Tobir is reluctant to be coaxed out, but will eventually allow himself to be, agreeing (with a mortified blush) that a shower sounds like a good idea. He's not leaving the blankets behind for anything, though. He will just be a blanket caterpillar from now on.

Unfortunately he will leave them once he's in the bathroom to have that shower. And once he's done, they aren't really needed anymore.

...He appears to be incapable of eye-contact now, though.

Okay... what does he prefer to do now?

Lab? To work on the crystals? And try to pretend this never happened, and also continue under the (completely futile) hope that if he ignores it spring will just leave him alone, that would be nice. 

(He wants- ugh, he doesn't even really know what he wants. He knows the outline but.)

(He keeps catching himself staring at Ken when he moves or speaks, at his arms and his lips and his- agh, Ken isn't even springing yet, and he might not spring at all this year, he'd like this to stop, please-)

(He caught himself looking at Heri for a moment so now he's just resolved to not look at him at all, because no, nope, aaaa-)

(In conclusion: this is already terrible and it's just the first day. He hasn't even left the house yet!)

This is very awkward. Is Tobir sure that he doesn't want to take the day off?

And do what? Sit around feeling sorry for himself and screaming internally? He's left the bedcave of mortification, it would be giving up to go back now. It'll be better if he has something to take his mind off it, right? Maybe? Probably not.

Okay. Okay. They take... a long way around to get to the portal hub. Avoiding the shore. Where you can often spot people in swimsuits.

This leads them right close a residential area with a small child in the entrance steps.

That's very considerate of them-

Oh. Oh, right. He stops still as he's suddenly hit with a wave of want, so powerful he actually can't breathe for a second. 

(That's a BABY! So cute, look at those tiny hands and those chubby cheeks and those big eyes and-)

He takes a step in that direction and then stops, abruptly. That's not his baby, he can't just go over and pick them up. 

"...Heri?" He breathes, breath hitching. "Maybe- maybe I should just stay home?"

Okay. It's generally considered rude or at least not particularly polite to open portals at random, but this sounds like an emergency. He opens to their waterfall secret lair.

Through the portal. Tobir sits down on the nearest soft surface and covers his eyes, trying to force his breathing to stay steady.

Pat pat.

"Mother might lend you Vanora when her arms are tired?"

Nod nod. He sort of doubts that, but, "Uncle said he's been thinking of adopting the next baby clone," he says in return. That seems more likely to net him baby-holding privileges. 

"...So this is. Awful," he adds after a moment. "Sorry for being such a..." Wimp? Cry-baby? 

"Dude, relax. Every amentan goes through this."

"Yeah," breathe, sniffle, "And it sucks. I can see how Amenta got so overpopulated, now."

"I think I'm just gonna stay here, today," he says, voice small. 

Pat pat. "We can watch something to distract you?"

Hug. "Yeah," he agrees, "Thanks."

They watch the movie and try their best to help Tobir adapt.

A few days later, the boys are really later for a session.

After they miss it by an hour, Henry Tutor comes over to check on them.

Remi lets him into the house, and is a little surprised to hear that they haven't made their way to the labs yet. After that first day, they had started going again, after all. 

...Hm. He leads Henry up to the bedroom the boys share and knocks.

"Are you three still in there?"

There's a long pause, and then the door opens part way to allow Tobir to peer out into the hall. He's wearing a blanket wrapped around himself like something between a toga and a cloak.

"Um." He blinks at Henry Tutor's presence, and then slowly starts turning red. "...Hi?" He draws out slowly, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Henry Tutor starts giggling uncontrollably. "Hi! You guys are late."

If either Henry or Remi had ever wondered what Tobir would look like if his face were bright red, they now know. 

"I'll tell them," he squeaks, "Give us a few minutes-" He almost slams the door in his haste to retreat back into the room. 

"We grow up so fast," Tutor says with the corner of his mouth twitching.

Remi starts chuckling at that, "So it seems," he agrees. 

"Maybe they should get the day off? I got the sense this is... more than just being a Gabe, and that's already a lot."