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The day arrived, the day that George had been dreading. His birthday. George didn’t like birthdays, it brought back too many memories of his childhood. His parents often forgot his birthday because it was so close to Halloween, they were too tired the following day to celebrate.
George woke up and rubbed his eyes before realizing the date. Maybe I could just go back to sleep and skip the whole day, he thought. Without having any more time to think, he heard a soft knocking.
“Come in”, he mumbled, groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. His bedroom door opened and Dream came in, then sat down on the edge of George’s bed.
“Good morning, sleepyhead”, Dream whispered. “Happy birthday.” George groaned softly. “Are you not ready to get up?” George shook his head.
“Hate my birthday”, he muttered. “Don’t wanna celebrate it.” Dream raised an eyebrow.
“Well I guess we’re going to just have to cancel the cake and cupcakes then”, he replied. George looked over at him.
“Cake?”, George asked, biting his lip softly. He couldn’t remember the last time he had cake for his birthday. “I want cake.” Dream smiled softly.
“We have to have your birthday breakfast first”, he replied. “Then we can have your cake, okay?” George nodded as Dream stood up.
--
George emerged from his bedroom dressed, and still wary of the whole day that was ahead of him.
“Good morning”, Sapnap chirped as George sat down at the kitchen table. “Happy Birthday! How are you feeling?” George shrugged.
“Fine.. I guess”, he replied, then he realized Sapnap was asking whether he felt Big or Little. “I-I’m Big.” Sapnap nodded. “Where are Luke and Karl?”
“Luke was feeling a little under the weather so I told him he can sleep for a little longer”, Sapnap replied. “And Karl went to the store to grab a few things for later.” George felt a flutter in the pit of his stomach. A bad flutter. “You okay?” George blinked and looked up at Sapnap.
“No birthday?”, George asked. Sapnap raised an eyebrow and looked at Dream who shrugged.
“What do you mean by that, Georgie?”, Dream asked, looking over at the brunette. “It is your birthday.” George bit his lip, tears welling up in his eyes as memories of his childhood came flooding back to him. “Honey?” George broke down and sobbed, burying his face in his hands. Dream and Sapnap shared another confused look. Dream wrapped his arms around George and tried to get him to calm down. “Georgie, you’re okay. Just breathe.” Dream held George as Sapnap rubbed his back. Before long, George got control of his breathing again.
“I-I’m sorry”, he said, stuttering a little. “...old memories came back to me, I got scared.”
“What do you mean by that, Georgie?”, Sapnap asked. George sniffled and shrugged. “You don’t have to explain right now if you don’t want to..”
“Can I have breakfast first, please?”, the brunette requested. Sapnap nodded and started making George’s birthday breakfast, which consisted of two chocolate chip pancakes with a couple candles placed in them. Sapnap set the breakfast in front of George.
“Do you want me to light the candles?”, Sapnap asked, the question being directed towards George or Dream. George nodded eagerly.
“Yes please!”, he exclaimed excitedly. Sapnap chuckled softly and lit the candles with a match.
“Go ahead, blow them out”, Dream urged. George smiled softly and looked over at Dream before blowing out the candles.
“My birthday”, George mumbled softly after he blew out the candles. George started eating his pancakes as Sapnap made more for the whole “family”.
“Is it good?”, Sapnap asked. George nodded. “Good, I’m glad.” George fell silent for a couple minutes.
“…I didn’t really have a birthday when I was younger”, George mumbled after a while, catching Dream and Sapnap’s attention. “Because my birthday is the day after Halloween, obviously, my parents were too tired after taking us trick-or-treating, my birthday always went uncelebrated. I was kind of surprised after Dream said we’re going to have cake, I’ve never had my own birthday cake before.” Sapnap frowned.
“I’m so sorry you had to deal with that, Georgie”, he said. George shoveled another piece of pancake into his mouth.
“Then when I heard Luke was sick I was nervous that you guys would have to take care of him and forgot about me, and my birthday”, he mumbled. Dream shook his head.
“Georgie, no, don’t ever think that”, he replied. “Luke’s a big boy, and even if he happened to regress, we would never not celebrate your birthday, okay?” George sniffled again but nodded. Footsteps were heard on the kitchen floor as Punz walked into the kitchen. “Good morning, you feeling better?” Punz yawned and shrugged.
“I think it’s just allergies”, he replied, walking over to George and giving him a big hug. “Happy birthday, man. The big two-six. Wow.” George chuckled softly.
“Come on, you’re gonna be 26 in a couple months”, George said, which made Punz chuckle.
“I guess I am”, he said. “But for a few months, you’re the oldest one in this house.” Punz stuck his tongue out at George.
“Just call me Daddy”, George shrugged. Punz laughed and shoved George’s shoulder.
“You’re disgusting”, Punz said. “ Old man .” George giggled, it was almost like he wasn’t just talking about his childhood trauma. “I’m starving, what are we having?”
--
After Karl came home, Dream and Sapnap sent George up to his room while they decorated for his little “party”, which essentially consisted of just George, Dream, Sapnap, Karl, and Punz eating some cake, opening George’s presents and probably watching some movie.
“Close your eyes”, Dream ordered. “Or I could use a blindfold.” George smirked, but closed his eyes and let Dream lead him down the stairs where Karl, Punz, and Sapnap were waiting. “Alright, you can open them.” George opened his eyes and saw that the whole living room was decorated in blue, the only color he could see. Streamers, banners, balloons, anything imaginable decorated the living room. George wanted to cry again.
“Happy Birthday, Gogy!”, Karl exclaimed, pulling his friend into a hug. “You mean so much to me.” George squeezed Karl tightly, not wanting to let go. He felt loved. Before he knew it, tears welled up in his eyes and he cried into Karl’s shoulder, he couldn’t really tell if they were happy tears or not. George also realized he was slipping younger.
“Hey, you’re okay, Georgie”, Dream said, putting a hand on George’s shoulder. “How about we open your presents, yeah?” George pulled away from Karl and wiped his running nose with his sleeve, then he nodded. Dream walked him over to the couch and grabbed George’s presents.
The first gift was handed to George, it was from Dream, and he opened it. It was a box full of Little gear, his own Little gear. George never had any Little gear of his own, he was constantly sharing with Karl and Punz, even if Punz didn’t have that much gear either. It just made George regress and put one of his new blue pacifiers in his mouth.
“Nuh-uh, little one”, Dream said, gently taking the pacifier out of George’s mouth. “I need to wash it before you put it in your mouth.” George pouted, but nodded in understanding.
After all of George’s gifts were open, a hoodie from Punz, a new microphone from Karl, and two tickets to see a basketball game from Sapnap, The 5 boys ate cake and ice cream, with George having help from Dream because he regressed to about 3 years old.
After the “party” was over, George tugged on Dream’s sleeve.
“Yes, honey?”, Dream asked. George smiled, looking from the living room back up to Dream.
“Fank oo, Dada”, he mumbled. Dream felt his heart melt at hearing George say that. He didn’t realize George had such an awful time with his birthday when he was a child, he vowed that from then on, every year on George’s birthday, he would make sure that the boy had the best time.