Happy Eid-ul Fitr and Happy Fang day y'all!!
To explain, Eid-ul Fitr is on the 10th/11th of April and Fang's birthday is on the 13th so I decided to make them in one chapter!
To make it fit the plot, let's twist some things here and there.
In this story, Eid-ul Fitr will be on the 13th, which will overlap with Fang's birthday. Is that clear?
Then let's start!
"ABCxyz" = Japanese
"ABCxyz" = English
"ABCxyz" = Bahasa Melayu/Malaysian
ABCxyz = Character Card
ABCxyz = Voice over
[bolded square brackets] = author's note/commentary
=================
"Beep, beep!"
Two beeps of his alarm was all it took to wake up Fang. He was awake, but hadn't moved a single muscle, still lying on his bed.
Today was the day.
Today was his birthday.
Contrary to popular belief, Fang has never once forgotten his birthday and has always loved them. Well, until he met the rest of Kokotiam that is.
He LOVED receiving the attention one usually gets on their birthday. He also LOVES getting presents.
And of course, the highlight of everything; the carrot cakes, carrot cupcakes and carrot snacks.
He was so excited. What had his friends prepared for him this year he wondered.
He got up, looking for his phone. After a few minutes of struggle, he managed to find it and checked the time.
12.00AM
Saturday, 13th April
Okay. So maybe he was a little too excited? But in his defence, who wouldn't??
He sighed, putting his phone down. He looked across the room, Boboiboy and Gopal sleeping peacefully in their bunk beds.
You see, the apartment they rented out was rather small, only having 2 bedrooms. Of course, the girls shared a room and so did the boys.
Both Yaya and Ying slept in bunk beds that Gopal had made from a futon, with 4 sticks at each corner to act as a pillar and on top of that was another futon.
After all, Gopal can't change something small like a table to a bunk bed. The things he changes must be of the same size as what he is going to change it into.
And so, that was the logic they used to make bunk beds for the Y&Y duo, Boboiboy and Gopal. Fang got a single (as in a single bed) because they ran out of sticks and there was no need for another bunk bed anyway.
Both Ochobot and Cattus slept on the floor anyway. Well not on the floor but they have their own "beds".
None of that was really important at the moment though. Fang off his bed and crept slowly towards the door.
Now. What was he going to do in the glorious hours of 12AM you may ask? Nothing.
He WOULD scroll through things like YouTube, Tiktok on his phone. He sometimes researches as well but it was his birthday for goods sake. He wanted to do something different.
[Here's a floor plan that I didn't create but it was similar to what I imagined sooo.... Ignore the sizes btw.
And for the "closet" near the door, imagine it as the laundry room instead. The boys are on the left since that room has 2 windows for 2 beds and the girls and on the right]
Surprisingly, the light in the kitchen, which was usually off to save electricity, was on.
He wondered which one of the idiots had gotten a late night snack and had forgotten to turn off the light.
Oh well, he had better turn it off before Yaya and Ying wake up the next morning, ready to kill whoever was responsible for it.
Until he noticed Yaya and Ying sitting on the dining table. He stared at them and they stared back.
Panic started creeping onto his face "W-wait! I wasn't responsible for turning on the lights!!" He tried to clear himself of a crime[?] he didn't commit
"We know." Ying said blatantly. Now that he notices it, they were both cutting up ingredients.
His eyes sparkled. Did they wake up at 12:00 to make him a birthday breakfast?? He was so happy.
The girls were watching a late night TV show while cutting, peeling ingredients so he sat down across the table. "What are you guys making?" He asked the girls. "Lots of things." Yaya replied, a tired look in her eyes.
"And for what exactly?" Fang continued questioning them. "Fang.. Do you not know what day it is today?" Yaya asked, a bit concerned.
Fang smirked. "Would you care to tell me?" He played the fool. Closing his eyes, eagerly waiting for their answer.
"It's Eid-ul Fitr!" Yaya exclaimed.
Huh?
That wasn't right
He whipped his head towards the wall behind him, since they had placed a few pictures and a calendar there.
And sure enough was that under the date of the 13th of April was, circled and written in red, 'Eid-ul Fitr!!'
He looked disappointed. He slammed the table. "No, that's not what I meant! Do you guys not know what the day is today?!" He raised his voice.
He realised what he just did and muttered an apology under his breath. The girls just stared at him. He flinched before properly apologizing to them both.
He went back to his shared room before quickly getting out. He had changed his clothes into warmer clothes as if he was going out.
He approached Yaya and Ying and apologized once again before pausing for a second. "I'm... going out for a bit." He bit his lip.
"At 12AM?" The girls questioned. "Yeah, I want to blow off some steam, once I get back, I promise to help you with cooking." He promised.
The girls stared amongst themselves before Yaya sighed, "Sure. Just make sure you keep the GPS on your watch active at all times and make sure to bring your phone. And don't be out for too long okay?" She nagged.
Fang stifled a laugh. Yaya never changes with her worried mother's antics. But that's what he loved about his friends, no matter how big the fight, they were all very understanding of each other.
He bid the two girls a farewell and locked the door behind him. He noticed it was snowing, although VERY lightly.
Weird. It's not meant to be snowing, it's meant to be Spring. Nobody likes snow when it's supposed to be Spring.
He leaned on the railing in front of his apartment. He did say he wanted to blow off some steam, but what can he do when it's snowing like this?
Fang went down the stairs anyway. He kept on walking and walking, with no purpose. He just did. Whenever he felt tired, he sat, snuggling into his shadow scarf he made since it was colder than he thought.
After resting, he would again just continue walking, admiring the city lights. He kept on walking and walking until he came across what looked like a.. bakery?
He entered the bakery out of curiosity and boy.
He had always had the "Curiosity kills the cat" mentality but this time it was "Curiosity rewards the cat".
He had hit the jackpot. This bakery was a carrot focused bakery! They had everything!
Carrot cakes, carrot cupcakes, carrot sweets, pain au chocolat with carrot toppings!! They even served carrot smoothies!
This right here, was Fang's haven.
"Ah, welcome!" An employee welcomed Fang. Fang analysed the employee who was a rabbit, unexpected but it makes sense.
Fang stepped towards the counter, they mostly had carrot cakes and whatnot on the counter and carrot pastries on the outer side, shaping an upside down U.
"I'll take 10 carrot donuts and 5 carrot muffins. I also want carrot tea, warm please." Fang ordered.
He paid for his donut stuff and went on his merry way back home. He had spent about an hour or so anyway.
------
He sent a ping to Yaya and Ying's watches saying that he was back home. He then unlocked the door, "I'm back!" He said.
"Welcome back" The girls, the Boboiboys and Gopal replied. Fang took of his shoes and headed towards the dining table where they were all.
He dumped his bag worth of carrot treats on the table "I found a carrot shop while I was out, have some. It's really good." Fang offered them.
They all declined though. "Anyways, since when did you two, uh nine of you guys" Fang pointed towards the Boboiboys and Gopal, "wake up? At 1AM at that." He asked them.
"We were just sleeping until Yaya and Ying finished preparing the ingredients that took only like 15 minutes so that we could help them cook." Quake explained.
Fang replied with an 'Oh'. "Anything I need to help with?" He asked.
"You should go change your clothes Fang, you've been out for awhile, it's not sanitary." Ice suddenly said. Weird.
But Ice had a point. It's not very sanitary for him, who had been out in the city for about an hour to suddenly help with cooking.
"Alright then."
-----
After a quick bath and a change of clothes, Fang came out of the room to the delicious smell of all sorts of things; Curry, Rendang and Soup.
The kitchen was rather... chaotic. TTM and Thunderstorm was put in charge of the rice related stuff which means Ketupat, Lontong, Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng) and Yellow Rice (Nasi Kuning).
Why so many types of rice you may ask? Because Rice is a South-East Asian's pride and joy. We cannot physically and mentally live without rice.
At the moment they were focusing on the ketupat. Thorn was teaching TTM and Thunderstorm how to make ketupat. Blaze kept messing up the folds and Cyclone kept laughing at his terrible failures.
"It's not like you're any better Cycy" Thorn remarked, pointing at Cyclone's lofty ketupat. Thunderstorm just ignored them, sighing every now and then, making ketupat at lightning speed, since he was after all the lightning element.
Ice wasn't sleeping at least. He actively helped the others cook so that was a good thing. He and Solar were making the cookies! Eid without cookies is like cooking rice without water. Ice liked this specific cookie called "Snow Princess Cookies". The cookie was just a normal cookie but covered with a mixture of milk powder and tons of sugar giving it a 'snow like appearance'.
They had been baking for awhile and while they were waiting for the cookies to bake, they put the already baked cookies into jars for them to eat later after they have their meal or as a snack whenever. At Yaya's request they decided to wrap ribbons around the jars.
"Hey Ice, does this look good?" Solar asked as he tied a ribbon to the edge of the cookie jar. Ice stared at the atrociously looking ribbon and without missing a beat he replied with an instant "No." earning a hurt expression from Solar. "Couldn't you have like not instantly said it doesn't look good?" He said, his ego obviously took a massive hit.
Quake, Gopal, Yaya and Ying were the main chefs. They all had different things that they were cooking.
Quake was put in charge of the Lemang. Gopal was in charge of Rendang, Yaya was in charge of Spicy Fried Chickens and Chicken Sate (Satay), while Ying was put in charge of the Soup. With lots of carrots mind you.
To cook Spicy Fried Chicken was quite easy. You just have to marinate it for about 5 hours or overnight and then fry it. Make a chili paste and mix.
How exactly do you cook it you may not ask? It is quite simple. I will quote the process from "Kokotiam's Cookbook for Survival on other Planets".
Of course, you first have to clean the chicken and cut it into bite size pieces.
The next step is to marinate it. All it takes is a little bit of flour, white pepper, salt, garlic powder, coriander and powdered nutmeg. Add some water and all you have to do is mix it with the chicken and leave it in the fridge to marinate.
The sate uses similar ingredients. However, you do not need flour but some sweet soy sauce [not the east asian ones, i'm talking south east asian sweet soy sauce]. Leave it to marinate for about 5 hours or overnight.
You CAN technically use a pan to grill the sate, but it's better to grill it using an open fire, the latter tastes wayy better. The sauce when you grill it is only a mixture of butter and sweet soy sauce, after all the chicken has been properly seasoned.
Please buy "Kokotiam's Cookbook for Survival on other Planets" for further information on various dishes. We are even throwing a 50% discount if you buy "Yaya's Pastry Guide - Cookies and Cakes" only for the low price 122 Million and 12 cents!!
[Brought to you by the sponsor of this chapter, BagoGo.]
"Hey, what do you guys want me to help with?" Fang asked them. There wasn't much to do in the first place but he wanted to help out somehow.
"Fang! Can you help me with the Lemang?" Quake requested, "Sure".
-----
Finally, in the glorious hour of 4AM. They had finished cooking everything. Ah but the ketupat was still cooking, you need to steam them for about 5 hours minimum.
"Ahhhh, I'm so tired!" Gopal complained. "Right! I'm so.. sleepyyy" Boboiboy, who had already merged back yawned.
"I mean we did spend 4 hours cooking for Eid-ul Fitr" Yaya sweat dropped, it isn't that long, but the fact that they did it so early in the morning made it seem like they were cooking for half a day.
But they couldn't afford cooking at like 6AM or 9AM as after Boboiboy and Yaya pray Fajr, they all usually go back to sleep until like 7/8AM.
Of course, this schedule was their "in this world schedule', if they had woken up any later then they might've already been thrown out of their beds by Admiral Tarung. Boboiboy and Gopal shuddered at the thought.
In the end, Yaya told everyone to go back to sleep.
Fang reluctantly went back to sleep, he was still waiting for them to say "Happy Birthday" to him.
No way they forgot about his birthday, right?
RIGHT?
Fang shut his eyes as he laid on his bed. Maybe they'll remember in the morning. Hopefully they do.
Morning came and none of them remembered at all.
I mean, it was a day of celebration for Boboiboy and Yaya who were both Muslims, and Kokotiam, being the respectful and tolerant people they are, have always celebrated each other's holidays.
But still... Fang's reasonable side of his brain could understand why they could forget, but still!!
Fang kept sighing for that entire day.
-----
"Pardon the intrusion!" The Midoriya's entered the Kokotiam Gang's apartment. Apparently, Yaya wanted to invite Inko and Izuku over to celebrate with them.
"Meow!" Cattus ran towards Inko, Cattus really liked Inko. After all, she was the one that took care of him while the Kokotiam were at school.
"Ah Cattus! Hello!" Inko picked up Cattus, who was rather tame, considering how sassy and aggressive it was most of the time.
The Midoriya's were nervous to say the least. They knew almost NOTHING about Islam, much less about a holiday. However, their neighbours were just kind enough to invite them for a brunch which was more like a feast to be honest.
And so, when Cattus came up to them, they felt less nervous. Especially with Ochobot around who taught them respectfully about what Eid-ul Fitr was.
Inko was relatively calmer, Izuku on the other hand was VERY jumpy. Boboiboy, Gopal, Yaya and Ying were painfully aware of Izuku's paranoid antics.
Flashback to a few days before
"Eh? You want me to make a carrot cake for Fang's birthday tomorrow?" Inko asked, confused. "Yes. Sorry to ask you this big favour, but Fang has this ability where he can smell the existence of Carrots in a radius of 10 meters." Ochobot explained.
"Ah I see. So you want to surprise Fang?" Izuku asked, peeking his head out his room. He was studying but happened to overhear their conversation, "Sorry Ocho,, I just happened to overhear what you were talking about.." Izuku shyly confessed, tapping on his neck
"In short, yes." Ochobot replied.
Kokotiam had always wanted to pull a surprise party/prank on Fang, but he always kept noticing it, so their plans to surprise him always failed.
But this year, with Eid overlapping with his birthday, it's reasonable to forget about it right?
And so, the two Midoriya made Fang's birthday carrot cake. They even made it in the shape of a carrot. God bless these two souls.
-----
After making sure everyone was seated, Yaya used her quirk to lift up the food from the kitchen counter to the table.
The delicious smell of the Rendang and the refreshing smell of the Ketupat was enough to make anyone hungry, even the author herself who has been craving Red Meat Curry these days.
Everyone watched Inko as she picked up her chopsticks, Inko who felt their stares just smiled, "It's okay. Just eat, after all, I'm not the host" She reassured them.
Soon enough, the hungry children began to eat the food they had prepared.
It was a sight. A really heart warming one.
Just a few teenagers enjoying the food they made.
Inko teared up at the scene. Yes, they were boisterously loud and chaotic, but the important thing here was the pleasant and comforting atmosphere.
-----
Although Fang was slightly sad about no one remembering that today was his birthday, he didn't mind.
The fact that he and his friends are enjoying themselves is enough. His pride was nothing in front of his friends, he appreciates them too much.
Content with the food, Fang stood up, about to excuse himself when Ochobot suddenly pushed him down back on his chair.
Taking it as a cue, Boboiboy used wind to roll down the curtains making it extra dark. Everything was dead silent and very dark for a few seconds.
Fang was extremely confused, until he saw a small fireball approaching something, lighting it on fire.
"Happy birthday to you..." Voices suddenly started singing, "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday dear Fang~~ Happy birthday to you!" His friends and Inko sang.
He saw Izuku holding a carrot shaped cake with purple candles on top. "So you guys didn't forget!!" Fang's eyes shone from the reflection of the candle.
"Of course not! We'd never forget your birthday, you purple porcupine!" Gopal laughed. Fang got triggered at the "purple porcupine" but he'll let it go for once.
"Hehe, happy birthday Fang!" Boboiboy grinned, passing him a small envelope.
Fang opened the envelope to see a card that read "Bunnix's Carrot Bakery - Membership Card Discount (Up to 15%!!!)".
"Wait. Wasn't this the shop I went to-" Fang asked, "Yeah! Ying got it for you as a little birthday gift!" Boboiboy answered. Of course, they had prepared multiple gifts for Fang despite their limited budget.
To ask when Ying did it is like asking if you breathe. She travelled half the globe for ice in half a second, who says she can't get a membership from a shop not so far away in a few seconds.
Fang teared up, well slightly.
He was touched. His friends didn't forget his birthday after all!
"Well? Cut the cake, birthday boy!" Gopal smiled.
He felt the happiness he felt this morning; after walking for so long in the cold, he had found the shop of his dreams.
This was similar. After lamenting over the fact that his friends 'forgot' his birthday, this sudden surprise made him so happy.
Fang cut the cake, he just thought that it was a carrot shaped cake but it was in fact a carrot shaped carrot cake! [So many carrots...]
This was probably one of the best things that has happened to him since he came to this world.
Yeah, no.
It's THE best thing that has happened to him since he got here.
=================
Oh wow.
This chapter feels so incredibly rushed.
Well considering that I made it at like 10PM to 12AM...
I hope you enjoyed it though.
Happy Eid-ul Fitr to my fellow muslims!!
Mohon maaf lahir dan batin<3
Extra:
Me and my family went to the mall :P
Face reveal? 👀 ⁉️
It's blurry asf but oh well, can just blame my ugliness on the blurriness 😔🔫
Also, my grandma came to visit us :>
Anyways, Eid (for me) was 2 days ago on the 10th. For some other people it was on the 11th, we all know Fang's birthday in on the 13th so I decided to post this chapter right in the middle, the 12th.
I tried symbolizing Fang's "hardships" but I lowk jst kinda like totally gave up completely... This sentence doesn't make sense at all..
I suck at fluff, wholesome moments, angst and pretty much everything. I 'd say I'm pretty decent in describing OP moments and making people laugh [who am I kidding].. But you have to admit, I AM pretty funny.. sometimes. But still!!
Please check out my two other books:>
^This one has a completely new plot btw!
^ And this one is more like a one shot/scenarios of both books!!
So uh yeah... That's it.
See y'all soon again
Date Published: 12:00AM. Fri, April 12th 2024
Date Finished: 02:25PM, Wed, April 10th 2024
Word Count: 3432.