Work Text:
Astra bday party
When; November 6th
Where; Spawn!
Whos invited; Lilly, Sugar, John, Bunny, Fea, Mutant, Stress, Maus, Pixie, Ann
Astra hints at something big coming up but doesn't give any details, until someone figures out the held secret.
They have their first actually happy birthday
There's a muttering spew of curses coming out of the angel when their son jumps onto the bed, her copper armour proving to be hard and protective even as her knee digs into Astra's side.
"Dad! Wake up! Wake up!" She's extremely excited, extra smiley today "It's a special day!!"
"And what could that be..?" Astra groans out, prying Girl's knee away from their side.
"Mom says we can't tell you yet! It's a surprise!" Guy waltzes in, equally as smiley as his brother. It's a little unsettling but.. whatever.
Getting out of bed, they get ready, internally wondering what's so special that even Bunny won't tell—i mean! Not to be rude, but it's highly unlikely that Bunny of all people would keep something like this secret. Not even sure if she's capable of keeping secrets..
"C'mon! C'mon!" Girl grabs their arm and tugs them towards the front door, "we gotta hurry up!"
She successfully pulls them through the door, Guy following, grabbing a couple loafs of bread and eating one himself.
"Where are we going?" Astra asks, getting into the cherry boat and getting rowed over to the edge of Bunny's wheat field.
"Secret!" Their children answer in unison, even as they lead Astra to the minecart that leads up the hill.
As soon as they all end up at the top of the hill, hands cover Astra's eyes, holding steady as they move across the top of the hill, ending up in an area in the middle?—they're honestly guessing right now—of the hill
"What's going on?" Astra finally asks after standing still for a bit, curious.
"3..2..1!" Guy and Girl count down, both taking their hands back after the countdown's done. "Surprise!!"
Oh Void.. oh no..
There's balloons. And cake.. and a couple friends.. wearing party hats..
"Happy Birthday!" They all yell, smiles on everyone's faces
The faces are blurring. They think Bunny and Lilly were there, was John there? I'm not sure
They're glad they have their mask on, they know their face is looking pretty ugly right now. Shock and surprise cover their entire face, the fennc fox mask covering the expressions.
"Astra, I know it's your birth.. day? But I um, obviously brought a gift because you do that at birth day parties!" Bunny comes up to them, handing over a basket filled with bread, and a singular card in it.
"Thanks.." They take it, looking at Bunny and nodding even as a tear runs down their face, "I love it so much.. its so you!"
As everyone hands them gifts, the tears run faster, but just as silently, someone notices something wrong.
"Dad? Are you okay?" Guy asks, walking over to them. His eyes glow as he looks over them, seeing blue under clothes, but there's one place where he can actually see what's happening, tears. Guy doesn't know much about human emotions, but he does know that tears aren't a usual when it comes to joy.
Astra nods, fixing their hair to cover the visible sides of their face before looking over at Guy.
The noise and overall excitement dies down a little, Astra walks over to a shady tree, sitting down next to Lilly.
A beat of silence, the wind and bird chirps being the only sounds
"That was nice" Astra says softly, taking their mask off to feel the wind on their face.
"Yeah, but it was loud"
"Very loud."
Lilly looks over at Astra, "I got you something. Didn't want to overwhelm you with the other gifts"
"Hm?" When Astra looks over, there's a dried Ghast in Lilly's hands. "Oh! Thank you"
They take it, looking at it for a bit before putting it away, not much emotions showing on their face.
It's calm.
Until it's not.
There's a sudden pressure in their head as they look up, a blue? creature seeming to be floating in thin air, code? Spilling out around where it's lower half should be
"Hi! Happy birthday! Uhm, I can't give you anything because I'm not technically real, but! I can keep you safe for as long as you want"
"Oh uhm—"
"Hi Reader" Lilly smiles, waving
"Hi Lilly!" They wave back before turning to Astra again "so? How does that sound?"
"Uh.. thanks?"
"Great! Alright, have a great birthday, buh bye!"
And then they're gone.. well that was eventful.. but the quiet's back—
"Dad!"
Damnit.
Girl runs up, grabbing Astra's arm and pulling
"C'mon! We gotta sing and cut the cake!"
"I don't like cake?" That's a lie "o-or singing!?" Double lie
"Well.. c'mon anyways!"
They eventually end up standing back where they started, but instead there's a cake with lit candles and all their friends surrounding them.
"Happy birthday to you!!" They all start singing, it's very messy and no ones in time with eachother, but it's familiar, and that's everything Astra's never had.
After blowing out the candles, Astra gets an arm wrapped around them, Pixie being the culprit for it.
"Hi! How's your day been!"
"Uhm.. not bad? Surprisingly?" They don't know how they felt about this celebration, they've never had their birthday celebrated, but.. this was.. nice.
"That's great, I'm glad we made this a good day for you" she takes the fox mask clipped onto their bag and holds it up to their face "don't let anyone dim your fire"
"Thanks," they felt.. loved. It was new, but not unpleasant.
"I'll see you later?"
"Uh.. yeah, we'll see!" Astra watches as she walks away immediately turning to look at a different person, eyes falling on their roommate, John Quxote De La Mancha.
Walking up to him, they awkwardly wave
"AH, HELLO THE DEAR BIRTHDAY..PERSON. HOW HAS YOUR DAY BEEN SO FAR WITH THIS BEAUTIFUL PARTY?" his voice boomed, a familiar loudness etching itself deep into their bones.
"Hi John" they smile warmly, the mask hiding that fact. "Its been good! I'm really glad this happened"