The Fourth Wall Repairman looked at the two wrapped boxes in front of him. The one Marie gave him was large, and the rectangular shape was oddly familiar, while the one Cat Slime gave him was smaller and cylindrical. Both were perfectly wrapped in purple, with yellow ribbons, and the Repairman could tell Marie meticulously put the paper on both presents.

“So, um” he said, adjusting his red party hat, “which should I open first…?”

“Mi! Mi!” Cat Slime squeaked, quite loudly and enthusiastically as he jumped up and down, flapping his little nubs of arms.

“All right,” the Repairman chuckled, “Cat Slime’s it is!”

His pet cheered as the inkblot tore the wrapping off the cylinder, revealing a premium cookie tin from Sarsaland. There were plenty of the treats in there, and the tin seemed to strain to keep the lid on. The Repairman beamed, petting Cat Slime on the head.

“Hey, thanks, Cat Slime!”

Cat Slime beamed.

“Right, now let’s see about this,” the Repairman grunted, picking up Marie’s gift.

“I hope you like it!” Marie smiled. “I worked pretty hard on this!”

“I’m sure I will,” the Repairman assured her, lifting the wrapping off, “I’m just happy you–”

He blinked, looking down at his own toolbox.

“…Huh?”

“Open it,” Marie said.

“Um, okay…”

The Repairman gawked at his toolbox. Everything inside was neatly sorted. Every single screwdriver, welding torch, hammer, and wrench was put into a nicely organized compartment. Nothing was out of place, and the Repairman saw that Marie even scrubbed the oil and cement stains off every surface, and got rid of an awful lot of the rust.

“…”

Marie’s smile wavered as she waited for a reaction. She had stayed up all night to tidy up his toolbox, and it was quite the feat to sneak off with the thing anyway.

“…Y-you like it…?”

The Repairman slowly looked back up at Marie. Her face fell as she didn’t see a single change in his expression.

And then the Repairman beamed.

“Thank you, Marie!” he said, going over to hug her. “I was getting tired of digging for everything! Never DID have time to fix that…”

Marie breathed a sigh of relief, falling into her brother’s embrace.

“Happy birthday, Repairman!”

Cat Slime clambered into their hug, squeaking “happy birthday” as well.

“Aw, thanks, you two!”

When the hug broke up, the Repairman cleared his throat.

“So, um, Marie, could you tell me how you sorted this…? I’m not used to a clean toolbox.”

“Oh! Well, it’s simple. Compartments 1a through 3b are all different kinds of screws, increasing in size. Then we have bolts, in 3c, 4f, and 9d. Of course, the socket wrenches are in 8s and 14b…”

The Repairman listened patiently, trying to wrap his head around this new system. His head swayed from side to side and his eyes swirled as she kept explaining, and her guide only seemed to get less lucid as it went on. Hopefully she also left labels or instructions in there…