Outlaw Star Fan Fiction ❯ Outlawed From Love ❯ Happy Birthday, Jim! ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Outlawed From Love

Authoress: Tsutae Kouken

~*~

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!!!!!" Jim's loud voice rang throughout the apartment
as he shouted, hopping around, trying to pull on his jeans and brush his hair at the same
time.

"I could KILL him!!!" Jim rushed around, setting things that he'd knocked over in his
mad dash to get dressed up in their correct positions. "Why didn't he wake me up?!
Damn you, GENE STARWIND!!!"

Pulling on his shoes, the tall, thin boy with the light brownish hair and blue eyes, dashed
downstairs, adding his final touch to his ensemble, his black fingerless gloves. When he
reached the kitchen area, it was dark.

Grumbling, he stumbled into the kitchen, reaching for the light switch. But before he
could flick the light on, a glow in the corner of the dark kitchen caught his eye. Still
somewhat asleep and not having his gun on him, he crouched, and stared at the hazy
yellowness.

In the yellow light, from candles on a cake, Gene's face hovered above it like a specter.
He grinned, and Jim suddenly felt angry again.

"GENE! YOU MORON! YOU DIDN'T WAKE ME UP!!!" Jim shouted, at the exact
same time the lights came on. He stopped and suddenly felt really dumb.

"SURPRISE!!!" Melfina and Gene both shouted back at the same time. Gilliam, in his
pink case, said, "Happy Birthday, Jim."

Jim blinked at the three of them. Then he groaned. And started shouting again, but this
time in good humor, "GENE STARWIND, HOW COULD YOU MAKE ME FORGET
MY OWN BIRTHDAY!!"

Gene grinned. "I thought I might let you sleep in, being a big 16 yr old male now…" he
laughed.

"I baked you a cake, Jim. Since Gene doesn't like vanilla, it's half vanilla half
chocolate." Melfina smiled at Gene, yet the statement was directed at Jim. Gene returned
the smile warmly.

Jim sighed. He hated this sort of thing, here he felt like the odd one out. Sure, it was his
birthday and all, but Melfina and Gene shared something he couldn't comprehend. He
thought he'd known when he'd met Hanmyo, but she was gone. He'd never seen her
again.

"Mel, you outdid yourself this time! It's wonderful!" Jim struggled to get out a comment,
because she was looking at him with soulful eyes. It was true, it was very good,
exceptional, but Jim's mind was more on what he was going to do that day. He'd planned
to go see Iris, then maybe call up Aiesha. But now, it being his birthday, he decided
against it. He didn't want to seem to be grubbing up for presents.

"Thanks Mel, Gene, Gilliam. I'd love to stay, but you know how busy my days usually
are…" Jim trailed off his sentence. Gene would now wipe that stupid grin off his face. It
was making him nervous.

"Jim, Jim, we were going to make you relax…but if you don't want to, that's fine as well.
Mel and I figured we'd let you do what you want today." Gene said with uncharacteristic
serious face. He then smiled again. "Whatever you want, Jim. This is for you. From me."
Gene handed Jim a small, almost flat gaily-wrapped package.

Jim felt himself blushing to the roots of his hair. Gene really knew what buttons to push,
that's for sure, and when Gene was acting fatherly, something embarrassing was about to
happen.

Fumbling with the colored ribbon, which was tied in knots, typical of Gene-fashion, he
wondered what the heck Gene could've gotten him. He noticed out of the corner of his
eye that Melfina was putting three similar packages at his elbow. She smiled secretively.

Pulling off the paper, Jim felt relief flooding through him. It was a Discman. And the
packages Mel gave him must be CDs…something completely harmless.

"What's the matter, Jim? You look like you expected that to bite you or something."
Gene teased. Jim just looked up and smiled angelically.

"No, it's okay, Gene, I'm going to go for a walk, and try this out. Thanks so much guys."
Jim smiled brightly, gathered up the rest of the flat, unwrapped packages and trotted out
of the room, feeling much better than he had before.

Looking through his CDs, he hummed to himself. The CD he was searching for was one
he had burned before, with all his favorite songs on it. Finding it, he picked it out, and
slipped it into his new Discman.

Putting on the headphones, he dashed past the kitchen and then out of doors. Getting onto
the main sidewalk, he hit the play button for track one.

"I want a girl with a short skirt and a loooooooooong jacket…"

Jim Hawking headed for the park.

~*~

A/N: To me, it wasn't the best of beginnings but I've got to get this baby out so I can
work on others. Please R&R! ^_^ ~Tsutae~