Work Text:
John didn't expect everyone to be present.
He had no reason to assume everyone forgot his birthday. Every year—with the exclusion of some, which shall not mentioned—he had always seen Dave, Rose and Jade at his house.
They all lived considerably far away from him. Not even Jade herself knew where she lived, but even so, they have all been present at his birthday parties ever since his thirteenth. That was the day they all backed out from the game. The day in which—somehow—the world had not ended. The day in which John turned thirteen.
But enough dwelling in the past. John swung his door open at five in the morning and saw Jade, wearing a green dress Rose's alien girlfriend had sewn her ages past. Back when communing with aliens was still a thing from movies.
"Didn't expect to see you here so—" John tried to say.
"You always say that!" Jade rebutted before he could even finish.
"Fine," John said, "be aware you're going to have to wait a long time for Dave and Rose to get here."
Jade nodded, and made herself home. She sat by the table and pulled out some sort of pseudo-alien-Gameboy-esque game console, and tapped away at it until Rose arrived—which wasn't a lot later, only at about seven AM.
Rose didn't say a word, but sat right by Jade.
John tried starting up a chat, but the girls were too lost in their own internal worlds to talk. John could swear he heard them talk to each other, but every time he neared the table any apparent chatting would turn into silence.
Dave was the last to arrive. John didn't expect him to be there early, but arriving at five PM was a bit much.
"Sorry, dude," Dave apologized. "My bro did some—"
"It's okay," John cuts him then and there. He knew Dave's brother was an asshole to say the least but he didn't want that ruining his birthday.
Not that anything could ruin the join the joy he felt when he saw the cake his dad set out on the table. Complete with green and purple candles and red frosting, it didn't match John, but it matched his friends.
And that was all that mattered.
"This shit's awesome," Dave said. It tasting awesome also mattered just a little bit, as well.