Chapter Text
April 23rd, 2025. 9:37am.
Tucked away in the darker corners of a certain beachside host’s abode, a particular figure had only just seemed to wake up.
“Ghk… it’s nearly two hours after I usually get up. What on Earth…?”
MM shook off his fatigue and confusion, before stretching out to the best of his ability. Sure, that was just stretching his eyebrows, but… hey, whatever works for a guy.
He knew well what day it was, despite his lack of reaction.
Slipping out from his room, he was immediately met with Misty’s looming figure. “So, it’ll be finished by 1pm, then… O-Oh, you finally got up!”
“Yes. Is my lateness a problem to you…?”
“No, n-NO, don’t worry about it! By the way, uhh… happy birthday, gotta go!”
So she had just flown off downstairs at an unusually rapid pace. MM sighed softly to himself at her uncharacteristic panic. He wasn’t really bothered about celebrating his birthday, in all honesty. Besides, he didn’t just magically change overnight, so what was worth celebrating?
But the panic in that dragon’s eyes told him enough about the rest of the day.
“...definitely a party,” he murmured. “I really would have thought you would have been able to hide that better…”
With the element of surprise now as good as dead, MM made his way downstairs for the sake of breakfast.
While re-acquainting himself with his most trusted associate (formally known to others as a coffee machine), some other clamouring in the kitchen had captured his attention.
“C’mon! It’s not that hard to draw a star, is it?!”
“You’re not helping this either, you know! These are hands made for CONDUCTING, not for cake decorating!”
“If you mess up this cake, I’ll make you eat your hands!”
“What are you two doing in there?”
The door to the dining room slammed shut at MM’s comment, with the similar sound of Lexy slamming HERSELF against the door to keep it shut. “None of your business, man! Just go drown in some coffee or something!”
“Y-Yes, yes,” Avery added, “it’s nothing to worry about…”
“Very well.”
On finishing up his ideal breakfast for the day (being fresh coffee and a scrambled egg sandwich of all damned things), MM had returned to his room in silence. Wouldn’t want to disturb the obvious party prep going on.
If Misty’s jumpiness hadn’t explained it, those two blathering on about a cake gave him the message even clearer than before.
…still, since he knew the party was a THING now, he hoped that it was a chocolate cake. Always a treat, that… ooh, or maybe coffee cake existed? No, wait, was that just a fancier word for tirimasu? That'd be even better, actually!
“...G-GAH! Snap out of it, you… you CAN’T be excited for some silly party, can you?”
Because he was talking to himself, MM got no answer.
Whilst eating that sandwich of his to ground himself from such nonsensical excitement, he realised something new. Since Misty was seemingly handling overall prep, while Lexy and Avery were doing cake-related business…
…where was SHE?
Holstering some incredible timing, a basic-looking package slipped through his ajar door. Judging by the light ‘thunk’ of some-helmet trying to poke itself through the same door, he knew who his mailperson was.
“Package came through for you. Birthday stuff?”
“Mhm. Wait, why didn’t you just tell me that it came? Like… no ‘hey, package for MM’? God, that sounded so immature.”
“Because THAT came at the same-” The sound of breathing in through gritted teeth was overheard. “Ooh, uh… no reason. Just DON’T go anywhere near the living room at 1pm, alright?”
“...if it’s about the surprise, Jerri, then I’m… actually, nevermind. I-”
“You sure that you know?”
“Hm?”
That said, she had left without explaining any further. She at least shut the door behind her, which he could always appreciate.
MM blinked in confusion, before just quietly opening the package that he was given. “Aha! Just as I ordered for myself. Well, with what’s going on later today… I suppose I might as well.”
Having spent such a calm and passive morning to himself, the time had shifted to 1pm before he even knew it. Now donning a black, glittering tophat and cape (both adorned with purple accents, he deemed himself party-fit.
So now in the hallway that hung over the living room, he figured he should play it innocent. “Uh… hellooo, anybody? What’s with all the radio silence?”
No reply.
“...really, now, what are you all up to? You being this quiet, no offense, is impossible.”
Again, no response.
“...oh, that does it. I’m coming down to see what you’re doing!”
So he promptly popped out of reality, before re-appearing in the living room to find…
…nothing had changed.
“H-Huh?”
It didn’t matter how often MM blinked in shock or whipped his gaze around the room. It was just… empty! No decorations, no signs of the others, not even the slightest hint of… ANYTHING!
Had there really been no party planned all along…?
“I… I can’t believe it,” he gasped. “I really thought that they… no, no. I mustn’t let it bother me too much. It wouldn’t have made a lot of difference, regardless… h-hm?”
Glancing at the floor in disappointment, MM’s sight caught hold of a black piece of card resting upon the carpet. Lifting it up, he simply saw an arrow that pointed in the direction of the garden.
Looking around a final time just in case, he decided to heed the call of mystery and make his way outdoors.
Even more confusingly, the garden door was open… but pitch-black on the outside. Yet MM cautiously wandered into the dark regardless.
“...h-hello? Is this where you’ve-”
The quiet ignition of a flame caught his attention, with him hesitantly turning around to find-
“Well, well… we’ve been expecting you, you know.”
“Y-YOU FOUR?! Why- Why are you here?! Why is it so dark, and why do you feel the need to light a…”
Glancing down, the first thing he saw was a cake clad in deep purple icing, and decorated with a starry pattern. The flame was just for the sake of lighting a lone, moon-shaped candle atop it.
In general, the dark area was also soon lit up by some soft strings of light upon the ceiling - revealing itself to have been a tent with a tunnel leading into it all along. Thus creating a majestic, eerie and yet serene party environment. Even with a few presents and spare pillows scattered around, too.
That, and the others were clad in equally dark, starry ensembles.
“Well,” Misty started, “we- we didn’t know if we’d be able to surprise you at first with how observant you were… b-but we decided that making a fake party up to hide the REAL party was a good idea, so-”
“Uh… Misty, look at him.”
“Oh?”
Avery’s comment wasn’t in vain, as MM had just taken on a bit of a sparkly-eyed look. If it could be described in words… well, you could leave that for MM to describe shortly after a soft sigh.
“G-Goodness… to think even I could be outsmarted like such, and in such a kind-hearted way… It’s truly enough to warm an enigmatic man’s heart.”
“Why are you speaking like a grandfather on the brink of death, man?!”
“Lexy, I’m having a genuinely happy moment. Just… look, can I call the shots for what we get up to first?”
“Be our guest, magic man.”
So, that afternoon was spent with MM calling the shots for the celebration that he totally, TOTALLY hadn’t been secretly yearning for all long.
He had started by the choice of investigating the gifts that everyone else had offered out to him. It turned out that he was the type to warrant receiving a star-clad weighted blanket, some lavender bathrobe, a textbook on the history of magic (who even knows how that exists), as well as a CD containing some classical music.
No points for guessing who had given him what.
Things had then led into cake-eating. While the cake had turned out to be a vanilla flavour as opposed to the chocolate or coffee that he PROMISED he hadn’t been dreaming of receiving from his new friends, it’d be stupid to not be grateful for it.
After the group had dispersed, MM was left to his own devices in the tent. After all, it was his ideal location to just mellow out for a while outside of his own room. Dark, quiet, mystical… perfect, no?
While investigating the decorations, some kind of fluffy… thing was found resting behind a spare pillow. Lifting it up with his powers, it certainly wasn’t what he had expected.
Some kind of… big, stuffed plushie of an arctic fox. Didn’t say who it was from, but…
“...oh my goodness. You’re… quite the beautiful thing, aren’t you?”
It was only safe to assume that it was his. Though, something new was for certain.
“Hm… between you and I, I’ll refer to you as… how about moonlight. Mhm, that will do. Well, I suppose I had better make use of all of these comforting things I’ve been given… may have slept in earlier, but a little extra won’t be my death. Let’s see, now…”
He hadn’t been happier to be tricked in his whole life.