Second shot written for Alister's Girlfriend, post-DOOM once again, and a happy birthday to Raphael!
Poke.
"Raph?"
Poke poke.
"Raaaph…"
Groan. "V'lon? Wha…?"
"I got a couple o' questions that need answerin', and I was wonderin' if you could answer 'em," said the voice in a low but cheerful voice.
"…huh?"
"How old are you, and when's your birthday?"
Blink.
"S'ry?" A groggy voice asked in confusion.
"When. Is. Your. Birthday?" The voice asked again, impatiently.
A pair of sleepy, ice blue eyes looked up at a vague and blurry outline of his youngest friend. "…Cou'dn' 'is wa't 'til 'm 'wake?"
"Nup. It's kinda urgent."
"…Bir'day's M'rch fifteenth. 'M twen'y three."
"Thanks, mate. You can go back to sleep, now."
The blonde blearily watched the teenager leave the room, making a mental note to ask him why he needed to know when his birthday was at this ungodly hour, before rolling over and almost immediately returning to sleep.
Outside of Raphael's room, a certain brunette hurried down the hall and tapped lightly at a closed bedroom door. When the wooden door opened, the teenager grinned and flashed a sleepy red-haired young man a thumbs up. "Told ya 'e wouldn' get suspicious."
"…you do realize the only reason he didn't ask you was because he wasn't awake enough to understand the question, right?" asked Alister, suppressing a yawn with the back of his hand as he allowed Valon in the room.
Valon waved a hand at Alister dismissively. "'S'all good, chum," he said cheerily, flopping on the end Alister's previously occupied bed. Pulling out a notepad that had been laying on the bedside table, he wrote in big letters, "BIRTHDAY GIFTS" and said, "Now, what should we get him?"
"The fact that it's four o'clock in the morning is apparently lost on you," commented Alister dryly as he seated himself lightly in a chair positioned near his desk.
"Yup," chirped Valon buoyantly, somehow actively hyper despite the late hour.
"I don't understand how on earth you can be so awake at this time of the morning, yet any other time we try to wake you up you fall right back to sleep."
Valon shrugged. "Curiosity killed the kitty, chum."
Alister raised an eyebrow. "Stupidity killed the cat. Curiosity was framed."
The Australian scowled, but nonetheless set the notepad down and said, "So, how are we gonna get this done? Raph said that 'is birthday's the fifteenth. That's four days—"
"No it's not," said Alister flatly. "It's three."
The brunette blinked. "…Huh?"
"You haven't been watching your calendar, have you? Today's the twelfth."
The teenager shrugged. "So we've got 'til Raph's birthday to figure out somethin' t' do."
"'We'? What's with this 'we' stuff?" retorted Alister. "You're the one who wants to celebrate his birthday. Did it ever occur to you that he might not want to celebrate it?"
"'ow come?" challenged Valon. "Wha' kinda person doesn' like their birthday? Outside of you. You don' count."
"Valon, when did the cruise liner that Raphael was on sink?"
"I dunno, I thought it sank on 'is…oh. Oh."
The redhead nodded. "Now do you remember why?"
Valon sighed. "Well, I kinda forgot 'bout that, didn' I?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Yes you did," agreed Alister calmly, grabbing Valon by his arm and escorting the teen to the door. "Now do me a huge favor and go to bed like a normal person."
Valon blinked, and before he could properly protest the door to Alister's bedroom closed.
The Australian frowned, slightly grateful that Alister hadn't locked him the closet again. He returned to his bedroom and sat on the bed, writing his plans on the notepad. While it was true that Raphael had lost his family on his birthday, that did not mean that the older blonde was going to be allowed to simply pretend his birthday did not exist.
Valon would not allow it, and—though he did not act like he cared—Alister would not either.
Raphael knew something was up.
He was currently was on his way home from his job, pondering over that thought absently. The workload had increased lately and Raphael was tired. But as he drove back toward their home, he could not help but muse over the strange events that had been happening around his home as of late.
For reasons he could not fathom, both Alister and Valon seemed to be up to something. Over the past three days, the two of them had suddenly become closer friends—every time Raphael walked into wherever the younger bikers were congregated, it was to find that the two of them were huddled over some object that would disappear the moment he announced his presence. Raphael had not had to break up an argument at all, and while it was a welcome reprieve he had to wonder why.
Valon and Alister had also disappeared at random times of the day, returning with bags that were surreptitiously hidden beneath their coats, and Raphael had been asked about what he had liked or disliked so often over the past two days that he felt like they could write a book about it.
There was a nagging thought in the back of his mind, one that he could not quite grasp; it had something to do with a VERY early morning conversation. Raphael knew Valon had come into his bedroom for something a couple of days ago, but his mind did not work very well in the morning when it was half clouded with sleep. He had asked Valon about it when he had woken up, but the teenager had denied the occurrence adamantly, making the blonde wonder if he had just dreamed the whole thing.
His birthday was coming up, that was another thing. It was hard to believe that he was turning twenty-four; the years certainly had passed since the cruise—
Raphael blocked the thought that had been coming. True, he'd gotten over the stigma that his birthday represented, but he was still hurting even now and wasn't sure what he was going to do about that day. He figured he would let it slip by unannounced, like he always had.
As Raphael pulled the car into the driveway, he blinked in surprise. "What the…?"
Balloons of varying colors had been painstakingly taped to his motorcycle. There were what appeared to be streamers that were also wrapped around the handlebars of the bike, and as he stepped out of the car he noticed that star-shaped confetti had been liberally poured over it.
Officially confused, he stepped closer to inspect his motorcycle, hoping that it would offer a clue as to what was going on. There was no note of explanation on it at all, and Raphael was baffled. He wondered if hoodlums had…but, no, they wouldn't do this. The perpetrator would have stolen the motorcycle, not decorate it.
Deciding that Alister and Valon knew something about the condition of his motorcycle, he walked up the sidewalk leading to the door, raising an eyebrow as he noticed a similar decoration pattern running all the way up the sidewalk. He reached into his pocket for the house key and slipped it into the lock, opening the door with something akin to caution.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but Raphael was definitely not planning on having poppers go off in his face.
Instinctively he backed away from the explosive sounds, actually letting out a startled cry as his foot caught on the doorstep and he fell backward. He managed to regain his balance before he would have fallen down the stairs and then stared at the door warily.
"I told you the poppers were a little much," said Alister's voice flatly, and then the two younger bikers appeared in the doorway. Valon had a trademark grin in place, holding what had once been a popper.
"No they weren'. You just don' like anythin' that blows up," the teenager retorted, cuffing Alister on the shoulder.
"I tend not to like anything that goes 'boom' when the object in question is in your hands."
Raphael just stared back at them in bewilderment, his mind scrambling to figure out what the heck had just happened. He mutely looked to Alister for an explanation.
Valon beat the redhead to the punch, though. "'Appy Birthday, Raph!" he chirped, a goofy grin in place.
The blonde blinked again. His birthday was today? Raphael had not really celebrated it, not since…well, not for several years. But he was usually on top of remembering when his birthday was. Had he truly neglected to remember it this time?
"We even got ya a cake 'n' everythin'!" Valon continued. "So get on in 'ere so we can eat it!"
He hesitated for one last moment, uncertain as to what he should do, before he noticed that both of the younger bikers were watching him—they understood why he looked so lost.
After one final moment of hesitation, Raphael chuckled. "You two are going to have to clean my motorcycle up later, you know that?"
The younger bikers noticeably relaxed and Valon bounded off to the kitchen. "C'mon, Raph! Th' cake's a-callin'!"
"…I think he suggested the cake just because he likes it," muttered Alister under his breath, turning for the kitchen. Valon was waiting in the doorway for the elder bikers, watching them impatiently.
Raphael shook his head, padding down the hall to the kitchen. This was certainly different than the other birthdays he'd celebrated on his own…and it was a welcome change.