Happy Birthday!

Riley was in the middle of a cutthroat competition between herself and Cody. They were involved in an ancient game in which the loser would face dire consequences.

"Are you ready?", Cody asked with a devious smirk.

"Ready for what?", Riley asked, her emerald eyes glued to the board.

"Ready to book a one-way ticket to Loser town," he teased as he took the dice in his hand.

"Just make your move, short-stack," she replied impatiently, her expression serious.

Cody grinned and shook the dice for an excruciatingly long time before he finally let it go. It bounced and rolled around the table and then landed a two and a one.

His victorious smirk melted off his face to be replaced with a betrayed expression while Riley's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Her hand shot out and moved his bead three spaces to her right and then it descended to the bottom of the board.

She lifted her hand to her ear. "What was that, Cody? I didn't hear you over the sound of your screaming after being eaten by my snake!", she boasted. Cody looked at her dejectedly. "But... But they were my lucky dice!", he said helplessly.

"Sucks for you," she said while rolling the dice. She landed a perfect seven and moved her bead up a ladder to the winning space.

"Guess you got to book your ticket," she mocked.

"Whatever," Cody said and began to pack the board away. "Don't look like that, dude. You didn't stand a chance against this," she said triumphantly, gesturing to herself. "Says the person who lost every game of chess," Cody shot back. "Well, is this chess?", she asked rhetorically.

Cody pouted. "I'm just playing with ya. Don't get all gloomy with me," she said while ruffling his hair. He shoved her hands away while chuckling and left to put the board away.

"Aww, no rematch?", she snickered. "I will poison your food," he responded. She shut her mouth after that.

Riley heard voices coming from upstairs as Cody was making his way back.

Looks like they're back. Good to know that they didn't kill each other.

Cody seemed to hear them too because he went to the fridge to get them some refreshments. Two pouches of fruit juice.

Nice.

The frenemies walked down the stairs and at first glance, Riley didn't think anything was wrong. She walked up to them to inspect the new goods when she saw Archer's hand clenched and a far-away expression on his face. She looked to Sabrina to see if she looked the same way but, in fact saw the opposite.

The other girl's face was calm. Too calm in Riley's opinion. She wanted to ask about it, but stopped once she saw how tired they were.

Cody approached them as well and handed them a juice pouch each, which they happily accepted. Once they gulped down some of its contents and were somewhat refreshed, they started talking.

"Sup guys?" the brunette girl called out. "Not much," Cody replied. "How was the heist?", Riley asked carefully. Archer stiffened at that and Sabrina shot him a look. "It went well," she answered. Archer didn't look at any of them, his face held no expression. Riley couldn't read him, and she didn't know Sabrina well enough to read her. She did know, however, that something wasn't right.

Riley decided not to push.

They're both smart. They must have thought this through and found it better to not talk about it. Probably because of Cody. I'll ask Lia about it later, since Archer won't talk.

She allowed them to freshen up and whipped up something for them to eat. They all ate supper in silence and went to bed. Well, one of them did.

Sabrina, Archer and Riley woke up and stealthily crawled out of bed. The rebels snuck up the stairs to retrieve their party supplies from the bathroom in the convenience store. It wasn't a lot, but they made do with what they had.

Riley and Archer moved the furniture around so that the setting would better suit their needs while Sabrina unpacked all the supplies and got to work with the decorations. Archer disappeared into the training room for something and Riley saw Sabrina visibly relax. Riley shot the girl a knowing look and Sabrina just shrugged it off saying that a whole day with him was just draining.

Sighing, Riley got back to work. Archer emerged a few moments later with a cardboard poster that he had written 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY CODEY'

"I thought his name didn't have an 'E'?", Sabrina asked Riley.

"It doesn't," she replied and looked at Archer questioningly.

"I thought that since he likes hacking and stuff that I'd make a pun. You know like 'coding', 'Codey'," he admitted sheepishly.

Riley tried her hardest not to cackle because Archer just made a pun. A dumb pun too. She glanced at Sabrina and saw her smiling slightly, but there was something else. Usually she'd be first in line to make fun of Archer, but she didn't.

They finished decorating the place and putting the presents in one corner. They couldn't find decent gift wraps anywhere, so they just put them in their sacks.

Riley and Archer began baking cake while Sabrina just helped by handing ingredients and utensils to them. She sucked at cooking and didn't want to ruin this.

Gosh. I was worried that Cody would wake up because of the noise but, holy crap, the kid sleeps like a log.

She was removed from her thoughts when she heard the oven shut off and Riley running towards it with her mits on. It was quite a sight and Sabrina was too tired to restrain herself. She laughed out loud and then felt a something soft hit her and restrict her view.

Archer threw a cloth at her.

She couldn't even find it in her to be mad.

She stopped laughing and watched as they waited for it to cool before icing it. Soon it was done, and they had under an hour to spare. They decided to relax on the couch which was still in its usual space and napped for like what felt like 5 minutes but, was probably 2 as they were woken up by Riley's watch.

5 more minutes for Cody's birthday.

They sped to the room and gathered around the bed, where the unsuspecting boy slept peacefully. He was snoring like an ogre, but a peaceful ogre.

4 minutes.

3 minutes.

2 minutes.

1 minute.

30 seconds.

10 seconds.

Midnight.

Riley gently shook him.

"Hey," she said.

Archer and Sabrina gave her a look that said 'Are you serious?'.

She rolled her eyes and shook the boy a little harder this time.

The other two left the room and waited outside for Riley to wake him up.

"Cody. Wake up," she tried louder this time.

"Hey, dude?", she shook him harder.

He stirred.

" 'huzit?", he slurred sleepily.

"It's me, Riley," she replied.

"Riley?", he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah," she said smiling.

"Wuz happenin'?", he asked looking at her with his eyes half-open.

"Well, if I recall correctly today's date is 3rd March 2053, which is the birthday of someone really special to me," she said softly and grinned.

"Really? Who?", he asked sitting up and looking at her dazedly, only to be met with an unamused expression from her.

He stared at her for a few moments. The dots were connecting, gears were turning. Wait-

His eyes widened.

"Oh my God, it's my birthday!", he screamed and then covered his mouth. "It's my birthday," he repeated in a whisper. Riley nodded and gave him an award-winning smile.

"Damn right, it is! Happy birthday lil' dude!", she wished and hugged him.

He hugged back and thanked her by squeezing her harder.

"Come on," she said pulling his hand.

"What? Where? Why?", he asked, but allowed himself to be led away from his warm bed.

"You'll see," was the ominous reply.

They opened the door to be met with darkness. Cody walked in, confused at first, then it clicked.

Literally, the lights came on.

He looked around, the room was decorated with streamers, banners and some balloons. There were splashes of electric blue and neon green paint on banners which resembled coding. The table had his favourite sweets and chips as well as a cake with candles on it. Standing beside the table were Archer and Sabrina with sacks in their hands and behind them was the poster Archer had made.

It wasn't the grandest birthday in history, but it was special because they did it for him. Even though a birthday party wasn't suitable in the situation they were in, they still put it together. For him. Cody found himself smiling. Something dripped down his face. He didn't realise he was crying. He didn't even care.

Riley joined the two at the table, and they simultaneously shot party poppers at the birthday boy.

Cody ran to them and soon they were all in a hug-pile on the floor. He found himself thanking the universe for the friends that he had. He was so grateful for Archer who toughened him up for life and helped him fight back. He was grateful for Riley who always gave him her shoulder to lean on and always had his back. He was grateful for Sabrina too. In the short time that they knew each other, he had grown quite fond of her and found her easy to talk to her.

Cody thanked them repeatedly and they all stood up. The birthday boy made his way behind the table, and they all sang happy birthday.

The rebels celebrated by cutting the cake and eating it. They gave their presents to Cody, and he gratefully accepted them. They talked and laughed until they fell asleep.

They didn't go on any raids that day, instead they chose to spend it with each other, and they regretted nothing.