hugtopia_logs | [closed]

Huh. There sure was a bit more boy there against his back now. Kai hadn't expected to notice much of a difference, but that extra warmth made for extra cozy. With Shinji Ready to Go, Kai looked over to make sure Kyoko had all her arms and legs within the vehicle before the ride started.

"A bit of a ways out. It's a particular order, see." He gave her a thumbs up-- was it to tell her not to worry? Let her know he was ready? Probably both-- and gently patted Shinji's hands. "Here we go."

It was a quiet start as always, but the bike hummed to life beneath them at Kai's prodding. Off they went, starting at a leisurely pace as they wound their way through the residential streets.

Somewhere mysterious and a ways out, huh? That doesn't exactly answer his question, but if that's all Kai's willing to give right now, then Shinji's not going to press him for more. Go ahead, then, keep your secrets.

Until they get close enough to their destination to put more pieces together, Shinji will simply enjoy the ride. Arms tightening just a bit as they take off, he leans a bit more heavily against the other boy for stability. This part of any trip is always nice, even if they aren't zipping along at a particularly speedy clip just yet, the opportunity to clear his head as the city glides by them is a treat on its own.

For now, there are no more questions from him. Just a quiet appreciation of the ride for what it is.

That didn't really answer Kyoko's question either, except that they must not be going to a city park. Somewhere outside town, then? Maybe somewhere without a proper name.

She settle in for the ride, though, quietly watching the streets slip away past them. Every so often her gaze found its way back up to the boys. Was Kaito taking them to the same place they spent Shinji's last birthday, she wondered? Somewhere they had been together, but not her.... What kind of funny feeling did that thought stir up in her chest? Kyoko couldn't name it.

Those secrets will be kept. It was clear they were heading out of the city though, leaving behind the bustle and turning on to open roads. This road trip was a little different, the speed of their flight a more gradual thing than the burst Kai would normally grant them. There was a lot of cargo to consider! But they were assuredly still flying, his humming getting lost in the breeze.

Hopefully whatever feelings stirring in Kyoko's heart wouldn't plague her too much. The idea of returning to the same spot had certainly crossed his mind when the weather had started to change for the warmer. The warmer weather had brought more places to explore though, and Kai had spent some of May's explorations scoping out new places to visit. Somewhere quiet for a peaceful birthday, with plenty of greenery to enjoy, but not so far out they caught the attention of uninvited guests. There were more options when this wasn't exclusively a stargazing event this time around. They just needed soft grass, a bit of shade, a big sky and plenty of flowers.

'Plenty of flowers' was the hard part, but the spot Kai eventually slowed the bike down for had its share. It felt like it had a skeleton of a park, but it was more over grown than before. A nice backdrop for a nice time. Kai looked it over again, nodding to himself.

"Yeah. Here we go."

They sure are going far past the city, aren't they? As the silence falls on the party while they journey, Shinji's mind begins to wander a bit. This all still feels like a bit much for all three of them, is there something big happening out here...? Like maybe a tea party off the beaten path, or some special day for someone. He's not trying to draw any huge connections, but as the gears start slowly turning in his head, a realization dawns on him.

He is someone. And today is, perhaps, a significant one. Hadn't he been trying to keep an eye on these two in case they tried to pull anything funny around, say, todayish?

He can't entirely rule out the idea that there's something not-him-centric happening, but now. Now he is suspicious. He's not even sure how he'd bring it up at this point, so best to keep these thoughts to himself, he figures. Let's just get a better look at this spot Kai's stopped at.

"It's so nice out here," he says, marveling at the scenery around them as Kai slows the bike. He's definitely picked a good spot, if that awe is anything to go by.

As they slowed down, Kyoko sat up higher, leaning out just a bit for a better view. "Ohh!!" Leave it to Kaito to find the best places, huh! Shifting back into her seat properly, don't worry nobody's gonna fall out okay, Kyoko flashed a cheery grin up at the bike boys. Had Shinji guessed yet??

Whether he had or not, it was clear that Shinji Time was fast approaching. "Under that tree," she pointed, "that would be a good spot, right?"

Did he know? Could he know? Kai suspected there were probably some cogs turning, but it'd all click in to place soon enough.

"Sure seems like one," Kai agreed as he parked the bike proper, meeting Kyoko's grin with a flash of his own. Then he turned it on Shinji as he slid off the bike. "This is where we'll need your help, we've only got so many hands."

Please put him to work on his own birthday so he does not feel like he's being entirely useless, thank you.

"Of course." As he removes the helmet from his head and climbs off the bike, he's... careful, to not seem like he's really expecting something to be coming his way, but at the same time he also doesn't seem to be too bewildered about what they could be setting up in the middle of the wilds, where there were no other offworlders around. Helmet carefully set aside, here are his ands, empty and ready to receive whatever bounties are passed his way. "Just load me up and point me where I need to go."

You're doing great, Shinji. So great that Kyoko, having clambered out of the sidecar and shaken out the worst of her helmet hair, was ready to reward him with a very special and important task. Carefully rummaging through the box, she fished out a few modestly-sized packages, and piled them up in his offered arms. Were they gift-wrapped? Gosh, who could say? There were definitely bows on a couple of them.

Since Kaito had concurred with her chosen spot a moment ago, Kyoko pointed towards that same tree again before turning to load her own arms up this time. "We'll be right behind you!"

The ones with bows were definitely a bit neater overall in their presentation, but hey. Someone had Tried. Whether or not that same someone was Kai, very gently nudging Shinji towards the tree, well. Conclusions could be drawn at some point. "Like she said. You can pick out a spot for the blanket."

Sound familiar? Kai was going to sling said blankets over his shoulders and grab some more things. Don't mind them and the quantity of things they were grabbing.

H

Hey.

Okay. Well. That pile of presents being plopped into his arms sure made short work of any lingering reasonable doubt he had. It does cause an obvious amount of bafflement to hit his expression, having honestly, sincerely not expected this outcome even as the idea of this being a Shinji-centric-thing had occurred to him. Stunned for a moment, he doesn't immediately respond to that nudge, but once the suggestion fully sinks in, he replies with a soft, "Y-yeah, all right."

Time to carefully cart this precious cargo over toward the shade of that tree. What a great spot they've agreed upon, truly. A location with a lovely view, where Shinji can watch as his companions unload the rest of the day's necessities. Why? This? It's already too much, what are you guys doing??

At this point, what did Shinji expect, if not a Birthday Event? The surprise was fully over now as far as Kyoko was concerned; now it was all about the spoiling.

Arms full of bento, Kyoko trotted along after him soon enough, beaming obnoxiously. "Right here? Then it's decided! The feast can start whenever you're hungry!"

Too much? Nah. This was just the right amount of Things to be Doing. Kai hummed, setting his own armloads of things down for a moment as he reached the designated Spot. Here came the bigger blanket, thrown out carefully over the grass so they could reach their maximum cozy potential.

"Not that there's a rush either. We've got all day." He'd crouched down to smooth the blanket out, but paused to turn a sunny grin up at Shinji. "Hope you didn't actually have any other plans. This is a kidnapping."

All day? Like, all day??

"Don't you two have other things to do?" Like deliveries to make or acting opportunities to chase down? He has at least stopped himself from saying 'anything more important', but that's definitely hitting the territory of 'too much'!

Still, once that blanket is laid out, he crouches down to very carefully set those gifts on one corner of it. There we go, a nice, safe spot for this impressive bounty.

Kyoko also crouches down as soon as the blanket is spread, gently setting the bento stack down on another corner of it. There, look how nicely everything's coming together! Even if Shinji is finally chiming in with some of the protestation she had sort of figured he'd offer eventually.

Luckily, Kyoko had a counterpoint lined up already: "No." She brandished a finger. "It's a holiday."

"Uh-huh."

Kai plopped himself down, giving Shinji enough time to set his bounties down before he reached over to carefully tug him down to the blanket fully. "The most important of our day is right here."

It's... you!

Shinji's eyes go wide in disbelief at Kyoko's insistence that today could be so important to warrant a whole day off, but it's a fleeting look as a different kind of surprise colors his expression when Kai pulls him more fully over on to the blanket. Okay, okay! Here he is, sitting himself down on this cozy spot they've prepared for him.

"You guys..." If they're dropping any pretense that this might be some errand or job they're running, then there's no reason to pretend they haven't put a lot of effort into this - into spoiling him - either. His voice is soft, and perhaps a little unsteady as he takes all of their work and preparation in. Regardless of whatever they might insist to the contrary, it is A Lot. "You really didn't have to do all of this."

With Shinji forced to sit down at his own birthday spread, Kyoko slips off her shoes, lines them up in the grass, and sits down on the blanket, facing the boys. Now that the protestations have started, she supposes it's no surprise if he kept them up a little longer.

"But I really wanted to, you know?" Hands folded in her lap, she leaned forward a smidge, smile soft but insistent. "To celebrate with you. You could even say all of this is self-serving."

Kai nodded along. Yep, that all sounded right. Leaning over, Kai snuck his hand up through the back of Shinji's hair, fondly ruffling the already helmet-ruffled locks.

"We didn't really need a specific day to want to do something for you," he went on, "but it worked out all the same."

Framing it as something that might be in their best interests as well does make all of this fuss a little easier to swallow... but still. Still! Don't the two of them do enough for Shinji normally? Just by being kind and loving toward him, despite knowing all they know about him? He didn't think he'd escape a birthday without some kind of acknowledgement made for it, not after the two of them got to be blindsided by their own celebrations, but not like this. Not a whole day off for all three of them, not a big picnic, and certainly not presents.

He had meant it last year when he's told Kyoko it wasn't important, but he also knows he wouldn't let either of them get away with saying as much if the tables were turned, and he's sure they'd do the same if he were to insist it now.

So, those stronger protests stay right in his head, where a muted squeak of surprise escapes his throat at Kai ruffling his hair. "Just dinner would have been more than enough," is what he settles on - a tiny, weak pushback is really all he can manage in the face of such sincere insistence. "You guys are going to spoil me."

That cute little ruffle-squeak moment tugged at Kyoko's heart, but she didn't miss a beat. "That's the point." Her smile didn't budge, eyes crinkling a bit at the corners.

"Spoiling you was 100% the goal, from the very beginning. This is kinda selfish, but we got pretty excited about it, so... if you don't mind, could you bear with it for a little while?"

"Mm. You started it. We had to wait a whole year for revenge, after all," Kai said with a little laugh. His devious ruffling hand had dropped down, settling itself over Shinji's instead. "Though that gave me time to practice."

Their first picnic had been a fluke after all. A complete accident when Kai had no idea would have had no idea what he could have done for a birthday even if he had known. How fortunate that something lowkey was the perfect fit anyway.

"You've done a lot. Its our turn."

A fluke had been plenty! There had been a kind of solace he could take in it having been an accident, just something nice that had happened coincidentally on his birthday.

The fact of the matter is, one way or another, all of this effort had been put forth, and who is he to rain on their parade? If they think he's done enough to deserve being spoiled... he's still not sure he believes it, but that belief on their part should be cherished. He wants to be able to protect those soft and fond looks being directed at him, so really, he should let them unfold the rest of their plans with as little fuss as he can manage.

He adjusts his hand under Kai's to tangle their fingers together, while his other hand reaches up to lightly, bashfully cover his mouth. "It means... a lot," he says, voice soft and words careful. "Thank you."

If they had waited for Shinji to think he deserved nice, normal things like birthday parties and presents, Kyoko and Kaito would have grown old. Who knew how long the three of them had together, dreams of making a new life in a calmer world aside? Shinji was just going to have to start getting some healthy doses of exposure therapy to getting spoiled. Birthdays were as good a place to start as any, right?

And for now, that timid acquiescence was just fine. Beaming warmly at him, Kyoko decided to go in for the kill. "Mm! Happy birthday, Shinji."

Ah, all three of them were bad at this huh. Kai had watched Kyoko grapple with those feelings, and they had hung over him at his own birthday too. That this was too much, they could have spent their time doing anything else... But if they didn't do it, who was gonna?

So Kai watched him fondly, giving those fingers a light squeeze. It was a lot, even with just this. He got it.

"Happy birthday, Shinji" he echoed softer. "This is the bulk of the surprise, promise."

Just a gentle annihilation, after all.

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