Chapter 6: |Beginnings|Chapter 6

Avery and Nytin had sat in eachothers arms for a while, before Nytin loosened his grip on Avery. He had managed to hold back his tears and wiped his eyes, and felt a lot better than he had been feeling previously. 

Avery moved back a little, reaching forward and grabbing Nytins cup and handing it to him, “Here. We should drink it before it gets cold.” 

Nytin gratefully took the cup but didn’t speak, unable to find his voice or words to say. He didn’t need to as Avery continued talking.

“Since it's still early, how about we go out and have some fun today? The bakery is open around this time, and there's some other things to do around here too..” Avery said, bringing his cup to his lips and taking a sip of his tea. 

The mention of the bakery seemed to grab Nytins attention even more, he finally spoke with a smile, “That..sounds nice..” he said softly, “Do you think they have anything new?” 

Avery nodded, “They have a new item every week, and I haven't seen you in a week.. so.. yes.” He said with a smile, standing up, “Let me put on some warm clothes and we can go.”

Nytin hummed in response, drinking his tea while watching Avery go up into his bedroom. Once he disappeared upstairs he sank down into the couch with a sigh. I should pay this time. He reached into his pockets to grab his wallet, and after a few seconds of confused digging, he remained empty handed. Nytin paused and checked his other pocket, but found nothing but lint, he stood up putting his cup down and patted himself down, there was no sign of his wallet anywhere. Did I leave it back at home..? 

He glanced upstairs, “I'm gonna use the bathroom, I’ll be out in a second.” He called upstairs, he didn't wait for a response, hastily walking into the bathroom, and locking the door, “C'mon..where'd it go..?” He took his cloak off and shook it, but there was nothing. Nytin sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated with himself, and with a snap of his fingers he vanished from the small bathroom.

Avery on the other hand had put on the jacket Nytin had made him, with somewhat matching sweat pants, or well..he hoped they matched.

He had come down the stairs shortly after Nytins announcement and was sitting on the couch, finishing his tea while waiting patiently. He picked up Nytins cup, finding it empty, so he decided put the cups in the sink and fill them with water to wash when he returned home. . 

He jumped when he heard a crash in the bathroom, “Nytin? Are you okay?” He asked whilst getting up, he faintly heard what sounded like fabric moving.

Nytin had reappeared in the bathroom after a few minutes, but had landed on the toilet when returning, due to this unexpected result, he slipped off of it and fell right into the shower, knocking the curtain down. Once he heard Avery's voice he panicked and got up, “I-i'm fine! I just dropped something.” He hastily put the shower curtain back up and rushed out the bathroom, meeting Avery at the door. 

Nytin had tidied up his hair somewhat, and now had his wallet in his pocket, which he had a hand on to make sure he did not forget it, "I was fixing my hair, and I dropped the air freshener..sorry."

Avery grinned and waved his hand, "Pfft..is that all? With all that noise I thought you fell into the shower or..in the toilet." 

Nytin internally winced as Avery hit the nail on the head. He laughed nervously, "What? No, no..of course not. I'd never lose my balance like that." He cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed, luckily for him, Avery couldn't see his face, "A-anyway, we should get going before..they get busy.." 

Avery nodded, "Alright, let's get going." He led the way out of the apartment, locking the door behind them. Nytin had followed him happily, not coming to the realization that they had to take the elevator down, he watched Avery press the button and felt his heart sink to the floor.

Nytin felt as if he were facing off against some kind of terrible beast, he reluctantly got into the elevator, gripping onto the side rails tightly, which in itself, was a sad attempt at trying to brace himself for what was to come. 

Avery pushed the button and moved to stand next to Nytin who immediately felt sick when the elevator began moving. He closed his eyes as the world began to spin, failing to notice Avery watching him, confused on why Nytin appeared as if he were going to fall over.

Once the elevator stopped, Nytin rushed out leaning against a wall, trying to regain his balance. Avery had followed close behind Nytin, moving close to him and grabbing Nytins arm to help support him, "You..get motion sick..don't you?"

Nytin shook his head, "N-no? I can ride the car or a train fine..it's just whenever I get on that..thing, I get dizzy and my stomach hurts."

Avery snickered and helped him keep his balance while leading him out the building, "That's motion sickness Nytin..maybe you only get it on things like elevators?" 

Nytin slowly regained his composure and sighed, "This has never happened before, I don't know why I'm like this..sorry." He sighed while letting himself be led by Avery, the bakery was close by, but it was a good fifteen minute walk. 

Avery shrugged, "Don't worry..It's perfectly normal, I don't really like the elevator either, it makes me nervous." He didn't want Nytin to feel as if he were some sort of freak of nature due to his motion sickness. Nytin seemed to appreciate this gesture and continued to talk to Avery about different things that he could try avoiding, such as escalators and fair rides. 

They continued walking until Nytin suddenly stopped in his tracks, "What is this?" 

Avery stood next to him, looking at the building Nytin had stopped to stare at. What it appeared to look like to him was that they stopped at some kind of club, "I'm not..sure? What does the big sign up there say?" He pointed upwards, Nytin looked up and read it.

"It says, ar..cade..?" He peered inside the building, the loud music blaring with neon flashing lights caught his attention quite easily, there were many children running around laughing and yelling, holding tickets in one hand with cups full of golden coins in the other.

Avery seemed to get excited, "I didn't know there was one this close, let's go inside!" He grabbed Nytins arm again and paused in his walking, "Actually..I don't know where the doors are.." He said with a small laugh, he had thought that an arcade would have colored doors, but as far as he could see- which wasn't much to begin with, were windows.

Nytin chuckled and led him towards the glass doors, letting him in first before following behind him. 

Avery excitedly looked at all the games, briefly explaining them to Nytin if he asked. He eventually wandered over to a giant claw machine and stared inside, trying to make sense of what was inside, "Is that a giant bunny?" 

Nytin peeked over his shoulder, "No, it's a giant white dog, it's ears are just..really big."

Avery grinned, "I'm gonna buy some coins- stay here." He walked off , almost walking into a few kids while on his journey to get tokens, Nytin watched him go with a smile, crossing his arms and leaning against the machine. Avery shortly returned with a large cup full to the brim with coins, "Alright..I got more than I thought." He sheepishly laughed, "I got a little..excited.."

Nytin shook his head, "How much did that cost to buy?" He asked with a small chuckle, moving away so Avery could play.

Avery waved his hand at Nytin dismissively, "Ah..don't worry about it." He crouched down, feeling around the machine until he found the coin slot, and put a few coins in, the game began playing music and he stood up, he moved the claw around but missed where the prize was. Nytin moved closer and watched him fail a few times, he got close enough to nab it, but the claw would simply drop the toy, he watched Avery fail again and then tapped his shoulder.

"Here, I'll help you. I'll tell you when it's over the dog." He said leaning closer to the glass. Avery nodded and put a coin in again, Nytin was giving him instructions and they failed a few times, due to the claw simply not gripping the toy hard enough.

Avery sighed, putting his hands in his pockets, "Maybe I should just give up, it's not grabbing it at all."

Nytin crossed his arms, "No, not yet, we moved it close to the win zone, just a little more. I'm sure if we grab it in the right spot it'll work." He went over to their cup of coins, grabbing a few and handing them to Avery who smiled.

"Okay, just..one more time." He put the coins in the machine and it began playing music, the claw unlocked for them to use and the game began. He moved it around a bit, to around where they usually put it and looked up at Nytin for approval. Nytin stared at it for a while and moved his hand over Averys to push the button.

"Just a little this way..right at the head." He said pushing down for just a moment, he hadn't even looked at buttons, very determined to win the prize, "Okay, drop the claw."

Avery pushed the button, and Nytin stepped back, they watched the claw go down and grab the toy, it lifted it up but began to drop again. Nytin was getting frustrated, but let out a small gasp when the tag got caught on the claw, and it pulled it over to the prize area.

Avery moved closer, "No way! You did it!" The prize landed and a happy song played loudly, drawing out Nytin and Avery's cheer, they high-fived and Avery went to grab the toy, struggling to bring it out but eventually did after Nytin came to help, opening the door more. It popped out and Avery hugged it happily, "It's so soft! Here, feel." He pushed it into Nytins arms, forcing him to hold it. 

Nytin was slightly startled but gripped onto the soft stuffed animal, watching as Avery picked the coins back up, "It's..softer than it looks." He said with a smile, "Since we still have coins, is there anything else you want to win?" 

Avery shrugged, "I was going to play ski-ball, or maybe that tower tap game with you.." he looked around, but he couldn't tell the difference between games, he decided it may have been best for Nytin to pick the games, "What about you? What do you wanna play?"

"Uhm..how about that one?" He led the way over to the tower game Avery had mentioned previously, "Stacker? It looks easy enough, you said you could see this one right?"

"Er..for the most part..yeah, it's just putting blue on blue." He said putting a coin in, the game began and the rectangular blue box began shifting from side to side, he paused and realized he couldn't see the blocks as well as he thought, causing him to move closer to the screen, he had been doing fine, until the speed picked up causing the pixels to stretch, meaning he couldn't see where the box actually was, "Oh..It's bigger now? I..umm.. here you try." He moved out of the way to let Nytin try, who hesitantly stepped forward.

"..Alright. I just tap the button when the squares are on top of the other ones, yeah?" He put their stuffed animal on the ground and moved to where Avery was standing. He managed to get to the first prize zone, but wanted to get the major prize, so he continued playing, watching the block move carefully, he had one block to go and pressed the button, the square had been perfectly aligned but it somehow skipped forward, meaning Nytin had lost.

Nytin stared at the machine for a long while, only receiving a few tickets, "...The hell..? I pressed it at the right time." He frowned and turned to Avery, "Let me try again."

Avery handed him a few more coins and listened as Nytin lost over, and over, he could tell Nytin was getting frustrated and couldn't help but laugh quietly. 

Nytin caught this and became even more irritated, he watched the block quickly go back and forth across the screen, once he deemed it the right time he slammed his fist on the button, cracking it. Suddenly the lights on the machine flashed blue, meaning he had won. Nytin stared at it in shock for a few seconds and slowly the shock turned into pride and excitement.

"I..I finally beat it! I knew some..machine couldn't beat me!" He declared proudly, watching as it spewed out tickets, by the time he had won, a small pile of tickets he had accumulated from simply playing over and over, so now due to him winning the jackpot, his pile only grew bigger and bigger.

Avery covered his mouth to keep himself from laughing and stepped closer to Nytin, he held up his hand up to Nytin, pretending to point a microphone at him while deepening his voice, "So, Nytin. Tell the audience how it feels to finally win the game, stacker, after using half a cup of coins."

Nytin grabbed his wrist gently and happily replied, "It feels magnificent, I feel as if I could win every game here, I'm the king of this arcade, no game stands a chance against me." He said with a grin, “..And it wasn’t a half of a cup..it was a quarter of the cup..thank you.”

Avery moved the pretend microphone back to himself but broke out into laughter, Nytin couldn't help but laugh either. The two received a few looks and quiet comments from others passing by, but didn't really care, simply enjoying the moment.

Avery wiped the tears that had formed in his eyes, "Lets-" He took a breath trying to hold back the giggles that escaped his lips, "Let's play ski-ball, that one's fun." 

Nytin had calmed himself down quicker than Avery, and had been picking up the tickets with a big smile on his face, holding the tickets trying to fold them over each other neatly, "Sounds good, it's that long one with the balls right?"

"Pfft..the long one with the what?" He felt immature for laughing at what Nytin had said, but he couldn't help it.

Nytin stared at him, "With the..balls..?" He watched as Avery laughed a little harder, and then it clicked, "Pff..Real mature Starshine.." He rolled his eyes, but couldn't help chuckling while leading the way to the game, his reaction caused Avery to laugh more while following him.

They made it over and Avery handed Nytin some of the coins, "Here we can put them in at the same time, and then whoever gets the most points wins.” 

Nytin took the coins and stared at the game, “Are you sure we can play this..? Can you.. see the goals?”

Avery paused, “I mean, for the most part I know where they are.. If I don’t see the ball roll back, I’ll know I scored..well..probably anyway..” He crouched down and found the coin slot for the machine. “So..you ready?”

Nytin hummed and they both put the coins in at the same time, and the game began. Nytin kept missing, only able to get the balls into the bigger score area. Avery on the other hand had been quietly scoring into the middle ones, granting him more points even though he missed a few times.

Nytin was astounded, he wanted to ask Avery if he were truly visually impaired, but held his tongue and tried harder, but in the end, he still lost by a few thousand points. 

Avery turned to him excitedly once the game was over, "Who won?"

Nytin grumbled and crossed his arms, "You did..by around four thousand points." 

Avery raised his hands in triumph, "Yes! That's one for Avery..and Zero for Nytin..I guess now i'm the king of the arcade..but.." He held up the cup full of coins, "Would you like a rematch or do you want to play something else to redeem yourself?" Nytins answer was almost immediate.

"Rematch." He refused to believe he had lost, surely it must have been a fluke, but he soon found out as the game began, it wasn't. Nytin was simply terrible at the game, he kept trying to go for the bigger point areas in the upper corners, but would miss, on a few occasions the ball never landed in any scoring area, and rolled back to him pitifully. 

Avery remained victorious and made sure to pour salt in the wound, teasing him and asking if he wanted to try again, after losing for the fifth time, Nytin gave up. They decided to play other games that Avery could somewhat see, though on some occasions he would make Nytin play games he could not, and would simply be a cheerleader of some sorts. 

Soon they were out of coins, but had collected a fair amount of tickets which were in several plastic bags that the arcade supplied. 

Nytin held up the tickets and shook the bags around, "What do we do with these? Do you..keep them? Maybe trade them in?" 

"We can pass them off to a little kid, the prizes are usually pretty bad- for adults anyway, and we already have a few stuffed animals." He said with a small laugh, motioning to a large bag full of small and large stuffed animals that Nytin had helped Avery win when they hadn't been competing against one another.

Nytin hummed and looked around, he saw a little girl who was crying at the prize counter. Her parents were trying to calm her down but she was rather persistent about something Nytin could only assume was a prize she wanted. The prize clerk looked guilty but was still trying to help calm her down, but his input was brushed aside and made her even more upset. 

Nytin tapped Avery to get his attention, "I think I found a winner, I'll go give these to that little girl over there and then we can go."

Avery smiled and watched Nytin go up to the parents of the little girl, he couldn't see what happened but he heard a high pitched shriek of excitement and Nytin let out a startled 'woah', and after that a few laughs and apologies, before Nytin came back with a smile on his face.

Avery looked up at him, "I take it that it went well?"

Nytin chuckled, "When I handed her all the tickets she got very excited, I'm sure you could hear..but then she jumped right into my arms and called me her new big brother." He said with another laugh, it had a twinge of sadness tied to it, but he cleared his throat and continued speaking with a small smile, "I forgot how silly kids could be."

Avery smiled, "Do you like kids?" 

Nytin took the bag of stuffed animals from Avery and paused at the question, he smiled a little more and began leading the way out of the arcade, "You could say that yeah..They're nice..", his answer made Avery curious, he wanted Nytin to talk about himself more. The more he knew, the more he could try and help Nytin feel better.

Avery hummed and stuck close to him, "Kids are fun..I helped Amirah babysit her nephew once.." He laughed a little, "He uh..kept calling me his mom..he was really upset when he had to go back home."

Nytin got a bigger smile on his face and couldn't help but chuckle, "No way..really? Do you even look like his mother?"

Avery shook his head, "Nope, she's almost identical to Amirah, it was really weird..I'm not sure why he would say that." He shrugged, "She has darker skin than her, but that's really it, other than that you could say they were twins..they even sound the same, that's sisters for you."

Nytin hummed, "Maybe you just felt like a mother figure to him, you have that kind of..erm.." he snapped his fingers, trying to pick a good word to use, "You emit those kinds of feelings..if that makes sense.” 

Avery let out a small laugh, “I'm like a mother to you?”

Nytin opened the front door of the building and let Avery walk out, pausing as Avery spoke, "Well- no, I-" his cheeks turned red, "I mean you're comforting- like a mother would be." 

You are reading story Starshine at novel35.com

His flustered reaction made Avery laugh a little more, "I guess that makes sense, I could say you're a little like a father, but an old fashioned one.." 

"’Old fashioned?’" Nytin echoed, he was slightly confused, but found this description humorous. He'd been called many things, but old fashioned was not one of them, "You're calling me old now?"

Avery laughed a little more, "No, of course not. It's just, the letter you wrote was..a little old fashioned, which isn't a bad thing of course.." He smiled, "I'm sure you probably love music from the 1950's..or something from back then." 

Nytin hummed, "You..guessed correctly, I do prefer older music." He said slowly getting lost in thought, "I also enjoy Mozart, or Gioachino Rossini, it's all very beautiful music..I was even there for one of Beethoven's performances, it was spectacular..I'd go again..if..um.." Nytin trailed off, and glanced down at Avery, who had been listening to him, but was clearly confused.

Avery raised a brow, "Isn't Beethoven.. dead?"

Nytin winced and cleared his throat waving his hand dismissively, "What I meant by that is, I went to a performance not too long ago..and they played a lot of his music." 

Avery was silent for a few seconds before a sly smile spread across his lips, "You really are an old man."

Nytin let out the breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding and let out a chuckle, "I guess so, but, you're friends with an old man..I'd say that would make you old too."

Avery laughed a little, "What? That's not fair, I'm only twenty five! I don't do old people things." 

Nytin grinned mischievously, "Taking a walk to a clearing and going to a bakery every morning is pretty old fashioned don't you think?" 

The two continued to playfully jab at each other about their age and hobbies for the remainder of the walk to the bakery, laughing and overall having a good time. 

Once they had arrived at the bakery, Nytin insisted he pay for everything, much to Avery's displeasure. In the end Nytin managed to convince him to let him pay, and bought them both a coffee and treat. Nytin bought himself a fresh blueberry donut, while Avery got bagel bites. They sat down and talked for a long while, simply enjoying eachothers company, interested in what the other had to say, and by the end of this, Avery noticed Nytin seemed in much higher spirits than he was that morning.

They left the bakery and were now walking in a random direction together. Avery glanced over at Nytin, remembering that he was still carrying the bag of stuffed animals, he had asked him before they'd left the bakery if he was fine with holding them, and Nytin had said he was, but he still felt a bit guilty.

Nytin suddenly stopped again, "I didn't know there was ice skating near here.." He watched the people below skate around, stumbling, laughing, skating with their children or partner. Nytin watched them for a few seconds before turning around, "I haven't skated in a long time, I wonder if I still got it.."

Avery's interest immediately peaked, "Oh? You know how to ice skate?" He walked closer to Nytin, "Is it fun?"

Nytin shrugged, "I'd like to think it is, some people say it's scary..but..it's relaxing.." He looked down at Avery, "Though I'm surprised you've never been, especially since winter lasts so long here."

Avery pointed to his eyes with a brow raised, causing Nytin to immediately back track on his words, "O-oh no, I didn’t mean- shit.. Im..sorry.." He felt awful, but Avery just laughed a little, which helped Nytin relax slightly.

"It's okay, It was just a small joke.." He said softly, "Um..Do you think you could teach me how to skate?" He was a bit nervous about asking this question, he had never even touched a skating rink, much less an ice skating rink before due to his eyesight but he felt that if Nytin were there, he'd be safe. 

Nytin seemed to find this idea plausible, and smiled, "Sure..that sounds fun- and don't worry, I'll make sure nobody bumps into you or anything." 

The two headed to the entrance of the ice rink, and walked up to the service desk, paying a fee and getting their skates. Nytin left the bag of stuffed animals off to the side where people had placed their personal belongings, and then led Avery to a bench where people were putting on, and taking off their skates. 

Nytin sat down on the bench and began reluctantly putting his skates on, they looked as if they'd been passed down from generation to generation, had he known they'd be doing this, he'd have brought his own. He noticed Avery was struggling, and quickly finished putting his on and stood up and moved over to him.

"Mind if I help?" Nytin didn't wait for an answer and bent down to help Avery put his skates on and after about a minute or two he was done, "There we go, now..try standing and taking a few steps, you can use me as support if you need to." 

Avery said a small 'thank you' once Nytin was finished, and hesitantly stood up slowly feeling that he would lose balance easily, but was pleasantly surprised that it was simple enough to stand upright, but found walking was completely different. He staggered when taking his first few steps and deemed it unsafe, gripping onto Nytin's arm tightly. 

"This is terrifying, how do you walk normally in these?" He laughed nervously, looking up at Nytin.

Nytin couldn't help but also laugh a little, "You're like a baby deer learning to walk.." He laughed when Avery tried to walk on his own again but wobbled wildly and appeared as if he were going to fall. Nytin quickly caught him, "Why don't you try..marching..?" 

Avery did as he was told but felt he looked a bit silly, Nytin guided him to the ice and stepped on it first.

"Alright, just slowly take a few steps forward, the wall is to your left, but you can still hold onto me if you need to." Nytin said, making sure to hold Avery's hands tightly and securely. 

Avery took a very shaky step forward onto the ice, he moved his hand up to Nytin's upper arm and put his other foot down. His knees wobbled, and at that moment he knew he was going to fall, luckily Nytin noticed this and quickly caught him and held him by his waist, lifting Avery up to make sure his knees didn't buckle from under him.

"Okay, just take baby steps..very small steps." He said reassuringly, Avery did as he was told and managed to keep his balance this time, but he was still clearly very nervous.

"Um..you aren't going to let go right? I don't want to run into someone.." 

Nytin shook his head, "Not if you don't want me to, don't worry, I'll keep you safe..just trust me..okay?"

Avery smiled at his comforting words, "Okay." 

Together the two slowly moved around the ice rink, Nytin guiding Avery through any problem he had whilst skating and eventually Avery was skating on his own, albeit slowly and carefully, still very close to Nytin while Nytin kept a close eye on him, and helped him if he felt that Avery would fall. 

Nytin watched him for a while and a small idea formed in his head, he moved forward and put his hand on Avery's arm, "Would you like to skate with me, now that you have your balance? I could show you a few tricks.."

Avery looked up at him, he felt a lot more comfortable now that he could maintain his balance and have somewhat control of his movements, "Sure- just..don't go too fast.." He said with a small laugh, "I might fall.."

Nytin held out his hand, "Don't worry, I've been doing this for a long time, just move with me, and you'll get the hang of it..just grab my hand." 

Avery put his hand in Nytin's gently, smiling up at him "Alright, don't make fun of me for messing up though." 

Nytin took his hand and chuckled, "I won't don't worry."

He used his other hand and used it to place Averys on his shoulder and moved his own hand down to Avery's waist, and with a swift movement he and Avery were both moving gracefully along the large rink. Nytin began guiding Avery into a dance, helping him move along the ice with ease, Avery was in awe, he was simply swept away in the moment and moved along with Nytin happily. 

Nytin smiled as he saw Avery was having fun, "I take it you've never danced before? You seem nervous."

Avery sheepishly laughed, "It's a little nerve wracking..but.. this is fun! I didn't know you were a man of so many talents..first you make clothes, now you can ice skate- and dance!" His lips parted in a large smile, "You're honestly..pretty amazing..do you have any other skills you've been hiding from me?"

Nytin's cheeks felt hot, and he almost faltered in his movements, he cleared his throat and maintained his composure, "You'll just have to get to know me more, you'll find out sooner or later." 

Nytin suddenly moved Avery away from himself, "But I suppose I could show you some..other moves..while we're here."

He didn't let Avery answer and suddenly his movements quickened and his grip on Avery increased ever so slightly, he took Avery's hand and moved it above his head hinting at what he was going to do. He let him brace and then he spun Avery around and dipped him downwards holding him by his waist, and lifted him back up again, and continued to dance with him for a while, teaching him basic dance moves and helping him skate. The two had a lot of fun, even attracting the attention of a few other skaters who watched the two dance around and laugh, seemingly in their own little world.

Eventually, though, they had to get off the ice due to Avery getting tired, he hadn't wanted to stop but he felt as if he were going to fall asleep if he remained on the ice any longer. He felt guilty, as Nytin seemed disappointed that they couldn't continue skating, but hadn't voiced wanting to stay, he still seemed to be in a very bright and happy mood. They returned the skates and began walking again, this time without a clear destination.

Nytin hummed quietly as they walked, after a few minutes he glanced at Avery who stumbled and shook his head. He watched Avery do this a few times before he suddenly stopped walking and watched as Avery continued walking for a few seconds, he quickly got confused and began looking around. Nytin snickered a little and walked back to Avery who yawned and stretched.

"Sorry..I didn't see you stopped, was there something over there?" Avery asked softly, clearly fighting to keep his eyes open. 

Nytin laughed a little more, and set the bag of stuffed animals down, "No..but there is something here that I should probably attend to."

Avery was confused but suddenly felt his feet leave the ground, and in the blink of an eye he was on Nytin's back, out of fear of falling backwards he grabbed onto Nytins shoulders with his hands, "Um.."

Nytin picked the bag back up, "You're going to run into something, you look dead tired. Don't worry, I can keep carrying you for a little."

Avery hesitated, it was true, he was exhausted, he slowly relaxed and loosely put his arms around Nytin's shoulders, "Mm..okay..just..put me down if you-" his sentence was cut off by a small yawn, "mm..get tired.."

Nytin snickered a little, "Alright Starshine."

He felt Avery relax a lot more and adjusted him into a better position, and headed towards an area that he knew wasn't full of many people, as he walked he felt more weight on his back and quickly deduced that Avery had fallen asleep. Nytin went back to humming softly, seemingly unbothered by the situation, he resumed walking without a destination for a long while, enjoying the scenery, failing to notice Avery had woken up after a while of walking, until he had felt him grip onto him tighter, before drifting off again. Nytin chuckled and smiled at this, and happily kept walking, glad that Avery felt comfortable.

While he strolled around, he noticed that he had been receiving quite a few odd looks from others, and had also attracted the attention of quite a few young children who immediately asked their parents for a piggy back ride as well, much to their dismay. Eventually Nytin found himself at a park, he spotted an empty pavillion and walked over to it, he placed Avery down and made sure he was safe before walking away again. 

When Nytin returned he had two cups of hot chocolate in his hands, he sat down and tapped Avery's shoulder.

"Starshine..It's time to wake up." He said softly, as to not scare him. 

Avery stirred and slowly opened his eyes, "Sorry..I fell asleep..again.." His voice was quiet, and laced with exhaustion, but he sat up and stretched but ended up leaning against Nytin, fully prepared to fall asleep again. Nytin snapped his fingers in Averys face, he opened his eyes and was met with a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

Nytin couldn't help but smile, "While I was walking there was a stand..so I bought some, here."

Avery slowly took it and sat up, "Oh..thank you." He sipped it quietly, slowly waking up more and more due to the warmth spreading throughout his body, that's when his thoughts got more collected and he pieced a few things together, he looked up at Nytin nervously, "How long have you been carrying me for..?"

"Your usual nap time..about an hour, I just went sightseeing." He had said it in such a casual manner, that Avery felt as if he didn't have to worry about it, but he was still confused.

"My usual..? Wait- You just..carried me around town, on your back..for an hour..?" 

Nytin hummed, "Mhm..but I covered your face, so nobody saw you..I was going to take you home, but I know you like to sleep in the cold so I just..kept walking." 

Avery was embarrassed, but felt better knowing his face had been covered, "You probably looked weird with me on your back though.."

Nytin simply shrugged, "Eh..it was kind of funny, there were a lot of children asking for piggy back rides when they saw us." He said with a small chuckle, "Watching their parents try and pick them up was rather entertaining..one of them ended up falling forward right into a pile of snow." 

Avery laughed a little and leaned against Nytin, he paused and looked up at him, "..Is..this okay..? I- um..forgot to ask earlier." He felt Nytins body move a little, as he let out a quiet chuckle.

"Of course, it's not as if you weren't just drooling on my shoulder earlier." He laughed a little more as Avery put more weight onto him.

"I was not!" 

"Sure, Sure, we can say that if it makes you feel better."

Avery went silent for a few seconds, "...Did I really?" 

Nytin had to hold back his laughter at Avery's distressed tone, he put an arm around Avery to try and reassure him, "No..I was just playing around with you." He didn't expect Avery to retaliate and shove him around, he quickly moved his cup out of the way laughing.

Avery crossed his arms but couldn't help smiling, he kicked his legs and hummed, "How do you even know how long I 'usually' nap for?" 

Nytin raised a brow, "Starshine, how many times have you gone to the clearing, and dozed off? Each time you'd wake up after exactly an hour or so, besides the rare occurrence of a little longer."

Avery looked flabbergasted, and his face turned red, "Oh.."

It went silent and the two drank their hot chocolate peacefully, though Nytin seemed troubled each time he took a small drink of it, he held it between his legs and stared at it for a long while before speaking. 

"This hot chocolate..is awful.."

Averys answer was almost immediate, "Yeah it is."

Nytin smiled at him, "Would you like to get some from a cage? Surely it would be better from there."

Avery looked up at him, "Of course I do!"

The two stood up and threw their hot chocolates away, Avery yawned and stretched and felt his feet leave the ground, and he was once again flipped onto Nytins back, he instinctively grabbed on and was clearly confused, "Nytin, what-"

Nytins lazy smile widened slightly, "I told you I would carry you, remember?"

"Pfft.." He tried to hold back his laughter, "Okay, I'll be your guide then, onwards!"

Nytin let out a soft laugh, he picked up their bag of stuffed animals and began walking, his heart beating a little faster than it had been just a few moments ago. 

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