After a long day spent catching up with folks in Twilight Town and gatherin' ingredients for Little Chef, Goofy was about tuckered out when he made it back to the Gummi Ship with Sora and Donald. Sora still had the box with the, uh, tart thing in it, and he was about to put it in the ship's refrigerator when Donald stopped him.
"Hang on, Sora, don't put that away just yet."
Sora raised an eyebrow but closed the fridge door. "Huh? Why not?"
Donald looked to Goofy, and suddenly Goofy remembered what they'd talked about earlier. He grabbed a stash of party hats from a nearby nook and handed one to Donald before puttin' one on himself, and Donald pulled down a blanket that was draped over the kitchen cabinets, revealing a big Happy Birthday Sora! sign in colorful letters.
"We never got to celebrate your fifteenth birthday, Sora, and we figured we should make it up to you," Goofy said.
Sora's face lit up. "Oh yeah, I guess we never did. We were all asleep in the pods at the time, huh?" He took a hat from Goofy's outstretched hand and put it on his head. "Riku and Kairi and I all got to celebrate once we made it home, but I didn't get to celebrate with you guys."
"Time to party!" Donald said as he put the tart on a plate, and Goofy turned up fifteen mismatching candles and carefully stuck them in the gaps between the pieces of fruit. Gawrsh, this reminded him of Maxie's fifteenth birthday, how excited his son had been to turn the big 1-5. Sora's happy face was like watchin' that happen all over again, and Goofy sure was glad Donald had come up with this idea.
"Alright, Sora," Donald said as he summoned his staff so he could light the candles, "you hafta make a wish."
"But keep it a secret, or it won't come true!" Goofy told him. He and Donald took their seats at the ship's small table, but Sora remained standin'. Donald and Goofy sang the birthday song to him, includin' all the extra joke choruses to get him to laugh. When they were done, he had a very solemn look on his face as the light from the candles flickered across it.
"What do I wish, more than anything? Hmmm, let's see…"
He looked down and crossed his arms for a moment, then broke into a huge smile.
"I've got it!" He braced himself against the table, then took a deep breath and blew out the candles all at once. Donald and Goofy cheered him on for gettin' them all in one go, and he grinned and bowed in an over-the-top fashion, makin' them laugh. When they'd all settled down, Goofy grabbed a knife and carefully lifted a piece onto the plate Donald held.
"Birthday boy gets the first piece," he reminded Donald.
Donald quacked and said, "I know, I know," in a disgruntled tone, and Sora laughed as he passed the tart to him.
"What, were you thinking about eating my share?" Sora teased.
"Don't push it," Donald muttered under his breath.
Sora remembered his manners and waited till they all had pieces of the tart to take a bite. And gawrsh, what a tart it was! The fruit was ripe and the crust was flaky and the fillin' was delicious. Whatever was in the glaze was real tasty, too. Better than most cakes Goofy had had. They'd have to get the recipe from Little Chef next time they stopped by.
"Donald, Goofy, thank you," Sora said as he helped them wash the dishes afterwards. "It was really fun, getting to celebrate with you guys."
"Of course, Sora," Goofy said as he held one of the plates so Donald could dry it with some wind magic. "You're our pal."
"Next time, we won't miss your birthday!" Donald promised.
But they did miss his birthday. Missed celebratin' it with him because he wasn't here with 'em. Goofy and Donald and the king piled onto the Gummi Ship after another unsuccessful search, and everyone was feelin' dejected. The king just sat in his chair in the main control room, and Donald was mopin' in the kitchen.
"He'd be sixteen today," he told Goofy as Goofy joined him at the kitchen table.
"Gawrsh, can you believe it? The time sure goes by quick. I remember when my Maxie turned sixteen. Sixteen's an important year for a feller."
"Yeah," Donald said, his head droopin'. "And he doesn't have a single friend to celebrate with."
"Now Donald, we don't know that," Goofy pointed out. "Sora's real good at makin' friends. For all we know, he's celebratin' with new friends this year!"
Even as Goofy said the words though, they rang a little hollow. His biggest fear right now was that Sora was all alone out there with no friends to look out for him. Every old friend of his they'd asked hadn't seen him or heard from him since he'd disappeared, and…
"We'll just… hafta celebrate for him," Goofy said. "Then we can have a real party for him when he gets back."
Donald nodded. "We still have some of those cookies Rapunzel gave us. Maybe we can stick some candles in them. I'll get everything ready, you go get the king."
Goofy went to grab the king, who was still sittin' in the main control room, lookin' sad. Gawrsh, what Goofy wouldn't give to bring a smile to his face again.
"Your Majesty, c'mon, we gotta celebrate Sora's birthday!" he said, and that seemed to cheer the king up a little. He followed Goofy into the kitchen, where Donald had crammed sixteen candles onto three chocolate chip cookies somehow and was currently lightin' 'em.
"This time, we'll all make a wish," Donald said when he was through. "That'll make the magic more powerful."
"It's gotta be the same wish though," Goofy said. "But we can't tell, or else the wish won't come true."
"Of course," the king said. "We can't say our wishes out loud, but that's okay. We're all wishin' for the same thing anyway."
"Happy Birthday, Sora," Donald said.
"Happy Birthday," Goofy and the king echoed.
They sang the birthday song after that. At first it felt a little silly singin' to Sora when he wasn't here, but as the song went on, somethin' clicked into place. He was always talkin' about how his hearts were connected to theirs, so maybe he knew what they were doin' for him somehow.
When they were through with the song, they silently made their wish and counted to three, then blew out the candles.
For a moment, Goofy could've sworn he saw Sora here with them. Was that his smilin' face on the other side of the smoke? He opened his mouth to say something when Donald waved the smoke away, and the moment was over.
Oh well. Goofy figured it was just a trick of his imagination. Still, it was awful nice to think he might've been with them, some way, somehow.
The next time they saw him, they'd celebrate his birthday with him like Donald had promised. For now, he was with them in spirit, and they were a part of his heart. They wouldn't stop lookin' for him till they'd found him, till they'd brought him home safe and sound.
That was a hope worth wishin' on, and the three of them wouldn't stop wishin' until it came true. Goofy smiled a little at the thought. He was thinkin' like Sora now. Maybe their friend wasn't as far away as they'd thought.
He looked out the window, and a shooting star passed by, a sign that maybe Sora had heard them. No, it was more than that. It was a promise to return.
Goofy's smile got bigger. "See you soon, Sora."
A/N: Happy Birthday to Sora! I wanted to write something for his birthday this year since I missed last year, and I decided to focus on his friendship with Donald and Goofy this time around. It's been a little while since I've written some good Trinity Trio interactions, so it was nice to revisit them. Hope you enjoyed!