Warning: This episode contains body manipulation, suggestive teasing, hints of trauma

It is dinner time! Viola is having a good day and is ready to try eating the amount again. Since a start date was not specified when the agreement was made a more playful time is chosen. Three months of continuous work. Steven can not hide his smirk all day. Athena thinks it is cute to see him this excited about something again but she also leads the charge in teasing him about his ‘dinner date’ all day long. The guys have no hesitation about jumping in. When Viola finally makes it for her normal workout the rest of the gym jokes that he is about to vibrate in place. The verbal taunts continue till Steven and Viola get in his truck.

He pulls out and heads towards the restaurant. “Hey, I know I called this a date when you agreed to it but you don’t have to think it that way,” he begins. Viola looks at him. “I just wanted to promise... to celebrate your progress,” he trips over his words as starts to feel something in his stomach. He can tell that calling them dating before causes her some irritation, even if he enjoys the concept.

Viola’s eyebrow goes up. “Oh?” she chuckles and smiles. “Then I don’t have to tell my girlfriend about it,” she teases as she looks out the window eager to see where they are going.

He squeezes the wheel. ‘Crap. I forgot to ask her if she’s actually dating anybody!’ races through his brain. ‘Is that why she’s mad about the ‘dating’ term. Then why did-‘

“But speaking of dates and celebrations; a little birdie told me your birthday is coming up,” Viola turns back to him.

“Oh yeah,” comes out as his brain tries to piece back together.

“So,” she begins slowly; noticing that his attention is just returning to the conversation. “Are you a guy that likes parties and presents or not? Or should I just run everything past your crew?” she smirks motioning back to the gym.

He sheepishly smirks, “No. You don’t have to check with them. I like presents and parties, just not elaborate ones.”

“Any plans yet?”

“No.” He sees her lean forward staring at him. She rolls her hand indicating that she wants more information. “I will let you know if I have an idea.”

“All right,” she smiles and leans back on the window. “Because I already ordered a present.”

“What?!” comes out more eagerly than he expects as the truck swerves. Viola laughs. He is happy again when he sees her playful smile. For some reason, that thought alone makes the day even a little more enjoyable for Steven.

The energy stays for the rest of the night. It helps that her eyes are huge when the dinner he preordered comes out for them. She’s happy all night, even with the challenge of eating more than she realizes. She takes leftovers home. Steven is happy that it is less than he thought but he has several things to think about after dropping her off.

The crew notices he’s a bit nervous the next day; fiddling with his fingers and pacing more between sessions. They glance at each other and share one thought, ‘He screwed up!’ They sigh at each other and agree to stop trying to initiate her entirely. The efforts are not going well, even away from Steven; but if they have a fight they do not want to be in the middle. They vote to give them some distance for a bit.

Steven manages to make it through a couple of sessions with Viola just enjoying the time. When he notices she is picking up on the atmosphere shift he swallows hard. His fingers are on the weights when he finally asks, “When you said, girlfriend.” He sees Viola turn toward him. He turns slightly, “Do you mean girlfriend like Athena does or like a couple?”

“Both,” Viola quickly says while readjusting.

“Huh?”

She finishes her set quickly. “There’s a lot of history there. But unless things go well enough for you to meet her don’t worry about how open that relationship is,” she shares a different smile. “Just keep being you.”

They change places. “Ok,” comes out despite his eyebrows twitching.

“But.” Viola leans closer to him as he turns back to her, “She does think you’re cute.”

His ears light up red, “You told her about me!” Everyone glances over at the noise.

Viola chuckles cause everyone to go back to work. “Of course. I tell her about all the muscle in my life,” she proudly declares. She slips in to spot him. “She’s as jealous of you as I am of Athena,” she adds softly. Steven’s blush and confusion intensify.

He racks the bar, turns around, and leans on the bar, “I know what I want for my birthday.” Viola’s head snaps up. “I want to try your cooking and hang out at your place,” he declares.

“Really?” her eyebrow goes up. “We hang out there normally.”

“Yeah. Why not?” he begins with a grin. He can see the disbelief on her face. “We’ve known each other for months; besides your groceries, workout habits, and movie preferences I don’t know much about you. People post more than that online. I want to get to know you,” he says with a softer smile.

She sighs as she rubs her head, “You really want that for your birthday?”

“Yep!” he eagerly says leaning on the bar. “Your cooking and talking about anything different,” he repeats with a big smile.

She gets a slight tone to her cheeks. “All right. But you got to share too,” she stipulates with a poke to the arm. He chuckles and everyone in the gym sees a change in the air.

Only a few days later Steven’s birthday rolls around. His day starts early in his office, trying to finish off any paperwork he can before- “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone, who could fit in his office door, shouts. He sighs but has a little grin as they pour in. They cheer again when they all make it in causing him to laugh. “Here we got you a present,” Mark says rounding Steven’s desk. He puts a potted plant down, the exact center of the desk.

Steven’s eyebrow goes up as everyone is trying not to laugh. “What the?” he picks it up. The name tag says ‘African Violet’. “Vi,” he begins to read the name tag.

“Yep. That’s the plant she’s named after,” Josh begins with a smile. Josh found out through the Queen’s Garden gossip vine.

“We figured since we couldn’t give the real ‘balloon’ you wanted for your birthday we’d give her namesake,” Raph teases with a grin that matches a cat that ate the canary.

Steven’s hand shots to his face, trying to hide the red tone, as he feels how tight his pants are becoming. He always dreams of having a partner he could do everything with, he just never realized it means her now but more importantly that everyone else already knows!  “Ha! He really liked that idea,” Mark laughs. The others break out laughing and high-fives. Comments like ‘I’ll give you ten if you can stand up’ were common for the next ten minutes before switching topics.

They fill up the rest of Steven’s office time. When he tries to leave, they tease that the party isn’t for hours yet causing him to admit that he is going to spend time with Viola before going to their party. They are giving some suggestive glances. “Just call when you guys actually start!” he shouts before locking them out of his office.

Steven takes a deep breath as he pulls into her driveway. ‘For some reason, this is still the calmest place,’ he thinks as he walks to the door with the liters.

He reaches up to knock on the door when it flies open. “Happy Birthday!” Viola shouts as she tosses streamers at him.

He laughs brushing them off his face, “Thank you. Here.” He hands the soft drink liters. “You can’t drink liquor so I picked up my favorites,” he anticipates her question from her expression. “Oh wow. Something smells good,” he says kicking off his shoes. She motions for him to go ahead. He goes down to the open kitchen living room to see a small cake with a balloon above it on the table. He chuckles as he inspects it, “One balloon? Little cake. A rather small party we got going here.” He can tell it is from Bitches Bakery.

She puts the bottles down, “I wasn’t sure if you were a balloon guy or not. If I had to clean up, I didn’t want to deal with the cheap ones.” She did a little shiver.

“What was that?” he laughs coming back to her.

“They just freak me out. That sound,” she motions as her eyes are squish close.

‘She can’t even say it,’ his mind teases. “You never put them down your shirt?” he teases instead.

“You want me to have bigger boobs?” she glances at her shirt before looking at him with a cocked eyebrow.

He snorts. “No! For bigger muscles!” he cheers while flexing and showing off. It only gets showier when he hears her laugh.

She shakes her head. She shifts slightly as her hands come down, “Even with my new muscles I would still have to be po-“

His arms are around her, lifting her up to eye level with him, and protectively cradled. “I would never let anyone pop you,” pours out of him as his hand strokes her cheek.

Her eyes widen. Her fingers feel his pulse through his shirt. His heat radiates over her. “Steven,” slips out her.

His cheeks turn red as he realizes the new position. He quickly moves over to the stove and puts her on the counter. “So, tell me something else. What decorations do you like?” he quickly asks as he begins cooking the vegetables in the pan. “How long have these going?”

Viola teases that he shouldn’t be working on his birthday as she tries to get back to cooking. He wants her to answer the questions instead. She ruffles his hair since she is sitting up high enough but does continue answering. But when it is time, she goes to the patio and puts the steaks on the grill. He finishes setting the inside food when she starts bringing things in. The multiple racks of ribs and steaks fill out the table quickly. “Suddenly this table is full!” he laughs.

She asks him to pick something to put on the screen while they eat. He chooses a rugby game. This triggers a conversation between bites and plays about their favorite sports; Olympic curling, lots of Olympic sports, the world’s strongest competitions, and that parkour is awesome. They begin to clean up when she mentions that she watches whatever her friends are competing in.

“What about you? Do you compete in anything?” Steven begins as they move to the living room. “Do you want to be a bodybuilder?” he teases flexing again.

She laughs again before collapsing on the couch, “No. My family made sure I could do some things but I still prefer moving or races than being judged on my body. But I do still want to be big. You?”

“I don’t mind showing what I got,” he poses again sitting in the recliner. “But I like helping those who want to challenge themselves and getting big myself. So, helping injured people developed naturally. In fact, Josh is a rehab specialist! And that’s why the gym is near the hospital,” he eagerly shares.

“He your man?” Viola wonders. His head tilts like a puppy. Viola smiles, “Wingman. You and Josh close? Or business partners?”

“Yeah. Really close,” he solemnly answers as he rubs his side.

Viola catches the shift and jumps to her feet. She smacks his shoulder, “Let’s have some cake birthday boy!”

She lights a candle for him, “Happy Birthday Steven.”

He smirks as he blows it out. They enjoy the cake together but he is eager to see what his present is. He rips through the wrapping, almost the box too. He sees a sea of deep colors. He pulls it up; it is a jacket done in a specific style. “One of Cap’s jacket!” he chuckles as he slips it on. “There’s even a little room!”

Viola grins. She gets up to look it over. He naturally models the fit. She runs her hands over the seam before giving it a little tug, “The way you’ve been bulking up I’m sure it will be snug to small in no time.”

He smiles. The coat slides off his shoulders easily before he whips it around to slip it over her. “Steven,” she chuckles as her shoulders don’t even reach the seams.

He pulls the jacket up to frame her face. His fingers trace her chin. He leans over. “Wonder how long before you blow up enough...” whispers out of him as his forehead touches hers. His nose comes down to brush her face. He watches her eyes close as the room goes quiet.

Thunderous pitch blast between them as his phone chimes, “Dude! Dude!” His hands shot off her, he steps back, searching for the source as his face turns colors.

“Dude?” Viola chuckles.

Steven checks the message. He sighs, “The guys got a party going. I’ve got to head out before they get over-excited.”

She slips out of the coat, “Then let’s get you there!”

She helps him gather up the leftover food, the balloon, and his present. He quickly loads up the truck. Viola is about to wave goodbye when he runs back to her. “One last birthday wish,” he begins. She smirks. His hand shots behind her head before he kisses her cheek. “Bye!” he smiles running back to his truck. Viola just chuckles before going inside.

He speeds over to the crew’s party. They have more food, a pile of presents, a football game on, already drinking, and inflating. Josh inflates the least but passes out first. Raph and Mark are continuing a drinking contest with a puff-up twist. He never they would do that, just not so fast. The party is only an hour young. He gets a little teasing about looking extra happy before everyone goes back to what they were doing.

“You do look comfortable,” Athena observes. Steven just shrugs and smirks. Athena takes a sip, “She’s good for you.” He turns towards her. “We were shocked you said ok to a party and even showed up!” They both know it is going on years since his last party. “Even if she never inflates, I’m glad you found someone you are this comfortable with,” she raises her glass to him as she hits her remote. She grows to be his size causing them to laugh.

It did not take much longer for most of them to pass out, drunk. He takes a moment to slip a few guys into funny positions, make sure Athena is fine and take his leave. Josh eyes him leaving before passing back out.

His drive home fills up with new thoughts. After he takes his keys out and bounces them in his hand. He reaches over and grabs his remote, “A full pump.”

He sees the balloon and leftover food peeking out from under his new coat. He smiles as he slides the coat on. He goes inside, tosses his remote on the counter with some of the presents, puts the food next to him, and tucks the balloon under his coat. He realizes it takes up as much space as she does on him. “My clothes would eat her up!” he laughs enjoying his birthday.