"Birthday" for Bone Zone

Oh the things Rory is able to convince Bubble to do. Bubble just isn’t the party type, especially when he doesn’t know what sort of party it is or who may be attending…but he’ll do anything when Rory flashes him those stupid puppy eyes. It’s almost annoying how much he loves that big idiot. As Bubble approached the familiar neighborhood that housed Rory’s burrow, a plastic bag full of supplies he’d been asked to bring. He prepared himself for loud music, breaking things, people screaming….but none came. Even as he approached the door nothing seemed to come from the burrow.

Confused, he knocked on the door and waited. As the door swung open, Bubble was shocked to see….just Rory standing there with a big stupid grin and a..paper..party hat? What is going on here?
Rory pulled Bubble into a tight hug, ruffling his hair for a moment as he laughed and welcomed him in. “Thanks for showin up lil bud! This party can really get started now!”. Grumbling at Rory, he squirmed out of his hold and swatted at him “Yeah yeah yeah! I’m..confused though. I thought you said the party started at 6”.
“Oh yeah I did! You’re right on time!” Rory headed into the living room while Bubble stayed confused at the door for a moment before following him in…and that’s when it all became very clear.

There was no other buns present, but there was a MESS in the living room. Streamers of many colors that didn’t match barely hanging onto the ceiling (probably because he attempted to stick them up with scotch tape), too many balloons to really walk without being smacked by one, and directly in the middle of the right hand wall a homemade banner that said “Happy Getting Day, Bone Zone!”. The lettering on the banner had to change size and calligraphy halfway through as Rory had clearly started writing too big originally but who cares? Zone can’t read anyway!

A party….a party for his imp. Rory looked too proud of himself as he walked over to Bubble and put his arm around him “Like it? I spent all mornin getting the stuff and setting this up! Had to get tons of balloons because Zone likes to hunt them down and pop them”. Bubble was in awe for a moment before he turned and (granted, lightly) punched Rory in the gut “You drug me out here for a part for your imp!?”.
Rory looked wounded at Bubble, all fake of course, as he pouted and rubbed his abs “ Well yeah, Bubs! You’re the only person who will always show up when I ask and Zone would be bummed if no one else came to his party! He ain’t very popular at Impcare, bites too many other imps.”

“Oh I wonder who he learned that from.” Bubble taunted in a mumble before he rummaged through the bag he had been asked to bring. “Well what is all this stuff that I got from the store then?” Rory’s tone quickly changed as he snatched the bag and looked inside, making sure everything he needed was there before nodding happily “ Hell yeah, Snow Globe! You found it all!”. He looked all too proud of himself as Bubble still stood confused  “This is all stuff for an imp-safe cake! No birthday party is complete without a cake!”.
Bubble pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to lessen the headache this bun always managed to cause “ Birthday? Rory I don’t think imps really HAVE birthdays”. Rory nodded at this “No yeah I know that! That’s why the banner says gettin’ day! It’s been a full year since I got my lil Zone guy! Its kinda like a birthday anyway, birth of his life with me! Aka…his best life”.

Though Bubble was annoyed at having been tricked into showing up…he did find Rory’s dedication to this and his love for his imp very endearing. So after a loud sigh, he took the bag from Rory and headed into his kitchen “Fine….I’ll make the cake. Got the recipe?”
Giddily, Rory trailed after him “Yeah yeah! Got it saved on my phone!” and the surprises of the day would only continue…as Bubble saw Rory had actually cleaned his kitchen and done dishes so Bubble would have all the space and utensils he needed to make this cake happen. Color Bubble impressed the things he does for Zone.

Bubble took off his jacket, hanging it over a chair before he took out some mixing bowls, pouring the flour, baking powder and black sesame seeds into one, letting Rory mix those together while he beat together the creamy peanut butter, eggs and greek yogurt in another. Honestly this cake sounds pretty good, he hopes that it’s worth the effort and Zone likes it…speaking of Zone…
“Rory, where is the birthday boy?” Bubble asked as he instructed Rory to slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet as he continually mixed. Rory nodded toward the back door “Lil man is in the backyard! I gave him one of his gifts early, he is playing with a new chewy bone. Didn’t wanna ruin the surprise.

Nodding, Bubble unwrapped the bone shaped cake tray Rory had bought, greasing it and pouring in the batter. He told the other bun it would be done in a little less than a half and hour. Nodding, Rory decided they’d start the rest of the party while it baked, sneaking up behind Bubble and snapping a cardboard party hat over one of his horns.
Huffing some, Bubble rubbed his chin where the elastic of the hat had snapped into his throat while Rory went to the door to call Zone inside. The eager little bonezo, always happy to see his daddy, ran into the house at full speed with a toy almost as big as him in his mouth. Bubble has to admit, Zone is a cute lil guy, too bad his dad gave him an unfortunate name.

Rory quickly scooped up his lil man, giving him a big enough squeeze that it made Zone AND his toy squeak before Rory started trying to wrestle a party hat onto the eagerly squirming imps head, setting him down once he finally managed it. Rory lead Bubble into the living room, the little imp happily trailing behind them, only to jump slightly when he walked in and Rory let out in a booming voice.
“ HAPPY GETTIN’ DAY, BONE ZONE! “ The little imp looked around rapidly as Bubble and Rory clapped for him, running in a circle for a moment before jumping up on his dad’s leg, excited by the sudden loud energy in the room. Bubble plopped himself on the couch while Rory sat criss crossed on the floor for Zone to get in his lap “Look lil guy, we got you gifts!”

Bubble wasn’t sure who he meant with all this ‘we’ business until he saw 2 gifts on the table and that one of them had his name sloppily written on it. “Yeaaahh WE got you some great stuff” he responded with slight sarcasm before Rory kicked him. Taking the gift that had Bubble’s name, he let Zone sniff it before ripping it open for him, revealing a can of wet imp food. “How nice of Uncle Water Balloon, huh?! Young imps shouldn’t have too much processed wet food but you can have one can as a treat”.

That gift was quickly glossed over as Rory set it aside and ripped open the one HE had gotten for Zone “Look at this though! This is the best gift you’re ever gonna get, promise!”. And within the wrapping paper was a small box..and in the box a small leather vest with “Bad to the Bonezo” on the back. Bubble snickered out a lil “oh my god that’s so cute” before he heard the alarm from his phone and got up to get the cake.

Rory was happily putting the vest on his little imp when Bubble returned with the small, imp sized cake, now out of it’s pan and on a tray with a big, pet safe frosting number 1 on it. Noticing him, the larger bun stood up, holding his now bad assly dressed little imp as he started to sing him a birthday song.
Bubble joined in after a moment, holding the cake slightly out to the Bonezo in Rory’s arms, smiling some as the imp sniffed the air aggressively. Once they had finished, Bubble set the cake on the floor and Rory let Zone go, letting the eager imp dart for the plate and start aggressively scarfing it down, his little bone tail wagging a mile a minute.

Bubble sat himself on the couch again, looking at the scene before him as Rory tried to clean the crumbs and frosting off Zone’s skull face while telling him he looks ‘cooler than daddy’ now. Sneakily, the maroon bun took his phone from his pocket and snapped a photo.

Rory may be a pain, but moments like this remind Bubble why he loves him so much. He’s sincere and genuine and that isn’t often found in The Burrowgatory. He casually set the photo he took as his home screen, where hopefully Rory would never see it.