This Is a Terrible Time for a Surprise [party]

[jemmadorny]

While Jemma had promised Drew that she would cut back on her extra hours, it was impossible to get her out of her office this Sunday, trying to catch up on any loose-ends she might have missed while investigating the murder pack. It was a silly name but it stuck ever since Sebastian came to visit. With him hunting, she felt she had no choice but to

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[reidinggg]

Reid had had the days of the full moon highlighted on the full-year calendar he had pinned to his wall (previously meant mostly for birthday reminders and occasional hints that he was overdue for a drop-in on his dad or a quick pass by his aunt's) since this time last month when the lunar cycle had suddenly become something he was overly invested in keeping track of. March 16th, April 15th, May 14th, he had practically made it a point to memorize every day and date for the next year.

With this month's upcoming date specifically orange-highlighted somewhere in the back of his mind, he had still been terribly amused to receive Kiki's invitation to an arranged surprise birthday celebration - if a party Sebastian had actually agreed to (albeit reluctantly) take part in could turn the grump levels up as much as they had, Reid could only imagine the reaction they would have in store if he was surprised by one

[jemmadorny]

Typically, there was no amount of work that could really overwhelm Jemma, the piling of paperwork and cases keeping her on her toes most of the time. She relished in the pressure. But lately, she'd been falling short of that. She could blame a million things on it- the case with the werewolves, the new relationship with Drew, the sudden and unexpected pregnancy morphing into twins- that was still a bit too much to wrap her head around.

But this- not even catching the bloody date imprinted on the invitation- that was a failing point for Jemma. And now, as she clutched the cardstock in her hands, staring at Reid, the realization hitting him smack in the face as he pulled open then door, the only thing Jemma could do was hold out her hands in exasperation.

"We have to get there right now," she said, shaking her head. "I don't even know who's already there- I mean, this is- well, this is exactly the wrong thing that should be happening today

[reidinggg]

In the split second it had taken for the realization of their vast oversight to hit him, Reid had gone from mildly annoyed to borderline panicked, suddenly all too aware of just how dim the light filtering into the living room had become.

"Fucking hell- how did we-" He shook his head to cut himself off, scrambling to grab the hoodie he had tossed across the back of the couch earlier and shove his feet into his haphazardly discarded slip-on sneakers. There would be plenty of time to kick himself later when the full moon wasn't quickly rising and Daley Manor wasn't in the early stages of the worst birthday party ever.

"Right, yeah, very bad, let's go-"

If he still had lingering concerns that anyone in that family was still a flight risk, he'd rather not think of what a houseful of people being present for the oncoming shift would do to those odds of sticking around-

[jemmadorny]

She was trying not to panic. It was an atypical reaction for Jemma, usually one to find calm in the chaos. She could handle anything.

But this wasn't really about her, or what happened to her- this was about Sebastian and Sabrina and a secret that shouldn't be found out this way. (If at all.)

So, when Reid moved into the hallway, her first reaction was to Apparate out- heading immediately to the Daley Manor, landing on the front step. She could see the lights coming from the windows, the muffled sound of music filtering out. She turned to Reid as he popped in beside her.

"So- we might need a game plan-" Jemma said. "Bursting in and saying 'Party's cancelled due to lycanthropy' might not be the best course of action-"

[daleysabrina]

The day of the full moon was always Sabrina's favorite day of the month, the way her body buzzed with new found energy as she prepared for the change and felt the pull towards the full moon. Normally she would have spent her day outside, running laps that never seemed to ever wear her out until night fell, but lately she found a much more thrilling way to expel that energy and sort of animalistic need that she always felt towards Dean

[deantom]

Whatever else may have been going on inside the house that day had gone completely unnoticed, isolated in Sabrina's wing of the house and otherwise preoccupied as they had been. But the day had wrapped up, the sun dipping progressively lower in the window under it disappeared entirely, and they'd had to tear themselves away from each other and out of her room (that is, after spending a solid few minutes digging around between the tossed covers and piles of pillows that had been knocked around and off the bed for his missing jeans).

He had been expecting to find Sebastian waiting for his sister, maybe, or even Marlow, here a bit early to tag along with Sabrina for the night as she had so fantastically offered to do. Just about anything other than the semi-crowd he heard and eventually saw as they neared the end of the hallway that opened into the main floor's common areas.

What the fuck-"I- have no idea," Dean muttered, instinctively reaching for her hand and stepping out ahead of her toward the shuffling buzz of the crowd, throwing

[daleysabrina]

As they made their way through the crowd, which looked to be just about the same as their previous party (the one that had been strategically planned on a night that didn't hold a full moon in a house of two werewolves), Sabrina looked less than convinced, briefly glancing up at Dean

[deantom]

Everyone needed to go, that much was clear. Wolfsbane potion or not, two werewolves turning on a property filled with a clueless crowd was bad news, both for everyone's safety and, mostly, for the sake of maintaining a level of secrecy when it came to the Daleys and their monthly transformation

[kikiknows]

Kiki had been looking forward to tonight ever since the idea of a secret birthday party for her sort of coworker had been approved and improved by Jemma and Reid. The look on Bash's (yes, she had picked up that name from the others) face when he came home would be priceless!

Slipping in, she opened the door silently from the inside and brought in her supplies to decorate and set up. Not too much, the Daley's seemed like the low key type despite the house, but enough to make it seem like a party, and one for people in their twenties at that. She fully intended on having a beer pong table.

[oohlalaorla]

Orla didn't normally show up anywhere even remotely early. She had the perfect timeline figured out, but this was a little different. Since her roommate was the one throwing it, Orla thought she might actually help set up a bit.

The door was open when she tried it, even though it took her a moment to be sure when the door gave her some resistance. The manor was always ridiculously elaborate , making any decorations seem kind of silly, but Orla thought that's what Sebastian Daley needed in his life.

When she'd gotten the invitation, Orla thought it was completely hilarious. Sebastian Daley seemed to barely tolerate people in his house when he allowed it. Now that it was a surprise? It was going to be even funnier probably.

Orla grinned when she saw Kiki and raised her eyebrows. "What are the chances that tall, dark, and grumpy doesn't kick everyone out when he realizes there's another party in his house?"

[kikiknows]

Kiki's ears pricked up the moment she heard footsteps,but tuned out the moment they didn't sound concerning. The wrong sound for either Daley. Not a threat. The blonde knew when to be worried, and whoever was coming... she could survive them.

When the voice came, and she realised it matched footsteps she should have been able to identify, she couldn't help but smile. Turning, Kiki took those steps of her own to hug her flatmate and laugh at her words. "Tall, dark and grumpy wouldn't have the heart to do that to me after all the work I put into it. He might hide, but not ruin my party completely." She replied with confidence.

[oohlalaorla]

"You say that now," Orla laughed. She hadn't really seen Sebastian interact with Kiki. Mostly, Orla hadn't seen him interact with anyone.

At the last party for Sabrina, Sebastian had been hiding out mostly and only engaging when forced. From her own little interaction with him, he'd seemed like he was trying to back out of it from the moment he got trapped in the conversation.

Considering he was Reid's boyfriend - nevermind whatever Reid had to say about it - that was hysterical.

"You better just hope Reid, Sabrina, or Jemma are around to make him act like a person. I have a feeling he can actually glare daggers and that would be hilarious, but I dont want to see what that would do to your hair."

[so_harry]

When they had received the invitation for a surprise party, Harry had been more than a little surprised. He didn't think Sebastian was the type to celebrate birthdays (he knew he wasn't by any means). And he certainly didn't think something of a surprise was really going to work out too well. And apparently, his thoughts weren't wrong. When Sabrina came down the stairs, the slight onset of a panic attack was the first thing that alerted him. The arrival of Reid and Jemma didn't make things any less weird.

He curved his hand around Skylar's waist, bringing her backward toward the corner.

"This is looking less and less like a happy birthday by the minute-" he told her, raising his eyebrows.

[skylar_x]

By the time the invitation came from Kiki, Skylar and Reid's schedules just weren't syncing up and she hadn't had the chance to ask him about the party, just as confused about the surprise party as Harry was. Sebastian didn't seem all too thrilled to have people in the manor, mostly watching the crowd from dark corners and keeping a close eye on his sister before disappearing with Reid, and at the time the spot light hadn't even been on him.

But nobody had actually been panicking at that party, not the way Sabrina, Reid, and Jemma were now. It wasn't like there was a shortage of good alcohol or food, which was really all a good party ever needed.

"I think we might have missed something," she offered, leaning back against Harry as they found a private spot.

[so_harry]

He couldn't help but watch Jemma and Reid as they strode through the party, their steps taken with purpose. Everyone was watching them, now. Harry didn't think anyone was oblivious to this little interruption. But still, something just seemed so off about it. If there was a mix-up with the invitation, if this was really the wrong night, then why look so panicked? Sebastian was a grump but he was hardly a villain of some kind.

"Yeah, we definitely missed something-" Harry said, shaking his head. "What do you think? Should I go and see what's going on?"

[skylar_x]

Normally Skylar would have caught up to the two of them herself, considering they were her two very best friends, but she felt herself holding back now. There wasn't very much that could ever get Reid this upset, Jemma maybe but she was a little bit more high strung. Reid had a habit of shrugging things off, making little sarcastic comments through mouthfuls of ramen and letting it all play out on its own.

There had to be something really wrong if he was storming through the party like this.

"Maybe we should wait-" she offered, turning in his arms with a torn look on her face.

"No, maybe we should go see."

[daleysebastian]

After Sebastian had given Sabrina such a hard time for cutting it close to the full moon last month, he should have been paying more attention to the time. He'd felt like he was close to something, though, like it was a birthday miracle tied in with werewolves getting too hyper and anxious around the full moon. While Sebastian had spent the whole day tied up in nervousness, it wasn't the excited way Sabrina got about it. Sebastian's version made him more acutely aware of everything around him

[jemmadorny]

"And that is the exact reaction I was hoping to avoid-"

Jemma didn't even say it to anyone in particular, the music loud enough to drown out her words. But she still offered Reid a sideways glance before making her way through the crowd, her eyes settled on Sebastian.

In the months that they had become friends, she had steered clear from him on these days. She knew his routine, the potion, the basement, the closed in, hating everyone kind of mood he was in. She sent him chocolate the next day, a teasing bottle of whiskey and called it a day. That was all she could do.

But seeing him like this, the obvious tension tearing through his skin- it worried her.

"This is not a surprise party-" she said, nodding her head, feeling a little tense herself. "And these people are not staying- I swear- we're getting everyone out of here-"

[daleysebastian]

Blinking hard enough to give himself a headache, Sebastian tried to rein himself in and not lash out and literally any and everyone in the general vicinity. A fucking surprise party. Who in the fuck -

He was distracted from a mental rant by Jemma.

"They have ten minute, Jemma. That's on the optimistic guestimate side." Sebastian didn't snap it, but his voice was tense and coiled, matching his stance and the way his entire body seemed even more rigid than usual.

"Who the hell thought this was a good idea? This is so fucking annoying on so many levels." If Reid had been practically fucking traumatized by the change, Sebastian didn't want to know what would happen to everyone else in the room. That wasn't even focusing on how likely he was to get run out of town - which would suck but would be fine except that Sabrina would probably be too and he couldn't let that happen.

[jemmadorny]

"It was a complete misunderstanding-" Jemma began, trying not to let his tone make her any more panicked than she already was. "And we're working on getting everyone out-"

But with the way time was ticking by and with the confusion growing among the rest of the guests, it seemed everyone was frozen in their spots. Though, she wasn't sure Sebastian's loud yell did anything to lessen the tension.

Not that she could blame him.

"Where do you need to get to?"