Your mom made it sound like she was going to the kitchen to start making you breakfast but to your surprise she was almost done by now. She made one of your favorites since your early childhood: croquettes with mashed potatoes, your mom's unique seasoning blend, bits of carrot, peas and tuna. One of the few instances you didn't mind eating fish because you had a certain personal history with fish & seafood. The pleasant scent alone was enough to fully awaken your stomach because apparently, it was still largely asleep.
"Glad you still like the 'sitas!" You heard her say, your stomach's growling had definitely been loud enough to be noticeable. Although that could be mildly embarrassing on its own what got you really flustered was your mom's mention of the old name you gave them when you were little, 'sitas being your shortening to the word hamburguesitas [Literally Spanish for "little burgers"] because she sometimes made the croquettes in the shape of burger patties.
On any other day you might protest invoking such an old, embarrassing silly memory but today was probably one of the dew days you knew you just had to let her have it. Besides, as long as it wasn't in front of Jen there was no harm done.
Just before you realized, your mom served you a plate with a couple large croquettes with a glass of nice, cold chocolate milk though it looked a bit different from usual, the scent it gave off was still chocolatey but not quite the same as usual. Feeling curious, you took a sip and found out that it was actually a chocolate milkshake instead and not jut any milkshake, this was nothing you could buy at fast food restaurants... your mom must've made this herself.
'Funny, I don't remember seeing any chocolate ice cream in the freezer' You thought and then looked at her, seeing that she was smiling proudly.
"I wasn't gonna skimp on my baby boy's breakfast" She giggled "And with no work, there was no excuse not to go the extra mile" She said as she sat down with a plate of the same croquettes for herself.
"Besides, I guess it's kinda my fault you can't enjoy the energy boost from coffee... stupid caffeine immunity" She sighed "But on the other hand I'd rather you stick to chocolate milk" She said, patting your head as she reached for her drink. You saw that she had gotten herself an iced mocha that was much heavier on the chocolate and milk part than the coffee one, which made perfect sense for someone who wasn't going to get out much of the coffee anyway.
"By the way, where are dad and Ariadne?" You asked, noticing that your big sis hadn't nearly tackled you with a hug since you left your room and it didn't even need to be your birthday for that to happen.
"They went to buy stuff for the party later but I've got a feeling that they're also shopping for your gift last minute. Then again one is busy studying at college and the other one is keeping an incompetent understaffed company afloat by traveling all over the country fixing stuff" Your mom explained.
You couldn't help but chuckle though she was right about her complaints. Your dad was treated like he was one of an extremely small handful of people able to repair and upgrade stuff and they kept flying him all over the country and sometimes even internationally for things that they should probably have local trained personnel for. But in his defense, he'd never missed your birthday, your sister's or your mom's.
As you ate the croquettes while having some small talk with your mom your phone made a pinging noise and buzzed, the sound letting you know that it was a text so you pulled it out of your pocket to see what it was and from whom. To your surprise, it was from Zuemy, asking if you were awake yet.
"Yeah. Eating breakfast right now" You texted back and you could swear you saw your mom smirk for a split second, but when you looked at her she was taking a sip from her iced mocha.
"Ooh, girls already asking for you?" She teased, making you blush intensely for a few moments.
"No, mom... It's just Zuemy" You sighed "She probably just wants to hang out or see if I can help her with her science stuff"
"Well, Zuemy's a girl too" Your mom chuckled "Oh, she's just like her mom. Zuleima also kept doing lots of wacky little experiments here and there all the time. Her job is getting paid to do just that and with bigger, more expensive toys"
"Yeah. Well, it's not like I have any plans until sunset anyway" You replied.
"You could always go see Lillian, you're as welcome in her home as she is here" Your mom then said.
"I'll see her at the party anyway. But maybe I could go play some games or watch anime with Cindy" You commented a bit offhandedly, just to not make it seem like you had a particular interest in going to Zuemy's place which you didn't but you knew your mom loved to tease you about your lack of love life and didn't want to give her much fuel.
"Ooh, not a bad idea, she has great taste! If you see her please tell her that I loved that anime with the mom protagonist" Your mom said and you nearly choked right there and then.
"W-wh-the what?!" Your eyes widened. You only knew of one certain anime that featured the mom of the guy supposed to be the main character. Because of Cindy, of course but you didn't think she'd have your mom watch it!
"Yeah, it was pretty sweet and I won't lie, it was cute to see a story where the mom doesn't just magically vanish and never does anything" She smiled.
"Somehow, I feel I probably got the wrong one in mind but glad that you enjoyed it" You laughed awkwardly and scratched your head, wondering if it really was better to have a mom like this or a more typical one that watched cheesy soap operas instead.
A while later, you both finished your breakfast but when you went to wash the dishes your mom told you that she'd take care of it, with it being your birthday and all. After a several minute-long hug and many kisses she let you go. Zuemy had texted you some more, asking you to come over to her house but she made it sound like she had something for you, which piqued your curiosity and so you walked out of your home. Fortunately, Zuemy lived within the same block as you did so it'd be a mere few minutes worth of walking to get there.
As usual, you rang the doorbell and waited for an answer even though Zuemy had told you that you could just walk in most of the time. Not very long after, Zuemy herself answered the door wearing a black shirt and some short denim shorts that looked more like daisy dukes on her. Not quite the outfit one would expect from a science genius.
"Welcome! Come in!" She said, practically dragging you along without waiting for your answer. Before you knew it you were in her room, far from the first time you'd found yourself here and alone with her, as you saw no signs of either Zuleima or Zoey being around while you got dragged in here.
"So, what's up this time?" You asked a bit timidly but not without reason.
Zuemy had confided in you a lot of stuff that as far as you knew she hadn't shared with anyone else, like her peculiar fixation with changing the side of things and even researching into making that a reality, to grow or shrink them and she definitely was more into shrinking stuff, even teasing you as she described in detail what she could do if she were to shrink you, for example. To this day you don't know how you didn't get a heart attack those times.
Partially related to that, she had also shared with you some of her most intimate desires and tastes, asking you to let her indulge in them while claiming that she could tell you'd enjoy it to some extent too. This was how you sort of ended up getting roped into "sessions" where she did things like sitting on your face. In her defense, at least she asked and did it in private unlike, say, Lillian.
These things weren't entirely one-sided though because just as much as she confided in you she was also willing to listen and even try to help you sort out several things in your life, mostly the romantic mess you somehow got yourself into. You could say that she was your de facto therapist though you were hers as well, probably odd to explain out loud to any outside observer but things worked out regardless.
"I told you I got something nice for you, what's with the attitude?" She asked cheekily.
"Because it sounded more like you were asking for my help with your science stuff" You replied with a bit of snark of your own.
"I mean, it is kinda related. But this time I'm not doing things just for me, I'm actually doing them for you too! You could consider it an extra birthday gift" Zuemy smiled.
"Huh"
" 'Huh'?! Is that all you can say about it?" Zuemy mock-pouted and put her hands on her ample hips.
"Well, what do you expect me to say? I'm having a hard time picturing how your research can be made into a gift for me" You said but just as you finished speaking, a few ideas did come to mind "Well, I suppose you could turn a small screen into a massive one... or a small piza into a jumbo one, that would rock!"
"Oh Blaise, please never change~" Zuemy giggled "It's not quite that but I promise you it's going to be even better" She then gestured at you to sit on her bed and to close your eyes.
You had no idea what she had in mind but did as she said and heard rustling noises as Zuemy was most likely digging into one of her bags, some metallic clanking noises could be heard as well as something electronic charging up. Then, you felt that you got hit by something not entirely physical.
A wave of cold engulfed your body while overwhelming amounts of energy surged through it, rendering you unable to move or speak as they passed through and then the strangest thing happened: It felt like you were getting contracted into yourself, like you were getting compressed by an invisible, intangible force. Moments later, you lost consciousness...
An unknown amount of time later, you slowly woke up and to your surprise you found that...