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Now, Guita didn’t think herself to be an impatient person. But she’d been waiting all day to hang out with Rudo, and he was nowhere to be found! She’d searched everywhere! All the common areas, the training grounds, the kitchen, the infirmary, even the closets! She’d almost given up, flopping down on one of the old, tough couches when Gris walked in.
“Gris!” Guita perked right up once she saw him. He had to know where Rudo was! Bro had called Rudo Gris’s duckling a few days ago, since Rudo liked to follow Gris around when he wasn’t off with Team Akuta. The Supporter had to know where Rudo was! “Do ya know where Rudo is?!”
Gris seemed slightly taken aback as Guita ran up to him, flailing her long onesie-clad arms around. He chuckled and patted the top of her head. “Rudo’s in his room, but it’s best not to bother him,” he explained, but Guita wasn’t satisfied with that. She huffed until Gris continued his explanation. “Rudo isn’t feeling his best. Sometimes we need to be alone when we’re upset, right?”
“But Griiiis,” Guita whined, flapping her arms up at his face again. Gris took a half-step back, and Guita put her arms down. Bro told her that it wasn’t nice to hit people with her hands, even if her onesie’s paws were super soft. “Rudo was supposed to play with us today! Remlin’s coming here, and we were gonna draw with Rudo and Dear!”
Gris let out a long sigh. He put a hand on Guita’s back, leading her over to the couch in the corner. Guita didn’t like this couch. It was so rickety and old! Maybe she could get Rudo to use his 3R on it once he was feeling better. The stupid couch would be better as a weapon instead of a super-uncomfortable seat.
“Sometimes plans don’t work out the way we want them to, right?” Guita’s lips turned down in a pout, but she nodded her head in agreement. Gris had a point. The adults always had annoyingly good points. “If you want to make Rudo feel better, give him some sweets tomorrow. For today… just let him be, alright?”
Gris gave Guita one of those looks. It was one of those looks Bro would give her when she didn’t ask permission before going all Kaiju and made a mess. Her lips turned down in a further pout until she acquiesced to Gris’s unspoken orders. “Alright…”
“Good,” Gris said, reaching out to pat Guita’s head again. She huffed as he stood back up and walked to the door. “At least you can enjoy your time with Dear and Remlin, right?”
Guita nodded. She flopped back down on the couch after Gris left, staring at the ceiling. She’d seen Rudo get all mopey before, but never to the point that he locked himself away in his room. That was a Zanka kinda thing! Normally, when Rudo was upset, he’d yell at someone and stomp around in a huff until he burnt off all his energy and apologized. For Rudo to hide away from everyone, he must be super-duper sad.
When Remlin came bursting in, Dear following right behind them, Guita was quick to bring this up. She couldn’t be the only one suffering because Rudo was being a sad slug!
“I just don’t understaaaand!” She whined to Remlin, absently dragging her marker across the paper. “Rudo isn’t the typa friend to leave us hanging! How mega-sad can he be? Normally he’s just real angry.”
Dear shrugged and went back to his drawing. It wasn’t like he ever said anything. Guita took that as a positive-ish sign. If Dear wasn’t scowling, he had nothing to say.
Remlin, on the other hand, perked up at the mention of Rudo’s odd behavior. “Maybe today’s the anniversary of a sad thing? Sometimes people around Canvas Town take a day off art for “mourning days,” when they’re remembering someone who’s gone. I’m not gonna let Gob’s sad day be all dreary, though! We’re gonna have a party, just like we did when he passed!”
Guita’s eyes lit up. She’d heard from Rudo about the beautiful display in Canvas Town following Gob’s death. She was so jealous she hadn’t seen it! She loved a good party, and always hated missing out on one. An idea struck her so hard she had to jump out of her seat.
“We should throw Rudo a little party! So he’s not sad anymore!” Her voice came out a little louder than it probably should’ve. Bro was always telling her to use her indoor voice. Dear gave her one of his deadpanned stares, while Remlin’s face lit up.
“What’s this about a party?” The common room door opened as Riyo stepped inside. She raised a curious eyebrow, looking between the assembled group of kids.
“We’re gonna throw Rudo a party so he’ll stop being sad!” Guita cheered. Remlin eagerly nodded in response, their face split in a wide grin. Dear wasn’t scowling, so he was probably right on board with the decision. “Rudo’s gotta stop being a sad slug, an’ no one can be sad during a party!”
Riyo’s reaction wasn’t as enthused. She sat down on the couch behind Dear, and all the kids looked at her with wide eyes. Her expression was almost a wince.
“Well, it’s really sweet that you want to cheer him up,” Riyo started, crossing one leg over the other. Guita had a not-so good feeling about what she was going to say. “But Rudo’s really not in the mood to be around people today. I’d put it off a little.”
“But… why’s Rudo so sad?” Remlin’s eyebrows knit together as they put down their pen. Guita nodded along, wanting to get an actual reason. Everyone had been dancing around the topic all day!
Riyo sighed and spun her scissors in her hand. “From what I’ve heard, it’s around the time of year that his dad’s birthday would’ve been,” she explained, before looking between Guita, Remlin and Dear. “His dad passed away shortly before he joined us. I mean, it’s nice to see him show an emotion that isn’t anger, but he’s still very upset. I’d let him have his space.”
Guita hummed and tapped a hand against her chin. Rudo being sad felt wrong. She knew he must miss his dad a lot. Everyone fell quiet as Riyo looked between the younger Cleaners.
“If you want to try and cheer him up, go ahead,” she eventually stated, standing back up. “But be nice about it. I don’t want to deal with a Rudo-rampage.”
Riyo left after putting her scissors in her pocket. Guita picked her marker back up and scribbled on her page again. No good thoughts of how to cheer Rudo up were coming to mind beyond getting him sweets.
“Didn’t Rudo try to draw his dad last time?” Remlin asked, looking through their old assortment of drawings they collected. “Yeah- he did! Maybe I could make a better version of his sketch, and that might cheer him up. So he has something to remember him by.”
“Oh! And Dear and I could go get him a cake!” Guita knew Rudo liked cake. Dear also liked cake. It was one of the few common grounds between the boys. All at once, her most brilliant idea hit her.
“Let’s throw a party for Rudo’s dad!”
After hashing out some rough ideas, the kids divided and conquered. Dear went with Bro to Canvas Town to get a little cake. Remlin talked to Zanka, Enjin and Riyo to see what they knew about Rudo’s dad, trying to get a better idea of how they’d draw him. Guita got Gris to help set up one of the meeting rooms for a party, with a few little streamers and decorations they had lying about.
For how reluctant the adults seemed at first, they seemed willing to give it a try once Remlin and Guita explained their ideas. Everyone reiterated that Rudo might not be happy after it, but it was a very kind gesture. Guita was sure it would work out great.
It was late morning when she came up with her idea, so Guita had plenty of time to prepare for the party. The idea was to hold it after dinner, so it was just the people Rudo was closer to. It gave Bro and Dear time to get the cake, and Remlin time to do their drawing. Guita was more than happy to be setting up streamers and talking to Gris.
Bro and Dear returned just before dinnertime. The meeting room had been set up for a while, and Remlin was finishing up their drawing. With all the input from the other Cleaners, they’d gotten it as close to what they thought Rudo’s dad looked like from the boy’s drawing and descriptions. The cake was chocolate with red frosting. It looked super yummy!
Semiu had even stepped in to get some food from the kitchen for them. She returned with a few plates of meats and other stuff she thought Rudo might enjoy. Rudo wasn’t picky beyond liking sweets and disliking spicy food, so they had plenty of wiggle room for stuff they could use for the party.
Once Guita was certain the party was set up, she grabbed Zanka’s arm and waggled it around. “Zanka should go get Rudo!” She proclaimed, all heads turning to her. Enjin had a weird smile on his face, while Riyo was giggling. “‘Cause Zanka’s training Rudo ‘n all! Tell him it’s a training thing so he can be all surprised!”
Zanka’s face was doing that thing he made it do when he didn’t seem pleased with an idea. Zanka never seemed to like Guita’s ideas, but she was fine with it. Other people, like Remlin and Dear, liked her ideas.
“Yeah, Zanka,” Enjin drawled, leaning against the wall. Guita grinned, realizing that the adults were on her side for once. “You should go get your little mentee.”
“I’m sure Rudo would appreciate you being the one to get him for this,” Gris said, putting a hand on Zanka’s shoulder. He was always so nice to everyone. “You’ve got this.”
Zanka looked like he was being told he had to fight that one really, really weird Raider that had poisoned him. Enjin stepped forward to usher him out of the room, getting snickers from everyone involved. Guita heard a faint crow of “now hold on, don’t I get a say in this!?” before Zanka was too far away for her to hear anymore.
Then, it was the waiting game. Guita rocked on her feet next to Remlin. They’d called making the little announcement for the party to Rudo. They’d worked so hard on putting it together- in one day, no less! She giggled and bounced on her toes.
Footsteps sounded down the hall after a few more minutes of waiting. A hush fell over the room, and Guita could’ve exploded with anticipation. When Zanka opened the door, all but shoving Rudo inside, the younger boy blanched.
“What the-?”
“Happy birthday to your dad!!” Remlin and Guita cheered at the same time.
Guita rushed forward, grabbing one of Rudo’s gloved hands. “You’ve been all sad today and we wanted to cheer you up, an’ Riyo said you were missing your dad, and we couldn’t have dat! So we’re throwing a party for your dad, so you still get to celebrate him!”
Before Rudo got his bearings, seemingly taken aback by Guita’s enthusiasm, Remlin sidled up on his other side. They pressed their drawing of Rudo’s dad into his hands.
“I based it off your drawing from a few weeks ago, and what the other Cleaners told me,” they explained as Rudo stared at it with wide eyes. “It might not be accurate, but it’s kinda him, right?”
Guita waited with baited breath as Rudo’s wide eyes moved from the drawing, to the spread of food, to everyone gathered for him, and back to the drawing. Eventually, he let out a little huff.
“Yeah,” he said softly, and Guita leaned in to hear him more. “That’s Regto’s ugly mug.”
Remlin’s face lit up. Guita slapped their hand enthusiastically before turning back to Rudo, grabbing his free hand. “Now now now,” she babbled, dragging him over to the food table. “Let’s party!! Celebrate him!”
Rudo’s eyes widened as he looked at the spread of food in closer detail. Unsurprisingly, his eyes caught on the cake at the end of the table. “Is that a-?”
“Cake? Yup,” Bro said, walking over and ruffling Rudo’s hair. It was extra messy, since he’d been lying in bed all day. “Dear and I went out and got it for you earlier. This was all Remlin and Guita’s idea.”
Dear huffed and didn’t quite glare at Rudo, which Guita considered a success. Rudo turned and looked at her, still looking a little confused. He seemed to flounder a lot in random situations. “You… planned this? Why?”
“So you’d stop being such a sad slug!” Guita explained, batting her hands against Rudo’s arm. She giggled and swayed her shoulders side to side. “You’re our friend! We want you to be happy, even on sad days!”
Rudo seemed to consider that, staring at the cake and drawing like his world was being rearranged again. Guita and Remlin leaned in a little closer, bordering him on each side.
Enjin was the one who broke the silence. “Man, am I hungry!” He dramatically declared, walking over to the spread of food. He started making a plate for himself and winked at Rudo. “Better get yourself a plate before it’s gone, Rudo. You can’t have cake until you have dinner.”
That sent everyone into action. Everyone there lined up, getting food and keeping their hands off the cake until they’d finished dinner. While they ate, Remlin, Guita, Dear and Riyo sat close to Rudo. Zanka sat a little further back, next to Follo. Gris, Enjin and Bro sat by the door, mainly just watching the younger Cleaners.
While they ate, Guita made sure to ask Rudo all the questions she could about his dad. Bro said she was getting better at asking nice questions, and she clearly was, since Rudo was talking a lot. He told a lot of stories of this Regto guy helping him out, teasing him, and just being around. He sounded a lot like Bro, if Bro was older, weirder, and liked books.
When the time for cake came, everyone was excited. Rudo got the first slice, which he devoured. Guita laughed as Zanka shoved some napkins at Rudo, telling him to clean up his face. It was a super yummy cake, and she made sure to tell Bro and Dear they did an awesome job choosing it. Rudo got to take the last piece, which he ate a little slower.
The party started to wind down after dessert. Riyo suggested a movie night, which Remlin and Guita eagerly agreed to. Dear had to go to bed, so Bro stepped out for the night. Enjin and Gris rounded everyone up and got them to the common room.
Apparently, Rudo had never seen a movie. Guita made her shock known.
“Whaaat?!” She all but shrieked. Gris’s stare made her quiet down, but she started batting at Rudo’s arms again. He grunted and batted her arms away with his gloves. “You’ve never seen a movie?! No wonder you don’t know what Kaiju are!”
“I know what a damn Kaiju is now!” Rudo said, plenty huffy. At least he wasn’t all mega-angry like he could get when someone stole his sweets. “You never shut up about them!”
Gris stepped in to stop the argument before it could start. From there, they found a decent movie. It was an old fight-y movie Guita had seen a few times before. Just like earlier, she and Remlin flanked Rudo on the couch. Zanka and Follo sat next to each other on another, with Riyo perched on the arm. Gris and Enjin watched from behind.
They decided to try and make it a movie marathon. By the third movie, Guita’s eyes were growing heavy. Her head came to rest on Rudo’s shoulder. His little snores made it clear that he’d fallen asleep. Remlin’s legs were in Rudo’s lap, and they were starting to doze off.
Guita smiled as her eyes finally fell shut. It had been a super-awesome party, and a super-awesome night. She was super happy that Rudo wasn’t a sad slug anymore. Her friends deserved the best, and that meant being happy.
She couldn’t wait for Rudo’s birthday party. She’d make it even better. For now, she fell asleep, curled up with her best friends.