He thought about saying no, he swears he really did consider it, but when Charles looked at him with that big, goofy smile of his—a smile where he could see all thirty-two of his teeth, including that one cute and jagged one, how was he not supposed to fold?
“Gosh, what am I even doing here...” Niko thought to himself for the hundredth time today.
Niko was standing outside of a retro styled gaming shop in Tokyo.
This place was nothing new to him, he had been coming here ever since he was a kid, so much so that even the workers knew who he was.
They would always greet him with warm and welcoming smiles and talk to him as if they were family—this place honestly felt like a second home to him.
Today would be the first time he’d ever bring someone along with him.
It was weirdly nerve racking, all they were doing was buying videos games and a new switch after Charles’ natural charm had made him drop his last one flat on it’s face, but for some reason, it had his stomach twisting into knots.
Charles was late, because of course he was.
He wouldn’t expect anything less from a boy like him.
There were a multitude of reasons why Charles could’ve been late.
Maybe he missed his train, maybe he was still looking for something to wear, maybe he got distracted and started chasing squirrels, or maybe it was because the day ended in 'y'.
But even with the numerous possibilities that could've explained his tardiness, Niko’s mind couldn’t help but jump to the worst-case scenario; Charles ghosted him.
He wanted to pull out his phone to text him and ask what time he’d be getting here, but his palms were so sweaty he feared his phone would simply slip out of his hands, and that was the last thing he needed right now.
Honestly, Niko was a bit annoyed. Charles was the one who asked if they could go out together, now he was standing outside a game shop in the middle of Tokyo by himself like an idiot!
He’s been out here for an hour waiting for him and he still showed no signs of showing up anytime soon.
Niko sighed.
“Whatever, I should’ve expected this. He was just messing with me.” He thought to himself as he rested his body against a nearby wall while looking down at his feet.
Charles was a nice boy, Niko knows this. Even with all his pranks and jokes, Niko knew everything Charles ever did was always in good fun and he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt him (emotionally, at least), but the thought of Charles asking him to hang out together just being another one of his jokes stung more than he would ever allow himself to admit.
“The sun isn’t coming down anytime soon,,, I’ll just grab something to eat and head home.” Niko pushed himself off the wall and turned away from the shop to make his way out
“Hi, Niko!” Charles greeted happily, suddenly standing right in front of him with their faces so close they were nearly bumping noses.
Niko quickly stumbled back in surprise, nearly falling over in the process.
“Wha– Charles!”
“The one and only! I’ve decided to grace thee with my presence!” he declared proudly while striking two peace signs.
“Yeah, an hour later.” Niko said, his annoyance slipping out slightly as he regains his balance.
“Whoopsie~”Charles sung, playfully knocking himself over the head.
“’Whoopsie?’ I was standing out there for so long a woman tried giving me money because he thought I was homeless!”
“Pfft—”
“It’s not funny, Charles! I’m being serious. I was out here waiting for you for ages,,, I thought you ditched me...”
Charles stopped laughing almost immediately, catching wind of the hurt in Niko’s voice.
“But I’d never do that? That’s douchey as hell!”
“I know, but..." Niko started, but the words ended up dying in his throat.
"Whatever, it’s fine.”
Silence hung over the two boys momentarily.
Great, he made things awkward now, he should’ve just shut up and been grateful he even showed up to begin with. It’s not like he came late on purpose, it didn’t seem that way, at least. Maybe he was just being dramatic. Dammit, I should’ve just—
“I got lost.”
Niko paused.
“Pardon?”
“Yeah, like—suuuuuper lost, public transportation maps are really weird here.”
Oh, right.
Charles was a foreigner, this was probably his first time ever even using public transport in Japan. The maps were probably too complicated for him to understand properly.
Hell— even he got lost using them sometimes.
“Oh! I also ended up in this one place called ‘Saitama’ and I bumped into Monsieur Ahoge! He was really shocked to see me for some reason.“
Niko paused.
Saitama?
.
.
.
Saitama?!
“Charles, that’s like an hour away from here! Why didn’t you call and ask me to come get you?”
“Come get me? And admit defeat? No way! I needed to show that train who’s boss! I did get off the train at some point and ran the rest of the way here and accidentally broke onto private property while trying to take a shortcut,,, but I still count that as a win!” Charles beamed with pride.
“I’m sorry—you ran here??”
“Yup!”
“...You really didn’t have to do that, I could’ve just—”
“What are you saying, Niko? Of course I did!” Charles took three long strides before he was face to face with Niko again,
“Because it’s you! I kinda feel like I’ve earned hanging out with you now, you know?” Charles said simply, like he was commenting on the sky.
Like the words just came naturally to him. Like he hadn’t just reduced to black haired boy into a blushing blob.
He was doing it again, he was smiling—not only with his teeth, but with his eyes too. His entire face was scrunched up from how hard he was smiling.
Not that Charles could see it, but his radiant smiles always made his face turn beat red.
The way his tone could switch from playful to genuine at the drop of a dime always turned him into a stuttering mess.
The way he’d always choose to be as close to him as possible always made his head spin.
“How... How can you say stuff like that so casually...?” Niko muttered more to himself than the blondie, turning his face away from the close proximity.
“What did ya say?” Charles asked, leaning more into his space.
“Nothing!” Niko grabbed Charles’ shoulders and moved him backwards “I didn’t say anything!!”
Charles looked at him for what felt like forever to the black-haired boy before bursting into a giggling fit, only serving to make Niko redder than he already was.
Amidst Charles’ profuse giggling, Niko began hesitantly, “So.... Do you still want to check you the shops...?”
"Hell yeah, I do!” Charles immediately replied as he suddenly grabbed hold of Niko’s hand, interlocking their fingers.
“Cmon, let’s go!” He exclaimed before running into the shop with Niko, hand in hand.
