"...and nobody lives to tell the tale."

The gathered partygoers stared at Luciano holding up his hands as if to be scary. Unfortunately, the broad daylight did not often open opportunities for frightening atmospheres, especially inside pastel decorated bakeries.

"I don't get it," Allen said. "How can you know 'bout it if nobody lives for the story to carry on?" The chicken cradled in his arms softly clucked, as if in agreement.

Luciano slapped his palms on the table. "I'm trying to tell a spooky story here!"

"Yeah," Lutz muttered, "the keyword is trying."

"Shut up!"

Kuro quietly laughed to himself.

Oliver emerged from the kitchen with a fairy on his head, and a fresh batch of cupcakes in his hands. "How about everybody pipes down?" He warned with a sweet smile. Allen was squirming in his seat before the baker set the tray on the table.

Luciano stared at the piles of white icing. "Oliver, we brought snacks so you did not have to make all this stuff!"

"It is only one batch. Besides," Oliver ran a hand through Allen's hair as he shoved an entire treat in his mouth, "I need to accommodate this one's appetite."

Everyone blankly stared at said man as he said something, but grunts, and dark crumbs flew onto the table instead of words. Kuro lowly scoffed in disgust, moving his drink glass out of the way of the invading particles. "That is sickening!" The chicken on his lap ruffled itself, and clumsily jumped onto the floor to get away from all the jerking and thrashing.

"Breathe, darling," Oliver coaxed his partner by rubbing small circles against his shoulder blades. He watched Eegs flee into the kitchen, thankfully, out of sight.

Allen managed to choke out, "Where's Matt? He comin'?"

"Chicken!" Lila loudly called, and dove off of Oliver's head, after the feathery animal.

"Give them time," Oliver said, raising his free hand to swish at the new absence. "Not all the guests are here."

Luciano looked around with an ever lost face. "Who else is coming? Did you make new friends?"

Oliver watched Kuro snatch the same cupcake Allen was reaching for, and narrowed his dark eyes in warning of keeping quiet. "He is...not exactly a friend."

It was time for Lutz to look terrified. "You don't mean you're actually allowing Nikolai to come here?!"

Allen fell into another coughing fit, reliving horrors of the previous night. "Fuck! No, not that guy!"

Luciano gawked at the baker fussing about his partner turning purple. "Oliver, why?"

"I-I felt bad for him!" Oliver gave Allen's back a hard whack, causing more slobbery crumbs to fling out of his mouth. Kuro closed his eyes, ready to pass on. "He wanted to come to a party. For goodness sake, learn to chew before you swallow!"

"He's a creeper!"

Allen took an exaggerated gasp of air as he pressed his forehead to the table top. Oliver scoffed, going after his own chair, "We mostly see him up to his elbows in blood."

Luciano shrugged. "Still a creeper."

The other brunet picked up his head, cheeks still red from his brush with death. "Once a creeper, always a creeper!"

"Do not say any of those things when he comes around!"

Lutz snickered behind his hand, and elbowed Kuro, who paid him no heed. "He might take a scalpel to your throat if you do."

"Eugh!" Allen clamped his hands around his neck.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "I asked him to dress accordingly, so none of those things will be brought into my shop."

Luciano repeated, "Still a creeper."

The fresh batch of cupcakes was more than half gone when Matt and Siegmund arrived. "Are those cupcakes?" The blond asked before greeting anybody. He lunged forward, and dug two out of their holes, so he and his company would get a chance to eat.

Allen said, "I was gon' say, 'Hey, Matt,' but I guess the cupcakes beat me to it."

His brother sat next to him, but ignored the comment as Siegmund took the adjacent chair. "Crazy party."

Oliver claimed with a happy swish of his hand, "It has not even started yet!"

Matt gave him a weird look, but shook his head. "Isn't everyone here?"

A figure moved along the windows, answering his question when the front door pulled open. "Hello, comrades!" At least Nikolai was not wearing his usual surgeon scrubs.

Those who knew him grumbled, and turned from his pale red gaze. Being the host, Oliver had to welcome him. He rose from his seat, and hurried to the front of the bakery. "Hello, dear, what are these bags in your hands?"

With a smile that could mean anything when it came to him, Nikolai approached the adjacent table from the partygoers, and plopped his luggage on the sprinkled surface. He dove his arms into the two bags, and began rummaging through them.

Matt leaned over to his brother, whispering, "Who is this guy?" Siegmund shot him a frightened look, wondering the same thing.

Allen appeared to be equally scared. "You don't wanna know."

"I asked."

"Shut up, Matt."

Nikolai pulled out a shiny, cone shaped hat. "Party favors!" He cheered, and roughly set it on Oliver's head.

"Ah!" The baker grabbed at the smooth plastic to adjust it. "H-How lovely..."

Luciano accused, "Isn't that a birthday hat?"

"No, no," Nikolai batted the poof ball on top of the head wear. "It is a party hat. For parties."

Giving the bag a suspicious scowl, the Italian demanded, "What's in there?"

"Candy!" Nikolai grabbed one bag and dumped it all over the table. Oliver frowned at the stray pieces bouncing to the floor.

Allen's eyes bulged. "All o' that's candy?!"

"You tell me."

"Holy shit!" He was obviously conflicted between gorging himself like a piñata, or avoiding anything the operator had to offer.

Luciano hissed, "Still a creeper."

Oliver could not tell if Nikolai heard the comment as he grabbed a large handful of the sweets before taking a seat beside Kuro. The small knuckle that was resting on the table whitened as the beast settled with a quiet chuckle. His face grew slightly green when offered a piece of chocolate, and managed a weak shake of the head.

The baker clapped several times to summon everyone's attention, but his shiny hat had done most of the head turning. "Thank you for all coming today, but I admit, I did not intend for this gathering to be some random fest...at least, not for the most part."

Nikolai dropped his candy on the table to throw his hands over his eyes. "Then why did I even buy your hat?!"

"I said, for the most part! Bear with me on this. I may sound a little mad, but we all know how dreadful the world can be, right?" Most of Oliver's guests stared with traumatized gazes. The hat must have gotten to them. Oliver rubbed his hands in a nervous motion. "It is not awful all the time! That is why I would like to bring out the good stuff from the dark that it has been in for so long!"

Lutz echoed, "Good stuff?"

Luciano put in, "Like puppies?"

Oliver nodded. "Like literature, music, and art. There are no smart reasons for creative thinking to be so suppressed. Look how cold and reclusive the world is because of it."

Matt glanced around the gathered partygoers with a constipated expression. "What do you expect us to do?"

"Get rid of the attitude to start!" Oliver cheerfully offered. "I do not believe there will be a global movement to improve society just yet. I was thinking we could start somewhere much smaller, somewhere outside these doors."

Lutz gave his head a shake of disbelief. "You want us to go around, and tell people to cheer up? You really think that is going to make them change for the better?"

"I know it sounds daft right now, and I know it will be dreadfully embarrassing at first. All I am asking is to start a movement in the right direction. All those...oh, what are they called? 'Closet Smilers?' Odd term if you ask me, but all those closet smilers and people hiding their desires and talents will catch onto what we would be doing, then it will take off from there!"

Matt snorted. "That's insane."

Allen shot his brother a sour pucker. "Why you lookin' at me fer?"

Luciano fidgeted in his seat, casting a nervous glance around the room. "It's like when the thing with...my friend blew over. Those things you were saying to me, you want it to be like where he is?"

"Similary. I am not trying to create a legion of squeamish pansies, but they have some things right."

Nikolai giggled, "I have no idea what anyone is talking about."

Oliver insisted, "There is no harm in trying!"

Lutz grumbled, "Sometimes, there is."

The baker slapped his hands on the table. "Not this time! Are you all going to sit there, and drown in society's darkness, or are you going to do something about it while there is a chance?"

Allen shot to his feet, and obnoxiously clapped. "Yeah! Woo! Let's go, Matt! What'd'ya think?"

"I think that's one of the more stupid ideas you had, or went along with."

Lutz chuckled at how Allen's shoulders slouched from his brother's dejection. "I think you're trying to get laid."

"Yeah?! I think that's more than you'll ever do!"

The blond narrowed his eyes, and slowly rose out of his chair. "Just what are you implying?"

Just as Allen opened his mouth, Oliver smacked the table again repeatedly. "I appreciate the gesture, darling, but you need to sit before this whole thing topples over."

Nikolai's mouth pulled down as the duo grumbled, scorned one another with glares, and settled. "A fight would have been interesting..."

"Not now!" Oliver spat. "Will you think about something serious like this for once, instead of jumping to insult a good idea?"

Siegmund leaned against Matt's arm, petting it with fondness. The rugged blond acknowledged the gesture with a curt nod, and muttered, "I suppose. What do we have to do?"

Oliver let out a snooty hum. "I have plenty of ideas, actually!"

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

"I have too many ideas," he hissed to Lila when he retired to bed that night. "I think I overwhelmed them today."

The fairy giggled lightheartedly at his not-so-awful turmoil. "There is plenty of enough time to get yourself sorted out by the next meeting, and by then, maybe your friends will have their own ideas, too!"

"I am not sure they are my friends..."

"Yet."

"Yes, yet. Do you think I should talk to Arthur about this? I mean, I am taking some ideas from his place. Maybe he will have some good input as well."

"I can get him!" Lila offered.

"Would you?"

Allen emerged from the hall. "Would I what, babe?"

Oliver pulled the covers up to his chin to hide his embarrassed flush when his housemate flicked on the lights. "I did not say anything."

"Sure thing," the other man tugged the blanket from Oliver's clutch enough to plant his lips on his partner's cheek.

"Where's that chicken of yours?"

"In his cage like you told me to do."

Oliver and the fairy giggled when Allen sauntered to the foot of the bed to peel off his shirt. Lila poked the baker's nose to retract his attention. "I'm going to fetch Arthur now. Make sure you don't keep us waiting!"

"With what?" He seethed under his breath, only to quiet when the bed dramatically flopped under Allen's weight. The room filled with soft hooting noises as he scrambled across the mattress to wedge underneath the cover, and wrap around Oliver. "I do not even know why I try to sleep on one side of the bed."

"We got sides o' the bed we're supposed to stay on?"

"Y-you do not have to..."

"Good!" Allen buried his face in the crook of Oliver's neck, and before long, his breathing deepened to light snores. Oliver blinked against the darkness in surprise; usually he was the one that tried to fall asleep first, but he did not complain.

"You want my help?!" Arthur exclaimed when his look alike joined him in the flower fields. The blond hesitated, appearing to be taken back by putting a hand to his chest. "Well, I-"

"Don't gloat!" Lila warned.

"I am not! I was going to say that I am humbled that you decided to better your world using my ideas!"

"Your world's ideas."

Arthur scowled at the fairy. "Do you not have flowers to bloom?"

Lila harrumphed, and buzzed further into the colorful patch. Oliver gently shook his head, fondly smiling. "That is good to hear. However, I intend to encourage the openness of art and literature. Everything else would be dramatically changed, perhaps for the worse, and I am certain nobody would want that."

"Dramatically how? You could make homicide a little more frowned upon-"

"Like that. Arthur, to be frank, that would be a foolish idea. One, nobody would bother listening to that nonsense, and two," Oliver continued despite Arthur opening his mouth and incoherently stammering, "killing is a good thing. If done so recklessly, the police will take measures to stop it. However, in moderation, it makes people behave themselves, and get rid of all those awful, extraneous fellows."

"Says you!"

"Says a whole other universe!" Oliver held up a hand before his look alike could get too frazzled. "Both of our worlds have wrongs and rights. I am just trying to bring the wrong of the suppressed arts into light. Technically, the Dark Ages never ended, despite whatever flimsy religion prevailing at the time eventually evaporating. With conditional homicide of my world, and the artistic practices of yours, who knows? Maybe humanity can reach a never seen before utopia."

Arthur granted, "You sound like you have been thinking about this for a long while!"

"Oh, that is an understatement!"

"Hm. It is your decision in the end. If you are willing to go those distances, then by all means, go for it."

"Yeah!" Lila clapped from a distant flower. "Go, Ollie!"

Oliver giggled from the praise. "Don't be surprised if all the spirits start flocking to my world, then!"

Arthur tossed his hands at his look alike in a feign gesture of disbelief. "Hah, if only!"

"You say that now!"

"I will say it later, too!"

"Go ahead!" Oliver casually baited.

"I will!" Arthur promised.

Lila hollered to end their antics, "The spirits are flocking around in the Realm of Spirits, and will keep doing so, thank both of you very much!"