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It's finally done. Balloons in the shapes of stars, basketballs, and even a couple of custom drawn pet rocks from Sunny are clustered in corners of the room. The tablecloth is a bright orange with a colorful cake sitting in the center, and each plate is basketball themed accompanied with each person's favorite soda. Confetti lines the table and some has fallen onto the floor. There's a sizable pile of gift bags with vibrant tissue paper spilling out of them. For someone his age, he requested a lot of Spaceboy merch, but they're not judging. They know how easy it is to make him happy. A large rainbow banner they all hand painted hangs from the ceiling.
Sunny, Aubrey, and Basil gaze at their handiwork. Hearing familiar thumping footsteps, they nod at each other and ready their party poppers. Kel opens the door.
"HAPPY B—" they start to say but are interrupted.
"Oh wow! Happy Pocky Day to you too guys! You sure are excited, huh?" He empties his pockets onto the table: multiple boxes of pocky. "Good thing I brought these."
They look at each other, appalled, but they come to a silent agreement that if this is what he wants to do on his birthday, who are they to deny him. He'll find out eventually, anyway. Aubrey pops her popper near his face in annoyance, and Kel yelps in protest.
He opens the box and places a stick of pocky in his mouth. "Who wants to go first?"
Sunny stares at him, Basil's eyes dart around the room looking at everything and everyone but Kel, and then Aubrey steps up and says, "this is so fucking stupid," before pulling the stick out of his mouth and kissing him. After a few seconds, she pulls back with her face a bright red and his tinted light pink.
"That's what you wanted, right?" She eats the pocky.
"Y-no! Part of the fun is playing the game," he whines. Aubrey rolls her eyes and sits down.
"Whatever. One of you guys should do that," she mutters.
Basil and Sunny make eye contact, and Basil knows Sunny isn't typically one to move first, so he decides to go next to avoid any awkward silences. When Basil walks in front of him, Kel's eyes light up. He makes sure to explain the game first.
"So, before I was interrupted," he emphasizes while glaring at Aubrey who sticks her tongue out at him, "we each hold one end of the stick in our mouth and bite it until we meet in the middle, or if someone chickens out. Whoever eats the last bit of pocky wins!" He grins at Basil who's already started to sweat. "Now, let's actually do this."
Kel puts another piece of pocky in his mouth, and before he can overthink it further, Basil gently bites the other end. It's rare to see Kel so serious, but Basil realizes that if he laughs, Basil will win by default. Then, Kel takes the first bite, and Basil follows suit. They alternate between modest bites until there's only a small piece in between the two of them. They're so close, and Kel is focused on nothing else but him. Impulsively, Basil scrunches his eyes closed and steals the last bite just to end this torment, giving Kel a small peck in the process. It's only a brush of the lips, but afterwards he's so embarrassed he runs over to hide his face in Aubrey's shoulder. She pats him on the head.
There's only Sunny left, and Kel rests the last pocky stick between his teeth. Sunny ambles over to where Kel is standing and leans up to match Kel's height. Aubrey and Basil watch as Sunny takes painstakingly small and slow bites while Kel doesn't move. His charade of playing the game has been cast aside as he waits to be kissed again. They realize this as he closes his eyes in anticipation. Finally, Sunny presses his lips against Kel's and eats what was left. He pulls back to say, "I won."
"Hey, wait! I won too!" He pouts when he notices their questioning looks.
"C'mon dude, you weren't even trying," Aubrey says.
"Well, clearly I won by getting you all to kiss me on my birthday." He smirks and puffs out his chest. They gape at him.
"You little shit, you knew!" Aubrey stands up and rocks the table.
"Well, yeah," his grin is sheepish, "how could I not?"
"But you," Aubrey trails off. "Well I guess you interrupted us, but still!"
Kel gets a little shy before saying, "I had to say it then, because it's kinda embarrassing to ask you all to kiss me straight out."
Everyone's faces pinken at that.
"But you know we wouldn't say no to you, right?" Basil confesses while holding Kel's gaze.
"Yeah," he smiles fondly, "I guess I do."