Chapter Text
"Rumi! Your kid is playing with the streamers again!" Mira shouted.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Rumi muttered, and then abandoned her area to grab her. Ari was giggling happily while absolutely destroying the streamers. "Sorry Mira," She said wearily. "I'll leave her with Jinu for a minute."
"Keep track of your child," Mira muttered, and then returned to her work.
Rumi quickly checked if Ari was okay (which, of course, she was) before walking over to Jinu. "She got into the streamers," She said in the most tired voice possible. "I'm pretty sure Ari single-handedly convinced Mira to never have children."
"Damn right she did!" Mira shouted from across the room. Ari giggled and reached for Rumi's hair to play with.
"Our child is a menace," Jinu laughed. He gingerly took Ari into his arms. "I'm assuming you want me to watch her for a minute?"
"Yeah. In hindsight, bringing a 4 month old child to a place with food, streamers, and baloons was a bad idea."
"Worst fucking idea ever," Baby agreed.
Rumi sighed. "At least keep it PG, Baby."
"The fuck's PG?"
"If her first word is fuck I'm blaming you." Rumi snapped. Mira chuckled.
It was Zoey's birthday. Mystery had offered to take her somewhere, allowing the others time to set up. Rumi and Jinu learned long ago that their 4 month old daughter was more popular than them, so they decided that instead of trusting a giant blue tiger to watch her for an hour just to drive back and get her and drive all the way to Zoey's house again, they'd just bring her with. As you can probably tell, that was a mistake.
They were all dressed somewhat nice or meaningful. Ish. Rumi had on a white longsleeve turtleneck and black shorts, with Jinu in a navy sweater with an abstract pattern on it in white.
Mira jokingly wore a HUNTR/X T-shirt that was obviously a gag gift, showing the 'They're The Same Picture' meme with Mira and her polar bear PJ's and black pants.
Baby just wore a plain white T-shirt covered in stains and jeans. Romance wore a baggy yellow longsleeve and jeans. Abby wore a cropped hoodie, bucket hat, and black pants. Mystery just wore a sweatshirt and jeans. Bobby decided to come in a freaking SUIT. This man deserves an award.
Ari, being the absolute diva that she is, wore a Derpy onesie, tail and all. Zoey herself said that she'd love to see Ari in something like that. Who wouldn't?
"Has somone gotten the cake?" Bobby asked frantically. Rumi raised her hand. "The turtle plushies?" Mira nodded. "The tablecloth?" Abby patted his back. "What about the cups and napkins?" Romance gestured to the table. "Turtle tablecloth?" Jinu nodded. "Forks and spoons?" Baby glanced at him. Bobby sighed. "Ari's here, right!?"
"Of course she is!" Rumi said. Bobby sighed again.
Jinu set Ari down for 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 so he could quickly tie some balloons together. It was literally like five seconds. Almost nothing.
Ari managed to steal a turtle plushie.
It was FIVE SECONDS. '𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥,' Rumi thought. She picked her up and grabbed the turtle plushie. She sighed. "Ari's claimed one of the turtles," She said wearily.
"The kid can't move without assistance and yet manages to be the most problematic one here," Mira groaned. Rumi and Jinu didn't protest. Nobody did, really. Ari giggled in delight.
Rumi held Ari for a while afterwards. Sure, Ari fussed with her loose braid and made like 80% of things undoable, but it was better than nothing.
Then came time to lay the tablecloth. The table itself was absolutely giant, needing everybody to help do it. It was just five seconds. And besides, most stuff was out of reach anyways.
The literal second the tablecloth was placed Ari pulled it off.
Nobody liked that. "Rumi, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD-"
"Mira stop it," Rumi sighed. "Although I agree, she's 4 months old." Everyone nodded. Rumi quietly picked her up while the others resumed their work, promising to do the tablecloth later. She whispered something to Jinu. He nodded.
Soon enough Derpy was entertaining Ari, allowing everybody (including Rumi and Jinu) to resume their work in peace. For once.
Then it was time to set up the tablecloth again. The sea turtle wearing a party hat could not have looked more menacing. They set it down. Ari did not do anything to it. They all had a silent celebration. It was all set.
"Where's the food?" Baby asked.
"Shit! I forgot to grab it!" Rumi shouted.
"And you scolded us for cursing," Mira said loudly.
"Shut up," Rumi said. Luckily, she was married to a demon. And demons can teleport. Jinu volunteered to get the food while everybody made final touches.
Jinu came back when the doorbell rang. They quickly opened the boxes. "Domino's sucks ass, bro!" Baby said.
"Baby, focus!" Rumi hissed. They heard Zoey happily chatting with Mystery while walking up the stairs.
"Where's the cake!?" Mira whispered fiercely.
Jinu pulled out a giant white box. It was a 3 tier chocolate cake with HUNTR/X on the top. He carefully lifted the lid whike the other Sajas focus on shoving candles in the cake.
Rumi carefully fixed up Ari, making sure her onesie was on properly and all that. She pulled the hood up and looked at her daughter's half-lidded eyes. "So now you decide to sleep," Rumi muttered.
They saw the handle turn on the door and quickly scrambled into formation. Rumi and Jinu stood on the far left holding Ari. Baby and Romance stood in the middle. Mira and Abby were on the far right. Bobby stood up front.
"And, like- OH MY GOSH!" Zoey shouted.
"Happy birthday!" They all chorused.
"Thank you guys so- ARI LOOKS SO CUTE!!!"
"Really? THAT'S the first thing you notice!?" Baby said, clearly irritated.
"I love this kid! Accept it!" Zoey snapped defensively.
"We spent a grueling hour making this place look nice while that menace of a child fucked everything up, and Zoey's fawning over her. The audacity, dude," Abby sighed. Nobody complained. Not even the proud parents.
Zoey eventually noticed the decor. She loved it. "Turtles. Cake. Mystery. You guys. Ari. Today's a good day," She beamed.
Despite the bickering, arguments, and near-disasters, it was definitely a good day.