French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 61: -Gyeong-Wan- Telephone Pole

"What happened to your face?" Kazuya's finger was poking my line of several band-aids going down the side of my chin and toward my neck. We were in the movie theater now, a big bucket of popcorn between us on the couch. His present to me, a large cellophane bag of various chocolate candy and fruits that he'd handmade, was secured on my lap as if someone would take it from me. Well protected. I wanted to hold it to myself and sneak it away into my hotel room, but he'd intended for me to eat some of it during the movie tonight. It had been all part of his own plan, and it made my heart so warm. 

"Oh, um, Kuro. I picked him up from the front first. He uh, didn't like that."

"Ohh..." Such a sympathetic sound. His lip went out and my ears were sweating. I'd dropped off Kuro to my hotel room before we came here. I'd let him free roam it and get accustomed to it without me for a few hours. Maybe it was less stressful that way. The vet had said that it was best for him to get used to his environment first. He wasn't feral, having been practically hand raised by humans his whole life. She'd doubted he even knew how to hunt mice, he was so pampered. 

I couldn't stop smiling at Kazuya's touch. "It's okay. The vet treated it with an antibiotic ointment."

"Good. Oh, cat scratches are no joke. They heal so fast and bacteria can get caught inside. Especially with Kuro being a stray."

"Really?" That made me begin to sweat for real. "How bad can it get?"

"Pretty bad. Nikki got scratched before, by this other cat. He was trying to break up a fight? His hand swelled up to twice it's-"

My eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates at his words when a burst of sound shattered the quiet and the crowd behind us went up in cheers. Both of our heads went toward the sound and I got to see Kazuya clapping and grinning as Hanako and Chidori entered the space between the couches and the screen. They bowed to their audience, dressed as Halloween people. I'd seen the movie we were about to see before, so this time I wasn't a stranger to the excitement. 

Hanako rose his microphone to his lips, but before he could get it there, Nikki rocketed up from his seat, his top hat making him way too tall to ignore. He stuck an accusing finger at them.

"How dare you! I was born to play Jack Skellington!" He called out, his voice so overly scandalized that a roar of laughter went up immediately. He made a half fainting pose, his arm thrown over his forehead like a damsel in distress. "I was born to play Sally, too!" 

"Sit down!" Chidori laughed along with everybody else. Hanako was dancing, his arms going up in the air over and over to get people to clap in a rhythm. 

"Nooo! This is so unfair! You can't just-!" Nikki wailed. "Look at me! I even have Jack's outfit! I'm Jacqueline the Pumpkin Queen!" 

The crowd was beside themselves. 

"Jacqueline the Pumpkin Queen," Kazuya snickered next to me, his knuckle over his lips cutely. "Classic."

"So is everyone else!" Chidori called to him. "There's about a hundred Jacks and Sallys in the audience right now!"

Hanako clapped loudly to shush the audience and then pointed at him. "Sit down, pumpkin whore," he said too seriously in the booming deep man's voice that I didn't know he had. My hand went over my mouth, laughing now without any control. The crowd behind us roared the loudest in laughter I'd ever heard, drowning out Nikki's further wail of betrayal.

With that, the lights dimmed and the overture began, and what followed was an hour and a half of the best, spooky, Christmas filled time I'd ever had. 

Afterward, we'd helped clean up the movie theater. It was a group effort, just like after zombie walk and Grease. No one was going to let Charlotte do it herself, not after this oversized crowd. I personally pushed a broom up and down the front between the couches and screen, where Nikki had made another planned appearance to antagonize Hanako and Chidori as the villain trying to steal the show. Everyone had thrown popcorn at him. Kazuya had explained to me that Nikki and Hanako had rehearsed this part, trying to make the event extra funny and special. I told him it had worked, I'd thoroughly enjoyed it just like everyone else. He was so happy that he'd started dancing, making me laugh again. He was so glad that I enjoyed this part of his present. I'd even been able to sing along with some of the songs. 

Now, we were walking hand in hand. It was late at night, but that was just fine. We were going toward the small grocery store. In there, he was going to direct me to Kuro's favorite wet food so I could attempt to win him over. Knowing this store, I'd be buying it in bulk. There was no way that Kuro and I wouldn't become friends, he assured me. He reiterated to me that the way to Kuro's heart was his stomach. I wholeheartedly believed him.

It was getting late, though. I was worried about Kazuya's sleep. Having been with him so much over the past few days, I knew he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. Where he was finding the energy, I had no idea. It couldn't be something one learned. The human body can't be overcome like that. 

I squeezed his hand twice, and he looked up at me cutely. He'd obviously been deep in thought. It was a facial expression of his that I'd observed. He'd space out sometimes, and though I wondered what he was thinking about, I never wanted to disturb him. It must have been something precious to keep his attention like that. 

I hesitated, but kept going. "Um, so I'm off tomorrow. For Christmas. Um, I wondered if you wanted to do something together."

He brightened, and a streetlamp's light washed over him at that moment. I didn't know whether to call him handsome or pretty. He was both. It made me squeeze his hand harder, this electricity going up my body at his grin. He squeezed my hand, too.

"I'm off, too. We're closed Christmas and New Year's. Though, on New Year's we serve food to everybody. It's not really being off, but... Um, you want to do something tomorrow? What do you want to do?" He brushed a stray curl behind his ear and I was transfixed. Staring at him, unable to look away. It was strange, I was attracted to him, but he was dressed as a woman. It was because it was him. Something in that. I didn't care how he was dressed, I liked him no matter what. More than liked...

"Um, yeah. I thought... Because it's Christmas. Maybe we can..."

I knew what I was asking. Christmas is for lovers. It's when people go on a big date, more meaning than any other day. Going out together, the meaning of it. Even my brain was stuttering, what I was asking...

"A Christmas...date?" He asked, an innocence there in his quieter words. He'd asked it like he didn't believe me. 

My toes curled in my shoes. My lips went into my mouth in my nervousness. "Yeah, a-"

WHACK!

"Oh-! Gyeong-Wan!" 

My body stopped suddenly, enormous pain everywhere on my front. I couldn't move. A groan came from me, from somewhere. Like an old man. 

"You- Pfft- Oh- Let me- Let me help you. Let me help you. Oh no..." Kazuya was trying to hide his laughter. He peeled me away from the unimpeded object that was causing me all this pain. I started laughing, too. What in the world? And as I stepped away from it, my body creaking like I was one hundred years old, I saw it. My hand went up to my hurting face for the second time today. My fingers felt the band-aids, and now this.

"Did I just...step into a telephone pole?" I gasped for breath, laughing with him.

"Yes. Yes, you did," he breathed, trying to control himself. I knew he was concerned for me even though he was laughing. It was funny, after all.

"Oh, wow." 

"Are you o-okay?" He was trying so hard not to laugh. He was adorable. His hand was hovering over his mouth, failing to hide his cute smile.

"Yeah." I was grinning even though I was in pain. Making him laugh like this was worth it. I shook my head out, making my dazed feeling go away. "I guess I was so excited about asking you out that I stepped into a telephone pole."

"Ohh..." His hand went over his heart, that beautiful grin all the Christmas gift that I wanted in the world. 

I stuck my hand out to him, and he happily accepted it. But, instead of taking it loosely like usual, he embraced my whole arm, pressing the side of his body to mine with both of his hands gripping my arm. Together, we walked like this. He led us the whole way to the store like that, his sweet smile so enormous.