Chapter Text
Pie prepared herself for a lovely day. No matter what would come her way, it was going to be her day. Having a good Pi Day would really make her year a whole lot better.
Having woken up bright and early, Pie felt like she could face anything, even other people. That’s right, she was planning herself a party.
She took her time browsing the grocery shop, trying to figure out which would be suitable snacks for the guests she planned to ask over. Even by the end of the last aisle there was to check, she’d only picked up stuff for herself: crackers, cereal, lettuce, bread… it didn’t really give off the party atmosphere she was aiming for. Feeling the slightest bit embarrassed, she decided to give someone a call.
Who was a party person? Golf Ball, no, of course not. Basketball, quite the same. Who else… there was Tree and Black Hole, Lightning… oh, Cake! She assumed he would know a bit about parties. Despite how shy he came across, having been one of Loser’s closest fans, she guessed Cake had at least attended one of his parties.
Ring… ring… ring…
“Hello. Is this Cake?”
“Yeah, of course it is! Hi, Pie! What’d’ya want?”
“Do you happen to know what people eat at parties?”
“...”
“Oh, sorry if you don’t know. I’ll call someone else.”
“Wait! I thought it was a trick question! Don’t go!”
“Why would it be a trick question?”
“Cuz, err, y’know, you have cake at parties.”
“Oops… I didn’t mean it.”
“Okay, lemme think… I’m not an expert on big, fancy parties, but when I’ve been there’s usually there’s pizza, crisps, fries… ham and cheese sandwiches, sausage rolls… biscuits… cheese-cube-things…-”
“Sounds good. Thanks Cake.”
“You’re welcome! Just, err, don’t expect any compliments on the food if you take my advice, hehe.”
“It’s okay. I just wanna make sure everyone’s fed. Bye now.”
“Hey! Just a second, just a second!”
“Huh?”
“If it’s not too much to ask… could I come to your party? If you’re actually having one, and it isn’t anything private, and-”
“Sure. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
“You’re the best, Pie! See you later!”
Beep… beep.
Pie pushed the trolley back around the aisles, on the look out for each thing Cake had listed. Along the way, she also picked up some juice, some dips, and some garlic bread she thought looked good for sharing. Oh, she nearly forgot the food for her dear lizard!
Once everything was bagged up and ready to be taken home, Pie realised that it was quite a lot to carry all that way on her own… maybe if she bought a few less types of biscuit she would have been able. The course of action that she came up with was to wait a few minutes to see if anyone was around who could carry one of the bags with her, and if that failed, she'd have to deal with dragging all of the bags along the floor anyway.
A couple minutes into waiting, a familiar face strolled past.
“Snowball?”
“Huh? Who’s there? I don't see anyone…”
“I'm not that short. And you know my voice.”
“Uh, I forgot it already. What do you want?”
“Could you bring one of these bags back to my house with me? I bought a bit more than I realised.”
“Hmph, wimp, I can carry way more than one! Gimme those!”
With that, Pie and Snowball set off to Pie’s house, with the occasional “Wrong way” and “Catch up, slowpoke” between the two.
“Thanks for that.”
“What's you need all this for anyways?”
“I'm going to host a party.”
“Pfft! Right. You're having a party. What are you gonna do, play chess all afternoon?”
“No-”
“Whatever. It's probably just as lame either way.”
“I was going to ask you if you wanted to go as a reunion of our team from a couple years ago.”
“Nope. No way.”
“Err, I dare you to come to the party.”
“You can't trick me with a dare! Not falling for it!”
“You're going to lose the dare?”
“...”
“Okay. See you later. Party’s at 5.”
It was going swimmingly so far! She didn't need to do any fancy decorating for the party, she would just distract anyone from how plain it was if it really bothered them… no, she wouldn't need to. It was her day, and her party, she could just be herself, no distractions needed. She made sure her lizard was secure and wouldn't make a break for it and scare the guests later.
The only things left to do was to prepare the food, invite the remaining people, maybe arrange some activities. She was starting to think Snowball was, at least partially, correct; her party was going to turn out “lame” if nothing happened. Even she wanted something to happen, not anything wild or unpredictable, but something, because you can't sit around in a house with a group of people and call it fun just because they're there for a “party”. So activity planning time it was.
After much consideration, she settled on 3. The first was a friendly chess tournament, which she had wanted to do for a while, and she wouldn't be stopped by Snowball. Next was limbo, which she chose for her obvious advantage, but also because she knew someone would manage to get creative with it and win. Last but not least, an online party game she'd discovered a while ago that she wanted to try.
While Pie was planning, she had prepared the sandwiches and put the pizza and fries in the oven to cook. The pizza had a few minutes left, so she decided to take the most important step… Actually inviting people! A simple text message got Basketball to agree, as the two of them had become quite good friends who met up to play chess often. Pie had no doubt that Basketball would be stressing if she just called it a party, so instead she’d referred to it as a “friendly gathering.” Banana Apple didn’t respond to messages or calls, and so she guessed that he was busy. Golf Ball… was much harder to convince.
First, by text:
“Hey do you want to have a meetup”
“I’m busy. Please call me if you have something urgent to say.”
“It’s not an emergency but could you meet up at 5?”
“Call me. I need to evaluate this through a full discussion.”
“Could you just answer yes or no if I say it’s a party.”
Ring… ring… ring…
“Hello, Pie. I need to discuss this upcoming party you suggested I attend.”
“Yeah, well, it’s just a little gathering. There’ll be chess. And food. And something you can get a bit creative with… like, a little competition, y’know.”
“Tell me more about the competition, please.”
“It’s limbo. The competition is to see if you can beat me at it.”
“Huh, I guess there’s some room for creativity there. Will I be provided with anything to work with?”
“...You can bring something, just don’t ruin my house.”
“Who will be attending?”
“...Cake.”
“Cake is going over for chess and limbo? And you call a 3 person meetup a party? Tell the full truth.”
“...Basketball.”
“And?”
“...S-Snowball.”
“You tried to hide that from me, huh?”
“You don’t have to interact with him. I promise.”
“Do I have your permission to leave at any time?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll go. You’re welcome.”
“Thanks.”
Phew. And, the pizza’s done.
One last call to make.
Ring… ring…
“Hey Cake. The party will be at 5.”
“Oh, awesome! I’ll be there! So, who’s going?”
“Basketball, Golf Ball, Snowball.”
“Oh, sounds… sounds nice? There won’t be any arguing?”
“I promise.”
Suddenly, there was a clunking sound on Cake’s end of the phone, and a very confused “Hey!” from Cake himself.
“Aha! I knew you were talking to her! You, Pie! You didn’t invite me, again! 3 years in a row, what’s your problem with me?”
“Taco? What do you mean?”
“First, you don’t bring me to your awesome fight, last year you avoided me like the plague, and now I’m not invited to your party!”
“Huh? You saw that fight all that time ago?”
“Yes!! I would’ve absolutely destroyed them, so why didn’t you pick ME?”
“I didn't know, sorry. And last year, I stayed in my house out of fear all day… The party is supposed to be a reunion.”
“Huh? Why’s Cake invited? What did he do to deserve it that I didn’t?”
“He asked me.”
“Well, I asked you years before him! I should get priority!”
“Uh, did you ask me directly? I don’t remember you-”
“Doesn’t matter!!! Lemme go to your party! I’m gonna… win all the games! You got games? I’m gonna win them all!”
“We have a couple.”
“I’m going to your party, case closed!... W-when’s the party?”
“5, at my house.”
Beep… beep…
Taco hung up as soon as she got the details.
Before 5pm arrived, Pie finished set-up and took some time to relax. She waited near the door, just in case she didn’t hear the first person arrive. Oh, there goes the doorbell!