"GET UP! GET UP GET UP GET UP GET UP!" Ellie was jumping on Quinn's bed at six in the morning.

"What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK? GET DOWN," Quinn was groggy but was more concerned that Ellie was jumping on her bed, while she was still in it.

"Get up! We have a big day ahead of us!" Ellie had childlike excitement in her eyes. This couldn't be good.

"Big day?" Quinn rubbed her eyes, she hadn't realized what today was yet.

"It's your birthday, idiot! Alexa play 22 by Taylor Swift!" Ellie yelled this into the hallway as she flipped on Quinn's bedroom lights.

"Alexa," Quin commanded, "Do NOT play 22 by Taylor Swift," she yelled at the tiny machine before looking at her roommate, "I really don't want a noise complaint on my birthday."

"Whatever! Get up, we're having guests over," Ellie left without explaining further.

"Guests? At six in the morning? Hell no." Quinn closed her door and laid back in bed. Rose took the opportunity to lay on Quinn's chest and began purring. With the warmth and the vibration, Quinn could feel herself falling asleep again. Trying to resist the temptation, she picked up her phone and scrolled through Twitter, her favorite pastime.

#HappyBirthdayQuinn was trending, and Quinn found herself brought to tears by the sweet messages that people were leaving. A lot of them were encouraging messages about her being their comfort streamer, and some were talking about how she inspired others to start streaming. There was some fanart of her SMP character, and her Origins character, and some of her and the boys, it all made Quinn's sleepy brain fuzz with happiness. She felt her eyes get heavy and her phone slip out of her hands.

"Quinn, are you getting up?" Ellie called to her from the kitchen. But at that point, Quinn was asleep, and didn't respond.

Ellie came back to Quinn's door, opening it slowly, and she noticed that her best friend had fallen back asleep. Ellie smiled softly, and flipped the lights off. She would wake her up when people started to show up.

"Happy birthday Quinn," Ellie said quietly before going back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

It was almost two hours later, when the guests arrived at the tiny apartment that Quinn and Ellie shared.

"She's still asleep," Ellie pointed at the door that went into Quinn's room, and watched as they went to wake her, "Am I the best best friend ever, or what?"

"You are."

When Nick opened Quinn's bedroom door, he couldn't help but smile at the sleeping girl, who had a cat curled up on her chest. He was so happy to see her again, George smiled brightly beside him.

"Is she asleep?" Clay entered behind them, and both Nick and George shushed him, "Oops, sorry."

"Are you sure you're not gonna get in trouble for being here?" George asked Clay, Vanessa had actually grown on George more than he expected, his only problem with her now, was that she was a little controlling.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Plus, I wouldn't miss Quinn's birthday for the world," Clay smiled fondly, watching as Tiki perked her head up, recognizing the voices. She meowed quietly, getting off of Quinn and sauntered over to the boys. When they pet her, she purred loudly.

"Clay you didn't tell Vanessa? What if she finds out? She'll flip," George whispered concerned. 

"She won't," Clay felt a little bad, lying to his girlfriend. But he knew that if he mentioned wanting to see Quinn on her birthday, Vanessa would have found a way to make it about her. 

"Aw, we miss you too Tiki," Nick spoke to the cat, who was rubbing her head against his palm.

Quinn stirred in her sleep, "Tiki?" she said with her eyes closed, noticing the absence of the cat.

"Meow," George said, imitating the cat who had sauntered over to Clay, begging to be held by her second favorite person in the world. 

"Hello?" Quinn opened her eyes, and she thought her heart stopped beating, "What the-"

"Happy birthday!" The boys yelled in unison. Quinn jumped out of bed, and practically jumped into Nick's arms, hugging him first.

"What the hell?" She said smiling. Quinn felt like she was gonna cry, in her head, she made a mental note to thank Ellie a thousand times over. When Nick put her down, she rushed into George's arms, who hugged her affectionately.

"Happy birthday Quinn," George said into her shoulder, there was something so strange about hugging George, seeing as they were the same height and Quinn felt like she overpowered him in their embrace.

When George released Quinn, she took a step back, eyeing Clay hastily, "Can I... hug you?" She didn't know what was too far.

"Come here," Clay opened his arms to Quinn, and she stepped into his hug. Something about the way he held her, said all the things Clay wished he had said. It was an unspoken understanding, and it made up for his absence. For Quinn, it felt like home, it was what she had been missing, for three months.

"Happy Birthday," He said to her, tucking his chin on top of her head, trying to contain the fact that his heart was pounding very loud. Clay hoped Quinn couldn't hear it. She could.

Listening to his heartbeat reminded Quinn of the conversation she had with Clay's sister, when she told Quinn that the timing wasn't right for them. Quinn had secretly held onto the hope that there was going to be a right time for them.

The hug ended before it got awkward, and Quinn smiled at her boys, "Thank you guys for being here, sorry I was asleep, my CRAZY ASS ROOMMATE woke me up at the crack of dawn." Quinn looked at the clothes she slept in, seeing how disheveled she probably looked.

"I love you too!" Ellie yelled from her room, which was adjacent to Quinns.

"Well, get dressed stupid, I wanna eat breakfast," Nick ruffled Quinn's hair affectionately, before leading the other guys out into the kitchen. Quinn swore that Clay turned around again and smiled at her before he left.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh," Quinn yelled silently after they had gone. It had hit her what just happened. Her boys were here. Quinn checked out her closet to see what she could wear, thinking about a lot at once.

Ever since she saw Clay at the farmer's market, she had slowly let herself forgive him. She knew that she was an adult, and that it wasn't right to hold everything over his head. That would just be childish. It was unfair to her, but he wouldn't have acted so strongly if he wasn't trying to chase away his own feelings for Quinn. So she quietly unblocked him, and just hoped that one day their paths would cross again. 

Once Quinn had gotten dressed, she went into the kitchen where the boys and Ellie were huddled around the counter, in conversation. Bruno sat at Nick's feet, as he glanced back and forth between his owner and the stranger, just hoping to get some attention. 

 Quinn was quick to notice the tension between Nick and Ellie. It was something she would have to bring up to Ellie later. She smirked at the two.

"There she is," Ellie greeted Quinn with a hug, "Happy birthday bestie."

"Thank you," Quinn buried her head into Ellie's shoulder, "thank you so much."

"Anything for my best friend," Ellie squeezed her tight, before letting her go and showing her the breakfast on the counter.

"You cooked?" Quinn's face lit up. Ellie nodded. Quinn teased her friend, "And it's edible?"

"More or less, there were a few failed attempts at the pancakes, but I think I figured it out." Ellie walked over to the coffee pot, and poured Quinn a cup of coffee, "Here, you all need to wake up."

Quinn noticed that each of the boys had their own cup of coffee and were quietly sipping it.

"We're not morning people," George said in defense. Quinn knew that if she looked in George's mug, it would be completely black coffee. It was one of the most surprising things about George, because he didn't drink coffee often, but when he did, he only took it black.

Everyone made a plate and began eating in silence. Quinn knew that Ellie was gonna have to take a nap, after exerting so much energy so early in the morning.

"So, what're the plans for today?" Clay asked Quinn, as if she had any idea.

"I mean I was gonna stream for a little bit, later, but because you guys are here I assume we're doing something?" Quinn asked surveying the rest of the group.

"Well, I planned on us all going out to dinner later, but the middle of the day is yours, Quinn, if you wanna stream for a bit that would be great, because then I can rest up," Ellie looked at Nick and George, "Maybe you guys can be in stream with her?"

"Of course!" Nick chirped, "Birthday stream? Hell yes."

Quinn smiled, eyeing Ellie cautiously, was she into Nick? Or was it just eight in the morning.

The group finished eating and Quinn was very aware of how close the guys were to her the whole time. It was like they were trying to compensate for not being together for the past three months. It made Quinn's stomach warm up.

Tiki had unexpectedly scampered under the kitchen table, which sent Bruno, who was sitting by Ellie's feet into a hissy fit.

"Bruno! Stop it," Ellie condemned before leading her dog into her bedroom and shutting the door.

"They don't like having to share a space," Quinn explains, "Tiki normally hides in my room, but I think she missed you guys."

"I think she misses Patches," Clay adds on, "She keeps brushing against my feet," he reached down to pet the cat.

"Patches misses you so much dude," Nick said, "Every time Vanessa walks in, Patches thinks it's you, and then scampers out when she realizes it's not."

After Nick said this, he mentally slapped himself, it probably wasn't the right thing to say. But Quinn recovered quickly not letting it bother her.

"I miss Patches too, it's different having a dog and a cat chasing each other, opposed to two cats. How is Vanessa?" It was only polite to ask, it's not like she could ignore his girlfriend's existence as much as she wanted to.

"She's alright," Clay nodded, he was trying his best not to feel awkward.

"Guys let's take a picture," George changed the subject, and saved everyone from the awkward tension. He pulled out his phone and took a selfie of the group. Quinn was sandwiched between Clay and Nick, with Ellie on one side and George on the other. Tiki was sitting in Clay's lap, purring, "Twitter is going to die."

A moment later everyone's phone buzzed at the table, and they all went to like George's tweet.

Woke up in this weird girl's house. Found out it's her birthday? Happy birthday.

"George, why do you have to say it like that?" Quinn laughed, responding to the tweet.

It was beginning to feel normal again. And for that, Quinn was thankful. Each of the boys tweeted a small happy birthday message, Nick's consisted of a video of Quinn standing on the kitchen counter at the house, yelling at him to catch the lizard that was running around. The message was short and sweet. I'll always catch lizards for you. Happy 22nd Quinn.

Clay's was special. He always had a way of adding another level of sentiment, and Quinn knew he did it on purpose. The picture he used was one from their trip to North Carolina, when the four of them went to visit Karl in December. They had been sitting next to each other, both in sweatshirts, under a shared blanket. You couldn't tell in the picture but Clay had been holding her hand. The only give away to this was Quinn's tinted Cheeks, which she blamed on the cold. George had snapped the picture, and Clay had looked at it whenever he wanted to be reminded of how close he and Quinn were. The message was almost cryptic. Always gonna be here for you, even in the snow. Happy birthday to one of my best friends <3.

Clay knew Vanessa would probably get upset over his post, but she had to understand the picture was taken before he met her. She couldn't get too jealous.

"What did you guys want to stream?" Quinn said, glancing at the clock. It was one in the afternoon. After breakfast, the group had piled on the couch to watch a movie that Quinn picked out, of course. And now she was in her room sitting at her desk, the boys sharing her bed. Ellie had taken the opportunity to take a nap, before getting everyone to go out to dinner.

"Well why don't you do like a Minecraft stream," Clay suggested, "You haven't done one of those in a while."

Quinn wasn't gonna question how he knew that, but instead opened OBS.

"What if you tried to beat the game, while we distracted you?" Nick offered. None of them had the ability to join the game with her, so being on face cam was the most they could participate.

"Or you could do item hunting, where we say things that you have to collect, and you have five minutes to get it?" George had seen someone else do this, and thought it would be a good idea.

"That sounds like it could be fun," Quinn agreed, "but go easy on me, will you?"

"No way, my first item's gonna be Netherrack," Clay teased. He had turned his phone on silent, and was starting to relax a little bit. If he squinted hard enough it was almost like Quinn was home with them.

As she started her stream, she tweeted out a small message letting everyone know that she was streaming.

It did not take long at all for her chat to be flooded with birthday messages.

"Hello!" Clay greeted.

"Hey guys," Nick waved to the camera.

"Hello," George smiled.

"Hi guys, welcome back to the stream! As you can see I have some wonderful guests today, and we're gonna do a Minecraft.... Item hunt? Is that what it's called George?" Quinn looked to the British man as he explained how the game would work.

"But before we do anything, it's Quinn's birthday, and we have to sing her happy birthday!" Clay amused himself.

"I am not singing," Nick fake pouted, crossing his arms.

"Guys you really don't have t-" Quinn started, but was cut off by George and Clay who broke out into a very loud rendition of Happy Birthday, which made Quinn burst into a fit of giggles. She watched as Nick, very unwillingly, sang with them. She thanked them when they ended the song.

"Okay, let's get this thing started," Quinn said, loading up Minecraft, "What's the order that you guys are going in?"

"I wanna go first," George exclaimed, followed by Nick and then Clay.

"Okay, so I have five minutes to get whatever you tell me to and if not?" Quinn was trying to think of a punishment.

"Just end stream, no goodbye, nothing, just end." Clay decided. Quinn nodded at him. This was going to be easy enough.

Quinn spawned in the middle of a dark oak forest, "Oh for fuck's sake," She whispered, she knew how big these forests normally were.

"Five minutes... Find a hay bale," George wanted to give Quinn an easy first item. All she had to do was find a village.

"A hay bale? I have to get to a village," Quinn's character started sprinting hoping to find the edge of the forest. The boys behind her tried to be as distracting as possible. At one point, Quinn was pretty sure that Nick started humming the speedrunning music. Quinn tried to zone out and focus on finding a village, finally getting her character out of the big forest. She ran in the direction of the plains biome, normally she could find a village somewhere around there.

"This makes me anxious," Quinn commented, making sure she was being entertaining enough for her viewers, but still trying to win the challenge.

Quinn ended up finding the hay bale with thirty seconds to spare. And then it was Nick's turn. The items she ended up collecting were a hay bale, iron ore, andesite, a bone, a bucket of lava, netherrack, soul sand, and a gold ingot. Quinn ended up dying in the nether and that ended the challenge, she was trying to collect a blaze rod in the fortress and burned to death instead.

"That was really fun," Quinn said to the guys as she ended the stream, closing OBS, "It would be cool if you guys were in game with me though."

"We'll have to keep it in mind for the future," Nick stood from Quinn's bed and stretched.

"What time did Ellie make plans for dinner?" Quinn asked, hoping that one of them knew.

"She said seven o'clock," George remembered something about seven o'clock, but he was pretty sure that was the reservation time.

"Did she mention where?" Knowing Ellie it was something over the top.

"No but she made us all pack a change of 'nice' clothes," Nick half-mumbled, not knowing how much he was supposed to be giving away.

"She's gonna make me wear a dress, isn't she" Quinn grumbled, "I hate when she does that."

"Do you still have that black dress that you liked?" Clay asked, and Quinn had almost forgotten he was with her when she bought it.

"Actually, I might," Quinn moved to her closet, searching through the hangers, until she pulled out a black dress.

"You should wear that, it looks nice on you," it was a simple compliment, but Quinn felt her chest warm up. Before she could respond, her phone started vibrating on the desk, she was getting a phone call.

When Clay looked at it, he frowned, it was a random number. He handed her phone to her, and then pulled out his own. Upon seeing his lock screen, he grimaced and left the room, "Don't answer that, I'll take care of it."

It was too late, Quinn had already accepted the call.

"I know he's with you."

Quinn knew very well who was calling her. It made sense why Clay had left the room, she had probably texted him numerous times.

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Quinn feigned ignorance.

"It's Vanessa. Clay's girlfriend. I know he's with you, I saw it on your stream just now." She sounded annoyed. Shocker.

"Oh I thought you said you weren't a fan of mine," Quinn pointed out, "Well thank you for watching."

"Tell him to come home," Vanessa said harshly. And Quinn's mouth fell open slightly, Nick and George watched her with intent.

"I'm not gonna do that. He's an adult and can make decisions for himself," Quinn wasn't gonna take this shit from Vanessa, not on her birthday.

"I'm not surprised. This is really selfish of you Quinn," Vanessa spat into the phone. Quinn had to hold back her scoff.

"It's my birthday. I didn't invite him, he surprised me, it's not my selfish decision that I was born today, you are arguing with the wrong person," Quinn put her foot down.

"Well, I think you should have a little bit more respect for our relationship, " Vanessa sighed into the phone, "besides, if you didn't invite him then you should have no problem kicking him out."