Dear DoubleO

Surprise!

Doc was nervous, more than usual at least. He had spent the last few weeks planning a trip. Not for himself of course, he was too busy to take vacations. No, he had been planning a trip for his roommate, Etho, and today was the day he was gonna tell him about it.

Doc knew Etho had always wanted to travel. He had heard him talk many times about visiting places like Greece and Iceland just to paint the scenery. Etho used to paint all the time but nowadays Doc had noticed he was too busy with life to enjoy his hobby. So, with Etho's birthday coming up, Doc had decided that the perfect gift to help him relax would be a trip somewhere tropical and a nice new set of paints.

Doc had pitched the idea to his second roommate, Iskall, who immediately was on board. Iskall  helped rally all of Etho's friends into pitching in to pay for the trip, disguising meetings about the gift as game nights and bets. And after all that, Doc finally had a fancy set of watercolor paints, and a plane ticket to the lovely black sand beaches of Hawaii. Now all he and the others had to do was set up the party and surprise Etho.

Etho was smart, so it was truly hard to keep any sort of secret from him. Stress had kidnapped him for the day so everyone else could sneak into the apartment. Cleo, False, Impulse, Grian, and Tango arrived first and started setting up the party. Doc tried his best to help, but he fretted too much about Etho figuring out the surprise to actually be making any good progress on decorating. Seeing this, Cleo (the self elected party coordinator) had kicked Doc out of the door to do the one thing that couldn't stress him out: getting the balloons. 

Doc was grateful to be away from the hustle and bustle of setting up the party in his apartment. He hoped that Iskall and Cleo would do their best to make everything perfect. Doc wasn't ever much of a decorator, so maybe it was best that he got to play errand boy instead. He tried his best to assure himself that the party would be great and nothing would get out of hand... His self assurance wasn't working.

Etho wouldn't get home till 5:30ish because Stress had taken him to see the new flower gardens that Gem had planted. Doc knew that both girls were in on the surprise but what if they couldn't stall Etho long enough for everything to get set up? No, they knew how to keep him busy. What if Beef burned the cake he was baking and they didn't have a birthday cake?!?! No, Beef was a great cook, he'd never burn it.

Doc knew he was going crazy. He focused his mind on the task at hand. He'd make this quick, then he could head home and ensure that the party was ok. It's not that he didn't trust Cleo to set up... he just.... didn't trust Cleo to set up. It was irrational not to trust her seeing as she'd thrown many parties before, Doc just hoped that this party would be special. Etho deserved something nice once a while, and so his birthday party was going to be perfect if Doc had anything to say about it.

Doc pulled his truck into the parking lot of party city and promptly walked inside. It was 4:32. He headed straight to the aisle containing balloons, wasting no time. He had a mission: find some green and silver balloons (Ethos signature colors of course), pay, and dash back to his apartment to "supervise" the party decor crew. He promptly looked through the selection of colorful birthday balloons. There were so many different options but Doc had his heart set on the green and silver ones.

He spotted what he needed and grabbed them, booking it toward the checkout lines. He was stopped by a buzzing in his pocket. Doc grabbed his phone and saw a text.

Cleo: Almost finished setting up here and Beef just arrived with the cake :)

Doc sighed. He knew everything would be fine. It was only 4:48, they still had a little less than an hour. Cleo had everything under control. He shot her back a thumbs up before putting his phone away to finish checking out. He took a deep breath and strolled back out to his truck, balloons in hand. Mission accomplished. Breathe Doc, breathe.

After a short drive, Doc entered his apartment. 5:07. He was greeted with many faces of friends, all here to celebrate Etho. He scanned the room and smiled, noticing how everyone was pitching in to help decorate. Streamers covered the light gray walls. Beef's homemade cake was set on the kitchen counter. Keralis and Ren were arguing about who had better music taste as they hung up a birthday banner. Little polaroid pictures of Jellie were being hung around the room for "aesthetic" as Scar claimed. Bdubs was sitting in the corner chatting with Tango while wrapping the paints in colorful wrapping paper. Impulse was sweeping the kitchen and Iskall was wiping off the tables. Cleo was on the phone looking worried, but for the most part everyone else seemed content and excited. Even Mumbo had paused his coding projects to come celebrate the occasion. The party was gonna be a success after all! All he had to do was sit and wai....

"GUYS! JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH STRESS! SHE CAN'T STALL ANY LONGER THEY ARE IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!" Everyone gasped and dove for hiding places. Doc abandoned his balloons by the door and fell behind their living room couch, trying his best not to panic. Scar switched off the lights and they all waited, trying their best to keep quiet.

The door creaked open slowly and Etho's laugh could be heard from outside. Footsteps inched closer. Doc held his breath. 3...2...1...

"SURPRISE!!!!" The room erupted with chaos. Etho jumped out of sheer surprise. Iskall rushed to hug the "scared out of his mind" birthday boy. The party was officially in full swing, people telling Etho happy birthday and laughing at his reaction to the surprise. Doc couldn't be more pleased, and his heart rate had finally calmed down a little. It was a perfect party. The only thing left to do now was eat cake, and wait for the perfect moment to give Etho his thoroughly planned out gift. Nothing could go wrong!... right?

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Hey guys! how we all doing? I come bearing new chapter! Cleo is a great party planner B) Took a sec to get this chapter out because school is ending so thats funnnn. Thanks for waiting. Question of the day: Did Keralis or Ren win the argument about best music taste? Thanks for reading! See ya all later! Take care of yourselves <3