⚠️END GAME SPOILERS WARNING⚠️
“Surprise!”
Luke jumped away from the Buckler front door in well, surprise. He couldn’t even clutch his chest before poppers and confetti doused him.
“Whoa, w-what’s the occasion guys?” he feigned ignorance.
“It’s your birthday, coach!”
“Right…?” the student looked around, nervously. The rest of the gym suddenly had a similar reaction as they all looked at Luke.
Luke rolled his head as he stepped in, “It sure is.” The room cheered.
He was guided to one of the few long pull-out tables filled with stacks of pizza boxes, cups and varied bottles of drinks from the gym's fridge. He sat down in the middle as someone brought out a sheet cake with the Buckler logo and stars adorning it. A party hat was forced on his head. They sang “Happy Birthday” and cheered as he blew out the few candles on a sheet cake.
Curiosity got the better of him. “How’d you know? I never told anyone.”
“Rahim told me.” said one student. “Oh, I heard it from Emma.” replied another. This continued on; it was like everyone heard it from someone else.
“Wow, a game of 'Birthday Telephone,' it’s a miracle you guys got it right!” Luke quipped. The room laughed.
Luke took a bite out of a slice of pizza and glanced around the room. Who knew?
Oh... He remembered not too long ago, he did tell someone. A student who’s hard exterior he was trying to break past.
“My birthday?” Bosch eyed Luke suspiciously. “You should have it when I signed up.”
“That’s no fun—“ he leaned toward Bosch, one eyebrow raised, a hand covering the side of his mouth as if to keep it from prying eyes. “…and that would break privacy laws if I wanted to know personally.”
Bosch didn’t even scoff at Luke’s joke, probably because he didn’t get it. “…December 16th.”
Luke’s arms collapsed. “That’s so far away! I wanted an excuse to hold a little party to celebrate how far you’ve come in your training!”
Bosch frowned. “I still haven’t gotten to where I want to be yet.”
Luke straightened up. “That's perfect! We’ll see how far you've improved by your birthday! How’s that sound?”
Bosch thought for a moment. "...Be sure there's pizza."
"You got it, kid!" Luke bounced on his heels, happy to get Bosch's full approval.
Bosch finally scoffed. His teacher was a real clown. “So, when’s your birthday?”
Luke shyly spun around. “Ah, don’t worry about your ol’ coach.” He turned back a little, smiling just as shyly. “I’m getting to that age where I don’t want to be reminded how old I am anyway."
Bosch rolled his eyes. “Come on, you forced me to share mine.” Luke threw his hands in the air.
“Fine, you got me.”
“Hey coach, how old does this make you now?”
Luke snapped out of his thought. But without skipping a beat: “Ah ah ah! You won’t get that out of me!” The room laughed.
Luke scoped around the room intently this time. He realized there's lots of new students he still hasn’t gotten to know yet. Not even noticing a pink-hat-one with wrapped forearms happily enjoying a slice not far behind him among the crowd.
