or ruins. Her mother would research them all before taking her out and explain them to her as they walked, and it was the most fascinating time of her childhood. Bernadette always told her that her eagerness to learn was commendable and nurtured it to be stronger to the best of her ability.
She could see the warm glow of her mother's fireplace again, almost feeling the older witch's hand encapsulating her own.
Daryl made no such efforts.
Blackness clawed at the edges of her vision as she slumped, recalling her birthday celebrations in future years. Each year following the death of her mother, her aunt wouldn't acknowledge Diana's birthday - she and her daughters would simply pretend it was the same as any other day. Diana wondered how many years it took for them to forget what day it was.
It would be the same daily loveless routine. The only difference in those days between her birthday and every other day is that her faithful maid, Anna, would always leave her a note wishing her a pleasant birthday and would occasionally snag a bun from the kitchen and give it to her. She appreciated Anna to the moon and back. As the years had passed, Diana had learned to avoid drawing attention to her birthday in order to avoid being harshly addressed in response - perhaps she tried to forget about it herself so her mind wouldn't be drawn to the comparison of how her mother recognised her birthday to how everyone else did.
Coming to Luna Nova, she hadn's spoken once of her birthday. Unlike young Mrs O'neill, who made it very apparent to the girls of Luna Nova that it was her birthday on the 17th of March and gained an enormous amount of attention from it, surprisingly from one of Diana's dorm mates among everyone else, this day had come without a single utterance of its approach.
Quiet giggling from the other side of the room brought Diana back to reality. Peeking her head around the corner, she saw Hannah and Barbara sat side by side, sharing a book and grinning widely. At least they were having fun. It seemed like after everything, Diana's birthday had come to be a quiet day for her, where she spent her time pushing thoughts down.
"Good morning Diana!" Barbara called, prompting Hannah to look up and wave.
"Girls," she responded quietly, nodding towards them.
"Say, Diana, are you itching to get to breakfast as soon as possible?" Hannah asked.
Diana thinned her eyes in confusion, taken aback by her dorm mate's uncharacteristic comment, and paused for thought.
"Well, I suppose as soon as convenient would be good," she nodded. "Is something the matter?"
"Oh, nothing! Please just let me finish something," Hannah quickly responded, leaving Barbara's side and activating her crystal ball. Bewildered, Diana nodded her head again and returned to her part of the dorm room for the other girls to get changed.
Though her birthdays were often the most uninteresting days of the year, Diana almost found herself surprised as nothing out of the ordinary happened on the way to the canteen, or for the first few minutes while they were there. Perhaps something at the back of her mind had been praying that Akko could have somehow read the situation and-
"Heya Diana!" The brunette shouted from across the room.
Diana's heart skipped a beat, her eyes darting up to meet her girlfriend's gaze.
"Akko?" She responded, succeeding in staying calm until she noticed an increasing crowd gathering around her table. Not only Akko's two dorm mates, Sucy and Lotte, but Amanda and her whole dorm had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. When Amanda leaned her elbows on Hannah's shoulders and all the others gathered very close around, Diana was about to erupt into complaints before Akko caught her attention again.
"Say cheese!" She shouted, taking Diana's hand on her own and leaning into the blonde, holding out a camera towards the group and smiling at it. She barely had time for her eyes to find the camera, her face and body language a picture of startled confusion, before there came the familiar click of the camera and Akko leaned forwards to look at the screen.
"Akko? What in Jennifer's name is this?" Diana huffed, trying to shake the surprise from her eyes.
"It's perfect!" Akko shouted, turning to Diana. "Don't worry about it!" She answered, quickly leaving the canteen along with her dorm mates and Amanda's dorm. And Hannah and Barbara.
Diana's mouth hung open in complete bafflement as she watched them all go. Maybe Akko had planned something after all? But why on Earth was she being left here? Before the whole group disappeared down the corridor as Diana sat stone still at her chair, Akko flashed her a wink.
Then they were all gone, the casual bustle of the canteen sounding like sickening silence. Diana cradled her head in her hands, leaning her elbows on the table, and sighed. 30th of April. Saturday morning. There was nothing special on Luna Nova's rota, no events or celebrations happening locally... What on Earth was happening?
At this point, she would usually return to her dorm room to study but something at the back of her mind said she should wait. Akko was walking out of the canteen with intent. Strange as it may seem, over time, Diana had learned to trust Akko. The most chaotic person in her entire life sometimes ended up being her best source of stability - when the Japanese witch had her heart set on something, she would get it done and Diana could tell from the look in her eyes that she was up to something.
After some deliberation, Diana stood up. Walking through the corridors deliberately slowly towards her dorm room, she could feel an excited tingle in the air. All the while trying to figure out any significance of the day besides hers, absolutely nothing came to mind. Maybe Akko was just preparing some kind of surprise adventure or party. Perhaps Akko just wanted a bit of fun. Diana forced a smile onto her lips, aware of the fact that she was grasping at straws to avoid getting her hopes up. In any case, she was confident that Akko was responsible. That meant that in any case, something amazing would happen.
She nodded confidently, arriving at her dorm door and staring daggers into the doorknob. Akko had got her extremely worked up. Again.
Diana grabbed the doorknob, twisted it and gave her door a gentle push.
Then she froze in place. Her eyes and mouth were both hung wide open. Her muscles wouldn't respond, even if her brain was sending out any signals. Her head scanned slowly from left to right across the room, heart beating hard in her chest. She had immediately noticed a subtle scented candle smell wafting through the air but that was far from the most striking part - covering every free inch of space on the walls, furniture and beds, apart from the sofa and window, were balloons. Brightly coloured bags of air that Diana had always written off as petty and childish now screamed out joy at her as she could barely make out that it was her room at all. As well as the balloons, neatly organised bouquets of flowers lined the furniture and windowsill that she knew weren't there before.
She stepped back, her eyes piercing her corridor as though to search for an onlooker or culprit, but it was perfectly obvious to her without having to look. Surprised to find the corridor completely empty, she sighed in resignation and stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind her.
Her workstation was completely covered. Maybe that could wait for a short while anyway. Stepping closer to take a look at some of the bouquets, she paused. There was an astonishing collection from tulips to lilacs to roses, all of the highest quality. She looked around, finding the inside of her door covered as well as the wall around it. Oh, this was far more serious than she had first realised.
"...What?!" She finally hissed, laughter escaping her lips.
Then there was a knock on her door and she stopped, instantly becoming a statue. If it was even remotely official business, this would be a very large problem. Diana cleared her throat, forcing the tremble out of it before speaking.
"Who's there?" No response.
Diana pursed her lips, slowly trudging towards the door. She took a deep breath and, hoping not to reveal anything embarrassing, opened the door by just a crack to see who had knocked only to find the corridor empty. Empty apart from a small box on the floor. Wrapped up in brightly covered paper with a bow on top.
If Diana wasn't sure Akko had planned this, now she was sure. Opening the door a little bit further, she poked her head outside her room to check the corridor and found it completely empty.
"Akko," Diana huffed, placing her hands on her hips as she eyed the box. She felt undignified and predictable but shook her head, determined not to display the qualities that her girlfriend had initially disliked in her before they got to know each other.
With each passing second, against her will, she grew more hopeful. Picking up the box and taking it into her room didn't help her at all - once she had closed her eyes and placed it on an area of free table she could find, she felt like a pile of nerves.
Diana stood in front of the sofa, eyeing the box as she carefully tugged on the bow. The knot was scruffy - so scruffy she could only attribute it to one person - and it came loose easily.
When it did, the lid of the box was suddenly pushed upwards. Diana gasped in surprise as, for a split second, she saw a mouse leaping at her from inside the box before it was gone, Akko in its place. It all passed in a split second and Diana found herself knocked into her sofa with Akko suddenly latched onto her torso, laughing uncontrollably at the heat rising in Diana's cheeks.
"Happy birthday Diana!" She shouted, leaning her body on top of the blonde as she started laughing again. Fire was running through Diana's nerves, her body tensed and her eyes boring straight into her girlfriend whose laughs were pure happiness pouring into her heart.
"H-how?" Diana finally stammered, her arms gripping the sofa either side of her. "How did you even know? My birthday isn't public information!"
"I spent some time with you in your manor, remember?" Akko winked. "I picked up a few things."
"Akko, I..." She was lost for words. Though her expectation of the event had been building up all day, she still couldn't quite believe it.
"Look, we got a load of things for you," Akko excitedly continued, picking up the small package and shaking it, several far larger packages coming out of it. Diana stared in astonishment at the array of presents in front of her. Presents on her birthday had never been a thing for her - more of a TV trope that she was vaguely aware of. "We all got you a card, too!" Akko said, holding out a neat red envelope for her.
Tears forming in her eyes, Diana slowly took the card and let her eyes flick between it and the girl sat beside her.
"Di-Diana?!" Akko cried, leaning forwards and staring at her damp eyes with her own. "H-hey, what's wrong? Was I-"
"Akko, oh my God," She finally responded, leaning forwards and holding the other girl tightly. She wrapped her arms around her torso and squeezed her as if it would bring their bodies even close together, leaning her forehead on the girl's shoulder. "Th-this is all so... Akko, I..."s
"Not used to it?" She hazarded. Diana just nodded, unwilling to spoil the moment and search for words. Her mind begging her to read the card, she leaned back and opened the card carefully, Akko's eyes following the movements of her hands. Inside the card, a corny birthday poem that Diana paid absolutely no attention to - it seemed that Akko had predicted this, having scribbled it out and writing her own birthday message underneath it. Also inside the card, as well as Akko signature, were the Japanese witch's dorm mates' signatures, Amanda's and her dorms, and... Hannah's and Barbara's. Of course. That must have been what Hannah's weird question was about that morning. They were in on it too. Also in the corner of the card was written 'one look out the window token'.
"Look out the window token?"
"I'll explain later! C'mon, open your other presents!" Akko giggled. Honestly, she was so childish. The kind of childish that Diana couldn't believe she found so endearing. "I know it's not much to someone as rich or talented as you, but we tried our hardest!"
While initially hesitant to be drawn into the embarrassing frivolities, Diana eventually let herself be drawn in and enjoyed herself far more than she had ever imagined herself doing on her birthday. Of course, it was all thanks to Akko, who had arranged it all. She said she had Hannah and Barbara help her with the flowers, her dorm mates help her with the magical boxes and a lot of help from a lot of other areas, but she was responsible for organising it all and getting all of the help in the first place. And her heart was poured into it.
Among the presents were many, many boxes of tea - Akko said she didn't know Diana's favourite so she bought one of pretty much every commercial brand and an enormous and intricately decorated cake that burst out of its box, clearly courtesy of Jasminka.
Soon, she got to a photo frame - one with the photograph Akko had taken in the canteen inside of it. Of course, how had that slipped Diana's mind? They'd clearly planned it - everyone was smiling brightly at the camera - aside from Sucy and Constance, who were giving appreciative thumbs-up. Lotte was stood politely to the side offering a smile along with Jasminka, Hannah looked like she was struggling to remain composed and resist turning around and hitting Amanda, who was leaning on her - Barbara was trying to remain composed and avoid laughing her ass off at Hannah, though all the while looking at the camera. She realised, looking at the photo that even Ursula was stood just behind the group, waving at the camera, and let out a quiet laugh at it. Of course, the centrepiece, Akko was stood on the side of the shot holding the camera in one hand and Diana's hand in the other - she looked terrified, flustered and totally overwhelmed but she had been happy in the moment and it showed in her eyes. Diana had clearly been staring at the photo for quite some time as Akko started shuffling.
"Is it okay?"
"Of course it's okay," Diana leaned back against her sofa, blown away. "It's amazing. I'm keeping this forever, you know," she added quickly. Akko laughed.
Opening another box, Diana thinned her eyes. Chariot themed socks.
"Akko, I'm not going to wear these."
"Aww, c'mon, you gotta!"
"I don't gotta," Diana deadpanned.
"No but-" Akko cut herself off, lifting up her leg and placing her foot in Diana's lap, pulling off her shoe to reveal that she was wearing one as well. "Look, we'll be matching if you do!" Diana paused.
"Akko, I'm not telling you that I don't love you but it's definitely being called into question."
"W-hey! Diana!" Akko huffed.
"I'm just kidding," Diana chuckled, leaning forwards to hug the shorter girl who quickly returned the embrace. "I love you even though you want me to wear Chariot socks."
"But Diana!" Akko began, pausing again as she saw the clock. Diana followed her eyes. It was 10 am. "Oh, hey, you can cash in your look out the window token now!"
Diana narrowed her eyes, her smile not leaving her face.
"Ehm, alright," she answered, presenting the card to Akko. "Here it is?" She hazarded as Akko pulled a monocle out of nowhere and leaned in to inspect it, eliciting a giggle from the blonde.
"Yep, it looks valid," Akko nodded. "Well, go right on ahead," she nodded, gesturing to the window.
"Akko, what are you playing at?" Diana laughed, walking towards the window with Akko beside her.
"See for yourself," she answered smugly.
Diana breathed out, preparing to throw open her window and see what Akko had done. She'd never been so intimidated by a window before.
She grasped the handholds, unlocked the window and pushed it open.
And on the field, in the area that her window had a prime view of, there had amassed a small crowd. Only Akko's and Diana's friends, though that extended further than the 7 witches who signed the card. Written in huge, blazing golden letters in the grass was 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA' and when they saw her at the window, they erupted from silence into loud cheering, only proving to draw a large crowd - some were trying to read the text, some staring up at Diana and some joining in with the cheering.
"How did you do all of this?!" Diana fully shouted, amazed, turning to Akko who appeared in the window beside her.
"I guess they were all more than happy for the opportunity to make you happy on your birthday. Y'know, cus you're really amazing. And smart and helpful. And sexy."
"Akko," Diana laughed, punching the other girl's shoulder and breathing in the fresh air, her eyes fixed on the large crowd and the glowing letters, barely registering the balloons covering the edges of her vision.
With the word how still hanging in her mouth, Diana finally let go of trying to understand how Akko had brought this about and she let herself be drawn into the situation.
"Happy birthday, Diana."
Caught up in the rushing wind, Diana found herself quickly lost in Akko's eyes, her heart swelling with pride more than anything else - the hurt of all of her past birthdays disappeared in an instant as her hand found itself on top of Akko's in the rim of the window.
"Akko, thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you so much."
Akko smiled simply, the wind lifting her ponytail as she leaned towards Diana.
"You're welcome."
Already slowly drifting towards Akko, Diana let their lips meet, curling the fingers of her free hand in her already scruffy hair, oblivious to the sudden increase in volume of the cheering from below. Life was good.