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Charger Block knocked on the door to Sean’s patient center with enough enthusiasm to knock it off its hinges, if it had any, while Michael lagged behind him impatiently. Crown scampered out of the room.
“Hey, CB! Happy birthday!!” They hugged him and waved to Michael.
“CROWN!! ARE YOU READY FOR THE PARTY OF A LIFETIME??”
“You mean the same sleepover we have every year where you fall asleep at 10 pm?” They raised an eyebrow.
“I am not gonna fall asleep.”
“Dude, you say that every year. And every year you fall asleep at exactly 10 pm,” they said back, rolling their eyes. Unfair. He scoffed at them.
“Well maybe you should just be more interesting.”
“Cmon, dude. Let’s just go get ready.”
“Oh!!” He exclaimed, turning to face Crown, who was still staring at him. “We should invite Pipe Bomb too this year. The more the merrier, right?”
“Sure,” they shrugged. “Hope he's not busy.”
“What could possibly be more important than a sleepover with us?”
“Fair. Let’s head over there,” they agreed, grabbing CB’s hand. “Bye, Michael!! Bye, Sean!!” A muffled “Bye, Crown!! Have fun!!” could be heard from behind the door. Michael responded with a quick, disinterested wave and started the walk back to his room as the duo headed in the opposite direction.
Pipe Bomb quietly sipped his tea. There really wasn’t much to do here. Or maybe the problem was that there was everything in the world to do and he wasn’t really interested in doing much. He liked these peaceful afternoons at home, working on some sort of craft or baking or whatever else he chose as an activity for the day. It was just really quiet around here. He wished he could still be around the quiet buzz of the neighborhood where he used to live. It was a sort of community. He would always bring food to his neighbors when there were leftovers, and they would help him plant flowers in his garden when he needed extra hands. He tapped his fingers on the couch absentmindedly.
Suddenly, three knocks sounded from the door.
As he opened the door, he could hear objects arguing. Definitely CB and Crown, then.
“I could’ve kicked it down if I wanted to. I just didn’t feel like it.”
“It’s Pipe Bomb’s house, you can’t just- Oh! Hi, PB!!” They grinned at him. He offered a small smile in return.
“Hi, guys! Uh.. what’s up?”
“It’s my BIRTHDAY!!” CB jumped up. “Wanna come hang out with us?? We’re having a sleepover.” That was interesting. It was nice to invite him. His smile relaxed into something more genuine.
“Yeah! That sounds nice!”
“Alright!! Let’s get goingg!!”
“Where, though?” Crown asked. “Are we going back to your patient center?”
“Oh. Uhh. I dunno,” he said. He blinked one eye after the other. They really didn’t think this through.
“We could use my house if you want. We don’t have to, though!!” He smiled awkwardly.
“Awesome. Thanks, Pb!!” He seemed happy enough at the proposition- it wasn’t really like him to try and act polite, so he was probably fine with it. Pipe Bomb opened the door, and the two walked in. Was his house.. clean enough? He never made a mess. Maybe it was fine? It looked the same as it did the last time they visited. Was he supposed to get snacks? What activities were they planning? He wasn’t very good at entertaining guests… Would’ve been nice to have time to prepare. He fidgeted with his hands and followed the other objects to his living room.
“Sorry, I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been to a sleepover before,” he admitted, glancing at Charger Block. “Do you want me to make food..?”
“Waitwaitwait.. you’ve never had a sleepover before?!” He gasped.
“Oh- yeah, I wasn’t close to any objects when I was alive, although the people in my area were all pretty connected.” He shrugged. “So I never really did stuff like that.”
“That sucks,” Crown replied. “Me and CB hung out a lot when we were alive.”
“Yeah. Like that time you spilled acid on me. Heahhaa..”
“That.. wasn't what I was talking about.” They stared at him.
“And I like, dissolved.”
“It was cool. You melted like a Popsicle,” they said. Pipe Bomb narrowed his eyes.
“.. You poured acid on your best friend?”
“Yeah. It's good,” Charger Block added. “It was one of my cooler deaths.”
“Huh.” Charger Block walked towards the living room, the others trailing shortly behind him.
“We should like… set up sleeping bags or something,” he suggested.
“Yeah, okay!” PB nodded. He quickly pulled up his menu and asked it for a plain teal sleeping bag. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Charger Block already had one in his hands- unfortunately, it was white with text in a horrible fire font that read “IT’S EYELID TIME” on it. Crown had one with galaxy print - a relatively normal choice. PB pushed the coffee table to the side and they laid the sleeping bags on the ground.
“This looks cozy!” Pipe Bomb smiled. “Here, I can grab some pillows and blankets too.” After they had finished setting up (CB had added a TV and grabbed some pizzas, one cheese and one with meat and pepperoni) they all sat in a circle on the ground. Pipe Bomb took a slice of pizza.
“I’ve never eaten this place’s food before. I don’t think they have it where I’m from.”
“Dude.. That’s crazy. You’ve NEVER eaten at Jenga before????? Like, you’ve never even heard of it??? Your universe must be ass,” CB responded.
“Ehh… Jenga isn’t really worth the hype. They’re like.. THE pizza place… but the sauce kiiinda just tastes like ketchup,” Crown added. Pipe Bomb took a bite.
“I think it’s pretty good. Uh, CB, are we gonna watch a movie?”
“FUCK yeah. Uh. I just have to pick one.” He crossed his arms, still coming to a decision.
“Dude we watch a Godzilla movie like, every year. What do you mean ‘pick a movie’???”
“Uh, I could pick a different movie. You don’t know. I’m gonna pick the My Little Pony movie actually.”
“Seriously??”
“Mhmm. Settle in, guys. It’s 2 hours long.”
“Oooookay then,” Crown shrugged. “I don’t really care.”
“I can make popcorn for everyone,” Pipe Bomb offered. The others nodded, so he got up and grabbed a pack of stovetop popcorn. As he waited near the stove for it to start making noise, he could hear the two objects chattering in the other room. They were apparently trying to decide if Twilight Sparkle or Sans Undertale would win in a rap battle. He had absolutely no idea who either of those people were.
The popcorn started popping with a burst of noise. It would be ready soon, then. He patiently waited, hands at his sides, until it was finished and he brought it into the living room.
“PPIPE BOMB!!!” Charger Block yelled dramatically. “ARE YOU READY FOR THE MOVIE??”
“Yup! I.. don’t know anything about this. I think this is another one of those universe differences.”
“You.. you don’t know.. My Little Pony..” CB frowned.
“Okay, I can understand not knowing Jenga. But MLP??” Crown shook their head.
“Anyways I’m starting the movie.” He pressed play and Pipe Bomb watched as the strange brightly colored horses pranced around.
When the movie was over, (strangely enough, at exactly 10pm,) the trio laid down in their sleeping bags - not ready to sleep just yet but to simply talk with the lights off.
“Okay, okay. Pipe Bomb, truth or dare?” CB asked with a smirk.
“Not this game again,” Crown groaned. “He always makes us play this even when we only have two players. It ALWAYS either goes really badly and we have to call the firefighters or it’s incredibly boring.”
“It’s my birthday you gotta play.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind if it’s boring, and I mean, firefighters are cool, right?”
“See, this guy gets it.”
“I’ll go with… Truth.” He tilted his head.
“Lame. Okay let's see.. uh. Um. Uh. Opinions on the eiffel tower.?”
“What?”
“IT WAS THE ONLY THING I COULD THINK OF! LEAVE ME ALONE!!” Crown laughed from their spot on the floor.
“Prettyyyy sure that’s not a basic truth or dare question.”
“Okay, you ask him a question if you’re so good at everything.”
“Sure. What’s the dumbest way you’ve died?” They asked.
“Pretty sure that would be when I accidentally stepped off a cliff trying to take a picture of a bird,” he shrugged.
“Whoah. Were there rocks at the bottom?”
“No clue, I was closing my eyes the whole way down. Pretty sure it would’ve hurt either way.”
“Okay, CB. It’s your turn,” Crown said, turning to him. “Truth or dare?”
“DARE!!.”
“Hmm. Okay, turn around. PB, you can help with this,” they grinned. Both of them stood up and walked to the kitchen.
“What are we doing?” Pipe Bomb whispered.
“Oh, just making something gross for him to drink. Kinda a basic one, but it’s always funny because he does this really funny face and spits it out.”
“Sounds easy enough.” They gathered lemon juice, mustard, milk, and sprite from their menus and mixed them up in a cup. CB called out from the living room
“GUYS WHAT ARE YOU DOING I CAN’T HEAR YOU.”
“YOU’LL SEE IN A SECOND,” Crown replied. They grabbed a heart shaped straw and a cute little plastic umbrella and stuck them in the drink.
The two walked back into the room, where Charger Block was staring at the ceiling in boredom.
“Okay, what’s the dare,” he asked.
“You have to drink this!!” Crown held it out cutely, fluttering their eyelashes.
“Oh. What’s in it?”
“Don’t worry about that, just finish your dare,” they grinned.
“Okaaay,” he replied suspiciously. He took a gulp of the mixture and almost immediately spat it out, coughing like a toddler that had eaten a fist full of concrete powder. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT.”
“See, I told you it’d be funny,” Crown smiled, elbowing Pipe Bomb.
“Okay, game over. I don’t wanna play this.”
“What?? Sore loser,” they complained.
“I didn’t lose. You lost cause you didn’t do a truth or a dare.”
“Yeah, because you quit.”
“Maybe we should go to sleep for the night,” Pipe Bomb interjected helpfully. CB and Crown seemed to agree with this, as they both laid back down. PB followed suit.
The three of them laid quietly, with the occasional joke or laugh breaking the silence.
After what felt like something close to thirty minutes, the noise completely stopped and Pipe Bomb’s breathing began to slow. He smiled as he drifted into sleep.