[closed]

[daikonrose]

♥ Who: Shinji, Kaito, and Kyoko!
♥ Where: Kai and Shinji's new digs
♥ When: Ranir 25th
♥ What: birthday? party??
♥ Rating: G probably unless Kai takes off his shirt again

Kyoko's bright mop of hair was a little more mussed than she'd like it to be for a dinner with friends, but it couldn't be helped now. She'd changed out of her Santa of the Clause uniform in a rush this afternoon, eager to put the finishing touches on her gift, and there just hadn't been time to spruce herself up at all after it finally met her approval.

Not that she expected Kaito or Shinji to mind--aah, they really were such good, generous boys. She truly was glad they'd been kind enough to invite her over tonight, of all nights.

Though it had been months now since she'd been given explicit permission to enter their home without knocking, Kyoko still never did so unless s t e a l t h was in order. So she would have knocked today even if her arms hadn't been busy carefully cradling a large, suspiciously cake-sized box.

Comments

[whenyouneedme]

Just the right amount of praise. And all perfectly deserved. It was all very scrumptious, and Kai was absolutely ready to settle all the credit on Shinji. He'd done a really good job!

Kai happily munched on a carrot, nodding along some more. "Its the birthday dinner that keeps on gifting."

[daikonrose]

There Kyoko was, with a mouthful of succulent, savory shiitake when Shinji dropped that revelation on her.

They got it just for today.

Her eyes fell on that still steaming pot, packed with such a generous variety of things she hadn't tasted in over a year now. All collected for this day. Even if Kyoko had been the sort of person to ask for such a favor, it wouldn't have occurred to her to request so many things.

But these two had thought of it. For... her? For real?

"Whaadh," Kyoko said, and then realized that she hadn't swallowed her mushroom. There. "What... if you're gonna get new ingredients, get the ones you want... for yourself, you know? Now you're stuck with all this, when you could've...."

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Hey now.

"We got all of it because we wanted it," even if the core reason for it was, in fact, a birthday hot pot, they can't say they're 'stuck' with something they don't want. "It isn't anything we can't use later, too, but making sure we had the right ingredients for tonight was important."

It was all crucial! And, in the end, all tasty. Like this bit of fish, going right in his mouth. Delicious.

[whenyouneedme]

"Fact is we're really not picky," Kai went on to say. "Leave it to us and we'd probably be okay with the synthesized stuff for a long time." They'd gone this long without any of those warm notes of fresh ginger, after all. And actually... did any of them have real rice? Kai was exceedingly alright with rolling with things, but Shinji wasn't that far behind him.

"So going all out was a good thing for us, too."

Kai turned another smile towards her. "A lot of what we want and what we want for you overlaps pretty often."

[daikonrose]

Kyoko's head dipped, but there was no hiding the flush that reached all the way to her ears. It wouldn't be that hard to see how hard she was biting her lip, either, if you just leaned in a little.

Ah jeez. What was she supposed to do with guys like this? They were so over-the-top nice to her, but they knew just how to play it down, like it was the most natural thing in the world. She couldn't scold them for being impractical, and she didn't know how to thank them enough either.

"... Do you like shrimp," she mumbled after a few drawn out moments.

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Such a long pause with such an intense blush refusing to let itself be hidden does, in fact, earn a slight lean forward from Shinji. He's just about to offer a soft, inquisitive, 'Kyoko-san? Are you okay?' before she speaks up.

"Shrimp...?" What's this about, now? "Shrimp is good." Truly, neither of them are particularly picky eaters.

[whenyouneedme]

Oh. That much color was pretty cute, actually. But, ah, that had been kind of a long pause, hadn't it? Kai tilt his head a bit and--

Shrimp.

"Yeah?" Yes. Shrimp? "... Oh, I guess we did leave it out, huh."

[daikonrose]

Her head shot up, her burning face now on full display. "You did not leave anything out!!!" How could he even come to such an amazingly wrong conclusion!? "Nothing! This is a 100% perfect meal!!"

Deep breath. Tucking her hands into her lap, Kyoko returned to the shy mumbles from a moment ago. "I just thought I should mention, I happened to get some new ingredients, myself. I was gonna bring it up a little later anyway, but I couldn't resist.... It's not as much as all this, but you can definitely have anything you want from me, whenever you want it."

[hedgehogsdilemma]

On the other hand, they could have very easily gotten shrimp for the hot pot, too. That would have been a perfect addition...! Maybe it's not an apology-worthy blunder, but just imagine how good it would have been.

Either way, how very generous, Kyoko! But this isn't... a totally new offer, either, is it? It's been pretty much a one-to-one trade deal between the two houses so far, so her bashful insistence on making sure they know these new ingredients aren't somehow off-limits tugs an amused smile out of Shinji.

"Hmm, this would be really good if we tried again with shrimp, I'm sure." But, not to tease her too much over it, he adds, "Or plenty of other dishes, really. Those sound like they'd definitely be worth swapping some ingredients for."

[whenyouneedme]

That full on blast of rosiness had taken Kai off guard, and now he was watching her intently. This whole back and forth between bold, assertive claims and quiet shyness was a fascinating journey through all her endearing parts at warp speed.

It was also distracting enough that he didn't just blurt out the fact that this wasn't new. They did ingredient swaps all the time! It was a common excuse for just showing up.

Ah. Maybe that's what it was.

"Uh-huh. Next time you come over you should bring a bunch and we can figure tempura out."

[daikonrose]

Well! They'd been the ones to go out of their way to invite her to borrow the ingredients they were currently eating, first! And she just had to feel like she could offer them something in return! So she said it, and now future dinners are established, surely this is all for the good.

Kyoko turned to Kaito, nodding fiercely. "Tempura, for sure!!" She would have agreed to anything, it was just amazing that there was actually a concrete suggestion coming from one of the Boys With No Preferences. Turning a bit to include Shinji, she went on firmly, "Next time, I'll make the feast! Relax and leave it to me!"

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Tempura! How long has it been since Shinji has had that? He's not sure, but his eyes light up a little at the suggestion. Yes, tempura. They should give that a shot soon!

"If you'd be making something like that, though, I'd want to help...!" You can only purposefully exclude people from feast preparation on very special occasions. Kyoko's just going to have to get her dinner revenge on some other day, if Shinji has anything to say about it.

[whenyouneedme]

Winging it was his usual thing, but it was way easier to loop everyone into a plan if there was actually a plan involved. It wasn't as though they ever really wanted just ingredients for ingredients' sake. Sometimes, maybe, but more often than not it was just getting her there.

"Yeah, I said 'we.' You're gonna have to deal with having lots of help."

[daikonrose]

"The 'we' means you two will give me very valuable feedback on what I'm able to produce," Kyoko shot back flatly; a little pushback wasn't too surprising with these guys, after all. "But I see how it's going to have to be." Plucking up one of those cute carrot slices, she chewed solemnly.

"No getting around it. I'll just have to ambush you."

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Hey.

He's gonna have to think that one over for a moment, chewing over a piece of carrot with a pensive 'hmmmmm'. Gotta keep them on their toes, huh? "We can do feedback..." That's easy enough, even if she'll probably only get heaps of praise for any effort she makes. "But you know we'll just have to keep doing the same if you surprise us, though."

[whenyouneedme]

Meanwhile Kai was just straight up pouting into his bowl as Shinji took that thoughtful route. "But I wanna try making it..." He was mumbling into the dredges of his broth. How was he supposed to get stronger for these bouts of kindness revenge if he didn't know what he was doing! Hey!

Ah, well. He huffed and continued on. "And we haven't even finished surprising you tonight yet."

[daikonrose]

Wow, all she did was gently threaten to break into their home and fry things in their kitchen, and she gets this double assault of thoughtful revenge plans and pouting? What a formidable team! They got to join forces against her all the time, but she was on her own unless one of their own birthdays was involved. It wasn't fair!

A little pout of her own had started tugging at her mouth, and she had been about to ask Kaito why he kept going back to deep frying--first the croquettes, and now tempura!--when he dropped that information.

"... Huh?" Blinking, Kyoko cast a fresh look around the room, strewn with all those charming handmade decorations, and landing on the sukiyaki pot again. There was even more, somehow? "But... you guys kinda went above and beyond as it is, you know?" How much more could she even accept in good conscience?

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Don't worry, Kai, surely they can try making it on their own sooner or later.

Definitely later as far as this night is concerned, anyway, what with the extra surprise in store for Kyoko. And, honestly... is it above and beyond? The idea of going all out for a birthday is still pretty foreign of a concept for Shinji, but he's not entirely sure that this particular combination of things is excessive. Maybe? Possibly. Either way,

"This is all stuff we had planned to do, though." Are they gonna just go and change their plans? When everything's set for the evening? They probably could if there was real pressure for it, but also, like. That would be such a waste.

[whenyouneedme]

There was no denying that it was definitely excessive as far as their ideas of how to spend a birthday went, considering before this year that was sitting pretty at... do absolutely nothing. In that regard, Kai could understand.

Kai's pout had left as quickly as it appeared, a devious looking smile taking it's place. Oh dear.

"We're just following the birthday protocols you gave us."

[daikonrose]

In a purely objective sense, this was not the most 'above and beyond' birthday party Kyoko had ever been given, no. But--special ingredients that probably couldn't be found anywhere else on the planet, obtained with her in mind? And how long must it have taken these two boys to cut all those snowflakes and weave all those paper chains. Did either of them even like crafts?

Just thinking about it all made something warm twist in her chest, but before another lump could form in her throat, Kaito delivered another bewildering piece of information.

"Birthday... protocols?" She looked at Shinji, her one-time partner in birthday crime. "Did... I say something like that?"

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Had she, actually?

"Well, for Kai's birthday, we got new ingredients, and you made him a gift, too..." The decorations hadn't been a part of the plan back then, but they were definitely in the spirit of making things festive and party-like. That seemed more Kyoko's speed as far as celebrating went, but that's also as far as Shinji knew about any protocols.

"So it makes sense that you get at least that much."

[whenyouneedme]

Kai nodded along vigorously on all these points. Kyoko hadn't actually laid things out as actual protocol to follow in those exact words of course. She had however given Kai, who knew little about usual birthday fare, a few ideas about what that usual birthday scenario might look like. So if they were throwing a birthday for someone that cared about it a little more than they did, they had to at least match that basic threshold! Clearly.

He jumped in to bolster Shinji's list, counting each one off with a finger. "Right? So really tasty food, some kinda gift, dessert, balloons and sparklers, hanging out to make it a party, and a bunch of sneaking."

There was a wiggle of his fingers in her general direction, but then he paused and glanced at the decorations again. "Ah, couldn't find balloons though. We made things up."

[daikonrose]

At some point Kyoko's mouth had fallen open a little, as she leaned back to stare softly at each of them in turn. Had she really said all that? Maybe--Kaito's extended list did sorta ring a bell. But she hadn't mentioned any of those things with the slightest thought that he would remember them for later; she certainly hadn't been holding onto those ideas since then.

Her hands curled tight around her bowl as her gaze fell, eyes still big and round. "I... said a lot of things really carelessly, huh...." Had she really gone and made them think they had to do all kinds of things they wouldn't usually care about, just for her? "And you went to so much trouble, because of that?" She hadn't even noticed the steady warmth growing in her cheeks, but there was no hiding it.

[hedgehogsdilemma]

Who could have imagined? All of those enthusiastic birthday thoughts and plans may be turned on you one day? Kyoko?

But it wasn't careless of her, and it's far from them doing things they don't care about. "We just wanted to make sure you had a good birthday this year." The two of them wanted to do this because it's the kind of thing that makes her happy, they figured. It was never a pain, even if they feel differently about what lengths they'd find appropriate for anyone to go to for their own birthdays. "It wasn't any trouble."

Here, he'll even put on a smile that he hopes is encouraging, which honestly isn't that hard to do in the face of so much charming blushing coming from Kyoko's side of the table.

"Honestly, it was pretty fun, putting all of it together."

[whenyouneedme]

"Yeah, actually." Who knew that the arts and crafts tables from earlier in the year would have actually helped out? Amazing. Havenwell was truly a place to put new skills to use.

"It was real good you mentioned stuff, or at least I'd be completely clueless on where to start. I needed to get revenge, y'know?" Is what he said, but despite allusions to retaliation the expression Kai was wearing had eased back into something softer in the face of all these warm cheeks.

"It's your day, Kyoko. We wouldn't want to spend it any other way."