As Ax walked in behind Hamz, expecting to be bombarded with questions, he braced himself.
The moment he stepped foot into the apartment,
Pop Pop
Two loud pops could be heard, followed by confetti shreds gently raining down from the ceiling.
"Surprise!" all of them yelled in unison.
"Wha—What's all this?" Ax asked, dazed and confused.
"It was her idea—OW!" Hamz exclaimed as Nasri elbowed him.
Ace ran to the kitchen.
"We—no, I wanted to apologize to you, so I convinced everyone to chip in and hold a small party, just the four of us," explains Nasri, her voice showing genuine compassion.
"It didn't take much convincing." Ace came back into the room holding a paper box.
"What's that?" asked Ax.
"While we figure out how the hell we open this, Nasri has something she wants to tell you," Ace explained to Ax while nodding at Hamz.
Nasri walked up to Ax and started picking off the shreds of confetti.
"I... owe you a proper apology," said she, her voice showing remorse.
"Hmm? Apology for what?" Ax asked, feigning ignorance.
"You know why I yelled at you, screamed at you, instead of communicating or encouraging you to communicate like the rest of us? I got fed up," Nasri explained slowly.
"You had your reasons; I was also being a douche," said Ax, trying to brush it off.
"You were suffering silently, that's it,"e ssaid...
"I'm sorry for lashing out at you, pushing youaway,"he continued, her voice getting weak.
"I'm sorry for not considering your ffeelings.When it comes to showing anger, my voice is at itsudest, but when it actually matters,,,, my voice is nowhere be seen; I freeze up." she finished.
"I... I'm sorry for not talking to you beforehand; even a slight hint as to what happened on that date would help you figure out everything by yourself," muttered to her, his voice getting even quieter.
"I'm sorry for not giving you the space or opportunity to feel safe enough to talk to me yourself. I kept thinking about the band— I kept thinking about myself. I'll never do that again,"e finally finished, brushing the confetti off his jacket.
"I'm—elieve you. I trust you enough. I'll open up, or well,,,, try at least," said, forcing his voice to be confident.
"Do you know what my greatest regret is? So far at least," Ace interrupted, holding a cake in his hands.
"Hmm?" asked.
"That day I told Nasri to not run after you, to not bother you, saying that she should take a break because she didn't know any better,"e said.
"However, I did; I should've run after you and talked to you. It didn't even come across my mind that I could've just run after you and talked to you,"Ace finished, his own voice, usually strong and loud. Quieting down.
"Aseef, I don't know what to say,"said Axton.
"I also... Ax, I should've spoken up; I shouldn't have been just a spectator. I'm sorry for not taking your side,"said Hamz.
"We took a few gigs the past two months,, but it wasn't the same without you," he added, his voice being genuinely serious.
"I—I see. Look, I understand that me going away was heartbreaking; it was for me too, but you guys don't—you guys don't have to sugarcoat it. I... looked through the door before I left. I saw how disappointed you guys looked; I know that it's also my fault as well," Ax explained, his voice faltering.
"Axton... you idiot," Nasri muttered under her breath, holding her hands over her mouth.
"Ax... we weren't disappointed in you... we were disappointed in Nasri and ourselves. Did you genuinely think we all hated you for leaving?" Ace explained, his voice getting softer and softer with each word.
Ax's eyes widened.
"We were disappointed in ourselves, and in Nasri.", Hamza added to Ace's comment.
Ace walked to the nearest couch in the living room, and just sat down, clutching his face on his hands as he was leaning over, his hair sparkling with confetti glitter.
"You're and idiot, Axton", Ax spoke to himself, under his breath.
...
A few minutes have passed and everyone's sat around Ax, comforting him.
Ace got up and brough the cake and placed it in front of the couch, on the coffee table.
It was a vanilla cake with frosting, Ax's favorite, it was still cold due to being in the fridge.
Hamz ruffled Ax's hair, trying to get the confetti residue out of his hair and in a way, comfort him further. Ax let out a soft chuckle, as his hair was even more messed up.
"You made it worse... idiot," Ax said to Hamz, a quiet laugh escaped his breath.
"Just cut your cake god dammit.", said Hamz
"Does anyone have a spare hair tie?", Ax asked the other two.
"Yeah actually, here.", Hamz replied to Ax, holding out a hair tie with a smug grin across his face.
Ax looked at his palm, then at his hair and then his palm again.
"Okay, out of all the people here, why are YOU the one who handed me a hair tie?", Ax asked as he is visibly confused.
"Hamza is that my hair tie?", Nasri asked as she's still shuffling through her pockets.
"Mayhaps.", replied Hamz.
As Ax tied his hair in a bun, Ace handed him a knife. Ax then took a look at the cake and-
There was nothing written, but rather a drawing made with frosting. It was a vanilla cake with the picture on top being a depiction of a stylized hand holding up a 'Four Of A Kind' hand of cards of the four different sets of 'Ace' cards.
As Ax held the knife, his hand started to shake, his vision started to blur, and his eyes watered.
Hamz and Nasri got confused and panicked, but Ace knew what was up; he placed his hand on Ax's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" asked Nasri, her voice showing a hint of fear.
"If you knew he was going to cry, why did you insist on getting him this cake?" asked Hamz in a somewhat protective voice.
"No, no, guys, that's not—" Ax tried to clear up the misunderstanding, his voice getting weaker as he cut the cake.
"I don't think I want to eat this right now; can you put this away, Ace?" asked Ax.
Ace silently took the cake and tucked it away in the fridge.
"This was... the logo of my dad's first band when he was younger," he added.
Hamza's eyes softened, and Nasri's body decompressed, showing that she was listening.
"This was also the band where he met my mom," he finished.
The room went silent, not with shock or fear, but with genuine sympathy, because no one knew what to say, and no one had to.
"In this room, Ace is the only one who truly knows what happened to my mom and dad," Ax explained.
"Hamz and Nasri only know that they are gone, that's it, right?" Ax asked.
"Yeah... I didn't fully tell Nasri what happened; it's not my story to tell or incident to recall," Ace answered.
"You guys said how I can open up about it, right?" said Ax.
Hamz and Nasri both nodded yes.
"As you know, my dad's name was Axel, Axel Abanish; he was a popular musician in his band, with my mom, Mithra Abanish," Axton started to explain.
"There's no other way to say it, I guess," he said.
"I'm just going to be blunt. Both of my parents died in an accident.". Ax finished.