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todd is 99% sure that they’ve kidnapped him.
by they he means the terror twins, the absolutely must not be left alone together for more than five minutes duo, the pair he’s been stuck with since high school—okay he can’t think of any more words that describe two people—neil and charlie. oh, sorry, again, nuwanda.
because of course it’s them. of course it’s still them terrorizing him on his birthday.
(he can’t really say he minds.)
but see, here’s the thing: it didn’t really matter when it was just smashing his face into a cake or bringing a fox to school because that had been manageable. the worst he got from those was detention and fox fur in all of his clothes for months.
being kidnapped and dumped into the backseat of neil’s car with absolutely zero idea of where they’re going—
that’s different.
(but deep down, inside the deep scrunkly thing inside that he calls his soul, it echoes over and over again: he doesn’t really mind. because it’s neil and charlie and life’s always been about happy, exhilarating feelings with them.)
“where are we. guys. answer. please,” todd asks (read:begs). “i have work tomorrow and my boss is a terror and i have been blindfolded for an hour—”
“hush, todd, an adventure is no fun if it isn’t a surprise.”
“it’s okay todd”—todd hears neil’s voice say and he thanks whatever god is up there that it’s the terrible duo and not the terrible, no good, arguing-bickering-married couple duo that charlie and cameron are—“i can tell you honestly that you’ll be able to get to your work tomorrow. just trust us on this okay?”
his voice sounds so terribly soft and todd really can’t be blamed for how soft he always is with neil. so.
“…fine.”
“now that that’s settled, let’s go forth then my dear friends! the heavier the foot on the gas pedal, the quicker the speed. what ho dear genevieve!”
“we are not naming my car genevieve, charlie. do kindly shut up.”
“but she’s yellow. she looks like a genevieve. we are running at 50 kilometers an hour. do you know how terribly slow that is?”
“no, charlie.”
“yes charlie.”
todd tilts his head back and laughs, high off the incredulity of the situation and the fact that despite all the years nothing has changed.
(and if charlie and neil stop bickering and stare at todd in awe for a few moments, like he’s personally hung the stars in the sky for them, well. that’s their little secret.)
-
on the way to wherever-it-is-they-were-going-to, charlie explains to todd that this is, in fact, a Completely Spontaneous Idea that the Dead Poets Society had thought of yesterday night, which is how todd knew that they had planned it for approximately a year.
he knows it’s because it’s his first birthday outside of school, outside of college, and all of them have always been itching for freedom, and this was the perfect time.
‘21 on the 17th’, charlie had said when todd had opened his door at 1 in the morning, hair still a rat’s nest and eyes barely seeing whatever was more than an inch in front of him.
‘still the youngest soul amongst all of us’, neil had continued.
he was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard charlie yell at neil about—a squirrel(?) that had crossed the road—something about luck and brakes, and he can’t see neil, still blinded by the stupid blindfold but he can see him rolling his eyes, and todd is—
todd is so ridiculously fond, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt, and he can’t even find it in himself to be annoyed at the fact that neil had forgotten to slow down at a speed bump.
he’d take a thousand hits to the head if it meant hearing charlie roar with laughter as neil apologized profusely.
his silly, ridiculous boys.
(he loves them so, so much)
-
it’s around noon when they arrive, and todd had actually managed to doze off (the gentle lull of the car engine and charlie humming along to a song on the radio accompanied by the pitch black of the blindfold was the perfect recipe for a nap, apparently), so he had to be woken up by soft hands brushing through his hair.
“todd?” he hummed softly, nuzzling his head against the soft hand brushing at his cheek. he hears a laugh— “todd, babe, c’mon. we’re here already.”
“hmmm?”
he feels someone take off the blindfold, and he flinches a bit—the sun was bright here in— well. he didn’t really know where they were.
todd blinked.
there were a lot of sunflowers.
“oh god. have i died? is this heaven? why are there sunflowers. why is the sky so bright. oh god i’ve died, haven’t i? why are you laughing? knox? knox why are you laughing?”
a pause. jesus christ, that really is a lot of sunflowers.
“knox? when did you get here?”
“surprise!”
he helps todd get out of the car, and, oh—
it’s a sunflower field, and he can see everyone under a tree just a few meters away. there’s a picnic blanket and he can hear cameron and meeks bickering, can see pitts’ long, gangly limbs trying not to knock anything over, and his heart melts a bit in his chest.
“happy birthday todd!” charlie yells, jumping from the passenger seat into todd’s arms. “sorry for ambushing you. that was neil’s idea.”
“i said to surprise him. not kidnap him from his bed and blindfold him.”
“how did you survive the car trip on the way here?” knox asks, scrunching his nose at the bickering. “i swear, todd. you have the patience of a saint.”
todd grins at him, and he must look so silly—all wide and toothy and absolutely out-of-his-mind giddy. “i do, don’t i?”
knox laughs and holds out his hand. “c’mon, let’s go. i baked you a cake.”
and, yeah, impossible things really do happen on your birthday. todd thinks his cheeks might actually burst if he smiles any wider. “is it that mango chocolate cake i always ask for?”
“mango chocolate todd special, all for you. exclusive for your birthday only.”
todd thinks if his heart melts any more all of it would be a mushy mess in his stomach, leaving no room for hunger. he thinks he might be trembling with the sheer force of the love he feels for these boys.
they reach the tree eventually (how they struggled if there were only four of them and a few meters, todd didn’t know) and he’s immediately bombarded by hugs, pitts quite literally jumping over everyone to hug him. they tumble on the grass and todd remembers the field at welton, and all those hours they spent laying in the grass.
it’s crazy, he thinks. how they’re all still the same boys they were all those years ago.
“todd! todd, my dearest, darling, beloved todd—” he hears pitts say, and he throws his head back and laughs because he knows what’s coming next.
“—beautiful, gorgeous, most exquisite amongst the land—” says meeks, and todd feels his voice first before he hears it, because apparently the first thing one must do when faced with a pitts-and-todd hug was to join in on the pile.
“happiest birthday!” they say together, and todd is helpless to his urges as he brushes their hair away from their faces and smiles softly.
“thanks, guys.”
they lie there for a while, asking questions and catching up until cameron pushes them off, frowning and sulky, muttering about how they always hog todd, stopping only when todd pulls him in for a hug.
(“admit it richie—”
“—todd You Will Die In Ten Days—”
“richieeeeee—”
“todd.”
and because it’s his birthday, because he’s giddy, but mostly because todd can’t go one day without being a little shit, he waggles his eyebrows before he says: “you missed me.”
a long suffering sigh.
“i did.”
“andddd?”
“happiest birthday, beloved todd.”)
-
they stuffed themselves full with knox’s cake and charlie’s lasagna, only mildly (read:WentCrazy) panicking when leaves fell from the tree and threatened to add a new flavor to the iced tea meeks brought.
eventually they disperse to do their own things, small conversations breaking through the fresh wind of the afternoon. charlie and pitts attempted to fly a kite, only to have it end up tangled in the tree limbs—
(“that was all charlie’s fault.”
“well i don’t see you putting your long limbs to a use and get the goddamn umbrella.”
“i thought we’ve established the fact that i do not concern myself with matters below me.”
“this matter is. quite literally. above you.”
“we’re talking figuratively, charlie. figuratively.”
“you’re just scared of heights.”
“and So What if i am!”)
—and todd is so content. so full of love and warmth like he always is when he’s with his beautiful boys. neil blinks up at him from his place in todd’s lap, boyish grin tugging at his lips.
he’s so handsome, so devastatingly so, and todd knows, can feel it in his bones that if they had been born earlier he would’ve went to war for neil.
“i hope you enjoyed this birthday todd.”
“you know i always do,” he says, thumbing softly at neil’s cheek. it’s been four years and it’s still the same glint of love in neil’s eyes, like he can’t ever stop adoring todd or he might just die.
todd’s beautiful boy. his sun. his endless sunflower garden.
his heart swells happily in his chest.
21 on the 17th.
maybe birthdays weren’t so bad.