Rekindling- Pico x Keith/BF

12- Tea Tremors

[sorry for taking so long guys, it's been hard to motivate myself recently :[ this chapter is also kind of just filler in some ways, but honestly it's mostly because i've been pretty touch starved lately and just wanted to write something fluffy and sweet. and, i promise, this does have value to push along the plot of the story! it is kinda short but thats mostly because i just wanted to get something out after making you all wait for so long. anyways i hope you all enjoy cute pico and keith 'platonic' date to sweeten up your day <3]

Pico was mortified, in every sense of the word.

It hadn't been his intention to get caught by Keith while looking at the stuffed animal section...but who could blame him? He'd seen a plush cat in a lime green dinosaur hoodie, and knowing Keith, maybe he'd like a plushie for his birthday anyways...but it seemed all excuses flew straight out of his head the moment he looked up to see a scarf-clad, mitten wearing Keith smirking so hard that his eyes had curved into crescents. Practically throwing the toy halfway across the aisle, he felt his face heat up to a temperature that meant it was bright red, sputtering as he fumbled for an explanation. He only flushed more when Keith only laughed, nearly doubling over as his smile grew impossibly wider. Snapping his jaw shut with a click, Pico whirled around and stalked over to the discarded plush, picking it up gently and brushing it off before setting it back on its place on the shelf. He then walked with the slowest pace known to man as he made his way over to Keith, all the while scrambling for some sort of thrown together story to explain his presence.

Keith, it seemed, had other ideas. Much more swiftly, he practically skipped over to meet Pico halfway, who internally cursed every god and religious figure in existence. "So..." Keith's eyes had a sharp spark in them that Pico didn't trust one bit. "I guess I already should've known, but you look even more like a carrot when your face is all red like that," he giggled as Pico swatted at him, one arm brought up to cover his face which was inevitably reddening again. "What are you doing here, anyway?" His brain stalled completely at the sentence, and it took all his willpower to not yet again dissolve into a flushing, stuttering mess. "Er...wh-what are you doin' here?" Pico winced at his clear deflection, but Keith didn't prod any further, expression simply softening into a gentle smile. "I just felt like getting out of the house." Pico nodded, shifting back and forth on his heels as a thick silence draped itself over them. It appeared his plans to just suck it up and find some sort of gift at the mall had been completely debauched.

"Well, if we're both here now, why don't we just go shopping together? I promise I won't tell anyone you like little kid's toys." Frowning, Pico mulled over the idea. He couldn't exactly say no, could he, when Keith was looking at him with such hopeful puppy dog eyes, and certainly not when he'd risk just running back into him again later on. Letting out a defeated sigh, he dipped his head in a nearly imperceptible nod that Keith seemed to pick up on immediately. Pumping his fist in the air in an exaggerated celebration, he turned the full force of his grin to his companion, who almost felt like he needed to shield himself from the sheer brightness of Keith's smile. "So, where to?"

In all honesty, Pico...wasn't really sure how to respond. It wasn't as if he could tell Keith that the only reason he was even here in the first place was to aquire a birthday gift, and clearly he wasn't going to get out of this situation. Shuffling back and forth, he racked his brain for some sort of believable destination."Er...why don't we go get somethin' to eat? I dunno about you  but I'm starvin'." This, in fact, was not a lie. Pico hardly ate anything of significant nutritional value as it was, and his measly breakfast of stale toast and beer wasn't going to get him much further. He just hoped his practically devoid of money wallet could scrounge up enough to buy some artificial toxic waste from a cheap restaurant or something.

To his relief, Keith nodded with a smile. "You got any specific place in mind?" "Well, I mean...they gotta McDonald's here?" Keith scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Cmon, Carrot. At the very least I'd pin you as a Wendy's guy." Suddenly feeling the need to defend his less than desirable eating habits, Pico frowned and crossed his arms. "Well, mister culinary chef, their stuff is practically dirt cheap! Can't blame a guy fer' wantin' to conserve money," he faltered at Keith's strange expression. "Tell you what, there's an awesome nacho place nearby with great smoothies and baked goods. You can get whatever you want and I'll pay." Pico opened his mouth to protest only to be met with a roll of his companion's eyes. "Oh, stuff it, Carrot, you've already done so much for me, it's the least I can do to pay you back." Pico was about to protest that he had not, in fact, done much for Keith at all, but was instead stopped right in his tracks by, yet again, the usage of that frankly ridiculous nickname. "Oi! I called ya Blueberry like, one time! What's with tha' whole Carrot thing?!"