Heart Afire

[12] Perceptive

Bud insisted she should take Gideon and take a look at the fair. [name] stared at the little brat next to her, disgusted over the fact she was reduced to babysitting duties by two idiots. "Um.. Where do you want to go?" Gideon finally spoke up, his voice trembling as he peeked an eye over at her who was currently suffocating him with her depressing aura. [name] glanced at the white haired wig wearing pint-sized child, "I don't care." 

She then turned to leave him alone at the fair as he wandered around on his own. Clearly, he didn't need a fucking babysitter no matter how much his father kept badgering him to stay out of trouble. Gideon didn't understand why he couldn't really call her a 'cousin', in fact it felt like whenever she took one look at him— It would feel like an older person staring at him with either disinterest or a kind of aloof persona. 

It was roughly 1 in the afternoon, enough time to look around briefly to see if there was anything that could take her attention span off for a moment. Even though Gravity Falls wasn't her first destination, she would have gone other planets— mind you. If only the dumb magnetism of this cursed universe didn't drag her. She could have merrily hopped and skipped along, killing, hunting new trophies for her never-ending wall of bounties. 

From a distance, [name] spotted the familiar red hair heading over in her direction. Though she was pretty sure that red head was heading over to the bathroom, not... her? "Yo, ]name]. Nice seeing you here." What was her name again? [name] gave a nod, a brief indication that she was greeting her back. "I dunno if you got my name yet, but I'm Wendy. And uh, I wanted to say thanks for... last week." Oh so that's her name, [name] took note.

"Are you here alone?" Wendy shook her head at [name]'s question, her change of subject indicating that she wasn't very inclined in engaging into small talk, but still perfunctorily responding politely. "I'm hanging out with a friend. You see those two?" Wendy points out the kid with a pine-tree symbol hat and a girl who looked similarly to him with each other. "They were also the ones who you saved as well." Wendy admits, rubbing her neck sheepishly. "I see." [name] listened, although she would rather be anywhere else than here, but beggars can't be choosers.

[name] hummed, looking elsewhere to not really continue the conversation. "So... Are you here alone?" The teen shook her head, "Came with Gideon, ditched." Stuffing her hands in her jean pockets, "His dad wanted me to babysit his precious baby." The subtle sarcastic snide comment either went through Wendy's mind or she just chose to ignore it, obviously not willing to settle in that muddy affair. "Do you ... Want to hang out sometime? Just the two of us, you seem like a chill person to be with." The red haired teenager admits as she excuses herself to the bathroom for a quick use.

The second she left, [name] was stuck in a conversation with this one guy who she thinks she remembers from that time she inadvertently helped out Wendy's friend group. The guy with a heart on his jacket and once unzipped, it turns into a broken heart. Kind of emo and edgy, wasn't [name]'s taste anyways. "It's you... Um..." Robbie felt his mouth dry up, he didn't really know what to say. Even if he did know, he was afraid he would fuck it up so easily and scare her away.

"I'm Robbie. I wanted to Uhh.. say thanks." He averted his shy gaze, the tips of his ears burning as he wanted to hide into his hoodie and not come out at all. [name] tilted her head, all of Wendy's friends keep coming one by one to her and thanking her. It's annoying, but she'll play along with them for now. "Mhm. You here alone?" Robbie's ears darkened to intensify the flush as he stammered to respond properly. The dark haired teen clears his throat to hide his awkwardness, "Y—Yeah. Um... I got these new jeans. You think it looks good on me?" 

He attempts to show the skinny jeans he was wearing, [name] could tell the discomfort on his face as he wanted to look good in front of her. [name] gave him a standard aloof nod, "It looks nice, but doesn't it feel uncomfortable to wear tight pants?" Robbie stuttered, hiding his face with his jacket sleeve to cover the flush on his face. 

"N—No, it's fine." He attempts to change the subject, instead opting to ask if she wanted to wander around the fair for some harmless sight seeing at least. "Sure." The dark haired teen leads [name] to a ball toss game, slightly further far from Wendy and the kid she's hanging out with. "Do you want the stuffed creature?" [name] furrowed her brows, not finding the appeal in throwing a ball to hit the target for a stuffed animal. "I can get it for you! If—If you want." His attempts to play it off cool, amused her slightly. 

Paying for a ball, Robbie attempts to throw it at the target while still acting cool. It bounces off the wall and nearly smacks the carnie's face who luckily dodged it in time. It misses and Robbie felt embarrassed for missing in front of [name], who he wanted to look cool in front of. "One ball." [name] pays for it, tossing the ball up and down in one hand. 

With a very unfortunate moderate amount of power in her toss, she knocks the bottles down easily and wins the prize. Taking the funny looking creature in her arms, she stuffs it into Robbie's arms who seems startled by her sudden actions. "H—Huh?" [name] gave him a brief glance at the side, "Keep it. It's yours." A shout of pain that doesn't come from either one of them, has them looking in the direction where Wendy was. 

Her eye was sporting a black eye as she cradles it carefully, "Does it look bad...?" The kid she was hanging out with was frantically panicking as he fibbed, trying to reassure her that it didn't look horrible. The kid shouts that he'll be back with some ice and leaves Wendy alone standing at the game, [name] furrows her brows at the lack of concern that guy did by leaving her alone. "Can you get something cold, Robbie?" It was the first time [name] even used his name, causing his face to burn up even more as he agreed— leaving to get a snow cone.

[name] approaches Wendy who was clutching her bruised swollen eye gingerly, taking a cold bottle of water that she stole from an open cooler— she places it on Wendy's black eye. "Take it easy." Wendy stiffened, then relaxed as she recognized the voice. "Oh. [name]. Thanks." Hearing a pair of footsteps approach the two of them, the slight chill of the snow cone coming closer indicated that it was Robbie who she sent off to get the ice dessert. Robbie seemed a bit shocked that Wendy sported a black eye, but nonetheless helped her out by giving her the snow cone as a kind gesture. 

Robbie didn't know what to say, he had feelings for Wendy for the longest of time, but [name] kept making his heart flutter each and every time she did something that was out of his expectations. It was like the first time he met her at the library, she had been reaching for the book on the shelf next to his head. Kind of trapping him against the shelf, a kabedon type of incident that he's been reading so many mangas about.

Although, he kind of made up his mind by hesitantly asking Wendy if she wanted to go out with him. From the corner of his eye, his heart slightly wavered. He wanted to take it back and go hang out with [name], but he's been crushing on Wendy for the longest. 

"Yeah, I guess so." Wendy smiled, chuckling despite holding the ice cold treat in her hand and pressing the ice bottle against her black eye with her other occupied hand. [name] watched them walk off, finally relieved to get rid of the two nuisances. Her [e/c] eyes settling on the 'time traveler' running back and forth in the fair. 

There was business to do.