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It’d been like three years since Sean had last been to a mall. It wasn’t like he’d been actively avoiding them, he was just busy and also had no one to go with. Last time he’d tagged along with Violet and Lucky just because, but now she was married and just went with Drake and he didn’t wanna third wheel them for two hours, so no more mall trips.
But here he was finally, back at last to a giant building with a huge echo, loud as shit kids, and way too many things for his probably neurodivergent brain to fixate on. It was sorta fun, he was there with his new girlfriend, Ruby, so like, by default it was fun. She just wanted to try on clothes and have him tell her she was hot for two hours and that was valid.
“None of these bloody stores have anything cute enough to buy,” Ruby whined as they walked out of their latest stop. “How do poor people live like this?”
“I dunno, babe, I wear, like, the same shit everyday ‘n I’m doin’ okay,” Sean said, his eyes drifting over to a stand selling masked fighter merch. He found a Flying Smile Kid shirt and grinned.
She just scoffed. “You’re a man, of course you’re fine. Daddy’s worn the same bloody shirt for the past 5 years, I swear.”
“That’s fuckin’ grody. I was just, like, talkin’ ‘bought the shirt ‘n jeans combo, babe,” he said, immediately looking back at her.
“The point still stands,” Ruby said, sort of tilting her chin up. Sean just shrugged, which seemed to throw her off a little. Then, she forced a laugh and grabbed his hand. “Anyways, um, let’s go look at swimsuits!”
Sean blinked. “You got like 5 a’ those, though,” he said, and immediately got the impression he’d missed something based on the look he was getting. A few seconds passed where Ruby just seemed too confused to say anything, so he cocked his head a little and added, “What?”
“It’s-“ she started, then huffed. “Do you wanna see me try on bikinis or not?”
Lights turned on. “Oh, fuck yeah, sorry,” he laughed. “I’m dumb as hell.”
Ruby’s normal confidence flooded back in a matter of seconds. “Had me worried there for a second, love,” she said, smirking a little.
He grinned and, upon deciding they were good again, went right back to staring at all the stores they walked past. It was nice, his brain liked being constantly distracted and not stressed out that it couldn’t focus. All he had to do was vaguely keep up with Ruby and that was it, his brain was free to roam.
After a few minutes of walking, it suddenly occurred to Sean that Ruby was definitely talking to him and absolutely none of it was registering. Words were hard when his entire thought process was just going ‘oh shit, that’s a sick poster. Oh shit, that rug kinda slaps. Oh shit, that kid’s got a nasaur on a leash, that’s fucked” on loop. However, he completely forgot that he wasn’t listening to her when they went by some kiddie shop and there was a girl getting her ears pierced.
She was just like ten or something, pretty normal age to get her ears pierced. Sean didn’t give a shit about her, what he did give a shit about was how Violet also had her ears pierced and at that exact moment he was kinda jealous for some reason. He’d never thought this ever, this was a completely novel idea that came out of nowhere, but damn it seemed like a good one.
He was brought out of his brief moment of fixation by Ruby shaking him a little. “Sean, what the fuck ?” she said as he started blinking a whole bunch. “Why the bloody hell are you just staring at a kid?”
Sean, in almost the exact tone a kid would ask their parent, said, “Babe, can I pretty please get my ears pierced?”
Yeah she definitely hadn’t been expecting that. It took a few seconds for that to register completely, but when it finally did, Ruby’s eyes lit up. “We could get matching earrings!”
“That’s what I was, like, thinkin’ too!” Sean said, beaming. “Plus I could, like, put a pencil’r some shit through my ear and prank Becks afterwards!”
“Oh my god, you’re a genius!” Ruby said, genuinely impressed. They both broke out in really stupid giggles.
Sean grabbed her hand. “A’ight, let’s do this!” he said rather confidently, tugging her towards what was very clearly a store for preteen girls. Everything was pink. Everything.
He stopped once they got inside, suddenly realizing he had no idea who to ask about this. While Sean was strategizing what to do next, Ruby leaned over a little and said, “This hurts a bit, by the way, so don’t be a bitch and embarrass me.”
A laugh. “I’ve, like, gotten impaled before, Ru, this is pussy shit,” Sean said with a dismissive wave.
She playfully rolled her eyes. “Well, it shouldn’t be a problem then, darling.”
About then a lady came up to the counter very hesitantly, like she was unsure why they were there. That was fair, guys in cowboy get-ups probably weren’t the usual customers at a store with a 2-for-1 sale on glitter nail polish. “Can I… help you?” she said after a few seconds.
Sean grinned. “I wanna, like, get my ears pierced!”
The lady squinted slightly. “Here?”
“Hell yeah!” he said pretty loud, then proceeded to get a glare from a mom a few feet away. He cleared his throat.
After a few seconds of prolonged shock, the lady blinked a few times and started shuffling around some things under the counter. “Alright, I mean, I can do it for you, yeah.”
“Yes!” Sean yell-whispered, pumping his fist. Ruby just laughed.
They paid super quick and then Sean was sitting in a chair looking just as excited as the target demographic would’ve been. The lady seemed at least a little thankful for that as she got the stuff ready. She drew a little dot on each of his ear lobes and went back to getting the needle ready.
“-Okay, but like, I think puttin’ a couple a’ Arse’s molted crest feathers on some would be radical,” Sean said as the lady started to get into position.
Ruby thought about that for sec. “I don’t know if I have an outfit for that, love.”
Sean nodded and was immediately scolded for moving. “That’s, like, a good point. We could just do his white ones!”
“That might work.”
“Hell yeah. We could also, like, get some with that red shhHIT OW WHAT THE FUCK.”
Sean started whining after he finished yelling. It hurt, he hadn’t really expected it to hurt hurt. Ruby, ever supportive, just huffed. “Oh my god, Sean, I’ve had this done like three times, stop being a bloody baby.”
“Three?” he squeaked out as the needle was finally removed. “How’s it been three times?”
Ruby looked mildly surprised. “The holes close if you don’t have something in them long enough.”
His face scrunched up with confusion and also discomfort as an earring got shoved into the fresh wound. “How long’ve your ears been pierced?”
She looked like she was thinking about it pretty hard for a few seconds. “Uhhhh, bloody hell, I don’t know, like 22 years?”
“Damn babe, you’re old as fuck,” Sean said without missing a beat, smirking a little despite his ear throbbing. Ruby glared at him for a second, then turned away.
“Alright, I’ll meet you outside.”
He flinched. “No, fuck, Ru that was a joke! I’m jokin’ babe, you don’t gotta leave.” Sean finished that off with a nervous laugh, desperately hoping she’d stop.
And she did. Ruby sighed super loud and walked back over next to him. “You’re lucky you’re fit.”
Sean beamed. “Thanks, babe,” he said. He watched the lady finish cleaning off the needle and looked back at Ruby. “You wanna, uh, you know-“ he said, making some vague swiping motions at her with his hand.
“Oh my god,” Ruby grumbled before grabbing it and entwining her fingers with his.
The lady went in for the second piercing and Sean squeezed Ruby’s hand and whimpered a little as it pushed through his skin. It sorta felt like a vaccine but not okay because it went all the through and made a hole. Maybe the impalement trauma was hurting him more than helping him at that exact moment.
The other earring was put in that side a few seconds later, and then the lady put her tools down and said, “Wow, alright.”
Within half an hour they were eating ice cream in the food court and Sean was back to listing off the ideas he had for matching earrings, his ear pain long forgotten. Ruby, however, was having trouble focusing on that, because she was too busy admiring the cutesy unicorn earrings Sean was gonna have to keep in for the next two months. Oh the joys of Sean’s gnc ways.