Welcome back all to yet another chapter of this story. We just keep coming up with ideas for it, so this chapter ended up being quite the long one out of all the ones we've done so far. We appreciate the support on the story of course, and hope that you guys will continue to enjoy it. So without further ado, let's get started.

Ch. 19

"My… my birthday?" Vanitas asked softly.

He had known about the word before, but he never knew too much about what it really meant. All he knew was that it was the day that he was born, but he didn't understand why they seemed so excited about it. Why would they want to be so happy and wanting to enjoy one little day like that? Vanitas couldn't understand it, but everyone around him seemed to and they all seemed really excited for it.

"Of course, and we are going to make the most of today to celebrate it," Aqua replied.

"Yay! Vani's birthday is today! That means we can go out for food and go to fun places, right? Right?" Ventus asked as he bounced up and down in his chair.

"Yeah we could go to the toy store again and get some more toys," Zack suggested, grinning happily.

"Vanitas can get toys, not you honey," Aqua replied as she crossed her arms.

"Huh? Oh yeah I know that, totally get it," Zack said all while smiling innocently.

"Can we go out and do more fun things for Vani?" Ventus asked. "More than just toys."

"Well it all depends on what Vanitas wants, okay?" Aqua said as she turned to look to Vanitas, who still had a very confused expression on his face.

"But… but why?"

Aqua, Zack, and Ventus all turned to look at Vanitas, whose eyes were growing wider by the second.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked. "Why what?"

"Why… why do you want to celebrate my birthday? I don't see why you want to."

"Oh Vani," Aqua said as she moved to wrap her arms around her son. "A birthday is a very special thing. You celebrate it with your family because it is the day you were born and we all want to cherish it."

"But I never had a birthday before…" Vanitas replied as he lowered his head.

"But you can have one now Vani! We will help you have the best birthday ever!" Ventus said as he looked to his brother.

Vanitas slowly lifted his head, the words said by his new family crawling into his heart and warmed him. He smiled as he looked around to each and every one of them. "Thank you. But what can we do? What do we do for a birthday?"

"We can do all sorts of fun stuff! Like we can go see a movie! Go to the toy store like dad said. Or… or go to mini golfing! Or anything fun we can think of!" Ventus explained as quickly and as loudly as he could.

"Anything fun? Mini golfing? I don't know what would be really fun though…" Vanitas sighed heavily.

Aqua hummed softly. "Hmm, then we shall surprise you with the best things we can think of. How does that sound?"

"I guess. You guys know more about birthdays than me," Vanitas replied.

Zack placed a hand on top of Vanitas's head, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry. We are going to make sure you have the best birthday ever… technically your first, but it is going to be the best you've ever had!"

"Yeah it will be great Vani!" Ventus cried out in excitement.

Vanitas looked around at all of them, not knowing really what to say. He knew this was what he had always wanted, but after all this time, it was surreal that he had it. After choking back tears, he finally found his words. "Th-Thank you. It means a lot. I hope it's all good."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a solid knock on the front door.

"Who could be here this early in the morning?" Aqua asked as she stood up and waltzed over to the door to peer out.

"Well, you'll see," Zack chimed in, sounding cheery in what he was saying.

Aqua shot him a glance of confusion and a look that said 'why-don't-you-tell-me'. However, Zack just sat there and waited for the door to open. The door popped open and the person standing there was a complete surprise to Aqua.

"Oh, Terra? I didn't expect you or anything. Please, come in."

"Well of course I am here. After Zack told me what today was, I figured I would stop by. I mean, if that's okay of course."

"Yeah, yeah, that's not a problem. You're family anyways, so you're always welcome," Aqua assured him as she closed the door after him.

"Terra!" Ven shouted as he shot up from his seat and ran straight into his older cousin, trying his best to give him a bearhug.

"Haha, hey there bud. Good to see you," Terra replied.

He then walked over to where Vanitas was still sitting. He placed a hand on his head and began to ruffle his hair. "Hey Vanitas, how is my new little cousin doing?"

"I'm good. And I found out it's my birthday today," Vanitas replied.

"Well that sounds great! And it's actually the reason I am here," Terra said, smiling largely. He then looked to Zack and Aqua. "Have you two figured out any plans for today?"

Zack and Aqua shared a glance with each other quickly. Zack seemed to be thinking for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly, I guess we had not thought that far yet. We were just going to discuss it soon though right dear?"

"Yeah, there were a couple of ideas that I had thought of since Vanitas said that he didn't know what he wanted. But we hadn't talked yet," she stated.

Terra chuckled for a moment. "Well, just hold off on those possible ideas. I thought ahead and actually reserved a place for everyone to go. Figured it might be a good place for the whole family."

"Oh? What did you have planned?" Aqua asked.

"Is it someplace fun?" Ventus added as he walked back to Terra and stared up at him.

"Oh you bet it is," Terra said. "The most fun place I could think of."

"Is it your toy store?" Ventus then asked.

Terra laughed. "No, it is better than that."

"What is it then?" Vanitas finally asked, trying to think of what could be cooler than the toy shop they had gone to before.

"Yeah! Tell us! Tell us!" Ventus shouted as he grabbed onto Terra's pant leg.

"All right," Terra smiled before laughing once more. "I booked a party reservation at Choco Cheese's."

Ventus's eyes lit up and widened as far as his kid eyes could let them. "Choco Cheese's?! Yay!"

"Wow, I didn't expect that," Zack replied. "But hey that's great you did that Terra, thanks!"

Vanitas tilted his head to the side, trying to understand the excitement from Ventus. "What's… Choco Cheese's?"

Ventus gasped in shock. He ran over to Vanitas and smiled widely. "It's the coolest place ever! They have cool arcade games and you can get tickets! And with the tickets you can get prizes! Really cool prizes! And sometimes they even have a REAL chocobo that you can ride and pet out in the backyard of the building! It's the greatest place ever!"

Vanitas blinked slowly. He had been slightly startled from his brother's sudden speech, but what he heard sounded amazing. "Whoa, that sounds cool."

"But that's only five of us," Aqua said. "That's a small group to book a party for."

"I thought about that. So aside from the five of us, my father will also come. Vanitas has to meet his uncle at some point now doesn't he? And then of course Ven and Vanitas's best friends Isa and Lea. So that puts the party total at eight, which I think is a good enough number for a small party."

"That's a great idea!" Zack exclaimed as he stood up and walked over to Terra. He put his arm around his cousin then. "See, you do have a good brain under all that brawn," Zack noted sarcastically as he laughed aloud.

Terra shot him a sharp glare. "Very funny coming from a puppy with no attention span."

Zack stepped back. "Hey now!"

After a small brief silence, the two of them started laughing about it all. Soon after, Aqua and Ventus had even joined in, enjoying Terra's joke about Zack much more than anything else. Vanitas even started to chuckle at the comment some, the joyous laughter becoming almost contagious.

"So can we go now?" Ventus asked. "I wanna get going so I can show Vani how cool it is!"

"Of course we can get going!" Terra said.

"First," Aqua started, interrupting the boys. "We have to finish breakfast. Then we can go."

"Aw…" Ventus sighed.

"Hey, you heard your mother," Zack said. "We will all finish our food, and then we can get ready to head out and have a great day."

"All right!" Ventus said as he ran back to his chair. "Doesn't this sound fun, Vani? We get to have a really fun birthday party for you!"

Vanitas nodded quickly, feeling more excited by the minute. "Yeah! I can't wait!"

Vanitas held Ventus's hand as they walked away from the car. They were now in a parking lot and walking towards a building across the way. It looked rather large to Vantias, perhaps as large or even larger than Terra's toy store. He was surprised that he had not noticed it before with how large it was, but looking at it now was something that excited him.

It was a large, brick-layered building that looked as though it stood two floors high. The brick was contrasted with some bright, yellow colors that outlined the rest of the building. The design itself was rather simple, but it was enough to draw some attention. The front of the building had a lot of decorative images, but what drew Vanitas's attention was the bright colorful sign that read Choco Cheese's. It even had a fluffy image of a cartoony, yellow chocobo next to it, as if displaying the title.

As they walked into the building, everything became much louder than Vanitas had expected. There were lights and sounds swirling all around as music played in the distance and up above their heads from the sound of it. There were tables and chairs a little bit farther away from the entrance area, off in one side of the building that looked to be where people would eat. Around the other side appeared to be some games for the most part, with a bar area in the middle of the room separating each side.

Amid all that, there were many people either seated or just walking around the areas. Though, the sight of all of the people was something though that Vanitas was unsure of, so he huddled behind his mother.

"What's wrong Vani?" Aqua asked curiously as they approached the counter.

"It's just… loud, and all the people. I'm scared…" he said as he sounded nervous with his tone.

"It's okay honey," she said as she grabbed onto his hand softly and wrapped hers around his, making sure nothing would separate them. "Look, Terra is taking care of the reservation at the moment so it will just be a few minutes of waiting."

Zack looked down at him. "You don't have to be scared. The people here aren't going to hurt you. Everyone is here just to have fun like we are. Would you feel better if I hold your hand then as well?"

Vanitas thought for a moment and then shook his head in agreeance. He quickly shot his hand up and wrapped it as tightly as he could around his father's fingers, making sure to not let go at all.

"We're gonna have so much fun today, Vani. I'll help you too," Ven spoke up suddenly and stood close beside Vanitas.

"Thanks," he muttered almost silently.

"See, you have a bunch of people wanting to help you out. We're going to make sure that you have the best day today Vanitas," Terra suddenly spoke up, trying to assure the boy it would all be okay.

They stood there waiting for a little bit until they were told that it was okay to go. It wasn't long before Terra was done with talking to the man at the counter and turned to them. "Well, it seems my father is as punctual as ever. He's already here. Just follow me and we'll go to the private room that we booked."

They all followed behind Terra and went down the side where all of the games were. As they walked past, Ventus and Vanitas were captivated by all of the different activities that they saw. There was so much that they did not even know yet, but hoped to find out a bit later.

After a moment, they entered into a smaller room that was lined with balloons and streamers. Vanitas let out an audible gasp as he took in each and every birthday decoration that he saw. Then his eyes looked across the room and he saw two familiar people, and one who was not.

The two he did remember were none other than Isa and Lea, who both turned and waved when they saw Vanitas come in with his family. The other person… was someone else that Vanitas had never seen before, but they looked sort of familiar.

"He… he kind of looks like Terra… but he has a scary gaze…" Vanitas thought as he shrank back to hide behind his parents.

Zack looked down and gently place a hand on Vanitas's head. "Hey, you don't need to be scared. This is your uncle Ansem, who is also my boss at work."

"Really?" Vanitas asked curiosity. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know," Zack shrugged before looking over at Terra. "Maybe it has to do with Terra wanting to open a toy store."

Terra rolled his eyes. "We're not going to start up that story again."

"I agree, such things are meant for conversations at another time," Ansem said, revealing his deep voice. "What is important is meeting my new nephew."

Vanitas continued to hide behind his parents as Ansem walked over. The man got closer to Vanitas's eye level and smiled. "It's nice to properly meet you Vanitas."

Vanitas tried to hide even more, hoping that eventually he wouldn't be seen, but Ansem continued to stay there, chuckling slightly. "I see you are still afraid of new people. It is understandable, but I am not someone you need to be afraid of."

After a few moments Vanitas peaked out from behind his parents, staring at Ansem. He smiled again and remained quiet and calm where he stood. That was when Vanitas's noticed something. Slowly he walked away from his parents and over to Ansem.

Soon he was standing right in front of him, and he kept staring. "Your eyes… they are…"

"They are unique aren't they? Just like yours in a way," Ansem replied, giving another smile.

"Unique?" Vanitas asked.

"The eye color that we have is very rare, so that makes it unique, or special," Ansem answered.

Vanitas was not sure how to handle that information. He felt like it was making him happy, but at the same time, he had always felt different about it because of the past.

"I was always told… the eyes were weird…"

"Nonsense," Ansem started. "You don't need to believe that. Let me tell you. Out of all the people in the world, there are only 0.5% that actually have similarly golden to amber-colored eyes."

"Woah, really? Is that small?"

"Very small. So wouldn't you say that is extremely special?"

Vanitas pondered for just a second before answering. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ansem directed another grin at Vanitas, who finally returned his gesture of kindness. Slowly Vanitas moved forward a bit more towards his new uncle and found himself in his arms. The tension that he had in his body left and was replaced by a feeling of relaxation. The man that Vanitas thought was so intimidating at first because of his face and deep voice was actually not like that at all. Instead, he was quite considerate.

The others had a sense of awe at the moment before Zack spoke up. "See Ansem has a soft side to him. After all, he was the one that helped the most in finding you," he said towards Vanitas.

Vanitas paused. "R-Really?" He looked back up at Ansem and stared for a few more moments. Ansem only nodded in return to verify what had just been said.

Ansem then scooped up Vanitas in his arms and proceeded to stand up. At first, Vanitas thought he would be scared when that started to happen, but he felt at ease with his new uncle, and he liked having that feeling. He rested his head gently on Ansem's shoulder, wanting to stay in this warm and comforting embrace as long as he could.

"Wow, looks like he's really warmed up to you, dad," Terra stated as he looked towards the pair of amber-eyed people.

"Ya know, I'm almost a bit jealous. It took him longer to warm up to me, and I'm pretty sure I'm one of the nicest people you'll ever meet," Zack replied as he sulked slightly with a hint of joking in his voice.

"You wouldn't think it might be because you are like a hyper child would you?" Ansem retorted bluntly as a wry smile crossed his face.

Zack began to pout. At this, Vanitas began to stifle a small laugh. He liked seeing his father flustered because he always seemed to overact everything. He started to get so caught up in his head about things that what happened next he didn't expect.

"Dad is like a puppy," he uttered without a second thought, and enough where everyone heard.

Vanitas continued to giggle at his own comment, at Zack's expense. Though after a few seconds, he realized he had said that out loud and not inside of his own head. He stopped his chuckles and saw that most everyone was looking at him. He almost began to fear that he had now done something wrong, but it wasn't too long before the rest of the room began to laugh in reply. Even Zack began to laugh at himself after pouting for a few more seconds, and Vanitas joined back into the fray.

The tender moment only lasted for a few more seconds before the laughter began to die down. However the calm did not last too long before a boisterous voice broke the new silence that had fallen.

"Now that everyone's here we can really get the party started!" Lea shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. He immediately grabbed the attention of all the eyes in the room too.

"Calm yourself Lea. Don't get too riled up. Though, it would be nice to do something soon," Isa chimed in before going back to being quiet.

"Well, yeah I guess they're right though. I'm sure that the kids are excited to go and play of course," Aqua started. "So if you guys want to, go on and play."

Ventus and Lea both jumped for joy and shouted almost in unison as the two of them started to run out of the door of the room. Just before Lea exited though, he turned to Ventus and whispered something into his ear. Ventus then ran up to his father and pulled on his pants leg for attention.

"Yes Ven?"

"Lea wanted me to tell you that he said he could beat you at that one game where you have to shoot all the bad guys. I don't remember the name though, but Lea knows where it is."

"Oh yeah?!" he tried to yell loud enough for Lea to hear as he looked over towards the fiery redhead, who stuck his tongue out at Zack. "Oh it's on!"

Zack then took off with Ven in tow after Lea. He nearly left but then looked to see Vanitas still in Ansem's arms. He stopped briefly to talk with him as he allowed Ven to chase off after Lea.

"Hey Vani, do you want to come with us to play some?"

Vanitas almost answered yes, but then he held his tongue. It was true that he wanted to play with all of them and it seemed like something that would be fun. However, he was still slightly nervous about everything. He felt safe in his uncle Ansem's arms, and even though he knew that everyone around the room was good to him, part of him was still too shy.

Ansem noticed this and spoke up. "I think he might still be a bit… nervous."

Zack thought about it for a moment and wanted to say something before Aqua stepped in. "I think he's right Zack. Let me just stay with him for a bit. I'm sure he'll come out there soon. You go watch those two boys."

Realizing he could do nothing else, Zack nodded and left the room after that. Ansem then decided to finally place Vanitas back on the ground, though Vanitas almost tried to fight against it. But once he was back on the ground, Vanitas spoke up.

"So what do I do now?"

"Well, what do you want to do honey?" Aqua asked. "It's your birthday, so you can do anything you want."

Isa had just gotten up and strode over to where the rest of them were standing. He almost had left with Lea, but decided to stick around since Vanitas was still there. Vanitas then noticed him standing before him.

"Oh, what is it Isa?" Aqua asked curiously.

"I wanted to see if Vanitas wanted to stick with me, if he would prefer to not have to listen to the loudness and rambunctiousness of the others," he stated directly. He knew he wanted to chase after Lea at first, since that is usually what he would end up doing to keep him under control. Though once he had seen Vanitas had stayed behind, he wanted to stay and see if he could help his newest friend not be so nervous.

"Rambun… chi… o ness?" Vanitas asked, struggling to say the long word Isa had said.

"Just means they are all loud and excitable children. Lea is far too much at times when he gets excited," Isa answered. "But I know it will be fun to watch him compete against your father."

"It will be?" Vanitas asked again.

"Yeah, though knowing Lea, he is probably going to lose big time," Isa replied before chuckling softly.

Vanitas hummed as he thought about it. He wasn't sure what was so funny about Lea losing, but it didn't seem to be in a bad way from what Vanitas could tell. Besides he did like how Isa was much calmer and quieter than Lea. Slowly Vanitas reached out and took Isa's hand and smiled. "We can go then."

"Wait boys, before you go," Aqua said grabbing something from the table. She handed a little plastic card to Vanitas. "This is what you use to play games on. Isa can show you how to use it, okay?"

Vanitas took the card and nodded. "Okay. Thank you."

"Now you two have fun, and I will come and find all of you when it is time to eat," Aqua said right before the boys left the room.

We have created quite the fluffs here, which was the plan now. Vanitas just has to try to get used to things now, and we sorta decided we wanted to do something for his birthday to help with that. And we're not done with the fun stuff yet, so stay tuned to find out more. If you enjoyed, the feedback is very much appreciated. And we will see you all on the next update!