Work Text:
The sun shone just over the horizon, casting the neighbourhood in a warm orange glow that made everything seem slightly dreamlike. It was a Sunday morning and 007n7 lay in his bed, fast asleep with a pillow covering his head to block out the sunlight. He didn't have work that day, and wasn't planning on waking up at the crack of dawn on an off day. That was, at least, until his adopted son, c00lkidd, flung open the door, causing it to make a loud “Bang!” noise as the doorknob hit the wall.
The sudden noise made 7n7 jolt awake, sitting up slightly and looking around in a confused, half-asleep state. “It's my birthday today, Dad! How are we going to celebrate it?” c00lkidd asked excitedly. 7n7 rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up fully, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
“Sorry, kiddo. Dad's a little tired today. Maybe we can do something tomorrow?” 7n7 suggested. c00lkidd frowned and thought for a while, then nodded sadly. He knew how hard his Dad worked to provide for him and he wanted to be a good son, but he couldn't help but feel upset. After all, he was turning ten, and he should at least get a ‘happy birthday’ from his Dad.
Despite the feelings of unfairness he felt, he trudged dejectedly back to his room and lay in bed, blinking back tears.
–
A few hours later, it was lunch time. c00lkidd emerged from his room to see what 7n7 had prepared this time, eyes slightly red and puffy from crying but otherwise the same as usual. The first thing he noticed when he exited the room was the worn light blue picnic mat they had gotten a few years ago neatly folded and placed on the couch. He didn't think much of it at first until he got to the kitchen of their small apartment. To his surprise, when he got to the kitchen, he saw his Dad packing sandwiches into several lunch boxes instead of plating them. When 7n7 noticed him there, he smiled, noticing the surprised look on c00lkidd’s face when the child finally put two and two together.
“You don't really think we were going to skip your tenth birthday, did you?” He asked, “I invited your friends, pr3ty and bluu, to a picnic at the park.” Upon hearing the news, c00lkidd's expression immediately changed. His eyes widened and he pumped his fist in the air. “Thanks, Dad! You're the best! I'm gonna go pack my stuff!” he exclaimed, dashing into his room and beginning to pack. 7n7 just smiled as he heard his son excitedly chattering to himself. Of course he would never forget his precious son's birthday.
–
An hour later, the father and son duo were sitting on their picnic mat, which they had set up on a large grassy field in the nearby park. c00lkidd kept excitedly pointing out flowers and birds to 7n7, who smiled and nodded along to his cheerful dialogue. Then, suddenly, c00lkidd jumped up and ran towards two approaching figures. “Pr3ty! bluu!” he called out, running towards them and hugging each of them in turn, although neither looked very excited about it, “You came!”
The three children made their way towards c00lkidd's picnic mat, c00lkidd practically bouncing up and down from excitement and jabbering ecstaticly while pr3ty and bluu both looked utterly disinterested in anything he had to say.
7n7 couldn't help but smile as he watched them approach. Sure, pr3ty and bluu never acted like they cared about c00lkidd whatsoever, but he knew that that was just an act, and he was right. Deep inside, pr3ty and bluu were both just as excited as c00lkidd to be there.
7n7 remained lost in thought for a moment until he realised something. bluudud and pr3ttypriincess couldn't have arrived at the park on their own. He looked around for either of their parents until he saw 118o8 holding a paper bag in one hand and trailing a slight distance behind the three children. He had met the woman before once or twice when she had dropped bluudud off at his house for a playdate with c00lkidd, but he had never actually gotten to know her.
He only realised he was staring at her when she waved at him, snapping him back to attention and making him blush slightly. “Hi! Pr3ty’s mom is busy today, so I drove her here,” She said when she finally got to the picnic mat. She put the paper bag down and sat down next to 7n7. By now, the three children had already wandered towards a big tree nearby and c00lkidd was climbing it while bluudud filmed him on his phone, pr3typriincess sitting at the bottom under the shade of the leaves, acting completely above the other two as she adjusted her pink hair, although she couldn't help but glance up at them every once in a while, concerned that c00lkidd might hurt himself. Despite her indifferent façade, she actually really cared for her two friends and if anyone were to mess with either of them, she would make them regret it. They were, after all, her only two friends.
That's why when she noticed someone approaching them, she immediately stood up, on alert for danger. As the person got closer, she noticed it was a boy around her own age. She thought he looked slightly familiar but was unsure where she had seen him. While she was caught up in her thoughts, the boy got closer and stopped, crossing his arms and glaring at bluu and c00lkidd as if ordering them to telepathically sense his presence and obey him, although neither of them had seemed to notice his presence, both too distracted to look around. That was, at least, until the boy demanded, “You three losers, get away from there! That’s my spot!” That caught both bluu and c00lkidd's attention and both looked at him, bluu stopping his video and putting his phone back into his hoodie pocket. After a moment where nobody responded, the boy shouted, “Do you have any idea who I am?” Just then, a flicker of recognition sparked in bluudud's eyes and he took a step towards the boy, his expression ice cold. “Ken,” he muttered, “I told you to stay away from us.”
That was when pr3ty finally recognised the boy. He used to bully c00lkidd until pr3ty and bluu stepped in and stopped him. They had never seen him since until that moment. Bluudud clenched his fist. Ken noticed and smirked. “Oh no, what're you going to do to me? Punch me with those skinny girl arms? I'm soooo scared,” he mocked, his voice dripping with pretend-fear. Bluudud seethed, his fingernails digging into his palm hard enough to almost draw blood.
Behind him, c00lkidd had climbed down from the tree and was watching them, his face a mask of confusion and worry as pr3ty put an arm around him defensively. Fortunately, before a fight could break out between bluudud and Ken, 8o8 intervened from the nearby picnic mat. “Kids, come on, the food is ready,” she told them, her voice raised slightly so that they would be able to heat from that distance away. Bluudud, cast one last angry glance at Ken before following pr3ty, who had already started dragging c00lkidd back to the picnic mat. Ken smirked triumphantly as he watched the other three head back to the picnic mat. When they got back, they saw that the adults had already laid the food out on the mat and prepared paper plates and plastic utensils. The three boxes containing sandwiches were placed in a line at the side of the mat with the cutlery on their left and several boxes of fruits on the right, several juice boxes right behind that.
“Woah, this looks great! Thanks, Dad!” c00lkidd exclaimed, already back to his usual cheerful self as he began wolfing down sandwiches. bluudud mumbled a small thanks too before grabbing a sandwich and taking a bite. Pr3ty, on the other hand, grabbed a fork and plate first and used it to put a sandwich into her plate. Only then did she start eating with the fork, staring at c00lkidd and bluudud in disgust. 7n7 noticed pr3ty’s expression and chuckled. “Slow down, c00lkidd. No one's going to steal your food.”
c00lkidd mumbled an incomprehensible response that was muffled by his mouthful of food but still listened, slowing his eating pace considerably.
For the rest of the afternoon, they ate, talked and laughed leisurely, sharing jokes, stories and opinions as the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon, the remaining amber glow lighting up the place just enough for people to see without street lamps. Everyone sat and watched the beautiful sunset, admiring the soft glow of the sun as the golden hour slowly faded into night.
Unfortunately, that meant that they would have to go home. As 7n7 put the empty lunch boxes back into the bag that he had brought, 8o8 helped him to fold the picnic mat while the kids watched. Just as they were saying their goodbyes, 8o8 remembered something. She grabbed the paper bag that she had placed down earlier, which they had moved to the grass so that they could fold the mat, and pulled out two boxes, one wrapped in blue and the other in pink. She passed bluudud the blue one and pr3ty the pink one, then pushed them both forward, towards c00lkidd, smiling encouragingly. c00lkidd’s eyes widened.
“Are these for me?” he asked excitedly. bluu and pr3ty nodded shyly, unable to admit that they actually cared about him, and passed the boxes to him, both of them wishing him a happy birthday. 7n7 smiled and 8o8, satisfied by bluu and pr3ty’s ‘happy birthday’ to c00lkidd, thanked c00lkidd and 7n7 for the invite and escorted them towards the exit nearest to the parking spot where she had parked her car. c00lkidd shouted thanks to them as they walked away, waving goodbye all the way until they were out of sight.
Then, he turned to 7n7. “This was the best birthday ever!” He exclaimed. 7n7 ruffled his hair and led him to another exit, closer to where he had parked his own car.
By the time he was pulling out of the parking lot, c00lkidd was fast asleep in the back seat, tired from all the activity in the day. 7n7 smiled. Despite everything, he was glad he found c00lkidd on his doorstep that day and he knew that he wouldn't give his son up for the world.