A Kind Heart With A Secret Self

“Yeah well, sometimes you just gotta smile, ya know? If ya don’t…it makes you vulnerable to being hurt more.”

What a horrible thing for a child to say, but it was the truth for him, which is why he said it.

Even if that was true, Ren still clearly didn’t like hearing it. And it wasn’t in the way of he couldn’t handle it, he knew what it felt like, at least to some extent, but.. He kind of.. liked Obi.. So hearing him say that made him a bit upset all the same.

He noticed the other’s flusteredness and it amused him. “Oh? Cute,” he chuckled, but didn’t tease further, instead focusing on the pizza.

He looked like he was in heaven….

“It’s so nice to have real food…”

The teasing did not help at all. He had just started to get the blushing under control, and then Obi had to go and say that, and it was back. He focused instead on food himself, an awkward, flustered little pout on his face as he chewed a bite. 

“Hn?” He blinked, startled. “Somethin’ on my face, Ren?” He didn’t even realize the hair was in his face, or he would have thanked him.

He took a bite after a few more blows and practically drooled. “Oh God, this is amazing–”

Ren nodded a bit. “Yeah.” He managed to brush it off. “You had hair in your face.” It took him a second to realize that might have been too much, and then his face turned red.

He practically sparkled at the sight of the pizza and ignored the look he was given. “Ah ah, meat first! Gotta get that protein, or at least that’s what Max tells me. Vegetables have them, but not as much so you need more of it and get hungry faster!” He reached for a slice of pizza and blew on it.

“Sure, it’s not like my parents give a flying fuck where I am,” he laughed quietly. He only went back to that house if he had to. His clothing and school supplies were there, or he wouldn’t go back at all.

Sometimes he considered killing them all.

“–I’m excited for the pizza!”

There was a momentary sad look when Obi said that about his parents. He knew that not everyone had a good family, like he did, but even so.. 

He wished that the food was here right now, but for the time being he was rolling around the ground and being a dork in the meantime.

Honestly, that was really cute, and the expression on Ren’s face as he watched the other rolling around, was probably one that Obi wasn’t used to seeing.

He sat up quicker than a flash, still encased in the blankets, and practically sparkled at Ren. “Yes yes, food! I wanna try pizza!” He waved his arms in the air enthusiastically, ignoring the comment about him being cute.

He excitedly began to roll around the bed, only he accidentally rolled off the edge onto the floor. He gave no acknowledgement to it except for a quiet “oof” and blinked at Ren with a happy face.

Ahh, that was utterly adorable, and Ren just ended up laughing more at Obi’s antics, after making sure the other was okay. “Alright, alright. Give me a minute.” 

“Ugh, if that had been a real fight I never woulda died.” Grumbles in a grouchy manner before flopping backwards on the bed. “And I am /not/ cute. I am manly, not even remotely cute.”

As he rolls around and gets bunched up in one of the blankets.

That just made Ren laugh more, because Obi was now just being even more cute than before. “You say you’re not cute, but I have to disagree. You really are being very cute right now.” 

Honestly, he wouldn’t give a damn. He liked both girls and boys, it was just everyone was too afraid of him for him to ever try dating anyone. Besides, it wasn’t like he had all the time in the world. He had a gang to run.

“Okay!” He beamed, a sparkle in his eyes as the game started. He was a quick learner it seemed, cause after a few minutes of teaching him how to use the controller and stuff, he was already kicking ass.

Ren was glad that Obi seemed to be having fun, and he was definitely impressed with his skills. Though even the best games had glitches sometimes, and when Obi got mad at the game when he died because of one of them, Ren ended up laughing. 

“I might have to take you up on that one man. I’m tired of getting yelled at everytime I go home.” Most of the time it wasn’t even for something he actually did. It was something his ‘siblings’ did and then framed him for.

He hated them.

“A fighting game! Sounds fun! I’m real good at fighting!”

Ren beamed at the other boy when he decided on a game, and moved to go put it in the console and started it up, bringing over the controllers for them to use, and handed one to Obi while the system started up. 

“Woooow, your bedroom is so cool!” It looked a bit different from his “siblings” bedrooms. And definitely different from his–he’d been shoved into the basement once he was old enough and it felt more like a prison than anything else. So he was only there to sleep.

He plopped down on the bed. “What kinda games can we play?”

Ren didn’t think his room was anything special, though it wasn’t like he’d gotten to see many people’s rooms himself. But if Obi liked it here, then he was glad. “If you like it so much, maybe I can leave my window unlocked if you like it so much and want to just come drop by whenever you want. I don’t really mind if you just come crash in my room in the middle of the night.” As an option for somewhere else to sleep possibly. There were extra pillows and blankets anyway. The more he learned, the more concerned he got about the other boy’s living situation, but he was also anxious about doing something that might make it worse for him. So instead, he offered this option.

“Can we do both?! The half and half? That sounds amazing!” He was definitely excited about the possibility of pizza.

But about the video games… “They…never let me play them because its for their real kids. So I’ve never played them.”

That was definitely a doable thing. “Half and half it is. I’ll order it a bit later so it’s nice and hot and fresh when we’re ready to eat again.” 

The other’s attitude about the situation was mind boggling to Obi, but he went along with it for now.

“Something meaty please! I like meat! Do they have some kind of meat lovers thing? Oh, but I also love vegetables…what to do..” He looked genuinely torn up about making a decision, despite the fact it was only pizza.

“Video games? I can play them?” He looked shocked. No one had ever let him play those before.

Ren laughed a little at Obi’s excitement. Honestly it was cute. Well, as far as pizza toppings went, that was something he could do. “Well, we have two options then. We can do a meat lovers pizza, with added things like peppers or olives or onions, or we can get a split pizza, half meat lovers, and half veggie.”

“You…want to be my friend?” Obi tilted his head, completely stunned by this revelation. “But…I’m a gang leader…wouldn’t your parents be mad? I know the teacher’s are upset you’re hanging with me…I don’t want…to make you miserable.”

A shadow seemed to cross his face then, like he was too scared to let himself hope.

Yeah, Ren knew the teachers weren’t pleased, but he’d already put one in their place on the matter. They might be his elders but if they were part of the problem then they were part of the problem. “I don’t really mind so much about the teachers. Sometimes they just make things worse while pretending they’re making things better.” They’d very nearly done the same to Ren himself. 

“And my parents know they raised me with enough sense to make my own decisions, so I doubt they’ll say anything.” Especially given the way the other had clearly been living. Whatever ‘family’ Obi seemed to have was clearly not caring for him at all, which was probably what led to this whole situation in the first place. However, as for pizza..