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Andy felt groggy when waking up. Peeling his eyes open he saw the sunlight peeking into the bedroom. Guess it was time to get up.
Sitting up, he stretched out his arm, trying to get the sleepiness out of his body. It was a Saturday so no school (yay). Glancing over to the other side of the room, Andy saw his sister still fast asleep, sprawled out and her bedsheets askew. Running a hand through his hair, the young teen let out a yawn. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get some more sleep.
Before he could act on that plan, the door to their room burst open.
"Happy Birthday!" Damien exclaimed, blowing on a party horn.
It wasn't long before Alex sat up, grumbling something Greek under her breath and glaring over at their guardian.
"Oh come on, don't look so glum. It's your birthday and we're going to celebrate," Damien announced.
Alex flopped back onto her pillow and continued grumbling.
"Could you give us a moment so I can drag Alex out of bed?" Andy requested. Damien nodded without a word and closed the door.
Getting out of bed, Andy began to get ready for the day. He glanced over at Alex who had sat up and was now sitting on the edge of her bed, staring down at the floor.
"Cheer up 'lex. It's our special day. Our day to be spoiled," he encouraged, sitting next to Alex.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal to celebrate our birthday. It's just another day closer to death," Alex mumbled.
Andy put an arm around Alex and pulled her closer. "Come on, don't be like that. We can start celebrating properly again; we can enjoy it and we should."
He stared at Alex, giving the best puppy dog eyes he could. Eventually Alex relented and got up, beginning to get ready for the day.
Once the two of them were dressed and prepared, they headed downstairs. Andy noted how while there was no decorations hung up, the whole place did seem a lot cleaner; maybe Damien had gotten up early to clean. The man in question was in the kitchen, happily bobbing about while cooking pancakes. The two siblings sat on the kitchen stools and were delighted when the pancakes were delivered to them with their personal preferences (Whipped cream and chocolate chips for Andy and blueberries and sugar for Alex). Damien served up his own serving and sat across from them.
"I hope you two have a good list of things to do today since I'll need you out of the apartment for the majority of the day. I'll text you when you can come back."
Andy and Alex looked at each other with confusion. Without warning, they were quickly ushered into the elevator and Andy was handed a handful of cash.
"Have a fun day you two," the older man called out before the elevator doors closed.
Andy looked through the money they'd been given; it wasn't an amount to scoff at. He looked over at Alex. "You got any idea on what we should do?"
Alex was silent for a moment before gaining a sly smile. "I may have a few ideas."
Turns out those 'few ideas' consisted of a lot of things.
First thing was mini golf which was fun aside from the group of kids that kept mocking them; it was hard to keep Alex from going over to them and rearranging their bone structure. Moving on from that, they had lunch at a pizza place they'd both been dying to try out but never had the time; it was some of the best in town according to Aster and boy was she right. The afternoon was spent at the local arcade. Andy loved arcades, just something about them brought him joy and it was something he and Alex could bond over. Their time at the arcade ended with many prizes won and a buzz in the air.
As the afternoon began to come to an end, the two siblings stopped by a flower shop and picked up a bouquet. Their second to last stop for the day was the graveyard in the city center. It didn't feel right to celebrate their lives without the ones that brought them into it; at least that's how Andy felt.
The grave itself wasn't too flashy or anything, just a simple headstone with some important items from their parent's life placed about. Andy couldn't help but start shaking as he knelt down and placed the bouquet down.
Stepping back, he placed himself next to Alex and stared back down at the grave. The young teen felt compelled to talk, so he did.
"Well, mitéra, patéras, it's our birthday. We're fifteen now; Can you believe that?"
A sob escaped his throat. "Can… can you see us? Are… you…"
The young teen couldn't muster up the energy to finish his sentence, preferring to bury his head in Alex's shoulder instead. The other young teen put an arm around him and gently stroked his back.
"Are you proud of us? Are you happy where we are now?" Alex spoke up, her eyes gleaming with tears. Andy clung to Alex and the two of them stood there for quite some time, just embracing each other.
A buzzing sound sounded from Andy's pocket. He fished out his phone and saw it was a message from Damien.
"You can come home now, there's a surprise waiting :D"
Andy couldn't help but roll his eyes with a smile. In the past few months, Damien had taken on more of a parental role which was strange but nice. It wouldn't replace their parent's roles but it was something and he was trying his best.
Getting back to the apartment didn't take too long. Stepping into the living room, Andy was slightly alarmed when the lights were off.
"Hello?" he called out.
Barely a moment later, the lights flashed on and a loud yell of 'surprise' echoed about. To say both Andy and Alex didn't jump in surprise would be dishonest. All of their friends and parental figures were there; Robin, Sam, Aster, Damien, Tia and even Tony (he even bought a little cake). After calming down from the shock of surprise, Andy felt excitement fill his veins. He felt giddy.
First things first, they opened presents. They both got separate presents but also a few joint presents. Most of them were cool, some were a bit strange and they got some things they'd been dying to get (a game that had been released recently). The food was amazing and was apparently made by Aster's parents (who were amazing cooks which made sense given they owned a restaurant).
After food was eaten, the party made its way outside to the pool. Sadly since it was October it was a bit cold to swim but being outside was still nice. The sun was setting over the horizon; sunset had always been Andy's favourite time of day. Aster bound over to him and whispered an idea in his ear; a small prank that shouldn't be that harmful.
Walking around, he made his way over to Alex who was talking to Sam about something. He went to go past her but quickly spun around and knocked Alex into the pool. Aster burst out laughing and Andy couldn't help but chuckle a bit as well.
The young teen went to turn around but felt webbed fingers cling onto his waist and yank him into the pool. He transformed into his chimera form and glared over at Alex who had also transformed. His sister was giggling, an evil look in her eyes. A smile crept over Andy's face and he lunged at Alex, attempting to grab her again. The other chimera swam away and Andy swam after her.
To say Andy enjoyed their birthday was an understatement.