Scary

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A/N: This is not in any way part of the canon universe! I made it seem like it could be, but it doesn't happen at all and I'll still be writing about them again (wait this makes no sense, why am I writing this, then??) so I'm leaving out a lot of details since that would just make the real scene later on in the book a lot less impactful. For that reason, I'm not including the key people I wanted Leroy to be meeting: Xander and the kids (Miki, Rory, Atlas).

Remember, I only came to this decision after a lot of thinking and as much as I know you guys want everyone to meet as soon as possible, it just doesn't flow in the narrative and I don't want this to turn back and bite me in the leg after I write it! Good things need to be exacted at a good timing and having done this stupid writing thing every week for 6 whOlE yEarS, I'd trust me.

Let me repeat just in case: Leroy will meet the whole of Vanilla's extended family later on in the book. It WILL happen! I don't know why everyone is so impatient about having it now but again, good things will come if you're patient and at an even better timing, written to perfection.

This special is a combination of two of the four options that I asked you guys to vote for: option 2 and 4! Meaning, this will be a birthday party for Vanilla when he was 4/5, back when he first met Leroy. It also doubles up as a Halloween special. (And for my Instagram followers, I k now I said it was going to be 2-3k but lo and behold it's 7k as Cuppie has outdone herself again lol ok I'm stupid actually eep bye) So without further ado...

Enjoy! :>


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Julie Dempsey had been pacing outside her nephew's room, right in front of his door, for the past twenty minutes with a laptop in her arms. Having taught the boy for nearly a year back in his nursery class, she was well aware that he and her husband, Alfred Dempsey, shared the single most infuriating attribute on earth: both were frighteningly hard to convince.

She had on her screen templates of birthday invitations and an entire list of party food options that consisted of Vanilla's favourites but even so, the prospect of being rejected by her nephew seemed almost certain. After all, she'd once had to take him out of class for an off-handed remark he'd made about another girl's surprise birthday party at school, organized by the girl's family.

"What makes birthdays so special, Miss Julie?" He'd asked in front of the entire class, who'd gathered to catch a glimpse of the girl's two-tiered cake. "I've read that the wishes we make before blowing the candles aren't going to come true. Is there a need for candles, then?"

Oh what a huge mistake it had been for any three-and-a-half-year-old, expected to be the naïve, innocent little things that calmed and soothed the hearts of the adults tainted by the world. Granted, they weren't supposed to be believing that tooth fairies and genies didn't exist simply because, well, it was a child's job to believe that they did.

So it wasn't all that surprising when the girl's mother, spamming photos of her baby princess on her birthday, turned around to warn the bespectacled boy of words that children should not be saying. Even so, the damage had been done and the girl herself had burst into tears at Vanilla's honest words, red-faced and bawling at the top of her lungs. It was really all that she knew at four.

"Well Vanilla," Miss Julie had said to him once they were outside on a bench, watching the cars go by. "People think birthdays are special because it is the day we come to... exist. It is the day we are born, after all," she smiled. "I've never thought about the candles. I'm sure there's something you can read that will tell you about their significance—but you are right. Dreams don't come true at the blow of a candle, no. You have to work for them."

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