What Age Are YOU?

This…had turned out to be a great day. A really great day. A good chunk of the reason why was probably that she’d gotten to spend it with Shin. They’d been training, and sparring, and training, and sparring…and she’d really done pretty well. They’d worked on concentration, on focus, and Kealey had done a lot to keep Shin’s focus up while working on other things at the same time. Sure, she’d ended up with a bit of a headache, but it was nothing more than she could handle.

Then…they’d sparred again…and she’d won. The absolute shock when Shin hit the floor had quickly dissolved into unstoppable giggles. The way he’d gone down…oh it was just too funny.

Shin was a little irritated, but Kealey couldn’t stop…she just couldn’t. Some of it was probably tension release from all the intense work they’d done…but man…it was too funny.

”I…I’m sorry…” she choked out between helpless chuckles as she made her way over to him and offered a hand, ”I didn’t expect that to happen…and when it did…”

She waited for him to take it and stuck out her tongue.

”And just because I’m twenty-five, doesn’t mean I have to act it all the time.”

”I…yes…” Kealey said slowly, head tilting to the side as Shin took her hand and she helped him up. He was surprised…really surprised, and for some reason that made Kealey uncomfortable.

Shin spoke, and Kealey frowned a bit as she dusted her hands together. How had they never talked about age? They’d even celebrated her birthday…and it had never come up? It didn’t make sense…and after everything else…was this a problem? Kealey looked close at Shin’s emotions…and couldn’t tell anything out of the ordinary besides the surprise, he wasn’t even irritated with her anymore.

Arms crossed, Shin looked at her and she could feel the curiosity filtering through his emotions now. She looked back, equal parts curious and worried, and shuffled her feet a bit. ”I…I is that okay?” she asked.

Shin said it was fine…but man, when had it gotten so awkward in the Danger Room? Kealey couldn’t help but continue to be a bit upset about the fact that things had gone from funny to….definitely not funny so quickly. How had that happened?

All this time he hadn’t realized how old she was, and now…now it was causing all these uncomfortable feelings. But Shin had said it was fine…because she was still the same even if she was a….cougar?

Now it was Kealey’s turn to be curious. Shin was smirking though…smirking like he’d said something that was really funny. He felt that way too…and was confident…

He said he couldn’t complain…

”I’m a wha?” she said, taking her own turn to cross her arms. Her bottom lip might have poked out a bit too…just a little…a tiny bit. She wasn’t pouting…just getting ready to…just in case.

Boy. Kealey was confused. Now Shin was talking like being a cougar was a good thing…but it hadn’t sounded like a good thing. Why did it matter anyway? Frustration started to rise along with the confusion, and the blonde’s arms stayed crossed as she tried to work everything out in her head. The compliments were nice, and Shin said he was lucky to have her, and Kealey smiled slightly.

…wait, cat ears? Were they talking about costumes again? Did he really think she looked like a cougar or something? What did that have to do with the revelation of her age?

Finally, Shin seemed to catch on to Kealey’s confusion, and asked her if she knew what a cougar was. A deep blush burning up her cheeks, Kealey shook her head. ”No…” she said, still frowning and now embarrassed, ”Should I?”

Oh. She should have… Kealey’s cheeks got darker…how was that possible? And she started fussing with loose curls that had worked their way out of her ponytail while they sparred. When had they taught this lesson about “cougars”? And how had she missed this apparently vital information?

Shin explained, and Kealey listened almost raptly so she could be clued in on the situation. A cougar was…what?. The blond was almost momentarily offended, but then Shin pointed out that he felt like a jerk because she hadn’t understood the joke he was making. Kealey studied him for a moment…yeah, he felt like a jerk. That hadn’t been what she intended at all…and Shin had meant no offense.

I didn’t mean to be such a doofus about it…” she said, working up a smile, then laughing a bit when Shin commented a moment later.

”Rawr….” she tried experimentally. No, according to Shin’s definition, she wasn’t old enough to be a ‘real’ cougar…but she could try for a few laughs. A thought occurred to her though, and she paused and tilted her head at Shin.

”Exactly how much older am I?” she asked, marveling again at how well they could know each other and miss such important details.

The math wasn’t all that hard, even for Kealey who was horrible at the subject. Shin had just turned 23 that morning. Well…she’d just turned 25 in July, so that meant they were….

Wait. Had Shin said he’d just turned 23 that morning?

Suddenly all thoughts of age and hunting cats and math fled her mind and Kealey’s eyes widened to the size of small tea saucers as she gasped.

”It’s your birthday?” she said, then mocked despair, ”And you didn’t even tell me!”

Blue eyes scanned the Danger Room and Kealey shook her head, remembering how nice Shin had made her last birthday…even if she’d wanted to ignore it, ”This won’t do at all. We need to find something awesome to do. I didn’t even get a chance to get you a present!”

This was much better, Kealey decided. Shin hadn’t meant anything bad by his comment, and teasing was definitely an acceptable activity. There was no reason to let her own ignorance of pop culture and slang ruin what had been a perfectly good morning…and it was Shin’s birthday! The revelation still bugged Kealey a bit…what kind of person didn’t know their boyfriend’s birthday? The fact that Shin had found hers out in similar fashion didn’t matter…she hadn’t cared about her birthday.

Shin approached, agreeing that she definitely did owe him a gift and Kealey had to laugh a little as he started to circle her. What exactly did he have in mind? She stood still, tempted to hold out her arms to better enable this strange and silly inspection. Still, the tone of the moment was definitely correctly conveyed and when Shin turned on his heel to face her, it was to a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk from his blond counterpart.

The request was a simple one and Kealey simply had to oblige. The grin spread quickly across her features and was accompanied by an enthusiastic hug. That’s what Shin got for standing within arm’s reach. ”You’re right. That was a nice start, but not nearly enough. We need to do something.”