Jared Thompson was the last to arrive. He hadn't intended to be late, but he'd decided for extra caution to have the cab driver drop him off one road down and had walked to the house by himself. He would catch a ride home with one of the others.
He rang the doorbell and waited, chafing his arms through his coat in an effort to ward off the early spring chill. The door was opened moments later by Mr. Banks, who smiled generously. "Do come in," he said politely. "We're all downstairs." When Thompson had entered the room and hung his coat on a nearby hook, Banks held out a hand, palm up, presenting him with a small round white pill. "Party favors before the party, in this case," he said smoothly.
Thompson took the pill—it was small enough to swallow without water—and downed it quickly. Immediately he felt a surge of energy in his body, and an awakening pulse in his member. In return, he handed Banks a gift-wrapped package. The man smiled and placed it on the coffee table by the door, alongside several others. "Thank you," he said, "I'm sure he'll love it," and gestured for Thompson to come with him.
Thompson followed Banks down the stairs to the refurbished basement. "Noah," the man called ahead of him, "Mr. Thompson is here! You're the last to arrive," this last was thrown back to Thompson, "and we've just gotten started with a few party games."
Thompson finished descending the stairs into what Banks euphemistically referred to as the "toy room,"—so-called because of the myriad toys and other sex objects in cases lining the walls, not to mention the various restraint systems—and his eyes fastened immediately on the cluster of men in one corner. Four other men, besides himself and Banks, had been invited to this little get-together. He recognized them all either from the firm or from a few of Banks's other parties. Thompson was surprised to see that all of them were still fully clothed.
As they descended the last step and made their way over to the group, Banks said, "We were just playing 'pin the tail of the donkey.'" The men in the group made room for them as they approached, and between them, Thompson got his first glimpse of Noah that afternoon.
The boy was on hands and knees on top of a cushioned red ottoman, facing away from them, naked. From over the boy's shoulders, Thompson could see that the boy wore a headband mounted with a large pair of donkey ears. A small tail of hair snaked down from the cleft between the boy's buttocks, a parody of a horse's tail, although much leaner.
Banks stepped over to a table beside them and handed Thompson and object. It was a small plastic rod, maybe a quarter of an inch in diameter. The exact thickness was difficult to say, because the surface widened and receded in waves, as though the plastic were coating a series of small spheres. The rod's length was maybe ten inches long, and crowned on one end with a tuft of hair like the one that was already protruding from Noah.
"Here's how the game works," Banks said as they stepped up beside the other men. Thompson noticed that one of them—Darren Oswald—was blindfolded. "We blindfold you, and then spin you around." One of the men did so to Darren: half a dozen quick, dizzying circles. "Then, you try and make your way to Noah, and stick the tail up the ass's ass, as it were." Banks chuckled to himself. "We keep time, and the winner is the one who does it quickest. Make sense?"
"Makes perfect sense to me," said Thompson, as the man who had been spinning Oswald said, "Go!" and let go of him.
Oswald stumbled off to the left at first, walking until his outstretched hand encountered the wall. Disoriented, he reached around him for anything that might feel familiar, and his seeking fingers found the edge of a couch. Thompson could almost see his brain working, trying to calculate the proper direction of travel, despite his instincts pointing him otherwise. Eventually he got himself pointed in the right direction, and lurched forward. He grinned when his fingers encountered the bare flesh of Noah's side, and his hands followed down the contours of the boy's body until they came to the butt. Without hesitation, Oswald used a thumb to pry open the boy's anus, and slid his rod deep inside beside the first. From what Thompson could see, the boy's asshole must be well-lubricated, because the rod slid inside with no trouble. The second hank of hair joined the first, and Oswald could see that when all the rods were inserted, it would make fairly normal-sized horse tail.
Oswald patted the boy's ass as he drew up his blindfold. "How'd I do?" he asked Banks, who was holding a stopwatch.
"Eleven point zero eight," Banks responded. "Stoffman is still in the lead with ten point two three. Who's next?"
"How old is Noah today?" Thompson asked, as Alan Michaels took up the blindfold.
"He's turning twelve," Banks replied, re-setting his stopwatch to zero.
"Happy birthday, Noah!" Thompson called to the boy, but he got no response. Thompson shrugged and didn't press; Noah was notoriously shy, rarely speaking to anyone other than his father.
Several seconds later, Michaels had the time to beat, as Thompson took his own turn donning the blindfold. It had been a long time since he'd played a game like this, and he wasn’t used to the disorientation. He tried to remember how he steadied himself when he was drunk, but it was difficult to do without any visual cues.
He took a moment to get his bearings, but when he was pretty sure he knew what direction he was facing, he began to move. He was rewarded with almost immediate contact with Noah's foot. He was facing slightly more downward than he had thought, but he seemed to have been moving in the right direction. Quickly, he grabbed upward, sliding his hand up the top of the boy's thigh, and felt the soft hair of the horse tail. He angled his own rod in the proper direction and shoved it forward a bit harder than he had intended. He could feel it skate around on the boy's skin for a moment before it slid easily inside, deeper and deeper until Thompson's fingers, pinched at the base of the tail, came into contact with the rough, ridged skin of Noah's anus. He felt Noah's body jolt under the sensation, but no sound came from the boy.
"Seven point eight zero," Thompson heard Noah's father say as he removed the blindfold. "A new record."
Thompson grinned. Only Albert Voster was left, and this new time would be hard to beat. Sure enough, Voster took too long to get his bearings, and by the time he was stuffing his rod into the boy's ass alongside the others, more than ten seconds had already gone by. Thompson grinned and watched as the boy's anus clenched and unclenched spasmodically on the toys inside him.
"Thompson," said Banks, "you're the winner! You want to do the honors and fuck him with the rods in?"
"Aren't you going to take a turn?" Thompson asked politely, although he was eager to take Banks up on the offer.
"Nonsense." Banks waved the suggestion aside. "I get to enjoy him all year round, but his birthday only comes once a year."
Thompson considered mentioning that they all got to partake of the boy significantly more often than just his birthday, but decided it wasn't worth it. Instead he unzipped his fly—he would've been rock-hard after this display even without Banks's enhancers—and stepped towards Noah. The man who had been holding the blindfold—Michaels, it turned out—stepped forward with a cheeky grin and tied it around Noah's eyes.
Thompson stepped up to the boy. The ottoman Noah was kneeling on had him raised perfectly to just about crotch height. Thompson grabbed the hank of hair that made up the horse tail and yanked it back an inch or so. Taking the exposed ends of the rod all together in one hand, he began to thrust the bundle back and forth into Noah, one hand on the boy's back for leverage. As he did so, he noticed the small cage enclosing Noah's genitals, preventing him as always from getting hard. Thompson was mildly surprised that Banks hadn't removed it for the boy's birthday, but maybe that came later.
The men around him cheered and jeered, and finally Thompson stuck the rods all the way back in and parted them, holding two one way and three the other, before maneuvering himself into the boy.
The sensation of the ridged rods clenching in around his penis as he fucked the boy was strange—ecstatic points of pleasure bouncing across his nerves where he didn't expect them. The horse hair tickled his balls and upper thighs, and quickly became sticky and matted with sweat and whatever liquids were lubricating the boy. Minutes later he added his own juices to the mixture, spasming seed into the boy, emptying himself in spurts.
Thanks to the miracle of Banks's little pills, he was already hardening again by the time he pulled out, but he restrained himself. Banks walked over to his son's head, untying the blindfold with gentle hands and softly stroking the tousled hair. "There now," he asked the boy, "what do you want to do next? Dessert, or presents?"
Thompson barely heard the boy's querulous response of "dessert?" before the thin voice was overwhelmed by the wet, sucking sound as Banks nonchalantly grabbed the entire horse tail in one hand and yanked it out of his son in one quick, harsh movement. Noah gave a slight grunt at this, almost unnoticeable, and lowered his head down to his hands, keeping his ass raised into the air.
From the table where the rods had been lying, Noah's father retrieved a small stainless steel plug shaped vaguely like a radish, and popped it into Noah's ass. Finally he took the donkey ears off his son's head and placed both them and the rods back onto the table. "Well then," he said, "let's go upstairs, shall we?"
The lot of them trooped up the stairs, Banks holding his son by the hand as they went, and made their way to the kitchen. They gathered in a small, empty space in the corner of the tiled floor, with the kitchen table to one side, and a set of counters to the other. Banks smiled and placed Noah in the center of a circle of them, grabbing a jar off the counter. Gesturing for everyone to follow his lead, Banks drew his cock out into the open air and screwed the top off the jar. Thompson looked more closely at it and realized that it was chocolate frosting.
Noah's father used his fingers to scoop some of the gooey chocolate from the jar and slather it onto his dick. As he passed it to the next man in the circle he said, "Well Noah, twelve years old, that means twelve candles standing up that you should have to blow, hmm? I think that means twice for everyone, yes?" The boy nodded meekly and got to his knees in front of his father, swallowing up the man's length without complaint.
Thompson hesitated when the jar came around to him, holding it uncertainly in one hand. "Isn't it unhealthy?" he asked. "You know, I mean, to put it in his mouth after I've been up his ass, and all?"
"Heavens no," said Banks, fisting his hands in his son's hair. "My dear little Noah has had so many enemas you could eat out of his rectum if you wanted to. Perhaps one day we will, although that wasn't in my plans for the party."
Mollified, Thompson applied the frosting and waited for his turn.
It was nearly agonizing, watching and waiting as those sweet lips enveloped each cock in turn, reddening with their repeated abuse as each man's member slid in and out, in and out. Some fisted their hands in the boy's hair, yanking harshly, others braced themselves on the counter and let the boy work them as he would with his considerable and practiced talent.
When the boy had finished sucking them each in turn, six loads of cum distributed variously down his throat and on his face, he moved once more to his father, who was re-applying chocolate to his penis. This time, as the boy took the obscenely large member into his mouth, Banks hunched over him with a wicked smile. "I think it's about time for your birthday spankings, with this round," he said mildly, and without further warning raised his hand to smack Noah sharply on the ass.
The boy cried out, muffled around the cock in his mouth, as his father let fly with twelve sharp, distinct thwacks of his hand, before adding a thirteenth "to grow on."
As they passed the boy around again, the men followed his father's lead and each delivered an equal spanking, just as many slaps and each as vicious, if not more so. By the time he came around to Thompson again, Noah's ass was a bright, shining red, and small tears stood out in the corners of the boy's eyes, though they did not fall. Thompson did not allow his sympathy to grant the boy mercy, however, and his slaps fell as the others' had, sharp and unforgiving.
When the last man had come on Noah's face just as his thirteenth blow landed, the boy slid to the floor gratefully. It looked as though he wanted to sit, but the ginger way he moved told Thompson that the stinging pain from the boy's rear would not allow it.
"Excellent," said Banks, all smiles. "Wasn't that tasty, Noah?" The boy nodded, still wincing. "Now why don't we move to the living room, and you can open presents. Darren, would you mind helping me carry them in?"
As Oswald and Banks made their way to the entry hall to collect the presents, Thompson and the other three men shuffled Noah off to the living room. A selection of dark leather sofas and armchairs, along with a large wooden coffee table, sat arrayed in a semi-circle around an unlit gas fireplace. Thompson and the other men draped themselves over the furniture while Noah took his place in the center of the semi-circle, kneeling on the carpet.
Banks and Oswald returned momentarily with the packages, which they spread out on the coffee table. The two men also took places in the semi-circle, and Banks spoke. "Now Noah, I want you to open the presents one at a time, and Gentlemen, if you would be so kind, when he does so, I'd like each of you to demonstrate the use of your presents if possible."
The assembled men nodded, and Noah reached for the first package. Already the men's cocks were rising in anticipation all around him.
Noah tore into the bright wrapping paper of the first present, and came up with a plastic-sealed toy that looked like a standard—if large—anal plug, but attached to a curve of metal. Next to it in the package was a single battery. Noah took up a pair of scissors that his father had provided, and opened the plastic.
Stoffman stood, and looked over at the boy's father. "I think to demo this, we're going to have to take off his cage for a second. That alright?"
"Certainly," said Banks, and stood up to grab a small key from the mantle. He reached down and carefully removed the cage from his son, giving the boy's small cock a firm squeeze at the base to stifle any ideas he might have.
"Now, it all screws together like this," Stoffman was saying. He unscrewed the bulb of the plug from the base of curved metal, and displayed to the others that it was hollow inside. He slotted the battery inside and re-fitted it to the other piece. "Now what you do here," he demonstrated, his actions following his words "is there's a cock-ring on the front, with fittings so you can put his cage back on if you want." He glanced at Banks as he worked Noah's cock and balls into the new ring. "And then from the ring the stainless steel curves back down between his legs, with this little nub just behind his balls, you can see here, and then back behind that to the plug, which of course fits up his ass." With quick fingers he deftly yanked the extant plug out of Noah's anus and popped his own inside, the tips of his fingers lingering teasingly for a moment on the boy's anus. The former plug was set aside on the coffee table.
"Now, let's get the cage back on," Stoffman continued, beginning the action even as he spoke. Twisting down Noah's cock, he fitted the cage back into place and locked it there, flush with the apparatus he had just applied. "Now the coolest part here is this," he said, and reached over to flick a small switch on the surface of the device, to one side of the small nub that pressed against Noah's flesh just behind the boy's balls.
Noah cried out and slumped forward as the entire device began to vibrate. Stoffman grinned. "See?" he said. "You get vibration on everything, 'cause it carries so well through the device, right? So you get constant anal stimulation, you get it on the balls, he even gets his little cock buzzed through the cage, only he can't get hard from it of course 'cause of the cage itself. And it fits so tight down his cleft and between his legs and under his balls and all, that he could even wear it out in public under his clothes and everything, and no one would ever know. Clever, huh?"
"Very," said Banks mildly, and they all watched in tense, aroused silence for a minute or two as Noah writhed on the carpet in front of them. Finally, Banks said, "Perhaps we best turn off the vibration for now, however, or he'll never be able to concentrate to open the other gifts."
Stoffman smiled and reached down to flick off the switch, leaving Noah panting and groaning on the carpet. When he had caught his breath, he crawled his way over to the coffee table and reached for the next package, opening it with trembling fingers.
The second gift held a plastic bag with fabric inside. This Noah was able to pull apart without the aid of scissors, and he removed from it a headband, some small fuzzy white bits, and a large plastic object.
"This is just a little costume," said Voster, "just a cute sort of thing." He placed the headband on Noah's head; it was similar to the donkey one he had been wearing earlier, only instead of ass's ears, this one held large white rabbit ears. One was straight up, and the other flopped slightly. Voster demonstrated that they had wire frames so that they could be posed as necessary.
The white fabric bits, he explained, were a pair of gloves and a pair of socks, each of which had exaggerated paw-like endings with huge fingers. He held up Noah's hands after fitting them on and smiled. "You can see that this would make it pretty difficult to touch himself, even if he weren't wearing the cage."
Finally, he picked up the last object. It was a large plastic carrot, slightly larger than average for a dildo, but not inconceivably. Where a normal carrot would have had a flush of green leaves however, this had a fluffy white cottontail, to complete the rabbit effect. Voster looked at Noah's father questioningly.
"To save us the effort of getting the cage off and on again," said Banks, "can you fit it in beside the plug?"
Voster nodded to suggest that he would at least try, and grabbed a hold of the boy's ass, which Noah had lifted upwards obediently. He used one hand to spread the cheeks, poking a finger from it downwards in an attempt to shift the plug. Somewhat awkwardly, he maneuvered the tip of the carrot into the small ring of muscle beside the plug and then, spreading the boy as wide open as he could with one hand, proceeded to shove the plastic length inside.
The boy moaned, but the toy went in easily enough, orange plastic disappearing into his tight orifice steadily until it submerged completely, leaving only the fluffy white blossom of the rabbit's tail nestling snugly over his buttocks.
"Adorable," said Banks, his smile soft and indulgent. "I imagine we'll use that, particularly around Easter. Well, Noah?"
Noah obediently crawled forward and grabbed the next item off the coffee table, a small white envelope. He had to take the gloves off in order to grab it up, but his father made no comment as the boy lay the gloves aside on the coffee table. "I'm sorry, I can't really demonstrate this one," said Oswald as Noah slit the envelope with a finger, "but I'll explain, at least."
Noah finished opening the envelope and displayed to the assembled crowd a gold-edged card bearing the insignia, "Rosewood Stables, 1 Free Day."
"Rosewood is owned by a friend of mine," said Oswald. "They offer fairly standard pony rides, as well as some... not-so-standard ones. Normally they charge by the ride, but I put in a little extra as well as a personal request, and he's agreed to let you sample the stable for the day, and any of the rides you care to try out."
"That sounds fascinating," said Banks, taking the card from his son's outstretched hand and inspecting it. "I'm certain we'll use it soon. How thoughtful. Isn't that thoughtful, Noah?" he asked his son rhetorically. "You'll get to have a lovely ride on the ponies, and then I dare say they'll get to have a nice ride on you. Won't that be fun?" The assembled men grinned.
Noah reached for the next package, eyes averted shyly, not bothering to answer his father's comments. This was Thompson's own gift, and as Noah's fingers ripped into the bright paper, he said, "Mine's sort of a costume too. It's not exactly… incompatible with Albert's, but we might want to take that off him for now, just so we can get the other one on easier."
Several of the men reached forward to assist with disrobing Noah, despite there being very little to do in the matter. Their hands lingered gratuitously on his skin, feeling the soft, smooth flesh beneath their fingertips and digging harshly at his asshole as they pried the rabbit tail out of him. Noah was distracted from opening the present, but went back to it immediately when the men finally let him be.
This package seemed to contain mostly black leather, and Thompson smiled as he got up to shake the article out. "It was tough to find in this size, let me tell you," he said, "but they do have sex shops for little people, which is where I eventually got it. Someone mind lifting him up?"
Oswald grabbed the boy under the arms and lifted him, while Thompson slid black leather sleeves over Noah's arms, and more black leather up the length of Noah's thighs. As the other men had, he allowed himself to indulge in the boy's body, sliding his hands up and down Noah's thighs and lingering unnecessarily.
"As you can see," he said when they had finished, "it's one-piece, and it zips up the back, so it's much harder for him to get out of on his own." Thompson slowly pulled up the long, silver zipper on the back of the leather suit. "It's got lots of handy zippers, like here for easy access." He unzipped a square panel over Noah's ass, peeling back the black leather to reveal the still-red cheeks and the silver nestle of Stoffman's gift, still plugging the boy. "There's another one over the crotch, in case you need access there, or need to let him go to the bathroom." He didn't unzip this one, moving instead to the boy's chest.
"There's another handy little panel here on the chest over his nipples, for access there." He unzipped to demonstrate, letting the black leather fall downwards and display the small, rosy nubs. He pinched one bud harshly between his fingers and gave the other a sharp bite, eliciting a gasp from Noah.
"The best part though," Thompson said, zipping the flap back up, "is these straps." He displayed a series of black straps and buckles that punctuated the costume. "There's a pair on his wrists, ankles, upper arms, upper legs, and hips, and any one can be attached to any other one and tightened, so you can restrain him in any pose you want. Also, it came with this…" He reached into the bag that had contained the costume, and came up with what appeared to be a small, hard rubber ring, shaped like an 'O,' attached to a strap. Smiling, he pulled the strap around Noah's head and deftly fitted the ring into his mouth where it slid neatly over Noah's teeth, covering them and holding his jaw open.
"I should think this one's fairly obvious," he said, standing in front of Noah's head and sliding his stiff cock through the ring into the boy's mouth. "I know he doesn't really need it, but it's a nice image, isn't it?" He held Noah's head and continued to thrust into the warm, moist orifice. The other men were polite and waited while he finished, though it was obvious they were all eager for their own chance at the boy's body.
Finally, Thompson finished, exploding into Noah's mouth, leaving his penis where it was until he was certain that Noah had swallowed each and every drop of his sperm. He pulled out and carefully removed the gag from Noah, sitting back on the couch once more as the boy moved to open his final present. Thompson put the gag aside on the coffee table, next to the other implements.
"Well now," said Michaels diffidently, "I probably shouldn't have gone last. Mine's not nearly as exciting. But alright." Noah had unwrapped the package and was pulling a long pair of straps out of a bag. "They're bed restraints, for beds without good posts or headboards for it," Michaels explained. He took the straps from Noah and showed everyone the four leather cuffs that attached to his wrists and ankles, and the long black straps that in turn clipped on to the cuffs, connecting at each end.
"See," he said, "you slip the strap part under the mattress, and then just hook the ends to the cuffs and tighten, and instant restraint. You don't need a bedpost or anything like you do for handcuffs and the like. And these are small to travel with, so you could take them with you on trips and such, use them in hotel rooms and so on. You know what I mean. And you don't have to worry about the type of bed you're sleeping on, or how big or anything." He smiled and unclipped the straps, although he left the cuffs attached to Noah.
"Very nice," said Banks. "That should be quite useful. Alright now, I have one last present for Noah back downstairs, if you'll all join me. But first, if you gentlemen will help me get him out of these various presents?"
The men complied with eager hands as before, touching Noah, fondling him, as they removed the leather bodysuit, the wrist and ankle cuffs, and the metal plug device, the latter yanked out of the boy sharply, only to be replaced by a variety of fingers that breached and stretched him as Banks removed and then replaced his son's cage.
Noah moaned as three of the men ground their fingers into him at once, thrusting with the digits, feeling his insides. They were removed abruptly as the old plug was shoved un-gently back into him, stopping him up once more.
The group made their way back down to the basement, the men practically carrying Noah as they touched and grasped and "assisted." When they returned to the toy room, Banks led them to a corner of the room opposite where they had inserted the donkey tail into Noah's ass earlier. Something large was there, covered in a sheet. The hidden object was at least three feet tall, perhaps taller, and roughly four and half feet long. Holding his son in front of him, Banks waited until they had all arrived, and then whipped the sheet back with a theatrical flourish.
What waited underneath was made of black metal. It consisted of two rectangular frames made from metal bars, connected at the top center by a cross bar, and by similar crossbars on the bottom in the front and back, each of which had a pair of black fabric cuffs attached. As Banks demonstrated, the bottom back bar could be slid forward and backward and locked into place, to adjust for body size. Descending from the upper crossbar was a robotic arm, looking something like the jointed leg of a desk lamp. Screws at its joints could be unscrewed, allowing the arm to flex freely and move in multiple directions, and then tightened again to fix the arm in place.
At the end of the arm was a piston, and at the end of the piston, a large rubber phallus. Banks smiled as he showed it to them. "The dildo can be removed and replaced with different sizes, so we can work our way up." He moved Noah into place, forcing him to elbows and knees, strapping his wrists to the front crossbar and his ankles to the adjusted rear crossbar. With the boy firmly in place, he positioned the robotic arm of the machine, prying Noah's anus open and fitting the tip of the dildo inside him, pushing it forward until the head disappeared into the boy with a wet sound. He quickly tightened the arm's joints to secure it in position.
"Now," said Banks, showing the men a console on the side of the machine, "with this, I can program exactly the details of how I want it to fuck him. How fast, how deep, and so on." He dialed some values into the console, and pressed a button. All at once the machine sprang into life, the piston shooting forward as the machine began to fuck Noah, slamming the phallus into Noah's ass as dictated by the precise programming of his father. The men watched, amused, as the boy grunted and huffed at each thrust slammed forward.
Banks stood, allowing the machine to continue, and drew forth a large plastic case that had been leaning against the wall nearby. "These are the extensions it came with," he explained, opening the case. Inside rested an array of dildos, with an empty space in the exact center where the medium size had been removed and applied to the machine. Left behind were an array of four smaller and four larger phalluses, with the largest being somewhat obscene—the size of a fist and forearm.
"And these are only the ones that came with it," said Banks. "As you can see, this will allow me to gradually increase the size of penetration, and to do so without having to invest my own time. I may just leave him down here all day on the weekends, letting him get used to one size before moving up to the next. By the end of things, we should be able to fist him without any trouble. An event I am sincerely looking forward to." He smiled over at the boy. "Aren't you, Noah?"
Noah's only response was to cry out in desperation as the machine continued its relentless, merciless thrusts. Noah's father smiled, and pressed a button on the console, returning the machine to its dormant slumber. "But that is for another time. For now, I believe you men have been waiting patiently for your turns. I think it's about time for a free-for-all."
Banks un-strapped Noah and carried the already exhausted boy over to the living-room area of the basement, throwing him down across the ottoman. He made a welcoming gesture to the men, who immediately fell upon the boy as predators upon a wounded animal. Within moments, two of them were simultaneously fucking his ass, while a third cock occupied the boy's mouth and the remaining two made use of his hands, waiting their turns for a tighter, more alluring orifice.
Banks smiled at the assembled men. "Do take your time," he assured them. "We have all day." He gestured to the wall of the room with its myriad toys; dildos, vibrators, beads, plugs, sounds, all manner of equipment, from the strange and exotic to the patently ridiculous. "And do feel free to avail yourself of the toy room's equipment." He laughed. "It is, after all, dear Noah's birthday. And we want to make sure it's as memorable as possible."