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[ 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.]

[ sure it is, babe. the bit makes charles chuckle even as he shakes his head — and maybe it's a good thing he has no idea of the consideration that's going to overalls in junpei's head...

and then he's saying later, though like it's a question and charles nods, immediately. ] Yeah, course. Didn't mean right now. [ he squeezes his arm around junpei a little tighter, then, as if to say we're not going anywhere. he's far too comfortable, and anything else they might be doing pales in comparison to simply holding him like this.

the attempts at grabbing the present make him laugh, because that's adorable, actually — ] Let me.

[ he only needs to lean forward a little and reach out to grab the corner of the lump and drag it towards them. the real question is if he can unwrap it with just one hand, though, because he's equally reluctant to move away from junpei even one inch more than he absolutely has to.

luckily, pulling the ribbon open seems to be a good first step, and that he can manage just fine one-handed. whether that's going to make the rest of the lump fall open conveniently or not is another matter... ]

[Oh good, they are simpatico. Junpei doesn't want to go anywhere before he's had his fill of this totally cool birthday picnic-without-food he's set up, even if outfits means dressing rooms means inappropriate conduct in the dressing room—

That can wait. He hums and reaches for the opposite corner once Charles has so generously dragged the lump over. No, this isn't going open conveniently or be a one-handed operation, he— he had to use a lot of tape. He's not a wrapping expert by any means, but it's too big to be in a nice-looking gift bag with some tissue paper, so: this, a lump and a lot of tape.]

Ready to pull? Three, two...

[Pull with him!! It's a record player once exposed, and the lumpiness is from Junpei's attempt to arrange its included speakers on top but also not break any moving parts. He tried. On the side stands a small collection of records, several of which are Aldrip-brand knockoffs, but maybe three or four are actually proper 80s records.]

So, uh, [compulsively explaining his gift, here goes,] Some of these just kinda turned up one day? In the house? I asked around about the record player, and... yeah. Happy birthday.

One, [ says charles and does, in fact, pull — it takes a bit of maneuvering, but eventually they manage to win the fight against all of the tape involved, and charles' eyes widen as he takes in the contents.

the record player itself would already have been enough, but the records, too? he reaches for one by the clash, turns it in his hand like he can't quite believe what he's looking at. ]

I had a cassette of this, [ he says, and if his hand shakes just a little, no it doesn't. he sets it down so that he can wrap his other arm around junpei, too, pulling him into a tight hug — and maybe a birthday present shouldn't make him emotional, but it's the first birthday present he's got in decades, not to mention his birthdays back when he was alive weren't particularly great either, and the fact junpei went to the trouble of finding something he'd actually want to have... well. ]

Thank you. [ he pulls back just enough to be able to lean down and give junpei a gentle, reverent kiss. ]

You're the best.

A cassette? Alright, old man. [Records are retro, cassettes are for old people, the logic holds— but this is just a bit while Charles squeezes him in close, and Junpei slides his arms around him to squeeze back just as tightly. If Charles starts getting teary on him it's going to immediately make him get teary, too, so— well, he's not saying anything about anybody's maybe-possibly shaky hands, but he's not not paying attention.

The kiss is a good sign, and Junpei reaches up to tug Charles' jacket collar and bring him back down for a second one. He's happy if Charles is happy, and if he's the best at anything it's being head over heels for him, so-]

Hmm, maybe. Only 'cause of you. [As always, Charles makes everything better; Charles makes him want to be better, to wallow less, to believe in people more... So he deserves a dang record player on his replacement birthday, at the very least. Junpei hums and leans back to flop down onto the blanket, gesturing at the record player and pile of records from down there.]

Can't play any of those out here, [oops, great planning by Junpei,] but... pick one and come down here and tell me about it?

[ the quip earns him a laugh as charles draws him into the hug — it's a tad shaky, just a little, but junpei's arms around him pull him back from the edge of "overwhelmed", straight into the middle of "adoring". he lingers after the second kiss, pressing their lips together once, twice more, softly, as he cups the side of his face briefly, brushing his thumb against his cheek.

he smiles as junpei leans back onto the blanket, looking at him like he's something infinitely precious — until the gesturing makes him glance at the records again, and he picks the one he'd just set down and lies down right next to junpei. ]

I'm not gonna spoil the music for you, I'm making you listen to this once we get home. [ said with some amusement. but hm, ]

I had a poster of them, too, you know? Bought it after their gig was over. Not that I had the money to go there, I just snuck in after it was over and asked the lady at the counter to sell one of the posters they'd used to advertise, yeah? Did that with a couple other bands, too.

[As soon as Charles is settled Junpei shifts in to stick to his side, draping an arm over his chest and settling his head on Charles' shoulder. This is the birthday PDA they deserve and he's not going to keep a polite distance for more than a couple seconds at a time. He huffs, amused,]

"Spoil the music"...?

[This dork— Junpei can't promise he'll be incredibly into 80s punk music, but he'll like it well enough simply because Charles likes it. Easy!

The posters are a fun bit of Charles lore; now he knows what to get for Charles' next birthday, fake or otherwise—]

If it works, it works. Were you, like, a wall-to-wall posters guy? I could see that.

[ oh, that's nice — more than nice, in fact, the unmistakable sense of rightness that he feels whenever junpei is close to him. charles relaxes a tad as he wraps his arm around junpei and lets his outer coat disappear; he can't get cold, after all, and his bomber jacket is much softer for junpei to lay his head on, as opposed to the many pins on his coat. ]

Well, yeah!

[ there's totally such a thing as spoiling the music, don't at him... the posters, though? ] Sort of. Didn't have too much wall space, my room wasn't too big and the sports trophies took up quite a bit, but I tried my best.

[ the response is vague on purpose — it hadn't been once or twice that his dad had ripped all of the posters off the walls and they'd been unsalvageable and he'd had to start over, but that's not something he wants to talk about, not now, quite possibly not at all. before, he'd have simply said it as an aside, not assigned much meaning to it at all — it'd just been the way it had been! but he knows it'd upset junpei and that is so far from what he wants to do, here, so... a vague answer it is. complete with changing the topic, though he's genuinely curious, ]

Did you collect anything as a kid? Like, coins, or plastic dinosaurs, or something? You know, before starting on your sneakers collection.

[Oh, cozy— Junpei squeezes in closer indulgently, appreciative of the softer Charles experience (tm). He still scoffs, because spoiling the music isn't a real thing, dork— but it's the fondest scoff anyone has ever managed to scoff all the same.

He's trying to picture Charles' room, not too big and full of sports trophies, of course, this jock; and more than that trying to picture Charles in it with his cassette tapes and a poster or two. If he imagines hard enough he can manifest it, right, make true by hoping hard enough that more of Charles' time at home was at least tolerable, if not pleasant. He'll think it really loudly, just in case.

So,] If you get any posters here, just put 'em up wherever you want at home. I'm definitely not a posters guy...

[Punk rock-ify their cottagecore domestic life, please. He shifts slightly to look up at Charles with a raised eyebrow, like, come on? Plastic dinos? Surely he's way cooler than that.]

I told you about my telescope already, soooo... I dunno, I was kind of into model kits for a while? Sucked at painting them, though.

[it's just a different plastic toy oh shit he's a nerd]

[ so it turns out that their "lying down on the blanket" has evolved into "cuddling on the blanket" in record time — not that charles has any complaints about that. in fact, it's the opposite; he lifts and turns his head a little, to press a kiss onto junpei's forehead, and then another just for good measure. ]

Sure, [ he agrees, easy and bright like his grin — this just makes him think of how empty the walls in their house are, so maybe they would benefit from some posters... or maybe some framed pictures of gab. those might be nice.

and hey, plastic dinos sound plenty cool in his opinion! he does his best impression of a shrug while, you know, lying down, before junpei starts to talk about model kits and charles suddenly beams. ] Oh, hey, I used to build those wooden plane model things! Not the same, I know, and I didn't paint them at all... but the building process was fun. I've always liked things that you do with your hands, yeah? DIY stuff. I built some shelves for the agency, too, made the board we use for organising our cases...

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