Aurum’s Birthday

It’s Aurum’s birthday! And a certain werekitten is throwing him a surprise party! Despite telling him in advannce

 

Aurum’s Birthday

By CalexTheNeko

 

Aurum was sitting on the park bench outside during his lunch break. He had a small sandwich he had retrieved from a paper bag he was slowly nibbling on. While doing so he pulled up his phone to check up on current events and what was going on. The first thing that popped up was an alert form his calendar, informing Aurum that it was in fact his birthday. He didn’t actually need a reminder of that, after all it was his birthday he could remember it. But his phone felt the need to remind him anyway. He quickly dismissed the alert so he could check on other things when.

 

“HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!?” A ridiculous loud gasp sounded from directly behind Aurum. The white tiger nearly jumped out of his own fur when he leaped from the bench from the sudden noise. Turning around it didn’t take him long to find the source of the noise. A small orange kitten, wearing no clothing at all had leaped onto the back of the bench. “You didn’t tell me it was your birthday!”

 

“GAH! Calex! Aurum slowly recovered his composure. “Where the heck did you come from?”

 

“I go where I am needed.” The kitten nodded sagely as if this explained everything. “But more importantly, you didn’t tell me it was your birthday! We need balloons! And cake! And… Why aren’t you in your birthday suit?”

 

“Well for starters I’m in public and have to work today.” Aurum rolled his eyes. He had become a bit less modest after certain misadventures but that didn’t mean he was going to start running around naked in public, especially not on the job.

 

“You can’t work on your birthday!” Calex jumped down from the bench and reached up to tug on Aurum’s shirt sleeve. “You should be having a party!”

 

“Pretty sure my boss disagrees.” Aurum ruffled Calex’ headfur. “Part of being an adult is you don’t get to just ignore all your responsibilities just cause it’s your birthday.” Aurum then stiffened up as he saw Calex’s  eyes light up. “And no that’s not an invitation to make me younger!”

 

“Awwwww.” Calex pouted. “But you gotta do something for your birthday. It’s the law.”

 

“Sorry, gotta work.” Aurum shrugged.

 

“What time does work end?” Calex’s ears perked up.

 

“Uhhhh about 6 PM.”  Aurum replied.

 

“Great, then the party will start at seven.” Calex grinned cheekily. “I’ll get everything set up at your place, you just make sure you show up!” With that the kitten dropped down to all fours and took off running.

 

“W-wait.” Aurum called but it was too late. “How… How do you even know where I live? Or plan to get inside?” The kitten was far too far away to hear these questions by now though, and so Aurum was only left with a sense of anticipation and dread for what would be waiting for him at home at the end of the day.

 

Work passed at a glacial pace. That seemed to be a general law of the universe. The more exciting of an event you had planned for after work the slower the day passed. It turned out time was not only relative, it was kind of a jerk. But eventually Aurum was off work. Now it was time to head home and see what the werekitten had done to his place, assuming the kitten had gotten inside.

 

Of course he would have gotten inside somehow. He was Calex. Normal rules and logic just didn’t seem to apply to him.

 

Aurum approached the front door to his apartment and slowly unlocked it. With trepidation he opened the door trying to prepare himself for anything when-

 

“SURPRISE!” All the lights in Aurum’s apartment flipped on at once as confetti rained down from the ceiling all over him. Balloons took off from the ground eventually colliding with the ceiling and then there standing on his living room coffee table was Calex, greeting him with a hearty shout. “Happy birthday!”

 

“Gaaaah!” Aurum recoiled as some of the confetti rained down on him. No doubt he’d be reduced to a baby or shrunk to mouse sized or turned into a baby mouse. Except as the confetti slowly finished raining down it appeared to just be normal confetti, no magical properties. “Huh.”

 

“You seem surprised.” Calex crossed his arms. “I mean I know it’s a surprise party and all but I kind of did tell you about it in advance… I didn’t think I was that good at planning these.”

 

“No not that.” Aurum shook his head. “I was just surprised this wasn’t some kind of magic confetti that would turn me into kitten.”

 

“It’s just confetti.” Calex shrugged. “They’re just colorful pieces of paper cut up. Not really anything special there.”

 

“But with you nothing is ever-“ Aurum stated but didn’t get the chance to finish.

 

“Alright, alright, we got games to play, cake to eat! Let’s get this show on the road!” Calex jumped down from the table and then passed a look at Aurum. “So uh, you gonna get ready for the party or?”

 

“I think I’m ready enough.” Aurum looked around. “Is there something else  I should have done?”

 

“You’re not in your birthday suit.” Calex gave an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know how many more times I can be expected to teach you the same lesson… And now on your birthday too?”

 

“Oh.” Aurum realized Calex expected him to disrobe. He considered for a few moments. Calex had organized this party, so obviously nothing he was wearing would fit soon anyway. He’d just wind up tangled up in his own clothing. And he was in the privacy of his own home and Calex was the only one here. It certainly hadn’t hurt anything at the fireworks celebration either last month. “OK, ok, fine you win.” Aurum quickly slid his shirt off followed by his pants and underwear. The only thing he kept was his bandanna.

 

“Alright much better! Now let’s have cake!” Calex ran to the kitchen. Apparently he had gotten the layout of Aurum’s apartment down pretty quickly while setting things up. Aurum followed after the kitten and there sitting on the kitchen table was a lavishly decorated birthday cake with five candles lit up on it.

 

“Oh I see.” Aurum counted the candles. “I blow them out and turn into a five year old cub.”

 

“I mean maybe?” Calex shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re going to wish for but pretty sure if you tell me it doesn’t come true.”

 

“Uh huh.” Aurum squinted at Calex. This was clearly obviously a trap. Despite knowing that, he walked up to the candles and blew them out anyway. Nothing happened. “Huh why aren’t I a cub?”

 

“I told ya, you can’t tell people your wish or it doesn’t come true.” Calex shrugged. “But at least you can have some cake.” He cut a slice for himself and Aurum, walking across the kitchen table to put the plate down in front of Aurum.

 

“It’s the cake itself then isn’t it?” Aurum asked. “It must have some kind of shrinking serum baked into the batter?”

 

“Hmmm what was that?” Calex had already started eating his own slice. “Sorry, I should have waited for you to go first just… I baked this thing and have been smelling it all day, dying to get into it.”

 

“Uh huh.” Aurum stared at the kitten waiting to see if he would change. Yet he appeared to suffer no ill effects from eating the cake. After a few seconds Aurum took a bite himself. It occurred to him, if the cake was magic and turned people into kittens, then of course it wouldn’t affect Calex as he was already a kitten. And yet, as Aurum continued to eat his cake nothing happened.

 

“Ready for some party games?” Calex asked as they finished the cake.

 

“What, like pin the tail on the kitten and the person becomes an actual kitten?” Aurum asked.

 

“What? No!” Calex sounded horrified. “Aurum you don’t go pinning things to friends’ backsides! Pins are sharp! That would hurt!”

 

“Ok then what games do we have?” Aurum asked.

 

“Well there’s only two of us, so I didn’t actually prepare a lot.” Calex tilted his head. “I can make a party plan at the last minute, but I’m not a miracle worker, wasn’t able to put together a guest list. That means things that require teams or more than two people are out, so no charades. So we’re quite limited. But I was able to get you a pinata and I brought a card game.”

 

“There is it!” Aurum grinned. “Now I know what you’re up to. The card game is going to be some kind of poker where we bet age or size and go down as we play.”

 

“Actually I brought Uno.” Calex interjected.

 

“In that case the colors will do different things?” Aurum suggested unsure. “Or reversal cards will reverse your age, wild will turn you into an animal.”

 

“That sounds like a really fun idea for a game, but this is just a normal deck I bought at the supermarket.”  Calex shrugged. “But if you find a game that plays like that let me know it’d be a way better party game.”

 

“Huh…” Aurum looked at Calex slightly in disbelief. “All of this really is just normal party stuff.”

 

“I mean yeah it’s a party.” Calex’s shoulders sagged. “But I’m really sorry I couldn’t get a guest list together for you.  But I wanted to make sure you had some fun on your birthday.”

 

“I see…” Aurum patted the kitten on the head. Of course the realization that he was not in fact going to undergo any transformation made him feel a little embarrassed. After all, he had disrobed for the sole reason to avoid getting tangled up in or destroying his clothing when whatever mischief Calex prepared reared its head. Instead, it had all been normal party stuff. “Well I guess we can try the pinata.”

 

“Okay! I’ll get it set up!” Calex leaped off the kitchen table and ran back to the living room. By the time Aurum managed to follow him the kitten was up atop the ceiling fan. Thankfully it was turned off so he wasn’t sent spinning. Calex was simply tying a rope around the base of the fan, upon which the other end the pinata hung, one in the shape of a mouse. After testing the knot to make sure it would hold he dropped the pinata down so it hung from the fan low to the ground.

 

“Beating up a mouse huh?” Aurum chuckled. “Didn’t think you had it in you.”

 

“It’s not a real mouse, just a pianta!” Calex replied. “And I got one prefilled too! Got it cheap which is good, cause I don’t have the biggest allowance.” That was right, Calex was a minor and he couldn’t get a job meaning that it must have been a real dent in his monthly allowances to pay for all this.

 

“Okay, okay, where’s the blindfold?” Aurum asked.

 

“SHOOT!” Calex shouted. “Didn’t think to get one of those. Okay, it’s fine, we can make one out of something around here.” Calex glanced around the room then stopped as he stared at Aurum, who though naked still had his bandana. “That!”

 

“This?” Aurum wasn’t sure what Calex was looking at.

 

“Your bandanna!” Calex grinned. “Just tie it over your eyes and you’re good to swing. I did get a stick! Found a good one in the woods and brought it back.” Calex dragged out from behind the coffee table what indeed looked like a very sturdy stick.

 

“Alright…” Aurum untied his bandanna from his neck then retied it over his eyes. He grasped a hand out for the stick until he felt Calex hand it to him.

 

“Spin around three times!” Calex ordered and Aurum obeyed.

 

“Alright here we go!” Aurum took a swing… And it was a complete miss.

 

“To your left!” Calex shouted.

 

“Got it!” Aurum swung again, and he felt that he hit something but not the pinate.

 

“You got the string, aim lower!” Calex provided helpfully.

 

“Okay third time’s the charm.” Aurum held his stick ready. “Where’d you get this thing anyway?”

 

“Some store I’d never been in. Was on the corner of the street after I left the park actually.” Calex shrugged. “No idea how I never noticed it before.”

 

“Wait!” Aurum had taken his swing halfway through Calex’s story so didn’t see the red flag until it was too late and his stick made contact with the pinata shattering it open. “You got it from where?”

 

Candy poured from the pinata as it shattered open, but it also released a sparkling miss that encompassed the entire room. Suddenly Aurum felt the ground rushing up to meet him as he shrunk drastically in size. Meanwhile the fur melted off his tail, hands and feet. His snout grew a little longer and his ears larger and more round by comparison.

 

He was a mouse.

 

“Squeak.” Aurum said indignantly before he realized he could stand up on two legs. “There it is.” He muttered. At least he could still talk and had the use of hands. He looked around the room, spying a young orange mouse with a fang nearby.

 

“Wow you hit it good!” Calex shouted. “Shattered it in one hit!”

 

“Don’t you think the fact we just turned into mice is more pressing?” Aurum asked, despite the fact he had been expecting something all night.

 

“You’re right! It means the candy is way bigger now so we can enjoy it more!” Calex dove for a piece of candy and began to tear its wrapper off.

 

“Yes but-“ Aurum paused. He supposed he couldn’t  argue with that logic. For now he’d just enjoy the giant candy. He’d figure out some way to carpool to work in someone’s pocket tomorrow. For now, he might as well enjoy the rest of his birthday celebration.

 

The End