Warning: contains semi-spoilers for Almoons. Make sure you've read chapter nineteen before reading this.

This bonus chapter is considered canon (it took place before the start of the story). It was written by the marvelous Silver (SilverBeams).

TW for underage drinking.

It took Damon about five seconds to spot Aidyn's wavy black hair in the sea of patrias, and another two to weave through the circular tables and slide smoothly into the seat next to him. "You're never gonna guess what."

Aidyn glanced over, his mouth frosted with cream cheese. "Hm."

"You have to guess, Addy, that's the whole point of me saying 'guess what.'"

"Is this about your birthday?"

"Bingo!" Damon grinned, shooting finger guns. "The day's almost over, bro. I was beginning to think you forgot."

Aidyn snorted, taking another bite of his bagel. "Like I'd forget your birthday."

"You did, didn't you."

"I didn't! I actually had to remind Lyla about it. You should've seen her face when she remembered." He grinned and reached for a small glass of what looked like orange juice. "Want some?"

"Very funny."

Aidyn took a casual sip of his juice. "Noooo idea what you're talking about."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying it."

"Say what?"

Damon tried to muster a glare, but Aidyn's ridiculous charade wouldn't let him. "I'm allergic to oranges. Are you trying to kill me?"

"Huh. Well lucky for you, it's mango juice." Aidyn slid the cup towards him. "Happy birthday."

Damon rewarded him with a laugh, the noise joining the steady chatter around them. "You're so annoying. I don't know why I tolerate you."

Aidyn grinned and shrugged. "I'm the wrong person to ask for that one." He passed his plate over as well which contained half a bagel. "You should eat. You've been out all day."

Damon couldn't have agreed more. Ryne was sending the Voc members on recon missions all the time now, which was rare enough to be concerning. Usually it was simple stuff: stop this monorail, infiltrate this place to steal that stuff. The missions stayed few and far between, so people wouldn't get suspicious.

But today, it seemed like half the membership was out. Damon had barely woken up that morning before he was rushed out the door with Birk and Dealla, one of the few maxis in the Voc.

So in other words, he was starving.

"Oh, also," Damon started, his mouth half full of bagel as he passed the juice back. "Lusan's throwing a birthday party."

Aidyn made a noise halfway between a laugh and a groan. "Course he is."

"And he invited the whole Voc."

"Course he did."

"Yeah. He's having a bonfire in the woods — which, of course, isn't dangerous at all." Damon took another bite. "But you know, yolo."

Aidyn just shook his head, his wavy black hair bouncing around. "How many people are gonna show up, do you think?"

This was gonna be the interesting part.

"Well, a lot probably. I know Lyla's going, and Birk and Dealla and everyone else." Damon paused for dramatic effect. "Oh, and me."

Aidyn nearly choked on his mango juice.

Damon waited while his best friend recovered, half considering whether he should do something. He was beginning to wonder whether his healing worked on suffocation when Aidyn managed a, "You're what?!"

"Don't even act like you weren't going to go," Damon pointed out. "I know you want to."

"Sure, I wanted to go. I love parties." Aidyn pushed his juice away, as if almost dying had kinda ruined it for him. "You, however, don't. That's why I wasn't going to mention it." He leaned against the circular table, giving Damon his full attention. "So what gives?"

Damon shrugged. "Why not? Sharing a birthday with Lusan is bad enough — I figured I should get some use out of it." He grinned. "Also, he said there'll be alcohol."

Aidyn sat back, laughing. "So that's why you wanted to go."

"You look surprised. I haven't had a drink in forever."

"You literally had one last week."

"My point still stands."

"Seriously, you do remember this though, right? Cuz if not — "

Damon waved him off. "Of course I do. I didn't get that drunk."

He didn't remember a thing, actually, but no way was he about to admit that.

"So you really wanna go, then?" Aidyn asked. "You want to spend your birthday at Lusan Croft's birthday party."

"That is what I said, yes."

Aidyn shrugged. "Okay." He sighed, as if realizing what he was about to do. "I never thought I'd say this, but let's go talk to Lusan."

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The first thing Damon remembered that he already knew: Parties were loud.

Especially late night parties filled with drunk patrias and hibri who'd been cooped up underground for weeks.

Of course, Damon was among these loud and drunk partygoers, but unlike Aidyn, he wasn't a huge people person. He also wasn't a fan of crowds, a fear most likely stemming from being ganged up on as a kid by human bullies. Still, as far as anxieties went, Damon's were pretty mild, and having an abundance of flavorful drinks was nothing but helpful.

"Enjoying yourself?" Aidyn asked with raised eyebrows as Damon came back with yet another cup.

"Immensely." Damon downed half the glass in one go, wishing the bonfire wasn't so bright. It was giving him a headache.

"You're gonna throw up, you know."

"I am not."

"You'd better not. Me and Lyla have a bet going."

"Oh yeah? Which side are you on?"

Aidyn narrowed his marigold colored eyes. "If I tell you, you're gonna sabotage me, aren't you."

"Yes."

He grinned. "Thought so."

The ground tilted, and Damon leaned against a tree, trying to play it off in the hopes Aidyn wouldn't notice. "Where is Lyla anyway?"

Aidyn nodded over to a group of patrias across the firepit. Lyla was chatting with a blue-skinned rana, the golden flames dancing on her black leather jacket, massive white and brown wings poking out from the back.

Damon squinted at them, cursing the five previous drinks he'd downed. "Are they flirting?"

Aidyn laughed. "Nori's straight, Damon."

"Is she?"

"Yup. Pretty sure she had a crush on you for a while." Aidyn gave him an amused look. "You seriously don't remember that?"

"Why would I? I only like the gay ones." Damon thought about it and frowned. "And the straight ones. And you. And everyone else too, I guess. There's this really nice pan in the kitchen that I met the other day..."

By Altarbe, what am I saying?

Lucky for him, Aidyn laughed it off. "You're so drunk."

"I am most certainly not."

Aidyn sipped his drink, looking like he was trying to hide a smile. "Sure."

Damon suppressed a sigh. He should really stop getting intoxicated around his friends — especially Aidyn. That could be disastrous.

As he watched the partygoers, Damon glanced over at his friend, catching sight of Aidyn's fingers tapping patterns against the cup in his hands. Immediately, Damon started searching for ways to make him go socialize.

In truth, the main reason he had decided to spend his birthday there was for his best friend. Aidyn loved parties. He loved talking to people, and Damon knew he wouldn't have even thought about going if Damon didn't want to. So, Damon decided that he'd rather spend his birthday making Aidyn happy.

"You can go talk to people, you know," Damon told him. "I'll be fine by myself."

"You sure about that?" Aidyn teased, although Damon noted he didn't take his eyes off the crowd. "You've been drinking ever since we got here. I have to be there if you suddenly pass out or something."

"To catch me or to laugh?"

"Both, probably."

Damon could, in fact, confirm that this was true. Unfortunately, he had gotten black-out drunk on more than one occasion.

But not this time. Damon was determined to enjoy the party until the last possible second. It was his birthday after all.

Oh, and no way was he giving Aidyn the satisfaction of teasing him about it later.

A particularly loud laugh caught his attention, and Damon peered around the fire, spotting Lusan chatting with Dealla and Birk several feet away. At least, he thought it was Lusan, Birk and Dealla. His vision was getting annoyingly blurry, and Lusan's dark hair blended in pretty well with the indigo sky, so really it could be anyone.

All in all, the chances it was actually Lusan were pretty slim, but it was an opportunity nonetheless. Maybe if Damon went over there for a little, Aidyn would go talk to some people and enjoy himself, and he hopefully wouldn't notice if Damon did happen to pass out, which was looking more and more likely as the night went on.

Damon drained the rest of his drink and tossed the cup to Aidyn. "Hey look, it's Lusan! I'm gonna go say hi."

"You sure about that?" Aidyn sounded concerned. "You're kinda swaying a bit..."

"Your lack of faith is pretty offensive, you know."

"Yeah, you take one step and I guarantee you'll fall on your face."

"I assure you, I will be perfectly..." What was the word? "Fine. I'll be fine."

Damon took one confident step forward and face-planted into the dirt.

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Aidyn was still laughing.

"Oh, get over yourself," Damon grumbled, stumbling and waving away Aidyn's offered hand. "It wasn't that funny."

"Yes it was." Aidyn was grinning ear to ear, his eyes alight with amusement despite the midnight darkness. "It really was."

"Yeah, whatever."

It was another few minutes before Aidyn doubled over again, laughing his head off. "I'm sorry — "

"Oh, for moons' sakes!" Damon threw his hands up, determined to walk the rest of the way back without Aidyn's help. "Are you going to be okay, or do we have to get Lyla to carry you home too?"

"I'm fine, I swear." He straightened and took a deep breath, still smiling like a kid in a candy store. "I told you you'd fall."

"You also told me you'd catch me."

"I did say probably."

"You are honestly the worst," Damon muttered, loud enough that Aidyn could definitely hear.

"So I've been told."

They trudged on in content silence, listening as the sounds of the party faded behind them. Damon's head was spinning, and he could already imagine the massive hangover he was going to wake up with. But as long as Aidyn was happy, so was he. Even if it meant he'd nearly broken his face.

But it was fine.

And of course, because all his symptoms were late to the party, that's when the nausea started kicking in. "Ugh, I'm sitting down. Walking's a lot of work at the moment."

"I'm beginning to think you had too much to drink," Aidyn said, following suit as Damon found the clearest spot within a two foot radius and plopped down.

"I definitely didn't."

"You can't even walk, Damon."

"So?"

Aidyn stretched and fell onto his back with a sigh. "You're impossible when you're drunk."

"Impossible and proud." Damon fell backwards as well, staring at the black canopy. The dirt was slightly damp, but he was too out of it to care. "Imagine if Mom saw us like this."

Aidyn's laugh joined the cacophony of sounds around them. "She'd ground us for sure."

"Ground me, you mean. She can't do anything to you."

"I'd pretend to be grounded."

"How sweet."

The conversation faded, and Damon's thoughts wandered to home. Their three year anniversary was coming up — not the date kind, they'd never talked about anything like that. No, three years since Aidyn had said he was leaving and Damon had insisted on coming with him.

"You can't," Aidyn had told him. "What about your mom and stepdad? They'll miss you."

"And I'll miss you," Damon had said, desperate to make his friend understand. "I have to move out eventually. I might as well do it with you."

"It'll be dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Since when have we ever been safe here?"

"You remember when we left?" Damon asked suddenly, looking over at Aidyn, who was lying shoulder to shoulder next to him. "How hard you tried to convince me not to come?"

Aidyn kept his eyes forward. "Course I do. Why?"

Damon shrugged. "Dunno." Another small detail popped into his head. "Did you see Dalia at the party?"

"No."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. Out. Like you were."

"Think she's coming back?"

"Yeah, of course." Aidyn glanced over at him, looking concerned. "You're acting weird."

"Am I?"

"Yeah, you are."

"Probably just drunk."

Aidyn let out a small, humorless laugh. "Okay, if you're admitting that you're drunk, something's definitely up. Also, you're doing that evasion thing you do when you don't want me to know you're lying."

Damon muttered a couple caeli curses.

Aidyn's smile was evident in his voice. "Rude."

"Oh, did I teach you those? My bad."

"Seriously, what's wrong?"

Damon sighed. Maybe he was drunk, but so what? It didn't make his feelings any less real. "Just worried. About us."

It was a moment before Aidyn answered, his voice carefully measured. "Us."

"Not that kind of us, idiot. I mean..." Damon struggled to find the right words, another unfortunate side of the alcohol. "What if something goes wrong?"

"What kind of something?"

"I don't know. A mission. A protest. Anything."

"Not going to happen."

"You don't know that. Remember that time with Mr. Turner?"

"I thought we weren't going to bring that up again — "

"My point, Aidyn, is that we don't know what's going to happen. Dalia's not here, and we both know she would be if she could."

"She could be on a night mission."

"Could be. Or not."

Aidyn's voice was notably tighter. "What exactly are you saying?"

Damon paused. What was he saying?

"I'm saying that if something happens to me... something permanent... I want you to tell Mom."

"Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Shouldn't be a problem then. Humor me."

It was a tense few seconds before Aidyn answered, his voice low. "Okay. I promise."

"Thanks." Then, after taking a few moments to realize exactly what had just happened, "Also, don't tell anyone else about any of that."

A new voice entered the conversation. "Any of what?"

Damon shot up, regretted that decision immediately, and slowly laid back down, resigning himself to the humiliation that was definitely about to come. Aidyn, on the other hand, was on his feet in two seconds flat. Not that Damon was counting.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" The voice sounded amused and very, very smug. It took a second for Damon to place it, being intoxicated and all, but once he did, the probability of humiliation both rose and dropped a couple points.

"What the hell, Lyla," Aidyn said, somehow sounding relieved and embarrassed at the same time. "A little warning next time."

"Sorry, should I have expected you two to be lying on the forest floor talking about feelings?"

"That is so not what was happening," Aidyn muttered.

"Kinda was," Damon chimed in from his place on the ground.

"Didn't you just say — "

"Yes, but now I'm over it and willing to embrace my emotions like a man."

"I swear to god — " Aidyn stopped, catching himself. "The moons — whatever. I'm going back to the base. If anyone wants to come, feel free."

He walked off, his footsteps fading after a minute. Lyla glanced over at Damon, raising her eyebrows. "That's two for three on the Human Curse Counter. What did you say to him?"

Damon slowly sat up, testing his ability to not pass out. "I tend to say a lot of things to him. You'll have to be more specific."

"Yeah, no thanks." Lyla walked over and pulled Damon to his feet. Then, she held out her hand. "Happy birthday."

Damon stared at the small glass in her hand. "Is that...?"

"Don't tell Aidyn."

Damon downed the shot and handed it back, grinning. "Wouldn't dream of it."

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Hi, small disclaimer: while writing this, I did not consult Ref on Lusan (a sin I have atoned for, don't worry), and so I'm here to say that Lusan would never throw a birthday party and it was simply for plot convenience. Party still happened, but it was probably thrown by someone else. Thanks <3 ~Silver