(Name)sat in her car seat holding her teddy bear while Francis drove with Arthur sitting in the backseat with (Name). “Where are we going, Artie?” (Name) asked.
“We’re going to go get some fireworks, love,” Arthur said. “We’re going to use them as a surprise for your brothers. Their birthdays are coming up this week, remember?”
“Besides, we should be able to throw a surprise for them since they threw one for us on Father’s Day,” Francis said. “But remember, mon chéri, that you have to keep it a surprise or else it’ll be ruined.”
“I know.” She already learned that from Alfred and Matthew not too long ago. She wouldn’t be able to say anything about it until the surprise was ready.
“And you also can’t play with the fireworks,” Arthur said. “They’re dangerous and you could get hurt if you don’t use them right.”
(Name) puffed her cheeks out and pouted. “But I wanna surprise Alfie and Mattie too.”
“I know you do, but you can’t handle or go anywhere near the fireworks. Just let Francis and I handle that, okay?”
“Then what am I gonna do?”
“You can go and get Alfred and Matthew when we finish setting up, but tell them to stay inside for a while.”
“Fine.” That didn’t sound to fun to her, but what other choice did she have if she couldn’t handle the fireworks? Francis parked outside of the fireworks store and went inside with Arthur and Francis. “Can we make hamburgers for Alfie and pancakes for Mattie?” (Name) asked.
“That’s not a bad idea actually,” Arthur said. “Good thinking, (Name). I could make a few of those when we get home.”
“Actually just let me handle that part and you can handle the fireworks,” Francis said in a rush. “No one wants you burning the kitchen again.”
“My cooking is not that bad, you frog!” Arthur folded his arms and turned away from Francis. “And it was only half of the kitchen I’ll have you know!”
“It was still horrible to clean up after you, Angleterre. I don’t want to do that again anytime soon.”
“Oh just shut up and do the cooking then.” Arthur picked (Name) up and took her to get some candy while Francis went to get fireworks from inside of the store. Once they were finished they met back up outside of the fireworks store and started heading home.
Arthur carried (Name) inside while Francis took the box of fireworks out to the back. “Now remember, (Name), keep them in here until we call all of you outside, okay?”
“Okay!” (Name) said enthusiastically as she held her candy in one hand and her teddy bear in the other. She went upstairs to Alfred and Matthew’s room and jumped onto their beds. “Wake up, sleepyheads!”
“Woah!” Alfred woke up with a jolt and put his glasses on before scooping (Name) up into his arms. “Morning, shorty.”
“Or more like afternoon really,” Matthew said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and putting his glasses on. “I would’ve gotten up earlier if Alfred hadn’t stayed up all night playing video games.”
“Hey you were playing too.” Alfred sat down on the floor and sat (Name) down on his lap.
“Only because you kept asking me to.” Matthew stretched and yawned before moving out of bed. “Where’s Arthur and Francis?”
“They’re… Uh.. They went out somewhere,” (Name) said. “You two have to look after me while they’re gone.”
“Okay then, kiddo” Alfred said. “So what do you want to do until they get back?”
“Well, can we play video games together, Alfie?”
“I don’t think those kinds of games are suited for your ag-“ Matthew started before he was cut off by Alfred. “Heck yeah!”
Matthew sighed and crawled out of bed. “You’re going to scar her for life with your games.”
“Aw don’t worry, she’ll be fine.” Alfred leaned up and turned on the Xbox and handing her a controller. “It’ll be fun! Just uh… Don’t tell Francis or Arthur I let you play this, alright?”
“Okay!” Alfred and (Name) waited for the game to load before they started to play. Matthew just sat down next to them and let Alfred hand him the third controller.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alfred, Matthew, and (Name) played video games for the next couple of hours before Alfred finally decided to pause the game and stretch. “Man I could really go for a Coke right now.” Alfred started to get up but (Name) jumped up instead.
“I’ll get it!” She put the Xbox controller down on the floor and went out of the bedroom and ran down to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door and reached for a Coke before she heard Arthur come in through the kitchen door.
“Hey, (Name). We’ve got everything set up now so go ahead and bring your brothers down here.”
“Alright!” (Name) closed the refrigerator door and rushed back up to Alfred and Matthew. “Francis and Arthur want to see you!”
Alfred jolted and cut off the television screen. “Oh crap, did they figure out I was letting you play an R rated video game?”
“Wait, I thought they were out somewhere,” Matthew said.
“Just come down here!” (Name) grabbed both of their hands and got them to stand up before she led them downstairs and then out to the backyard.
“What’s all this about, (Name)?” Matthew said as he and Alfred followed her outside.
“You’ll see just come on.” Alfred and Matthew got outside and saw Arthur and Francis sitting out at the picnic table with their favorite food laid out.
“Woah, what’s going on?” Alfred said, drooling over the hamburgers.
“Is it some kind of special occasion or something?” Matthew asked.
“Don’t tell me you two have forgotten your own birthdays,” Arthur said. “We decided to celebrate it early since they’re so close together.”
“Oh yeah, they are this week, aren’t they?” Matthew said.
“Why of course,” Francis said. “What else would we be celebrating?”
“Come on and have a seat,” Arthur said. “The fireworks are about to go off.”
“Dude, there are fireworks?!” Alfred said, getting more and more excited. “This is awesome!” Alfred practically leaped into his seat. Matthew picked (Name) up and sat down in the table, sitting her down in his lap as he took a plate. He cut up a few pieces of pancake and hamburger meat for name and took a few pancakes for his own plate. Alfred made four hamburgers for himself and looked up into the sky, anticipating the fireworks.
Francis pushed a button on a small remote and they all watched as the night sky lit up with fireworks. (Name) smiled and watched the fireworks go off with everyone else. “Aren’t they pretty, (Name)?” Matthew said.
“Very pretty.” (Name) giggled and hugged Matthew and Alfred as the fireworks continued to go off. “Happy birthday.”
Alfred and Matthew took (Name) into their arms and hugged her tight. “Thank you, sis,” they said in unison.
“So you’re still not going to tell them I let you play those video games, right?” Alfred whispered to (Name).
Francis and Arthur looked towards Alfred, who obviously wasn’t the best at whispering. “You did what?!”
