Aru Shah One Shots

Leaping Through The Years

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so this is a special one-shot for mini's bday, cuz everyone knows how special that is. for now, pretend that they all go to the same college and live in the same area.

Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez woke up like any normal human being on any normal day. She turned off her alarm, brushed her teeth, showered, changed, grabbed her phone, and walked downstairs . . . where, instead of finding her fruit bowl and scrambled eggs for breakfast, she found Potatoes.

"What are you doing here—" she began to say, then took in the scene. Her house had been completely redecorated. Streamers hung from doorways and balloons bounced around, some taped to the walls. A giant pile of presents sat on the kitchen counter, and in the midst of it all was a huge banner that said HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, YAMINI KAPOOR-MERCADO-LOPEZ! From the fancy calligraphy used, Mini guessed it was made by Hira. But what was it doing here?

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MINI!" everyone (Aru, Brynne, Hira, Aiden, and Rudy) chorused. It took a second for that to register.

"Oh," she said at first. Then an even louder "Oh." Then, in the most un-Mini-like squeal ever, she said, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" Her phone began vibrating, so she opened it to find a stream of never-ending wishes.

watermelanie: happy bday bbg!! 🎂 🎉 🥳 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎂🎂🎂

siva.karthik: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINI!!!

Kayla_Brent: The Stanford staff wishes you a happy 20th birthday, Yamini! 🥳 

More replaced the older notifications as soon as they came in. Her hands started tingling as the vibrations turned violent, so she turned off all notifications and set the phone aside. She'll dig through everything later.

"Aren't you supposed to be packing?" Mini asked, even though she knew the answer.

"It's your birthday," Rudy said with a big grin. "And it only happens once in four years, so . . ."

Mini sighed. "Please don't tell me we're postponing the trip."

"Technically, we're not, since it was originally planned that way. We had to secretly make up for the days lost to celebration so you wouldn't yell at us," Aru informed her, hooking an arm around her shoulders and steering her towards the door. "Now, let's go!"

Mini cast a desperate glance back at Aiden and Hira. "Please don't tell me you went along with this?"

Their shrugs said No choice.

"First off, Rudy's house!" Brynne commanded, and they all marched out the door.

"Brynne, is this really a good idea?" Mini asked, stumbling around in a blind fold.

"Yep. Now just follow Aru's voice," Brynne instructed, placing a hand on Mini's shoulders and steering her in a different direction. "That was a pole, by the way."

Mini sighed, adjusting her blindfold. "How much longer?"

"Almost there!" Aru called out. Mini heard scuffling up ahead, then Aiden's voice say, "You're not even the one wearing the blindfold. Watch where you're going, dumbass!"

"I'm the dumbass who should watch where I'm going? You're the one who just stepped in a pile of dog shit," Aru shot back.

Aiden swore and hit his shoe against the pavement. "Ignore the dog shit. You should be able to see where you're going, regardless. Even Mini's doing better than you."