Almost two weeks pass. Sadde still has work, even if school's out, but they and Theo hang out a bit more. No new cards appear, and Kero seems to not think that strange, so Sadde themself doesn't care. And one day Theo gets a text in the morning: Happy birthday!
Well, Theo is definitely not complaining. Despite his lack of experience with them, he concludes that strip teases are fun.
"Oh goodness, are you two back already? Don't you have better things to do than die of boredom around me?"
Theo doesn't really know what to say, so he just stands slightly behind Sadde and lets him take the lead.
Sadde is kinda evil and wants to put Theo on the spotlight: "You see, Theo was very worried about you, he kept bugging me about us coming here as soon as possible, what if you died, so I gave in."
Of course it was! Theo's a very kind, caring, and compassionate soul.
"Um, it wasn't quite like that," he says.
"Mum, of course I'm worried about you, don't be silly. Also look at him, isn't he cute? I told you he was cute. I should make him blush." He looks at Theo. "Go on, blush, I want to show her that."
"You blushed when we told your dad we were going for a walk. Do you blush when we do romantic things? I think that's when you blush." So he plants a kiss on Theo's cheek.
Theo doesn't blush. He definitely doesn't blush.
Okay, he totally blushes. And starts stuttering again, a little.
He makes a conscious effort not to try to talk, so as to try to stop the stuttering, and focuses on anything but blushing.
"I think you've tortured him enough, love. And in any case, they won't release me until tonight, I really did mean it when I said there's less boring things for you two to do than stay around me all day."
Theo finally feels he can speak, and says, "I'd be happy to stay here."
He's still blushing quite a lot.
She sighs. "Alright, do what you want. I would like to see some of those other cards."