Chapter Text
"Where is he?" Red muttered to himself, checking his watch for the fifth time while his leg bounced up and down in impatient nervousness. Crimson eyelights tearing away from the entrance to see who touched his shoulder.
"You're sure you don't want a cup of water while you wait, hun?" One of the waitresses at the small mall café asked politely, lightly tapping her pen on her small notepad.
"No, thank you. Sorry," Red replied, trying to hide his disappointed voice since it wasn't his friend trying to surprise him.
"Alright. Just call me over when you're ready," she shrugged lightly before walking away to check on another table.
Red sighed, ‘maybe he wasn't coming…’ No. He shook his head at the thought. He'd wait another ten minutes and then leave. Yeah. Red nodded to himself and looked down at the coffee-stained table, too busy overthinking to hear the small bells attached to the entrance ring when the door opened and closed. He heard someone talking to the guy at the register, but nothing really caught his attention until he heard his own name.
"Yeah, his name is Red Fell," the stranger said in a familiar voice.
Red perked up and turned his head to the conversation. There was another skeleton monster dressed in nice, casual clothing, but what mostly caught Red's eye was the familiar cyan bandana tied loosely around his neck that just made those pretty baby blue eyes lights pop.
The guy at the register pointed to where Red was sitting, and the petite skeleton turned in that direction, locking eyes with the other. For some reason he felt like his soul skipped a beat when he saw the other smile brightly and start rushing over.
"RED!!" he called out, almost knocking the complimentary items off the table as he lunged to tackle Red with a hug before the other could properly get out of the seat.
"Blue-!" Red took a second to comprehend the quick movement, now stuck leaning back on the booth seat with the other clinging on top. After shaking his head he smiled and tried not to laugh as he hugged back. "You made it," he said with a little relief.
"Of course! I'm so sorry for being late. I got lost. I'm not used to this mall anymore," Blue said sheepishly, looking away apologetically.
"Ah,” Red nodded, glad his overthinking was in vain, “you know you could have called. I would have helped ya," Reds expression softened as he leaned his head to the side in an attempt to make eye contact again.
"I wanted to surprise you," Blue seemed to pout a little, keeping his head turned away but looking towards his friend with those bright baby blues.
"You haven't changed a bit," Red chuckled, his grin growing.
"Well, neither have- ohmystars ! What happened to your tooth?! It's gold!" Blues sockets widened as he turned and grabbed Red's face, pulling it down to examine the gold replacement tooth.
"Oh, that. I tripped over my shoelace a few years ago, busted my mouth, and broke my tooth, so I had it replaced," Red explained. He suppressed a small blush threatening to dust his cheekbones and pulled Blue's hands away as the other made a slightly irritated face.
"I told you you should have tied your shoes more often," Blue scolded, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Lesson learned," Red rolled his eyes but kept his smile. "Guess you could say Red Fell?"
"Oh my stars," Blue groaned before letting out a small laugh. "You really haven't changed either."
They both smiled, and stared at each other in a small pause that seemed longer than it really was. The moment almost felt magical, on why Red couldnt ponder. Maybe he was just excited to see Blue again, or maybe it was those hypnotic blue lights he kept finding himself lost in for… some reason. The thoughts were ripped from his mind, probably for the best, when he heard Blue make a surprised sound at someone tapping his shoulder.
"Uhm, I hate to interrupt," the waitress from before hid an amused smile behind her small note book, "but we should really get those orders in."
They both looked up from each other to find they had a small audience. Blue squeaked in embarrassment before quickly untangling himself and standing up immediately, blushing a little as he hurried to the seat on the other side of the table.
"S-sorry! I, uh, got a little carried away there," the smaller of the two monsters sunk into his seat and bandana quietly.
"No, no, it's okay, Blue," Red quickly straightened himself and pulled at the collar of his sweater for some air, also blushing quite a bit. "Some people just don't know how to mind their own business ," he added a little sharply, glaring at a few of the observers who all seemed to conveniently turn away or suddenly find something interesting on their menu.
"So, those orders?" The waitress asked again, ready to write.
.
.
.
The time Red spent with Blue in that café felt amazing. They caught up on so much! He really did miss Blue… It had been, what, 8, almost 9 years since he last saw Blue?
Red remembered that day. It broke his heart to find out his best friend, his only friend, was moving away. He also remembered the promise Blue made to him: "Red, please don't be sad… I'll come back one day, I promise! When we're both older. We'll be able to hang out as much as we want then, and we'll be adults, so no rules!"
The thought made Red smile fondly. Blue had kept that promise. He let out a content exhale as he tuned back into the story Blue was ranting about.
"So I ended up just returning the book myself!" Blue laughed for a few seconds.
Stars, that laugh. It was so unique and perfect and cute, and—
"Red?" Blue tilted his head. "You okay?"
Where the hell was that train of thought going?
"What—huh?" Red blinked.
"Pft—did you doze off? Sorry for making my story too long." he slightly smaller chuckled.
"What—? Oh—! No, sorry. I uh… didn't get much sleep last night, so the skull's a little fuzzy today," Red smiled apologetically, drinking the rest of his coffee.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Red. Did something happen?"
"Ah—no, I just, um, have noisy neighbors."
"I see. Maybe buy some ear muffs?"
"I'll do that, thanks, Blue." Red smiled. It was better to stop the white lie at that.
The conversation continued until Blue finished his cup of hot chocolate and pushed it aside.
"It feels so good to be back. The countryside was nice, but it was always so quiet. I missed this city, and especially you."
Red's cheekbones started to tint again. Again? Why did that keep happening?
"Me too," Red nodded in agreement.
The waitress from before approached. "Would you two like a refill or the check?"
No, he wasn't ready to leave yet… He wasn't ready to leave Blue yet…
"Yeah, I'm ready. Are you, Blue?"
"Mhm. We can split the check."
"Works for me."
Where did those pesky thoughts keep coming from?
The duo left the café and stopped outside the mall.
"Thank you for inviting me here. I had a nice time," Blue turned to look at Red, smiling up at his long lost companion.
"Yeah, of course. I had fun t—" Red was cut off by another sudden hug from the other.
"One more hug, mweh heh."
It was happening again.
Red felt his face heat up and his soul thump a little harder as he hugged back.
'Shit…' he thought. The symptoms only got worse as he came to a conclusion.
"Bye, Red," Blue let go a little wistfully and waved as he started to walk away.
"Wait—" Red spoke up, causing Blue to perk up and turn around again.
'Think of something, dumbass!'
"Do you wanna hang out tomorrow? Catch a movie, maybe?"
There was a pause.
'Great. You fucked it up, ya moron—’
Blue smiled brighter than he had before and responded with much excitement.
"I would love to!" he exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Red sighed and smiled in relief.
"How about 7?" Red asked.
Blue nodded approvingly. "7."
"I'll text you details later then," Red said.
"Ok! Bye Red," Blue said much more happily, waving again, still smiling as he left.
Red stayed put for another minute. He couldn't really deny it. And all the signs were there.
I guess you could say Red fell.