Azure: 20

Penne + Ravioli: 18 + 19

Navy: 19

Iliad (Ily): 8

Tweed: 20

They had congregated downstairs, filling in one of the small booths decorating the walls underneath the windows. They were all intensely focused, racking their brains for some scrap of idea until there was nothing but an empty plain decorating their conciousnesses. Azure started to repeatedly slam his head against the smooth table until Navy took it into his hands and smacked it a couple times. Penne bit anxiously at her fingernails, complaining when they started to hurt even though she was the cause of it. Tweed scrolled feverishly through pinterest, stopping on random pictures every now and again, everything he brought before Penne immediately rejected.

“THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!” she finally bellowed, slamming her fists on the table and getting annoyed looks from both Tweed’s parents behind the counter and the other patrons seated at the many tables. “There’s no gift in the world that’s worthy enough of my brother…” she moaned, plopping her forehead onto Tweed’s shoulder. “AND HIS BIRTDHAY’S ONLY IN TWO DAYS.”

“How ’bout some headphones?” Azure asked, lifting his head from the table where it had been lying prone for the last twenty minutes.

Penne sneered at him. “Headphones!? Why would my brother even need headphones?”

Azure thought for a moment. “Well, I could say because we go out and do dumb things a lot, and he needs something to distract himself from worrying about us, but we don’t necessarily do that anymore, as much as it pains me to admit it…”

“Fair enough, but you said it yourself, they’d be pointless now. KEEP THE IDEAS COMING, GUYS!”

“How about we get rid of the most annoying thing in his life?” Navy asked with a shrug, and Penne gasped.

“YES! What is it, do you know? C’mon man, tell me! Tell me! TELL MEEEE!” They all started laughing, and Penne just looked at them with a confused expression on her face. “What? What is it guys?”

“Guess we’ll just chuck ya on the curb then!” Azure snorted, high-fiving Navy and grinning as Penne pouted.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“I know, that’s why I said it,” Navy retorted, raising an eyebrow. They proceeded to have a wicked eye-staring contest, of which Navy won not too long after.

“Where is Ravioli anyway?” Tweed asked, his eyes sliding over the customers in the shop, as though he thought the boy might be hiding among the patrons, listening to their conversation and silently judging them. He had to admit, it would’ve been funny if it was true.

Penne shrugged. “I told him to go somewhere, if that’s any help. I told him not to come back anytime soon, that we had important things to discuss. I’m pretty sure that he knows what we’re doing, but he went all the same, so I can’t really say we didn’t warn him, I guess…”

Standing up, Azure pushed past Navy and stood at the end of the booth, announcing, “I’ll just go find him and ask him what he wants!” And so ignoring the protests of all three behind him, Azure pushed out the doors before anyone could stop him. All he had to do now was find Ravioli in the huge city. Something easily accomplished, he was sure. He could’ve texted Rav or even pinged him, but something about that just didn’t feel right; it was strange to say, but Azure wanted to find him; perhaps the place he was hiding out in would give something away about what he wanted for his birthday.

The park was as good a place as any to start, and so pushing his way through the hoards of people on the sidewalks, he eventually made his way to the huge green section of the city, paths and bike lanes winding through the grass, and trees budding with new growth lining the walkways. He was about to enter; it would’ve taken him all day to search that place, but he would’ve done it. But before he could even think about taking a step onto the worn cobbled path, he heard a soft (yet astonishingly familiar) meow from behind him, and spinning on his heels, he was flabbergasted to see Iliad sitting calmly behind him, looking up at him expectantly and swishing his tail in the dirt. All Azure could do was stare at the cat as he stood up, turned around, and started confidently walking down the sidewalk, crossing the street at the crosswalk like any human would, and pawing at the glass door of a small establishment across the street. The rushing wind from the speeding cars and incessant honks from backed up lights made it nearly impossible to hear anything on the other side of the street, but as the cat was let back inside the building, Azure saw the shock of dark, blond-streaked hair that he had come to know belonged to the one and only Ravioli.

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He looked up at the huge neon sign flamboyantly advertising the name of the buisness and grinned.

Mumbling plans to himself as he went back to the boba shop, he shouted triumphantly as soon as he arrived in the building; “I KNOW WHAT TO GET HIM!” much to the surprise of his friends. Slowly, the shock on all three of their faces melted into something much more satisfying; happiness, excitement, and anticipation. Walking triumphantly over to their table, Azure scooted past Navy once again and sat down heavily, taking out his phone and googling the place while everyone stared at him expectantly. Pulling it up, he tapped on one of the pictures, enlarged it, and placed it on the table. “This,” he said, crossing his arms and sitting back. “We need to do this.”

Everything was set and ready to go. The two days had passed by in a blur, the hours filled with randomly colored streamers and wrapping paper. Navy had expertly blown up around fifty balloons, throwing them haphazardly around the apartment as they attempted to stick to his static-ridden hair. At the last minute, they realized that they needed a cake, and Tweed went sprinting down the street, returning in less than three minutes with a masterpiece of a pastry in hand. Azure was put on lookout, guarding the staircase in the unlikely scenario that Rav randomly showed up to ruin all their plans. But the setup was completed long before he came home, to the thanks of everyone who had been setting it up.

It wasn’t exactly a surprise party, as when Ravioli unlocked his door, he found his sister, Tweed, Azure, and Navy lounging around on his furniture, springing to their feet when they heard the door click open. “IT’S THE BIRTHDAY BOY!” Penne shouted, one of the many completely unprompted and unnecessary outbursts of which she often indulged in. Sprinting over, she was the first to wrap him in a hug, followed by Azure, Tweed, and Navy all piling on top of them.

“How does it feel to be nineteen?” Azure asked as they pulled away, and Rav just shrugged. Pointing to his sister, a confused expression took over his features, and they all froze.

“Oh. Weeeeeee…we forgooooot…” Tweed smacked his head and Azure smiled sheepishly, Navy did the math in his head, and Penne just shrugged.

“I didn’t bring it up. I thought ‘well hey, either these idiots will remember it, which is highly unlikely, or my brother will get a fantastic day to himself. I’ll make sure of it.’ It was logical.”

“Penne, my love…” Tweed grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME. NOW I LOOK LIKE A FOOL.”

“Meh,” she said, waving it off. “I didn’t want anything for my birthday anyway. So you’re good.”

“BUT-”

Slapping a hand over his mouth and harshly smiling up at him, she said through gritted teeth. “You’re. Good.” There was a moment of complete silence between the five of them, in which Tweed and Penne simply stared at each other and the rest simply stared at them. But quickly, Penne’s face lit up and a complete change of personality overtook her, she let go of Tweed, turned back to her brother, grabbed his hands, and said in a happy voice, “Let’s get started, birthday boy!” Rav let her drag him away with a sad expression on his face, looking back at the others and motioning with his head for them to follow.

So they had cake, played the multitude of games Tweed had stashed in the back of his closet, watched several episodes of a new TV show Penne was adamant on watching, played the video games Azure had brought over, and ignored Navy’s suggestion of taking a nap. It was entirely possible that Azure had been cheating at almost everything, however as bad as he was at hiding it, only Ravioli noticed. He said nothing however, figuring that it would be good blackmail for later.

“That’s it, I’m done,” Tweed said, dropping the controller on the cushions and throwing his hands up in defeat. “You two are too much.”

Penne and Azure were busy bickering over Azure’s win, while Navy discovered that his controller hadn’t even had batteries, and Rav sat in contentment with his fourth place. Suddenly, Penne sprang to her feet and ran to another part of the apartment, returning with a box. She carefully placed it in Ravioli’s lap and everyone gathered around them, leaning over Rav’s shoulder to see his reaction. With increasing alarment as he saw that the box and wrapping paper had holes poked through the top, he ripped off the wrapping as carefully as he could, pulled the top off the box, and let out an audible gasp.

Inside the flimsy cardboard box was a petite ball of fur, curled up into itself, its chest rising and falling slowly. It blearily looked up at the huge man staring down at it, its picturesque blue eyes too huge for its tiny face. Placing the box gently on the floor, Rav shakily reached down into it, scooping the tiny Ragamuffin cat into his hands and cradling it against his chest as it purred contentedly.

Looking up at the four people pressed closely around him, he smiled, tears in his eyes as he nodded his thanks. “What’s her name?” Penne asked him gently, rubbing her brother’s shoulder encouragingly. Thinking for a moment, Rav transferred the ball of fluff into one hand, holding the other aloft for them to see. He snapped his fingers once, then returned them to their original position, brushing the cat’s fur with his thumbs and looking down at the ball of fluff like it was a precious jewel.

“Snap’s a beautiful name…” Penne whispered, nudging Azure’s side. Leaning in close, she whispered into his ear, “I s’pose you did well, Azure.”

“Happy birthday,” he whispered back.

No one moved for the rest of the night, instead snuggling into their blankets and each other, Iliad making his way over from wherever he was hiding the majority of the day, curling into Navy’s lap as Azure leaned into his chest. The kitten settled comfortably on top of Rav’s chest as soon as he layed down, and Penne and Tweed, resting against the couch, could be found with their heads pressed together, their hands intertwined underneath the blankets. All-in-all, it could be summed up as one of the best birthdays any of them had ever experienced.

Because they had spent it together.