This was something different indeed. Any of the slight smiles and easy grins and warm chuckles he's received from Kai absolutely pale in comparison to... to this. Even through those coughs, he can tell he's hit something rare with this, and he really doesn't know what to do with it. Under that definite pang of guilt he feels for riling up that cough, his heart's racing at that grin, like something precious was unexpectedly dropped into his lap.

More than that, though, he kind of feels... a little lost, on how he could have prompted such a jovial reaction. His hand freezes for just a fraction of a second as he tries to process this before he continues to rub gentle circles into the other's back.

"Okay..." Right. Okay. "Sorry," he can't help but let another apology tumble out of his mouth. "No more jokes."

No more dry sarcasm, either. E a s y.