hugtopia_logs | [closed]

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.

He would not ask for those particular clothes explicitly because Kyoko, actually.

"That's a good idea," wouldn't want to catch her too much by surprise, after all. But with Kai's blessing securely in place, Shinji lifts one hand to gently pat Kai's cheek. "Thank you," both for lending him the clothes and the offer of warning. "You're a lifesaver, Kai. I won't be too long."

Kai hummed through a smile, leaning in to bump Shinji's forehead with his own. This was actually remarkably easy with this development. If nothing else, this was a plus. "Least I can do. There's no rush," he assured him.

Really. Honestly. No rush. There were other surprises to pack. "See you in a bit." Gently disentangling from Shinji's arms, Kai nudged him towards their door so he could slip back down the hall

with

increasing haste.

"Kyoko, we've got a... Thing."

Assuming smooches were happening, Kyoko had plunged herself fully into The Plan. There was no space for unwanted thoughts when she was making sure no bento gap was left unfilled, no spread of color imbalanced, no embellishment poorly placed. And after that, there was still closing everything up, and the stacking, and the wrapping, and the oh jeez don't forget chopsticks, and--

hello Kaito, what are you talking about?

"Huh??" This... isn't new???? "Kaito... you didn't think I knew? All this time?" Of course she knows they've got a Thing. "That's why you were in charge of distractions, you know?"

Wait what. "Huh???"

Wait? "N... no? Of course you know? I mean--" He made motions towards the hallway, followed immediately by more sweeping motions next to him to indicate height. "Shinji's getting changed but he's taller."

...??? On the one hand, it is reassuring that Kaito didn't actually think Kyoko hadn't known he was dating Shinji until he told her just now--that sure would have been silly, goodness--but on the other, uh what? She was pretty sure he'd just strung together a nonsense sentence? Was she supposed to derive something meaningful from that? What could it be?

Finally pausing in her flurry of bento packing, Kyoko turned and looked over her shoulder at Kaito. "... You... measured him just now?"

That is really, really not what she thought they were gonna get up to.

It really wasn't what he thought they were gonna get up to either, but here they were.

Kai made another empathetic waggle of his hand now that she was actually looking at him. "He's like our height." Which was clearly different! From how it normally was!

Kyoko blinked a few times, and stared at Kaito and his hand. "Our... height?" She lifted her own hand to mimic him, just to be sure. "We're talking about Shinji?"

He nodded deeply. "Shinji." Kai leaned back a bit to check the hall, and then he quickly popped over to help with the packing. "We dunno if its... y'know, a problem? Or just something that decided to happen."

"Did... he get older?" Wait, of course he did, but-- "I mean, older than he's supposed to be? Like that time some of us turned into kids, but the opposite??" Oh jeez, was that mess happening again?

"I don't think it's quite the same thing, he was asking how tall he was yesterday so." No memory shenanigans like kid versions brought. "It just seems like he grew a few inches overnight." Which was puzzling, of course, but not as worrying as other things.

"Like some kind of... super speed growth spurt?" Finally hoisting up that stack of bentos, Kyoko frowns. "I haven't noticed anyone else growing a bunch recently.... Maybe I wouldn't notice if it's someone I'm not close to, though."

"Something like that. Think I remember someone gettin' younger by a bit, not... bigger." He held his hands out, please deposit those bounties into them.

"I wanted to give you a heads up though, since we'll probably need distraction round two.

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