Chapter Text
DAY 6
Trinity wasn't in her crib when Kai woke up. He went to ask Damon about it when he saw that Damon was feeding her breakfast, which was fruit today. Trinity was wearing a blue ballerina outfit with a hat that didn't match.
"When did she wake up?" Kai asked.
"Not too long ago," Damon answered.
"And you just...took her to get ready?"
"I thought you wanted me to take on a more active position in her life."
"I didn't mean it as a bad thing," he quickly said. "I'm just, like...surprised, I guess..."
Damon didn't respond to that. He only fed Trinity an orange, which she was apparently really happy about doing.
Kai patted her head. In a happier voice, he said, "Good morning, Trinity! What do you want to do today?"
Trinity smiled up at him with food in her mouth. He patted her head.
"I was going to go to the library today," Damon said. "I have a debate next month. I know the library here should have something I can use. While I was there, I was going to see if they had something Trinity could read."
"She can't read," Kai reminded.
"I meant one of us reads to her."
Kai remembered the footage he saw yesterday of Damon's time with her. He had let Trinity "read" by herself. He had spoken to her so nicely yesterday, so if he were to read to her...
God, what was Kai thinking? It was just a man taking care of a baby. No need to think so hard about it.
"I don't think there'll be anything for her," he said instead. "The closest will be some sorta history book with topics she won't understand."
"She'll learn."
"Damon, she's barely on this Earth for three hundred sixty-five days."
"And it isn't too early for her to start learning."
If Damon became a father in the future, Kai pitied his child and their future of education.
Trinity was done with her food. Damon picked up her plate and told Kai, "I'll be taking her to the library now."
"Yeah, okay." Kai felt like he should ask if he should come too, but he couldn't bring himself to speak as he watched Damon put everything away.
When Damon was in the kitchen, he looked to Trinity to find her waiting with her arms in the air. Kai picked her up and wiped her mouth. Damon came back soon after and took her from him. Trinity immediately placed her head on Damon's shoulder, looking more calm than Kai had seen her before. Damon was rubbing her back.
"We'll be back in three hours at most," Damon told him before he left.
Kai nodded like he still wasn't thinking about how gently Damon touched Trinity.
God, Kai was being so weird. Trinity was a literal baby! Of course Damon would be treating her gently. He was mean, but he wasn't a monster or anything. Wait, no, that felt weird to think about—and it felt weird thinking about how weird his thoughts were...
Kai needed a distraction, so he locked himself in his bedroom. He opened his laptop to see that he still had the footage that the camera operator sent him yesterday. Without thinking, he left his bedroom and found the same camera operator was there.
"Hey, you're going out with Trinity and Damon soon, right?" When the camera operator nodded, Kai asked, "Can you send me the footage of whatever they do today? Just like yesterday."
The camera operator sighed but nodded again.
He smiled. "Thanks. I'll get you a bonus somehow, I promise!"
The camera operator only shrugged.
Kai went back to his bedroom. He cuddled himself into his bed as he continued where he left off last night.
Kai skipped some repetitive scenes, yes, but he finished it. Damon and Trinity still weren't home. With his spare time, Kai decided that he would go online to try to find out what parents did for their baby. He ended up finding himself in places for what parents did with their newborn babies, though, not babies who were already a year old. Then he found himself in spaces that gave parents who were expecting tips on what to do for their new baby. He ended up getting an idea.
When Damon and Trinity came back, Kai, of course, was a good parental figure and asked, "Did you find anything for her?"
"Only one book that could be suitable for her if I skip a lot of parts." Damon showed him a book that definitely wasn't made for a baby. "I'll have to go buy books from a bookstore later for her."
"Later, as in today, or later, as in the next few days? Or even weeks? Because I have an idea I want to do," he said before Damon could answer.
Damon followed Trinity to her toys. She was cleaning up everything by putting them into her toy shopping cart before flipping it over and knocking everything to the ground again. Damon sat on the ground next to her and asked Kai, "Which is?"
Kai smiled. "Let's host Trinity's baby shower."
"A baby shower is for babies who aren't born yet," Damon said without hesitating.
"That's the funny part. Look, Damon, we're in a reality TV show, so we need to be entertaining. I'm the Ultimate Influencer, so I know how to be entertaining. Just follow my lead in creating a baby shower for Trinity, okay?"
Kai was actually just making stuff up right now. He just thought it would be fun pretending to be real parents by hosting a baby shower. He was apparently a genius with words, though, because Damon said, "Okay, I guess."
Kai raised his eyebrow. "Really?"
He shrugged. "You're the influencer, right?"
Kai smiled. "Well, in that case, get ready to take Trinity out tomorrow. We need to buy everything to prepare for our adorable baby!"
Damon only rolled his eyes before his attention returned to Trinity. During the rest of the day, Kai tried to figure out how he was supposed to be funny.
DAY 7
Trinity was a really good girl on the train ride to the nearest town to Eden's Garden Academy. With her pacifier in her mouth, she sat on Damon's lap and looked out the window the entire ride. Kai had a few pictures of her, which were especially nice because he got to dress her up today, so she actually looked nice. She was very interested in her surroundings off the train too.
"Are you going to let her down?" Kai asked Damon when they got off at the train station. He had been carrying her since they left their dorm.
"No," he said flatly. "The ground is too dirty."
Trinity had sneakers on—which was honestly really funny to Kai. Such small shoes for such a small human—which meant that if Trinity was put onto the ground, nothing would get onto her socked feet. The ground was pretty clean too, but if Damon wanted to carry her, then sure. At least it meant Kai didn't have to worry about Trinity running away.
Kai adjusted his backpack as he took out his phone as they walked to the town, several camera operators following behind them. "Okay, I have a list of everything we need. If we're going to host a baby shower, then we need a cake. There should be a bakery around here, so let's go get something."
The bakery was pretty small, but didn't that mean they were more likely to give into Kai's and Damon's wants? Since it meant promotion? Or was Kai being one of those out-of-touch influencers? Whatever the case was, the bakery felt very cozy, and the desserts looked good.
Kai came up to the register with a smile. "Hello! I would like to order a cake that I would like to buy...tomorrow? It's a gender-reveal cake for a baby shower."
The worker nodded. "Can we know the gender of the baby?"
"Well, what do you think her gender is?" Kai pointed to Trinity, who was absentmindedly sucking on her pacifier, seeming to stare into the void. Kai had chosen her outfit well, in his opinion, since she was wearing all pink.
The staff looked at Trinity, then back at Kai. "That's a born baby."
"So?"
"Baby showers are for babies who aren't born."
"I still want to know her gender, and I still want to host one."
The worker's brows furrowed. "Are you trying to figure out if your baby will be trans in the future?"
"No, we're trying to figure out her gender right now."
"Have you never changed your baby's diaper?"
"We have, but we still have to know. Gender and sex aren't the same thing, you know. Knowing the difference is, like, level-one woke. Or maybe something related to sociology or something."
The worker continued staring at him.
"So you know how gender reveal cakes work, right?" Kai asked. "Blue for boy, pink for girl. I'll pick it up from you tomorrow!"
The worker's eyes closed. "Right..."
When Kai, Damon, and Trinity left the bakery, Damon asked, "How is this entertaining?"
"You have to build the humour," he said. "This is funny because of the context. Actually—"
"What's next on your list?" Damon asked.
Kai could very obviously tell his wisdom wasn't wanted. Still, he answered. "We need to get decorations. It needs to be a mix of blue and pink, since, you know, baby showers and that stuff. Just so you know, this is going to take the most time."
Damon sighed as Trinity rested her head on his shoulder, making herself comfortable. Kai could really tell his ideas weren't being taken well.
Kai bought enough supplies to decorate almost their entire dorm. Their baby shower would have to make sure the doors were locked. Kai was telling this to Damon and Trinity by proximity, Kai holding the bags with decorations and Damon still holding Trinity, as they left the store when Damon asked, "Who are you even inviting?"
"Strangers!" Kai said easily.
Damon frowned. "What?"
"This is a strangers-only baby shower," Kai explained. He turned so his back and his backpack faced Damon. "I got, like, thirty invites in here. We'll give them to random strangers and see who shows up and who doesn't."
Damon held Trinity more firmly. "That isn't safe..."
"No, it will be. Tozu can be mean, but he won't let non-Ultimates hurt Ultimates." At least, Kai thought he wouldn't. Not because he genuinely believed it, but because he wanted to.
Damon sighed. "Are we sending the invitations out now?"
"Yeah! But first, let's have Trinity play somewhere," Kai said. "Let's have it be a little bit more of a surprise when our guests finally meet her."
"Fine..."
See? Kai could have interesting and entertaining ideas.
Three problems ended up arising.
The first problem: Damon didn't want to drop Trinity off at a playground.
"We won't go that far," Kai told him after they found the perfect playground that had so many play areas someone Trinity's age could play with. "She'll be able to run right up to us if she needs anything!"
"I know that," Damon replied. He glared at the ground, keeping Trinity high up in his arms. "It's so dirty here, though..."
The playground had sand around its play structures. Kai barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "So what? Have you never played in sand when you were a kid?"
"No. I hated sand."
"Well, Trinity isn't you, so maybe she wants to get dirty."
Damon scoffed. He brushed Trinity's hair out of her face. "My Trinity won't be getting dirty..."
Damon calling Trinity as his made Kai's brain stop for a moment. What other things was Damon so casually calling his? Who else was Damon so casually calling his?
Trinity ended up wanting to play in the playground after she saw it, so that problem resolved itself on its own.
The second problem: Apparently, Kai and Damon weren't as popular as Kai thought they were, which meant not many people were very willing to come to Trinity's birthday shower.
"Please come," Kai said too pathetically to basically everyone he was speaking to. "Look, I can prove I am actually an Ultimate. And I can get you to meet other Ultimates too! See, I'm the Ultimate Influencer—here's my account to prove it..."
Eventually, Damon said, "I think you need to start inviting people you actually know."
Kai sighed. "But I want a stranger-only baby shower... I don't know how many people fake being an Ultimate, but I'm literally giving proof that I'm a real Ultimate! And I know Eden's Garden Academy can be pretty hard to get to, but—"
The third problem: Trinity was running up to them, coming from the playground. She was crying, and her hair was messed up. She tripped on the way. Her crying stopped long enough to check on herself. Damon had rushed forward and picked her up before she could finish, and she began crying again.
"What happened?" he asked her as he quickly fixed her hair the best he could.
Trinity could only reply by crying louder.
"She must've fell down or something," Kai said. He patted her back. "Poor girl. It's okay, Trinity, it happens—"
"Are you this girl's parents?" A woman stormed up to them. She was holding the hand of a boy around Trinity's age. He was staring at the ground. He too was crying.
Damon was looking at Kai. Explaining the reality television felt like a hassle, so he only said, "In a way."
"Teach your daughter some manners," she said. "Your daughter threw sand in my son's eyes!"
"What?" Kai exclaimed.
Damon held Trinity closer. "My Trinity would never do that."
Kai's gaze immediately went to him. God, he needed to pull himself together and focus...
"Your daughter hurt my son!" the woman yelled at Damon.
Kai forced his mind away from Damon and his words. "O-Okay, do you have proof?"
"Getting the sand out of my son's eyes is the proof!"
Kai didn't listen to her at all because he remembered that a camera operator had followed Trinity. He saw that it was the same camera operator that had sent Kai the footage of Damon and Trinity together. They should have more than one camera operator, but maybe this one was just the favourite or something.
"Hey, you," Kai said, pointing to the camera operator. "What was Trinity and that boy doing together?"
The camera operator hesitated, but with everyone's attention shifting—including the attention of the nearby growing crowd—the camera operator spoke. "The girl wanted to go down the slide. She was sitting on there for a long time, and the boy was yelling at her to go down. When she made it to the ground, she got a handful of sand, waited for him to get down the slide, and threw the sand at his face, which was also his eyes. He pulled her hair in retaliation, and she came crying to you two, and...I think you know the rest."
Kai frowned. "How come you didn't do anything to stop them?"
The camera operator's head lowered in shame.
"That worker didn't influence your daughter's behaviour," the mother continued. She stepped closer to Kai, causing him to instinctively take a step back. "You have been teaching your daughter terrible habits!"
"Okay, she's not even two years old yet," Kai said as calmly as he could. "She has trouble regulating her emotion—"
"And that made her decide fighting my son is the best decision?"
"W-Well, your son was the one who actually put his hands on her—"
"She was the one who began the fight! What are you teaching your daughter?"
"Okay, I get it," Kai said. "My...daughter got physical in a situation that didn't need to be physical. I'll teach her how to...not get physical."
"Okay, good." The mother turned to Damon. "Now what about your husband?"
Kai's eyes widened. "My wh—"
"I don't have to apologize for anything." Damon held Trinity's head against his shoulder. Trinity wasn't crying anymore, but she was still pouting.
"Your daughter hurt my son—"
"She will already be taught to fix her mistakes," Damon said. "I don't know what more you want."
"Y-Yeah," Kai added. "Umm, so... I think we're done here, right?"
"No, we're not!" the mother said. "I want an apology from him too."
Kai tried to step in between the mother and Damon. "I'm sorry—for both of us. We'll teach her—"
"Is this the kind of example you're giving your daughter?" she demanded. "You're teaching her to take all the blame for herself?"
"That's not what I—"
"No wonder your daughter thought of only herself. She thinks someone will always protect her. And I can see that it's your fault."
He stepped back. "M-My fault?"
"Yes, your fault! You're just a people-pleaser, aren't you? Do you ever think for yourself? Just because your man—"
"You don't get to assume anything about him." Damon forcibly passed Kai Trinity. She looked up at him, confused.
He took her, barely processing what it was happening when he saw that Damon and the mother were now openly arguing right in the middle of the street.
"How am I not supposed to make assumptions about your relationship when this is what you're showing me?" the mother demanded.
"So I can make assumptions about you too?" Damon argued. "I could easily say you're a struggling single mom whose husband left because he didn't want to have a child with you—"
"You're using stereotypes to assume my character?"
"Well, if we're making assumptions about people we don't know about—"
"Your parenting gives me enough of a reason to assume your character!"
"And so does yours! Why was your son so impatient that he could barely wait for my Trinity to go down the slide? Does he get that from his father, with how impatient he was to leave you for his new girlfriend?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do not raise your voice at me, Miss."
Trinity began wiping away her own tears, still pouting. The woman's son was standing a little awkwardly behind his mother, looking unsure if he was supposed to cry or not. Kai should probably step in and stop the argument before it went too far.
But Damon was actually standing there, defending Kai from a random person who assumed something negative about him. Damon was doing that.
Huh.
Wait.
Trinity was watching the people who were supposed to be with her for ninety-three more days argue with some random woman on the street. Maybe she was right about them giving her a bad example.
Kai came up to Damon, who was still arguing with the woman, and tapped his shoulder. When he turned around, Kai told him quietly, "We should get Trinity home."
As if on cue, Trinity sniffled and pouted as if she was about to cry again. Damon's gaze softened when looking at her.
His gaze hardened when he turned back around to face the mother. "Do not assume anything bad about my Trinity or Kai again."
The mother scoffed, muttering something under her breath before her attention went to her son.
Damon took Trinity from Kai. He immediately held her in a close hug as he told Kai, "Come on, we're leaving."
Kai nodded. He watched Damon go ahead first before he quickly opened his backpack to take out another invitation. He took a hesitant step towards the mother.
"Excuse me," he began.
The mother looked at him with a scowl. "What do you want now?"
"I'm really sorry about everything. I really do mean it. If it means anything..." He held out the invitation. "Me and my...husband...are hosting a baby shower for our baby. Because we're not actually husbands, and we're just watching over the baby for one hundred days... The invitation explains everything. Umm, I totally understand if you don't want to come, but if you do, I can try my best to make everything up to you and your son. And, if it means anything, I'm an Ultimate, you know, and so is my husband-not-a-husband. We go to Eden's Garden Academy. I can probably pull some strings to get you to meet another Ultimate or something if you really want that..."
Of course, he had the mother's attention when he mentioned being Ultimates. He waited for her response. He forced his hands to become fists as to not play with his rings.
"I'll think about it," she muttered.
He relaxed. "Great! So, the invitation should say how to go to Eden's Garden, and—okay, it says to bring a gift, but for your case, can I ask for you not to bring a gift? We already caused you so much struggle, and adding the worry of having to find a gift on top of it all, that's just—"
"Kai."
Kai turned around. Damon was glaring at him, very obviously contrasting the gentle hold he had when carrying Trinity.
"Coming!" he said to him. To the mother, he quickly said, "I totally get if you don't want to come, but if you do, I'll do my best to make sure today wasn't a huge waste for you or anything!"
Kai quickly picked up his backpack and ran to Damon's side.
Trinity had fallen asleep just as the train began going back to Eden's Garden Academy. Her pacifier was in her mouth, and her head rested on Damon's chest. Damon himself had been quiet ever since he had called Kai's name. Kai was sitting next to Damon, holding his backpack on his lap as he looked out the window.
He really didn't want to think about that argument, but that was the only thing that kept replaying in his mind. He really couldn't ignore this...
Kai looked away from the window and to Damon. "Hey, Damon?"
Damon didn't talk, but he looked up and met his gaze. Kai looked away.
"Thanks," he said. "For, you know, doing all this. Going here, buying stuff, getting ready for a baby shower, and, uhh..."
"And the argument," he finished.
"Y-Yeah, that... Thanks."
Damon's focus returned to Trinity. "It was nothing. I would've done it for anyone."
Kai's heart shuddered. "What do you mean?"
"I would've defended people like Wolfgang or Grace if that woman had spoken about them like how she spoke about you."
Kai's shoulders sagged. "Is that so..."
"Obviously. I don't like them because I actually know them, so I have valid reasons to not like them. That woman knows nothing, so she has no right to talk badly about anyone."
So Damon was hinting that he hated Kai as much as he hated Wolfgang and Grace. Great...
Wow, Kai really shouldn't let that disappoint him so much.
He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Just so you know, Damon, I hired a professional photographer to come to Eden's Garden Academy to take family photos with us, which includes Trinity, for the baby shower. Be prepared for that."
Damon nodded. There wasn't much to say after that, even after they got home. All Kai could really do was begin decorating.
DAY 8
Anyone who was hired by an Ultimate knew that they had to do their job really well. This photographer had to do their job even better than usual because it was also being recorded for everyone to see. At least they were very professional. Kai and Damon's dorm was almost entirely covered with pink and blue decorations for the baby shower tomorrow, which meant it wasn't the most appropriate place for family photos, but the photographer had come in with a grey background that they could put up temporarily just for the photoshoot.
Trinity had, fortunately, been a good girl when it came to putting on the white dress Kai said she had to wear, and she looked cute with her little black shoes. Damon and Kai were matching in their white shirts and black pants. However, Trinity and Damon seemed to both struggle with photoshoots.
"Trinity, stop moving so much," Kai said. "Damon, sit up straighter."
Damon, sitting on a stool, tried to do so. Trinity, sitting on Damon's lap, didn't care that much. She kept swinging her legs, inspecting her shoes. Kai was standing behind Damon, one hand on his shoulder. The other hand was on Trinity, trying to keep her from leaning over and inspecting just exactly what sort of shoes she had on.
"I don't see why the photographer isn't telling us this," Damon muttered.
The photographer was currently rechecking everything, a little too busy to focus on them. Kai could definitely imagine what sort of stress they might be feeling right now, so the least he could do was reduce it even by a little.
To Damon, he said, "It shouldn't have to be just the photographer who can tell you how to sit. Actually, I shouldn't have to tell you how to sit. It's a photoshoot, Damon. Have you never taken a family picture before?"
"Not on this budget..." Damon glanced to the photographer.
Huh. Damon always seemed like he would be from the type of family who had a ton of professionally done family photoshoots like this. Kai could easily imagine the walls of their family home covered in these sorts of pictures, but that image had to go away now. Kinda sucked, though. A part of him always liked imagining how ugly Damon might've looked as a baby.
"I'm ready!" the photographer finally announced. "Is everyone ready?"
Suddenly, Damon and Trinity both became still, completely ready for a photo. Kai was too, but the second after the photo was taken, he burst into a fit of giggles.
"There can't be anything that funny," Damon muttered.
Kai didn't bother responding. He managed to hold himself for the photos of him, but seeing Damon and Trinity both fidget and complain, in the case of Damon, and then suddenly looking picture-perfect was so cute.
"We'll have to hang all these photos up later," Kai told Damon after the last photo was taken. "Even after the baby shower. We can put them up next to the dining table or something!"
"When are we getting the photos?" Damon asked.
"Should be by tonight at the latest."
"That's fast..."
"Well, you'd expect someone who is working with two Ultimates to want to make a good first impression on them. Especially with me, since, you know, one bad post from me can probably ruin that photographer's entire career. And maybe even future careers, since the Internet hates forgetting."
Their conversation ended there, since Trinity now decided that her pretty white dress was the worst thing she had ever put on, and she started bawling. Damon got to her before Kai could, and when he came back, Trinity was wearing unicorn-themed pyjamas and was much happier.
"Damon," Kai said, "can you keep Trinity busy? She's cute, but I don't want her bothering me while I'm decorating."
Damon nodded as he led her to her toys. "Do you need any help?"
He smiled. "Nope, but thanks for asking!"
For the rest of the day, Kai was decorating the rest of their dorm with more pink and blue for a baby shower. Later, Kai received the photos from the photoshoot, and the photographer was nice enough to get them framed. Kai put them up too.
DAY 9
Kai dressed up Trinity to wear the cutest pink and blue dress for the baby shower today, and she had the cutest two bows, one pink and the other blue. Kai showed her to Damon.
All he had to say was, "When are the guests coming?"
"Say she looks nice first," he said.
"She looks nice."
"No, say it to Trinity."
Damon rolled his eyes, but he crouched to Trinity's level. The usual edge in his voice and gaze softened. "You look nice."
"Okay, now say I look nice," Kai said.
Damon looked up at him with a judgmental look.
"I put a lot of time into my outfit too, you know!" He had to look like the perfect dad for a baby shower, but he also needed to look cute, which made it actually pretty hard to find an outfit he liked.
Damon muttered something under his breath, but he stood up. His gaze and voice were harsher than the one he used with Trinity, but he still said, "You look nice."
Kai stopped himself just in time before he could ask him to tell him that the same way he had spoken to Trinity.
Instead, he said, "We're going to have to take this very seriously. Our guests will be here soon, and we need to make sure we treat them very nicely. Especially to that woman and her son."
Damon scoffed. "Why did you even invite her?"
"She and her son deserve an actual apology—"
"So does Trinity."
"They can apologize to her here." Maybe. "Just be nice, okay, Damon? I know that's a foreign concept to you, but we really need to be nice, okay? We're being recorded right now—"
"Pointing that out will make us sound faker."
"Doesn't matter! Let's just try to be nice, okay?"
Damon scoffed. "Whatever..."
"Good. And you'll be nice too, right, Trinity?" Kai asked, petting her hair but not ruining her hairstyle—he spent way too long doing it for him to ruin it now.
Trinity smiled up at him. And with that, Kai had nothing else to worry about!
Okay, so there were sixteen people in Kai's class at Eden's Garden Academy. When they were all in a dorm, it could feel pretty crowded. Maybe Kai should've thought of that before he gave thirty invitations to thirty random strangers.
And maybe there were even more than thirty guests in here. Kai hadn't really been counting, but it made some sense. Who wouldn't try to become a plus one if their friend was going to hang out with some Ultimates?
At least Trinity looked really happy with all the attention on her, though. She was walking around, nodding and smiling as a greeting to everyone. Damon was keeping her close, though, as if someone here was going to cause her immediate harm.
Kai was also greeting people, and he made sure to be friendlier than Damon, who was only giving one-word answers to people—which was pretty nice for Damon, so that was probably a little good. He was pretty good with everyone, but his confidence faltered when the mother and her son from yesterday showed up.
"Don't say anything," the mother said before she entered the dorm with her son. Kai didn't try to follow her, even though he really wanted to.
Despite being the one who planned today's event, Kai didn't really have an actual plan for how this baby shower thing was supposed to go. All he knew was that they should probably cut the cake to find the baby's gender. Was everyone supposed to leave after they finished eating the cake?
Damon had pulled himself and Trinity away from another attempted conversation with the guests. Kai went to his side and whispered, "So when should we cut the cake?"
"Shouldn't we go through the gifts first?" he asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.
"I mean, I guess..."
"So if everyone is here, let's do that."
Well, it wasn't like Kai wanted cake anyway...
Some of these guests were really bad at giving gifts. Today was supposed to be about Trinity, so all the gifts should at least be things Trinity, a fourteen-month-old baby, could use. Why would a baby need perfume?
That was the first gift, and Kai realized after seeing it that some of these strangers were only trying to get in the good graces of some Ultimates. The perfume given was from a brand Kai had mentioned liking more than a few times online, after all. He was obviously going to take it, but still, where was stuff for the baby?
Only half of the people bought gifts for Trinity to use. Her favourite was a regular stick that Kai wouldn't be surprised if it was a last-minute gift idea.
"She's going to hurt herself with that," Damon muttered as Trinity played around with her stick. He shielded her eyes with his hand when the stick got too close to them.
Kai patted her head. "She'll be fine. Babies need some roughness in their life anyway, huh, Trinity?"
Trinity didn't reply to him. When Damon tried to gently take the stick out of her hands, she started whining, her face scrunching up as if she might cry. She immediately stopped whining, and her face relaxed when Damon let her keep the stick.
He sighed. "She's just like you..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kai sputtered.
"You know what I mean."
"No, actually, I don't!" He sniffled, wiping under his eyes as his voice quieted. "Are you insulting me, Damon? Why are you being so mean to me? I've been so nice—"
"Let's just cut the cake already," he interrupted.
"Fine, fine..." Kai's voice returned to normal as he rolled his eyes.
He frowned as his gaze fell on all the gifts. It was so obvious that the two people who received gifts today were Trinity and Kai. Nothing here was given with Damon in mind. And maybe it made sense, since it wasn't too hard to buy gifts for a baby girl, and Kai had mentioned liking a lot of things online, but if these people were trying to suck up to Ultimates, couldn't they get stuff for Damon too?
"Kai." He looked up to see Damon nudging his shoulder. "Come on, Kai, let's go."
Right, cake.
"Can you set it up?" he asked.
"Then you have to take care of Trinity."
That was probably a bad idea for what Kai was about to do, but he smiled and said, "Sure!"
Maybe Trinity would be too busy with her stick to care that much about anything else.
So what did a ton of little kids like? Desserts and sweet treats. So if Kai really wanted to get that mother's forgiveness, he should get her son to cut the cake—well, probably not with a knife, and maybe not cut—and announce Trinity's gender. The son would probably like that, the mother would be happy with him, and everything would be fine!
They were off to a good start at first. The boy didn't look happy to see Trinity, but he was willing to come along. Trinity was too focused on her stick at first to notice him, but when she did, she immediately began glaring at him.
Her glare reminded Kai of Damon and his glare. At least Damon could look a little intimating. A baby wasn't intimidating at all. Kai helped out her ego by trying to hide his smile.
As Kai thought, the boy was willing to dip a cup into the cake and announce the colour inside, an action that Kai thought would be much safer than giving this kid a knife. When he, Trinity, the boy, and Damon were behind the cake, and all of the guests were surrounding them, Kai gave the boy a cup, and he looked inside immediately like the cake was already there.
"Just so we're all on the same page," Kai announced to the guests, "pink is a girl, and blue is a boy. Now let's find out Trinity's gender!"
He turned to Damon, who had gone back to carrying Trinity, who was still carrying her stick. Damon was already looking at the cake, but where was the fun in that? Kai's hand hovered in front of his face, blocking his view. He smiled at seeing Damon frown, but he didn't push him away. Maybe it was because his arms were full, but whatever the case was, Kai's free hand brushed his bangs aside to move his hand closer to Damon's face.
Damon had really fluffy hair. He pushed his hand further up, tangling his fingers into his blond strands. What sort of shampoo and conditioner did he use? It couldn't be the ones Eden's Garden Academy gave them. Those ones didn't suck, but they definitely didn't give this result. It had to be something he bought, but from what he remembered, all of the hair products in the bathroom all belonged to him. Damon definitely wasn't borrowing his stuff because his hair wasn't as fluffy. Maybe he was keeping it hidden because he—
"Green!" the boy announced.
Kai quickly pulled his hands away from Damon. He cradled them in his chest, and he turned away before he could see the look on Damon's face.
What the hell was he just doing?
He cleared his throat and forced a smile. "N-No, you're supposed to say if it's pink or blue..."
"Green!" the boy repeated, beaming. "She is a green!"
"No, it's supposed to be—oh, it really is green," Kai said when he peered into the boy's cup.
For a moment, no one said anything. Then Trinity, stick still in hand, began applauding herself. Others soon followed until only Damon wasn't applauding. Kai took Trinity from his arms so he could applaud near the end too.
"Now that that's out of the way," Kai said when the clapping died down, "let's eat!"
As the cake was being served, Kai caught the mother's eye. She only nodded before looking away. Kai smiled. At least this wouldn't be in his consciousness anymore.
Kai had done sponsorships before. Money was money, and in this day and age where influencers were everywhere, a lot of companies were very willing to have the biggest influencer advertise their products. He didn't want to lie to his fans, though, so he did his best to only accept products that he would actually use and he actually liked.
There were a few times when he had accepted products that he wouldn't actually use or didn't actually like, though. Those were usually when he really needed the money. He usually threw out those products after he was finished with the video. The gifts given to him today were going to end up exactly like those products, except Damon stopped him right before he could throw them out.
"That is such a waste," he said, glaring down at them.
"But I don't want them," he pointed out.
"You can still use them in different ways."
"But I don't want to."
"Then give them to me," Damon said.
Kai looked down at all the gifts. None of them looked like things Damon would like, but maybe Damon just had a bunch of surprises like that.
"Sure," he said. "Have fun with them. I'll go put Trinity to bed now."
Fortunately for Kai, Trinity was very tired after her baby shower today, and she fell asleep quickly.
DAY 10
Just in case anyone was curious, Kai put in the class group chat that there was a baby shower yesterday for Trinity in case anyone wanted to come. Jean had replied to his message with a thumbs up, causing a lot of others to reply with a thumbs up too—except for Jett, who replied with a thumbs down. Kai let him know how mean he was being.
"Please stop spamming the class group chat," Damon said when Kai came to the dining table. Damon was feeding Trinity, and that Glue Song song was playing on Damon's phone.
"Good morning to you too," Kai said. He ruffled Trinity's already messy hair. She smiled up at him.
"You cared too much about Jett's stupid thumbs-down," Damon continued. "You didn't have to send almost a hundred texts yelling at someone who probably doesn't even care..."
"Okay, whatever, I get it. No more yelling in the group chat..." Kai turned to Damon with his hands on his hips and a smile. "Damon, I'm taking Trinity out on a walk today, okay? You've been spending a lot of time with her, so it's time I do it too!"
"Can I finish feeding her first?" he asked.
"Sure, but I'm taking her the moment you're done!"
And Kai did just that.
Trinity seemed to really be a fan of nature. Kai was planning to look around Eden's Garden Academy's campus to just see if there was anything here that could be interesting for a baby, but Trinity found herself to be very interested in leaves, trees, and grass. Too bad she forgot her stick at home.
Damon might have something to say about Kai letting her play around in a dirty area, but Kai let her do so anyway. He just made sure she was only admiring the grass and wasn't touching anything that could hurt her.
"Oh, Kai!" Desmond was heading towards him. He waved at him with his usual smile.
Kai smiled and waved back. "Hi, Desmond! How are—"
Kai freezes. Now that Desmond is closer, he can smell the perfume on him. He knew that smell.
Maybe it was wrong where his mind immediately went to, but he asked, "Did Damon give you perfume?"
"Huh? Well, yeah, he did." Desmond smiled as he said, "Damon came to my dorm last night, and he said that he knew that I liked perfume, and cologne, and things like that, so he gave a bottle to me. It was pretty out of nowhere—"
"He gave it to you that fast?" Kai blurted out.
His smile dimmed. "Yeah? Is that bad...?"
Kai picked up Trinity. He ignored her babbling complaints when he passed her to Desmond. "Look after her real quick. I need to talk to Damon."
"W-Wait, you need to go-go?" Desmond asked, looking between Trinity and Kai. "You can't just text him?"
"This is an important conversation! It needs to be in-person!"
"But I don't know what to do with a baby!"
"Figure it out!"
Kai immediately left to run back to his dorm.
"Damon!" Kai exclaimed when he burst into the dorm room.
Damon was in his bedroom, reading a book. He didn't look up when Kai came into the room.
"Damon," he said, "you already gave all those stuff I got away?"
"Obviously," he said, turning the page. "You didn't want anything, and I also didn't want anything—"
"Then why did you take them?"
"Because throwing them out would be a big waste. I gave them away to our classmates who would want them."
"They meant nothing to you?"
"No."
"Wow. You're heartless," Kai huffed.
Damon finally looked up from his book, but that was only to ask, "Where is Trinity?"
"With Desmond."
Damon looked back down to his book. "Now why do you care so much I gave away the stuff you gave me?"
At first, Kai had no answer. He ended up just saying the first thing that he could think of: "I thought that stuff actually meant something to you, and that's why you wanted them."
"They didn't have any sentimental value to me. You gave them to me not as gifts, but as something you wanted thrown out."
"S-So you wouldn't treat a gift like that?"
"Of course not. That would be rude. Now let me read in peace," Damon said in a tone that made it clear this conversation was over.
Kai left, but his mind was once again filled with only the realization that Damon had received no gifts yesterday. Was this supposed to be a subtle way of saying he was upset about that? Kai would probably be upset if he were in his place...
Kai went back in Damon's bedroom to ask, "When's your birthday?"
Damon sighed, but he answered, "May 8."
"Wow, that's pretty... Hey, wait, aren't you eighteen right now? I think that makes me older than you... Oh, it does make me older than you! You're six months—"
"Get out."
Kai got out, and this time, he didn't go back in.
But that was because he had a plan now! Kai headed out because first, he needed to get Trinity. Then, he needed to start planning an early birthday party for Damon. If Damon was so willing to go along with Kai's baby shower idea even if it was stupid because Kai insisted the viewers would love it, then he had to at least accept the idea of an early birthday party for him because Damon's birthday would arrive way after Trinity had already left them. Or, actually, it could be a surprise birthday party! That way, Damon would be forced to accept it! Not that good of an idea, but that might actually work! And with an early birthday party, Kai had an excuse to give Damon tons of gifts, and then Damon wouldn't have to be upset about not receiving any gifts for the baby shower because he got a whole day where every gift was meant just for him, and everyone would be happy!
Kai might be dumb sometimes, but he could be a genius too!
DAY 11
It was genuinely embarrassing how stupid Kai was.
After Kai had his brilliant idea and after he took Trinity back from Desmond, who looked more than happy to get her away from him, Kai was so ready to prepare the surprise early birthday party for Damon! There would be cake, there would be confetti, there would obviously be tons of gifts, and it would be so much fun! At least for Damon!
Except the moment Kai sat down and searched up birthday cakes online, he realized that in order to plan a surprise birthday party, he needed to actually know what the other person liked.
Damon felt like a simple guy, so Kai should have everything done easily, but he kept overthinking everything. Did Damon really like vanilla cake, or was there actually some sort of obscure flavour that he had no idea about that was actually Damon's favourite flavour of cake? What if he didn't even like cake? He was half-Japanese—well, Kai was pretty sure he was half-Japanese—so what if for his birthday, Damon would actually prefer some sort of Japanese treat? Kai didn't know anything about Japanese sweets!
Trying to plan the rest of the party was no good either. Did he really know nothing about his roommate after more than a month of living together? Wow. Kai had to qualify as the worst roommate ever...except Damon was a pretty mean loser sometimes, so it wasn't like he was the only one to blame here.
Whatever the case is, he told Damon that morning, "I'm taking Trinity today."
"But you took her yesterday," he replied, frowning.
"A good father takes care of his baby for way more than one day," Kai said with a proud, confident smile, hoping that would deter Damon.
Unfortunately, it didn't. "I can take Trinity today. I actually had some things planned for us to do today together."
If he let Damon have Trinity, then Kai could focus on just getting more information on Damon. But if he had Trinity, he could use her cuteness like he had planned to and get others to think something like, Wow, I just need to share a few things that Damon likes, and this cute baby will help host a surprise early birthday party for him? I will share everything I know about Damon right now!
"I'm taking her," Kai said.
Damon nodded. "If that's what you want..."
Maybe it was just him, but he swore that a flash of disappointment had crossed Damon's eyes. Kai's heart #twisted at seeing what was probably just his imagination. At least it gave him a new idea if his plan failed.
"How about the three of us—me, you, and Trinity—all hang out tomorrow?" Kai suggested. "We can do whatever you had planned—well, we can do it if it can include me. Is that good with you?"
Damon's shoulders relaxed—when had he tensed up? "That works. Have fun with her."
Kai smiled. "Thanks!"
And with that, it was time for Kai to learn about Damon's likes!
With Trinity in his arms, Kai knocked on the door to Diana and Eva's dorm. For the first time, he was happy to see Eva opening it.
He immediately put Trinity in between them. "Trinity doesn't know anything about her new, temporary caretakers, so she wants to learn about them. And she wants to start with learning everything Damon likes..."
Trinity stared at Eva, continuing to suck on her pacifier.
Eva closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath. "Are you going to leave if I tell you to?"
"Trinity wants to know—"
"Oh, my God, fine..." She stepped aside, letting him in.
Kai and Trinity went in. He held her against him as he asked Eva, "So what does Damon like?"
Eva's eyes were narrowed, but she was looking at Trinity, not him. Her voice was flat. "He likes books."
"What kind of books?"
"Mystery and classics."
"Why those ones?"
Her glare went up to him. "How am I supposed to know? Do I look like Damon?"
Well. Kai had hoped that she would be as fascinated with Trinity as Diana had been and be nice just because a baby was there. Clearly, only one of them liked babies...
"What else does he like?" he asked.
Eva shrugged.
"Are you serious?" When she shrugged again, Kai said, "Eva, you're, like, his best friend here! You should know things about him!"
She scoffed. "Who are you to tell me how to act with my friends?"
He really couldn't afford to get into an argument with people who somehow get along with Damon right now. "So you only know that he likes books?"
"So what if I do?" she demanded.
"Nothing, nothing! Here, we're leaving." Without another word, Kai and Trinity left Eva's dorm. She was so rude! He would ask how Damon could ever be friends with someone like her, but he could be pretty rude too, so it all made sense.
But Kai had a bigger problem right now, and it was that he only knew one person that could be Damon's friend and know things about him, and that was Eva.
Kai was using Trinity's cuteness to get people to tell him what they knew that Damon liked. The success of her cuteness varied, but all in all, it was all worthless because nobody had anything that was useful.
"I know that he doesn't like exercising," Desmond offered with a shrug.
"I think the lad's interested in a good story," Jean said, "but not any of mine."
"The soybean likes bragging," Grace scoffed.
"I think Damon likes useful things!" Cassidy said. "But don't ask me for examples..."
Mark stared at him in silence until he went away.
"He doesn't like any of the same books I do. I don't think he's a big fan of history," Ulysses said—which was the most helpful thing he had heard all day so far.
"I don't pay much attention to Damon," Wolfgang said a little too stiffly.
"I think Damon likes giving people gifts. Look at what he got me yesterday!" Diana showed him her wrist that had a bracelet that was cute, but Kai couldn't imagine Damon giving it to her.
But, all in all, no one gave him anything to work with. Trinity was getting fussy, probably done with being used as an attempted bargaining chip, so Kai had to start playing Glue Song to calm her down.
On the way back to his dorm, he and Trinity bumped into Ingrid. Ingrid was always a good listener, so after he got her permission to rant, he told her all about how no one seemed to know anything about what Damon liked, at least not anything that was useful.
"All I got was books," he said, "but what kind of books? Does he only like a specific genre, does he like long books, does he like a specific author, like, come on, give me something to work with here!"
Ingrid crossed her arms as she thought. Her eyes brightened with an idea. "Ask his family! I'm sure even a private guy like Damon has someone in his family that knows what he likes and what he doesn't!"
Kai sighed. "Okay, but how am I supposed to ask them that? Am I just going to—oh, never mind!" His voice immediately became more excited as a new idea entered his head.
Ingrid frowned. "Please don't do anything that will make him mad..."
"I won't!"
Except this probably would, but Kai needed this, so facing Damon's potential rage, it was.
Before dinner, Trinity was playing with her toys, running around with her toy shopping cart with blocks inside. Damon was watching over her. Kai took it as his opportunity to get to his parents.
"Hey, Damon?" Kai said. "Can I have your phone? I don't think I ever got Trinity's parents' phone numbers, but I think you did, right?"
"You were emailed their contact information before the show started," he reminded.
"I, like, deleted the email or something. Now can you give me your phone?"
He scoffed, but he still said, "Fine. It's on the table."
Damon told Kai his password without any hesitation. Weird thing to do, but Kai didn't have time to question it. He wasn't expecting Damon's contact list to be long, but he wasn't expecting there to be so few. He could recognize a few of the phone numbers that belonged to their classmates, even if he was a little surprised at who Damon had contact with—when was he close enough to Mark that they had each other's numbers? Out of curiosity, he peeked at their texts and saw that they actually talked pretty often, which meant Mark ignored him earlier just because he didn't like him—but he didn't try to think too hard about it.
It was obvious to find his parents' phone numbers. Kai quickly added them to his contacts. Just in case Damon asked, he also finally added Trinity's parents' contact information as well.
Dutifully, Kai handed him back his phone. The rest of the night went smoothly.
The only other thing of note was that Kai had successfully managed to sneak a picture of Damon and also Trinity when Damon had approached her, about to start her bedtime routine. Just in case Damon's parents needed proof, now Kai had it, so from here on out, it shouldn't be too hard to plan Damon's early surprise birthday party!
DAY 12
Kai had texted both Damon's mother and his father separately, asking if he could call them whenever they were free about Damon and adding the picture he took of him last night as proof of actually knowing him. Then he realized he could've just made a group chat with the three of them, so that was what he did.
Neither had replied to him yet. It was still just the morning, and he doubted that Damon's parents lived far away enough that he had to worry about time zones, but he still kept checking his phone throughout breakfast.
"Kai, get off your phone," Damon told him at some point. "We're leaving now."
Kai looked up. "We are leaving?"
Damon was holding Trinity's hand, but Trinity let go to walk over to her toy blocks. "Yes, we. As in you, me, and Trinity. You said we were all going to be spending time together. I adjusted the plans I had with only me and Trinity to fit you."
He smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Damon, but I'm busy... Are you sure you can't ask someone else to fill in if your plan needs to have three people?"
Damon was silent for a moment. His narrowed eyes remained on him. "You know that if a baby has two parents, it is beneficial for the baby to get along with both of their parents?"
He shrugged. "So?"
"Never mind," he scoffed as he turned away. "I'm leaving with Trinity soon."
"Have fun!" Kai called out before his attention returned to his phone. There was still no message.
Around ten minutes after Damon and Trinity left, Kai finally got a response. It was from Damon's mother. She said that while Damon's father was a little shy when talking to new people, he could call her right now. So, of course, Kai called her. She answered almost immediately.
He could instantly see the similarities between Damon and his mother. They both had the same nose and hair, even though she wasn't blonde. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, showing a dimple on her cheek.
"Good morning, Misses Maitsu!" Kai said. "How are you?"
"I'm good, I'm good." Her tone was nicer than Damon's usually was, but her smile fell, and her tone hardened just a little when she said, "So, you're my Damon's...?"
He tried to keep his smile there. "He's my roommate."
She nodded slowly. "So it was randomized..."
Did he seriously already make Damon's mother hate him? Wow, maybe he just had a power to make all Maitsus hate him...
"So what did you need to talk to me for?" Misses Maitsu's voice became cheerier.
He could figure out how to make her like him more later. "Okay, so you know how Damon and I are taking care of a baby for a reality TV show?"
"Yes, Damon has told me about it. He sends me so many cute pictures of her," she said with a soft voice. It sounded familiar, and it took Kai a second for him to realize it was similar to the voice Damon used when talking to Trinity.
Kai chose to forget about that thought as he explained the baby shower, how Damon received no gifts, and how he was preparing an early surprise birthday party. Misses Maitsu listened without interrupting.
"You made the right choice with a surprise birthday party," she said. "My Damon hates receiving gifts... But he likes receiving candy. He's always had a sweet tooth, did you know?"
"Now I do." Ingrid was right, this was a great idea! "What sort of candy?"
"I'll text you a list of them all later, but in general, if it's sweet, Damon will want it—except he doesn't want to admit to wanting it. It circles back to him hating receiving gifts, even if he likes it. A surprise birthday party might force him to accept them."
Rejecting a present that he wanted to get was very much a foreign concept to Kai, but he nodded nonetheless. "Got it! What else does he like, Misses Maitsu?"
"Well, he likes cats, he likes mystery novels, he likes documentaries, he likes Christmas—"
"Wait, but I thought he hated gifts?"
"He does, but me and his father worked a lot while he was growing up," she sighed. "He never said anything, but I could tell he liked Christmas and Christmastime only because we could stay home with him."
That was actually kind of sad. Sweet, but sad—but it gave Kai an idea.
"Do you think you and Mister Maitsu could come over here?" he asked. "Then we can pretend like it's Christmas!"
Misses Maitsu pursed her lips. "Well, just to let you know, Damon also liked Christmas because when we still lived in Japan, we would all spend time at his grandma's house, and he hasn't gone back to Japan since we moved to America..."
Was this just some plan to get him to spend a ton of money?
He shrugged with one shoulder. "W-Well, I can see if I can pay for three plane tickets..."
"Oh, no, silly, I can pay for his grandma's ticket!" she said as she laughed. "And me and his father, we live close enough that we won't need plane tickets. We can pay for the train tickets too. Don't worry about a thing!"
So she was just bullying him...
"It's nice that my son has someone who cares enough this much about him, even if I would've never expected it would be someone like you," she said so casually. "Since his father doesn't like talking to new people, how about I hang up, talk to my husband, and I'll send you a long text about all of my Damon's likes? I can even send you things that he dislikes if that helps you out."
That would probably be better for him, since he wouldn't have to hear how much she hated him for even thinking about interacting with her son. "Yeah, that would be great—and I think the surprise early birthday party is happening somewhere between mid- to late-October, so—"
"I'll handle all that. Goodbye, Kai!"
Misses Maitsu hung up without another word.
Maybe Kai was being tricked, and his real Ultimate talent was actually something about making so many people hate him upon first glance...
When Damon came home with Trinity that night, he dropped her by her toys before storming straight to Kai on the couch. Kai was on his phone, and he looked up when Damon demanded, "Why were you talking to my mom?"
He sighed. "I thought it would be nice to get to know my in-laws for one hundred days, but don't worry. She hates me..."
He frowned. "No, she doesn't?"
He sighed again as he curled into himself. "She hates me and wants me gone from specifically your life..."
Damon flicked him on the forehead. He ignored Kai's wince and complaints as he said, "Just be reasonable about it..."
Kai was being reasonable. After Damon's mother had sent him a long list of everything Damon liked and disliked, he had replied with a thank-you and was left on read, and he had researched everything Damon liked to see if it was anything he could get nearby. For the most part, it was, but that was only because Damon liked a lot of simple things. Origami, taking walks, and classical music—it was all very Damon, but there wasn't even a single semi-expensive item on the list, let alone really expensive.
Actually, most of the things in his disliked list were items that were expensive. Clearly, he and Wenona weren't that close.
At least it made it all easier for Kai and his wallet. Tomorrow, he was going on a major shopping spree, and Damon was going to have the best surprise early birthday party ever!