scars from the sun: Thank you! Writing Kosuke and the twins' interactions gives me life imo

bored411: Can't wait until we get to my favorite Slow Burn Stage: "Oh Before We Were Getting Closer Because We Were Friends But Now I've Got Feelings"

Nana-san14: Thanks! At this point in the school year all the assignments start piling up so I'm really hanging in here by a thread lol

Ale250496: Thank you for the wishes too lol. Honestly Kosuke would be 100% down for cooking if it weren't for the fact that she's never done it before and would be TERRIFIED of messing up on her best friends' wedding day

Nina9802: "I should be more vocal about my feelings," thought Kyoya. Narrator: And then he didn't.

Mili San Luis: There will be talk eventually, promise!

Gilmore: Okay the fact that you predicted "Kyoya + kids + Halloween" for the next chapter is just aouwefnwouehrj good friggin guess!

The night of the art gallery, Kyoya had returned home, did his nightly rituals, and went to bed. He had nearly fallen asleep when he remembered an addition to be made to his planner. So, weary and squinting in the light of his desk lamp, he pulled it back out, flipped to October, and wrote Kosuke's Birthday on the 17th.

This was back in their "Are we friends?" stage, but even if they were still in their "I despise you" stage, Kyoya had to know. He knows enough birthdays to fit in a book, he can't just forget about his fiancée's. By then he'd nearly forgotten about Yoshio's demand not to investigate into Kosuke's information, since they were learning so much about each other through conversation—i.e. the way most people do.

Which is good, for too many reasons to count, but one specifically: now Kyoya doesn't have to worry about going to someone he cannot stand and asking what she'd like for her birthday. He couldn't imagine doing it for Amaya—

Mm, no. Kosuke was never as bad as Amaya. Anyway—

The obvious answer is something related to cooking, though that's where the obviousness ends. Kyoya has to stop in the middle of his paperwork one day, something he never does, to figure out what culinary gift you could possibly give to someone who lives and breathes for food.

He'd heard what the others had gotten: wine from Cecily that she'll finally be able to drink, an in-kitchen meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant where she can watch the food being prepared, a jar of Elvish from Turkey. Haruhi was simply gifting her another book (The Art of Gastronomy), but even that seemed so fitting.

It takes a while, but finally he finds something worthwhile: an eight-inch knife of high-carbon steel, the blade engraved with the branches of a cherry blossom tree, the same wood that makes up the handle. Kyoya isn't as versed in knives as he is with most things, but it seems well worth its price tag of 130,000 yen, and is made as nearby as Seki City. Typically it would take months, even years, to order one, but Kyoya manages to pull some strings and cash in a few favors.

Kyoya is fairly confident that Kosuke will be pleased, since it's very commonly considered "the best knife in the world." It's doubtful she already has one, but ensured she'll know just what it is.

On her birthday proper, everyone is planning the usual birthday tradition in their group: take the celebrated out for a day of whatever they want, wherever they want. The results have varied from a little toy shop where children make their stuffed animals from scratch, or touring Kiyomizu-dera. Those were from the twins and Hani's birthdays. Respectively.

Kyoya has additional plans, though. Airi and Sugimoto have invited him to a birthday dinner. They'll simply eat food (that will not be cooked by Kosuke) and let her open some presents.

Kosuke tells him to keep it a secret—as she has every other time he goes to meet her grandparents. It would be impossible not to pick up that their sheer existence is supposed to be a secret, though Kyoya understands why. Her situation as the long-lost heiress is already gossip without the grandparents of the runaway mother being tossed into it.

So Kyoya just tells everyone that he's taking Kosuke out for a day-early birthday dinner. Yoshio doesn't question it, Fuyumi squeals over the phone, and Jin looks for a second like she's going to ask about tagging along. She doesn't.

He arrives at five as instructed, but mere seconds after he closes the limousine door behind him, his phone pings.

From: KOSUKE

I'm really, really sorry but it looks like we're going to be a little late. Minami's lost her favorite pair of shoes and we can't leave without them.

Kyoya tucks the gift box in the crook of his arm to text back, Understood.

It shouldn't be too awkward spending some time alone with Airi and Sugimoto. They'll probably be happy about it. Last month they'd also had a dinner for Hitsuji's sixth birthday. Kyoya had met him by then, and while he was not nearly as icy as Minami, he was still incredibly shy and probably didn't quite understand who Kyoya was—so he and Kosuke had both agreed it would be best for him not to come. Although that didn't stop Fuyumi and Jin with sending gifts more lavish than a six-year-old could understand (including a gift from Fuyumi on Kyoya's behalf, because he hadn't the slightest idea what to gift a child).

Kyoya had felt guilty for not coming regardless. Probably Hitsuji would've been fine with it if the effort to meet had been made sooner. At least he can make up for it tonight.

Two seconds after he knocks, the door opens, and Sugimoto is already smiling. He looks a bit disheveled. His glasses are a bit askew, and his face is flushed. "Kyoya! So good to see you again. Come in, come in."

He does, and sets his gift down to take off his shoes. "Thank you. Has Kosuke told you that she's running late?"

"She has. And honestly? What a relief. I don't think we'd have gotten these done in time anyway."

Looking behind him, Kyoya sees that the woodsy colors of the cottage have been splashed with reds and blues and yellows. Streamers hang from the doorways, and balloons drift along the floor, too many to count. Ringo is even wearing a little party hat (which he didn't seem very happy about). Right beneath the iron chandelier, a banner hangs between the kitchen and living room doorways, shouting HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sugimoto watches Kyoya as he takes it all in, and meekly asks, "Is it too childish?"

"Not at all. She'll love it." Sugimoto smiles in gratitude and turns away—very fortunately, because Kyoya nearly trips on a balloon right after.

"Kyoya?" Airi's voice carries in from the living room. "Is that you? Could you come here for a second?"

The living room is obviously the heart of the party. Balloons, streamers, and confetti cover just about every surface. The armchair has been pulled to the wall, and on it rests a crown of plastic gold. An arch of balloons hangs over it, beside which Airi is teetering on a stepstool.

"Good to see you. Does this look straight to you? I can't trust Sugi to not spare my feelings."

He steps a bit to the right. "It looks straight to me."

"Perfect!"

"Here, you let me take that." Sugimoto takes the giftbox and brings it over to the coffee table to join the other boxes and bags on top. He pauses, and starts shuffling them around.

Airi picks up a tape dispenser at her feet, but only manages to pull a few millimeters off. "Ugh. Sugi, could you get me some more tape?"

Sugimoto stops with a bag in one hand and a box in the other. "Ah—Yes, dear. Just a second."

"Please, let me," Kyoya interrupts. "Where would it be?"

"In the kitchen. Should be the drawer beside the oven. Thank you, Kyoya."

It takes some treasure-hunting because the tape is not in the drawer beside the oven. Kyoya finds loop-de-loop straws, a bowl of bottle caps, and a drawer full of whisk attachments first.

Even their kitchen is filled with character, Kyoya thinks, huffing a silent laugh to himself. The fridge was covered in pictures drawn by Minami and Hitsuji, stick figures and blobby animals. Some of Sugimoto's embroidery hoops were hung up, too, flowers and vines. Just the knife drawer had signs of life inside, misplaced rubber bands and a stray bottle opener and…

Kyoya pulls the drawer out a bit more. There's a thin box tucked into the back corner. It looks near-identical to the one he'd walked in with.

He pulls it out, takes the lid off, and the knife inside also looks near-identical to the one he'd walked in with.

The blade is a few shades lighter, waves of water instead of cherry branches. The wood of the handle is darker but no less sleek. It's not the same knife; maybe not even the same maker. Yet it's undoubtedly the value.

Now Kyoya has to wonder:

Why did he really think that a cook like Kosuke would not already have a knife like this?

"Kyoya! Are you having trouble finding it?"

He quickly tucks the box back away and grabs the roll of tape. He gives the drawer a bit too much force, and it snaps shut so loudly it makes him wince. "No, I have it here."

Once it's in Airi's hand, though, Kyoya has no clue what she'll do with it. She'll have to commit a miracle to fit any more balloons onto the arch. Sugimoto is still perfecting the presents—he's now fluffing the paper in the bags to be just exactly right.

While Airi is turning her head this way and that, Kyoya comes up beside her. "Mrs. Suzuki?"

She just barely glances at him, the balloon arch her only purpose in life now. "Airi, hon. What is it?"

"I noticed there was a—very impressive knife in the drawer."

That does it. Airi turns to him so fast her hair spins around her. "The one in the box? Pretty good, isn't it?"

"It very much is. Am I correct to assume it's Kosuke's?"

He doesn't expect Airi to honk. Sugimoto scoffs a laugh, too, and even Ringo gives an amused bark. Kyoya doesn't know how to respond, but at least it wasn't an instant yes, it is.

"Absolutely not," Airi says once her shoulders have stopped shaking. "I made that a while ago on a rainy day. It was here before she was."

He tries not to let his relief show too much.

But what's so funny about—?

"No, no. Kosuke hates things like that."

As if it'll change anything, Kyoya asks, "What do you mean?"

Sugimoto answers, "Kosuke values use over looks. She hates any kind of kitchenware that's all flowers and diamonds and 'silver finishes.' Says there's no point in making something that's going to be covered in tomato juice all pretty."

"The other day she was telling us about these aprons she saw in a magazine, all floral designs and silk and such." Airi shakes her head. "You'd think it was the world's worst joke, the way she talked about it."

Kyoya nods, understanding. That would certainly go in line with everything Kosuke has said before. So much so he is once again wondering why he bought her a very flowery knife?

He's sure the price is worth it. Probably the blade is sharp enough to tear a tree down. Kosuke has no need to tear a tree down, though. She has knives (a lot of them, she'd said to Kyoya during an unprompted lecture on the different kinds of knives) and they all work fine. So she's going to take the lid off the box, see a knife made of money, and probably smile and thank him to spare his feelings but inwardly think, Why?

The stretching of the tape snaps Kyoya out of it, though not much. Airi has added her last balloon to the arch and Sugimoto has finished the boxes at least—with Kyoya's cursed one right on top.

"That should just about do it," Airi sighs. She dusts the nothing off her hands. "Now all we have to do is wait?"

"Don't say it like it's easy," groans Sugimoto. There's a tuft of paper that's clearly causing him a migraine. "I'm a wreck over here."

Kyoya waits for Airi to reassure her husband, but she doesn't. She takes an already-torn fingernail between her teeth instead.

"I'm sure," Kyoya says when the worry fills the room more than the balloons, "that Kosuke will love all of this. She's not the type to be upset because of how many streamers there are."

Airi laughs, and Sugimoto sighs. "Oh, we know that. It's just—we've missed all the other nineteen birthdays. Feels like we should make up for it with this one."

Seems Kosuke isn't the only one overwhelmed by all of this. In fact, their expressions are identical to the one she wore when she realized she couldn't touch the lava cakes. Strong genes. "She'll be able to tell you put the effort in, trust me."

"You're right, you're right." Airi leans back against her stepstool. Then she perks up not a second later. "At least I know she's going to love her gift!"

A stone sinks down in Kyoya's gut. "That's great. What did you get her?"

Airi cups a hand over her mouth even though Kosuke hasn't even stepped through the door yet. "I made her a set of cast iron skillets. She said she has copper and steel and whatnot back home, but no iron. Said it was the only proper way to crisp up bacon."

"That's a wonderful idea," Kyoya says, and means it.

"I think I've hit the mark with mine, too!" Sugimoto finally leaves the gifts be—or at least, to focus on his gift bag stuffed with sparkly paper. "I got her some pots and seeds so she can get her own little herb garden back home. Since she likes ours so much!"

"That's also a wonderful idea," Kyoya says, and means it.

"What about you, Kyoya? What'd you get her?"

"It's not nearly as great as what you've gotten her," Kyoya says, and means it.

"Oh, come now! Please tell us. I want to get excited for her."

Instead of saying it, Kyoya just plucks up the box from the pile, takes the lid off, and shows it to them.

Their smiles freeze on their faces.

"Oh!"

"It's—beautiful!"

"It really is!"

"She'll love it!"

"Of course she will!"

Kyoya slides the lid back over it. "I didn't know she disliked things like this."

Airi and Sugimoto give up and deflate. Sugimoto rubs at the back of his neck while he looks at the box, like it's a problem he can't solve—the same way Kyoya is looking at it.

"I'm sure she'll like it just fine," Sugimoto offers. "I mean, it still looks like a good knife."

"Besides," adds Airi, "what matters is that it's a gift from you. She'll still appreciate it! She may not use it, but she'll still—Not helping, sorry."

That's the best he can hope for, Kyoya supposes. Kosuke will smile when she sees it, but just to be polite. Maybe she'll display it somewhere, but it's supposed to be used. He was right in that Kosuke doesn't like useless things that are just for show and he still managed to get his gift wrong.

"It's fine," he reassures them. He sets the box back just like Sugimoto arranged it. "I can make it up to her somehow."

It is an easily fixable problem. Really. That doesn't mean he's not disappointed in himself.

If only because he's tired of trial and error. It'd be nice if he could get something with Kosuke right on the first try for once.

And honestly. A birthday present. He can save his family's company but he can't buy a birthday present?

There's no use in moping about it now, he thinks. Might as well come up with a plan. What should I get her instead? Should I warn her before she opens it, or apologize after? Or not say anything?

"Kyoya?"

Sugimoto has his chin pinched between his fingers, his eyes still narrowed in contemplation. But he's looking at the gift, and the gears are turning in his head, and Kyoya's interest is piqued at once.

"Yes?"

"I think…I could help you out here. If you'd like."

Before Kyoya can pounce on the offer, Airi interjects, "What are you talking about, hon?"

"Do you remember what Haku told us the other day? When our mail got mixed up again?"

It takes Airi a moment, but it hits her, and in just a few seconds her face cycles through a hundred different expressions: realization, delight, worry, reluctance, hope, doubt… "I don't know, Sugi. You think she'll even be allowed to keep it?"

"If not, then it can stay here. It wouldn't be any trouble to us, and Ringo won't mind at all." Sugimoto gives Ringo a scratch behind the ear, and he barks agreeably.

"If you say so. But if this is what you want to do, then do it now. There's no telling when she'll get here."

"Alright, Kyoya." Sugimoto claps his hands together, fire in his eyes. "What do you say?"

There are a million things he could, the prime candidate being What are you talking about?

After a moment's consideration, though, Kyoya decides that if this is his chance at redemption, and if Sugimoto is so sure about it…Well.

"Lead the way."

Kosuke arrives just ten minutes after he and Sugimoto return. The children charge their way in first, Minami waving hello and Hitsuji throwing himself around his grandfather's leg. Sugimoto pretends to quail under Hitsuji's strength, and Airi beelines for Kosuke the second she's through the threshold, grabbing her face in her callused hands and kissing her on the cheek.

"Happy birthday, hon!"

Kosuke chuckles, flustered but not upset. "It's not even my birthday yet."

"It is as far as I'm concerned. Come on, come on, get in here."

She and the children take off their shoes first. Once in the living room, Minami finally sees Kyoya, and falters. He's standing on the other side of the room and doesn't dare to come closer. Whatever she was going to do, Minami forgets it, rooting herself in place like she's waiting for someone to tell her what to do.

Kosuke frowns once she notices, but Kyoya catches her eye before she can say anything. Don't worry about it. They'll have to work on it eventually, but not on her birthday. Or Birthday Eve, rather.

Hitsuji does not cower at his presence. In fact, he hardly gives Kyoya a glance, too busy pushing as many balloons up into the air as he can at once. Kyoya greets him with a "Hello, Hitsuji," and Hitsuji replies with a "Hey," and that's that. At least he and Kosuke's brother are at Stage One as opposed to Stage Negative Five.

"I'm sorry we're late." Kosuke stays standing, as if sitting down at her own birthday party would be rude. "We would've been here sooner, but—"

Sugimoto stops her, ah-ah-ah. "No apologies on your birthday. From the second you walked in, we were all too early."

"Now come over here and get your crown," Airi demands with great enthusiasm. "I need to get some pictures!"

Kosuke is dragged to the armchair-turned-throne for her coronation, and Kyoya can't help but crack a small smile while watching. It reminds him of the birthday parties he and his siblings had when they were younger. Given, this was much smaller and not filled with strangers, but Jin would always fret over the slightest imperfection. As elegantly as she could, of course.

Minami points out that the throw blanket on the sofa looks like a mantle ("those red blankets that queens wear"), so she and Airi both spread it across Kosuke's shoulders. As they do so, Sugimoto sneaks back into the room. He's done it five times so far and Kyoya only catches him coming back.

Sugimoto catches his eye. "All good."

Kyoya whispers back, though Airi's chittering probably makes it unnecessary. "Did she tell you that was what she wanted?"

"Yes, but it just came up in conversation one day." Sugimoto takes a sip of sherbet punch. Doing so clearly makes him deliberate on whether or not he should interrupt the photoshoot to give Kosuke some. "The second I asked if she wanted one for her birthday, it was all oh no and don't worry. She does that a lot, I've noticed."

You and me both.

"Kyoya," Airi calls. "Come over here and take a picture with Kosuke."

"Coming."

The voyage through the balloon sea takes a minute. Minami moves further away the closer he comes, repelled like a magnet. It makes Kosuke's smile falter, but then Kyoya's head boomps against a balloon, and it returns to full force.

"Alright, just squeeze in a little there." Kyoya stands behind the throne with one hand on its back. Probably it'll look like a medieval portrait. "And just one, two, three…Oh, wait!"

Airi scrambles to take the strap of her camera off her neck, almost strangling herself. "I should get some on a different camera, just in case. No one move!"

She leaves a cloud of balloons behind her, and Hitsuji catches one. The lightbulb over his head is almost visible. "Minami! Minami! You get all the red balloons and I'll get all the blue balloons!"

Minami doesn't even agree; she just dives for the first one she sees. Hitsuji does the same—with such power that he disappears and there's a thunk of his body hitting the floor. Ringo's tail stops wagging and Kosuke startles on her throne, but Hitsuji gets right back up with a quick "I'm okay!" and keeps going.

Kosuke doesn't notice Sugimoto slipping out of the room again. She watches the children dart around, a relaxed and almost sleepy smile on her face. Eventually she looks up at Kyoya from the corner of her eye. "They didn't smother you while we were gone, did they?"

"Not at all. I believe they've been laser-focused on this party for the past week."

"Oh, I can tell." Hitsuji breezes by, kicking up balloons, and Kosuke catches one this time. "I guess they're as hard to convince as everyone else. I told them they didn't have to do anything big..."

It takes Kyoya a moment to understand she's talking about tomorrow, when she'll be pulled to do whatever she wants—with the strict exception of "nothing." There's no annoyance in her tone, just the same tired affection Haruhi uses to describe their friends.

"You say that like they were hoping you would." She looks up at him more, tilting back her crown to do so. "And really, you're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you rush over to Tamaki's when you hear Anne-Sophie is sick, and you cook Haruhi's favorite stew every time she comes home…and you panic over a one-sentence letter."

"Hey—"

"You do all of that no matter how many times you're told 'don't worry about it,' because you care. It's the same thing."

He doesn't mean for it to be a checkmate, though he wants to see some relent. It is perplexing, and a bit worrisome, when he instead sees apprehension. He thinks that was a very logical comparison, but Kosuke clearly disagrees.

Airi returns with another camera, and Hitsuji and Minami continue to assimilate their red and blue clouds. Once all the photos are taken (and Kyoya and Kosuke's retinas are permanently damaged), Airi sighs as though it was all hard work. "Alright, we'll need more photos later, but what do you want to do first? It's your party. Presents? Cake?"

Minami and Hitsuji vote for "Cake! Cake!" Kosuke looks ready to comply when Sugimoto pokes his head back into the room, grimacing sheepishly.

"I think that'd be for the best." Sugimoto picks up his sparkling gift bag from the coffee table. "I was just in the back room and realized I forgot to put something in here! I'm sorry."

"It's okay! Sounds like a unanimous vote anyway."

The children cheer and follow Airi into the kitchen, Ringo at their heels. Sugimoto turns to Kyoya and says, "Could you come help me for a second? I always need two pairs of hands when it comes to gifts. This shouldn't take long, Kosuke."

She just sits and waits patiently while Kyoya follows Sugimoto out—very confused. Two pairs of hands to wrap gifts, sure, but to just put paper in a bag?

Sugimoto leads him deeper into the house, past the shore of the balloon sea and to the door of the guest bedroom, utterly untouched by the festivities—which oddly makes it seem rather grim in comparison.

Even grimmer, though, is Sugimoto's face when he closes the door behind them.

"It's gone."

Kyoya almost responds, "What do you mean?" But that would be stupid, because it's very obvious what Sugimoto means. It is also very stupid of him to go to the gift box and look inside to make sure it's empty, but he does it anyway.

He is not in any way angry at Sugimoto, but he is very, very confused. "How did it—?"

"I don't know!" Sugimoto is sweating bullets. His knees are quavering, and his hands are trembling. "It—it must've—it—I don't know!"

Kyoya waves at him to both be quiet and calm down. They wait a moment to see if they'll hear footsteps, but none come.

"It's fine," Kyoya tells him as soothingly as he can. "It must be in here somewhere. Let's just look."

They do. Above and under and behind every piece of furniture in the room, even the medicine cabinet of the bathroom and beneath the rug on the floor. It's ridiculous, but all the logical places are ruled out. Once he looks under the pillows for a third time, Kyoya begins to worry. It's nothing compared to Sugimoto, however, whose palms are so slick he almost drops a vase he was looking into.

"Kyoya? Sugi?" Airi's voice is muffled behind the door, but clear enough for both of them to wince. "What's taking so long? You're going to miss Kosuke blowing out the candles!"

Sugimoto pokes his head through the door and calls back, "Just a second!" He turns back to Kyoya and looks for a second like he has some wise words. They do not come.

Kyoya straightens out his shirt from when he'd looked under the bed. He's on edge, but he has to keep it together. No panicking. "Let's go join them, and then we can come back. We'll say we can't find what you were looking for. It has to be in here somewhere."

The delay will be worth it, he thinks. Better that than thorough disappointment.

Airi lights the candles the instant they walk through the door. The cake is beautiful, strawberries and blueberries and a chocolate drizzle on top of snowy icing. Kosuke waits, orange from the fire and pink from her blush, as they sing "Happy Birthday" to her—even Ringo joining in with some barks. There's still a candle burning when Hitsuji asks if he can have the piece with that strawberry, prompting Minami to tell him that it's Kosuke's birthday so she should get that piece. Kosuke assures Hitsuji and placates Minami while Airi starts cutting.

Sugimoto, still smiling, leans to Kyoya and speaks from the very corner of his mouth. "Kyoya."

He waits until Kosuke starts helping Airi with the cutting, bringing up the volume again. "Yes?"

"It just occurred tome that the last time I went into the bedroom, I might not have…closed the door all the way…"

It's not that big of a deal for Kosuke to still be surprised, but again, Kyoya would like to get this right.

Even if he didn't, there are other concerns now. Some a bit serious.

"Are you certain?"

"I am certain that I am uncertain."

That would explain why they couldn't find it before, but…

No, surely it would've popped up now anyway. "I'm sure it's still in the bedroom."

He clicks his teeth shut when Airi looks over at them, frowning. "Are you two scared of cake or something? Get over here."

If she sees Sugimoto's hands trembling as he takes his plate, she says nothing. Kyoya looks to Kosuke for reassurance. She's smiling. She trades three blueberries for a small strawberry with Hitsuji. Minami eats such a large bite that whipped cream smears on her nose. Ringo licks a bit of frosting from Hitsuji's hand. Everything is fine.

Sugimoto returns to his side, cuts a bite with the side of his fork, and breathes like death has its grip around his neck: "It's over by the punch." When Kyoya looks at him, alarmed and in disbelief, he repeats, "The PUNCH," then stuffs the bite to the back of his throat.

Airi sets another slice down on a plate. "Your turn, Kyoya."

The punch is on the kitchen counter, five or six feet behind Airi. As Kyoya approaches, he looks for it, but sees it nowhere near the giant glass bowl, or the cups around it. It's only when he has a plate in his hands that he finally sees it on the floor, almost invisible among the balloons. Because of all the rooms in the house it had to be in…

"Kosuke?" Hitsuji holds up his empty cup to her, fingertips white with frosting. "Can I have more punch?"

Kosuke takes the cup and rises from her seat. "Sure, buddy. Just a sec—"

"No, let me." Kyoya plucks the cup from her grasp so quickly she's left blinking at her empty fingertips. Then at him. "It's your birthday. You're supposed to be the served, not the server."

It's near impossible not to keep his eyes on the floor as he walks over. Once his foot grazes on something, and his chest squeezes—but it's just another balloon.

There's a window just behind the punch, reflecting the room behind him. Sugimoto stares right back at him, but it's all side profiles for everyone else. Not looking athim, but he's still in their peripheral vision.

Kyoya pours a ladleful of punch into Hitsuji's cup as he thinks, thinks, thinks.

Oh, I know.

Kyoya drops the ladle. The clack on the floorboards gets everyone's attention, but one look and they all "understand." Kyoya sets Hitsuji's cup down and sighs, kneeling over.

"I'm very sorry about that," he apologizes. "I'm not usually this clumsy."

"Oh, it's no worry." Airi just flicks her wrist at the cupboard. "There should be another ladle up there, you can just put that one in the sink."

He nods, but his hand is searching everywhere but the ladle.

As well as his eyes.

Because where did it go?

He gives Hitsuji his cup back, and as he does so he looks back to Sugimoto. It's gone. Sugimoto doesn't even try to hide the way his eyes dart about the room. No one takes any notice anyway.

In hindsight, maybe dropping the ladle was a stroke of stupidity, not genius.

Airi takes off her camera again. It looks heavier than the last one. "Alright, let me put this thing up before I break my neck. I'll be right back."

Kyoya steps out of her way. She walks past him and to the staircase next to the living room doorway.

In watching her go, Kyoya sees that his present has joined the others on the coffee table.

Sugimoto starts moving in the direction Kyoya's looking. Kosuke and the children don't take much notice. Kosuke is cutting second, smaller slices of cake for them.

"Are you gonna open presents now?" Hitsuji asks Kosuke.

"Mm-hm. In just a minute."

Kyoya eats where he stands. Delectable as the cake is, he hardly tastes it—all senses dulled as he watches Sugimoto from the corner of his eye. He picks up each box and bag one-by-one, looking inside and underneath. Then, when he runs out of presents, he does it all again in reverse.

It must be in there still, Kyoya thinks. At least everyone is still in here. That should give Sugimoto time.

He can't even think without jinxing himself. In an instant Minami has gone from sitting in her seat to walking his way, the direction of the living room. She keeps her eyes trained on her slice of cake as she approaches, determined not to look at him.

Kyoya has been sure to stay out of her way all evening, but now he holds his hand out. Not suddenly or violently, not in any way that would scare her—but Minami still startles, because it's him, the person who she is not to interact with.

All Kyoya can think to say is, "I think you should stay in here."

Why? He doesn't have an answer, but clearly Minami wants to know. Alongside Why are you talking to me? and Who do you think you are?

Through grace (and irony), Kosuke sees what's happening and pipes up, "He's right, Minami, come finish your cake in here. You could get it on the sofa."

Minami retreats with her tail between her legs—unlike Ringo's, which is wagging for more icing off her cake. While Minami and Kosuke discuss whether it's okay to give him more, Sugimoto meets the end of his rope.

Airi finally descends the stairs again, this time with a small block of a camera in hand—one of those strange disposable ones that you drop off at convenience stores to print. "I forgot I had this! This'll be much easier! Now, who's ready to open presents?"

Chairs push back and forks are set down. The birthday girl and her siblings look like a stampede to Kyoya, a force he has no chance of stopping.

Sugimoto jogs over, and maybe to the others it looks like a "excited grandfather" jog and not an "impending breakdown" jog. He claps his hands so loud that Ringo sits down.

"I think that some of us may need to wash our hands first," he laughs. "Look at yours, Hitsuji!"

He tries to hide them behind his back, but one poke to the side from Kosuke has him giggling and squirming away. Airi takes over and urges them to the bathroom, and Sugimoto doesn't even come up with an excuse this time—he just walks back to the living room without a word.

His plan is half a success and half a failure. Kosuke's hands are as impeccably clean as ever, so she just keeps walking.

Without any plan, Kyoya just says her name, which at least gets her to stop and turn back towards him. Behind her, Sugimoto is flitting about the room as silently as possible. The balloon-covered floor has become a minefield.

Kosuke is waiting, so Kyoya must speak. He finds his words in the balloons and the streamers.

"I wanted to say happy birthday."

She blinks at him, very fairly. "Okay…?"

"I realized I hadn't told you yet. That's why."

She blinks again. "I didn't think anything of it, considering it isn't actually my birthday yet."

"A fair point, but even so."

"Alright." She blinks a third time, though it's much too slow to really be a blink. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

She starts walking again, looking at her wristwatch as she does so, and that is pure, undiluted luck. She's coming closer to her throne but isn't looking at it. She's coming closer to her gift without realizing that it's even there.

"What I meant to say…"

Kosuke stops and turns again. The gift is right in the middle of the throne—it would be impossible for her or anyone else to just glance over it. Sugimoto doesn't, but he's on the other side of the room. He seems to give a short prayer before he starts shuffling through the balloons, not too slow, not too fast.

Kyoya can't be offended by the look Kosuke is giving him. It's honestly a wonder that she hasn't pieced together what's going on just by his bizarre behavior. He can't just confess it now, though, not when he's this close to success.

He continues slowly as finds his verbal footing. "…is that I hope you have a good birthday."

Now her head tilts so far to one side it looks ready to fall off her shoulders. "That's what 'happy birthday'…means. Are you okay? You're acting…strange."

Sugimoto is coming closer and closer, but not close enough for Kyoya to not answer.

He calls upon some past wisdom: it's easier to lie when there's a little truth in it.

Or even a lot of truth, or all truth and no lie at all.

"I know that you've been under a great deal of stress lately. So I don't just want your birthday tomorrow to be stress-free; I want it to be truly enjoyable for you. You deserve it."

For a moment, it's unclear if this works or not. Kosuke just looks at him, and he looks at her, waiting for her to repeat "Are you okay?"

She smiles in the end. Small, not very bright, but relief floods his veins regardless.

"Thanks, Kyoya."

At last, at last, Sugimoto gets the gift. He tucks it under his arm and out of sight, so when he walks across the room and leaves, Kosuke pays him no mind.

Kyoya only relaxes when Airi and the children return and Kosuke sits back on her throne. Sugimoto comes back with a quick thumbs-up, and Kyoya nods and gives away nothing. It is once again a completely normal evening.

The first opened "gifts" are hand-drawn cards from Minami and Hitsuji both, and Kosuke's awe of the crayon scribbles seems sincere. The majority of the boxes and bags are "just little happies," as Sugimoto explains, a family tradition—stylish notebooks, a little attachable lamp for reading, a T-shirt for something called the "Sugar Plum Pixies" that makes Kosuke guffaw and Minami and Hitsuji gasp. Of course Kosuke squeeeees at the cast-iron skillets and oh-my-goodness-es at her garden kit. Kyoya tries to hide his chuckling, but once or twice Kosuke shoots him a dirty look. It's hard not to crack a smile when she's acting like a child on Christmas.

"Thank you, thank you," Kosuke says while she tries to hold every gift at once, squeezing them to her to hug them all. "This is just—Oh, wow."

Airi laughs and sets her punch down. "Well, now, that's not all."

"Please tell me you're kidding!"

"No, really! But it's not from us." Kyoya had been awaiting his cue, but he is still surprised when Sugimoto claps a hand between his shoulders. If he'd set his own punch down just a moment later, it'd have spilled everywhere.

Kosuke's head turns at this, and Kyoya explains, "I wanted to give it to you tonight, in case tomorrow turns out to be busy. If you don't mind."

"No, I don't mind. I just—" She never says what she 'just.' "Yeah, alright. Sure."

This time Kyoya goes to get it, and checks three times to make sure it hasn't gotten lost again. When he returns, Sugimoto and Airi move closer to the edge of their seats, thrumming with excitement. Kosuke, however, is confused—watching how Kyoya carefully sets it at her feet, and seeing the holes that polka-dot the top of the box.

Kyoya sits back. "Go ahead."

Kosuke lifts the box up a few inches.

She then immediately closes it again.

Then opens it again, just to be sure, and closes it.

For a moment there's such a look of alarm on her face that the children fidget and Ringo whines. Then her eyes snap to Kyoya.

"I never said…"

Sugimoto and Airi both shrug and say in a unison that would make the twins jealous, "Guilty!"

"But this—I don't know if I can—"

"We know," says Airi. "If you can't keep it back there, then you can keep it here, no worries! Either way, we've got everything else you'll need."

Impatient, the children urge her on. "What is it?" and "Open it!" Still she hesitates. If it were anyone else, Kyoya would worry that this was worse than disappointment. He knows that this is Kosuke, however, and he knows that she's asking questions and making assumptions in her head.

Kyoya reaches over and taps on the hand still on the box lid. "I was told this would make you happy, which is why I got it. Please accept it."

More apprehension, but finally…defeat.

Of course, the children nearly combust on sight. Minami squeals, and Hitsuji jumps right out of his seat. Ringo starts barking, so Sugimoto soothes him, and Airi snaps away with her camera. For a minute it's all chaos, but Kosuke stays still, holding her present as though it were made of delicate glass. Kyoya can't blame her; it's a tiny little thing, just big enough to fit in the palm of her hand. Finally free, and undoubtedly alarmed, it finally starts to mew.

"Isn't she a pretty little thing?" Sugimoto coos. He reaches over to give the kitten a little scritch behind her ears.

Kyoya had picked her out of the litter that Mr. Haku the Suzukis' neighbor, had told them about. His "little Petunia" was an outdoor stray, and he wanted to make sure her kittens went to good homes. "First come, first served," he'd said, and Kyoya thought himself quite lucky that there was exactly one left to claim. There were three kittens total, but none had been chosen specifically, so Kyoya was able to pick his personal favorite. She was indeed a pretty little thing. All her paws were black like fox's feet, and ripples of black, white, and orange covered her all over.

Kosuke does not give a verbal response, just a deep-throated whine filled with oxytocin. She cradles the kitten in the bend of her arm and doesn't make a sound when she bites Kosuke's fingertip. Minami and Hitsuji beg for their turns to hold her until Airi reels them back in.

"Are you happy with it?" asks Kyoya. Utterly unnecessary, but he needs to hear it.

He doesn't, but her long, high-pitched "aaaaaaawwwwwuuuuuuuhhhh" is good enough.

Of course the children have their turns holding the kitten, as do Airi and Sugimoto, and Kyoya is really peer-pressured into it—but the kitten gets fed up with being held, and starts crawling all over him, so Airi has to pry her off the back of his shirt. Minami and Hitsuji argue over what her name should be (a war between "Princess" and "Spot") but realize that it's Kosuke's cat and apologize.

Sugimoto brings out the other gifts, the bowls and the carrier and the collars. Minami and Hitsuji take care of opening them, and Airi and Sugimoto go to get the actual meal of braised pork belly ready. No one says anything about eating cake first.

While the children are marveling at all the little cat toys and trinkets, the kitten lies on her back in Kosuke's lap, batting at her fingers. Kosuke is still flushed with joy.

"Thank you, Kyoya," She says when the kitten starts to purr under her palm. "This was really sweet of you."

"You're welcome."

The only thing that ruins it, just a little, is the realization that this will be an annual worry. But oh well. He'll know her better next year.