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“...Surprise! Brought some food! Wanna have a pinecone picnic?” Charlie had asked, brandishing a quaint little picnic basket.
Panda nervously looked back at his brothers, hoping one of them would speak up. They seemed to have the same idea, looking equally as lost for words as Panda. It seemed as though they both were expecting Panda to be the one to speak up, however, leading Panda to clear his throat in anticipation for words that he hadn’t prepared in advance.
“Charlie, we can’t,” Panda put his paws up in front of him, hoping it would soften the blow. He felt bad about turning Charlie down, there really wasn’t any way of him knowing their plans would clash. They were meant to go to this super high-class, fancy, exclusive restaurant downtown that specializes in chicken and waffles that evening, and they had made the reservation nine months in advance. As much as he wanted to hang out with Charlie, it couldn’t be done. “Like, nine months ago, we made a reservation to this exclusive restaurant.”
“It’s called Chicken and Waffles,” Grizz smiled. “Guess what they serve!”
“Ice Bear likes soul food.”
“Chicken and waffles?” Charlie’s face dropped a bit in half-confusion, half-disappointment at being rejected. “What a weird combination.”
It wasn’t weird, Panda guessed, suddenly offended. He’s never had chicken before, or at least he hopes he hasn’t had it before. It’s supposed to taste good, though! And two positives make a positive; even if the idea of eating meat, let alone chicken, makes Panda’s skin crawl and stomach churn. It’s supposed to be good, and that combined with his brothers’ excitement over it helps Panda gather something close to excitement of his own.
“You don’t understand!” Panda contended, his expression softening. “It’s this really hip, trendy place. If we’re not there on time, we’re gonna lose our spot.”
“Well, shoot! What’s so great about--” Charlie is cut off by Ice Bear shoving him with his entire body out of the door. A bit rude, but Charlie continues instead of protesting. “--chicken and waffles?”
“Dude, next to PB&J, it’s one of the greatest combinations ever made,” Grizz replies, leaving Charlie in his dejected state in the front yard, picnic basket still in hand.
Panda cocks an eyebrow at that statement. He can’t even eat peanut butter, and Grizz knows this. It took him nine months to realize this, but Panda didn’t eat chicken-- he was a vegetarian, this was common knowledge. He let himself get talked into going to the restaurant with his brothers, didn’t protest when they made the reservation, and it took him nine months to realize how utterly stupid this whole thing was. If anything, all the vegetarian options on the menu (assuming they had any) could be found likely anywhere else in town. Heck, he’d rather eat a darn pinecone than any type of meat, no matter how good it’s supposed to taste! It wasn’t worth the trouble. If he’s been a vegetarian this long, he doesn’t want to imagine how badly eating meat would mess him up.
Panda stopped in his tracks when his brothers began walking off again, and looked over at Charlie. Charlie didn’t notice Panda and didn’t return his gaze, but he looked visibly disappointed.
“Grizz,” Panda called out, “Wait.”
Grizz halted, pivoting around to face Panda. Panda’s face was a mixture of guilt and nervousness, and he aimed his vision downward as his paws gently held each other as they hung before him. Grizz raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Um… Yeah, bro?”
“I’m gonna--” Panda gestured behind himself, towards the general vicinity of the cave. “--Stay back? I think?”
“Panda, what?” Grizz tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sorry I waited this long to say anything, guys,” Panda lamented. “I don’t think I want to go.”
“Um…” Grizz narrowed his eyes, looking Panda over. “Why not?”
Panda closed his eyes. “I don’t think there’s gonna be anything there for me! I’m a vegetarian!”
“Oh…!” Grizz widened his eyes, raising his chin a bit. “I get it-- We really should have thought of that earlier, huh…”
“Ice Bear regrets his mistakes.”
“Yes, so, uh,” Panda stammers, looking from his brothers back to Charlie.
“Wait,” Charlie interjects. “Panda, does that mean--!?”
Panda’s attention is brought fully over to Charlie, whose eyes are glittering. He’s brought the handle of the picnic basket to his chin, his hands closed tightly around the crest of it.
Panda suddenly remembers Charlie’s proposal from earlier. His face heats up-- and it’s hard to decline the offer when Charlie looks so overjoyed. The idea of spending the evening with Charlie… Panda’s heart does backflips-- he’s too shy to admit it to himself, let alone anyone else, but he’s had a bit of a crush on Charlie as of late. He’s still in the puppy love period, though; thinking about anything more than holding Charlie’s hand makes Panda want to curl up and overheat.
“I-I suppose it does!” Panda tries to sound nonchalant, but does a horrible job. He can’t hide the toothy grin on his face and the slight widening of his eyes, which makes Grizz look over to Ice Bear and chuckle. Panda doesn’t see or hear his brother, though, and Charlie smiles along with Panda in an ear-to-ear grin.
“I can’t believe it!” Charlie almost drops the basket, but catches it before it hits the grass. He has trouble saying anything other than Panda’s name. “Panda…!”
“Shoot, we’re gonna miss our reservation.” Grizz speaks up. “Have fun, you crazy kids…!”
Panda and Charlie don’t respond, both chuckling awkwardly, too nervous to look at each other.
As Grizz and Ice Bear scurry off, Panda sneaks a quick glance at Charlie. He quickly looks away when he notices Charlie had the same idea, and Charlie follows suit. Love is weird-- it makes you too afraid to look at the one you find the most pleasant to look at. Charlie was a lot like the sun in that way.
“Um,” Charlie breaks the silence. “How long do y’think they’re gonna be gone?”
“Maybe a couple of hours?” Panda ventures, shrugging his shoulders. “What’d you have planned?”
“Oh, I just…” Charlie shyly gestures to the basket.
“O-Of course!” Panda stutters, nodding quickly. “We should go in, hehe.”
He laughed for no reason other than to try to alleviate the tension, and it comes out much more awkward than intended. They both brush it off, though, and Charlie opens the door for Panda.
They go back into the cave. The door ka-chunks behind the duo, officially starting their evening together. Was this a date? Panda was pretty sure this constituted as a date. “I’d say make yourself at home, but I guess I don’t really--”
Behind Panda, Charlie takes a seat on the couch, throwing his feet up on the coffee table as per usual after setting the picnic basket onto the same table.
“--Need to tell you that,” Panda sighs, amused. “Hey, aren’t all good picnics had on the floor?”
“Are they? I never thought it mattered.”
“That’s what I’ve always heard,” Panda picked up the basket. He tried to look through it before Charlie exploded from his seat to close the basket before Panda was able to see any of its contents, causing Panda to jump slightly.
“It’s a surprise!” Charlie took the basket from Panda, holding it up where Panda had no hope of reaching. Panda pouted, but Charlie was not swayed.
“It’s not just pinecones?” Panda asked, tilting his head.
“It’s more than ‘just’ pinecones, Panpan,” Charlie smirked. “This is very likely gonna be some of the greatest food you’ve ever tasted.”
Panda gulped. He trusted Charlie’s judgement, but the man also has eaten bugs and dirt in front of him. That’s a very real thing that has happened, as much as Panda tries to repress those memories. Panda was willing to eat literal wood chips to make Charlie smile, but that was the line-- it had to be drawn somewhere.
Charlie got to work on laying the blanket down on the floor of the cave while Panda awkwardly stood around watching him do so. Once it was set up and looked fine to sit down on, Panda took a seat on the gingham checked blanket. He wondered who Charlie stole it from.
“Figured a candle would make it more rom--” Charlie cleared his throat, and poorly tried to cover the blush on his face. “Ahem. I figured a candle would make it more... atmospheric.”
Panda was too nervous using the lighter to light the candle and wouldn’t trust Charlie within a miles distance from fire, so the candle would remain unlit. Charlie took out several pinecones and set them on the blanket between him and Panda. Panda gulped again. He knew pine nuts were edible, but he also knew Charlie expected him to eat the whole pinecone.
“Funny you mentioned chicken earlier,” Charlie takes something small out of the basket, and holds it between closed hands. Panda wonders how the heck chicken has anything to do with whatever is in Charlie’s closed hands, but he eggs Charlie on with a confused nod. “You won’t believe what I found.”
Charlie opens his hands, and Panda crawls backwards supernaturally fast, believing Charlie is pulling a cruel prank on him. In his hands is a decently sized spider, and it crawls up Charlie’s arm before Charlie picks it back up and puts in in his palm again.
“KILL IT!” Panda squeaked, his back pressed hard against the wall of the cave.
“Listen,” Charlie chuckles at Panda’s fear, crawling closer to him. “They don’t bite.”
“I DON’T CARE I HATE IT!” Panda closes his eyes as Charlie gets closer to him with the spider.
“The more you fuss the longer you’ll have to deal with it!”
Panda swallows most of his apprehension, opening one eye. “W-What are you getting at?”
“Have you ever even tried one before?”
“Oh my God, Charlie, You’re not--” Panda breathes. “You couldn’t pay me to eat that.”
“I would never offer you anything that wasn’t delicious,” Charlie comforted. “If you don’t like it, I won’t make you eat it again. Cross my heart.”
“Fine,” Panda sighs in defeat. He knows he isn’t getting out of this. “But you have to feed it to me. I'm not touching it”
Panda swears he can see the slightest hint of blush on Charlie’s face as he digs through the basket with his free hand. “Good thing I brought these, then!”
Charlie pulls out a pair of chopsticks, and Panda wonders again who Charlie stole them from. He cuts him some slack, here, though, at least these he could have whittled himself. Panda tries to occupy his mind with these thoughts so his mind isn’t totally occupied with the thought of needing to eat a bug. Does this go against his vegetarianism? Is that a viable excuse? What if he’s allergic to it? What does this have to do with chicken? More questions than Panda can comprehend flashed through his mind, so much so that he completely misses when Charlie feeds him the spider.
Panda bites down with a shaky jaw, and the uncomfortable crunch nearly makes Panda lose it all over the floor. He keeps chewing, however, and the more he chews, the more he calms.
Dear God. He now knows why Charlie referenced chicken earlier.
When he’s done chewing, he blinks a few times. He swallows the spider. In the end, Panda starts a mini-review of the experience in his head. The texture left something to be desired, but it genuinely tasted like chicken-- or, at least, the artificial chicken Pandas used to. Charlie is looking at Panda with a smug I told you so look on his face, and Panda paws at his face playfully.
“You liked it,” Charlie begins, “Didn’t you?”
“...Six out of ten,” Panda replies. “I can’t believe you got me to eat that.”
“I knew you’d like it!” Charlie returns to his original seat on the blanket. Panda follows suit, and sits across from him. Pinecones never looked so appetizing.
“You’re gonna have to tell me how to eat these,” Panda assesses the scene in front of him.
Charlie has already bitten into one like an apple. “Hm?”
“Never mind,” Panda picks one up. He’s less worried about the taste and more worried about scratching his esophagus, but he’ll cross that bridge when he gets to it. In the meantime, he follows Charlie’s example and bites into his own pinecone.
Panda really feels like showing off. How many people can say their first date was eating bugs and wood chips? Not many people! Panda felt pleasantly unique.
Panda didn’t eat more than one pinecone. Charlie didn’t mind, if he even noticed. He started packing up the basket, to which Panda urged Charlie to stay a bit longer. His brothers weren’t home yet, and Panda didn’t want to be alone. Charlie’s energy could fill up an auditorium, and Panda welcomed that kind of company into his presence.
Charlie was easy to love, even during the crush phase. He never demanded anything at all from Panda. He never judged Panda, no matter how embarrassing the latter was. All Charlie did was love and love and love, and all he wanted was to be loved in return.
No matter how many bugs that meant Panda had to eat, he was determined to provide that for him.