Revamped!

[Don't worry all you Kaider shippers, your moment will shine soon. (You get a little bit here right at the start).]

Act of Kai-ndness: Part Four

"I have something for you," Kai says with a bright smile.

Having come straight from work, Cinder wipes her somewhat dirty hands on her jeans. She holds a hand out and Kai drops a key in it that has a small ribbon tied around the hole. Cinder picks it up by the ribbon to see if there was anything odd about it and there was nothing explicit to the eye. But no, all she saw is that it was a normal key. Unless the one possibility that pops into her mind is true which it probably is.

"This is so corny," Cinder states, holding the key by its metal and placing it in front of his face, right between his eyes.

Kai is taken aback, having not expected that response at all. "How?"

"It's the key to your heart."

"Well, kind of, but no." He closes her hand with the key in it. "That's literally the key to my house. My house, not Torin's. I don't have to ask but he wouldn't let me give you that one."

Cinder's jaw drops a little as her mind tries to process this moment. The longer relationships go, the more people can say and be trusted that they have no other agenda other than their affection for each other. And although Cinder always knew how Kai felt for her, this gesture is symbolic of how he's letting her into his affection for her. It's more pertinent now since he's still grieving his father. He always will. After all, Cinder already did the same for him when she revealed her birth name and story.

-o-

"Are you serious?" Winter asks as she holds the key in the centre of both her hands, clutching it to her heart.

Kai nods. "It's one of the few things I've been certain in for a while."

Winter almost tears up as she holds the key tightly in her hands. "That's so thoughtful of you. I feel so honoured."

To Kai's surprise, Winter hugs him and she does so tightly. He didn't think her tiny body had all this strength in it. Kai hugs her back and her giant curls nearly suffocate him. He nudges them out of the way and finally inhales again. Now, he feels like crying because of this overwhelming flood of such a powerful emotion, ironically being joy.

"Oh … no, don't cry," Winter says to him. "I'll start crying."

"No, no," Kai responds, brushing it off. "All I've been doing is focusing on my pain and not realizing that everyone around me wants to feel my hurt and help."

-o-

"How do you still have your job here?" Kai asks.

Now at The Rampion, Kai sits on a bar stool at the central dining bar next to Wolf as Scarlet is behind the counter in full uniform, being the waitress she seemed to have been since birth. He honestly doesn't remember a time Scarlet wasn't working here. In response, Scarlet sits down some milkshakes and fries in front of Kai and Wolf. She leans forwards, taking some fries for herself and sipping Wolf's milkshake.

"I showed them my subpoena," Scarlet responds. "It would be a criminal offence if my supervisor was to fire me for such a reason as not calling in given the circumstances, but I wouldn't have been fired anyways. I'm too valuable."

Kai nods as he starts to take some fries and eat them. "Hey, can I give you guys something that's for emergencies?"

Scarlet and Wolf glance at each other before nodding. The unexpectedness of such a question has the them a little on edge. Kai reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out two keys. He slides them on the counter for each of them to take as he sips his milkshake. Scarlet and Wolf look at each other again, wondering if this was happening to them because they can tell right away what's occurring with those two identical keys.

"Wow…" Wolf mutters, taking it into his hands. "I'm not saying this to demean your gesture, but I'm begging you not to put yourself in an emergency scenario."

Kai grins a little. "I pray to the stars that won't happen."

They look at Scarlet to see what she has to say and she's not there anymore. They didn't even notice that she walked away. She took the key and disappeared. Shocked, Kai and Wolf look around, peering at wherever they could for Scarlet but she seems to have just vanished. They could only assume that she was overwhelmed by all this and conveniently had to go back to work at the exact same time.

"Either she's running orders or she went to go rob my house," Kai rationalizes.

"There's nobody else here," Wolf says.

Kai takes another look around and sees the empty restaurant minus the two of them and the cook in the back. He nods, accepting that Scarlet is definitely on her way to his place to steal his valuables. If anything, she's hiding in the freezer to avoid the emotional conversation that would inevitably follow the key gifting.

-o-

After a little heartfelt moment with Cress, while giving her a key to his house, Cress swings her bag onto her chest from her shoulder and opens the front pocket. She scrambles around in there. Kai's brow goes up in confusion at the rattling sound coming from in there. Short after, Cress pulls out a lanyard from her bag and it jingles louder than normal lanyards should. That's because hers has way more keychains than keys. She looks to have only two keys (that he can barely spot) and at least fifty keychains with some hanging off each other rather than the lanyard's metal loop. However, some keychains seem practical like the flashlight and the crescent moon one with her name on it. The other ones, like the one shaped like a present, seem pointless. It's added weight, in his opinion.

"Do you have room on that?" Kai asks curiously.

"Of course," Cress replies as she moves key rings around to make some space. It barely fits but it's good enough.

"Why does that seem like the biggest thing in your bag?"

"It's my weapon of self-defence. I walk home alone a lot."

"It's bigger than you."

"Duh. It's more threatening that way. And now, your key would save me, stars forbid."

"How could you use it if it's too big?"

"The laws of physics don't apply to little girls getting attacked by scary people."

-o-

"Girls have testosterone!" Thorne exclaims. "Boys have estrogen. I feel as if associating those hormones with the majority gender is a lie constructed by society to further divide humanity by the biological characteristic. We should no longer associate anything with gender because, like a not-so-notable or reputable non-scholar, Cadet Jacin Clay said, 'the line between genders is blurred'. We should be human beings who share different hormones at varying amounts."

Kai sits there wondering what the stars Thorne just rambled on about. He remembers this being a small conversation in their group chat but isn't sure as to why Thorne is still obsessing over that. And Kai can't understand why giving Thorne a key to his house triggered that. A school can't get Thorne to be smart, but apparently, keys can.

" … I'm glad you have a biological awakening," Kai mutters, giving Thorne an odd and concerning look.

"And that concludes my Thorne Talk," Thorne states, imitating a mic drop with the key but not dropping the key. It dangles off his middle finger. He looks at Kai who's currently narrowing his eyes at him. "Did you want to say something?"

"You leave me speechless."

Thorne coos sarcastically. "Thanks, man. Also, thanks for giving me a second home to throw parties in."

"I regret this."

[My keychain is literally like Cress's. It's a lethal weapon.] [2020: I don't even remember the last time I used my keys. It was definitely February or March. I want to say February.]