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[Ah, there's Charles, right on time to see Junpei get a faceful of blanket for the nth time today. He mumbles a swear and lowers the blanket edge to look over at Charles as he approaches, looking comically frustrated with this thing. It's a big blanket, so it's a real pain, thank god his super tall boyfriend is here—]

Hey, yeah, get over here. I'm this close to shredding this thing.

[He wiggles a corner; come, please help him, thank you. He's picked a nice spot, and it's a nice day, and it will be much nicer when he can stop battling this fleece menace. Charles' arrival makes him feel a little giddy, anticipating his birthday date plan, beaming at him over the edge of the blanket. Luckily he isn't trying to be subtle about this...

And, fond,] You like the map?

[Tell him he's sooo clever.]

[ comically frustrated he may be, but charles still thinks he looks cute — that he's having this much trouble with a blanket of all things is adorable, actually, and he chuckles as he promptly does as he's told and takes the few steps needed for him to grab a corner and back up until the blanket is actually properly spread out. he then swings his backpack down and plops it onto the corner, just to make sure it stays in place.

and that out of the way, he can go back to smiling at junpei like he's hung the moon and the stars and possibly also the sun. ]

Yeah, [ because of course he did, ] I didn't figure out where it was until I got closer, so it was fun. Sort of like one of those treasure maps in children's books, yeah?

[ and because the set-up is just too perfect to pass it up, ] And I mean, I did find one, so...

[Perfect; Junpei stands back with his hands on his hips to survey the finally-flattened blanket, like this is the biggest achievement he's ever made. It really was annoying him, so-! Good, now they can move on to the birthday stuff, and he'll even mention that's what this is for any minute now, except-]

You found a children's book?

[.....oh, wait, jeez—he coughs and flushes pink, shaking his head. Oops,] Never mind, I hear it now, I get it.

[Double jeez, even. He holds up a finger, wait, then turns to get the lumpy mostly-square thing and use it to hold down the other side of the blanket. With that done he crosses said blanket to stand next to Charles, slipping an arm around his waist and gesturing at the cute scene they've made.]

It's October now, which means it's technically May, which means— happy birthday.

[ and here he thought it was a pretty smooth line... oh well! at least junpei does get it, in the end, and the way colour spreads over his cheeks is a lovely sight. charles laughs lightly over his embarrassment and says, entirely earnest, ] You're cute.

[ because he is, both with the blushing and with the misunderstanding. but oh, yeah, the lumpy square-ish thing with the red bow, what's that about? he considers asking, but junpei is signaling for him to wait and so he does — and when he steps closer, charles wraps an arm around him as if on reflex before he blinks.

and blinks again. oh, right — ]

Bloody hell, that's true. I can't believe you remembered that. [ he himself had pretty much forgotten... and damn if this doesn't make a warmth spark in his chest. ]

This is what all this is for? [ he allows himself a moment to look at the blanket and the lumpy thing with a bow and feel a tad bit overwhelmed, before he says, ] C'mere, [ and promptly turns to junpei so he can pull him into a hug. ]

... Thanks.

[Leave it to Charles to think his dopey misunderstanding is cute. Junpei scoffs lightly and watches for his reaction to the birthday stuff, leaning into the hug with a tight squeeze and a grin. It's already worth it to see Charles happy about it, and once that lumpy thing gets unwrapped...!

He's feeling good about it!!]

C'mon, of course I remembered. Couldn't get you anything to eat, so I figured we could just have, y'know, a day out here.

[Another squeeze before he leans back, steering them both to sit on this blanket.]

And I got you something, but tell me some cute farm stuff first.

[ that is very sweet, and a sort-of-picnic out in the park is... well, it's pretty romantic — something that makes charles' smile turn soft and pleased, the same way junpei's effortless of course i remembered does. he's just not used to this, the level of care, and it catches him off guard a little every time.

so excuse him if he keeps on looking at junpei with that same, soft expression as they sit down. ]

You didn't have to, [ he says, a little uselessly and yet feeling the need to just put that out there, before he's grinning fully at the change of topic. ]

Cute farm stuff, is it...? Well, Roger keeps trying to eat my shirt and keeps looking confused when he can't. I had proper corn for him and all, and still, no, it's the shirt for him... [ he shakes his head; roger is one of the sheep. ]

[Junpei hums as they sit down and he leans into Charles immediately; there's no "have to" or any of that, he just wants to. Charles deserves nice things, like... people remembering his birthday... well, he deserves way more than that, but one thing at a time. Junpei plunks his head down on Charles' shoulder to listen to farm stories.]

Maybe it's a compliment. Badly-dressed farm helpers don't even get a nibble.

[Or something; he doesn't claim to understand sheep. He reaches for Charles' arm to lift it and drape it around his own shoulders, then lace their fingers together.]

Does every animal there have a human name? That's weird.

[ and oh, this is nice — the way junpei melts against his side, the sort-of-there weight of his head on his shoulder. the easy contact, the obvious affection in each gesture, it's something that never fails to make his chest expand with happiness. he's a touchy person by nature, and that junpei not only welcomes it but initiates it himself, well! it means a lot to him. ]

Nah, I think it's just a Roger special.

[ at least that's how he was warned, the first time he met the sheep in question... and then he's briefly distracted by realising he's been so absorbed in his farm story that he's forgotten to actually reciprocate the closeness, which — he gives junpei's hand a squeeze and tightens his arm around his shoulders, then, to make up for it. ]

No idea. I'm pretty sure Scott's to blame for Roger, at least. [ wryly, ] He's named after Roger Moore.

He just likes eating shirts...?

[Sheep are a lot. Do you train sheep? Is that a thing? Junpei has to wonder, not that it matters; nothing matters more than just listening to Charles talk and enjoying the closeness.

Anyway, Roger Moore sheep is possibly the silliest thing he's ever heard, so naturally:]

The Man With the Golden Fleece? [That's basic, let him take another go at it-] For Ewe-r— that's "your" but it's spelled with an "E-W-E" in it— Eyes Only. That's the one. Tell Scott that one.

[Junpei could do this, but maybe he should say things to Scott at some point that aren't just movie references— So. Charles can have that one.]

[ a shrug is his answer to that — he's still not entirely sure, and kotone never explained... a mystery it is, then.

and perhaps he should have expected this as a natural conclusion of this whole roger moore the sheep thing, but he doesn't, and so he actually giggles at the first joke, and then the next one just sends him outright into a fit of laughter; he turns to junpei to rest his forehead against the side of his head as he just keeps laughing until he finally manages to steady himself.

straightening back up, ]

... Roger that, [ he says, and that's low-hanging fruit but he has to, okay? though, ] You could tell him that yourself.

[Aha, and that's ten more points Junpei can award to himself for making Charles laugh. He grins broadly, super pleased with himself and definitely encouraged to continue making Ewe-r-level puns in the future. Charles is to blame for this.

Junpei turns his head to kiss him on the cheek real quick before he straightens up completely, and yes, he does chuckle at the additional Roger joke. The well of humor is bottomless—]

I guess, but he's going to think I've got nothing going on but talking about movies.

[They talked about movies back in the day... then the Matrix thing... maybe he really does only have talking about movies going on. Or, more accurately, talking about movies and making googly eyes at Charles. That's two things!]

Anyway, won't he think it's cool? You can have the cool points. I'm giving them to you.

[ that broad grin is enough to steal all the breath he doesn't actually need from his spectral lungs — and he's sure junpei has no idea how beautiful he looks when he's smiling brightly, something he's going to tell him, just not right now, because contrary to popular belief, he can hold back his sappy comments. for a while. maybe.

the corners of his eyes crinkle as junpei presses the kiss to his cheek, and then he's just going to raise his eyes at that, because — ]

Hey, now, he wouldn't. He likes you just fine. [ and sure, maybe it's a similar thing as for him, where he'd have liked kotone no matter what she's like just for how much scott loves her — but he's, like, 99% sure it's not just that. and besides, in his humble opinion, junpei is impossible not to like.

but, hm, as for the cool points... he lets out an exhale and looks somewhat embarrassed. ] Thanks, but I don't think that's going to help me much. I got stuck with him for the question board during the Gnos infection, and he figured out I had a crush on you based on, like, one comment I said back then, so... [ he shrugs. ] And then later he saw me walk into a tree. I'm pretty sure I've got negative cool points with him.

[Junpei shrugs, like, wouldn't he, though? He doesn't have too many friendships that weren't forged in the fires of literal murder games, so who knows how all that's supposed to work, anyway. He wouldn't be surprised if Scott thought of him as "movie guy, sub-category: Charles' boyfriend," and that wouldn't be... terrible. He'll workshop it, he supposes.

That said: Charles, babe. Junpei twists around to give him a look, eyebrows raised, still somehow entirely too fond.]

So you're saying you really do need the cool points, actually. I'm serious, you can have 'em.

[Walking into a tree! That's something he would do! And yet it sounds kind of adorable when Charles does it, so as always: he's as down bad as ever, as they say. He settles back against Charles, considering. Of course, since he was in a storage room for that whole week,] What's the question board...?

[ he makes a face at the look aimed at him — please, half of everything that happened isn't really his fault... and maybe he should have thought twice about telling junpei about his walking straight into a tree that one time. well, at least the look he's getting is still pretty fond, all things considered, so good to know he can literally collide with a tree and junpei will still look at him like that! ]

Sure, then. Thanks.

[ is he going to tell these jokes to scott? yes. is he going to tell him they're from junpei? also yes, because he can live the negative cool points life — scott is one of his best aldrip friends, he doesn't need to seem cool for him.

and oh, right, he kind of forgot that junpei wouldn't know about that. he grimaces briefly before he schools his expression and hlooks intently at the fleece pattern of the blanket, ] It was this thing that happened one night, yeah? Reckon you were asleep so you didn't notice I wasn't there. We got paired up and had to answer these questions that were shown to us, and the board would light up to indicate if we answered honestly or not.

[ it sounds just as fun as you might imagine! the questions sucked, frankly, and the whole thing sucked even more, and he's somehow getting through this whole explanation with a slight smile anyway. ]

[Always a great story about gnosia week... Junpei doesn't know what he expected; it sounds kind of tame laid out like that, but he knows Charles is leaving out the grittier details, and that's honestly fair. Still,]

Huh. Extreme 20 Questions, I guess...

[He'd almost have preferred that to what he wound up doing for all of that week, but he'll keep that thought to himself. Gnosia week is long over, for one, and he can guess that if the questions were a "part" of what was going on, they weren't... easy questions like favorite color.

He shifts to wiggle his free arm around Charles' waist and squeeze in even closer to him with a sympathetic hum.]

And then what? Did it zap you for lying, or something?

[Did it keep track of points and inject you with muscle relaxant at fatal quantities, or is that just a cool bunker game thing—]

Yeah, [ he huffs in response, because that's pretty much an accurate assessment of it. and of course he's not comparing it to, you know, what junpei himself went though — he'd have swapped their fates in the blink of an eye if he could have.

he leans against junpei in turn, his thumb drawing some absent circles on the side of his shoulder. ]

Nah, nothing like that. [ should he be concerned that that's his first thought about it? probably, when isn't he concerned about junpei and his experiences, actually... but he can't bring himself to ask. instead, ]

Guess it was just to show the other you weren't being honest. We tried for the first half, but the questions weren't great, so... in the end, we just invented the stupidest responses we could.

[Oh, no zap, that's a surprise. So a questionnaire with no stakes? Odd, and odder still that Junpei thinks it's odd, he figures. He's glad Charles wasn't zapped for lying, at least.]

Seriously? Everything else that happened that week, and Extreme 20 Questions really was just... regular 20 Questions?

[Actually, that kind of pisses him off! People died— both of them sitting here died, even, and he could have just been answering stupid questions with strangers instead? Fuck the gnosia, and the town, and the shitty locals who have the gall to act like all the Chosen have done something wrong now—

Whatever. He's fine. Frowning at the blanket, but fine.]

I don't think this place is ever going to make any sense. But, uh, yeah, making shit up sounds like the best option.

Well, it wouldn't let us leave before answering them all, and the questions were shit like who's hurt you the most or would you die for your pair, and at the end you had to decide if the one you'd been paired with was infected or not, so...

[ he just shrugs — he's not entirely sure what the point of it all had been, but he can see the topic is upsetting junpei for one reason or another, so he just tugs him closer with a quiet, ] C'mere, sweetheart, [ and he turns a little so junpei is pressed into his chest instead of his side, and then hums. ]

Well, that's all done now, innit? Nothing to do with the farm, either. [ and he just continues talking, voice light, ] There's this pony there, yeah? Her name's Mary. Reckon you'd like her. She's plenty nice and gentle, so if you wanna let me teach you to ride, then that's on the table.

[It's not very wise or rational of Junpei to think, well, he'd still rather have answered those questions than sat on the floor in a storage room for a week, but— he can let it go. The gnosia is too long gone and wouldn't have cared about his pissy opinions anyway, and Aldrip itself certainly doesn't have sympathy for him. So.

Okay. He sighs and squishes the side of his face into Charles' chest, like if he can hug him hard enough that will let him get over every rage against the machine he could possibly have. He's not going to let his righteous indignation spoil this birthday thing, after all— it's fine. All of them are owed reparations, but it's fine.]

Mary's also a human name, [he mutters, because it is. Which famous Mary is this pony named after...]

As long as she's, y'know, patient and not gonna kick me off or anything, sure. Let's see those teaching skills.

[ quite frankly, charles doesn't really care if junpei is wise or rational at all — what he cares about is that he's okay, that he can help him over one of his moments of anger directed at this place at large; something he understands well enough, even if it's frustrating more than anything else, the way they could spend days being angry at the things that keep happening and it wouldn't change anything anyway.

gently, he tilts his head so he can rest his cheek on top of junpei's head, breathe in and out, try and remember what he smells like. it had been in this very park that they'd hugged when he'd been able to feel it all; that he hadn't committed his scent to memory better is an injustice he wishes he could correct.

but right, they're talking about ponies... ]

It is, yeah, [ he admits with a soft grin. ]

Next time you've a day off and I'm going there, I'm taking you with me. [ and he's not going to say so, but he thinks he's not half bad as a teacher. at least everyone he's ever taught anything to has said so... ]

[Futile anger is all too familiar to Junpei, after everything; at the world, at himself, at people who've let him down time and again—so the way he feels about Aldrip now is just another drop in the bucket, at the end of the day. They reset this whole place and already there's something else wrong with it, another thorn in their collective side— but Charles has always made it better. Junpei has meant it every time he's told him as much, that without him this place would be all but unbearable, and it's as true now as ever.

So it does help, to be pulled close and totally folded into Charles like this. Already he feels lighter, even if that lightness is just kind of putting the frustration on the backburner until some other time. He manages a light laugh, quiet, so - better.

But the laugh is for this pony thing, because,] That sounds like a threat. On my precious and rare day off...?

[What if this pony kicks him or something? Hello? But no, that's for the bit, even if he isn't, hmm, over the moon about learning to ride a pony, Charles seems pretty keen on it and he can't say no to him about, uh, anything. Pony rides it is... hopefully without an audience, just in case.]

What do you feed ponies? Carrots?

We'll make it a date, [ comes his answer, matching the humour — his days off are precious, which is exactly why they should spend those by going on dates. ]

Take Gab with us, get you to pet some sheep, feed cows, that sort of thing. It'll be fun.

[ including the whole thing with mary the pony, too — charles isn't saying as much, but a big part of the reason why he's so adamant about this is what the ketsora trip taught him: here, to get from one city to another, riding is pretty much the only way to do it fast. and if there's ever a time they need to leave aldrip and do it quickly... he's not going to risk junpei being unable to ride, then. ]

Carrots, yeah, or apples. We'll take some with us.

[ then, softer, ] C'mon, it'll be fine. I'll make sure you'll be okay. You trust me to do that, yeah?

Huh, yeah, okay.

[Lesson learned: "make it a date" is the sleeper phrase that will get him to agree to basically anything. Maybe not bringing Gab along, that seems like it'll end in Gab wandering off some distant farm corner and going to sleep, and then they'll have to run around and find him, and it'll be a whole thing...

But the rest, yeah, sure. A date with farm animals. And he doesn't at all make the connection to horseback riding as a survival skill, so it strikes him as a little surprising that Charles is so insistent about this pony day thing. Sure, he's already agreed, but hm.]

Hey, I'm not afraid of horses or anything... [Just because they are so large and he is so not, immaterial,] But yeah, of course. You'll be my knight in shining... farm overalls.

[The overalls are symbolic. Implied. He trusts Charles implicitly, with anything, but that's a little intense to say about pony rides.]

[ it's just as well that he doesn't make the connection — if it ever becomes relevant in the future, perhaps then charles will readily admit what it was for... but for now, he's all too happy to just think of it all as a nice date activity for the two of them. and he's determined to make it nice, too! ]

Right, [ he says, a little bit fond, a little bit teasing, ] Just worried they're gonna throw you off their back.

[ he remembers their horse discussion during his ketsora time very vividly... but also, ] Bloody hell, I know you don't mean that literally, but don't even joke. Overalls look fucking terrible.

[ oh, right, speaking of fashion snobbery — ] That reminds me, we need to get you some better clothes, don't we? [ he drops a kiss on junpei's head before he raises his head from where it's been resting against his, and gives him a once-over. ]

Not that you don't look lovely already, but... can that be my birthday wish? Seeing you in a proper button-up?

That's my pathological fear of being thrown off of stuff, not horses.

[Nuance (tm)! Just kidding, it's a bit, again. He snorts about the overalls - maybe he'll get some overalls of his own and see just how far Charles' tolerance of his crummy wardrobe will go. That's a fun date, too, right? Testing Charles' patience with various heavy fabrics...

As for the outfits, as he overtly looks over at the lumpy wrapped thing being used as a blanket weight, ahem,] Uh— yeah, no, we can do that. Later, though? I got you something and carried it all the way out here, sooo...

[Unwrap it before shopping time, for him. Speaking of the present, can he reach it without really sitting up from this embrace... he's trying... he's definitely waving a hand at it, like this will eventually help him grab a corner. He suffers.]

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