Xaltwind
Expendable
Noctis
Carlyle
The Otter
wintersoldier
TheMushroomLord
Neziul
Pen Name
Lugubrious
School was over, and Gary Reynolds, as usual, was deliberately holding back in order to stay average. He didn’t want to stand out as particularly smart even though he was actually a bright kid. He had no intention of going to an Ivy League college even if he was able to. He did not want that kind of pressure. He’s spent most of his life under pressure to be the model son, up until two years ago. He had a growth spurt at fourteen, getting slightly taller than his father. Something in him snapped. He realised that he didn’t have to hold himself to his father’s standards. He didn’t have to be the perfect gentleman at all times, or be the most talented at everything he did. He started to actively strive to do the opposite. It started as an edgy, rebellious phase, but he’s been at it for too long, and now he has become Gary. He might never be able to go back to being Gareth, and sometimes, he almost wants to. Not that he wasn’t happier like this. There were no expectations, and when he screwed up, nobody noticed. They only noticed when he let slip a glimpse of brilliance, and was rewarded for it. This was the correct way round. This was life as it should be.
Life had its ups and downs, but this week had been an up. That party was great. The dancing was fun, and the drugs were plentiful. There was a hunt for stolen clothes, and Gary made the discovery that dabbling in submissive humiliation kinks would be a dangerous slippery slope for him. The highling of the night, though, was Kazue. The Japanese transfer student. Not only was she cute, not only was she genuine, but she put up with Gary even as he became less sober and coherent as the night went on. As far as Gery was concerned, that was grounds for at least an attempt to get to know her better.
Kaz was floating through her day as was typical Kaz fashion. It was hard to be involved and engaged in school when you could barely figure out what the teacher was saying. Needless to say, her English wasn’t exactly up to par to hang with the other students. Despite her lack of strength in the English department, she was still able to realize that Gary was still a nice dude. Currently, Kaz was glued to her phone as she was always. She was texting some friends she had back at home who for whatever ungodly reason, was still up at this time of night. Kaz missed them dearly, but it was something she had to overcome in order to achieve her dream of becoming an American student.
Looking up from her phone for once, though, she saw a rather familiar sight. She could’ve seen that hair and dumb face from a mile away and recognize who it was. It was the man of the hour - Gary. As she got closer, Kaz got a little too excited and made a noise that no words could exactly describe, other than that it was rather happy and excited. ”Gary! Hello!”
Gary was slightly taken aback by that noise, and the surprise showed in his face. He never though repressing a giant grin would be so hard but that. Was. So. Adorable! He manage to keep in back, instead letting out a small, cool smile, and nodding at Kaz. ”Hey,” he replied, ”Kazue, right? From the party! What’s up?”
”I am good! You are?” Kaz beamed, her face lighting up brighter than the sun at the presence of probably the most handsome man around. ”It good to see you!”
The wide grin won, and Gary stopped trying to fight it and he smiled just a brightly as Kaz despite himself. ”Awesome! I’m good, but, I’m even better now! Wanna….I dunno. Wanna go somewhere and talk, or?”
”Where can we go? Do you know?” There wasn’t really anywhere Kaz could think of that would be appropriate. Maybe Gary knew a place?
Gay ginned, and even flushed a little. That was a yes. That was basically a yes. Maybe they both wanted this to become a thing. That would make everything so much easier! As to the answer to her question, though. Where could they go? A Gentleman should take a lady somewhere nice and fancy on a date, but Kaz didn’t want a Gentleman. She had been happy to see Gary, not Gareth. At the same time, his breeding and manners couldn’t allow him to take a nice girl to a fast food chain. It had to be special, but at the same time it had to be Gary. Then he remembered something. ”You know, I think I read something about some kind of movie night at Captain Cuddles tonight, and they do the best Pizzas around, man, It’s in a few hours, though, so it’s up to you if you wanna go there now, or do something else first like go to a cafe, or the park or something.”
”What is Captain Cuddle?” There was a little surge of happiness within Kaz as he gave her what she assumed was a location. Perfect. At least they had somewhere to go, but she wasn’t exactly sure what kind of place this “Captain Cuddles” was. She didn’t know what a Captain or a Cuddle was. ”Is good?”
”Captain Cuddles is an arcade, but it’s got a restaurant attached to it. It’s a bit of a stoner hangout, but the food is amazing.,” Gary explained, scratching his head nonchalantly. ”It’s a bit of a walk unless we get a taxi.”
”We walk. Save money?” Kazue nudged Gary along, ”Come on, let’s go!”
”Okay! Okay! I’m going!” Gary chuckled as he held up his hands and let her mudge him towards the door, before taking the lead. As they headed away from the school, Gary looked over at Kaz while they walked. ”Hey. I’m sorry if I already asked you this at the party, but can you tell me more about you? Where you’re from? What you wanna go onto study? That kind of stuff.”
”Goooo!” Kaz nudged, before following him out of the door. Stepping up alongside, she thought about the question she was asked. Well, it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t from here. That, at the very least, was obvious. ”Oh, uh, I’m from Japan. I am here to go to school.” That was pretty much the best way she could’ve put it.
Gary chuckled, and shook his head. ”Well, that’s not wrong. What I mean is, where in Japan are you from? Did you live in a city or in a small village? What subjects are you hoping to focus on?”
”Oh. I came from Tokyo. Biggest city in Japan.” Kaz shrugged when the subject of what she wanted to study. ”I don’t know. I just be here to go to school. What about you?”
”I guess I’m the opposite. I don’t want to be at school but I’ll get kicked out if I don’t stay until I graduate. I decided that BHHS is, for all its faults, a lot better than homelessness. I haven’t thought about my life once I do graduate. Hopefully by then, my dad’ll have backed off some and I can start making my own choices. Sorry...I dug a bit deep there….uh. So, Tokyo, huh? I’ve always wanted to go there one day.”
To be truthfully honest, a lot of what Gary had said had slipped through her mind, mostly because she didn’t understand. It was for the better, honestly. ”Tokyo very big. Too many people. I like here better. If you want to go, don’t go during the summer. Very hot.” Kaz shrugged, before abruptly shifting the topic, ”What is Captain Cuddle?”
Gary had to think about what Kaz meant by that, as she had already asked the exact same question earlier. Then, he had told her what kind of place Captain Cuddles was. This time, she was obviously trying to change the subject, so Gary decided he’d give her a different answer. ”You mean, why is it called that? I’m not actually sure. I think at some point, it was probably supposed to be a family restaurant with some arcade machines, or it could have just been a kid’s arcade. All I know is that word of the good food and classic arcade machines spread around BHHS and teenagers pretty much took over as the main demographic.”
”Is big teddy bear?” For whatever reason, Kaz had the the weird preconception that this Captain Cuddles was just one big giant teddy bear. She’d never seen it before, but she was looking forward to it. ”How long until we get there?”
Gary had to think about that question. He couldn’t actually remember if Captain Cuddles even had a mascot. ”I don’t think it’s a teddy. Wasn’t it like a cat or something? Either way, it should be a bear. Maybe a bear dressed as a pirate.” he then craned his neck as they walked along the street. ”It’s on this street somewhere, but I’m not sure if I can see it yet.”
”Why is it not a bear? You cuddle teddy bear when you sleep, yes?” Kaz sighed. It was a missed opportunity that she was sad to see. ”Is that it over there?” Kaz pointed to a brightly colored building.
Gary followed Kaz’s finger’s direction until he caught sight of Captain Cuddles, and then nodded. ”Yeah, that’s it! When we get there, we should definitely ask whoever’s in charge why they don’t have a teddy bear mascot.” he replied, chuckling, and casting a sidelong glance at the cute Japanese student as they walked side by side.
”I will fight them.” Kazue said adamantly, before turning her stoic face into a smile. ”Is there pizza?”
”Oh, yeah!” answered Gary, chuckling at just how cute that proclamation of fighting them was. ”This is one of the best places around for pizza. They do a thing called a ‘pizza bar special’ which is like a buffet of endless pizza, and it’s all good.”
”Pizza? I like pizza!” Kaz’s face beamed at the prospect of bottomless pizza. She was definitely excited for what was up ahead. Bottomless pizza was the most American thing she’d ever heard, and she was more than down for it.
