A/N: Last chapter! This one does reference one of my previous works, Doctor's Orders, so reading that might make some things clearer, but if you're not planning on reading it, the main part you need to know is that in Doctor's Orders, Douxie stayed at the Lake household for a few days while he recovered directly after Wizards.
Anyway, I'll let you go ahead and read now. See you at the end! ;)
"Thanks for helping out so much today, Douxie." Mr. Connors said, as Douxie packed his own stuff up. The others had already left, rushing to hang out with friends, or get home in time for dinner, shouting quick farewells before quickly heading out the door. Cassie had stayed though and was doing something else in the other room, planning to stay with her parents in their apartment above the shop for dinner before leaving too.
"No problem, Mr. Connors, happy to help out anytime."
"How a guy like you is stuck working in a small cafe is beyond me. You could be someone big, have your own business, or work for someone famous. Even be someone famous! You certainly have the talent, manners and smarts for it."
Douxie chuckled. If Mr. Connors only knew the things he did, who he really was. "I think I'm good just being like a 'friendly, neighbourhood Spiderman', mate. I'm not cut out for something big like that." Saving the world and avoiding the spotlight so people didn't question how he'd stayed physically 19 for centuries was tiring enough.
"Anyway, I should get going. See you tomorrow, Mr. Connors."
"See ya Douxie, have a nice rest of your day."
"Thanks, you too." He called back, already heading out the door to the bus station. Just as he reached the bus station, the bus pulled in and he got in quickly, not even bothering to find a seat for the short ride.
He checked the time, seeing that he was a little late, and he hoped that Archie and Nari weren't getting worried. Only ten minutes past 7, but he still worried. A lot could happen in ten minutes, Douxie knew that all too well.
As soon as the bus came to a halt at his stop, he hopped off quickly, thanking the bus driver before he walked quickly up the his apartment. That's when he felt that something was wrong. His apartment was too quiet through the door, and he tensed, slowly putting the key in the lock and opening the door to… nothing.
The room's lights were off, the curtains closed, blocking off any light that might have come from the setting sun. "Arch? Nari?" He called out, fearing that there'd be no answer.
Instead, the response he got was the lights being switched on suddenly, illuminating the apartment and the multiple occupants in it. "Surprise!"
Douxie blinked, frozen for a second. He took in the apartment, now covered in flowers decorating it, colourful balloons in the corners. There were many more people than he'd expected to be in the apartment, Archie and Nari there, but also Zoe, Jim, Claire, Toby, Steve, Krel, Dr. Lake, Strickler, and even the changeling familiar babies Thomas, Hunter, and Ariana.
Archie flew onto his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek. "Happy birthday, Douxie." With that, the spell over Douxie was broken, and he smiled at his friends, his family.
"This is… fuzzbuckets I think I'm gonna start crying." But he couldn't stop smiling first.
"Do not cry, Douxie." Nari spoke up, making everyone laugh. For a few minutes, everyone just took turns greeting Douxie, and giving him presents and cards.
"Happy birthday Teach."
"Happy butt-day, Mister Magic Man."
"Great, Casperan, you're gonna annoy me for another year. Yay."
After Douxie had met everyone, Dr. Lake spoke. "I'm sure you're hungry after your long day, so why don't we eat first? Jim?"
"Yep, everything's ready." Jim gestured dramatically to Douxie's kitchen counter, where an array of dishes was laid out, starters on one end, mains in the middle and desserts at the end. Douxie just stared in surprise, then at Jim, who smiled at him. "Thought ordering take-out might be too expensive, and besides, I was bored."
"I don't know if there's some kind of etiquette where the birthday boy's supposed to eat first or something, but I'm starving so I'm just gonna start if you don't mind." Toby walked over and picked up a plate, everyone else taking that as an invitation to start too. Douxie only realised how hungry he was when he got a better look at all the food Jim had made, and he quickly filled his plate and went to sit down, talking and laughing with the others as they joined him.
While they ate, Douxie asked about how they managed to pull this off and his friends all pitched in to tell him the (probably overdramatised) story. Apparently, Archie had been talking to Zoe at some point and Zoe decided that she wanted to do something for Douxie's birthday since it had been a while they'd celebrated it together and then Claire had found out from Zoe about his birthday after one of her magic lessons and somehow they came up with a surprise party and all this.
Sometime while they were telling him the story, Claire had opened a shadow portal for Dr. Lake and Strickler to take the babies home, Strickler reluctantly staying to keep an eye on them while Barbara returned to 'supervise' their party and stay for the cake cutting - and also to make sure that Douxie was doing okay there with his jobs and living quarters but she wouldn't admit it.
When everyone was finished eating, Jim got ready to bring out the cake, someone switching the lights off for dramatic effects before Claire switched them back on, saying that they shouldn't use a knife - and a candle - in the dark.
The cake itself was also courtesy of Jim's baking skills, a lemon-raspberry cake with buttercream frosting and a single candle on top.
"I told Jimbo to put all the candles on the cake instead of one like a wimp," Toby started. "but then he was like, 'that'll be more candles than cake, Toby' so I was like, 'fine. Have it your way'. So I considered making my own, but 1) I don't know how to make a cake, and 2) that many candles costs like, a lot and well… I'm broke!" He laughed.
"No worries, mate. One candle's enough. And Jim's right anyway. Nine hundred and twenty candles is a lot." Douxie smiled sheepishly.
"Told you you're old." Zoe said in Douxie's ear, making roll his eyes at her.
"You're just jealous of my experience, love."
"Yeah right."
Jim handed Douxie the knife, and everyone sang happy birthday to him. In all his 920 years, all the times people have sang 'happy birthday' to him, he's never known how to react, and probably never will. So he just smiled, embarrassed, and then cut the cake while everyone clapped.
Feeling the need to be somewhat useful, he insisted on cutting the rest of the cake for his friends, putting them in plates which Jim would add a fork to and hand out. After that, everyone just sat around, full of food, and talked, to each other and Douxie.
Dr. Lake came over to where he was sitting and hugged him, wishing him 'happy birthday' once again, before asking about how he was doing, if he'd had any problems or needed anything. During the conversation, Douxie couldn't help but think about wondering that this was what having a mother was like. He'd had many people in his life who'd taken care of him, but for some reason, none of them had felt so close to him, none of them he'd thought of as a mum as much as he saw that in Dr. Lake. He imagined this concern was the same Jim got, and would get when he moved out. The thought made him feel… warm. Happy.
So he told her about everything he wouldn't usually tell his friends, answered her questions honestly and told her funny stories about other times when he'd been living with just Archie in other cities throughout the years, feeling safe when he was talking to her and trusting her with everything.
The others joined in when Douxie started talking about the first time when he lived in America, a long time ago now. They spent the night just talking, listening to each other's stories, catching Douxie up on their busy lives which made him feel so happy because they cared about him and made him feel like he was a part of their lives, that he hadn't missed anything at all.
It was slightly past midnight by the time anyone noticed. When Dr. Lake saw the time, her eyes widened. "Oh my, we should get going. I know you're all having fun and under normal circumstances I might suggest a sleepover, but that'll have to wait for another time. Douxie does have work tomorrow and he needs his sleep." Her voice was stern, knowing that she was sure to be met with protests from the group of teens. Which she was.
"Kleb, I should be back by now anyway." Krel said. "Ricky and Lucy will have blown up the house by now. And I mean quite literally. Those two cannot even use a toaster properly." He added, seeing some confused looks.
Douxie laughed. "Well, this was amazing, thanks everyone, but it is pretty late, even in Arcadia. You should be heading back, but we can meet up again sometime."
"Definitely, Teach."
"Well, this all wonderful, parting is such sweet sorrow and everything," Zoe spoke up. "but Dr. Lake, respectfully, you don't speak for me. I think I'm gonna crash here tonight."
"Zo, there's no space."
"Not a question, Casperan. I'm crashing here tonight. Got some stuff to do at this HexTech anyway. So do you…"
Douxie chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, keep forgetting. Sorry." He turned to Claire. "Do you need a magic boost for the portal, love, or you got it?"
"I… a magic boost would be useful, thanks." Claire smiled at him, seeming apologetic.
"No worries, love. I got ya. Um, but before you go, what about the leftover food?"
Jim looked to Douxie and shrugged. "You can keep it if you want. I imagine you don't have a lot of time to cook, and take out can get a little pricey here I'm guessing? Whatever, just keep the food and here.. I'll help you put it away too."
He headed over to the kitchen, Douxie following him and together they quickly packed up the remaining dishes, most going in the fridge and Jim giving him instructions on how to reheat most of them.
"Thanks, Jim. You have no idea how much this helps me."
"Happy to help. And Douxie? I'm here if you ever need anything. We all are. You know that right?"
"Yeah. I do."
Jim seemed to be deciding on something, before he made a choice and hugged Douxie. Surprised, it took Douxie a second to relax and hug the younger boy back. "Everything okay, mate?"
"Yeah, I just miss you." Was the muffled reply. Then Jim let go, smiling now. "It's weird, you only spent a few days living with me and yet, it feels like I had an older brother who just moved out."
"Yeah, well, it feels like I just moved out from mum and brother's place." Douxie noted, chuckling.
"We should probably go back now."
"Yeah."
They walked back to the living room where the others were talking, and they saw that Dr. Lake was watching them with a smile on her face. As soon as they joined the group, they all became quiet, saying their goodbyes to Douxie and hugging him in Claire and Dr. Lake's case.
"Stay safe, and call me if you need anything at all, okay?" Dr. Lake said quietly in Douxie's ear as she hugged him, letting go after Douxie replied with an "I will. Thanks."
"Alright, Claire, you ready?" Douxie asked the shadow witch, who nodded. The teens were quiet as Claire started to open a black portal, purple around the edges, turning slightly blue as Douxie channeled his magic into Claire, which helped her make the portal big enough for them to walk through. Once it was the right size, both magic users stopped channeling their magic, the portal remaining open, though not for long.
Waving to Douxie, Archie and Nari, they each went into the portal, the apartment seeming bigger and emptier as one by one, the people left, leaving one witch, one wizard, a dragon, and a plant demigod standing in the living room as the purple portal closed.
Nari was the first to break the silence with a yawn. "I think I will retire to the couch now. Goodnight, Douxie. Happy day of birth once again."
Archie turned into a cat and wrapped himself around Douxie's legs before also going over to the couch and laying down with a yawn. "Goodnight you two."
"'Night Arch."
That left Zoe and Douxie, who looked at each other.
"I'm assuming that's your bedroom?" Zoe pointed to the doorway leading to the small room, pulling Douxie along even though he hadn't answered yet.
Douxie let himself be dragged to the bed, the exhaustion after the long day finally hitting him. When they reached the bed, he flopped onto it, Zoe laying down next to him.
"Too bad you were working all day today."
"It's better than pirates or cannibalistic witches."
Zoe laughed softly. "True. Those were terrible birthdays."
"You've had your fair share of bad birthdays too, love."
"Don't remind me." Zoe shook her head.
They both laughed quietly, but then there was silence for a bit before Douxie spoke. "Still, I wouldn't trade this for anything."
"I know." Zoe snuggled closer and kissed him. "Happy birthday, Casperan."
"Thanks Zo." He kissed her back, so grateful for her, and Archie, and everyone, his family and friends, who he wouldn't trade for the world.
Especially a world where each day was unsure, where just being who he was wasn't always safe, it helped knowing that his family would always be there for him.
That he wasn't alone in this, and he never would be.
A/N: You have no idea how many different endings I wrote out before settling on this one. It's a lot more difficult than it looks. Still think it needs something more, but I have no idea what and I am all drained of any more ideas.
Well, I hope you liked this story, and I really appreciate you reading it. If you have a minute then comments really do make my day, even if it's just a thumbs up emoji. ;) I am not done with the Trollhunting gang just yet, I still have plenty of ideas written down, but who knows when I'll get around to writing them. *shrug*
Regardless, stay safe and see you soon.
-CrowofArcadiaOaks