#light herself

   Crash!    “Gah! Son of a bitch!!”    I rush to steady the stacks of Pringles that I stupidly crashed my shopping cart into. I thought I had control of this damn thing. Luckily, none of the Pringles fell over. I snatch a tin from the shelf and sigh deeply.    Ever since last night, I’ve been a frazzled mess. Why does Ace have to be so pushy? Now he’s probably pissed at me, and the other guys likely wondering what the hell came over me. Am I ever gonna be able to even show my face around them again? Probably not.    Or maybe I’m just overreacting. Ace was probably just trying to help me. Well doesn’t that make me look like a jackass.    “Light!”    “Huh?” I look around and see a small green figure running towards me. It’s Arturo.    “There you are!” he cries out as he approaches me. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” He puts his hands against his head, making him look stressed out. “Ay caramba, what are you wearing?!”    I glance down at my usual ratty jeans and t-shirt ensemble, then not as far down at Arturo. “What do you mean, what am I wearing? What’s going on??”    “No time for that now!!” He grabs my arm and yanks me from my shopping cart, running towards the exit. Damn, for someone with such tiny little legs, he sure can run fast. He must’ve had a lot of coffee this morning. Before I know it, we’re out the door and running down the street.    “Where are you taking me??” I ask.    “To where you’re supposed to be!” Arturo answers. What? The hell is that supposed to mean? I’m so confused. I’m about to open my mouth again when Arturo suddenly stops and pulls me down.    “Wait a second—I have got to do something about that hair.”    He takes out his treasured comb and runs it through my hair. His little fingers assist him, flattening my hair in places and fluffing it up in others. Geez, my hair is short, there can’t be too much wrong with it. With a final tease to the back, he pulls away.    “There. Much more presentable.” He smiles for a bit, admiring his handywork, then whisks me away again. “Now come on, you’re late!”    “Late?!” I squawk. “Late for what?!”    “Your date! You’re late for your date!”    “DATE?! What the fuck are you talking about??!?!”    Before I can figure out what the hell kind of stunt Arturo’s trying to pull, he finally comes to a halt in front of a cute little 50’s-looking diner. I see Ace, Billy, and Grubber sitting at one of the patio tables outside the diner. Arturo finally lets me go and makes his way to the others. But where’s Snake?    “I’ve got her!” Arturo says, making his way to the other three. Ace stands up.    “About time! What da hell took yous so long?”    “Hey, I can only go so fast!” Arturo whines. I roll my eyes. I’m calling bullshit on that one.    “Okay, I’m here now, now can one of you idiots please tell me what the hell is going on??!?!”    Ace stands up, and dramatically points to the large restaurant window.    “Snake has been waitin’ in there for yous all by hisself for fifteen minutes now!”    “Wha—”    I cut myself off when I see Snake sitting at one of the little tables inside the diner. One of his arms rests on the table, and his legs are crossed. He’s absentmindedly playing with his hair again. His usual tanktop and shorts ensemble has been swapped for a cute turquoise off-shouldered top and a black skirt. His expression looks dazed, but with a twinge of something else… sadness? Worry? Restlessness? As if he’s expecting something major to happen. He looks so quaint sitting there, all dolled up. And then it hits me.    “You—” the realization leaves me gasping for air— “you guys set me up on a date with Snake?!”    “Ey, didn’t I tell yous that if ya didn’t make a move I was gonna do it for yous?” Ace puts his hands on his hips. I remember fully well that he said that, but I didn’t think he would actually go through with it, let alone so soon!    “Wh-what do I do?! I’m not prepared for this!!” I grab my hair out of nervousness.    “Hey!” Arturo yells. “I just fixed that!”    “What you need to do is just go in dere and be yourself,” Ace says. “The last thing yous wanna do is panic.”    “Dah—Snake will be happy to see you!” Billy beams.    “That’s right!” Grubber raspberries.    “Oh, by the way, you left your nice jacket at our place last night,” Arturo says. “It might come in handy right now.” He holds up my black motorcycle jacket. Shit, I forgot all about that thing.    “Haha, thanks guys.” I take the jacket and put it on. I take a quick glance at myself in the reflection on the window. I’m no Danny Zuko, but it’ll have to do.    “Now go on,” Ace says. “Your date awaits.” He gestures to Snake inside the diner. “Go get ‘im.” He claps my shoulder and pushes me toward the door.    “Good luck!” Billy yells.    I give an awkward wave to the rest of the gang, unable to say much more at this point. Oh god, I’m really doing this. I’m going on an impromptu date with Snake. Holy shit. I peer at him through the glass door and swallow the lump in my throat.    With a final burst of confidence, I push through the door and make my way to Snake’s table.    Snake’s head shoots up as he sees me enter. A wide, adorable smile breaks across his face. There’s no way he can be looking at me like that.    “Light! You’sss finally here!”    “Yeah sorry, I kinda didn’t know we were doing this until like five seconds ago, pardon me…” I chuckle nervously as I pull into the chair across from him.    “I wasss waiting for you~.” Snake smirks, resting his chin on his interlocked fingers and gazing into my soul with half-lidded eyes. God, he’s gorgeous. I tug at my shirt collar. Fuck, we just started and I’m already losing it, how am I supposed to keep my cool for an entire date with this creature?    “Haha… sorry to keep you waiting for so long…"    “It’sss alright.” Snake’s smile looks a bit less mischievous now. “Thisss whole thing wasss a little lassst-minute for me too.”    “At least Ace gave you time to pick a freaking outfit.”    Snake drops his composure and falls into hissy laughter.    “Yesss, it doesssn’t look like he gave you nearly asss much time, no offenssse."    “None taken. He literally had Arturo drag me out of the supermarket and fix my hair on the way here.”    “Really?” Snake giggles again. His laugh is so adorable, what the hell.    “Really. Luckily my sweet-ass jacket here makes up for my otherwise shitty presentation.” I smirk, or attempt one at least, pointing at my jacket.    “It really isss a niccce jacket. Black looksss good on you.”    “Thanks. Black looks pretty great on you too.” I gesture under the table towards his skirt.    “Thanksss…” He looks down and blushes, like he wasn’t expecting me to give him any compliments. Maybe he wasn’t. The gang was more used to having insults hurled at them. None of them really know how to respond to compliments. Snake twirls his hair again, daring a soft glance back up at me with those big eyes. Ace was right, he is rather shy. So cute. I open my mouth to say something, but a waitress comes to our table and interrupts me.    “Oh, is this the date you were waiting on?” she asks in an airy voice.    “Yesss,” Snake simply states.    “Aww, you didn’t have to wait for me, you could’ve ordered something.”    “It’sss okay, I wanted to wait.”    “Well, can I start you two off with something to drink?”    “Oh shoot, I didn’t even think about the menu.” I chuckle a bit, quickly picking up the menu and trying to find the beverage section. “Uuuhhh, I’m definitely gonna need a few minutes.”    “That’s alright.” She smiles warmly, then turns to Snake. “You?”    “Uhh, can I hasss the strawberry milkshake pleassse?” He turns to me. “Wait, do youss mind me ordering sssomething now?”    “Nah go ahead, you’ve waited on me long enough.” I lean back in my chair a bit.    “So a strawberry milkshake for you?”    “Yesss pleassse.”    “Alright then, coming right up!” The bubbly waitress heads back towards the kitchen.    “Crap, where even is the drinks section?”    “It’sss on the back.”    “Of course it is. Thanks.” I flip to the back, yep, there it is. I peer at the menu for a few seconds, then look back up at Snake. He’s studying his own menu, searching for something to eat, that tongue flickering out in that mesmerizing way, those ruby-red eyes skimming the page. It’s hard to focus on the menu with this beautiful creature sitting across from me. Suddenly, he makes a face and hisses a bit.    “Something wrong?”    “They don’t have mozzarella sssticksss.”    “What?! Those bastards!”    He giggles a bit. “Shame, I wasss looking forward to that.”    “I’m suing!” I joke.    “Pleassse don’t.”    “Here’s your milkshake!” The waitress suddenly comes back with Snake’s milkshake. Holy shit it's HUGE! Snake’s eyes widen in awe at the size of the thing.    “Oh my god. There’sss no way I’m gonna be able to finish thisss all by myssself.”    The waitress giggles. “Maybe you could share it with your date? I’ve got an extra straw.”    Snake immediately gets red-faced. I chuckle nervously.    “Haha, well I was just gonna get a root beer, but if you really need help finishing that…” I look to Snake for approval.    “Well… I guesss it’ll sssave usss money.” He smiles a bit.    “A wise decision!” The waitress plucks a second straw into the milkshake. “Either of you know what to order yet?”    “Errr…” I glance at the menu again. The bacon cheeseburger looks good, but so do the chicken tenders."    “The chili dog looksss good,” Snake says.    “Alright, and for you?” The waitress turns to me.    “I guess I’ll have the bacon cheeseburger.”    “Uh-huh, and do you guys want fries with that?”    “Yesss pleassse.”    “Alright, coming right up!” She skips back toward the kitchen. I turn to Snake, smiling a little.    “I like her. She’s really nice.”    “Yeah, she’sss a lot nicccer than everyone elssse here…”    I frown. “What do you mean? Was someone giving you shit before I showed up?”    “No, but everyone keepsss giving me weird looksss…”    I open my mouth to protest, but just one look around the room shows that everyone is, indeed, shooting judgmental looks our direction. A man quickly glancing over his shoulder with hate in his eyes. A little girl staring at us as if we were aliens. A woman side-eyeing us and whispering something to her friend—the only word of which I can pick up is “Gangreen”. The entry bell rings, and a young couple walks in, hand in hand, only to freeze in the doorway upon seeing us and immediately turn around and leave. I scowl. Who the hell do these people think they are?! I clear my throat and turn back to Snake.    “Are they making you uncomfortable? We can leave if you want.”    “But we ssstill need to get our food.”    “We can get it to go. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable on our first date.” I chuckle, trying to ease Snake up a bit. He looks down as if ashamed.    “That would be great, pleassse…” he says softly.    “Okay.” I look around and spot the waitress coming back from another table. “Excuse me!”    She turns to me with a surprised look. “Yes?"    “Is it alright if we get our food to-go? We gotta leave—”    “Oh. Of course!” She seems mildly disappointed at our departure, but retains her cheery disposition.    “Thank you!” I say as she walks away. Snake lowers his head.    “I’m sssorry…”    “Hey, don’t be sorry.” I smile at him, ghosting my hand over his. “I’m not gonna force you to stay here if you don’t want to.”    Snake looks up at me and smiles sadly. He looks really upset, but at least he seems appreciative. Poor boy. No one has the right to make the love of my life upset.    “Well… we may asss well have sssome of our milkshake before we go.”    “Oh yeah, I forgot about that, haha.” I quickly take a sip of the shake. “That’s pretty good.”    “Isss it?” Snake asks before leaning forward for his own sip. “Mmm. Ssso good.”    “Well I’m glad you enjoy it!” The waitress says, surprising both of us. Holy crap, that was fast. She sets down our food and the bill. I automatically fish the money out of my wallet; I wasn’t expecting Snake to pay for the food, nor do I want him stealing it.    “Thank you so much!” I say to her, leaving a tip on the table.    “You’re welcome! Come back anytime!” She gives a friendly wave goodbye and skips off to the kitchen. Snake runs out the door as I pay for our food as quickly as possible. As I meet him outside the door, Snake takes our shake from me.    “Thank you ssso much. I don’t know how much longer I could’ve ssstood that.”    “Not a problem. Where do you wanna go to eat this?”    “Doesss the park sssound okay?”    “The park sounds wonderful.” We begin to make our way toward the park, but Ace stops us from the patio table.    “Hey! Where are yous two goin’ so soon?”    “Snake didn’t want to be there anymore so we’re eating our food at the park!” I yell back at him.    “Oh.” Ace seems surprised. “Well uh, we’ll meet yous later!”    “Ssseeya Accce!”    It’s a rather short walk to the Townsville city park. Snake sips on the milkshake the entire way there. It’s a shame we had to leave the restaurant early, but at least it’s a nice day out. We find a random bench and sit down on it. I place Snake’s food in his lap and open my own.    “Ahhh… thisss isss much better. Nobody’sss bothering usss here—”    Snake cuts himself off as we hear an all-too familiar sound: the sound of a certain trio of little girls flying at breakneck speed towards us.    “Hold it right there, Gangreen Ga—err, Snake!” Blossom commands.    “And Light! I knew you were up to something!” Buttercup adds.    “No stealing on our watch!” Bubbles pouts.    Snake groans.    “Whoa whoa whoa girls,” I begin, “for your information, I paid for this food. I have the receipt right here. See?” I pull out the receipt and wave it in their faces.    “Oh yeah?” Buttercup challenges. “Then why were you two looking around and making sure there was nobody else nearby, huh?”    “Becaussse I wasss hoping we’d be left alone!” Snake hisses.    “Wait, what are you two doing here without the rest of the gang, anyway?” Blossom inquires.    “We’sss on a date,” Snake says rather proudly, hooking his arm around mine and putting his free hand on my shoulder. My face has gotta be as red as Blossom’s bow right now.    “Aww, that’s so sweet!” Bubbles gushes. “You make such a cute couple!”    “Bubbles,” Buttercup growls through her teeth.    “Thank you, Bubblesss,” Snake says, ignoring Buttercup. He snuggles into my side a bit more. Is he just doing this so the Puffs will leave us alone or is it genuine???    “Well, alright, you’re off the hook for now, but we’ve got our eyes on you!” Blossom says. With that, the Puffs fly away, but not before Buttercup shoots one last angry look at us over her shoulder.    “Finally.” Snake slouches into the bench. “Can I pleassse eat my food now?!”    “I think so.” I chuckle. Snake immediately digs into his chili dog. I decide not to question his little display of affection and instead try to focus on my burger.    The next few minutes are spent mostly in silence as we eat our food. Snake’s completely devouring his chili dog, and he snatches a few fries out of my box from time to time. He’s acting like he’s about starving. Hell, he probably is. It’s hard finding food when you don’t have any money to pay for it. I can’t help but chuckle when he finishes his dog.    “What’sss ssso funny?” he asks.    “You’ve got chili sauce all over your face!” I laugh.    “Oh.” Snake’s eyes peer down at himself, and he licks it all off with a single swipe of that crazy tongue. I laugh again as Snake raises the milkshake.    “Want a sssip?” he offers.    “Sure…” I lean forward to take one of the straws, and Snake’s at the other straw in an instant. Shit, our faces are really close. Oh god, he’s making eye contact. Fuck. He bats those long eyelashes a few times and I’m hooked. I swallow the shake and my pride. Even as he pulls away I’m still locked into his gaze. He laughs at me a bit.    “Why do you look ssso shocked?” he asks playfully. I let go of my straw.    “Well I uhhh—I just wasn’t expecting you to do that.”    “Isssn’t that why the niccce waitresss gave usss two strawsss?” He snatches another one of my fries and winks. I have to try not to choke on my own breathlessness.    “I-I-I mean I guess, haha…”    “By the way, are youss gonna finish that?” He points to the last couple bites of my burger. I look down at it for a second or two, then quickly shove it into my mouth.    “Yesh!” I say through a full mouth.    “Good, becaussse I’m ssstealing the ressst of your friesss.”    “Hey!”    He snatches my fries away from me before I can even think about stopping him. Whatever, he can have them. He stands up and throws our empty boxes in the trash. Then, he grabs my hand, pulling me off the bench.    “Wha—”    “Now come on, let’sss go!”    “Go where?”    “Anywheress!”    With that, he takes off running, dragging me along with him. This is the second time today I’ve been dragged into running by a green boy. Though this time, despite my lack of running ability, it’s not as unpleasant. Maybe it’s because Snake’s closer to my height. Or maybe it’s because I actually know what’s going on. Or… fuck it, it’s because I’m in love with him. He leads me into a more wooded area of the park, and the way the sunlight slips in between the trees makes it look like something out of a fairytale. He looks over his shoulder at me as he runs, and the sun illuminates every curve and angle of his face, rolling like waves over that beautiful hair as it sways, and bouncing off his shoulders. But then he flashes a smile that puts the sunshine to shame.    “Come on, ssslowpoke!”    “I—I’m trying!”    Even if I was a good runner, I’d still be struggling to catch my breath at the stunning sight before me. His head is turned back in front of him now, but the image of Snake in the sunlight is still fresh in my mind. Suddenly, he comes to a halt, and I realize he’s taken me to—a pond?    “I didn’t know there was a pond in this park,” I say breathlessly.    “You obviousssly haven’t been in Townsssville long enough.” Snake gives me a playful nudge with his elbow and crouches at the shore of the pond. I stand next to him, leaning forward a bit. He swirls his finger around in the water, a wide smile plastered across his face. I’m surprised at how much he seems to be enjoying this date. No one is ever this giddy around me. The idea of Snake actually being happy in my company makes me think that maybe I do have a chance with him after all.    But what if he’s just faking it? What if he only agreed to the date out of sympathy? And that he’s only pretending to have fun so that I don’t feel bad? My heart immediately freefalls into my stomach. How do I know I’m not annoying the crap out of him? Everyone else always ran away from me because I was too much. Why would Snake be any different?    “What’sss wrong?”    “You seem to be having fun for someone who was forced into a date,” I blurt. Snake’s brows furrow.    “Forccced?”    “…Well yeah, I mean, Ace did set us up.” I stuff my hands in my pockets. Since I already dug myself into this hole, I may as well find out the truth.    “I wasssn’t forced,” Snake says rather defensively.    “But I thought you said it was last-minute—”    “I had to get ready at the lassst minute. Accce wasn’t forcccing me into thisss date. I didn’t have to go if I didn’t wantss to. If anything, I thought you were the forccced one.” What?!    “No no, absolutely not!” My hands fly out of my pockets and up in front of me as if I were telling him to stop. “I wanted to go on a date with you, I’ve been wanting to, I mean—” crap. He wasn’t supposed to know that much. His eyes are wide with surprise, a red blush staining his face and his fingers hovering over his parted lips.    “Ssso… you’re not jussst… doing thisss to be niccce?”    “Hell no! I thought that’s what you were doing!”    “That’sss not true…” Snake’s expression slowly morphs from shock into sheer glee. And then, suddenly, he lunges into a hug. Holy shit. He’s hugging me. The love of my life is hugging me. For a moment, all I can do is stand there stupefied at the feeling of his arms around my midsection. My face heats up as he nuzzles my neck. Cautiously, I wrap my arms around his tiny waist, keeping him close. He fits so perfectly. I think I’m gonna cry. I love him so much. I wanna kiss him so badly, but that would be creepy. I feel him tighten his embrace a bit. I had no idea he was so affectionate. I rub his back a bit, to which he responds with a soft humming noise. I gotta tell him how I feel.    “Snake?” I begin.    “Hmmm?” He turns his head and looks up at me with those eyes. Shit, I’ll be lucky if I can even do this.    “…There’s something I gotta tell you…”    “Oh?” He pulls away from our hug, but I keep my arms around him. “Pleassse tell.” He moves his hands to my shoulders. I swallow a lump in my throat for at least the third time today.    “Well… urgh, how do I even say this… err, Ace didn’t say anything about why he pulled me out of the shack last night, did he?    “Not asss far asss I know.”    “Oh, oh well that talk we had might explain some of this. B-basically, Ace was pushing me to… to… well, make a move. Y-you know, do this whole da-date thing on my own. But, I-I-I got scared. I mean, it’s not easy to just waltz up to your crush like ‘hey I like you, wanna go out with me?’ haha…” I raise one hand to prod at the back of my neck. Shit, there goes my diarrhea of the mouth again. Snake gasps softly.    “Youss… I’m your crush?” He sounds dumbfounded. I lower my head a little.    “…Yeah. It’s been that way since… since I started hanging out with you guys regularly. I just… you’re so amazing. I’ve never met anyone like you. Well, I’ve never met anyone like any of you guys, but you… you’re special. Like… you’re so… you’re so slick, and sassy, and adorable, and beautiful and—you’re everything I’ve ever wanted.” I shoot him an awkward smile. Now he really looks stunned. His eyes have completely rounded out, and his jaw looks like it’s going to fall off his face any second now. He shakes his head a bit, his hair gently fluttering from the movement.    “I-I don’t know what to sssay, I…” He struggles to catch his breath. “…That’sss the sssweetessst thing anyone’sss ever sssaid to me…” His brows curve upward as a sort of sad smile stretches across his face. “After all thessse yearsss of being outcasssted, shunned, and being called thingsss like ugly, freak, undesssirable…” His voice cracks at that last bit. He looks up at me, his eyes filled with water and something I’ve never seen before. His bottom lip quivers as he speaks up again.    “It feelsss amazing to finally be loved.”    With that, he buries his face in my shoulder and sobs. Oh shit, I didn’t mean to make him cry! I hold him in a tight embrace, gently stroking his hair.    “Hey, don’t cry,” I breathe, “It’s gonna be okay. I’ve got you. Shhhh.” I rock him back and forth a bit to soothe him. His shoulders shake, and his fingers dig into my jacket. I can already feel my shoulder getting wet. It seems like his tears are of happiness, so I guess I should be flattered? But I don’t want him to cry anymore. I rub his back again; that seems to help, as his sobbing subsides. After a moment or two, he raises his head from my shoulder, wiping some of the tears from his reddened cheeks.    “I’m ssso sssorry, I’m sssuch a messss right now…”    “It’s alright, I’m sorry for making you such a mess.” I chuckle, hoping some humor will ease him a bit. My breath hitches as his fingers creep up my face. He glances at me with a soft expression, and I’m pretty sure the entire city can hear my heartbeat right now.    “And for what it’sss worth,” his breath is still shaky, “I feel the sssame.”    Wait what?    “I—wha—haha, that’s funny. You’re funny.” Now it’s my turn to lose my breath. Snake pouts.    “I literally jussst cried on your shoulder, and you’re ssstill sssurprisssed?” I open my mouth to say yeah, I honestly am, but he presses a finger to my lips. “Shhhh. I don’t want any ssself-depreciative commentsss out of you. You’re ssso fun to be around. You makess me laugh, and feel sssafe. And I… I like your loud voiccce and your posssitive attitude. And how you’re ssso unique. And with how youss’ve been treating me today, I’m convinccced that we’re jussst… meant to be.” Holy shit, did I just hear all that right? I resist the urge to make sure there’s no gunk in my ears.    “…Now I think I’m gonna cry.”    “That’sss okay, my shoulder’sss open.” He smiles and pats his shoulder. I sniffle. Shit, I might actually cry. I brush some of his hair out of his face and tuck it behind his ear. He closes his eyes, leaning into my touch. When he opens them again, I can now recognize that new thing in his eyes—love. Can this be true? I sniffle again. Whatever did I do to deserve—    Rustle!    I turn my head around to inspect the bushes behind me. “What the hell?”    “That wasss probably jussst an animal or sssomething.”    “Well, whatever it is better leave us alone! We’re trying to have a moment here!” Snake giggles at my outburst. I turn back to him, playing with a lock of his hair. “Now where were we, hmmm?”    “Youss may or may not have been about to cry.”    “Ah, yeah, eh, I don’t think I wanna do that.” I chuckle. Snake smiles, but then it fades as he appears unsure.    “When you were sssaying all thossse niccce thingsss… you sssaid… youss called me beautiful…”    “Yep,” I say matter-of-factly. He smiles shyly.    “No one’sss ever called me that before.”    “Guess I’m the only one with taste around here.” His soft, hissy laughter fills my ears once more.    “You’re too sssweet.” He leans his head on my shoulder. God, he’s so precious. It occurs to me that my arms are still loosely around him, so I tighten my embrace.    Rustle rustle!    “Damn critters,” I mumble.    “That’sss an uncharacterissstic thing for animal-loving Light to sssay,” Snake teases.    “Hey, I’m trying to have a moment with my boyfriend, I don’t want anything ruining it.”    “Oh ssso I’m your boyfriend now?” he asks with that same teasing tone.    “Well I—” my arms instinctively retract to my sides. “I assumed that, after all this, it meant we were… you know…”    “I’m jussst messssing with youss.” He grabs my arms and pulls them back around him. “Now get theessse back here. Your boyfriend never sssaid you could ssstop hugging him.” He gives me a wink that makes me wanna melt into a puddle.    “Ahahahaha….”    CRACK!    SNAP!    THUNK!    “Okay, what the fuck?!” I yell. Snake and I both turn around to look behind us and see what all that commotion was. There’s a strange figure flopped on the ground in front of the bushes. The person lifts their head, and we see it’s—    “Grubber?!”    “Oh hi.” Grubber’s usual raspberry noise takes on an embarrassed tone. He waves sheepishly.    “Dahhh, you okay Grubber?” Billy suddenly pops up from overtop the bushes.    “Way ta go guys,” Ace scolds, climbing out of the shrubbery. “Now yous given us away!”    “Boss!” Arturo harshly whispers through clenched teeth, sliding out from under the bushes. He makes a “cut” gesture with his hand. How long have they all been there?!    “What are you guysss…” Snake trails off as it clicks in his brain. “Were you ssspying on usss?!”    “Whaaaat?!” Ace laughs nervously. “Spyin’?! Wha— what’a yous talkin’ about?? We wasn’t spyin’ on yous! Hehe, we’s ain’t spies, right guys?” The other three hurriedly agree. Snake glares at them, clearly not amused.    “Oh yeah sure, what else could you guys have been doing?” I huff.    “Birdwatchin’!” Ace quips. I raise one eyebrow at him.    “You? Birdwatching? Really?”    “Y-yeah, sure! Right guys?”    “Billy like pretty birds~,” Billy says in a sing-song voice.    “I don’t believe it for a sssecond,” Snake says, his hands returning to my shoulders.    “Me neither,” I agree. We both laugh for a moment.    “Ey boss,” Arturo starts, “it’s getting a little late. Should we go home?”    “Oh…” Snake fretfully looks up and notices the sun beginning to set, his thick brows curving upward. “How isss it thisss late already?”    “Ey ya know what they say, time flies when ya havin’ fun.” Ace winks at us. Snake’s fingers curl into the fabric of my shirt.    “I don’t want thisss to end,” he says. It’s so soft, almost a whisper, and it’s more to me than the rest of the gang.    “Neither do I,” I mumble, hugging him. “But hey, there’s always tomorrow.” I smile at him, and he returns it.    “I guesss you’re right.”    “Alright guys, let’s amscray before da Powa’puffs get on our case for somethin’.” Ace starts to make his way back to the shack, and the rest of us follow suit.    “It already happened to usss onccce, I really don’t needss that again,” Snake says.    “Wait, really?” Ace looks over his shoulder at Snake in disbelief.    “Yeah, they thought we stole the restaurant food and didn’t realize we were on a date,” I explain.    “Well those little Powa-pukes.”    “Dude, Be quiet! They might hear us!”    “Yeah boss, you need to control that loud obnoxious voice,” Arturo states bluntly.    “Ey, her voice is just as loud an’ obnoxious as mine!” Ace argues.    “Yeah but I don’t talk smack about the Powerpuff Girls!”    “My god, Light, you’s such a goody-two-shoes, why do we’s even let yous hang out with us?”    “Becaussse she’sss sssweet, that’sss why,” Snake says, hugging my arm. Suddenly I’m a stuttering, flustered mess again.    “Ah-well I uh, I mean uhhh, I-I-I just—”    “Shoulda neva’ asked.” Ace turns his head away from us and stuffs his hands in his pockets in annoyance. We all laugh at him a bit. Suddenly, Snake shivers beside me.    “You getting’ cold?”    “Jussst a little.”    I immediately take off my jacket and drape it over his narrow shoulders. He perks up, surprised by the gesture. “Oh, won’t youss get cold now?”    “Nah, I’ll be fine,” I insist. “And even if I was, you’re even worse than me when it comes to getting cold, so it’s better if you have it.”    “Thanksss.” He leans his head on my should as I slip my arm around his waist.    We stay like that the rest of the way to the shack, silently enjoying each other’s company as we listen to the rest of the gang blabber on about whatever. A few occasional laughs escape our chests, as is inevitable when you’re friends with these doofuses. But mostly my mind is in a whirlwind of disbelief as I process everything that happened today. I actually went on a date with Snake. And he actually enjoyed it. Fuck, we confessed our feelings to each other! And he even said he was my boyfriend! Wait, holy shit, I have a boyfriend now? Does this mean I’m his girlfriend? Holy shit, I’m Snake’s girlfriend. This can’t be true. This is too good to be true. This must be some kind of crazy dream. And now he’s actually cuddling up to me like this?? Damn, if this really is a dream, then dream me is one lucky bastard.    “What’sss with that dopey sssmile on your faccce?” Snake teases, snapping me out of my daze.    “I’m just wondering how I managed to land the most beautiful boy in Townsville,” I blurt. Snake’s face turns beet red.    “Okay now you’re jussst sssaying that.”    Ace makes a vomiting noise. “Why did I think settin’ yous two up was a good idea?”    “It’s called consequences, Boss,” Arturo says.    “No, I really meant that,” I say to Snake, ignoring Ace and Arturo. “I didn’t mean to say it so quickly but I meant every word!”    Snake smiles as he struggles to make eye contact. “Thanksss, but… I don’t thinkss I’m very attractive.”    “Well you know what they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I cup his face with one hand, and he leans into the touch.    “Okay DIS is ridiculous!” Ace blurts.    “Quit ruining the moment, Ace!”    “Yous really think he’s prettier than me?!”    I shrug. “Sorry, dude.”    “Dis is bullshit!” Ace storms into the shack and slams the door. The rest of us laugh.    “What an asssshole,” Snake says.    “I know, right?" We laugh again as Snake takes my hand off his face and holds it in his own.    “Thanksss for everything today. I had an amazing time.”    I chuckle a bit. “Hey, not a problem. As much of an asshole Ace is being right now, he’s the one we gotta thank for this.”    “I don’t think he’ll accept our thanksss for sssomething he regretsss doing now.”    We laugh once more. Then, suddenly, I feel something warm, soft, and slightly wet on my cheek. My face immediately feels like its been set on fire. Did… did he just… ?!    “D’aawwwww,” Billy coos. Snake starts to head towards the door.    “Ssseeya tomorrow, Light,” Snake says, raspy voice dripping with honey.    “Y-y-yeah, seeya Snake.” I can feel that dopey grin plastered on my face once more. Snake opens the door to the shack, but before he goes in, he looks over his shoulder at me one last time. I don’t think he realizes he still has my jacket on, but at this point I don’t care if he keeps the damn thing. He smiles that beautiful, charming smile, and for a moment time stands still. I awkwardly wave at him, too stupefied by the overwhelming happiness to say anything. Snake gives a little wave back, and then he goes inside, that hair swooshing behind him as the door closes. I stand there in shock, until Arturo’s slow clapping snaps me out of it.    “You sly dog,” he says.    “Dahh congrats!” Billy cheers.    “Haha, thanks guys!” I high-five Grubber as I make my way home. My heart does a victory dance the entire way, happy that I finally got the green boy who ssstole my heart.