Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own That '70s Show or any of it's characters. I do not own or know any of the actors. I do not own any other characters, movies, or shows that are mentioned in this story. I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well! Today I have for you a little onehsot that I wrote last minute but hope you'll still enjoy. Since today is Mr. Kurtwood Smith's birthday, 72 years old today, and because he's such an amazing actor whose work continues to blow me away I wanted to do a little story in his honor. Now I know that Kurtwood Smith will probably never read this story but that's okay! Still wanted to honor and celebrate him besides just rewatching Red's Birthday episode. A quick note though, this is the first Red and Kitty story I have written in MONTHS so please forgive me if it's not the best, slowly getting back into the swing of things. I really hope you all enjoy this story! Thanks for stopping by to read, I hope you like it, please if you can leave a review and lemme know what you think, I would so love to hear your thoughts! I may be a bit rusty in writing RK but after this one, I gotta say I'm looking forward to writing more! Also a big thank you to TvFanaticDayDreamer for helping me last night when I was stuck with wanting to write a story but having no ideas, thanks so much for your help! Thanks to you all for reading again, hope you like, and as always, Enjoy!
Dedication: To one of my all time favorite actors, the wonderful Mr. Kurtwood Smith. Happy Birthday!
Best Birthday Gift
"There's the birthday boy!" Kitty Forman greeted her husband as he walked into the kitchen.
Red gave her a smile and she lifted herself onto her toes so that she could give him a birthday morning kiss. When their kiss ended the couple shared a smile.
"So can that be it?" Red was quick to ask. "Both the start and the end to this whole birthday thing?"
"Well, of course not," Kitty chided slightly. "Today your day, a day to celebrate you! Now, you go sit down, your newspaper is already there, and I'll get you some coffee."
Not wanting to argue with his wife—even if it was his birthday, he wouldn't win this argument—Red did as he was told. He walked over to the kitchen table and sat himself in his usual spot finding, like Kitty had said, his newspaper waiting for him. As he shook the paper open to the front page, Kitty stood at the counter pouring his coffee into a yellow mug.
"So Red, what big plans do you have for today?" Kitty asked excitedly, joining Red at the table and bringing his coffee with her.
"Well, I thought I'd read the paper, drink my coffee," he lifted his mug up a bit, making Kitty's grin grow. "And then carry on like this was any other ordinary day."
Kitty's smile suddenly disappeared and a heartbroken kind of frown took its place. "Red, you can't do that. You can't do nothing. It's your birthday, you have to do something…birthday-y."
"Kitty, I hate birthdays," Red grumbled this reminder.
"Well I love them."
Red frowned, "This isn't your birthday to love, Kitty."
"Alright, fine!" declared Kitty as she stood up from her seat and lifted her hands up in front of her. "If you don't have any plans for what you want to do on your birthday, we'll just follow the ones that I've planned out."
"Oh jeeze," groaned Red in an almost painful way. As soon as he caught the pointed look Kitty was sending him, Red changed his tone and forced on a fake smile, "I mean great!"
Not at all fooled by his sudden mood change, Kitty shook her head and stepped away from the table and towards the stove.
"First things first," she began to say, grabbing a plate of something off the countertop. "A very special birthday breakfast for the special birthday boy!"
Hearing this, Red put his paper down just in time to see his wife place the plate of his birthday breakfast in front of him. It was probably one of the bigger dinning plates that they owned but Kitty had still managed to fill it to a great capacity. There were hot blueberry pancakes, two sunny side up eggs, hash browns, fresh fruit, but there was one item that stood out the most to Red.
"Is that bacon?" he asked, not believing his eyes.
Since his heart attack, bacon had become Red's own version of caviar. It usually cost him a lot when he ate it, maybe not in dollars but with Kitty. The times he ate it were also rare but when he did he savored and enjoyed it as much as he could.
Kitty gave him a twinkling smile, "See, birthdays aren't that bad."
Red found himself smiling and even slightly agreeing with her words. Kitty then leaned in to give him another kiss that was meant to be a quick peck but was turned into something much more when Red kept her in the embrace a little longer. He continued to kiss her, thanking her for showing him that birthdays weren't all bad and for the bacon.
Gently pulling away his lips away from Kitty's, Red continued to stare at her smiling face, smirking just a tad. "Maybe this won't be such a bad day after all."
It was as if the universe had heard Red's words and decided to challenge them because in the next moment the glass sliding door was pulled open and the loud exasperating sounds of a party horn was heard going off before a heavy accented 'Happy birthday!' was exclaimed.
"I take it back," Red muttered to Kitty who had already stood up to get a better look at their visitor.
Fez was standing behind where the married couple were, a shiny blue cone-shaped hat with a green fuzzy bottom rested on top of his head and a great big excited smile stretched across his face. In one hand was the blow-out noisemaker party horn he'd just used and in the other hand were some extra birthday hats similar to his own but in different colors.
"Happy birthday, Mr. Red!" Fez exclaimed before he placed one of the party hats on top of Red's head. Red instantly scowled and yanked that same hat off but Fez didn't seem to mind and his enthusiasm remained unfazed. "Now for a special birthday treat I am going to sing you the happy birthday song from my country."
Since Red was already not a fan of the regular birthday song, he did not want to hear it in some other cockamamie language.
"Do it and I'll show you the happy foot in the ass song from this country."
Fright began to show in Fez's eyes as they looked around nervously and his smile shrank into almost nonexistence. "I always thought it would be more angry," he mused aloud before recalling another surprise he had planned and his joyful grin reappeared. "If I cannot sing to you then I will just skip to the birthday hugs!"
With his arms outstretched, Fez began to approach the already angered and irritated Red. Luckily Kitty stepped in front of Fez and grabbed ahold of his arms to stop him and save them both. She'd saved Red from a hug and had probably saved Fez his life.
"Oh honey, no, no. Don't hug him."
"But…but the tradition," the younger foreigner reminded with a pout.
And Fez was right, in the Forman home birthday hugs were a tradition. The birthday boy or girl would get the number of hugs that matched with their new age. It was a tradition that had started when Eric and Laurie were little and in those days Red had even been the recipient of some of those birthday hugs. Birthday hugs from his little girl and boy. Not from a full grown Fez.
"I know, I know," nodded Kitty. "But if we gave Red a hug for every year he's been alive, we could be here all day!" she ended with one of her famous laughs.
"Thanks," Red mumbled to his still giggling wife.
"Fez, sweetie, what are you doing here?" Kitty asked once she managed to contain her laughter.
Fez grinned, "I'm here to wish my best buddy Red a happy birthday."
He then slapped his hand onto Red's left shoulder but swiftly removed it when he caught the murderous glare Red was sending up at him.
Kitty nervously wrung her hands, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
"Nope."
"Are…are you sure?" Kitty continued to question, making Fez think it over. "Are you sure you don't have to be doing things somewhere else with all the other kids?"
"Oh." The realization hit him and Fez's eyes doubled in size as he realized the mistake he'd made. "Oh! Oh yes! Yes! I am I must go away from here and do things somewhere else that is not here. Aye, I am sorry Miss. Kitty. Happy birthday Mr. Red!"
And then he was gone.
Red continued to frown at the empty space left by Fez then looked at his wife, "What the hell was that?"
A sigh escaped Kitty's lips as she sat back down in her seat, "That was your birthday present."
"That was my gift?"
Kitty giggled briefly, "Well not that but the end of that. You see Red, I wanted to get you something special this year. And since you usually guess what it is I got you from just a few shakes of the box, I did something a little different."
A frown remained indented on Red's forehead as he listened to Kitty's explanation.
"The money that I would have used on your gift I gave to the kids to go do something that would keep them out of the house for the day."
"Let me get this straight," Red said, wanting to make sure he was fully understanding this. "For my birthday you got me my house back? Dumbass-free?"
"All the way till midnight," she informed him with a bright smile.
The grin that Red wore was one of the happiest grins that Kitty had seen him wear in a very, very long time. "This has to be the best birthday presents I could ever imagine, Kitty."
"I'm so glad you like it, honey," Kitty replied and she really did mean it; she was glad that her present to her husband could make him so happy. "And you know the best part is we have all day to enjoy your present, just the two of us."
The grand happy grin Red wore started to appear more excited and mischievous as he heard his wife's reminder. It was a smile that Kitty saw more often, usually when it was just the two of them, but it still made her release her girlish giggle into the air. She felt him press his lips against her cheek and her smile grew.
"Happy birthday, Red."
The End
Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Good? Bad? A little of each? Be sure to let me know in a review! Thanks! :D
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, take care, and have a nice day!
