A month passed. Today was Sollux's birthday. Today he was turning 9.7 sweeps old. 21 human years. People had been pestering him about it and told him he should go out and drink. He declined as always. Karkat was at work, and Sollux sat with Carmine on the couch, watching movies and TV.


Karkat hadn't actually gone to work. Gamzee had taken him to Eridan's where they were discussing a small surprise party for Sollux. "We need to get a cake!" Karkat smiled.

"We should! And ice cream!" Feferi smiled.

Eridan nodded. "The cake has to be red and blue." he smiled. "Or yelloww." he wiggled around a little bit. "Cod this is so excitin!"

"I agree!" Karkat smiled. "Thanks so much you guys for helping me with this!"

Eridan smiled. "Not a problem. Gotta help my moirail havve the best birthday he can, yeah?"

"I almost forgot that you two are moirails..." Karkat smiled.

"I'm helping too!" Feferi smiled.

"Let's get over there." Karkat smiled.

Eridan nodded. "Yup! Wwe all are." he grinned.

"Let's go get everything and get going. It's close to time for me to be on break." Karkat giggled.

Eridan nodded. Together they headed out to the car.

Karkat smiles as they all pile into the car. "I'm so excited!"

Eridan smiled and started the car. "I am too." he said, grinning. "I can't wwait to see the look on his face."


Sollux let out a sigh, leaning back against the couch, looking over at Carmine. Today sucked. Carmine was asleep on the couch, curled up around the bee plushy. He switched over to playing his video games on silent, his eyes half open. He was so bored. Sollux gently lifted Carmine and laid down, letting her sleep against his chest. He laid down and closed his eyes, sleeping quietly.

A few minutes later Carmine woke up. "Daddy?"

Sollux breathed quietly, his breath coming soft and gently. His eyes moved gently from behind his eyelids.

Carmine smiled watching Sollux sleep. "Happy birfday Daddy."

Once they got to the store, Karkat ran inside getting everything they would need with help from Feferi.

"This cake is perfect!" Feferi smiled, pointing at a cake covered in red and blue.

Eridan looked at his phone, waiting for them to come back out of the store.

Karkat and Feferi giggled as they made their way out of the store. "This is going to be awesome! Shit... It's time for me to call Sollux.." He sat the bags down by the car. "Be quiet while I call him."

Feferi nodded.

Sollux's phone went off on the table. The psionic stirred slightly, but didn't wake from his slumber.

The phone went to voicemail. "Hey baby. Just wanted to call and I say I love you and that I miss you guys." Karkat spoke into the phone. He hung up after a few seconds and placed the phone back in his pocket. "He didn't answer so I'm going to say he's asleep."


Katie walked up to the door. She hadn't seen or spoken to Sollux in a long time. In her hands there was a small box with yellow wrapping paper. She took a deep breath before knocking loudly.

"Daddy... Door..." Carmine said shaking Sollux as much as she could.

Sollux shifted, rubbing his eyes. "Huh?" he sat up his hand on her shoulder. "Door?" He heard the knock again and got up, shuffling to the door. He opened it. "Katie..."

"Happy birthday Sollux." She smiled, holding the box out. "I got you a present! Oh... Who is this?" Katie asked, looking down at Carmine.

"Carmine Captor." She said looking up at Katie.

"Thith ith Carmine." he said, smiling as he took the box. "Thank you."

"She's gotten so big!" Katie smiled. "Open it." Inside the package there was a bottle of honey from France.

Sollux opened the packaging carefully. "Oh wow..." he smiled down at the jar. "Thank you." he grinned. "I'll make thure to put thith on the table." He grinned.

"I hope you like it." She smiled.

Carmine started to show images to Sollux. She was not happy about Katie being there without Karkat being there. "Mommy... When ith mommy coming home?"

Sollux looked away from Katie and down at Carmine. "Mommy will be home after work." he said, frowning. He tried to push the images away. "I've had French honey before and it wath really good."

Sollux felt Carmine pull at him. "Anyway... Thank you for the gift. I'll thee you around thometime." he sighed and watched her walk back across the street.

Karkat smiled as they pulled onto his street. "I'm so excited you guys! I hope he's sleeping when we get there..."

"Karkat, calm down. I know you're excited but you need to be a little calm." Feferi smiled.

"Uncle Eri!" Carmine yelled as she saw the car. "Daddy! Uncle Eri and Auntie Fef are here!" She started to dance around.

Karkat got out of the car after they parked and walked up to the door. "I hear Carmine." He smiled.

"Mommy!" She yelled again.

Sollux tilted his head, looking at Carmine. "Huh?" he walked over to the door, "Why...?" he opened it up. "You're home early..." he said, looking at Karkat.

"Surprise!" Karkat smiled. "Happy birthday Honey Bee."

Sollux gasped. "W-Wh..." he blushed. He was surprised for sure. "KK... You didn't have to..."

"But wwe wwanted to." Eridan said, grinning. "Let's get inside and get this party started." he smiled. "I bought a little something for the occasion." he said, holding up a bottle of champagne. "It's something small, so wwe all wwon't be drunk off our asses." he smiled.

"I wanted to do something special for your birthday." Karkat smiled. "I had the day off anyways, so I figured I would have Feferi and Eridan help me plan something. Gamzee is busy with meetings or else they would be here." He walked inside, picking Carmine up. "Thanks for keeping this a secret Bumblebee."

Eridan walked into the kitchen, getting out 4 glasses, pouring a little bit of champagne in each of them. He smiled, bringing them back out with Feferi's help. "Cheers." He handed Sollux a glass.

Sollux looked at the bubbling liquid. "I thaid I didn't want to drink..." he said, frowning.

"A little bit wwon't hurt you Sol. Besides it's just a sip."

Karkat took the glass and took a small sip. "This is pretty good." He smiled at Sollux. "We got to do a wine tasting when I was in France."

Feferi smiled and handed Sollux a card. "Happy birthday from me, Eri and Addy!"

Sollux took a sip. "Ith really not that bad." he smiled, taking the card. "Aww thank you." he said, opening it up, reading over it.

"What's it say?" Karkat asked, trying to look at the card.

'Happy birthday Sollux! Our present to you is a night alone with Karkat! We'll take Carmine! Have fun! Eridan and Feferi Ampora ' The card read.

Sollux flushed bright yellow. "O-Oh..." He said, blinking as he shut the card quickly. He walked over to them, hugging both of them tightly. "Thank you." he whispered to Eridan, who grinned in response papping his back.

"You're wwelcome." he grinned at Karkat.

Karkat couldn't read the card. "What?" he asked, holding onto Carmine.


Gamzee had been putting some of the smaller and least threatening looking Subjugglators through trials to see who could take care of Tavros. 4 of them had passed the trial of keeping a small stuffed bull from getting hurt. "You're next trial is a cooking trial. You will cook a meal and I will personally taste it to see if it would please Tavros. Please keep in mind that he is a Vegetarian and does not eat meat."

"Highblood, why are you using these young ones? They should be training." Kairin asked.

"Because I need someone to take care of Tavros. Since they aren't initiated, Moon Rise doesn't affect them. They will be taught to care for Tavros."

Tavros felt a little ill. It was getting close to the time where Gamzee would be going away for up to a month on leader business. No one would tell him what was up. He had given as many suggestions as possible regarding the whole thing with "moonrise" or whatever it was called. Tavros didn't care. He sighed. It was one of those days where even up in the mountains it was really hot. He sat around in a pair of shorts and a baggy t-shirt. It felt almost like these days he never left his bedroom. He stared up at the ceiling. Gamzee was in meetings almost every day. It was tiresome. He pulled himself out of bed, crawling across the floor to his wheelchair, pulling himself up into it. He sighed and wheeled over to the corner, pulling on his legs. He hadn't worn them in a while. Slowly, he stood up and walked out of the room, heading towards the elevator.

Tavros wobbled around the first floor, looking around. Some of the house he swore he hadn't seen before. A lot of the paintings in the house he didn't really like, but they were mostly used for Subjugglators and their Mirthful Messiahs. He sighed quietly and wandered into a wing of the house he hadn't been in before. There was a sign on the door that read Tavros' name in Alternian. He blinked and walked inside. "Wo... Woah..." It was a huge room decorated with trees and vines. It looked like something out of his Pupa Pan books...and it was a library! There were books everywhere. Ramps led up to the higher levels. This was amazing. Tavros walked over and sat down on one of the comfy chairs and snuggled the bull plushy nearest him.

He didn't realize how much time had passed, and he had fallen asleep, the door shutting.

Gamzee found Tavros in his library. He smiled as he picked him up. "Well, at least it was finished before he found it..."

said, stretching a little, not noticing he wasn't on the ground anymore. "W-Wah"

"It's okay. I got ya." Gamzee smiled. "I won't let you fall."

Tavros shifted, rubbing his eyes. "Nnn?" he opened them, looking up at Gamzee. "Hey..." he

Tavros nodded. "I know." He smiled and reached up, touching his cheeks. "Did your meeting go well?"

"My meeting went well. I'm glad you liked your library. I was going to show you for your birthday..." Gamzee smiled.

Tavros smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "Gamzee?" He asked, his voice quiet.

"Yes Tav?" He asked softly.

"I'm really bored..." he said, frowning. "Since school isn't in session... I don't have anything to do..." he said, looking at Gamzee with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry love." Gamzee said softly. "That's why I had them put in the library... I thought it would help for when I'm at the island..."