[ Ahahaha, oh... he feels so bad when Shouto seems so dazed, even if it also makes him blink and bite the inside of his lip slightly to try (and fail) to hide a smile. In fact would rethink what he just said if the other had said anything to indicate a preference, but that he doesn't means Allen just leans in to kiss his cheek softly in faint apology. Lingering there to give him a moment to collect his thoughts.
It's for the best. He'd be so upset with himself at getting so carried away Shouto's present got forgotten until later. And... because it was also a gut reaction to pull himself back from some point of no return given his own unstable and raw emotional state. So he just smiles gently against his cheek as the flutters in his own stomach quiet. Throttling himself with such brutally efficient practice that it's seamless when he has his head about him. ]
It's only one-- [ He reaches over for the package he'd retrieved when Shouto re-wrapped his own, fingers skimming over the stack of pictures still loose in his lap with a quiet and fond smile. Because while Allen had wanted to set it out under the tree as well (but slept in too late), he also knew better than to risk the elements with something delicate.
He presents him with such a terribly wrapped present, though not because he had been careless in doing so but perhaps had taken too much care while having absolutely zero artistic skills. Somehow even the ribbon looks like someone put a very sad clown hat on it.
Thankfully, Allen guesses he might need a little direction still and just sets it gently in his lap. ]
But I had to keep something for your birthday next month. [ ♥ Cheeky? A little.
Inside is... what looks like a very decorative tome, actually. Leather-bound with intricate embossing, a smooth oval in the middle that could hold further potential tooling or customization. Inside isn't paper with writing but the pages of a photo album. Beginning with one of the very first photos Allen had ever taken the moment he learned his omni could, a picture when they had been out at lunch somewhere and he had smooshed in to try and get a picture of the both of them and had to hold the omni back and at an... interesting kind of askance angle before he had realized there was a camera option for taking self pictures like that, but it has both their faces; Allen's own expression utterly delighted and bright. It's technically the third picture he had ever taken: first was one of Tim, then Shouto.
Pictures of the koi, Tim, and Kizu quickly take up the next pages in chronological order, some of which Shouto might recognize as Allen had sent them to him at the time but a greater many he hadn't. The tanabata festival, where Allen tried so hard to get a picture of Shouto smiling before he realized his only hope was to take one when he wasn't looking. The completion of the repairs on the house after the flooding is there. Making soba the first night he tried to recreate it with just the two of them, featuring both Shouto cleaning up with only the top of Allen's hair in the bottom of the picture and a nicer one of the two of them sitting down to eat with Allen looking so radiantly proud of himself. Some of Shouto's friends are in there as well, mostly from celebrations they had happened to all be at and when they were talking with Shouto—especially if there might have been a softer expression Shouto was making that would have caught Allen's eye.
Dabi is there too, one of the extremely blurry long distance photos Allen had very quickly snapped and sent to Shouto when he caught him resting under the guardian sapling.
Pictures that also weren't that easy to figure out how to extract... omnis are blood magic, after all. Trying to figure out how to pull them from that into tangible existence was a far more difficult arcane endeavor than Allen thought it would be, and took enlisting the help of a darkblood friend and a lot of trial and error. He won't disclose that though unless asked.
On and on, filling up maybe a third of the pages. The rest are all blank, and when Shouto gets to them... Allen will fidget lightly, and say it's because he hopes they can keep filling them up. ]
no subject
It's for the best. He'd be so upset with himself at getting so carried away Shouto's present got forgotten until later. And... because it was also a gut reaction to pull himself back from some point of no return given his own unstable and raw emotional state. So he just smiles gently against his cheek as the flutters in his own stomach quiet. Throttling himself with such brutally efficient practice that it's seamless when he has his head about him. ]
It's only one-- [ He reaches over for the package he'd retrieved when Shouto re-wrapped his own, fingers skimming over the stack of pictures still loose in his lap with a quiet and fond smile. Because while Allen had wanted to set it out under the tree as well (but slept in too late), he also knew better than to risk the elements with something delicate.
He presents him with such a terribly wrapped present, though not because he had been careless in doing so but perhaps had taken too much care while having absolutely zero artistic skills. Somehow even the ribbon looks like someone put a very sad clown hat on it.
Thankfully, Allen guesses he might need a little direction still and just sets it gently in his lap. ]
But I had to keep something for your birthday next month. [ ♥ Cheeky? A little.
Inside is... what looks like a very decorative tome, actually. Leather-bound with intricate embossing, a smooth oval in the middle that could hold further potential tooling or customization. Inside isn't paper with writing but the pages of a photo album. Beginning with one of the very first photos Allen had ever taken the moment he learned his omni could, a picture when they had been out at lunch somewhere and he had smooshed in to try and get a picture of the both of them and had to hold the omni back and at an... interesting kind of askance angle before he had realized there was a camera option for taking self pictures like that, but it has both their faces; Allen's own expression utterly delighted and bright. It's technically the third picture he had ever taken: first was one of Tim, then Shouto.
Pictures of the koi, Tim, and Kizu quickly take up the next pages in chronological order, some of which Shouto might recognize as Allen had sent them to him at the time but a greater many he hadn't. The tanabata festival, where Allen tried so hard to get a picture of Shouto smiling before he realized his only hope was to take one when he wasn't looking. The completion of the repairs on the house after the flooding is there. Making soba the first night he tried to recreate it with just the two of them, featuring both Shouto cleaning up with only the top of Allen's hair in the bottom of the picture and a nicer one of the two of them sitting down to eat with Allen looking so radiantly proud of himself. Some of Shouto's friends are in there as well, mostly from celebrations they had happened to all be at and when they were talking with Shouto—especially if there might have been a softer expression Shouto was making that would have caught Allen's eye.
Dabi is there too, one of the extremely blurry long distance photos Allen had very quickly snapped and sent to Shouto when he caught him resting under the guardian sapling.
Pictures that also weren't that easy to figure out how to extract... omnis are blood magic, after all. Trying to figure out how to pull them from that into tangible existence was a far more difficult arcane endeavor than Allen thought it would be, and took enlisting the help of a darkblood friend and a lot of trial and error. He won't disclose that though unless asked.
On and on, filling up maybe a third of the pages. The rest are all blank, and when Shouto gets to them... Allen will fidget lightly, and say it's because he hopes they can keep filling them up. ]