Lucy's Birthday: Difference between revisions
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== Synopsis == | == Synopsis == | ||
It's Lucy's birthday, and [[Mike]] has long since given up on surprising her | It's Lucy's birthday, and [[Mike]] has long since given up on surprising her. [[Lucy]] has caught him crouching in a thorn bush and hanging upside-down from the ceiling, each time before he could finish the word "surprise," and he's run dry on ideas. [[Paulo]] volunteers himself and [[David]] to throw a party so awesome she'll lose her mind, with the small ulterior hope of a reward once everyone else goes home.<ref name=":c27.1p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c27.1/p1}}</ref> | ||
The party itself goes about as well as Mike predicted. | The party itself goes about as well as Mike predicted. Lucy is already standing behind the decorators before anyone can spring anything, entirely unsurprised. Undeterred, Paulo pivots to his plan B and extends a flirtatious hand her way. Lucy grabs his wrist instead, and something cracks loudly. "'''GOD SHE BROKE IT!!'''"<ref name=":c27.1p2">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c27.1/p2}}</ref> | ||
On the walk home, gift bag in hand, Lucy lets her guard down a little, thinking it's sweet that her friends try every year and wondering whether she deserves it. Mike steps out from behind a tree. Blushing and avoiding her eyes, he holds out a heart-shaped box of chocolates and tells her there are no surprises this year, just something he's been meaning to share now that they're being a little more honest with their feelings. Lucy is visibly touched.<ref name=":c27.1p3">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c27.1/p3}}</ref> | |||
[[File:c27.1_p3_panel5.png|alt=Mike blushes and shyly holds out a heart-shaped box of chocolates, saying "H-here."|thumb|Mike's most heartfelt gift yet, up until someone reads the label.]] | [[File:c27.1_p3_panel5.png|alt=Mike blushes and shyly holds out a heart-shaped box of chocolates, saying "H-here."|thumb|Mike's most heartfelt gift yet, up until someone reads the label.]] | ||
Then she reads the label, where the name "Paulo" is written across the middle in fancy cursive. Mike bursts out laughing and teases that she has pretty bad taste, which earns him a karate chop to the head. He grins right through it as Lucy yells at him to get over himself.<ref name=":c27.1p3" /> | |||
== Character dynamics == | == Character dynamics == | ||
* '''Mike and Lucy:''' | * '''Mike and Lucy:''' Best friends whose newfound honesty comes with a teasing streak, and for once the teasing runs both ways. Lucy has always had material on Mike — she once flustered him completely just by calling him "Maishul," Sandy's pet name for him.<ref name=":c18p4">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c18/p4}}</ref> After [[Flirting with Disaster]], though, Mike has material of his own, having watched Lucy get forced to admit Paulo was her first crush.<ref name=":c27p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c27/p1}}</ref><ref name=":c27p2">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c27/p2}}</ref> The prank gift is what he does with it, dressing the payback up as sincerity right until Lucy reads Paulo's name on the box.<ref name=":c27.1p3" /> Nothing between them actually changes, but the candor they arrived at last chapter is now a game two can play. | ||
== Trivia & observations == | == Trivia & observations == | ||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
* Yashy has been calling Mike "Flea" since almost the very beginning of the comic, and rarely as a compliment, so the real joke in her closing line is Yashy approving of Mike at all.<ref name=":c2p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c2/p1}}</ref><ref name=":c27.1p3" /> | * Yashy has been calling Mike "Flea" since almost the very beginning of the comic, and rarely as a compliment, so the real joke in her closing line is Yashy approving of Mike at all.<ref name=":c2p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c2/p1}}</ref><ref name=":c27.1p3" /> | ||
* For all the screaming, Paulo's wrist heals off-panel. The injury is never mentioned again, and he's in perfectly good shape by the next chapter.<ref name=":c27.1p2" /><ref name=":c28p6">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c28/p6}}</ref> | * For all the screaming, Paulo's wrist heals off-panel. The injury is never mentioned again, and he's in perfectly good shape by the next chapter.<ref name=":c27.1p2" /><ref name=":c28p6">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c28/p6}}</ref> | ||
* | * The chapter was originally posted as one single update. Oliver later split it into three pages and forgot to update the page count in the process, a slip he owned up to in the comments after a reader caught it.<ref name=":c27.1p1" /> | ||
== Related chapters == | == Related chapters == | ||
Latest revision as of 10:01, 29 July 2026
 | This page is pretty raw LLM output. |
| Lucy's Birthday | |
|---|---|
| (Intermission) | |
 | |
| Chapter | "27.1" of 127 (list of chapters) |
| Published | November 8, 2006 |
| Page count | 3 |
| Major characters | Mike, Lucy, Paulo |
| Minor characters | Tess, David, Abbey, Daisy, Lily, Yashy, Chirpy |
| Collected in | Volume One, Omnibus 1 |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Flirting with Disaster | Feline Festivities → |
| Read chapter | |
Lucy has never once been caught off guard on her birthday, and Mike has officially given up trying. Paulo hasn't, and he's got balloons, a cake, and an ulterior motive. Somebody's wrist is not coming out of this chapter intact.
Synopsis
It's Lucy's birthday, and Mike has long since given up on surprising her. Lucy has caught him crouching in a thorn bush and hanging upside-down from the ceiling, each time before he could finish the word "surprise," and he's run dry on ideas. Paulo volunteers himself and David to throw a party so awesome she'll lose her mind, with the small ulterior hope of a reward once everyone else goes home.[1]
The party itself goes about as well as Mike predicted. Lucy is already standing behind the decorators before anyone can spring anything, entirely unsurprised. Undeterred, Paulo pivots to his plan B and extends a flirtatious hand her way. Lucy grabs his wrist instead, and something cracks loudly. "GOD SHE BROKE IT!!"[2]
On the walk home, gift bag in hand, Lucy lets her guard down a little, thinking it's sweet that her friends try every year and wondering whether she deserves it. Mike steps out from behind a tree. Blushing and avoiding her eyes, he holds out a heart-shaped box of chocolates and tells her there are no surprises this year, just something he's been meaning to share now that they're being a little more honest with their feelings. Lucy is visibly touched.[3]
Then she reads the label, where the name "Paulo" is written across the middle in fancy cursive. Mike bursts out laughing and teases that she has pretty bad taste, which earns him a karate chop to the head. He grins right through it as Lucy yells at him to get over himself.[3]
Character dynamics
- Mike and Lucy: Best friends whose newfound honesty comes with a teasing streak, and for once the teasing runs both ways. Lucy has always had material on Mike — she once flustered him completely just by calling him "Maishul," Sandy's pet name for him.[4] After Flirting with Disaster, though, Mike has material of his own, having watched Lucy get forced to admit Paulo was her first crush.[5][6] The prank gift is what he does with it, dressing the payback up as sincerity right until Lucy reads Paulo's name on the box.[3] Nothing between them actually changes, but the candor they arrived at last chapter is now a game two can play.
Trivia & observations
- Veronica's commentary under the final page frames the prank as deliberate payback: "If Lucy can tease Mike about Sandy, surely Mike can tease Lucy about Paulo!" She also calls Mike a bit salty over the whole affair.[3]
- Veronica's commentary on the first page points out the irony that Lucy, half-deaf, still detects every one of Mike's surprise attempts before they start.[1]
- David's "Double owned!" escalates a live running gag. Yashy scored the first "Owned!" when Lucy shoved Paulo off her, and David delivered one himself at the end of Flirting with Disaster, just one chapter earlier.[7][8][2]
- Yashy has been calling Mike "Flea" since almost the very beginning of the comic, and rarely as a compliment, so the real joke in her closing line is Yashy approving of Mike at all.[9][3]
- For all the screaming, Paulo's wrist heals off-panel. The injury is never mentioned again, and he's in perfectly good shape by the next chapter.[2][10]
- The chapter was originally posted as one single update. Oliver later split it into three pages and forgot to update the page count in the process, a slip he owned up to in the comments after a reader caught it.[1]
Related chapters
- Flirting with Disaster: The immediately preceding chapter, and the direct setup for this one. Lucy's Truth-or-Dare confession that Paulo was her first crush is exactly what Mike's chocolate box teases her about, and David's closing "Owned!" there gets its "Double owned!" sequel here.
- A New Leaf: Sandy makes her relationship with Mike official over the phone in this chapter, which is what gives Lily's crack about calling him "unfaithful" its bite.
- Mike's Birthday: One of the earlier pocket-sized birthday interludes, alongside Daisy's Birthday. Lucy's Birthday follows the same decimal-numbered format, just with a couple of extra pages.
- Pillow Talk: Lucy's next birthday chapter, for anyone tracing the birthday thread.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lucy's Birthday, page 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lucy's Birthday, page 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lucy's Birthday, page 3
- ↑ Chapter 18: Farewell, Middle School, page 4
- ↑ Chapter 27: Flirting with Disaster, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 27: Flirting with Disaster, page 2
- ↑ Chapter 26: Left Behind, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 27: Flirting with Disaster, page 3
- ↑ Chapter 2: Gaming Rivalry, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 28: Feline Festivities, page 6