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March 13th, Gin's birthday.
Gin had never been one to celebrate with a large party. His birthdays were usually quite quiet, spent playing video games with the one or two friends he had. It was never all that big of a deal; Gin, quite frankly, considered it just another day - aside from the presents of course. This year, however, was Gin's 13th birthday. Officially a teenager, how cool was that? This was a special birthday to Gin's mom especially, since she was watching her little boy growing up. He would be starting middle school soon. To make this birthday as special as she could, she decided to team up with Gin's regular babysitter; a 17 year old girl in high school, named Sara Chidouin.
Sara had been Gin's babysitter for a little over a year, but despite the time, Gin considered her family. Whether or not this was down to his deeply trusting nature or if he just really liked Sara, no one could tell for sure - but it was clear the two just clicked. He'd even started referring to her as "big sis Sara" from time to time. Sara would never admit it, but every time he did, her heart would feel ready to burst. He really was such a sweet kid.
From time to time, Sara's best friend, Joe Tazuna, would come over and help out with the babysitting. Gin also began to refer to him as "big bro Joe," though not quite as frequently as he called Sara "sis." Despite that, Joe was happy enough with the nickname. He and Sara often found Gin to be the topic of a lot of their conversations, as he was such a big part of their lives now. He truly was like a little brother to them. It may be have started as a business relationship, but they became a family; so much so that Sara and Joe were often invited over by Gin's mother for meals and small family events.
Now, with Gin turning 13, Sara, Joe, and Gin's mom wanted to make it special for him. They really wanted to show him how much they all loved him. Gin's mom invited family friends over for the event, while Sara and Joe invited some of the other kids that Gin had gotten to know when seeing and visiting Sara. Joe was put in charge of catering, and he brought in his girlfriend, Ryoko, to help with the decoration.
Gin's mom had taken him out for the morning in order to give the kids time to prepare for his arrival. They did a pretty stand up job if they said so themselves. Joe had baked a large chocolate cake, decorated with edible little icing dogs (those were his specialty as a dog person himself), which Sara had helped with when she was done dealing with the refreshments and guests. Ryoko had also adorned the place is bright balloons and pretty streamers. There were a few cards hung up and "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" was written on the placecards and placed across the back wall of the living room. There were plenty of kitty stickers and decorations littered around the place too - after all, cats and dogs were one of Gin's many special interests. It would be fair to say that they were his main interest and had been for a while.
It was nearly time for Gin to get back, and everyone was already waiting and chatting amongst themselves. A larger man, with dyed blond hair, made his way over to Sara. His name was Keiji, however Gin had so affectionately dubbed him "Mr. Policeman." He was in his late twenties, and a family friend of Gin's mom's. He and Sara had hit it off quite well when they'd first met through Gin's mom. Sara had met a lot of unique people through Gin's family. It was a weird collection of people, but they all seemed to fit together like a family unit anyway, despite their wild differences.
This man, Keiji, rolled his sleeves up a little, exposing defined muscles on his arms. Though, Sara expected nothing less of a police officer. Before speaking, he placed on hand on his hip and the other holding the back of his neck. This was a regular pose for Keiji to assume, as he often looked like his back or neck was in pain - though he seldom complained of such injuries.
"You kids really pulled it off, huh? Things look good."
As if to emphasise his point, Keiji looked around the room once more, his eyes lingering on each balloon or decoration they landed on. This sparked Sara to smile a little, proud her and her friend's hard work was being recognised.
"Thanks, it was a lot of work..." she sighed, seemingly happy this work was over.
Their conversation was cut short soon enough by the sound of the door open and Gin rambling about something or another to his mom while taking his shoes off. Everyone else fell silent until Gin walked into the room and froze. He looked out into the crowd of people and the cat ears on his hood seemed to stand upright in shock.
"What's this, meow!?"
As he spoke, his face seemed to light up, even under the mask, as he clutched his round dog plushie, Mew-chan, close. His eyes darted around the room, between people and decorations alike. His gaze settled on the giant "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on the wall and he seemed to almost start bouncing.
"Happy birthday, Gin!" everyone all yelled in unison, smiling brightly at him.
Gin face seemed to light up even more, if that was even possible, as he ran into the room. Naturally, he ran straight to Sara; it was fairly obvious that she had a part to play in this. He meowed happily at her as he wrapped his chunky paws around her. The claws of his gloves dug a little into the back of Sara's dress due to how tightly he had hugged her, but she gave no complaint. A hand gently pat Gin's head and, as he looked up to see, it was Joe's. Joe stood there, grinning at the birthday boy.
"Hey, we helped out too, y'know?" Joe chuckled at Gin.
"Thank you, big bro Joe, woof! Big sis Sara and Ryoko too, meow!"
Gin finally released Sara and stepped back to survey the room once more. There was now a definite bounce in his step as he half ran, half walked through the room, making sure to look at each and every thing he could see and touch whatever he could. He was so giddy, and Sara couldn't help but give a quiet sigh watching him as her expression softened.
---
With Gin finally settling in, everyone else had started to get back to their previous conversations. A young girl with bushy pink hair stood in the corner with what seemed to be a teacher. She seemed very passionate about what she was talking about with him. A woman with a lot of eyeliner on was chatting happily with what looked like her brother... maybe? Sara didn't know these two that well. This woman's expression definitely didn't match her exterior, and her brother looked straight out of a pop art poster with his crazy dyed hair. Strange people...
The birthday boy himself was sat at the dining room table with one of his friends, whom he nicknamed "bucket girl." Her real name was Kanna Kizuchi, and she was around 2 years older than him as she was in middle school. Kanna's brother (Gin called "loner") lived up to his nickname, because he was standing alone while his sister and Gin were chatting. His posture was atrocious and he certainly looked like he didn't want to be there, but someone needed to watch over Kanna.
Unfortunately, Kanna and her brother had to leave the party early. Kanna was supposed to be meeting with her adoptive sister, Kugie, and had stopped by just to say happy birthday. Gin stood in the doorframe, waving a loud goodbye with his paws.
The party was getting on now, it had already been a couple hours and Gin had started to get a little tired. He had started to fidget now, flapping his hands a little and playing with the red claws of his gloves. It was getting a little loud, but he tried to shake it off. He was probably fine, everyone was here for him, he was just being silly.
Though now the TV had been turned on in the living room, the radio in the other. People were talking loudly over each other. So many people. Everything started to seem a little foggy in his head. He couldn't quite hear right and he felt his hands begin to tremble a little bit, though he didn't quite understand why. Of course, he was just being a little dramatic, he was fine, right? He needed to be alright for everyone. Mew-chan was pressed tightly into his chest as he stood there, in the middle of the room. He hadn't even noticed his breathing had started to get a little faster.
"Gin?"
He didn't know who's voice that was, nor where it had come from, but it pushed him over the edge. Mew-chan dropped to the floor and Gin had darted off. There were a few startled murmurs and expressions of worry throughout the room, and Joe and Sara locked eyes from across the floor. They knew what to do. Sara put her drink down on the counter and excused herself, similarly to Joe, and the two met in the middle.
"Did you see where he went?" Sara was worried, but her voice was level-headed and calm as always.
Joe pointed in the general direction he'd seen Gin scarper and spoke up, "I think he went upstairs, maybe he's in his room?"
Sara nodded and immediately took action, power walking down the hallway towards the stairs. As she marched, she quietly called out to him. Her voice was low and soft, she didn't want to startle him or scare him even more. Joe was close behind, just a step behind her.
Suddenly, Joe grabbed Sara's arm and stopped her. He put his finger up to his lips in a shushing motion and gestured towards a closet along the hallway. Sara's brow was furrowed for a second, one eyebrow slightly raised as she looked from her friend to the closed door.
Her face immediately changed to one of realisation and concern when she heard what Joe was signaling to her. It was the muffled sound of crying. Gin.
Sara took a step away from Joe and towards the door. The door looked old and worn now, from years of use. Despite being in Gin's house so often, she hardly remembered ever using it. The handle was rusted as her fingers wraped around it.
"...Gin?" she whispered at the door.
The crying abruptly stopped and changed to infrequent sniffles. Occasionally, Gin's shaky breath was loud enough to get through the door. Sara knocked again, gently.
"Gin? Can I come in?"
A small confirmation followed by a muted meow let Sara know it was safe for her to open the door. Within the closet, Gin was curled up with his back pressed against the right wall and his legs held close to his chest. His mask was under his chin, as it was clearly hard to breath in it while crying and hyperventilating. Sara wasn't used to seeing his full face, but that wasn't important right now. She knelt down in front of him in the doorframe.
"Hey, what happened?" she asked.
Gin whined a little, still clearly overwhelmed. His paws covered his ears as he shook his head. Even through the thick material and stuffing in the paws, it was evident that his hands were shaking. In fact, his whole body was.
Sara watched him, she seemed as patient as ever with him as she put a hand on the child's knee to reassure him. When he didn't flinch or pull away, she took that as a good sign. His skin was slightly warmer than usual, which was just another reason he seemed so overstimulated. Sara turned her head to glance at Joe for a quick second.
"Can you go get Mew-chan?"
Joe nodded and immediately set out to complete this mission. He strode down the hallway with purpose, obviously taking this situation perhaps a little too seriously. Sara watched him leave before she turned her attention back to her honorary little brother. The reassuring hand remained on his knee as she scooted a little closer, hoping that her presence could help calm him down.
Once he'd stopped trembling, she asked him again, "what happened?"
"Too noisy, meow! And hot, and crowded, and- and too many people, woof!" he whimpered as he held his head in his hands.
Gin's voice was barely more than a whine as he spoke, his words coming out faster than Sara had expected. He was acting frantic and nervous. He let his head fall down so he was practically in a ball, trying to stop this cloudy feeling in his head.
"It's okay, Gin. Just breathe for now, okay?"
Joe arrived back with Mew-chan and knelt down with Sara. He nudged Mew-chan towards Gin, not wanting to intrude too much on what Sara was doing to try and diffuse the situation. Gin looked up through his paws, his hair falling mostly over his face. His claws latched onto Mew-chan in one swift motion and he was clutching it to his chest again.
"Big sis Sara... Can you close the door, meow? It's too bright."
"Of course, hold on." Sara stood up to get further inside the closet so she could close it, "can Joe come in too?"
In response to the question, Gin let out a little sob and nodded in affirmation, to which Joe scooted inside and sat himself across from Gin, wordlessly. Now they were inside, Sara closed the door on the three of them. It was almost pitch black with the door closed, so she turned her gaze to Joe.
"I left my phone out there, can you use your phone's flashlight?" Sara quietly whispered over to the boy next to her.
Once again, in silence, Joe switched on the flashlight on the dimmest setting. Just enough to see, but not enough to seem overwhelming to an already overwhelmed Gin.
"I'm sorry, big sis Sara, meow," Gin mewled.
"What for?"
"You and big bro Joe and the others did this for me and I ran away, woof..." his cat ears drooped a little as he hung his head.
"That's okay, you don't have to apologise. You're just overstimulated, no one's mad at you," she responded.
Joe admired how Sara was able to talk Gin down like this so effortlessly. He was actually pretty jealous, but in the good way. He'd always looked up to her. It was one of the reasons he felt so lucky to be her best friend. He crossed his legs and just listened attentively.
"You've been dealing with all these loud noises and bright colours for hours, it's okay to need a little break. Please don't feel bad, Gin," Sara continued to subdue Gin's nerves and he visibly appeared calmer.
The grip on Mew-chan loosened more, and Gin lifted his head up a bit to look at Sara.
"Promise you're not mad at me, woof?"
"We promise, Gin."
This looked to be the response needed, as Gin started to smile a little and pull his mask back up. While his eyes were still red and rather puffy, he'd stopped crying completely now. All he had really needed was some time and space to calm himself down and get away from all of the people and noises. Sara had also helped to provide the comfort that this was acceptable and that no one was annoyed at him for getting stressed.
Joe finally spoke this time, having had an idea, "how about we hang out here for a bit and when you feel a little better we can go out and get some cake, huh?"
Sara eyed Joe, and it made him worry that maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but soon enough, she grinned at him. She looked proud of him even.
"That's a great idea, Joe! How about it, Gin?" the smile was audible in her voice.
"That... would be nice, meow."
---
The three sat around and just chatted for a while as Gin calmed himself down. They listened to him tell them all about this new video game his mom had given to him this morning as an early present. Soon enough, Gin was back to being as chipper and upbeat as ever. Sara really knew how to deal with him - she was definitely more than just a babysitter at this point. She was family.
Gin finished explaining how far through his game he'd gotten when his disposition shifted.
"Can we get cake now, meow?"
Joe cast a glance to his phone briefly and looked back up at Gin, nodding, "c'mon, let's go."
Joe was the first to stand up, and he offered a hand to Gin, then Sara. When Sara opened the door, the bright light from the hallway blinded the three for a moment. After spending so long in the dimly lit closet, the natural light came as a shock. Gin hissed a little, but he didn't seem nearly as averse to it anymore.
Sara offered a delicate hand to Gin, which he gladly took in his paws and grinned widely under his mask. It was an adorable, closed-eyes smile; the type of smile that seemed so genuine and cute that Sara melted every time she had the pleasure of seeing it. She returned the loving expression and wandered back through to the kitchen, holding Gin's hand with Joe right behind them.
When they got there, everyone was already waiting around the table. The cake was sat in the middle, the candles already lit. Sara sent a silent, knowing gaze to Joe. So that's why he was on his phone earlier... Joe offered a coy smile in response to this, and put a gentle hand on Gin's shoulder. With Sara's hand in his, and Joe's hand on his shoulder, Gin turned his full attention onto the crowd of his friends - no, family - waiting for him. He truly had never felt so loved and appreciated.
"Happy birthday, Gin!"