neornitheslogs | [Kougami voice] HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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[Kougami voice] HAPPY BIRTHDAY | Closed to Shotaro and Fetch

Philip was displeased. He'd gone to all the trouble of studying how to celebrate birthdays, and the star of the attraction had been held up in an event for the past three days. It wasn't fair.

While he was gone, though, Philip went in and redecorated Shotaro's room. Streamers hung from the ceiling and balloons decorated the room. He'd cleared off Shotaro's bedside table, dragged his own over from the next room over, and stuck them together to form a table big enough for the cake he'd baked and the three cans of soda he'd purchased, one for each person attending this "party".

Parties should generally be bigger than this, or at least that's what he's read, but he doesn't want to waste the CP on getting into the lounge.

He calls Fetch over, and then it's time to wait for Shotaro.

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Waiting for Sho to show was actually making her a little nervous. After everything that had went on, maybe this is the opposite of what he'd want them to do. She'd watched him as often as she could during the event, and she'd seen that look on his face. The look he got when he thought he'd failed. Would he want to be left alone?

"He'll like this, right?" She whispered, turning to Philip.

Then again, maybe this was the kind of thing he needed. They could all use some fun.

Philip just shrugged in response. "It's common for people to enjoy parties, right?"

Shotaro's crutch made plenty of noise on the stairs and in the hall on the way. His pace was a bit slower than usual. Sure he hadn't said anything to Philip or Fetch about his birthday, but there were a fair few more important things than that going on right now.

Such as that switch the Captain had pulled. Where was she that had the immediate-access control like that? He had to find that place if they were going to have any chance of eliminating the threat of the collars.

He could be heard stopping at Philip's cell beside his, and peeking in after his partner. "Philip?... Maybe he's in the library..." he muttered to himself before closing the door and continuing on to his room.

When he came to his door, he had started through the door before he realized what was going on. Were those streamers? Was this a birthday party? How had-- oh yeah, Captain said something about it, didn't she? That felt like a year ago.

He stared, slack-jawed at the surprise party he'd just walked into. He would need a moment to take this in.

She hadn't gotten a chance to answer Philip. Most people liked parties, she figured, and if Sho didn't... well, she'd just have to make him like it.

"Surprise!" She blew into a noise maker, holding her arms to the side to show all the work they'd done. It wasn't the biggest party in town but for the handiwork of a couple of misfits in prison it was pretty alright.

Philip had gotten quite acquainted with those noisemakers over the past couple of days, much to the chagrin of G-block. Sob.

"Happy birthday, Shotaro," he added. "Although it's a bit late."

Finally, he got his head on straight enough to let out one of his trademark shouts. Which went on a bit longer than usual. He pointed at the two of them. "You--" and his brain ran out of gas just that quickly.

He was dealing with a lot of emotions all at once. This was far from the kind of homecoming he expected to get after just spearheading sending Terui to die. Far from what he probably deserved. He'd played along with the game, just like he'd yelled at Philip for doing. But he'd still managed to protect people. Was that worth it? Even if some had to die for him to get it, he did manage to protect people the both of them cared about. His shock had faded to bewilderment, and then his eyes got a little faraway.

He leaned back against the wall and let his crutch topple. He slid down it until he was sitting with his knees against his chest. It was like this had all finally broken through whatever stores of energy he'd had left. Whatever glue he'd been holding himself together with had finally failed. Everything he'd been trying all this time to do was looking more and more impossible. He was far from being a person capable of doing it. All he was doing was bringing people down with him. People that didn't deserve it. Especially these two people here.

This was nothing like the reaction Philip had expected. He approached Shotaro cautiously, like he was a fragile piece of glass or perhaps an egg that might break if it were jostled too carelessly.

"An adverse reaction?" he mused. "From what I've read, only a very small minority of people react unfavorably to being confronted with a surprise party."

She had expected this might happen. She'd hoped to God it wouldn't -- but it had. Without putting much thought into her actions, she crouched down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. She didn't blame Philip for not understanding, but... she wasn't sure what to tell him.

"It's okay, Sho. We're here. We're with you." Fetch rubbed his shoulder in a shallow attempt at comfort, looking over to Philip. She gave a sympathetic smile. He'd worked pretty hard. "I think the party might need to wait, kiddo."

She knew Shotaro had to be feeling guilt. He always thought everything was his fault. She wanted to get his mind off things, though she couldn't blame him. She would have acted just the same. A large part of her wanted to know what he was thinking, but that would come to light on its own. Making sure he'd be okay was most important.

When she reached out to touch him, Shotaro reached up and held onto her arm. "Sorry..." he muttered around his tears. He swallowed hard. He picked his head up at looked at her briefly before losing his nerve and looking away again. "I'll be ok in a minute." His face was red and his eyes bloodshot. "Thanks, though." He tried a wry smile but it was fleeting.

Philip cocked his head in confusion at Fetch's statement. He stood a little further away from Shotaro, unsure of what exactly to do here.

He wracked his mind for an explanation. Ah-- the event might be upsetting him. He'd thought it might be a relief simply to be done with it, but past experience with Shotaro indicated otherwise.

"The cake might help," he offered. "It's coffee-flavored."

He didn't have to apologize. She didn't want him to feel like he did. She put her hand on top of his, giving it a squeeze. She nodded when he spoke, but was feeling at a loss. There wasn't much she could do besides be there, was there?

She'd almost forgotten about Philip until he spoke up. She couldn't hold back a tiny smile when she looked back at him. It was easy to see why Sho was so fond of his partner. Even if he didn't always get it, he was a good kid and it definitely shone through.

"He's right, y'know." She tilted her head, hoping he would smile too.

At Philip's statement of the cake, he couldn't help but laugh a little. He turned his hand over so he was holding hers. He wiped his face off. "Ah, dammit..." he grumbled. "So much for hard-boiled..."

He uncurled himself, and started to push himself up off the floor.

Figuring Fetch could help Shotaro stand, Philip moved over to the cake to cut Shotaro a slice.

"So you're finally giving up that false projection of yourself? It's about time."

Who knew coffee-flavored cake could diffuse a situation so fast?

"He's more like scrambled at this point." She grinned as she helped him up, giving him a teasing wink.

Sure, he wasn't a hardcore detective like he wanted to be... but she was glad he wasn't. He was good just the way he was, even if he was more of a runny egg than a fully cooked one.

"Hey!" he shouted at Philip. He wasn't sure what to think about that. Giving up was the wrong word. Giving up sounded like forsaking the Boss and everything he'd been taught. But he smirked at the scrambled egg comment. "Yeah, that's what I feel like right now."

When Fetch got him back on his feet, he pulled her against him. He still felt kind of raw, kind of numb, all at once, but at least the initial wave of confusion had disappeared. He tried to keep his mind on the people around him.

"That is why I called him half-boiled before," he said with a smile.

Philip set down a paper plate with a slice of cake on it on top of Shotaro's bed. Then he got another slice and held it out toward Fetch, tilting his head in confusion when Shotaro was still holding on to her. That wouldn't be conducive to cake eating...

She seemed to have an idea of what he was thinking pretty quick, which only made her laugh.

"If you liked hugs you could join in, you geek." It was almost a challenge. She really wanted to hug him too.

Edited 2015-03-02 04:44 (UTC)

Shotaro only partially let go of Fetch. He took the piece of cake from Philip and dragged him over by the arm. "Yeah, and I remember punching you for it, too." But he didn't sound particularly pissed off.

He hooked one arm each around his partner and his girlfriend and pulled them in tightly. Whether Philip liked it or not.

Well, this was annoying.

Shotaro was just being as half-boiled as ever. Philip sighed and returned the hug, one arm each around Shotaro and Fetch. Might as well get this over with.

"Shut up, you like it." She stuck her tongue out at Philip.

She wrapped her arms around both of them, and for the first time in forever she felt like she had a family again. Not the kind of family her parents had been... but the kind like her brother. The kind that was real. She honestly couldn't think of any two people better to share that feeling with.

Shotaro did have mercy on his partner and let him go. And he was still hungry, so he scooped up his piece of cake. He kept his balance on one foot, and partially leaned into Fetch. "Thanks for all this." He gestured vaguely at the decor with the end of his fork. "You guys really outdid yourselves."

Once Shotaro had let him go Philip stepped backward, heedless of whether Fetch would follow suit. She didn't have a chance of losing her balance and falling on her face, after all.

He took his own slice of cake and nodded. "Fetch was very helpful in informing me about birthday parties."

Edited 2015-03-02 05:23 (UTC)

"Turns out we're a pretty good team." She shrugged casually. She was pretty proud, though.

"I think Philip may have found a few new best friends in those noisemakers, though." Sometimes she didn't know who was more fun to tease.

Shotaro snickered. "As long as he doesn't blow on them after lights-out I can deal with it." Or so he says. We'll see if there's screaming in the future.

He leaned over to give her a kiss. Just a brief one, that hopefully got his point across without being a mess again.

Philip just watched them kiss as he chewed on a bite of cake. Unblinkingly staring. How intriguing.

Fetch never would have guessed she would have been blushing over a boy kissing her in prison, but there they were. She laughed at Philip watching them and pushed Shotaro's face away playfully.

"Sho!" It was only a matter of time before the questions started...

He was knocked slightly off-balance by the shove but caught himself on her shoulder. "What did I do?" But then he caught a look at Philip and he realized why she was reacting like that. "Oi, don't do that! You're cramping my style!" He gave Philip a light shove in the shoulder.

Ah. Was he doing something strange? Perhaps this "kissing" ritual was supposed to be private.

"I'm just sitting here."

Fetch rolled her eyes at both of them.

"Style? Who the hell said you had style?" She gave Shotaro a mischievous look.

"I ooze style from head to foot!" he challenged. Okay, this was good. He was starting to feel more normal again.

"Is that what it's called?" Philip teased. To be fair, he didn't actually know what was really "stylish" or not. He could just tell that it was a sticking point for Shotaro.

"If you were really such a cool, stylish guy would you need to argue with us about it?" She crossed her arms expectantly.

Hear that shouting? That means you totally got him, Fetch. "This is no way to treat a guy on his birthday!"

"It's not your birthday," Philip pointed out.

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[Kougami voice] HAPPY BIRTHDAY | Closed to Shotaro and Fetch

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