Have a long chapter~
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Goth opened his sockets as the world formed around him; once everything had snapped into place, he reached his hand up to knock on his dad's office door. Reaper's voice called out from the other side to come in and the smaller skeleton pushed the door open without hesitation. The elder greeted him with a smile, "Hey kiddo, how'd it go?"
"Nothing too out of the ordinary," Goth reported, pulling the roll of parchment from his pocket to hand over, "One of the older humans got a little angry, but he was easier to talk to once I figured out he was mad because he mistook me for a kid working a dangerous job."
"Heh, I wish I coulda seen the look on his face when he realized how old ya actually are," Reaper chuckled as they accepted the list. "Speaking of age...," the skeleton set the paper aside and leaned over the desk, "Someone's a year older today."
"Eh?" Blinking in surprise, Goth's eye light glazed over as he mentally counted out the days... and realized it was his birthday today.
Reaper laughed, their sockets pinching in mirth, "You forgot, didn't you?"
He could hardly be blamed when it was at the beginning of the month; the day always snuck up on him! The smaller's cheeks puffed up in indignation, "You're one to talk! You never remember holidays; I bet mom had to remind you!"
"Guilty as charged," the god shrugged, quirking their socket, "though I'm surprised ya didn't realize it until now; I would've thought Palette'd be banging down your door wishing ya happy birthday first thing this morning."
Goth's mood sank along with his gaze as he explained, "Palette wasn't home when I woke up this morning; he left a note saying he went out to get something."
"Ah, sounds like he's getting something together; I should go ahead and give ya this so ya can be on your way, then," Reaper leaned over to reach behind their desk and Goth's curiosity had him on his tiptoes to see past the metal surface; his socket widened as a brightly colored box was revealed and handed over with the prompt, "Go ahead and open it."
Goth eagerly reached for the box, sliding his finger across the taped underside to quickly remove the paper and ribbon covering his present. The wrappings fell away and he read the text on the box with an air of wonder, "Starry sky... rotating LED projector..."
"Your mom reminded me earlier this week and this is what we decided on after some brainstorming," looking up from the box, Goth noticed a hint of apprehension in his dad's expression, "... ya like it?"
Setting the box on the floor, Goth dispelled that uncertainty by running around the desk and throwing himself into Reaper's lap for a hug, "It's perfect, thank you so much!"
A pair of arms wrapped around him as the older skeleton laughed, "Guess that gift put you over the moon."
Goth snickered into the elder's cloak, "Yeah, it's out of this world."
Reaper barked out a laugh, nudging him to release him from the hug, "As fun as this is, I shouldn't keep ya any longer; I still have plenty of papers to get through and I'm sure there's a certain someone who's waiting with a surprise of his own."
Crawling out of his dad's lap, Goth retrieved his gift and smiled, "Thanks again; I'll make sure to call mom later, too."
"Sounds like a plan. Have fun kiddo," Reaper waved, his visage dissolving as Goth teleported back to the front of the apartment complex... where black smoke was drifting through his apartment's cracked window.
Goth's soul lept into his throat as he dashed up the stairs and threw open the front door, quickly identifying the kitchen as the source as the fire alarm in the living room shrieked to life. Tossing his gift onto the couch and making a detour to the closet where the fire extinguisher was kept, he rushed back into the kitchen as another door opened farther down the hall and a voice yelled, "Oh stars!"
Ignoring the exclamation and homing in on the stove, Goth hastily turned everything off and grabbed a dishtowel to wrench the oven door open; a cloud of acrid smoke and heat rushed out at him to join the smoke coming from the pots on the burners as he stepped back, aimed the nozzle of the fire extinguisher at the center of the opening, and pressed the trigger.
Palette rounded the corner and shouted, "Goth?!"
"Open the windows!" the smaller skeleton yelled back, sweeping the nozzle back and forth to cover the oven in its entirety. Footsteps raced around the house to follow his instructions and within a minute, the fire alarm fell silent.
"That was a surprise, all right...," Goth muttered, leaning back against the counter and wiping his face with his sleeve. He tilted his skull to get a good look at the pan of charred and soggy... something within the oven; it looked like a Cornish Hen, but he couldn't be sure. The pots on the stove looked to be the remnants of blackened green beans and potatoes.
"I'm so sorry...," Palette was standing in the doorway with a broom in-hand looking ashamed, "I wanted to surprise you with dinner and a cake; I already finished the cake so it could cool down in the fridge, but I guess I forgot to set the timer for the main course and got distracted."
"It's fine; I was more worried something happened to you," the smaller said, glancing around the kitchen, "It doesn't look like there was any damage to the kitchen either, so all's well that ends well."
Palette walked past Goth to pull the inedible mess from the oven, his voice heavy with disappointment, "It's going to take forever to buy another mini chicken, get everything cleaned, and cook it all again."
In an effort to lighten the mood, Goth offered, "Maybe we can make something else instead? We should still have the ingredients for spaghetti carbonara; that shouldn't take very long-"
"That sounds great!" Palette cheered, sweeping Goth into a hug and spinning him around the kitchen, only stopping to say, "Wait... how do I make that?"
Goth laughed as he was set down, "I know how to make it; we can do it together."
"Are you sure?" the taller inquired, "You do most of the cooking and today's supposed to be your day, plus you just got home from work."
"I'm sure," Goth smiled at his roommate's thoughtfulness, "it'll be more fun to make it together and it'll go faster, too."
Accepting the explanation, Palette "Okay then, I'll get the stove cleaned up while you pull out what we need?"
With the tasks doled out, the pair got to work; by the time everything was set out on the counter, the stovetop and oven were wiped down and the baking racks were drying on one side of the sink. Fifteen minutes of cooking and chatter later, they were both carrying plates out to the living room.
"What's this?" Palette asked, setting down his plate to pick up the box on the couch.
"My gift from mom and dad; it's a star projector," Goth explained, perking up in excitement, "Hold on, I can set it up and show you!"
Opening the box and finding an outlet, he set the globe on the table and flipped the switch. Palette looked at the sparkles on the ceiling in mild confusion until Goth turned off the overhead light and the room was showered in a blanket of glittering lights.
He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds as Palette softly murmur, "Woah..."
Joining them by the couch, Goth pulled the skeleton into a sitting position and picked their plates up from the table, handing theirs over with a chuckle, "You'll catch flies like that."
Palette snapped their mouth shut and took the plate with a sheepish smile, reaching for their fork to dig in. Dinner consisted mostly of Goth talking about his day when his roommate refused to divulge anything involving their activities. The taller monster finished first, rushing into the kitchen with their plate, down the hallway leading to the bedrooms, and back into the kitchen with a small gift bag.
Light from the fridge illuminated the doorway to the kitchen followed by a click and a smaller light source appearing; it got closer until Palette appeared in the doorway with a small cake covered in candles, a pair of plates and forks, a small knife, and a bag dangling from his wrist. The skeleton began singing, cracking a bit when hitting the high notes as they carried the cake over to the table, but Goth was more taken in by the cake. The cake had detailed icing drawings of monarch butterflies resting on clusters of leaves, right down to the small specks of white lining the tips of the wings; the lights from the projector dancing across the cake gave off the illusion of movement as it was set down.
The song ended and Goth blew out the candles, Palette readied the knife to cut him a slice as the smaller lamented, "I almost feel bad about cutting into it; this must've taken hours to decorate."
"Cakes are made to be enjoyed," Palette countered, plating the slice with a butterfly on it and handing it over, "besides, I had fun decorating it." Goth hummed as he consumed the first bite, enjoying the sweetness of the frosting and fluffy texture of the cake. "Hehe, you look like a kitten with a bowl of cream," his companion laughed, digging into the corner of his own slice with their fork.
Goth pouted at the comment, stabbing into the cake and popping the large piece into his mouth in defiance; Palette burst out laughing, which eventually spread to the smaller until he almost choked. Afterward, the pair settled and went back to enjoying their food around small talk. The clatter of forks hitting empty plates heralded Palette presenting the bag they had been toting around earlier with a wide grin, "Happy Birthday, Goth!"
Taking the bag, he parted the tissue paper to find something silver peeking out; reaching his hands in to feel cool metal, he pulled out what he initially assumed was a metal figure... but changed his assessment when colored glass became visible. Goth's sockets widened as he pulled out a pair of intricate stained glass monarch butterflies attacked to a thin metal vine. "It's beautiful...," he breathed, holding the piece from the top of the vine.
"I'm glad you like it; it took a solid week to get all the details just right," Palette sighed in relief, "I'm glad I remembered about the food coloring for the cake this morning."
He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Palette made the present, but he was still amazed at their skill nonetheless. Gently clutching the butterflies to his chest, he made sure to show his appreciation, "I love it, thank you! This would be perfect on my bedroom window; I'll need to get something so I can hang it."
"Oh, there should be some string and a suction cup in the bag to do that," Palette cheerfully informed him. Goth rifled through the bag at the prompt; sure enough, the items were at the bottom.
Looping the string around the curled top of the metallic vine and threading it through the hole in the suction cup, Goth dashed to his room to hang his gift. Entering his room, the moonlight filtering through the window gave him enough light to find a good spot for the butterflies.
Stepping back to admire the art piece, he smiled at the colorful reflection it created on the floor. "I hope I was able to make up for not being able to wish you happy birthday this morning," Palette murmured behind him.
Goth spun around, jumping into Palette to hug him; he was easily caught by the taller skeleton, enjoying the arms wrapped around him as he murmured, "You've more than made up for it; I can't imagine a better birthday."
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Word Count: 2,033