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Don't worry Kyoko. Kai was already meeting her glance, quickly wiping his hands down on a towel. "On it!" Their surprises would be surprises for at least a small while more! He'd make sure! "I'll keep him busy."

He charged right out of the kitchen, arms out wide to sweep and scoop up wandering birthday boys. Did he even really get a good look at him yet?

No. Only scoops.

"Shin~ji~"

The two of them might have their surprises protected for a while longer, but only because there was surely another surprise coming their way. About as fast as Shinji was, in fact!

"Whoa-!!" Surprises from just Kai are okay to spoil, apparently, because gosh did that scoop catch Shinji completely off-guard! It doesn't feel like a typical scoop, however, at least not on Shinji's end. He puts his arms around Kai quickly to help steady himself, but it's an easier, longer reach when he does. Surely Kai would be able to find something suspicious about all of this right away, though it's a bit difficult for Shinji to feel too apprehensive about whatever might be happening to him with those warm, reassuring arms so cheerfully thrown around him.

"Kai," he says, a warm little note of relief in his voice. Hello, there.

There was definitely something different about this particular scoop. There was a bit more heft here than normal, perhaps. Perhaps he was imagining how much sooner Shinji had gotten his arms around him. Something... something was peculiar, but Kai hadn't quite caught up with all the mysteries just yet. It was a little harder to notice when he was shuffling them both back down the hall.

Gotta give Kyoko some time...!

"Hey," Kai replied, sparing no time in leaning in to steal a smooch. Surely it was so much easier to reach him because of the scooping? S... surely?

The scoops do a very good job of helping to usher Shinji back down the hall, but gosh and golly if he isn't far less at its mercy than he'd normally find himself. With just a little bit of effort, his toes can meet the ground, all while that smooch is in a generally easier to reach range. How truly unusual.

What is he supposed to do if not return that smooch, though? It's a good, if fleeting, distraction, and it brings a brief flash of a smile to Shinji's lips.

"Um," he utters quietly, like he's trying to keep what he has to say on the down-low from any other parties who may be prone to worrying, as that smile fades into a more tempered look of concern. "I think... there might be some kind of problem?"

Okay, hold on. Something was definitely a bit odd, even without the extra concern Shinji was unleashing. A problem? Worry began to knit Kai's brow and he peered at Shinji closely, his voice dropping to meet the other boy's soft volume. "What kind of problem?"

Here, let him set him back down.

... He had sort of expected that to be more significant. And that Shinji wouldn't have been quite so level with him anymore? Had he even put him down??? Flummoxed, Kai actually did look between them to make sure everyone's feet were on the floor. Huh?

"You??"

The biggest problem of all: himself.

But, no, he's not speaking depreciatively, and it's good that Kai seems to have pieced together the problem here now that he's not swept up in being affectionate. "Me," he confirms, taking a moment to himself to really absorb this heightened perspective now that he has someone else right in front of him. It's different...! Not, like, bad, but definitely different.

"I don't... really know what to do about it?" Is this some weird Havenwell prank that can be reversed? He doesn't quite sound panicked about it, at least, mostly baffled above whatever concern is still simmering away.

"Hm..." A lack of panic was reassuring. It meant Kai could take his time looking over this change. Weird Havenwell shenanigans were up on the list of potential happenings.

"Was it... all at once, do you think?" Or had it been a steady change? Was he still getting taller? Were they going to have to hold hands to keep him cuddle-sized?? "Does anything hurt?"

"Not... particularly." He takes a moment to sort of assess himself, but he doesn't feel strange or sore at all. That's not a huge indicator of anything, he doesn't think - when everyone was randomly shrinking down to child-sized, it wasn't like that was an inherently uncomfortable process, for example. He hadn't kept his memories of Havenwell for that, though, so it's probably not... the exact same thing.

A spot of cozy contact usually helps with that kind of weirdness, so perhaps that scoop would be a fruitful move in the long run? Shinji's more than willing to keep his arms loosely draped around the other boy, at any rate.

"I didn't notice anything different earlier, either. Yesterday I was the same as always, right?" As far as he knew, surely Kai's second opinion on that would be valuable.

Kai nodded. "Yeah, you were still--" He lifted a hand to hover it at about where Shinji would have stood in this position before. He looked at this difference for a moment before lifting it to pat Shinji's head.

"Maybe its just... a thing? Like my hair. Just, taller?"

That sure is a possibility he hadn't even considered. His eyes go round in surprise as the plausibility of that potential settles on him, and for a moment he just kind of... thinks that over.

"I... maybe?" But ? why ? Why him and why now?? But perhaps a more pertinent concern with that idea is, "If that's the case... I don't really have any clothes that fit well now."

He's lucky that he likes his sleepwear generally pretty roomy, but past that. Not. So much.

Yes, that would be an issue if this was a permanent thing, huh.

"Guess you're just going to have to endure some clothes shopping later," Kai said, promising a fruitful future of fitting fashion. He trailed his hand down over Shinji's shoulders, down to fiddle with the hem of his shirt. Yeah. Okay. That seemed about right. Kai nodded a bit to himself.

"I think you could get away with some of mine for now? Till we find out if this is just, y'know. A thing."

Delightful.

A clothes swap isn't a terrible idea, though. In fact, it's probably the best solution for this particular problem!

"Is that okay?" As if Kai would offer if it wasn't. Actually... he probably would, but it seems like something harmless enough either way. He watches Kai's hands as they play with the hem of his shirt, focus lingering there for just a moment before looking back up at his face. "Hopefully it won't be for too long," be it a temporary or permanent change, "but I'd really appreciate it."

Edited (I'm dumb.) 2021-06-06 01:45 (UTC)

"'Course it's okay," Kai insisted. They were just clothes, gosh. It wasn't like Shinji was going to take the ones off Kai's back. (Though to be fair, Kai would have given them to him.)

He tugged on Shinji's shirt a little and proceeded to nudge them back to their room. "You can raid the closet for your favorites and I can... try to give Kyoko a word of warning."

Because Kyoko.

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After packing away as much of the feast Kyoko and Kai had prepared as they had, and getting any leftovers squared away, Shinji's content to spend some time just... resting. The blanket is comfortable, and the sunshine feels nice, the conditions are pretty much perfect to just lie down on the ground and let the sky pass on overhead.

He knows... there's only so much time he can allow to quietly pass before his companions insist on indulging in the rest of their offerings for the day. Even if they are too much. Why did they do so much? There's nothing he can do about it now that they've gone and gotten him presents other than procrastinate on acknowledging them, which... that's only going to fly for so long, he just knows it.

Once a moment shows up where it doesn't seem like anyone's occupied themselves with anything else in particular, Shinji will slowly, cautiously turn to regard the pile of presents he himself had earlier placed in the corner of their picnic blanket. A formidable opponent. He's already sure he's going to be defeated by it.

"So..."

So. How do we tackle with these.

A very necessary rest it had been, after such a feast; how lucky that they had set aside this whole day for such luxurious indulgence. While Shinji sprawled out, Kyoko had alternated between wandering off to pick flowers, and sitting in the shade to weave them into chains, peppering idle chatter on the boys here and there.

She thought she'd been extremely patient about waiting for the birthday boy to be ready for his next trial--she hadn't said a word, since the one she let slip earlier! But when Shinji glanced over towards those presents, she was instantly alert.

"I'm pretty sure Kaito gets first-gift privileges," she said, by way of encouragement.

Kai on the other hand would have been content if Shinji hadn't wanted to fuss with his gifts at the picnic itself. There would have been zero disappointments if the birthday boy wanted to wait until later. Gifts were a lot! They were a big emotional ordeal!

Not just for the receiver either. Maybe the giver was also pretty flustered about whether or not his gifts had any merit.

He just looked over from where he'd been laying on the blanket with his hands behind his head, following Shinji's gaze over to the Formidable Pile. "I mean, if you're up for 'em."

Kyoko sure is quick on the uptake here, huh? Almost like she was waiting for it. Waiting for them until after they got home was definitely an option, but after bringing them all the way out here in the first place, he's not sure he can deny them the satisfaction of seeing them opened up. An option, yes, but one Shinji had not considered.

So, that leaves the only reasonable course of action to be opening them... now! Or now-ish. He's not about to jump at them immediately, knowing just how likely he is to be absolutely knocked out by the wave of gratitude that will no doubt accompany the whole ceremony. But, like, yes. Let's... let's approach these gifts. With that in mind, Shinji pulls himself up off the ground into a sitting position, facing the little pile of packages.

"It would be a shame to let them just sit there for too long." They've already waited long enough. "Kai's first, then...?"

The less neatly wrapped ones, right?

Yeah, maybe the giver was a little flustered on the topic of gift merits. Maybe that's why a giver might hypothetically be eager to make a boyfriend go first.

Shinji was definitely not allowed to run away from this incredibly baseline portion of being spoiled, though. You already kidnapped him, Kaito, don't enable these habits now.

So Kyoko nodded encouragingly a whole bunch, shifting to sit up properly, hands folded in her lap. That's right, Shinji!

It was ultimately probably a good idea for his to go first so that all of the sweet care and hard work that went into hers could really shine. With that in mind, Kai pushed himself up with a nonchalant, "Sure."

Let him scoot over to reach for the pile, sliding two of them (indeed the less neatly wrapped ones) closer to Shinji. No take backs now!!

Neither of them were terribly large, though one was significantly bigger than the other. That one was a box containing a maintenance kit for a cello: wax, roisin, all the good stuff Kai didn't understand. At least someone in the god shopping network did. The smaller package was a few things shoved together because they were small: two packages of seeds (wildflowers and kabocha), and underneath those was one (1) SDAT tape.

Two packages from one giver is too much! Perhaps that was his reasoning behind going to the smaller of the two gifts first, but he was bamboozled! The smaller one was full of more presents? What the heck!!

As he begins to uncover the secrets hiding in these presents, his eyes widen in honest surprise. "Kai..." he says softly, carefully pulling each piece of the present from its wrapping, giving them a slow couple of turns, and placing them gently down on the blanket, letting his hands linger over each and every one as he does with a kind of quiet reverence. "This is so much." The same amount of care is given to the second package, which also ends up placed alongside the contents of the first one. Would you look at all of this...? Incredible.

All of these items were clearly chosen with him in mind, which, more than the gifts themselves, really hits him right in his heart. Truly, he's at a loss for words.

Kaito might have gotten a sneak peek at the gifts Kyoko was preparing, but she was just as in the dark as Shinji was about the contents of these particular packages. And she had to be a little curious! So, though she sat there quietly and patiently as Shinji opened them up, she couldn't help watching with round, eager eyes.

Ah... as expected, Kaito had picked things to suit his boyfriend perfectly--things that were very difficult to get here, no less. She really couldn't hope to keep up! But that soft look on Shinji's face sure was nice.

"Ohh," she said mildly, not wanting to distract from the birthday boy. "Those flowers are gonna be really pretty, if Shinji's the one tending them."

He was upset at himself for not having some kind of elaborate project for this birthday, but in doing so he was ignoring how long he'd spent deliberating this small pile. What if something happened to his cello that made it unplayable? What kind of things might he want to grow in his new garden? What would it be like if he had some music he could wholly associate with a sweet moment like this one?

So he watched, flustered, as Shinji opened up some of Kai's answers. He was a little eager though to see if he'd hit the mark on some of them. Survey said... yes. Ah. Good. "It's not that much," Kai said fondly, a lopsided sort of smile re-emerging in his expression.

It fell on Kyoko too as he glanced at her, nodding. "Right? They'll be real pretty. Kabochas aren't melons but its fun thinking of fall melons anyway. You'll have your hands full, Shinji."

'They'll be pretty because that's just how flowers are,' and similar comments dodging any praise for any potential work Shinji might put into these gifts dart through his mind, but stay quietly in his throat until he can swallow those protests right down.

"I'll do my best," he says softly, still fairly shocked by all of this generosity being directed at him. For a moment, he can't pull his eyes away from the presents or bring himself to speak up too loudly, worried over how that sting behind his eyes or tightness at his throat would shift if he did. "I'll... I'll put all of this to good use."

Flowers for them to admire, tasty little squashes for them to enjoy. He's been doing what he can to keep his cello in good shape, but the kit will be a huge help with that, and surely any listeners who stop by during practice time will be treated to some extra high quality music. There's so much to share here, and he's already grateful for the opportunity to give back with them.

"Kai... Thank you, so much."

The knowledge that he'd managed to pull something off that could cause this kind of reaction was truly the greatest gift at all. Look at this boy. Kai smiled even warmer, and here came another very fond ruffle of Shinji's hair.

"'Course," he murmured as he leaned in, gently bumping his shoulder. "You deserve some spoiling." All the spoiling, really, but let's keep it easy going for the moment.

"You're not done yet though." There was still this much neater bundle for him to contend with.

Kyoko was happy to sit back and smile over this warm scene. Just look at them! Shinji needed to be doted on, and Kaito needed to know he was good at giving happiness. Look at how good all of this was!

Which was why there was really no rush, Kaito, jeez! "You don't have to rush him," it was her turn to insist. Let Shinji bask in the best part a little longer.

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