Chapter Text
Sitting in the living room Gaming anticipates Freminet's arrival with anxiety and excitement. Now without any kind of gift Gaming can only hope that his new efforts don't fail. So watching the door Gaming thinks over different topics he can try talking about, 'The sea seems personal to him so can't ask about that, maybe more on his volunteering? He seems interested in tech, I could talk about myself but that could come off as self absorbed, but it would take attention off him which might be comfortable.'
Continuing to stew in his thoughts he hears a knock on the door and races to open it tripping and almost crashing into his father along the way. Opening the door Gaming is quick to talk ignoring the weird look he gets from his father and Freminet, "Hey Freminet, how are you?"
Freminet seems confused but answers, "I'm doing well could we go to your room before talking?"
"Yeah of course." Turning to go to his room Gaming continues to ignore his father and his own terrible attempt at acting calm.
Yet another silent walk through the halls serves to calm Gaming and leave Freminet neutral. Taking their places in Gaming's room Freminet as always is fast to being out the books and writing tools while Gaming racks his brain for conversation starters, "Do you still want to work on your math or do you want to work on something else?"
Snapping out of his thinking responds in a rush, "Yeah, yeah I still need help with math." Freminet gives a curt nod and starts flipping through the pages. Gaming, realizing he's running out of time before they focus on work, chooses his first idea for the conversation.
"Hey, I remember you saying you fixed machines for you communicating hours is that something you do often?" Freminet turns giving his full attention to Gaming making him nervous but also relieved as that means the topic worked.
"Yes it's a hobby of mine I like tinkering with tech and making stuff, usually toys." Gaming celebrates the progress and quickly gets talkative.
"That's cool my hobbies aren't that practical, besides being good exercise, and honestly I can barely fix jack around my house. When something breaks it becomes a whole thing considering my Dad isn't much better than me."
Freminet nods and says, "In my family I'm the go to for any tech issues I can even fix small plumbing issues at this point." After that though he looks down to his lap and adds, "Sorry I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging."
Waving his hand Gaming replies, "No way you should be proud that's impressive! Honestly I just do small things moving stuff around, taking out the trash, and other basic chores. The biggest chore is have would be when my dad asks me to run out and buy stuff, especially since we are really far from most stores."
Rasing his head again Freminet says, "In my house we just take turns to go out and buy stuff, which we do often since we live so close to a convince store, the one you were at yesterday." Remembering the interaction Gaming has to hold back from smiling giddly.
"Speaking of I actually still have some of those candies you gave me if you want some?" Standing Gaming opens his nightstand pulling out a bag of candy and places it on the table.
"Sure I've never had this before."
"You'll probably like it, though I can't say for sure since I like a lot of food. Honestly you choosing to get food was a good move like they say the way to a person's heart is through the stomach." Freminet flushes from the accidental flirting making Gaming question how he looked even prettier when blushing. Before he remembers that his whole plan was to be more subtle and calm and panics thinking he made Freminet uncomfortable.
"Well I'm glad you liked it." An awkward pause fills the air as Gaming panics over accidentally flirting and Freminet doesn't know what to say, but to break the silence Freminet asks, "What's your hobby?"
Seeing the progress Gaming is quick to respond, especially since he's excited about this topic, "I usually hang out with friends but for an actual hobby I do wushou dancing", Freminet tilts his head obviously not knowing what wushou dancing is, "So wushou dancing is a type of dance from Liyue where a person holds this big head thing that kinda looks like a lion, and using some small mechanisms and movement try to replicate a lion. It's super fun and I love seeing people like my performances."
Still confused and curious Freminet asks, "Performances? Where do you perform?"
"Usually just on the street mainly in the Liyue district their more open to street performances than other areas." Gaming answers with pride.
With a nod Freminet opens his mouth to likely ask more questions but stops and looks at the table, "We should probably do some work, we can talk afterwards, or if you need to take a break."
At the suggestion Gaming off of shock and joy leans forward, "Really!?" Freminet jumps in shock as Gaming quickly composes himself and apologizes, "Sorry it's just I didn't think you really wanted to talk just wanted to get the work done and leave. Most people even some of my friends get sick of how much I talk."
Freminet looks off to the side and frowns, "I didn't like it that much at first but that was for other reasons, now I like talking to you, your fun and nice."
Once again Gaming is shocked but moreso he's ecstatic fighting off the urge to jump for joy. He's not given the chance though as Freminet places the math book on the table and opens it clearly trying to draw away from the topic. Going along with it Gaming listens as Freminet picks up from the last tutoring showing him through questions and then taking him with some questions to solve.
Back in the same flow they settle into peaceful silence with only the sounds of pencil on paper and the rustle of the candy bag filling the room. Gaming sneaks a few peaks at Freminet from time to time taking in the fact that he's made actual progress. Time passes slowly, mainly since studying, even if it's with your crush, isn't the best pass time, but finally Gaming finishes his questions proudly displaying them to Freminet who quickly grades them.
"Your doing really well, I almost wonder if you actually need to study this." Happy over another compliment Gaming decides to rest the waters a bit.
"Nah I was a train wreck before you came in, so this mostly reflects on how good you are." A similar reaction to before which Gaming can only count as a victory.
"Well as I said we can take a break since you finished early." With another win Gaming tries being more hospitable.
"Are you hungry? I can grab something from the kitchen."
"If it's fine with you then yes." With a simple nod Gaming is out of the room and down to the kitchen.
Grabbing some muffins from the pantry Gaming quickly makes his way back but is stopped when his dad calls from the couch, "Grabbing food huh? Your being awfully nice to this tutor if yours."
"You always taught me to be nice especially to people who are helping you."
"Yes I did but this is more than normal. You've made him food, bought him a gold bracelet that cost 100$, and you practically ran me over trying to open the door for him. This is a lot more than just being nice, so either you're trying to bribe him or..." The tone of his voice leaves Gaming flustered, but before he can defend himself Tak turns on the TV signaling the conversations end.
Returning to the room Freminet looks up and asks, "Are you ok? You face is a bit red."
"Yeah my dad was just saying some weird stuff. Here take a muffin." Complying Freminet takes the muffin but doesn't eat just yet.
"If I can ask why did you get me a bracelet with fish charms?" Once he asks Freminet takes a bite and waits for a response.
"Oh I just remembered you saying you liked the ocean so I thought it fit." Having already got halfway through the muffin Gaming readily answers.
"Hm yeah I usually go diving on my free time, it's just nice being in the ocean." Gaming is once again surprised yet again as Freminet didn't seem willing to talk about the ocean before.
"Dam that's pretty cool. Makes sense though most people in the Fontaine district have ocean related jobs so hobbies make sense too." Dusting off his hands Gaming opens to say more but is interrupted as Man Chai crawls into his lap having awoken from a nap.
"Who is that?" Leaning closer Freminet looks towards Man Chai flustering Gaming.
"Man Chai he's my cat, his name means well behaved but that doesn't really fit him."
"My family has two cats one is well behaved and the other constantly knocks stuff over. Can I pet him?" Gaming nods and Freminet reaches down scratching the cat under the chin. Man Chai quickly responds moving closer until he's sitting on Freminet's side of the table. The rest of the time goes that way as Freminet plays with Man Chai which Gaming would be more jealous over if it wasn't extremely adorable to see, and the small smiles Freminet wore almost made him pass out from overload.
Finally the time came as Freminet's alarm goes off so he moves away and starts packing up to the dismay to both the cat and it's owner. However he must comply so Gaming helps pack up and guide the blonde to the door.
Still a bit sad Gaming watches Freminet move to open the door but he pauses and slowly turns and asks, "If you want we could meet up tomorrow to hangout after school?" Once again flabbergasted by Freminet Gaming takes a second to process the request before with a bright smile agrees nodding his head like a excited child.
Finally when Freminet leaves Gaming stops holding back and jumps and yells with joy with his dad laughing from the couch muttering, "Young love," under his breath.
🐧
With the car door closed Freminet first takes notice that Lynette is in the car with them this time as Lyney says, "Hey Lynette insisted on coming along for some reason."
Without another word they start driving but a long the way Freminet puts his head in his hands to cover his blush as he blurts out, "I think I have a crush on Gaming."
Within a second the car bursts in sound as Lyney let's out sounds of shock before turning to Lynette and saying, "IS THAT WHY YOU WANTED TO COME ALONG?!" With only a laugh for response Lyney stares her down as he processes the info. Ignoring their usual antics Freminet only considers his excitement for the next day.