"Happy Birthday Eli!" Cheers echoed throughout the tavern as the young man in question stepped inside. A warm smile spread across his face as he took in the sight in front of him. Most in the tavern were those he had met countless times before in the last four years, with only a couple of outliers.
Ella, a tall and muscular white-haired demoness with a plethora of tattoos and piercings, stood next to Eli with a sharp toothy grin plastered on her face as she looked down at him. "Can't believe you've already been with us for four years already squirt. You've grown a lot, yet you're still a runt. Ha!"
Eli could feel his face warm up a bit as he knew he had grown a lot, but he was still a bit short, even by human standards. Well, that's what everyone else had told him. His younger years were fuzzy and being stuck on the demon continent for a decade or so with few humans around hadn't exactly helped his image of how tall a human his age should be.
"Don't tease the poor boy Ella!" Sasha, a slender, short pink skinned woman, chided the much taller one, "He's still got time to grow. Even if he doesn't, he'll still be able to swoon all the ladies. So don't call him a runt!"
"I'll call him whatever I want. What are you gonna do about it?" Ella smirked.
Eli felt more heat rush to his face as the shorter woman, nearly his own height, continued to scold the much taller one. While Ella loved to throw jabs and banter, Sasha was much nicer in her words.
A large, bulky figure appeared besides the young man, "Come on Eli, let's get you a drink before these two really start to go at it." Aeros pointed his large thumb towards the two women.
Eli nodded, following the gigantic man through the crowded tavern. More congratulations and happy birthdays came from either side of him from the many occupants. He nodded and thanked each person that he passed.
It technically wasn't Eli's birthday, or so he thought. It was however the anniversary of the day that Ella, Sasha, Aeros, and a couple others had found him in that horrible place four years ago. Since Eli had been there for so long, he had forgotten not only his birthday, but where he came from and who he really was.
All he could remember was his name being Eli, and some very fuzzy memories of his younger years.
Each year since that day, the group decided that's when they would celebrate his birthday. While they weren't sure how old he really was, it was clear he was in his mid-teens. Sasha, who had more experience being around humans than most, had guessed him to be somewhere between fifteen or seventeen.
It didn't really matter to Eli however, he was just happy to not only be out of 'that' place, but to be surrounded by those he cared for. He couldn't remember his old family, but he at least had this one.
That was good enough for him.
"Four ales for me, one for the boy," Aeros said to the young barkeeper. "Of course, Sir Aeros," the young woman smiled, two fangs protruding from underneath her upper lip. After a short moment away, the vampire returned with the five drinks.
Aeros began to hand over change to the woman, only for her to shake her head, "Don't worry about it today. It's on the house for your group since it's Eli's birthday. You lot have helped us a great deal the last couple of years."
The girl then turned to Eli with a shy smile, "Happy birthday Eli. I-I made these for you. You know. For your birthday. And as thanks for everything."
Reaching underneath the counter, the vampire girl pulled up a basket containing a plethora of desserts and sweets.
"O-oh. Uh thank you Serene. They look really good." Eli replied awkwardly, gently taking the handbasket from the blushing girl.
Aeros looked at the two with a sly grin and a look of amusement upon his face.
"Aww how adorable," Ella cooed as she arrived on the other side of Aeros. The large man's smile dropped as he pacepalmed internally.
Serene's and Eli's eyes fell as their faces reddened further.
"What did I just tell you about teasing him Ella! It's his birthday for god's sake," Sasha let out an exasperated sigh as she arrived at Ella's side. "Meh," the tall demoness shrugged. "Hey redhead, let me get a couple of drinks for me and pinkie here," Ella said to Serene as she pointed to Sasha.
The barkeep nodded shyly, quickly retreating to grab some more ale.
"Drink up boy," Aeros nodded to the cup Eli had been cradling, "It'll be a long night of celebration."
Eli glanced at his drink for a moment, then in one swift motion, began chugging his drink. It wasn't until he was halfway through his ale that the bitterness of the beverage finally forced him to stop, causing a grimace to form on his face as he let out a long breath.
"Haha that's the spirit," Aeros chuckled as set down the second empty mug and reached for the third.
Serene had already arrived with a few more drinks for Ella and Sasha, who both quickly began to chug their drinks.
Taking one of the pastries from the handbasket, Eli took a bite and smiled. It was delicious. "It's really good Serene." Eli said happily.
"I'm glad to hear that Eli," the girl replied with a genuine smile, "If you want me to make more, just let me know and I'll do so."
Nodding, Eli finished the treat and chugged the rest of his ale. "Ugh, I don't know why you guys like this stuff so much," Eli said as he wiped his mouth, "It taste's like-"
"Goat's piss, right?" Aeros laughed, "You'll understand when you get a bit older. Or maybe when you have a few more of 'em considering what you been through." Aeros said the last sentence with much more seriousness than the previous statement.
Sashia and Ella stopped what they were doing to look at Aeros with a look Eli couldn't identify, yet he could feel the tension in the air. "It's alright," Eli tried to laugh it off, which was a little easier due to the effects from the ale.
However, he subconsciously reached for his right eye, which was covered by black eye patch. Eli could feel heat within his right eye as other parts of his body began to ache and itch. Even his fingers beneath his gloves began to twitch.
Aeros stared down at his last remaining mug as he felt two sets of eyes burning holes into his skull while the third felt curious.
Handing his still full mug to Eli, Aeros stood up and pulled a bottle from the inside of his jacket. "Come talk to me once you've had a few drinks son, I'd like to have a talk with you." With that, Aeros walked away from the small group and through the front of the tavern into the night air.
A moment of silence befell the group as they watched Aeros leave. Once out of sight, Sasha was the first to speak up, "I'm sorry that bonehead brought that up Eli. Just ignore him. He's been secretly drinking all day."
"Yeah fuck him. Like pinkie said, just ignore the asshole," Ella smiled, yet it didn't reach her eyes.
Eli smiled weakly and nodded, opting to focus on drinking the ale Aeros had given to him.
Serene stared at the three, feeling more than a bit curious and awkward. "I'll grab you three some more drinks." Scurrying off, Serene quickly left the trio by themselves.