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“Hey boys,” Inga said, coming over and sitting down next to Brian and Demian at the lunch table.
“Hi Inga!” they chorused.
“So Tamara’s birthday is coming up and I want to do something really special for her. I need your help though.” Inga told them.
“Of course!” Demian said, grinning.
“What do you need us to do?” Brian asked.
Inga grinned and told them of her plan. The boys were on board and couldn’t wait to celebrate Tamara’s birthday.
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“Okay, I’m not saying we should panic, I’m just saying Tamara’s birthday is coming up and we have no gift for her.” Demian said as they cuddled in bed that night after Inga talked to them.
“Maybe we can make her something?” Brian suggested.
“Except I’m horrible at making things, you know this.” Demian reminded him.
“I could make something from both of us?” Brian suggested again.
“Thank you for the offer honey, but I really feel like I need to get her something as well. Not just piggy back off of you and Igna. I mean she’s one of my best friends and always helping me out. I just want to do something for her for once that will make her happy.” Demian explained with a sigh.
“We’ll think of something!” Brian said. “What does Tamara like?”
“Inga,” Demian laughed.
“What about those cat shirts she always wears?” Brian suggested. “You could get her one of those?”
“How though? We’re here at the academy. The shirts are out in the world at the mall.” Demian hung his head in defeat.
“Too bad we don’t have teleportation like Tamara, we could just sneak out and buy one and then come back.” Brian agreed.
“We might not have teleportation, but we can still sneak out.” Demian said, lifting his head and waving his phone that was lit up with a call from his mom. Brian looked at him in confusion, but before he could ask Demian had answered the phone. “Hi mom! I’m good. Brian and I are just hanging out. Actually, I have a favor to ask.”
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“I cannot believe that you had your mom break us out of the academy!” Brian whispered as they snuck through the halls.
“Shhh.” Demian said, bringing a finger in front of his lips to remind Brian they needed to be quiet as they were sneaking out of the academy. Demian looked around the corner, the coast was clear. He hurried to a back door that he knew wasn’t locked and alarmed. He quietly opened it and then slid outside, Brian close behind him. He made sure to leave the door partly opened so they could sneak back in. There was a black car waiting across the street from them. They quickly ran across the street and slid into the back seat of the car.
“Hi mom!” Demian said as the car smoothly pulled away from the curb and down the street.
“Hi boys! How are you doing?” Demian’s mom asked, grinning at them in the rearview mirror.
“My heart is racing!” Brian admitted, holding tight to Demian’s hand.
“Don’t worry Brian, we won’t get caught.” Demian reassured him, wrapping an arm around Brian. His heart was indeed racing. Demian usually enjoyed when Brian’s heart raced, at night when they were in bed, but not in this situation.
“It will be okay Brian.” Demian’s mom said from the front seat. “Breaking out of the academy is partly a tradition. All though not as much of one anymore as it used to be. My girlfriends could tell you stories of the things they got up to!”
Brian took a steadying breath and snuggled more into Demian’s side. It would be fine. Demian would be with him the whole time so his power would be fine. He was much better at it now. Especially since he and Demian had talked and worked things out.
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By the time they got to the mall Brian’s heart had stopped racing at least a little bit. Of course now they were going to be at the mall with a bunch of people, strangers. Brian hadn’t been out in the “real world” in months now. He took a deep breath as Demian’s mom parked the car and they got out and walked into the mall.
“All right, let’s meet at the food court in an hour, sound good?” Demian’s mom asked. The boys nodded and waved goodbye as she went to do some shopping of her own.
Brian smiled as Demian took his hand and led him to the tshirt store. They walked around looking at all the funny tshirts that were on the walls. There were a few that were okay, but none that really fit Tamara. Sighing, they left not buying anything just yet.
“I think there is another store on the other side of the mall that has some of the comics and things Tamara likes.” Demian said crossing over to look at the mall map. “I just don’t remember what it’s called.”
“I don’t think the map will help us much then.” Brian said, titing his head to read the writing.
“No, but I wanted to see where the bookstore was. They have comics sometimes too.” Demian pointed to the map.
“All right, then that’s where we should go!” Brian agreed.
They headed off in the direction of the bookstore weaving their way in between people and kiosk shops.
“Brian look!” Demian said, coming to a sudden stop causing Brian to bump into him a little bit. Brian wrapped an arm around Demian and looked to where he was pointing. There was a kiosk with shirts and posters and an airbrush artist. They were painting a family that was sitting and posing.
“Oh, do you want to get a painting?” Brian asked.
“No, well I mean at some point it would be fun, but look at the characters they have on some of the posters. That’s Tamara’s favorite game!” Demian walked over to the poster in question.
“Oh you’re right! That would be the perfect present!” Brian agreed.
“I don’t remember these characters though, they look different.” Demian frowned in puzzlement.
“That’s because they’re not from the game.” The artist said, coming over to talk to them. They had finished the family portrait. “I draw people in that style as though they were characters in the game.” The artist explained.
“Can you draw based on a picture, or do you need the people to be here in person?” Demian asked.
“A picture is fine.” the artist replied.
Demian pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photos. “This one?” he asked showing the artist the picture.
“Oh, for sure, that is adorable! I’m NWarrior, they/them pronouns.” the artist introduced themselves.
“I’m Demian, he/him, and this is my boyfriend Brian, he/him pronouns as well.”
“Nice to meet you boys!” NWarrior said. “I have to say, Brian, I love your mascara.”
“Oh! Thank you!” Brian blushed a little bit and Demian gave him a big smile and squeezed his hand.
“Yes, he looks very good in mascara.” Demian gave Brian a small kiss on the cheek.
“Stop! You’re making me blush!” Brian gently pushed him away.
“Oh my gosh, you two are just too adorable!” NWarrior grinned at them. “So, who do you want me to draw?”
“This is our best friend, Tamara.” Demian said, showing them the picture again. “It’s Tamara’s birthday coming up and she is always helping us and getting things for us and thinking of fun things for us to do. So we want to get her a present that she will love and thank her for all that she does as our friend.” Demain explained.
“This is one of her favorite game series, so a picture of her as a character in that game will be the perfect gift!” Brian said.
“I love that! Do you want to watch me paint it? If not, you can send the reference picture to my phone and pick up the painting in a few hours.” NWarrior offered.
“That sounds good, we were also hoping to go to the bookstore and maybe get her a few comics too.” Demian said, opening his phone to get NWarrior’s number and send them the picture.
They quickly exchanged numbers and made sure NWarrior had some good pictures for reference and then waved goodbye to continue on the way to the bookstore.
They wandered through the shelves of books, looking for themselves as well as Tamara and Inga. They were able to find some good books and checked out.
“We need to go meet mom at the food court.” Demian said, checking the time.
“Oh that’s good, because I’m hungry!” Brian laughed.
They made their way to the food court and found Demian’s mom. They got food and told his mom about the present they were getting Tamara and showed her some of the comics they had gotten as well. “This is all so sweet! You boys are going to make Tamara’s day!” Demian’s mom said, smiling at them.
“We might even be better than Inga’s gift!” Demian joked.
“I don’t know, Inga’s got a pretty good one too.” Brian reminded him.
“Well, I’m sure Tamara will appreciate and love all of them!” Demian’s mom said.
“Oh, my phone!” Demian said as he felt it vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the message on the screen. “Oh! NWarrior’s finished the painting!”
“Let’s go pick it up!” Brian jumped up in excitement.
The three quickly cleaned off their table and headed back across the mall to NWarrior’s kiosk.
The boys waved and practically ran over to the kiosk once it was in sight. NWarrior grinned at them. “I’m glad you are so excited! Ready?” the boys nodded. NWarrior turned around the poster they had painted. The squeals and yells of excitement from the boys caused a few heads to turn.
“It’s perfect!” They said.
“I’m so glad that you like it!” NWarrior handed it over to Brian while Demian got his wallet out to pay.
“We love it and Tamara will love it too.” Brian said.
“Yea, our screams will be nothing compared to hers.” Demian grinned, giving NWarrior a large tip for the wonderful painting.
“Oh my, you all are so kind and generous.” NWarrior said as they received the payment and tip. “I actually have a little something extra here for you two.” NWarrior handed over a small painting of Brian and Demian in a heart shape. “I had some extra time and you two were just too adorable to not draw!”
Brian and Demian once again squealed and cheered very loudly. “Can I give you a hug?” Demian asked.
“Yes, please can we hug you?” Brian asked.
“Yes!” NWarrior replied and all three of them wrapped their arms around each other.
“Okay, you are our artist from now on. Anytime we want art done, we’re going to ask you. Okay?” Demian asked.
“Repeat customers are a dream!” NWarrior replied.
“Well we have your number so we will be in touch.” Demian waved his phone in the air. “Thank you so so much for all of your wonderful lovely work! You are truly amazing!”
Brian nodded in agreement. “Yes, thank you for being so awesome!”
They said goodbye and made their way back to the car with Demian’s mom. The whole car ride back they were both practically vibrating with excitement. “I’m texting Inga to make sure she’s still distracting Tamara so we can sneak back in and hide the presents.” Demian said.
“Good idea, we also should probably try to calm down some. I feel like I’m going to just blurt out everything the moment I see Tamara.” Brian said, trying to take a deep breath.
Demian’s mom pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car. They gave her quick hugs and thanked her for taking them to the mall and then quickly snuck back in through the door they had left propped open. They managed to not run into anyone and make it back to their room safe. They hid the presents and then collapsed onto the bed.
“All of a sudden I’m exhausted.” Brian said, cuddling next to Demian.
“Sneaking out and hiding things is tiring!” Demian agreed, yawning.
In the next minute both of them were asleep.
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“Happy Birthday To You!” Demian, Brian, and Inga finished singing.
Tamara grinned. “Thank you!” She took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Tamara got the first slice of cake and then Inga gave the boys each a piece before getting one for herself. They all enjoyed the cake and ice cream.
“All right, present time!” Demian said as they finished their last bites.
“Yay! Presents!” Tamara clapped her hands in excitement.
“Open these first.” Brian said, handing her a rectangular package.
Tamara did so eagerly and grinned as she saw the comics. “Ohhh! These are the new series! How did you get these?”
“We may have gone on a little adventure.” Demian winked at her.
“Ohh! I want to hear that story!” Tamara exclaimed.
“There’s not much to tell, and we’re not as good as you and Inga at telling stories.” Brian shrugged.
“Open this one next.” Demian said, handing over another rectangular package, this one a lot thinner.
Tamara opened it and stared for a moment in silence to fully comprehend the picture, and then she screamed. “OH MY GOD! AHHH!! OH MY GOD IT’S ME! AS A CHARACTER FROM MY FAVORITE GAME! OH MY GOD! I’M A CAT!!!! A CAT FROM MY FAVORITE GAME! AHHHH OH MY GOD!!!” She continued to scream a combination of words and incoherent noises for the next five minutes before she finally calmed down enough to listen to Brian and Demian tell of how they snuck out of the mall and met a great artist and had them draw her for her birthday.
“You are always doing so much for us, getting us things, taking us places, coming up with ideas of things for us to do, we wanted to let you know how much we love and appreciate you.” Demian explained.
“Yes, you are truly a wonderful friend Tamara and we wanted you to have a great birthday!” Brian added.
“Oh you guys!” Tamara said and pulled both of them into a hug. Inga came around from behind and lifted them all up. “I have the best friends in the world!” Tamara declared.
Inga put them down and they let go of each other. Tamara’s smile was from ear to ear. “Seriously, I love this so much. I can’t wait to hang it up in my room!”
“We also have the artists number so if we want other art we can ask them for future paintings. They’re very talented and nice and even drew an extra little picture of us.” Demian told Tamara.
“Oh! Yay! I can’t wait to have them do another picture of Inga and I!” Tamara turned to find her girlfriend and got a second surprise of the day.
Inga was standing in a field of flowers in a flowing robe. “Holy buckets! How did you get all the flowers inside?!” Tamara asked. “Oh my god my girlfriend is so hot!” she said, somewhat quieter. Tamara quickly made her way over to Inga.
“Happy birthday my darling!” Inga said as she gave Tamara a hug and a kiss. “You know my family runs a flower shop, so it just took a little work to have them set up a field of flowers for us to enjoy. You are always so kind and take us to so many wonderful places. I wanted to take you someplace this time.”
“I know I said it before but I’ll say it again, best friends and girlfriends ever!” Tamara yelled and then kissed Inga.
“And that’s our cue to leave!” Demian said heading towards the door with Brian.
“Happy Birthday Tamara!” They said as they waved goodbye to the two kissing girls.
“Well, that was a very nice party and I’m glad Tamara was happy.” Demian said as they went back down the hall to their room.
Brian nodded. “It was worth it to see her face and reactions, I’m so glad we could make her feel happy and appreciated.”
“We do have good friends, don’t we?” Demian said as they snuggled into bed.
“The best.” Brian agreed, giving him a kiss and smiling.
They were great friends and he was so happy to have them in his life.
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