> > > > Oliver and Kai are going to the mall for a date because they are each other’s significant other now (SO)
(In some random store in the mall that has pop culture stuff)
(KAI POV)
I leave Oliver’s side for a moment because there’s a wall of FUNKO POPS and I am happily overwhelmed!
As I slowly walk down the way, I look at every single box, looking for characters I recognize, and there’s actually a lot!
Usually in a store, there’s just some marvel characters or something but here there’s marvel AND DC and they have disney stuff and dreamworks stuff and anime stuff- even the Simpsons are in here!
The Sailor Moon team is here!
Oh, and now I’m seeing celebrities?
This wall is insane!!
I see one in particular that catches my eye.
Inside, I squeal: Harley Quinn! Oh my god! You look GOOD, girl!
I get really focused-in on her, trying to imagine if I would want to add her to my small amount of FUNKO POPS…
… but then I hear Oliver talking with someone.
“Yeah, the animation for it is so good! It’s a great art style”
Did he run into a person he knows?
I move around the corner and see a short cute girl with purple hair in space buns, and her shirt tells me she works in this store.
She’s leaning against the counter and seems very invested in Oliver info-dumping about some series I guess they both know.
And am I paranoid? - Her bodily language looks flirty.
And Oliver probably doesn’t even notice. He’s always just excited to talk about his interests with everyone.
Male, female, gender-queer, everyone gets the same treatment with him. And I love that, but some people misread it, and I think this girl is one of them . . .
I go around a shelf, and then I’m standing behind Oliver.
I wrap my arm around him and move to his side. “Hey Pumpkin. What’re we talking about here?”
The girl instantly gets the hint and her body language shifts to a more typical and casual manner, and she’s not as close to Oliver. (Hah, I was right)
Oliver, seeming oblivious, happily tells me: “We were just talking about Little Witch Academia.”
Relaxing, I smile. “Oh, I’ve seen that. The main character shares a voice with Hime from Happiness Charge.”
Oliver turns around to the shelf by him. “We started talking about it because- look at these cups!”
There’s the characters! I coo, “Oh my gosh, that’s precious.”
From the corner of my eye, I see purple-hair walk away.
Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find someone nice. Just not my Olly.
> > > > More walking
> > > > heading to the Game Stop store
Wait, is that…?
It is!
It’s one of the guys from D&D! Looking at dice, no less!
I don’t usually see the guild members out and about!
What do I say?
Oh! I know!
Haha…
I sneak behind him, and lower my voice. “Hello, Mister Feles.”
Andrew Rozeh jumps a little, but turns around. “Kai?”
I pointedly blow my hair away from my face. “Or Ng?c. Either works.”
“Heyyy!” He high-fives me. “What’s going on?”
“Running into people from D&D, apparently.”
“That’s so crazy because I just came from Zambelli’s and saw Nia.”
Oh wow! “She’s working in a restaurant now? I totally have to go find her and bug her sometime.”
“I had no idea I’d see her there.” Drew looks to the side shyly. I always kinda thought he had a crush on her.
I sway back on my feet a bit. “That reminds me - I did see Riley and Owen at the Walmart last week.”
He smiles. “Yeah- I know. I saw them moving carts but I didn’t get a good chance to say hi.”
I glance at the display Drew is standing infront of. “Looking for new dice?”
“Yeah, I was thinking I could get some dice that suit the Feywild better.”
“Cool. Hey- do you still have the dice I gave you?”
“Yep, and the ones Riley gave me too.”
“Nice.”
“If you want them back-“
“No no, keep them. I was just genuinely curious.”
Suddenly, it occurs to me I technically but accidentally left Oliver.
(OLIVER POV)
Kai just ran ahead, and at first I wasn’t sure why, but now I see.
She saw someone she knows. A guy.
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I don’t recognize him, though, Kai seems really friendly with him.
Since most my friends are female, I’ve never felt weird about Kai beings friends with guys…
But, it’d be really easy to mess with her since she got jealous a few minuets ago.
Imitating what Kai did earlier, I move behind her and wrap my arms around her. “Hey Darling. What’re we talking about here?”
Kai looks up at me. “Olly, sorry - I realize now I just sorta ran off.”
The guy says, “Ah, so this is Olly.”
Wait what?
Kai explains: “Oliver, this is Andrew Rozeh from my D&D group. He plays as a Barbarian-class Tabaxi named Feles.”
I have no clue what that means but… okay?
Andrew waves, and his demeanor seems more small. “Hello Oliver. Kai’s told me a lot about you.”
I can feel Kai heat up, and I let go of her.
She talks about me? Even with the D&D group?
A W W W W W
(KAI POV)
Suddenly, a shrill voice calls, “Andrew Rozeh!”
I know that voice.
Annabel Rozeh marches over to Drew and gently smacks him on the arm. “Andrew! You can’t just run off when I’m not looking.”
She has a LOT of shopping bags…
Drew glances away from Annabel. “You were taking too long. I got bored.”
“More importantly, we need to head to the shoe store.”
I suddenly remember the fact that Drew’s two years younger than me, and he’s a few months away from graduating highschool.
I ask, “Getting ready for all the graduation whatnot?”
Annabel (his older sister) smiles at me.
I’ve seen her pick him up from D&D before- she has to drive Drew around because he hasn’t passed his driver’s test yet.
“Yes. In fact, our mother requested this one gets some new clothes since everything he owns is full of holes.”
She threw some real shade with that “this one”!
He whines, “They’re not full of holes!”
“They are! And those shoes are falling apart. Let’s go to the shoe store- I need new heels anyway.”
“Anna-“
“Come on. You can come back to the GameStop later.”
“You can’t make me do any-“
Annabel takes the toque (AKA beanie) Drew always wears right off his head.
This surprises me a little. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him without it.
He yells, “Anna!”
“Shh! We’re in a f#cking store for crying out loud! Anyway, you can get your smelly hat back when we go to the shoe store.”
Lowering his voice, Drew hisses, “It’s not smelly!”
“You do not want me to test that. You’re basically married to this thing.”
I walk back a little until I’m next to Oliver. This is kind of awkward but also really amusing to witness.
I mean none of this is too out of character. Drew and his sister have a lot of energy. Pretty sure they both have majorly hyperactive ADHD.
I joke, “Don’t worry: just speak to her inner teen-girl and squeal.”
Looking at me with a dead expression, Drew deadpans a long “Squeeee”
I give him a wink and a thumbs-up. “You’re doing great”
Annabel smirks at me, then says, “Come on, Andrew.”
He follows after his sister, but not without saying bye to me and Oliver.
After they leave, I turn to Oliver and let out the small laugh I’ve been holding in. “Well, that was crazy.”
> > > > in the BOX LUNCH store,
(Oliver POV)
Kai calls me over. “Olly, look at this!”
I recognize the character. “Isn’t that Stitch?”
Kai nods, smiling sweetly at the plush bag decoration.
“But it’s the calmest face I’ve ever seen on a Stitch.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, he doesn’t have the iconic toothy grin…” Kai holds it up. “He has a blank expression… kinda like me sometimes.”
I haven’t seen Kai’s stoic face in a while.
Usually she always seems to be showing some small amount of emotion around me.
But I definitely remember the “before” time.
I smile. “Yeah, you’re right.”
She lets out a small laugh. “And it’s funny because you see this blank expression and he’s just hiding the chaos inside.”
Seeing Kai get so happy over something like this…
It’s adorable.
She’s probably gonna buy it.
In the past, I used to offer to buy things for her if she seemed interested in something but she’d decline.
I eventually realized that she gets worried about me spending too much money on her…
… Which is fair, even if I think it’s a fair investment.
Remembering this, I just leave her with Stitch, and direct my attention elsewhere.
There sure are a lot of cool things in this store.
> > > >
Walking out of the store, I notice Kai is empty-handed.
“Oh? You’re not gonna get the Stitch thing?”
Kai looks confused. “What?”
Wondering if maybe I shouldn’t have made a comment, I soften my tone. “You just seemed really taken with it.”
“Oh, that.” My SO makes a small smile. “I was, but then I realized if I lost it or damaged it, I would be heartbroken. Didn’t seem worth it.”
That never occurred to me…
Whenever I buy things, I never consider the fact that most things like that are temporary…
But then again, that’s Kai.
She always worries about things being temporary.
I never realized she struggles to open up even to objects.
Maybe that’s why she always tells me how much she doesn’t want to buy anime figurines, even if she’d love to have them.
Does she worry about that with me?
That something bad might happen or I might leave her?
Just the idea of leaving her has never crossed my mind.
I’m pretty sure only dying of old age would stop me from being by her side.
How do I let her know that?
Kai turns to walk out of the store, and I decide I’ll find a way to express it to her later.
I catch up to her and slip my hand into hers.
For now, the best way I can show it to her is just being here in this moment.
Which is pretty easy.
I’ve known Kai for years now but every moment with her still feels…
Magical?
I’m not sure if that’s the right word…
> > > >
Kai and I just ate food together at the mall’s food court.
We got some Asian food and bubble tea and it was delicious.
Kai somehow got me to try mango flavored bubble tea and it was actually pretty good. Usually I just get watermelon or strawberry flavor.
And it reminded me of what I thought earlier…
What’s a word that has a similar energy to magical?
As we walk, I pull out my phone and look at a thesaurus.
“Fantastical”? No…
“Fairy-like”? Nah…
“Mesmerized”? … maybe
Ooh, I like “entranced”.
“Enchanted” is good too.
“Bedazzled”? Haha
Ooh! “Dreamy!”
What is “Curst”?
Suddenly, I feel Kai wrap her arm around me, grabbing my arm then pulling me close to her.
???
We stop walking.
???
A moment passes.
. . .
Finally, I ask, “What just happened?”
Kai’s voice comes out calm and flat. “You almost walked into someone.”
“I did?” How did I not notice?
“Are you okay? I kinda pulled on your arm pretty hard.”
“Yeah…” I tug on the bottom of my hoodie. “Sorry, I should have paid more attention.”
Ugh, what is wrong with me?
I glance at Kai’s face as we continue walking.
She doesn’t look mad at all.
I guess she could tell I felt bad, because she assures me:
“Don’t worry about it. I’m here, so… it’s alright. Just make sure when you're on your own, you be more careful.”
My face heats up a bit.
Kai…
“Alright. Thanks.”
> > >
We continue heading to the back of the mall, hand in hand.
We stop walking when we get to the BOX LUNCH store though.
Kai tells me to wait at the entrance. “I just want to get something really quick.”
I have a guess: “You changed your mind about Stitch?”
“Well, I … I thought about my reason again. I… I realized” Kai looks away from me. “If something matters to me, I’ll just make sure to keep it safe.”
like…
when she kept me from running into a person?
Wait- no way. There is not a deeper meaning here.
Or is there?
It’s Kai- there’s usually lots of meanings in everything she says!
Which I love, but it kinda makes me worry I might miss something.
By now, Kai has already gone into the store, and a part of me considers going in with her, but she asked me to wait out here.
At first I wonder why she’d have me wait when it’s just a quick “in and out”,
but maybe that’s why: it’s just easier for her to rush in on her own.
I’m fine with that.
I’ll wait.
