As soon as the doorbell buzzed, someone familiar shouted "I'm opening!" Noiz flinched at hearing the voice. He had been aware, of course, of the fact that he wasn't going to be the only guest, but he still didn't know if he was going to be able to face all of Aoba's friends during the whole evening. He tried not to grunt when that guy in the red kimono opened the door. He felt rather stupid when the other guy didn't avoid it, though.

"Ouch!" the man at the door exclaimed before letting him in. "Aoba, how is it that you haven't invited any girl, but instead you have invited this nerdy brat?"

Noiz glared at him and walked inside the narrow hall, taking his boots out and leaving them beside the other guests' ones.

"He even invited an old geezer like you…" he commented. "So for once I must agree with you: Aoba has an odd taste for guests."

"Hey! To your information, kid, Aoba and I have been friends since our childhood!"

"I bet you were his babysitter when you were a teen and used to change his diapers…" Noiz huffed, amused.

"I am not that much older than him!"

The host came into sight at last, sighing loudly.

"Could you two stop bickering? I just wanted to have all my friends at my birthday party, why is it asking too much?"

Noiz looked Aoba over with a tiny smile, and he decided he liked very much the sight. Aoba hadn't primed himself up or anything, and he was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and tight jeans as usual, but Noiz was always happy to see the young man, and he found the way his jeans showed off his ass highly appealing.

"Happy birthday, I guess" he greeted Aoba, offering him his present.

"Ah, that's a videogame!"

That was that gasmask-wearing weirdo and his overexcited remarks, peering from the kitchen door. Aoba surely has an interesting choice of friends, Noiz thought with amusement.

"I don't know if I should open it or not…" Aoba hesitated, with the little package in his hand. "I still haven't opened the others."

"Wait!" Koujaku shouted, running upstairs. "If you are opening your presents, then you must open mine first!"

"Please open it, Master, I want to know what videogame is it!" the gasmask guy pleaded.

Aoba still looked unsure. He glanced at Noiz, as if asking for help, but the boy just shrugged.

"It's yours now, open it or not, I just don't mind."

The birthday boy frowned, obviously upset.

"That's not very helpful, Noiz. Okay, come to the kitchen and I'll open all the presents."

Noiz followed him to the airy kitchen. That giant dark-skinned guy was already sitting there, puffing at an unlit pipe with an absent look. The gasmask boy, Clear, took Noiz hand and pulled him to the table, proceeding to explain him the ingredients of each one of the delicacies that filled the table to the brim. Someone had spent a good amount of hours cooking, that was obvious. Noiz betted for Aoba's granny, but listening the way Clear talked one would have thought it was him who had cooked all those dishes. Before Noiz could finally cut the incessant nagging of the weirdo, Aoba served him a glass of punch and smiled him sweetly, so he closed his mouth and sipped his drink without a complaint.

"What's this?" he asked after tasting the punch.

The mixture of liquors was burning his tongue, and he felt the need to take it out his mouth to get some fresh air into it. Two pair of eyes focused on it in a snap.

"Oooh, you have a tongue piercing!" Clear commented, with delight.

"Yeah… It's good for oral sex."

Noiz regretted his words almost instantly, seeing how Aoba looked away in embarrassment. Talking about sex in a meeting could be considered a bit rude, isn't it?, he thought. But then he noticed the lovely blush that covered Aoba's cheeks and stopped regretting it so much. Although a mocking voice at the kitchen door made his smirk fall.

"That would be fantastic if you had a girlfriend, kid… As it is now, that's only a piece of metal junk inside your mouth."

Koujaku walked in with a wide winning grin and offered Aoba his birthday present. The boy took the small parcel and placed it on the table with the others, putting a pair of locks of blue hair away from his eyes.

"I'm usually well served in that aspect, grandpa", Noiz answered with the same mocking tone. "But I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now."

Koujaku followed his gaze towards Aoba and bit his lower lip.

"…I see", he mumbled.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious, the birthday boy studied the presents with his hands on his hips.

"I don't want to open them until Mizuki arrives… He is coming after work, so he should be arriving shortly…"

And at that very moment the doorbell buzzed again, and Clear clapped.

"That's him! Did you hear him coming, Master?"

Aoba chuckled and rushed to open the door.

"I swear I didn't! Well, everybody is here at last! Hello, Mizuki!"

"Happy birthday, mate!" the newcomer greeted. "Sorry, I bet I'm the last one to arrive."

"Don't worry, we were enjoying your punch!" Aoba said with a wide smile. "But Koujaku and Clear wanted me to open the birthday presents, so you arrive just in time!"

"Ah, fine, here is mine, too". And he gave Aoba a small and flat package. "Open it the first one, please!"

"No way", Koujaku shouted. "Aoba will open mine first! It's my right as his oldest friend!"

"Ah, man, now it's you who say it!" Noiz muttered, earning a glare from Koujaku.

Mizuki laughed at them and sat down with a cup of punch on his hand, waving Koujaku to go on and offer his gift first. He grimaced when he tasted the slipslop.

"Oh, wow, I see the outcome has been… interesting."

He sipped his cup again and shrugged. The others chuckled and Aoba refilled his cup at once.

"It's your doing, so I really hope you enjoy it!" he laughed.

In fact, Noiz thought the beverage wasn't that bad… once you got used to the odd taste and your burning throat, of course. Aoba started opening his presents: first Koujaku's, a red barrette, wooden and with very elaborated carvings, and some hairpins. Koujaku said the barrette was antique and handmade, and given that Aoba would never allow him to cut his hair, perhaps he would be allowed to hairstyle him, at least… Aoba looked uncertain, but Clear, Mizuki and Noiz liked the idea, and even the stern Mink nodded. So Aoba ended up sighing loudly and sitting down to let Koujaku work with his hair, while he opened the rest of his presents. Mizuki's was a CD with a selection of his favourite songs, mixed by Mizuki, who apart from being a tattoo artist also had a penchant for DJing. Clear rushed to put the CD on the computer.

Next present was Clear's, a huge flat box. Before Aoba could finish unwrapping it and finding out what it was, Clear exclaimed in his usual bubbly tone:

"It's a puzzle! My grandpa loved puzzles, and we used to spend lots of nice evenings making them!"

Aoba examined the cardboard cover with interest: it showed a submarine landscape, with corals and bright colours.

"Wow, Clear, five thousand pieces? I will never finish it!"

"Ah, don't worry, Master, I will come and help you now and then."

Noiz thought the satisfied grin of the weirdo was so obvious that it almost could be heard in his voice. I bet he thought of the bloody puzzle to have an excuse to visit every day, he thought. And, although it meant more competition, he couldn't help to like that strange guy.

Mink's gift was the next, a dreamcatcher and a set of leather bracelets. Aoba looked pleasantly surprised.

"Did you… did you made this?" he stuttered while caressing the soft and coloured leather.

The giant nodded, looking awkward for once. Aoba offered him his sweetest smile, and Noiz felt a bubble of jealousy inside his guts. Annoyed, he stood up, took his present from the table and placed it on Aoba's lap before he got too enthralled by Mink. Before he could open it, though, Koujaku announced he was done with Aoba's hairdo. Clear clapped like a kid in too much sugar.

"Oooh, Master, you look gorgeous!"

Aoba turned the same shade of red of his new barrette, but he smiled and rose from the chair to look at himself in the hall's small mirror. Noiz would never dare to call Aoba 'gorgeous' to his face, but he indeed looked cute with his hair up in a bun, and the barrette and hairclips added to the effect. Grinning, Aoba turned to look at his friends, and then he was suddenly taken aback.

"Koujaku… Are you OK?"

Noiz turned to look at the guy, who was redder than his kimono, and couldn't help to laugh in earnest at his embarrassed face. That earned him an annoyed glare from Koujaku, who ordered him to stop laughing through gritted teeth. Beside him, Noiz noticed a slight blush also on Mink's face, but at least the tough man hid it better.

Aoba's face was a display of mixed emotions when he opened his last present. In fact, it was exactly the effect Noiz was looking forward, so he was delighted and rushed to explain his gift.

"It's the latest version, they have released it for your Superconsole XD this month!"

Clear came closer and he almost perched himself on top of Aoba's shoulder so he could see better.

"Five nights at Freddy's 4", the gasmask guy read. "What is it about? It looks a bit scary."

"Brat", Koujaku scowled, "you know perfectly well that Aoba doesn't like horror videogames."

"Oh, doesn't he?" Noiz said with his most innocent face.

Aoba kept staring at the videogame case with an awkward expression.

"Ah, thank you all the same, Noiz". He coughed and muttered: "But I think indeed you knew."

"Well, I know you are sort of a chicken when it comes to scary films or videogames…" Noiz admitted, "but I thought we could play it this evening, all together… You won't be scared if all your friends are here to keep you company, will you?"

Aoba looked uncertain and not very happy with the suggestion.

"Oh, please, Master, let's play it!" Clear pleaded with a whiny voice. "I have never played a videogame before!"

Even the stoic Mink turned to stare at Clear at that statement.

"How come?" Mizuki laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you from Mars or something like that?"

"I simply never had the chance", Clear muttered, and even with the gasmask covering his face, he looked so miserable that everyone in the room pitied him.

"Oh, come on, let's play the damned game!" Mink asked.

"Yes, Aoba", Koujaku added, "you are in a room full of people, I bet we will have a laugh and you won't be afraid of this kind of videogames any more."

Aoba made up his mind and rose from his chair, smiling at Clear.

"Alright! Come on, Clear, do the honours and open the package!"

Clear did it at once, excited as a child with a new toy, while they made themselves comfortable on the couch or on the carpet, around the videogame console. Mizuki and Koujaku brought some of the food to the coffee table so the party moved to the living room. Aoba was sitting in the middle of the group, but he let Clear had the controls. The party boy squealed when the game started and the room's lights went off.

"Oi! What's that!"

"It's just for atmosphere, don't fret…" Noiz grinned. "I'm letting the kitchen's light on, alright?"

Aoba grunted, but the others seemed okay with the dim light, so he didn't complain any further.

"Ooooh, so we are the night watchman at a pizza shop?" Clear asked. "And those are puppets?"

"Not puppets, they are animatronics", Noiz explained. "Like in Disneyland, you know?"

"Never been to Disneyland, but I'll take your word", Clear answered.

Aoba's mouth was a tight line already. Noiz was the only one standing, and he rested his elbows on the back of the couch, close to Aoba's head.

"Relax, mate… Look, you must go to that room and check it out…"

"Ha! I have played the other parts!" Mizuki laughed. "Brace yourself, Aoba!"

"Nah, it won't come so soon!" Noiz said.

"What?" Aoba asked, already stressed. "What is coming?"

"Aoba, you must turn that switch on, quickly!" Mizuki said, ignoring him.

"Clear, you have the controls!" Aoba shouted.

"What switch?" Clear asked, confused. "Ah, that one…"

But he was too slow, and a jumpscare of Chica filled the screen, at the same time that the kitchen's light, their only source of light at the moment, apart from the screen, went out. Aoba screamed. The kitchen's light was turned on a second later, and after the initial shock, the rest of the guys laughed. Even Mink smirked a bit. Aoba was flushed and angered, and Noiz found his angry face the funniest thing he had ever watched. And also one of the cutest.

"Alright!" Aoba exclaimed. "Please someone explain me what has just happened!"

Mizuki signalled the screen, trying to stop grinning and failing.

"That was Chica, an animatronics chick. And she has killed you, sorry."

"I meant the lights, besides that!"

Noiz shrugged.

"The light might have flickered? You know these installations are old…"

"Bullshit! You turned it off!" Aoba threw him an accusatory look, gritting his teeth.

Noiz tried to look innocent. He knew he wasn't good at faking faces, though. A pity.

Luckily for him, Clear was already restarting the game, excited as always, and the other guys patted Aoba on his back and reassured him saying that stuff happened sometimes. So everybody focused again on the screen and the snacks. This time Clear turned the switch on in time, so they avoided Chica and, following Mizuki's and Noiz' advise, they were able to survive the whole first night. Aoba even seemed to be having fun by then, although commenting on how stressing the game was.

They started the second night and played some minigames. The atmosphere was dark either way, with a claustrophobic feel and the anticipation of more jumpscares to come at any given moment. Noiz watched Aoba with the corner of his eye, and he looked tense, his hands gripping his thighs. The moment Phantom Foxy attacked and the stroboscope image filled the screen, Aoba screamed his lungs out and the light of the kitchen went "mysteriously" out again. Noiz waited until a couple of interesting movement sounds and two squeaks from Aoba sounded to turn it on again. He also turned the lights of the sitting room on, in order to enjoy the show the better.

In the centre of the room, Aoba had stood up and was trembling with anger, his face and ears displaying a lovely shade of red. Koujaku and Mink showed different states of blushing as well, Clear's face was impossible to read, thanks to his mask, as always, and Mizuki was laughing so hard that soon big teardrops started to fall from his eyes. Noiz burst into laughter as well, and Mizuki and he high-fived. Aoba watched his faces, one by one, gritting his teeth in a threatening way.

"Youuuuu!" he growled. "Alright, guys, spit it out! Who was it?" Mizuki and Noiz kept on laughing, unable to stop, and the others said nothing. "One of you kissed me when the light went out, and there were also hands on me, at least three hands! Who was it?!"

"Master, I am wearing my mask, and I swear my hands were too busy with the controls! Please don't think bad of me!"

Poor Clear sounded about to cry, and although he liked the weirdo, it made Noiz laugh louder. Aoba's gaze ran from Clear to Koujaku, who had his eyes downcast and remained silent, blushing in embarrassment. Next was Mink, who just grunted and avoided Aoba's eyes, and then muttered something about childish games and walked away towards the kitchen. Aoba stared at Mizuki, then.

"Ppppffff… As if I would do something like that!" the tattooist said, trying to sober up. "Sorry but not interested in you that way, mate". But as soon as Aoba moved his eyes to Noiz, Mizuki added: "Although I would certainly do it for a laugh! You should have seen your face, Aoba!"

And he burst into an uncontrollable laughter again. Aoba frowned at him.

"And I was sadly too far for that", Noiz added.

Aoba turned to look at him, annoyed.

"Wait, what do you mean, too far? Oi, brat! And it was you who turned the lights off, twice!"

"OK, OK…" Noiz raised his hands in defeat. "It was just a prank… and an interesting one, at it. Let's say you owe me a prank in the near future, alright?"

"You can bet I do!" Aoba growled, showing him his fist.

But before Aoba could get too carried away by his anger, Mizuki and Koujaku patted his back in a reassuring way, and Mizuki suggested they played a drinking game next. So in some minutes they were sitting around the kitchen table, eating snacks and playing all the stupid drinking games Mizuki had learned through the years.

And surprisingly enough, after the videogame prank, everybody behaved the rest of the evening, more or less. Aoba sensed an strategy to get him drunk coming, in order to make further fun of him, so he avoided drinking more than a couple of drinks, getting tipsy as much. Koujaku and Clear, though, got definitely plastered, and when it was starting to be a tad late, Aoba took a couple of mattresses and unrolled them on the sitting room floor for his forced guests. Mink left the first, and Mizuki started to tidy up the kitchen and sitting room a bit.

"Oh, leave it", Aoba said with a dismissing gesture of his hand, "Koujaku will do it tomorrow, it will be his punishment for before."

Mizuki and Noiz laughed at that, and Noiz announced he was leaving, too. Aoba accompanied him to the door while Mizuki went to retrieve his punch bowl to take it home.

"And as for you", Aoba said to Noiz, his voice slurring a bit because of the alcohol, "I will definitely think of a punishment."

"It was just a prank!" Noiz shrugged. "I would never steal a kiss in the dark, where's the fun if I can't watch your face afterwards?"

And at that very moment, without any warning, he leaned in and kissed Aoba's lips. It was short and superficial, but the shocked face Aoba made was worth it.

"See?" Noiz said, grinning. "Like that! Good night, Aoba, and happy birthday again!"

And he turned away and started walking, chuckling lightly, oblivious to the still very startled Aoba who was staring at him from the doorstep.