The tan man lay on his bed, trying to cover his ears with the soft pillow. It was 16th May, Ary's birthday, which meant... a house full of balloons and decorations, squealing girls and happiness. With a sigh the elf remembered the good old times when they were celebrating alone - the only guests were Yuna and his three spirits. They had a lot of fun back then, too! Why would Ary want to celebrate with all those girls all of a sudden?! And where did they come from in the first place?! Well, at least there were no boys down there. The man had forbidden his protégé to invite any. Even Ifrit and Ledah. No... Especially Ledah, he thought.

Suddenly someone rushed into the room, making Callo jump out of his bed quickly. This made him a little dizzy, but when his vision became clear again he recognized the person in front of him and smiled - it was Ary. There was something weird in the smile she returned... She got something on her mind and Callo wasn't sure if he was going to like it.

"Hello, Callo~" said Ary with a sweet voice.

"Hey, Ary. Are you all having fun? It's pretty damn noisy..."

"Yup! We're having a soo much fun!" she giggled for a second and then she spoke again, her voice changing suddenly. "Uhm, Callo... Would you... do something... for me?"

"Sure, it's 'your day' after all..." Callo had a really bad feeling about this.

"Great! Err... Callo, me and my friends were wondering... would you just strip for us?"

"Say WHAT?!" Callo stepped back a little, his eyes wide in shock. Did Ary just ask him to STRIP in front of all of her girlfriends?! In front of HER?! No. Absolutely not...

"Well, yeah... Or you could just take off your shirt and come downstairs with me. It's nothing special, but the girls would really, really love it!" Ary stepped closer, still smiling widely.

"Ary!" The man blushed slightly at the thought of actually doing that... "You can't be serious!"

"Please, Callo! Do it for me!"

"D-don't puppy-eye me!" Callo turned his head aside, covering his eyes. Ary's puppy eyes were the only thing that could make him do anything... and he certainly didn't want to be forced to strip in front off a hundred girls, half of them probably drunk (although he didn't give Ary his permission to drink alcohol, he was sure that her friends managed to sneak a bottle… or two… or ten). "Ary, tell me - who the hell are these friends of yours?! The house is full of crazy girls and I don't think you actually know them!"

"It's not true! They are all EoT fangirls – you won't find more kind and caring creatures! Come oon, Callo~! Even Nuramond is downstairs!"

"That doesn't make it better! And what does she have to do with this anyway?" Ary shook her head and mumbled something. The only thing Callo heard was 'still doesn't get it'. "You know I would never do something like that. No matter who your friends are, the answer is still no."

"But…"

"I said NO!" He screamed.

"Fine!" Ary screamed angrily, too. "I can't believe that you could go around the streets half-naked without being bothered… and you don't wanna do it for me!"

"That's... different! It's hot in the sun, I'm just catching tan trying not to die from the heat."

"You used to live in a desert! Whatever... I should have asked Ledah. I know he would have agreed. At least on my birthday!" She walked out, slamming the door. Callo sat back on his bed frustrated. A moment later a loud disappointed 'Eeeeh?!' was heard from downstairs.

"Dammit!" Callo hissed, slamming his fist in his other hand. What was he supposed to do? Just go down there and grant Ary's wish? Then what? Was he going to make it out alive?   And if he did – would they pretend nothing had happened after that?

Dilemma, thy name is Dignity.

"Such a shame." Nell sighed. "It's not that big of a deal. I mean, yeah, he's gonna be swamped by fangirls and probably will drown in their drool, but so what?"

"I know." Ary replied and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe he knows we're about to poke his chest and mess with his hair? He's not the pretty-boy type, but I guess he doesn't want his hair to look like a broom or have bruises all over himself." Ale suggested.

"Nah, I don't think so. He just doesn't understand that he is generally attractive to women."

"Whatever, we'll continue to party anyway.~" Nell smiled. "Do you want a drink, Nura?"

"No, thanks." Nuramond was just listening to their conversation, blushing slightly. She was actually glad that Callo didn't agree to do it – she didn't want all the girls to see him and touch him and—

"Oi!" Suddenly said Ale. Everyone turned their heads, following her gaze. Nell raised her eyebrows. Nuramond's jaw dropped. Ary just smiled widely and ran towards the stairs where was standing none other than Callo – looking completely defeated, his shirt unbuttoned, revealing his well-toned chest. The girl grabbed his hand and led him down, her smile never fading.

"Ladies!" She screamed. "Success!"

For a few seconds the room went silent. And all of a sudden…

"Oh my God!" A girl squealed.

"Yes, you called for me?" Dea appeared, her artistic aura and her halo in the form of a tablet giving her a divine, magestic look.

The girl just pushed her away without even looking at her and ran towards Callo along with the bunch of squealing fellow fangirls.

"Lol, you all die forever alone." Dea commented and poofed away.

Callo was having a really hard time dealing with all the girls. He could barely breathe and somehow his shirt was discarded completely and now he was completely exposed waist-up. He took a few steps back, because he could swear he felt a hand reaching for his belt, too.

"Alright! I did what you wanted me to do! Are you happy now?!" He shouted.

The girls squealed. He didn't understand if that meant 'yes' or 'no.'

"Not really, no." Alera answered helpfully and a small, evil smile appeared on her face. "Entertain us!"

"I'm not a clown at a child's party," he death-glared her. This unleashed another wave of squeals and he, not expecting that, looked at the girls confused, his ears moving weirdly.

"Oh, he's so cuuteee~!"

"Cute?!" He looked offended. "Im not— oh, forget it. I'm going upstairs."

"Noo, stay with us!" Nell said.

"Yes!"

"Please stay!"

"Alright, alright… just… give me back my shirt!" It was thrown at his face. "…Thanks."

He spent the first half an hour declining offers to dance and shamelessly rejecting all the girls. After that they seemed to decide he's not that fun to be around at all and stopped bothering him. He sat heavily on the couch, clearly relieved and closed his eyes tiredly. A few minutes later Nuramond sat next to him, offering a cup f punch.

"Thanks" he said and took a sip.

"How do you feel around those girls?"

"I've never been this scared my entire life." He laughed. "It's good that Nellyah, Alera and you are not like them, though."

"You think so?"

"Yes, the two of them are just torturing me together with Ary. You are the only sane person in the room."

"If you say so." She smiled and looked away.

"Oi, Callo!" Ary said a few hours later. "The girls are about to go, can you do one last thing for us?"

"What is it now?" He sighed.

"Let us…" She started and Ale continued her sentence:

"Do something…"

"With your hairrr~!" Nell finished and smiled widely. All of the girls nodded in approval. Callo sighed heavily and sat on the floor, closing his eyes. He looked like he was a man accepting his death sentence. Everyone surrounded him and the torture began…


The next morning there was a knock on the door, but no one replied. The visitors came in, anyway, and froze at the middle of the room. Ledah put a hand on his mouth to prevent himself from bursting into laughter from the sight before him – Callo was soundly asleep on the couch, looking ridiculous with his hair all messed up and his clothes wrinkled. Ary came in the room.

"Oh, hey guys!" She smiled as Ifrit hugged her.

"Happy belated birthday~!" he chirped joyfully.

"Happy birthday" Ledah also said with a big smile on his face and handed his present. Then suddenly Callo snored loudly and Led finally laughed aloud, waking the man up.

"Oh…" he muttered and looked around, supporting himself on his elbows. He tried to death-glare the boy, but failed miserably, making him laugh even harder.

"Some party you had last night, eh?"

"Shut up," he said annoyed and dropped on the couch again, closing his eyes.