The sun slowly rose from the mountains, changing the sky from dark blue to a much lighter shade of blue. As it did so, the stars gradually disappeared from the sky. Before long, you could hear the faint sound of birds chirping wherever you went.

It was a beautiful morning in the Happy Tree Friends forest, the start of a brand new day. In one of the houses in the forest, Lumpy was laying in his bed, still sleeping since the night before. After a few minutes had gone by, however, he slowly opened his eyes, then sat up in his bed. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, and then yawned quietly into one of them. As he put his hand down afterwards, his eyes widened with happiness and he smiled. Today was his birthday.

Hopefully, this would be a much better birthday than the year before. On his last birthday, he had caught a particularly bad cold and felt absolutely miserable. He almost always needed to sneeze, and a lot of his sneezes were extremely loud and messy. He also couldn't get over that one massive sneeze, which mortified him as it happened during his birthday party. Everyone saw him and heard him release that sneeze, and probably could have kicked him out right then and there. Fortunately, his friends weren't mad at him for the sneeze; they understood that he wasn't feeling well and still let him stay for the party.

This year, however, Lumpy was perfectly healthy. His nose didn't feel runny or stuffy, his throat wasn't feeling sore... he felt great, and he felt happy, too. He figured that since he didn't have a cold this time around, that would help make his birthday a lot better than the embarrassing nightmare it was the year before. As he compared the reality of last year to the expectations of this year, Lumpy remembered something that made his mood even better: his friends were throwing him another party at Cuddles' house.

Lumpy sat on the edge of his bed, and then stepped out. He went over to his window, pulled the curtains open, and then pushed the window open. He smiled as he looked outside. The sky was a perfect light blue tint, without a single cloud in the sky. It was a little warm outside, but the gentle breeze felt cool on Lumpy's fur. Also, it smelled kind of sweet...

"Aaah-choo!"

Lumpy suddenly doubled over with a single, mild sneeze. He then reached up and placed his forefinger under his nose, smiling sheepishly to himself. His nose had just been tickled by the faint scent of pollen in the air, leading to his unexpected sneeze. He didn't mind it this time, however. He was already aware of how often he sneezed from his allergies, no matter what day of the year it was, so it wasn't surprising.

Lumpy removed his forefinger from his nose and closed the window, but still kept the curtains open. He walked out of his bedroom, then went into the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day. He took a shower, brushed his teeth and put on some odorless deodorant.

After about 30 minutes, Lumpy walked out of his bathroom. He went downstairs to the kitchen (he had sold his trailer for a two-story house) and began making himself some coffee. He filled the coffee maker with fresh coffee powder, followed by some hot water, then switched it on and waited for it to "do its magic." While Lumpy was waiting for his coffee to finish, he went outside to get the newspaper, then returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table to read the paper. He got about halfway through one of the articles before the coffee maker finally shut off, having finished a fresh serving of coffee.

Lumpy put down his newspaper, cleaned out his favorite mug and poured some coffee into it. It was still steaming hot, just the way Lumpy liked it. Lumpy took a deep inhale through his nose to smell the sweet aroma in the otherwise bitter coffee. Not long afterward, however, his nostrils flared up. Lumpy needed to sneeze again.

"Ah, aaaaah... AAH-CHOOOOOOOO!" Sniffling, Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Huh, that was weird... I don't think coffee has ever made me sneeze before."

"Ah, well..." Lumpy shrugged to himself. "My nose is probably just a little more ticklish than usual today."

After a couple of minutes, he had finished his coffee and finished the article he was reading. He put his newspaper on the table, washed out the mug with water again and put it back in the cupboard.

Just then, he heard a knock at his door, and an excited smile immediately appeared on his face. At least one of his friends might have arrived to bring him to his birthday party, like the year before. Lumpy ran excitedly to the door, stopped once he had reached it, and then pulled the door open.

"Hey, guys!" he greeted the visitors before getting to see who they were.

Cuddles and Toothy stood at the door, just like they had last year on the day of Lumpy's birthday.

"Hey, Lumpy!" Cuddles and Toothy replied.

"I think I know what you're gonna say," Lumpy said. "But if you say it in a certain way, you're gonna make me sneeze..."

"Oh, really?" Cuddles asked, playfully.

"Yeah." Lumpy nodded. "I'm not sick this time, but my nose is pretty sensitive this year."

"Well, alright," said Cuddles. "You about ready to come on over to my house for that party?"

"Yeah, let's go," said Lumpy.

Lumpy stepped out the front door and shut it behind him. He, along with Cuddles and Toothy, went on their way to Cuddles' house. A short time after they had started walking, however, Lumpy's nose twitched again. The pollen was tickling his nose again. Not wanting to fight it, Lumpy simply tilted his upper body back and inhaled before letting out a double.

"Aaaah... Ah-choo! Aaaah-chiooo!" Lumpy sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger, smiling sheepishly at Cuddles and Toothy.

"Bless you," Toothy said, having heard the sneezes.

"Thank you," Lumpy responded as he continued to rub his nose. "I'm probably gonna be sneezy all day..."

"Oh, that's okay."

"Yeah. As long as it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother us," Cuddles added.

Lumpy smiled at them again and they continued on their way. Lumpy sneezed a few more times on the way to Cuddles' house, but he kept rubbing his nose afterward. Even though he was right about sneezing a lot today, he was glad that he wasn't feeling sick as well.

After a few minutes, Lumpy, Cuddles and Toothy finally arrived at Cuddles' house. All of Lumpy's friends - Giggles, Petunia, Flaky, Lammy, Nutty, Flippy, Splendid, and even Lifty and Shifty - had already arrived. Sniffles, Lumpy's best friend of all, was also there, and when he saw Lumpy, he squealed with joy.

"Lumpy!" Sniffles immediately ran up to Lumpy and gave him a big hug. "I am so glad you could make it!"

Lumpy was a little surprised at first, but he calmed down, blushed and hugged him in return. After a few seconds, Sniffles let go of him.

"This party's gonna be even better than last year!" said Sniffles. "Then again, you did have that super bad cold back then..."

"Yeah. But at least I'm not sick this year around," Lumpy replied, "even though I am kinda sneezy today. Better just sneezy than sick and sneezy, I guess..."

Sniffles smiled at him, and then reached up to rub Lumpy's nose gently with his forefinger. Lumpy didn't have to sneeze, but he giggled a little as the fur on Sniffles' finger tickled the underside of his nose.

"Hee, hehe!" Lumpy twitched his nose slightly.

"Aww, what?" Sniffles asked, playfully.

"It, it tickles! Hehehe!" Lumpy responded.

Sniffles removed his finger from Lumpy's nose, and then tickled around his nostrils with the tip of his forefinger. Lumpy kept giggling, but his nostrils started to flare up.

"Hahahaha! S-Sniffles, you're gonna make me sneeze! Hahaha!" Lumpy tried to warn him.

"I know." Sniffles giggled in adoration and continued to tickle Lumpy's nose. After a few seconds, however, he pulled his forefinger away and watched. As soon as he did that, Lumpy held his hands over his quivering nose.

"Ah... Aaah, haaaah..." Lumpy tilted his neck back three times, and then sneezed into his hands. "Hah-choo!" Afterwards, he pulled his hands away from his mouth and rubbed his nose slowly with his forefinger.

"Awww!" Sniffles said in response to the sneeze. "That was so cute! Bless you, Lumpy!"

"Thank you," Lumpy replied as he continued to rub his nose.

"Indeed. Gesundheit, darling," a familiar voice remarked.

Lumpy turned around to see that Splendid had arrived at the party as well. Not only that, he had heard Lumpy's sneeze.

"Thanks," Lumpy said as he rubbed his nose a little more. "And excuse me."

"It's alright, dear. Are you enjoying your birthday so far?"

"Yeah." Lumpy poured himself a glass of punch and drank it. It tasted like fruit snacks if they were made into a drink. Lumpy didn't know if that was a good way to describe it, but that was what it tasted like to him. "But for some weird reason, my nose is more ticklish than usual."

Splendid looked at him in concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Lumpy. "I'm feeling great. I just have a little case of the sneezes."

Sniffles nodded in confirmation as Lumpy said that. Splendid's expression of concern then returned to normal.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your party," Splendid replied. "And when you're ready to open your presents or have cake, let us know."

Lumpy nodded in understanding. He then walked over to another part of the party, where he saw Petunia holding a bouquet of pretty flowers. When she turned her head to look at him, she smiled.

"Hey, Lumpy!" She showed him her flowers. "I got you flowers for your birthday!"

"Oh, thank you!" Lumpy smiled widely as well.

Lumpy was already aware that he was allergic to flowers and pollen, but he was too grateful to turn down Petunia's gift. He took the bouquet of flowers and gave them a deep sniff.

"Aaaaaah..." Lumpy's breath suddenly hitched, and he pulled the flowers away from his nose. The end of his snout was quivering, and his nostrils were flaring up again. He gave the flowers back to Petunia, then turned away from her. "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh..." He tilted his upper body back as he fanned his hand in front of his opening mouth. This was going to be a big one. "HaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A massive sneeze erupted from Lumpy's body as he shot his neck forwards, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth and nose. Most of his friends turned to look at him, a lot of them concerned, but Sniffles and Splendid were amused. Lumpy opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him. He could only smile sheepishly as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Um... excuse me?" he said, innocently.

His friends laughed at his reaction, making him feel a bit more comfortable. After a few seconds, they went back to what they were doing. Petunia, however, still looked at him in concern.

"Oh, my. Bless you, Lumpy," she said. "Sorry, I thought these flowers would be a nice present for you..."

"That's okay," Lumpy said as he continued to rub his nose. "It's not like I didn't like them."

"If you're interested, I did bring another present for you."

"Thanks, but I'd like to wait a little bit," Lumpy responded, politely.

"Well, alright, then."

Lumpy then looked over at the other side of the room. He saw Lifty and Shifty on the couch, playing something on their Nintendo Switch. The game looked oddly familiar to Lumpy, like something he had played before. Aside from that, Lumpy was happy that they made it to the part, and he couldn't resist going over to them. Once he had made it to the couch, he greeted them.

"Hey, guys!"

Lifty and Shifty immediately paused their game and turned to look at Lumpy. They responded almost instantly, as if they knew what they wanted to say.

"Hey, Lumpy!" Shifty said.

"What's up, birthday dude?" Lifty added.

"I just wanted to hang out with you guys for a minute," said Lumpy.

"Sure!" the raccoons replied in unison. They moved over a little so Lumpy could sit down on the couch. They unpaused their game and continued playing while Lumpy watched.

"I didn't know you guys had a Nintendo Switch," Lumpy stated. "What are you playing?"

"Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," Lifty responded. "I'm Luigi, and Shifty is Waluigi."

"That's cool. I actually played that game once, a few months ago. Or at least, the one on Wii U," Lumpy replied. He then sighed to himself in slight disappointment as he spoke again. "I kept getting hit by Blue Shells, lightning, the Pow Blocks..."

"Oh, come on!" Waluigi's voice from the game was heard, followed by Luigi's voice not long after.

"Oh, what happened?"

"9th place. God dang it!" Lifty said.

"Ugh, why does this game have to be so hard?" Shifty muttered, also disappointed as he had finished in 8th place.

Despite that Lifty and Shifty were huge Mario Kart fans, they felt like they just couldn't get a break whenever they played it, let alone 8 Deluxe. Then again, neither did anyone else, or at least the ones that volunteered to play the game with them. Lumpy, as he said before, didn't have a lot of luck with this game, either, so he sympathized with the unfortunate raccoons.

"Well, sorry, guys. I guess that game is more focused on getting the others to win than you to win." Lumpy shrugged. "But hey, at least this didn't end like that time when you were in a race..."

"Yeah. Let's start a new race and see if we'll get lucky."

Shifty exited out onto the main menu. He and Lifty chose the same characters and car add-ons as they did before the race, but Lifty turned to Lumpy just as Shifty arrived on the stage selection screen.

"So Lumpy, you having a good time?" Lifty asked.

"Yeah," Lumpy replied. "However, I should point out, today I'm a little..."

Before Lumpy could say anything more, Shifty tapped on Lifty's shoulder to get his attention. Lifty turned to look at him, only to find that Shifty had chosen his favorite stage: Rainbow Road as it appeared on the first edition of Mario Kart 8.

"Yes!" Lifty squealed as he wagged his tail around, not realizing he was wiggling it right under Lumpy's nose. Lumpy's nostrils began to flare up as he needed to sneeze again.

"Haaah... Aaaaaaah..." Lumpy tilted his neck back. What he didn't realize was that Lifty and Shifty were both holding the Accelerate buttons on their controllers, and right before the race started, Lumpy exploded. "HAAAAAAAAH- TCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Whoa!"

Just as Lumpy sneezed, Luigi and Waluigi on the game spun out, blowing Lifty and Shifty's chances of getting a turbo start. The raccoons looked shocked, and then dismayed. They looked over at Lumpy, who was rubbing his nose with his forefinger.

"Well, thanks a lot, Lumpy," said Shifty, sarcastically.

"S-Sorry..." Lumpy apologized as he continued to rub his nose.

Not wanting the raccoons to be mad at him, Lumpy walked away, still rubbing his nose. He went back over to Sniffles, who was holding a bottle of pink and blue sneezing powder in his hands. Sniffles looked up at Lumpy and smiled at him.

"Hey, Lumpy! I almost forgot to remind you, but I made a special sneezing powder for you for your birthday!" said Sniffles. "And it's right here!"

"Really?!" Lumpy sounded excited. "What's it got?"

Sniffles showed Lumpy the bottle. "I made this with pollen, dust, pepper and flour. This powder is guaranteed to make you sneeze - not to mention, it can really tickle your nose while it does so."

Sniffles gave Lumpy the bottle of sneezing powder. Lumpy happily removed the lid on the bottle, inserted his forefinger inside and rubbed some of the sneezing powder into his nose.

Immediately, Lumpy's snout began to twitch, and his nostrils reddened slightly as they flared up. They really, really tickled. Lumpy sniffled, sending the sneezing powder a little further into his nasal passages and tickling them even more. Lumpy's breath began to hitch. He was going to sneeze again.

"Aaaaah... Haaaaaaaah..." Lumpy began, and then put down the bottle of sneezing powder. He rubbed his nose with his hand, trying to fight the urge to sneeze. "Huuuuuh... Ehhhh..."

"I-I-it's coming...!" Lumpy managed to point out, as if no one got it. He tilted his upper body farther and farther back with every inhale he took. "Heeeeeeh... HaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH..."

Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as possible, took a final dramatic inhale and finally exploded.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH-TCHIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Everyone could feel the floors beneath them shaking as Lumpy released his sneeze, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth. His nose was still tickling, however, so he quickly sneezed again. He thought it was going to take at least five sneezes before his nose would feel satisfied, but it only took two more.

"AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! HaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

The second sneeze sounded surprisingly adorable. Lumpy sniffled as he rubbed his red nose with his forefinger, blushing at every one of his friends.

"Oh, my! Gesundheit, Lumpy!" Sniffles responded.

"Gesundheit, indeed," Splendid said in agreement.

"Gesundheit!" Lifty and Shifty said, in unison.

"Thanks..." Lumpy continued to rub his nose.

"So, do you like my sneezing powder?" Sniffles wanted to know.

"Yeah," Lumpy said with a nod. "It really tickled my nose, but those sneezes felt really good."

Sniffles smiled at him, his hard work having paid off. "I'm glad you like it."

Soon Lumpy decided he wanted some cake. Everyone sat around the table and Cuddles gestured Lumpy to make a wish and blow out the candles. Before he did, however, the smoke from the candles wafted into Lumpy's nose, making him need to sneeze.

"AaaaaAAAAAAH- CHEEEEEEWWWWW!" Lumpy sneezed right onto the candles, blowing them out. He then sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

Everyone looked at him in shock at first, but then laughed. They didn't believe what they had seen, but they couldn't be mad at Lumpy. After all, besides the fact that the sneeze had sounded cute, this hadn't been the first time a small amount of fire or smoke had made Lumpy sneeze.

"Gesundheit!" Sniffles said. Lumpy blushed as he rubbed his nose for a few more seconds.

Not long afterwards, the cake was cut, and everyone had some. When Lumpy took his first bite of his slice of cake, however, he felt an enormous need to sneeze. His nose twitched and nostrils flared up as he sensed the flour in the cake.

"Huuuuh..." He inhaled quietly, then swallowed the morsel of cake, put his plate down on the table, and then let out a few rapidfire sneezes into his hand. "HaaAAAH-CHOOCHOOCHOO! AAAH-CHEWCHIOOO!"

"Ugh..." Lumpy removed his hand and rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling slightly. "Every time I eat cake. Every single time."

"Lumpy? Are you feeling alright?" Toothy asked in concern.

"Don't worry about him, he's fine," said Sniffles. As he explained why Lumpy was sneezing like this, he blushed a bit. "I once discovered that eating cake on his birthday causes Lumpy to sneeze like that."

"Yeah..." Lumpy took another bite, swallowed and then sneezed rapidly again. "HEEEEH-CHIOOCHEWCHOOCHOO!" He sniffled and rubbed his nose again. "It's too bad this tastes so good..." He took another bite, and then pressed his forefinger under his nose. "Ah, ehh..." He held the sneeze back long enough for him to swallow, but then he sneezed anyway. "Haaaaaah- CHOOOOOO! AH-SHEEEEEWWWWW! Heeeh... HEEEEEH-CHIOOOOOOOOOO!"

He was still sneezing, but at least this didn't feel as painful as his rapidfire sneezes. He rubbed his nose gingerly with his forefinger as Sniffles giggled.

"Lumpy, if you'd like, I could make a potion that will help you stop sneezing like that," Sniffles offered.

"That won't be necessary, but thank you," Lumpy replied.

Sniffles then turned to Lifty and Shifty, who were the only guests at the party who hadn't gotten themselves some cake yet.

"Would you guys like some cake?" Sniffles asked. "There's enough for you."

"You do know we're allergic to cake, right?" Lifty asked, not looking amused.

As he said that, an unfortunate memory appeared in Sniffles' mind, and his pupils shrunk.

"Oh..."

"We're not that hungry anyway," Shifty said as he looked away for a moment.

"Well, if you say so," Sniffles replied.

Lumpy continued to eat his cake, despite that he kept rapidly sneezing between each bite. He kept rubbing his nose after every brief sneezing fit, however. Once he had finally finished (it took him longer than the others, who had already finished), he put his plate down on the table and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

Lumpy then got up and went over to the large stack of presents that everyone had brought for his birthday. He chose one at random and pulled out a small gift box. On the tag, it said "To Lumpy, from Sniffles." Lumpy looked over at Sniffles and smiled appreciatively at him. Sniffles smiled as well as he blushed and giggled.

"I think you're going to like my gift, Lumpy," he told him quietly.

Lumpy removed the ribbon from the box, then put it aside as he removed the lid. He looked down at what was inside.

There was a bottle of light blue powder.

"What is this? Sneezing powder?" Lumpy asked.

Sniffles nodded in confirmation. "But it's not just any sneezing powder. Would you like to find out what happens when you sneeze from it?"

"Sure."

Lumpy removed the bottle from the box, and then put the box down. He removed the lid from the bottle, held the opening to his nose and gave a deep sniff.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. His nostrils froze for a moment, and then began to flare up as his snout twitched. The powder smelled like flowers, but it felt like a good number of feathers were tickling the outsides and insides of his nose. Lumpy pulled the bottle away from his nose and began to inhale, tilting his neck back.

"Aaaaaaaaah... HeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEHHHHHHH..." Lumpy's inhales were growing louder and more dramatic by the second. Most of the other Happy Tree Friends plugged their ears while Sniffles looked on in excitement. Lumpy's nostrils flared up to several times their normal size and his snout was rumbling like crazy, like a volcano about to erupt. "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he released the sneeze, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth. Despite that the sneeze was certainly loud and forceful, it was also very high-pitched and sounded adorable. It was like it had been released by one of your favorite female characters, or at least Giggles, Petunia, Flaky or Lammy. Once he recovered from the sneeze, Lumpy groaned, sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger, holding the sneezing powder in his free hand.

"Ughh!" said Lumpy.

Not long after he had started rubbing his nose, he saw that all of the Happy Tree Friends in the scene were looking at him. Everyone had sparkles and hearts in their eyes, as if they had just discovered yet another exceptionally cute piece of media.

"Oh. My. God!" Lifty said. "That was adorable!"

"Yeah!" Shifty replied.

"Did... Did you just sneeze like that?!" Cuddles asked, even though he didn't believe it. "It sounded just like when Giggles sneezes!"

"It did?" Giggles blushed, but kept her expression. "No wonder it sounded so adorable!"

"Awww~!" said Flaky.

"That was really cute!" Flippy mentioned.

"It sure was!" Toothy responded.

"Oh, Lumpy, that was just too cute!" Petunia said, ignoring the fact that Lumpy's sneeze had visible saliva. He didn't spray anyone, anyway.

"Y-Yeah! Hehehehe!" Nutty jittered.

"How can someone like you sneeze like that?" Lammy asked, jokingly. "That was too cute, even for you!"

"Lumpy, that was one of the cutest sneezes I have ever heard," Splendid said, meaning every word.

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" Sniffles squealed loudly and giggled for quite some time. "Oh, Lumpy! That was amazingly adorable! Gesundheit~~!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Lifty said.

Lumpy blushed at everybody's comments, especially Sniffles'.

"Um, thank you..." Lumpy said as he rubbed his nose a little more. "Sniffles, what did you put in this sneezing powder?"

"This sneezing powder was made with pepper, lots of pollen, and a rather special substance," said Sniffles. "The substance not only tickles your nose, but has the power to make even the biggest sneezes you release sound absolutely adorable."

"What's it called?" Lumpy asked with a sniffle.

"Actually, I'm not sure, but I did bring some with me." Sniffles held up a shaker of pink, sparkling powder.

"You know, that kinda looks like one of your pink sneezing powders," Lumpy commented.

"It basically is." Sniffles put away his powder. "Except I didn't create it myself, I just found some and decided to use it in some of my sneezing powders."

"Thanks, Sniffles," Lumpy said as he put his bottle of sneezing powder back in the box he took it out from. "I wonder which present I should open next..."

"You can open ours," Shifty offered.

Lumpy slowly turned to look at Lifty and Shifty.

"You... you brought presents?" Lumpy asked as he raised an eyebrow.

The raccoons nodded in confirmation, and each handed him a wrapped present. They had been carrying theirs with them for almost the whole party. Lumpy took them and unwrapped Lifty's. Once all of the paper had been removed, he looked at the gift in what seemed to be disbelief.

"Sonic... Forces?" Lumpy asked.

"It has that awesome song called Fist Bump," said Lifty. "You know, the one that I kept listening to online?"

"Oh." Lumpy smiled. "You know, that has been my favorite song from that game ever since I heard it on TV. Thanks!"

Lumpy then unwrapped the present that Shifty had given to him. His reaction was also disbelief at first, but then it turned to delight.

"Super Mario Odyssey?!"

"Yep," Shifty responded.

"Oh, my God! Thank you, THANK YOU!" Lumpy said as he hugged Shifty. He blushed while Lifty looked on, almost looking like he was about to laugh. "I LOVE this game!"

"Yeah, to be honest, it was more fun than Sonic Forces," Shifty admitted. "But we didn't know which one you'd like more..."

Lumpy let go of him and picked out another present. It was from Giggles, and it was in a pink gift box with a yellow ribbon. He undid the ribbon and removed the lid. His eyes sparkled and he gasped when he looked inside.

"Oh, my...!"

Lumpy removed the object from the box and looked at it. It was a plush toy of Unikitty from the cartoon of the same name. His favorite character from one of the cutest shows he had ever seen, right behind Tootie. It was covered with a soft, velvety outer material, from the pink on its body to the light blue on its tail, with the eyes made out of high quality glass, and the horn made out of vinyl. Unlike its cartoon counterpart, however, the plush toy had two front paws and two back paws, as opposed to one front paw and one back paw. He picked the plush toy up and showed it to everybody.

"Giggles, it's adorable!" Lumpy said. "How'd you know I like Unikitty so much?"

"Well, you did show me the intro once," Giggles replied.

"Oh, I love it! Thank you so much!" Lumpy hugged the Unikitty plush toy and pet its back, as though it were alive. However, he then took a sniff through his nose, and some of the hairs on the Unikitty toy's tail reached over and tickled one of his nostrils. It tickled a lot, about as much as a feather tickling his nose.

"Huh?! Aaaaah..." Lumpy sniffled, trying to counter the almost immediate tickle in his nose, but it didn't work. "Huuuuuuuh..." Lumpy tilted his neck back, expecting the sneeze to explode from his body soon, but it didn't. The urge to sneeze faded away. "Ugh."

Lumpy sniffled and rubbed his nose with the side of his hand. He looked disappointed that his urge to sneeze had gone away. But then Cuddles tapped on his shoulder, causing Lumpy to look at him.

"What's wrong? Did you lose your sneeze?" Cuddles asked. He seemed to know what was going on.

"Yeah..." Lumpy responded.

"I believe that that gift..." Cuddles pointed to his gift for Lumpy, which was a yellow gift box with a pink ribbon. "...will take care of that."

Lumpy put down the Unikitty plush toy, then picked up Cuddles' present. He pulled off the ribbon and removed the lid. When he looked in the box, however, all he saw was what appeared to be a white quill pen. He looked at Cuddles questioningly at first, but then he realized something and his eyes widened. This was what Cuddles was talking about when Lumpy said he had lost his sneeze. Without thinking, Lumpy picked up the feather and rubbed it underneath his nostrils, causing them to flare up. He didn't notice that the others were looking on in amusement, as he was quickly distracted by the urge to sneeze.

"Heeeeh... Aaaaaaaah..." Lumpy inhaled, and then dropped the quill, which landed perfectly back in the box. He tilted his neck back and lowered the box from his face.

"HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH- HCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy's sneeze wasn't nearly as strong or loud as those sneezes from the two sneezing powders he had inhaled earlier today, but it was still loud. That being said, he could clearly hear everyone giggling in amusement over his sneeze.

"Phew!" Lumpy sighed with relief as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Actually, Sniffles suggested that I give you one of those in case you need to let out a stuck sneeze," Cuddles said.

"Okay, thanks," Lumpy replied with a sniffle.

"Oh, and by the way... Gesundheit," Cuddles then said.

"Yeah, what he said," Shifty responded.

"Indeed." Sniffles giggled cutely.

"Thanks." Lumpy put the lid back on the box and put it aside. He rubbed his nose a few more times until it was satisfied, and then he pulled his forefinger away from his nose.

He then pulled out Splendid's gift for him, and then removed the wrapping paper from it. His eyes widened and pupils shrunk in delighted disbelief.

"Tootie, season 1?!" Lumpy said. He looked over at Splendid and hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank you, Splendid!"

Splendid blushed slightly and returned the favor. "You're welcome, darling. I knew you would enjoy that DVD."

"Gee, I sure hope I get a copy of Tootie, season 1 someday," Lifty said to Shifty, in private.

"Me too," Shifty responded.

Lumpy then pulled out Toothy's present for him, which was a purple gift box with a dark blue ribbon. He pulled off the ribbon and removed the lid, then looked inside the box.

It was a plush toy of Cat Mario, as he appeared in Super Mario 3D World.

"Awwwwww!" Lumpy said as he pulled the plush toy out of the box. "Toothy, it's adorable! Where'd you get this cutie?!"

"I was at the game store looking for games you might want," Toothy explained. "Then I saw that Cat Mario plushie on sale and I couldn't resist buying it for you."

"Oh, thank you!" Lumpy hugged his plush toy. "Oh, it's so soft!"

"I think I've seen that cat before..." said Lifty.

"Bro, that's Mario in a Cat Suit, but it's a toy," Shifty replied.

"I want one of those, too!" Lifty immediately said.

After a few seconds, Lumpy put down the plush toy and picked out Petunia's gift, which was dark blue with a pink ribbon. He pulled the ribbon off and removed the lid, then looked into the box.

Inside was a bottle of perfume with a push-down sprayer.

"Perfume, huh? Thanks," Lumpy said as he pulled out the perfume.

"I made it myself," Petunia said. "I tried to use some less allergenic flowers so you wouldn't sneeze as much."

Lumpy sprayed some of the perfume onto his hand, and then gave it a sniff. He then exhaled as he smiled. The perfume smelled great, but it tickled his nose a little, and his nostrils flared up. Before he could notice, he sneezed mildly.

"Aaaah- Chyew!" This sneeze was both spray-free and adorable. He could hear his friends giggling as he rubbed his nose cutely with his forefinger.

"Bless you, Lumpy," Petunia said.

"Thanks." Lumpy continued to rub his nose. "This stuff does smell pretty good, even though it still makes me sneeze. But at least it'll work if I have a stuck sneeze." He put the perfume back in the box that he pulled it out of.

Lumpy then took his time opening the rest of his presents, and saying his appreciative thanks to them after each one was opened. He got a stuffed cat toy from Flaky, a bag of his favorite chocolate candy from Nutty, a DVD compilation of Tootie episodes from Lammy, and a Tootie storybook (which contained sneezes from the Jet and Tootie) from Flippy. Lumpy already had season 1 of Tootie since he got it from Splendid, but it was alright. Lumpy dreamed of having every Tootie DVD he could get his hands on.

After a couple of hours passed by, when the sun started going down, everybody started to leave. Everyone thanked Cuddles for the party, admitting it was a lot of fun. Lumpy thanked everybody for the presents and thanked them once again when they wished him happy birthday, one at a time.

As everyone cleared out, so did Lumpy with his presents. As he started heading home, Sniffles decided to follow him.

"Um, Lumpy? Do you mind if I walk you home?" Sniffles asked.

"No, you can come along," Lumpy said, kindly.

As Lumpy and Sniffles walked to Lumpy's house, Lumpy continued to mention how much he enjoyed his party.

"That had to have been one of the best parties I've ever been to," he said. "And DEFINITELY better than last year when I had that cold!"

"I can tell." Sniffles giggled to himself. "Though you did say that was pretty good, too, even though you weren't feeling good throughout the party."

"Yeah." Lumpy nodded.

After a few minutes, they arrived at Lumpy's house. Lumpy wanted to open the door, but Sniffles put his hand on the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open for him. Lumpy thanked him as he did so, then went over to his couch in the living room and put his presents down on it.

"I can't wait to play Super Mario Odyssey, and Sonic Forces," Lumpy said. "But you can always come over and play those with me if you want."

"Gee, thanks, Lumpy," said Sniffles. "Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yeah?"

Sniffles reached into one of the gift boxes and pulled out the quill pen that Cuddles had given to Lumpy.

"May I tickle your nose and make you sneeze one last time?" Sniffles offered. "Just to close your birthday?"

"Sure!" Lumpy smiled and nodded.

Sniffles smiled happily at him, then went over to Lumpy and inserted the tip of the quill gently into one of his nostrils. Lumpy smiled from how much it tickled as his nose twitched and nostrils flared up.

"It tickles...!" Lumpy managed to say, before his breath began to hitch. "Haaaaaaaaaaah... Heeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh..."

Sniffles giggled audibly to himself as he continued to tickle Lumpy's nostril. He sent the quill pen further into Lumpy's nasal passage, hoping it would make him need to sneeze even more.

"Huuuuh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh..." Lumpy tilted his neck back. "EeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."

Sensing that the buildup was getting stronger, Sniffles slowly pulled the quill out of Lumpy's nostril, but not without giving his nose some final tickles. By the time the tip finally made it away from his nose, Lumpy was just about to explode.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the massive sneeze, with a good amount of spray emerging from his mouth and a small amount of mucus coming out of his nostrils. Despite this, however, he managed to make the sneeze sound cute, just to add to Sniffles' pleasure.

As Lumpy recovered from his sneeze, he sniffled and rubbed his nose adorably with his forefinger.

"Awwww! Gesundheit, Lumpy~!" Sniffles blessed him.

"Thank you!" Lumpy replied, continuing to rub his nose.

Sniffles gave him a tissue, which Lumpy used to wipe the mucus off his nose. Lumpy didn't need to blow; his nose would stop running in just a few minutes. "That sneeze was adorable!"

Lumpy blushed and kept wiping his nose. He loved when someone called his sneezes cute.

"I like when they're cute, too," he admitted, as Sniffles placed Lumpy's new quill back in the box he got it from. "Well, I think it's about time I started getting ready for bed."

"Okay, but I can't wait to see you again tomorrow," said Sniffles. "I bet it'll be just as much fun as today has been!"

Lumpy threw away his tissue and nodded in agreement. Sniffles then gave him a big hug, which Lumpy took a minute to enjoy. After what felt like a couple of minutes, Sniffles turned his head to look up at him and said one final thing to him.

"Happy Birthday, Lumpy," Sniffles whispered.

He let go of Lumpy and proceeded out of his house. Lumpy watched as his anteater friend pulled the door open, then left and shut it behind him. Lumpy then took his plush toys of Cat Mario and Unikitty, and then gave them a hug. He carried them off upstairs into his room, wanting to sleep with them by his side when he went to bed that night.

This had been the best birthday Lumpy had ever had.