OOM: The Birthday

[iprotectyou]

Baze wakes one special morning with a spring in his step. The day is his birthday, and he's nine years old, now. He knows the kitchens will have cookies--shortbread with jam, mmm--for him, so he hurries through his morning chores and forms, thinking with kid logic that if he goes fast, time will too and he'll be able to eat the cookies sooner. He spots Chirrut in the hall on the way to the kitchens.

"Good morning again, Chirrut!" Baze singsongs, so excited that he's vibrating with joy.

"I forgot to tell you this morning, but it's my birthday today!"

Comments

[idontneedluck]

"I've never had one before. Does that mean I didn't get older? I don't want to go to the baby wards." Chirrut frowns, sulking.

[iprotectyou]

"No, you got older," Baze says, blinking at him. Baze thinks so, anyway.

"Everyone gets older. It's just whether you have a day to mark it, that's all. If I'm nine, you're eight. Do you not want my birthday? We can pick a different day."

[idontneedluck]

"Oh... no, I mean, if it won't hurt it, I'd like your birthday. Does that make me nine too?" Chirrut asks, not sure how this thing all works.

[iprotectyou]

"No, you're definitely eight now," Baze says, with all the finality and soberness he can give the situation.

Which is not much, considering, but he tries.

"You're a whole year younger than me, so when I turn ten, you'll turn nine. Here, let me help with those dishes, so we can have cookies!"

He starts scooping up the set-aside dishes.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut, dumbfounded, stands for a beat before hastily collecting the dishes that are left and trailing in Baze's wake.

"What, wait, cookies? What cookies?"

[iprotectyou]

"You get cookies for your birthday, silly! Shortbread with berry jam on!" Baze says, beaming at his wayward friend.

"The kitchen staff makes them for us every year. My first year here, I got to eat three of them!"

Baze carts the dishes to the kitchens, where the smell of baked goods permeates the space. Two older acolytes on duty smile at the two of them. Baze heads to the sink and places the dishes on the edge before rolling up the sleeves of his robes to start washing.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut settles his stack carefully beside Baze's before going to hunt down a towel - a somewhat frustrating task as it never seems to end up in the same place twice.

"So... do you get more cookies every year?" He asks as he returns with the towel, because it is good to know birthday benefits.

[iprotectyou]

"No," Baze says, scrubbing the dishes.

"If you got more cookies every year, you'd be eating yourself sick as an adult, or even a teenager. We generally get as many as there can be with the sugar available. I suspect this year it'll be four, so two for me and two for you."

[idontneedluck]

"... Oh, I do no want to take your cookies!" Chirrut protests, because that's unfair - Baze will get significantly less cookies because of him.

[iprotectyou]

Baze stops scrubbing dishes to squint at his friend.

"They're not my cookies. They're our cookies. We're sharing a birthday now, so you get half of whatever I get. And just think, next year, the kitchen staff will make twice as many!"

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut huffs, looking mulish and drying his current plate with unnecessary vigor.

"It still isn't fair, I'll just tell them they're your cookies."

[iprotectyou]

Baze folds his soapy arms.

"No! Why do you have to be so stubborn?" tbe boy says, pursing his lips. He unfolds his arms and cups Chirrut's elbow in his wet hand.

"I want to share this with you."

[idontneedluck]

"And I don't want to take your food." Chirrut grumbles right back, "It isn't right, it's yours."

[iprotectyou]

Baze is at a loss. He doesn't know how to convince his friend that Baze wants to share his food with him.

"Chir," Baze says, squeezing his arm.

"Sharing this with you will make me happy. It's not right that you don't have a birthday! I want you to share it with me. Please?"