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Shuriken was curled into his mass of blankets, the light peeking through the bottom of the sky to wake him up.
Even though he had work today.. he nestled his head into his pillow, blocking his eyes from any further sunshine. One of his siblings would wake him up eventually, and even if that meant he had ten minutes to get ready he'd take the extra snooze. Plus, today was a Saturday- meaning they opened a little later- so maybe he still had a few hours left until he had to get up?
He knew he'd still be tired regardless. It was frustrating, knowing he'd be sleepy the entire day. Last night he went to bed early, didn't even wake up to go out, but that lethargic feeling that weighed down his bones was making itself real comfortable in his body.
Maybe sleeping for a little bit longer would be nice..
"Shuri!" Slingshot shook him awake, the tangled mess of fabric he was curled into. "Shuuuriiibug.."
"..I'm up.. I'm up." He yawned, pushing himself up in his hammock.
"Idiot. Do you even know what today is?" Slingshot narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't let us forget last night."
"Oh! It's my spawnday!!!!" He jumped out of bed so excitedly that he almost fell and hit the floor, before he hugged Slingshot. "Yaaaaay!!! Are you finally gonna tell me what you've been cooking up for me??"
"Maybe." Slingshot ruffled his hair. "Go get dressed."
Shuriken nodded, and Slingshot left to get ready himself. He scavenged through his closet to find his dumb blue uniform. He wouldn't complain to Slingshot.. but why blue? It really wasn't a good color on him. Slingshot and Vine it looked fine, but on him? Eeeuh. It just didn't match.
He brushed out his hair as much as he could, running to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Then he put on his Thieves' Rest visor and fell into the couch.. so that way once Sling was ready he could do the little paw print on his face. No matter how many times he attempted to do it right, take matters into his own hands; something always went terribly wrong.
More times than he'd be willing to admit, he somehow got the blue pigment into his eye. Or simply smudged the big circle trying to do the little ones. And then when he tried to fix the big one the little circles would be ruined. All in all, it was just too much of a hassle…
He rested his eyes lying on the couch. He wasn't horribly tired, but still. You would think that getting a true, full night of sleep would have a great effect but,, no. It was fine, if he wasn't awake now, some rude customer at the cafe would definitely be the one to get his gears going.
"Shuri!" He opened his eyes to see Vinestaff standing over him. "Happy spawnday, little brother!"
"Hi Vine!" He sat up, and with the space that gave she sat down beside him to hug him.
"Wow, you look so much older already."
"Really? Are my horns already turning gray?"
"Hmm.. Yeah, I think I'm seeing a little."
"Or is that just my pink horns crying 'cuz of all the dye I put on them?"
"Maybe that, too." She laughed. "Well, we're still gonna have a fun day. Even if we have work."
"I’ll tell you my birthday wish is for no assholes to come in." Shuriken rolled his eyes.
"I make that wish every time I walk in." She shrugged. "Only gets granted like, thirty percent of the time, though.."
"It's fine. It'll be a lucky day! I can smell it."
"Or is that.. cake you're smelling?" She winked, standing up and disappearing back into her room. He excitedly smiled.
"Stay still, dummy." Slingshot held his face still with one hand, gingerly doing the perfect paw mark with his blue face paint.
"I'm trying.." He said out of the corner of his mouth, trying not to move.
Slingshot then coiled back, letting him go. "Perfect!"
Shuriken instinctively brought his hand up to touch it, but Slingshot slapped it away. "Are you trying to smudge it?!"
"Not on purpose!" He moped. "It just looks cool!"
"Okay, c'mon. We need to get to the cafe, we're already a little late."
Shuriken and Vinestaff were bickering with each other, as they often did when the cafe was slow. They had their regular morning rush, but until lunch, it was kinda just an awkward point in time where nobody really came in. It left them to gossip about customers though. So like, it wasn't all too bad.
Till the bell attached to the door made its sound known, three of their regulars pushed through the door.
"Happy birthday Slingshot!!" Coil happily shouted.
"Oh, shit, I mean Shuriken!"
Shuriken was dumbfounded. "We don't even look alike!"
He walked up closer to the counter. "It's been a long day."
"It's eleven in the morning—"
"Shuri!" Boombox quickly followed suit, waving his hand towards him to signal Shuriken to come. He walked around the counter, getting a big hug.
"So, what, do you guys have any plans?" Skateboard smiled, giving Shuri a high-five.
"Well, not that I've been told about." Shuriken lowered his voice. "They're keeping it a secret from me."
"Ooh, that's exciting." Boombox grinned. "Well, we just wanted to stop by to say hi! Guess it was the right time.. It's a bit quiet in here."
"Yeah, don't worry about it." He shrugged. "This is our quiet time. Sling's in the back if you guys wanna go bother him."
"Yeah, what else are we good for?" Coil mischievously smiled. "D'ya think he'll give us some free pastries?"
"If you ask all nice and cute, maybe."
"Easy." Coil pushed through the doors first. Shuriken could've sworn he heard Slingshot screech, but who's he to say?
Skateboard trailed over to Vine, quickly chatting about a few things. Boombox stayed next to Shuri, excitedly chattering. It was pretty sweet, to have these guys around. Made him feel a lot less lonely on a day when he usually would.
"..But anyways, I hope you have a good spawnday, dude. I guess I can say I'm pretty glad you exist." Boombox smiled, with that unfaltering genuine look he always had, holding Shuriken's hands out of pure habit.
"I'm pretty glad you exist, too." Shuriken softly sighed, melting into another hug of his.
"'Kay, we'd best head out. I wonder if Coil succeeded in convincing Sling for those free pastries.."
"Cause you want one too?" Shuriken grinned.
"Duh. I want anything Sling makes!"
"Trust me, if Coil failed, just discreetly ask Sling for something. If there's anyone he can't refuse, it's Boombug."
"Bye Shuribug." He chuckled. "I'm sure this won't be our only chance to see each other today."
"Better not be! Bye bye!"
Boombox disappeared into the back, taking Skateboard with him, and the two cashier-siblings agreed they'd probably been forced to leave out the back.
After that, their customers picked back up as noon came and went, and by the time it was three, Slingshot happily announced to Shuriken and Vinestaff that they were closing early in honor of Shuri's birthday!
Vinestaff knew, but Shuriken was quite ecstatic. The three worked together to clean up as fast as possible.. and as they left, Shuriken wasn't so oblivious that he didn't notice the big bag Slingshot was carrying home. He tried not to act too excited, but he might've skipped all the way home.
Once they were there, Slingshot threw Shuriken the keys, and of course they meant he might've had to try three different times before finally getting the right one. He pushed open the door, ready to indulge in whatever yummy cake Sling had baked— he knew it'd be good because he could smell it through his big bag— and then do whatever birthday stuff entailed.
"Surprise!"
Shuriken blinked, a few of his friends excitedly standing with party poppers and balloons. He stared deadpan for much longer than he should've, genuinely unable to react.
"Guys, I…. I.."
He tried to muster something out, anything, till his breath caught and he felt his face get red, a sob coming out of his mouth.
Everyone's happy grins melted into confused looks around the room, till they all looked mortified. Why was he crying?!
Vine came up behind him, voice quiet enough so nobody could hear. "Hey, hey, is everything okay, Bug?? Do you wanna take a walk—?"
"No… no.. I just.." He smiled through his tears. "This is just, such a nice thing.. to do.. I just, can't believe it.."
"Oh, he's happily crying." Someone said, and suddenly the vibe of the room mellowed out completely.
Often Shuriken disproportionately measured his worth.
Sometimes, when he was out in the night, watching as people below walked their way through the darkness, he'd be bandaging up a wound he got from being too reckless.
And to himself, he'd think, if I died out here someday, everyone would get over it eventually.
And that wasn't a thought he second- guessed, that's just how it was. He had amazing friends and an even more amazing family, but there were always these thoughts that lingered in the back of his head whispering, hey- they hate you, you know?
But what a wrong thought that was.
All of his friends were crowded around him, with gifts in their hands, all who had committed to crouching behind tables and other furniture for who knows how long, waiting for him.
"Okay, dummy." Slingshot patted his shoulder. "Are you ready for some cake?"
"Duh." He wiped away any remaining bad feelings from his face, smiling. "I knew it was in your bag, by the way!"
"Yeah, no duh! What else would be in there?!"
The party consisted, of course, Vinestaff and Slingshot and it was no surprise that the Playgrounders had tagged along, including a few other miscellaneous friends. All of them had crowded around their little dining table, and Slingshot was laying candles into the cake in a very organized manner. He then brought it to the table, in front of where Shuriken was sitting, beginning to slowly light every candle.
And then someone loudly began the song of Happy Spawnday to You, and everyone happily joined in. Once the final obnoxious cha-cha-cha was cheered, Shuriken blew out his candles, wishing for something that no one would ever hear; a big grin plastered on his face.
Vinestaff took a photo of him with his cheesy smile and two thumbs up, meanwhile, Sling cut a big piece of cake for him.
"Yay!! It's Funfetti!!" Shuriken excitedly looked at his slice, which was basically a fourth of the cake, immediately taking a bite… Gosh, how fortunate he was to have a baker as his sibling. Nobody was as lucky as him..
"We made cookies too. Just in case." Coil smiled. "With some help of Sling, but they're actually not too bad!”
"Aww.. you guys, this is just so sweet.." It really was. He sort of wanted to begin sobbing again, but held his composure, stuffing cake and snickerdoodle cookies into his mouth. It didn't get much better than this.
Once the party was finishing up, all that was left were a few cookies and still a good amount of cake to savor. And, now a bunch of gifts to open!
There was a brief knock at the door, which Shuriken answered, finding Rocket holding out a gift.
"Sorry, work was so busy today, but I did bring a gift." He nonchalantly held out the bag. " ..And I'm not gonna spoil what it is this time."
"Happy Spawnday!" Sword excitedly smiled beside him.
Rocket looked like he was going to pop. "Okay fine, I'll just give you a hint that it's a game. And it recently came out.. and I played it, and it was really good." He shyly blushed. "And you'd probably like it."
"Aww, thanks!" He smiled. It was kinda a random friendship— Shuriken had no idea how they even came to talking— but Rocket and he bonded over video games, of all things. Rocket was the much better player, whether it be competitive or quite literally anything else, Shuriken had no shot to win against him.
They were just alike in strange ways. And for Sword? He just always happened to be there too, and Shuriken got along with him just as well. At the same time it's a genuine challenge not to like Sword, so their friendship bloomed naturally.
"Here, I brought a card." Sword smiled, handing over his cute handmade card. "Of course of every day in the world, today's the one time my mentor actually has me busy.."
"Do you guys wanna come in for a slice of cake?"
"Thank the Gods." Rocket grinned. "Hell yeah we do."
"You both have such a shameless sweet tooth.” Shuriken giggled as they rushed in, each taking a slice of cake and a cookie as they lingered to talk to the siblings as well. Again, they all strangely got along.
Once they left, Shuriken was sure that was the last of their visitors.. and for a while, it was. Slingshot had started on Shuriken's favorite dinner, and as they sat down to eat, there was another knock!
This time Vinestaff went and got it, welcoming in Katana. He nodded to Shuriken as he walked in, something in his hands.
It was a big pan of baked mac and cheese. Did it really go with their main dish? Naw. But, Shuriken was overjoyed.. Katana was very good at making comfort foods, so obviously this was gonna be delicious.. Oh, he was so hungry now!!!
The four of them all happily ate together, and after that, Katana had the final bit of cake and the last cookies as Shuriken opened all of his gifts. Coil and Skateboard teamed up to get him some headphones, Boombox had gotten him a bunch of different stuffed animals to add to his collection, and Slingshot and Vinestaff got him a weighted blanket. Rocket got him a cute-looking game, and Sword's card was just sweet as him. Katana gave him a card too- accompanied by some sweets he bought, and Shuriken was overwhelmed with how much appreciation and love he felt.
"I really couldn't have asked for a better birthday, you guys." He felt small in admitting it, but in so many ways, this was really a great birthday. He was wrapped in a hug by all of his family, and Katana gave him a pat on the head before he said goodbye, and from there the three siblings curled up onto the couch as they usually did, letting Shuriken pick the movie. One by one they all fell asleep, curled up in Shuri's new weighted blanket..
Shuriken blinked awake in the middle of the night, pure habit by this point, he'd missed a night of his craft, would he really miss another?
He attempted to wiggle out of his situation, perhaps he'd just go out and do something small, give good to the world in exchange for all the good he'd gotten today, but he was stuck. He blinked, shaking his head.
He deserved a break. It was okay to relax for just two nights. And how selfish it'd be, leaving his siblings behind when all they'd done for him today was show him why he should stay.
He leaned back into the couch, making a noise of relief, quick to fall back asleep. He smiled at the thought of the fact that he was basically giving himself a gift, letting his body rest with no second thoughts of shame, dreaming peacefully into the rest of the night.
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