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“No! I said it needed to be ready by Friday! FRI-DAY!”
Charlie could practically see the smoke coming from Panda’s head as the shorter gentleman paced feverishly throughout the living room, chicken-scratched notepad in one hand and cell phone in the other, the latter currently being used to scream at the poor baker that was tasked with baking their cake for their wedding that was scheduled to take place on Friday. There had been some mixup at some point which resulted in the earliest day the cake could be finished being Sunday, which wouldn’t work for obvious reasons. Charlie stood a short distance from the ordeal, hands wrung in front of him as he nervously watched his fiancé fume. He wanted to intervene, but knew that would be like sticking your hand into a ceiling fan.
Charlie watched as Panda closed his eyes and pressed the back of his paw to his forehead in frustration as the baker spoke something unintelligible on the other end of the phone; Panda nodded a few times in agitation before his eyes burst open, exploding again in a desperate cry. ”I already said I can’t do Sunday! I’m not moving my whole wedding because we hired a baker that doesn’t know how to plan!”
The embarrassment and sympathy for this poor baker burned a hole in Charlie hot enough to persuade him to try to do something about it. “P-Pumpkin, maybe you should--”
Panda put up a paw, signalling to Charlie that he needed a minute. His eyes closed again as he tried his hardest to sound as not-enraged as he could towards Charlie. “Just wait a minute, Charlie,”
Charlie backed off, not wanting to aggravate Panda any further.
”...I shouldn’t have to pay more, you should be giving us a full refund!”
An unstoppable force versus an immovable object. Charlie decided he couldn’t let this go on, realizing that at this rate someone was either going to kill or be killed. Charlie used his conveniently long arms to yoink the phone from Panda, internally cringing at how warm and sweaty the phone had become from Panda’s grip. Spinning around on his feet to give Panda a touch more effort to take the phone back from him, which he was currently doing, complete with hopping, Charlie held the phone high to his ear.
“Other groom here-- he’ll call you back!”
Charlie turned back around after pressing the red hang-up button. He was greeted by an exhausted looking Panda, panting and clinging desperately to Charlie.
“Charlie, give me my phone back,” Panda pleaded.
“Pumpkin, all this yellin’s gonna make you drop dead!” Charlie sat on the couch, stuffing the phone under a pillow. “No more calls.”
“But I need to call the t--”
“Shhhhhhh,” Charlie reached out and put a finger to Panda’s mouth. “Shh. I’ll handle the calls from now on.”
Panda gave in, collapsing into the couch next to Charlie with a defeated sigh. This turned into Panda burying his face into Charlie’s side, holding onto him tightly. Charlie responded by wrapping his arms around his exasperated fiancé.
“This wedding is gonna be a complete disaster,” Panda groaned.
Charlie pulled Panda off of him so he could look him in his tired eyes. “No way! As long as it ends in us being married, it’ll be perfect.”
Panda fixed Charlie with a sheepish, in-love smile, burying himself in Charlie once more. “You always know what to say.”
“Aww, heh…” Charlie chuckled shyly, letting a blush consume him.
After snuggling for a few minutes and allowing Panda to ventilate a bit, Charlie suddenly rose from the couch. Panda reacted negatively, raising his head and pouting at Charlie. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Charlie left his comfortable position next to Panda and went into what was formerly Panda’s room, now shared by the both of them. Panda sat up a little further, blinking confusedly in the direction of where his fiancé fled to. Charlie reemerged no more than a minute later, obviously holding something behind his back. Panda kept his confused expression, and listened when Charlie asked him to close his eyes.
Panda instinctively put his paws out, expecting something to be placed in them, but was surprised when he felt Charlie tie something around his eyes.
“Alright so you’re blindfolding me, I don’t trust that,” Panda muttered, but still allowed it to happen. “Charlie, what…?”
“No peeking!” Charlie held Panda’s paw and lifted him from the couch. “Come with me.”
“Um, okay,” Panda reluctantly followed along as Charlie gently guided him along and out the front door. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise,” Charlie stressed. “That’s why I blindfolded you.”
“I’m just getting a funny vibe from this, is all.”
“Psh.”
Panda stepped along the freshly cut grass as carefully as humanly (bear-ly?) possible, afraid that one wrong step would inevitably lead to him stepping on a rusty nail somehow and getting tetanus from it, which would be just his luck.
After a quick walk full of branches to the face and near-faceplants only halted by his dear fiancé, Panda stopped walking just as Charlie did.
Panda noticed the feeling of cool sand on his feet and the sound of a seagull cawing far away. “Wait, Charlie, are we at the…?”
Charlie removed the blindfold from around Panda’s eyes.
Panda looked around, reaffirming where he truly was, blinking a few times as his pupils wandered.
“I know you like this place a lot, a-and…” Charlie bashfully put a hand behind his head. “I thought it might make you feel better.”
Panda nodded, absentmindedly wrapping an arm around Charlie’s leg. “It does.”
Panda looked to his right, then his left. The first thing he noticed upon looking to his left was the sign they had put up a number of years ago. TOXIC LAKE-- KEEP OUT. The red paint they used had faded a considerable amount and what hadn’t faded had begun to chip, with the wood of the sign itself giving way to many holes, they had the termites to thank for that, and clear water damage from hundreds of rains washing over it. The sign still did its job, though, and repelled any rogue tourists from accessing the lake.
“No more wedding planning for you today,” Charlie patted Panda’s head, and Panda gently headbutted Charlie’s side. “We’ll let your brothers handle it.
Panda nodded. He figured he could just get his younger brother to make them a cake, and… also get his younger brother to re-hem his pants, because the tailor messed them up and-- oh no he’s thinking too much about it again.
Panda shook those thoughts from his mind. It was Tuesday, the wedding was on Friday, they had three days to worry about stuff. Ice Bear was smart, he’d help Charlie when if he needed it.
Right now, Panda just decided to enjoy this little slice of paradise with Charlie, and burn those bridges when he got to them.