Escapism

Side Story: Birthday Party

A/N: takes place a few weeks after The Outburst & before ASDF LAND 2.0

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Tom hoisted the heavy boxes of cola he was carrying over his shoulder, trying his best not to let it spill. Jon would have helped Tom with the boxes to keep him from falling, but he had his own box to worry about. Tom felt a little embarrassed both him and Jon slowly wobbled through the neighborhood with the groceries, trying to get safely back to their home.

"Why does Edd need so much cola?" Jon grunted as he struggled

"He's always obsessed with cola!" Tom exclaimed, almost dropping the box on the ground but Jon leaned in to help.

"I think he has an addition to this stuff...like a really serious addition" Jon said as his legs got weaker.

"I know I tell him that all the time but he doesn't care" Tom grunts, "It's ok trooper we are almost home so hang on". The two kept going until they've eventually made it home. When they entered they've noticed it's dark and quite.

"Uh was today a busy day?..." Jon asked, Tom shook his head. "No.... usually they are on the couch or in the kitchen or in their rooms...."

Both decided to head to the kitchen, after they set the cola down, to look for the missing roommates. Just then confetti hit their face and there was a loud "Surprise!!" From both Matt and Edd. The kitchen was decorated with full of birthday themed favors and there was a few games like pin the tail on the donkey, apple bobbing and a piñata placed around.

"Wh-" Tom tried to ask,

"Happy Birthday Thomas!!" Edd yelled.

"Oh...Oh oh wow ha.. thank you" Tom said as it finally clicked. The three roommates hugged each other tightly.

Meanwhile Jon was on the sidelines and he realized, "Oh so that's why you had us buy so much cola?"

"That and-...well I just happened to have a short supply at the moment so it was a good opportunity to distract Tom while we set up the party" Edd embarrassingly admits.

"You two didn't had to, you know I usually don't make a big deal about my birthday" Tom commented

"Yeah but Edd insisted on having a small party so tell that to him!" Matt playfully nudged Edd.

Jon looked up with curiosity, "You guys throw parties for a birthday?"

Edd and Tom raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"Yeah something like that, although it's just more of a small celebratory gathering between roommates" Edd responded.

"Why do you ask? Did you do anything like this with Eduardo?"

Jon looked down shamefully, "Well...not exactly"

"You see usually when it's my birthday, Eduardo and Mark usually forget, and if i do remind them they don't do anything like this. Just an.. acknowledgement, but it's better than nothing!" Jon tried his best to explain the situation.

Upon hearing this, Tom,Edd & Matt faces fell.

"You mean, you never had a birthday party? With birthday presents or a cake? Not even a pinata?" Matt said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Not since I was 10, I actually forgot how it was like to have a birthday party"

"That's horrible!" Edd cried out. "Honestly I'm not to surprised Eduardo would do this. He sucks.." Tom added.

"Well then we are changing that!" Edd exclaimed. "From here on out Jon, we'll throw you a surprise birthday party!"

Jon lets out a nervous laugh, and throws up his hands in defense"O-Oh you really don't have to" but it seems Edd wasn't gonna let it down, as he puts his arm around him

"Nonsense, you're our roomie now! It's no problem at all"

"Besides" Tom came next to Jon. "It's like a requirement, Edd always throws birthday parties for us"

"I had a cake in the shape of my face! It was the best gift ever" Matt joined in, although Tom cringed at the remembrance of that incident.

"Matt..you kept that cake in our fridge for months. It was rotting and it smelled terrible."

Matt wiped a tear from his eye, "Yeah...I do miss that handsome cake"

The trio laughed for a brief moment at that memory. Soon they turned their attention back to Jon.

"So, when is your birthday?" Edd asked curiously, as he lets go of the shorter man.

"O-Oh, um July 12th" he said a bit nervously.

"Hey that's only 2 months away!" Matt blurted out.

"You're right.." Edd said thoughtfully, as he was already planning Jon's birthday. "This is so exciting! We're going to throw a surprise birthday for Jon!"

"It really isn't much of a surprise if you're going to announce it like that" Tom commented.

"Well he can just forget we ever had this conversation, right Jon!?"

"What conversation?" Jon said, which admittedly made everyone in the room laugh at the bit.

"Well, Today is Tom's birthday so let's show Jon how we party!!"

"Hooray!!" Screamed Matt, then he blew a confetti popper which scattered across the room and covered Tom with it.

Tom was a tad annoyed at this but it really didn't seem to matter as much.

"So Tom, want to open presents first or play games" Edd asked his roommate

"Definitely the games! I will be at you all at them!" He said in a competitive manner.

As the group started to play a couple of games, such as pin the tail on the donkey, bobbing for apples in the kitchen sink, beer pong and even the pinata, Jon observed on the sidelines. Sometimes he'd even join in on the games. It's been a while since he smiled like this.

When Tom opened his birthday presents from his friends however, Jon felt a bit bad he didn't get Tom a present.

"Hey" Jon walked up to Tom, "sorry I didn't get you anything..I didn't know it was your birthday"

"Hey don't sweat it! I didn't expect you to know when my birthday was"

"I still owe you one though, I promise by your next birthday, i will get you something!"

Tom chuckled "alright then, better be something cool, Maybe more Smirnoff!"

Even though it was nothing too big, the group had fun together. It made Jon very eager to celebrate his birthday with them, this time he was sure that this time his birthday would be awesome.