2020 Christmas Advent Calendar

Parties and Cats

Day 8: Parties 

Everything was so loud. So so loud. It was like the voices didn't want to shut up.

The pink-haired man could see hear the festive music, mixing with the voices of his friends and family. Could hear people laughing and smiling and dancing.

Why did he come to this party again?

His brother had dragged him out of bed that afternoon, saying something about Niki and Eret throwing a party at someone's house. A Christmas party, Wilbur had told, just with a few friends.

A few friends turned out to be half the school.

He was standing in the kitchen, a speaker blasting in his ear on the counter. He could see people dancing in the living room, but all the sounds of their laughter were being muffed by the air that seemed to be filling his ears.

Why did it have to be so loud?

Techno held a cup of punch in his hands, staring down at the red liquid in the solo cup. It was moving slightly from the shaky grip he had on the cup.

He was sure if anyone saw him, standing there in his pink sweater, his hair just hanging around his shoulders like a mop. His brown eyes were bouncing from object to object, trying to steady his breathing.

The teen really didn't want to have a breakdown in the middle of someone's house.

Techno wished he was back in his sleeping clothes, with the book he was reading, and a cup of his dad's hot cocoa. Maybe even a sugar cookie or two. Not standing at some party, where he wish he could just leave.

But he didn't have his driver's license, and Wilbur was nowhere to be seen to drive him home.

He grabbed a cookie off of a tray and started to nibble on it when a short teen walked in. Her brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun, with two blond locks framing her face. She was wrapped up in a purple and white sweater, a pair of round glasses on her face.

"Hello Techno," her voice was soft, and he could barely hear her over the loud music. "How are you doing?"

He shrugged, brushing away a few crumbs that had fallen onto his sweater. "Fine, I guess," his monotone voice broke out over the noise around him. Techno pushed a strand of pink hair that fell into his face, he really should have tied it back. Maybe should have had Wil braid, he thought. "What you doing in here? Don't you got a party to host?"

She shook her head, walking over and grabbing a snowman themed cookie. "This is Eret's party, not mine." Niki looked up at him. "Why are you hiding out in the kitchen?"

"I didn't wanna come to this thing," the teen confused. "Wil dragged me along, said he needed me to come so could convince dad to let us out of the house."

"Shouldn't you be hanging out with Wilbur?"

"No, because I saw that you seem kinda out of it," her voice was filled with concern, he realized. "I know you're not good with crowds, I've seen you at football games, Techno. You really need to stop letting Wil bring you into these kinds of things. I know you don't like being social."

He shrugged, looking back down at his cup of punch. "Wilbur is social, I'm not. Tommy is more social than me," Techno told her. "Dad thought I wanted to get out of the house, so he let us go."

They fell into silence after that, before Niki seemed to light up a little. "I have an idea," she said, placing her half-eaten cookie onto the counter before grabbing onto Techno's arm. "Let's go see my cats, they don't like the loud noise either."

He was then led throw the house, up the stairs before the two reached a small little den-like area. It was somewhat closed off but Techno could see a cat just hanging around the couch, dozing on a few of the Christmas themed pillows.

"This is Zuko," she said, picking up the cat before placing him into Techno's arms, being mindful of the drink he still held. "I got him for my birthday."

Techno nodded, sitting down on the couch, and just started to pet the cat. The noise from downstairs wasn't as loud as in the den. It was peaceful, and not noisy.

"I need to go find Wil and Eret," Niki told him, slipping away silently way while he continued to pet the cat.

Not long later, Wilbur started looking for his younger brother. It was already 11 pm, and Dad said they needed to get home before midnight. Now the hard part of finding the teen. It shouldn't be too hard, considering the fifteen-year-old had pink hair and was very tall, almost as tall as Wilbur. He would be easy to spot in a crowd.

But the thing was, Techno was nowhere to be seen.

He searched the whole first floor before someone said they thought he had seen someone with pink hair head up the stairs. Wilbur wondered why his brother would be upstairs, he wasn't known for wandering around other people's houses.

Wilbur almost burst out laughing when he found Techno.

His brother was asleep on the couch, hair going off in every direction. And laying on his chest was a cat, also asleep. The furball looked comfy in Techno's pink sweater.

"Techno, bro, time to get up," he said, shaking his brother's shoulder. "We need to head home."

"Imma tried thought," the fifteen-year-old said, sitting up. The cat hopped down and walked away from the two brothers. "Can't I sleep some more?"

Wilbur laughed and ruffed his hair. "You can sleep in the car."

"Okie dokie."

The brown-haired teen let out a small chuckle before wrapping an arm around his brother's shoulder. "Come on, let's head home."