This was unbelievable, Micky thought to himself. Play a few (hundred) harmless pranks on a guy, and apparently you lose all credibility when you come at him with a blindfold, asking for cooperation. He might have to leave the convincing to Peter, Micky was getting nowhere with a stubborn, sleep-tousled Mike. He urged the blond forward with a series of eye brow raises, head tilts, and finally a small shoulder nudge. Peter fell awkwardly into the side of the bed, but turned and managed to land sitting next to the tall Texan. Mike lounged with his long legs crossed in front of him, and his arms folded across his chest, not the most welcoming body language, Peter noticed. He would have to tread carefully here if he wanted their plan to work.

"Come on, Michael, you'll only have to wear the blindfold for a few minutes. You don't have to worry, we won't let you fall or run into anything. Well not on purpose, anyway" Peter amended.

Micky slapped his hand to his forehead and moved forward as he saw Mike withdraw even further. Peter and he had been working hard on this surprise for weeks, and everything had come together without any major disasters. Yeah, he couldn't believe it either. Now they just had to get Mike on board for the last part of the plan. Micky was getting to the end of his patience. He and Peter had been up late every night since Christmas, making signs, blowing up balloons, grocery shopping. It was hard to keep secrets in such close quarters, so the only time to work was after everyone else had gone to bed. He had been up especially late last night, making sure the decorations were just right, and then Peter had woken him up at the crack of dawn to start cooking breakfast. Now he was running on 2 hours of sleep and a half a pot of coffee. He was ready for Mike to see and eat the fruit of their labor.

"Just be quiet and trust us!" Micky burst out as Mike was opening his mouth again, probably to argue.

Mike paused with his mouth still open and looked at the earnest faces in front of him. He let his tense shoulders drop in defeat, then turned to stand from the bed. "Fine, I'll play your game," Mike said with a sigh. "But if you're trying to play a trick on me again, I swear you'll have to sleep with one eye open for a month, Micky".

"Fine, fine!" Micky said excitedly as he went to hustle Mike and Peter along. If they didn't hurry up, all of their hard work would be a cold, inedible mess anyway.

"Hold on," Mike stopped Micky from tying the blind fold around his head. "I'm not wearing that thing, who knows if it's got itching powder, ink, bugs or some other God-awful way to ruin my day hidden in it. I'll cover my eyes, but we'll have to compromise on how."

One minute later, Mike emerged from the upstairs bedroom, flanked on either side with Micky and Peter holding his arms and guiding him, his green wool hat pulled down over his eyes. He had it stretched enough so that he could still see vague outlines of shapes and colors through the knit yarn. Mike wasn't trying to ruin any surprises, but he could barely get his long legs and big feet to navigate the metal hurricane stairs on a good day, let alone missing one of his most important senses and "guided" by his two clumsiest roommates. He didn't need to end the year with a visit from the doctor for another silly injury.

Micky and Peter were practically vibrating with excitement as they bounced to the railing at the top of the stairs. Micky turned and quickly let his eyes scan over the dining area and kitchen to make sure everything was still in place before the big reveal. Groovy banner…check, awesome streamer and balloon placement…check, perfect table setting…check, brunette elf in silk polka dot pajamas munching on a piece of baco… wait, what?!

Micky tried to process what he was seeing but couldn't come up with any explanation for it. There, in the middle of their birthday surprise sat Davy, helping himself. He watched as a little piece of his extra crispy bacon made its way between the little twerp's lips and couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"DAVY!"

Davy jumped a foot in the air as his name was shouted from the balcony. Oh, well done, he thought. The fellas still managed to surprise him, even though he had been extra vigilant since sitting down at the table. He looked up and the smile died on his lips as he met three sets eyes, varying between confused, angry and wool-covered respectively. He wasn't sure he was understanding the emotions that were being projected at him.

After Micky's outburst, Mike swept the hat off his head, expecting the worst. He blinked in pleasant surprise as he took in the decorations and banner. Well what do you know, they hadn't been trying to prank him. As Mike and Peter stood taking the situation in, Micky's words were finally catching up to his emotions, and started spilling out of his mouth.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you seriously that self-centered?! Don't tell me you somehow missed the sign, balloons and streamers as you made your way through the kitchen to the breakfast that wasn't yours."

Davy froze. Were they playing a prank on him? What was he supposed to think when he woke up on his birthday, and then saw a birthday surprise in the common room. His mind raced to find some sort of explanation for their behavior.

Meanwhile, Micky continued his tirade as he stomped down the stairs. A flood of thoughts flowing through his head, fueling his frustration. Of all the selfish, inconsiderate things! What was Davy thinking? How could he just help himself like that? He was stopped short in his advances by a hand around his arm. Peter was by his side pulling him back before he could reach Davy.

Davy stood up from the table quickly. He had lived with the guys for 4 months now, and they had yet to fall into even a verbal altercation. He didn't know how to take Micky's frenetic energy aimed at him except as aggressive. He'd learned early on how to pick up queues to determine when he needed to physically defend himself, and when he could diffuse a situation with charm or humor. He'd even learned to read that the odds were stacked too high against him, and the best course of action was to run to find his sisters (and they never let him forget it, the protective harpies). Being half the size of most of his peers, as well as having a wardrobe that usually consisted of his sisters' hand-me-downs made him an easy target. Though he eventually won enough scraps to gain some respect. He hoped it wouldn't come to that with his new friends as he watched Micky carefully and prepared for his advance.

Peter knew he was not as smart as his roommates most of the time, but if there was one thing he knew, it was people. And right now, he could see that Micky was erupting in a caffeine-fueled outburst, and Davy was getting into a defensive position. He knew he needed to diffuse the situation quickly before Davy's short temper was activated as well. He grabbed Micky's arm and directed his next words to Davy.

"I'm so sorry, David, maybe we should have told you about the plan! It's just that we knew that you don't have much money saved up yet, especially with rent due in a few days. We didn't want you to feel obligated to get Mike a present or chip in for party supplies, so we decided to keep everything to ourselves. Now we've created a bit of a misunderstanding."

Davy relaxed his stance, and realization dawned on his face. It was Mike's birthday, too! How could he have been so stupid! Maybe he was a bit self-centered, but he'd just thought…

He cut his train of thought off there. Just because the guys didn't realize it was his birthday, didn't discount the friendships they had formed in the last few months. They showed they cared about him every day, he didn't need grand gestures. The way Peter patiently took the time to teach him more than he ever though he'd know about music. And in the jokes Micky always saved to tell Davy first, or how he wouldn't quit until he had made Davy smile after a long day. Or how Mike always looked out for him like a real older brother, staying close when Davy was scared or in a dangerous situation. Davy clung to those thoughts as the emotional roller coaster he had been on this morning threatened to overwhelm him. He took a deep breathe, pushed everything back down to process later, and plastered what he hoped was a convincing smile on his face.

"I'm sorry fellas, I should have realized. I thought the decorations were for a New Year's celebration or something. When I smelled the bacon, I couldn't resist, I've neva seen anything like it! I feel terrible I ruined your surprise, Mike".

Micky was squirming a little at this point. He had noticed the hurt that flashed across Davy's face before it was covered by what Micky recognized as his stage smile. He was regretting his outburst. He decided to help smooth the situation over and spoke up.

"Hey, Dave, don't worry about it. Listen, we didn't have enough ingredients to make hot cakes, juice and bacon for everybody, but there's plenty of potato casserole! Let's eat before it gets cold!"

The four boys all sat down to eat together, the sounds of their chewing punctuated by Mike raving about the cooking (they didn't need to know about the egg shells in the hot cakes, everyone needed more calcium in their diet, right?). And Davy admitting that the British could learn a thing or two about cooking bacon after Mike slipped him a whole slice of his own. The three eldest noticed that Davy was unusually withdrawn but put it down to embarrassment.

Davy decided to look on the bright side and be thankful that on his birthday he had a place to live, friends to share a meal with, and a chance to live his dream by playing in a band. When he had been surviving off table scraps and tips over the summer, he was worried he'd be homeless for the holidays. He was thankful for his friends and everything they had done for him. He didn't want them to feel bad about the faux pas that had been created by him sharing a birthday with Mike. He decided they never needed to know.

To be continued...

Notes: Here is an article from one of Davy's sisters that inspired parts of the back story for this chapter.
articles/1967/08/monkee-spectacular/davy-by-his-sister (It says Linda is his second oldest sister, but they were only two years apart, so I think that's a typo. It's stated in another article that Hazel is the oldest, and that he and Beryl were 6 years apart, so I think the order is Hazel, Beryl, Linda, Davy. I know it doesn't matter, but I'm OCD)
I just imagine tiny little Davy with his over protective sisters running around after him. Poor guy talks about wearing his sisters' hand me downs in his memoir. Apparently, girls shirts and coats buttoned a different way, so everyone knew.