So if you're an old fan of this story, you probably know what today is, and not just because it's in the title: my birthday! FWEE

I'm not done with school yet; I still have a few final projects to work on that are due by Tuesday, so after today I'll be focusing on that. I figured I should do something nice for myself that wasn't just sitting on my bed watching YouTube videos. Thus, this was made. Almost a tradition, at this point.

Technically, this could have been its own Undertale fic, but I thought it best to put it here. Hope you don't mind!

Shout out to InkCatWarrior for being the first person to leave a review on this story since like… December? So yes, thanks so much for that! I'll see you all at the bottom of the page.

Chapter 40: Old-Timey AC Gamer has Virtual Birthday

"Sea planes are cool and all, but I don't think you can beat a train with cats and monkeys on it," The Author continued into the microphone.

"W-well, yes, but consider that the sea plane is being flown by extinct birds! How often has that happened in this series?" Alphys offered.

"You're kind of being a dodo yourself, Alphys. Remember Kapp'n?" A low voice chuckled at the pun.

"That's a mythological animal, not an extinct one, Sans. You know that."

"Not that it matters either way, he's not in the game…"

"…YET," the three said together, which was followed by a mix of light laughs and humored breaths.

"Seriously though, the train is clearly the coolest," The Author said.

"SANS!" A voice cracked faintly from someone's line, "Is it time for the desert lesson yet?"

"Not yet, Paps," Sans called. "We're still setting up the connection for the game. Hey, Author, got the ingredients?"

"Yeah, though we don't have a potato ricer, so we had to use a thing called a colander. Keep in mind I had no idea what these things were until today. Thank goodness we had one. It's probably not going to end up looking right, though."

"As l-long as it t-tastes right, i-it can't be that much of a problem, can it?" Alphys asked.

"Well, since none of us have ever had this before, I don't think we'll be able to tell."

There was a ding in the connection. "Hang on, I think that's the kid. I'll let them in… Knock knock."

"Who is there?" An older woman's voice asked.

"Alligator."

"Alligator who?"

"Alligator was a birthday card. What did you get for The Author's birthday?"

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled as Toriel burst out laughing. "Do not ruin The Author's birthday with your terrible jokes!"

"It's okay, Paps. We'll save one for your birthday, too."

"You better not!"

The Author laughed aloud as she curled up into an even tighter knot of limbs on the sofa in her living room. As it could probably be fairly easily inferred, it was her birthday today. Frisk had two weeks left until the end of grade tests at Ebott Elementary and had been given a weekend break from political-medical hodge-podges, so they decided to host their friends over to their Animal Crossing: New Horizons island to celebrate The Author's birthday. The Author had never used the online function of the family Switch before, but after being guided along by the more tech-savy monsters, she was ready and willing. Her character finally stepped out of her house and pulled out her fishing pole. "Alright, I'm on."

There was a light chorus of cheers. "Alright, Author, pick your outfit if you haven't already and head to the airport. The kid'll pull up the code."

"Oh, may we wear an outfit, Frisk?" Toriel asked. "Oh, we are? Alright. Ah, yes; we look cute today!"

"On it." The Author's character stepped back into the house and opened the cherry wood wardrobe. "Okay, let's try something I wouldn't normally wear… oh, but I usually wear everything in here…"

"Just pick something!" Flowey's voice whined, followed by a pause and a quiet hiss. "Don't point at me like that, Frisk! You too, Mom!"

"It's her birthday, you punk!" Undyne bellowed into Alphys's microphone, making everyone cringe at the feedback. "It has to be something special and epic!"

"U-Undyne, you don't have to shout…" Alphys said quietly.

Something special and epic…? The Author pondered. "While I'm picking, let's go over who's here so we're not missing anyone," she said. "Sound good?" There was a murmur of agreement. "Okay, so there's me, Alphys, Sans, Papyrus, Frisk, Toriel, Flowey, and Undyne on the phone, with me, Alphys, Sans, and Frisk's characters actually on the game. We'll be at Frisk's island, and then we'll all move to our real-life kitchens for the main party event after we hang around for an hour or so. Do I have it all right?"

"Yep," Sans said. "Got your outfit picked out yet? Paps, come on, I thought you want to see this."

"Um… yep!" The Author clicked the confirmation button and nodded at her selection. "On my way now. Frisk, do you have the code yet?"

"We're sending it to the chat now," Flowey said. "It's 61115-32045."

"Okay." The Author entered the airport. "Okay, I'll talk to the guy at the desk—"

"H-hold it, Author!" Alphys stuttered suddenly. "We need to get ready first! Frisk is almost done laying out the path for you to follow, and I still need to buy the-! Um, the thing."

"Way to nearly ruin it, Dr. Dumb-Little," Flowey jabbed.

"Flowey…" Toriel warned.

"Goodness, you're sending me into a titter with all of this!" The Author said.

There was a pause. "O-okay, I'm ready n-now!" Alphys said. "You can enter the code now, Author."

"Alrighty." The Author entered the code into the prompt and waited while the dodo bird searched up the island on his computer. "Let's hope the internet cooperates. Sometimes it's kind of—oh, he found it. Okay, here I come!" Her character walked onto the plane, and the sound of an engine turning on hummed in her ears. After a minute of loading, she could see Frisk's island below the plane. "'The temperature is… comfortable,'" she read aloud. "Is it ever anything but?"

"I certainly won't find it comfortable when winter rolls around," Alphys stated.

The Author's character walked off the plane and into the terminal. She expected to hear someone say something, like maybe a "hey, here she is!" But nobody (er, no sound) came. She walked out of the airport and saw the trail Alphys said Frisk had laid out, but no Frisk. Or anyone, for that matter.

"…Guys?" She called. Faintly over the microphone crackling, she could hear quick breathing, like suppressed laughter. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but the connection hadn't sent her back home, so she couldn't have been cut off, right? "Guess I'll follow the path…" she said to herself.

The path was made up of designs on the ground that had a pixelated red heart on a black background, leading up to the top right of the map. The Author passed a villager's house here and there along the way, but didn't stop to see if anyone was home. After a minute, she was in front of a decently sized one-room house with a red roof, with the heart pattern surrounding the entrance. She opened the door and waited for the screen to load.

She walked into a vibrantly colored room with three human villager characters surrounding the front hall entrance. Upon her stepping into the room, all three popped some party poppers and began making cheering reactions.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUTHOR!" Everyone called into the mic.

"Aw, guys!" She had her character make a shyness reaction.

Someone turned on the light and she walked to the middle and spun around.

"I don't think I've seen that outfit at the tailor's before," Alphys commented. "It looks kind of like one of those lace up dresses, but in black."

"It's a design of my own, actually," The Author admitted. "I came up with it before I knew there were similar kinds of dresses already in the game."

The base model was the dress with short poofy sleeves and a skirt that reached the knees. It was black with silvery blue-ish ribbons on the skirt and sleeves. It was simple and not particularly detailed, but it was hers.

"It looks lovely, Author," Toriel said kindly.

"And we're not ribboning you on that," Sans said.

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled much closer to the mic.

"It's okay, Papyrus," The Author said. "Eis-ee what he was trying to do."

Another pause.

This pause was followed by an explosion of noise, including yelling, laughing, groaning, and further punning that couldn't be made out over the cacophony. Frisk was spamming the laughing reaction until everyone calmed down.

"In all honesty, though," The Author said once she could breathe again. "Maybe we should pass out the gifts so that we can get started on the desert…? If that's okay, I mean."

"Of course, Author!" Papyrus crowed. "With my mastery over spaghetti, this German desert should be a piece of… lasagna?"

The Author thought for a moment before gasping. "Oh, I get it! Because lasagna is like pasta cake, right?"

"Correct!"

"Well, then, lass uns Spaghettieis machen!"

"Ja!" Everyone cheered.

"Sausage!" Flowey yelled.

"Kein wurst, Herr Flowey," The Author chided. "Es schmeckt nicht gut in Spaghettieis oder Normaleis."

"I'm a flower; I don't speak German!"

Head Canon I Don't Actually Think #48: In the Ebott Town area, people are a lot more willing to take precautions during the pandemic. More masks, social distancing, etc. Also, Animal Crossing is indeed a thing in this world.

Translations: "Let us make Spaghettieis!

"No sausage, Mr. Flowey. It does not taste good in Spaghettieis or normal ice cream."

So, yeah, there really wasn't much of a plot to this one, just some fluff. I think we could all use a bit of fluff these days, don't you?

Since it's near the end of the school year for me, I figure elementary schools aren't that far behind. Hence, the reference to Frisk's EOGs. Yep. That's it. That's your PTA AU link.

So the desert Papyrus is going to help everyone make via live video calls is a German style ice cream called Spaghettieis, which is exactly what it sounds like: spaghetti ice cream. I used to read about it all the time in the German textbook in high school all the time; it's vanilla ice cream put through a certain tool (homemade kinds apparently use something called a "potato ricer") to make it into spaghetti strands. Then you put "sauce" (probably some form of jam) and "cheese" (shredded white chocolate/coconut) on top however you like. Just like my real pasta, I'd probably like just a smidgen of sauce for flavor, and lots of cheese. I've never had a chance to have it, but it sounds really cool. Anyone reading this ever have it? Let me know if it's as good as it sounds!

Anyway, happy birthday to me. Thanks for sticking around. See you all later, eventually.