Chapter Text
You were currently walking to Tok Aba’s Cafe after helping your uncle with the ice cream stand. Gopal was supposed to assist you with selling, but he ditched you because he had something ‘important’.
You knew better than to trust that lying cousin of yours.
“Hai, it’s so frustrating with him,” you sighed as you continued to walk to the park.
You perked up as you noticed your two best friends, and your annoying cousin. It was quite obvious with Yaya’s pink theme outfits, and Ying’s cute yellow-blue beanie. But for your cousin? His loud voice was a dead give away
But you noticed that there is also another person with them.
Their backs were facing you so you couldn’t see what they looked like. But one thing you can tell—they were new.
‘A new friend potential?’
You weren’t that much of a social person, but when your usual gang decides to adopt someone as their friend. Then you couldn’t really say no to them. Especially when the one befriending the poor victim was your cousin.
You heard Gopal’s voice from where you were walking, although you couldn’t hear his exact words, you knew he was complaining about your ‘tardiness’. Which was funny, because that boy abandoned you when he promised to help you with his father’s ice cream stand this morning.
You’ve been patient with your cousin time and time again. Especially since it was the summer break, you wanted to enjoy as much stress-free as you could.
But he seems to play with your patient, so you might as well take revenge.
…
“ —Why is (Y/N) not here yet? I thought I told her to come here as early as possible!”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Yaya glared at Gopal, “I bet you left her doing chores again, like last time!”
“Yeah, you should stop leaving (Y/N) whenever you have chores to do!” Ying added, as she crossed her arms.
Gopal let out a nervous laugh, rubbing his neck. “Hey, that’s not true! I do help her—”
“Help what?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—”
Like a startled cat, you watched in amusement as Gopal screamed and fell down to the ground. You let out a chuckle, and took his original seat beside the new kid.
The new kid, looked at you with wide eyes, you quirk a brow and gave him a friendly wave. “Hello, I’m (Y/N), the one that Gopal was complaining about.”
As the new kid was about to introduce himself, he was cut off by two happy girls.
“(Y/N)!” both Yaya and Ying said cheerfully, happy to see you at last.
You smiled brightly at your two friends. “Hi Ying, Yaya! How’ve you two been doin’?”
Yaya giggled. “I’m good, it’s nice to finally see you have arrived. Did Gopal dump all the chores on you again, didn’t he?”
You shrugged, leaning against the counter. “Yeah, he promised to help me set up Uncle K’s ice cream stand today, but ditched me the moment I woke up.”
“He-hey! I was going to help! I was just, um, buying Tok Aba’s famous hot chocolate for us before setting up!” Gopal reasoned proudly.
All the four kids looked at him with disbelief, while you looked at him with a blank expression. He flinched at the looks he was given, as he tried to laugh it off.
“Haha..?”
“Tok Aba,” you called the older man, “Can I order four of your delicious hot chocolate? And a chocolate cake too.”
Tok Aba let out a small laugh, as you winked at your obvious plan. “Sure thing, (Y/N).”
Gopal let out a gasp, after he heard your abundance of order. He took a seat next to the new kid, and stuck his nose high.
“See that Boboiboy? That’s my cousin being very generous to us for your first day here!” he patted the dino hat kid in the back, “And the fact she brought chocolate cake means she’s happy to meet yo—”
“Who said you’ll be getting any of those?”
Gopal gaped, his hand hovered over the dino kid—Boboiboy’s back. Your cousin slowly, almost robotic even, turned to look at you.
“Wha-what do you mean by that, little cous’?”
You smiled innocently at his stiff face. “The three Koko drinks are for Yaya, Ying, and the new kid, Boboiboy. The other one is for me, and the cake? Yeah, mine too.”
You clasped your hands. “So you won’t be getting anything, big cous’”
Voice lace with mockery towards your devastated cousin. As he cried at your cruel action.
“But I’m your cousin!”
Yaya hit Gopal at the back of his head. “Yes, but you also dump so much chores in (Y/N) that Ying and I have to help her!”
You huffed at your cousin’s cowering form, as your pink and yellow friend all circled at him.
“Um…”
You turned to the new kid, Boboiboy, who was looking at everyone with unsure eyes. You chuckled in slight embarrassment, you almost forgot about him.
“Sorry about that,” you apologized, “But yes, I’m that guy’s cousin. And your name is Boboiboy, right? You must be Tok Aba’s grandson that he talks about.”
The dino boy chuckled, as he scratched his cheek. “Tok talks about me a lot, huh?”
You grinned lazily, as you leaned on your palm. “Don’t worry, Tok Aba only talks good things about his grandson.”
Boboiboy sighed, shoulder slumping. “That’s good to hear.”
“It’s nice to see you both are getting along!” Yaya cheered as she sat next to you, “It’s nice to finally see (Y/N) socialize freely.”
You flinched and shriveled in embarrassment. “Yaya, do-don’t just say that too openly! And you make it sound as if I don’t like socializing…”
You grumbled under your breath. Yaya giggled and apologized, saying she didn’t mean it in a bad way. You were about to forgive her, but your cousin suddenly had to open his mouth.
“But you are bad at socializing though!” Gopal humphed, “The only time we get you to talk to someone without being awkward is when we talk to them first.”
You turned to face him and smacked him at the back. “At least, I don’t make people awkward, you on the other hand, you don’t have any social awareness!”
…
Boboiboy watched the bickering cousins, not quite sure what to say. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and glanced to see Ying.
“Don’t mind them, they usually bicker at each other whenever they have the chance,” she patted his shoulder.
He laughs, unsure how to take her words. “Aw-awesome…?”
“Here you go,” Tok Aba placed four cups of his famous hot chocolate on the counter, “Four Koko drinks, and one chocolate cake!”
All five children cheered as they drank their respective drinks. Everyone except for Gopal. Who was ignored by her cousin when he tried to apologize to her.
They all laughed at the two cousins’ antics, it was refreshing and chaotic.
“Tok Aba, can we watch TV, please?” (Y/N) asked, finishing her first drink.
Boboiboy’s grandfather gave the girl the remote, and she turned on the TV. Switching for a good show to watch.
The rest turned to watch the show, with Gopal grumbling for not getting a free drink.
BAM!
The sudden sounds of thunder startled everyone, they all looked at the sky seeing if there was going to be a downpour. Unexpectedly, the ground started to shake, the noises of utensils clackling and falling from its shelves.
But the rapid glitching noises caught everyone’s attention.
They all look back at the small box, watching it switch from channel to channel then glitching each time. And then, unexpectedly, the television stopped at the image of a green cube like creature grinning at the screen.
Greetings, Earthlings. I am Adu Du, from Planet Ata Ta Tiga!”
Everyone gasps at the green creature.
“Surrender all your cocoa beans, or prepare for annihilation—!”
Boboiboy suddenly changed the channel, cutting off the announcement of the creature.
“Hey! Why’d you change the channel?” Gopal cried out as he turned to him.
Boboiboy only shrugged. “Boring.”
Gopal humphed at his words. “No it's not!”
“Boys, stop that,” (Y/N) interjected, “It’s just some random show, nothing important. Why don’t we just continue drinking our drinks?”
“Um, but I don—”
“Everyone except you, Gopal.”
Gopal let out an angry shout, as everyone laughed.
Boboiboy chuckled, raising a thumbs up. “Awesome!”
= o =
Boboiboy got to know the four kids better after a while, and it was truly interesting. All four kids were literally childhood friends, and yet they were quick to befriend him. Maybe it was because they knew his grandfather, and he may have told them to be friends with him.
Although he may not mind the worry, it was quite embarrassing. The idea that your guardian asking other kids his age to be friends with isn’t something he wanted his grandfather to do. But at least it was for good intention.
“Bye guys!”
Yaya and Ying waved goodbye as they walked back to their home. Booiboy waved back at the two girls and faced the remaining kid beside him.
“(Y/N), why didn’t you go with Gopal? Aren’t your parents worried about you?” he asked the girl, who was eating her third drink.
“Hm?” she tilted her head, “Oh, I forgot to mention this, but my parents are currently busy, meaning they’re not home yet. Plus, I live near your place, so I’ll be walking home with Tok Aba and you.”
He looked at his grandfather, who let out a small laugh. “Ah yeah, (Y/N)’s parents would often let me look after her whenever they visit here. And sometimes, she helps around the shop, so it’s fine.”
“My mom is a housewife, but she doesn’t like being coped up in the house a lot whenever there isn’t anything else to do. So she made a seafood stock business here, so she sometimes leaves the house,” she added, “And my dad works as a nurse here, so he's busy a lot.”
“Wow,” Boboiboy gaped at the girl, “But what about Gopal though? Don’t you live with him whenever your parents aren’t around?”
(Y/N) shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. “I do, I sometimes sleep there too, like today, but I promised Tok Aba to help him with the shop today.”
“Wow, you and your parents sure are busy people!”
She scratched her cheek. “Haha, I get that a lot. I enjoy helping people, especially if it's something productive. I find it fun.”
“She says that, but she doesn’t like helping when it comes to house cleaning,” Tok Aba remarked with a grin.
“That’s because house cleaning is the boring productive type, Tok Aba!” (Y/N) yelled at the older man.
Boboiboy couldn’t help but laugh. “Awesome!”
After some time, (Y/N) finished her last drink and started to organize the stocks of the cafe. She was also washing the remaining dishes, and drying them at the rack.
Tok Aba was wiping his hands and turned to Boboiboy. “All right, BoBoiBoy, I'm heading out. Help (Y/N) watch over the shop, will you?”
He stuttered, nervous. “But—but I don't know what to do! What if there are a lot of customers? And what if I won’t be much help, since I don’t know how to manage the place?”
(Y/N) giggled. “Don’t worry, Boboiboy. That’s why I’m here for a reason, I’ll help you manage the place, and if it gets too much you can always have a break.”
“Exactly,” Tok Aba nods at her words, “You'll be fine. It’s not like the customers are aliens. Bye!”
He walks away waving at the two kids, Boboiboy could only sigh as he watched his grandfather walking away. He actually didn’t want to do anything, but since his grandpa told him to watch over the shop, then he didn’t have much choice.
He gets off from his seat and goes to the other side of the counter. He slumped on the counter—bored.
(Y/N) patted his head. “Hey, you don’t really have to help if you don’t wanna. I won’t force you.”
He waved off the girl’s words gently, now feeling aware of his obvious action. “Um, No, no, it-it’s okay. Tok asked me to help, so I’ll help.”
The girl raised a brow at him, then shrugged her shoulders. “If you say so, but if you’re really gonna help, just take over the customers orders in the cash register. It’s usually the easy one to do.”
“Okay,” Boboiboy went to the cash register, but then a thought came into mind, “Hey, (Y/N).”
The girl hummed, cuing him to continue whatever he was saying. She was busy arranging the utensils, and ingredients.
“Do you believe what Tok said? Like, what if aliens really do come? What then?”
He heard her stop tinkering with the utensils for a moment, then continued. “That's a strange thought, but I don’t know. Was it that green cube creature on the TV?”
Boboiboy tabbed on the counter, leaning on his palm. “No, but it’s just a thought, you know?”
At the corner of his eye view, he noticed something moving. He turned to look and sighs dismissively after seeing it was just Tok Aba’s kokotiam powdered cocoa can.
“Hm, I think you’re just overthinking things, Boboiboy. Why do—”
“Oh no! They eat purple aliens too!”
A sudden voice interrupted her words, causing both kids to look at a running figure that was holding Tok Aba’s canned coco!
“Hey, shoplifter!” Boboiboy shouted at the purple thing, and ran after it.
“He-hey! Boboiboy!”
…
“He-hey! Boboiboy!”
You yelled at him as he ran after the shoplifter. “Who’s going to help me look after the shop?”
You hesitate for a moment, whether to go after the dino boy and help catch the shoplifter. Or you stay and look after the shop.
"Boboiboy will be fine,” you reasoned, “Tok Aba did tell me that his grandson is pretty tough, so I have hope! Slightly…”
So you continued to manage the shop while Boboiboy went after the thief. Hoping that the boy will come back safe.
Hearing the sounds of footsteps, you turned around hoping it was the dino boy. But it was Tok Aba!
“Tok Aba!” you gasped, “You’re back very fast!”
He chuckled, and walked up to the counter. He looked around for a moment then looked at you. “(Y/N), why is my grandson not here? Did you tell him to get something?”
“Um,” you fidget your hands, thinking to be honest with the older man, “He actually went to chase a shoplifter when you left.”
“What?! There was a shoplifter? Are you hurt? What about Boboiboy?”
You look at the older man. “Um, he left to chase the shoplifter?”
“Oh.”
…
“Wait— what?! That’s too dangerous!” Tok Aba cried out, “Why didn’t you stop him, (Y/N)?”
You rubbed your other arm, feeling ashamed. “I did, Tok Aba, but Boboiboy was already too far. And I can’t exactly go after him without someone else looking after the shop. What happens if someone else steals again?”
You did have a point, what if someone else comes back and tries to steal something valuable in the shop? You didn’t want to risk that.
Tok Aba let out a sigh. “You’re right, but I just hope Boboiboy comes back safely.”
“Me too, Tok Aba,” as you patted the older man’s back in comfort.
As customers come and go, you notice that the dino boy hasn’t come back yet. You were starting to get worried, same with Tok Aba.
But as it was about closing time, the sound of someone running alerted you both. You looked and sighed in relief, Boboiboy finally came back.
“Boboiboy!” Tok Aba called out to the running boy, “(Y/N) told me that you ran after a shoplifter! Are you hurt, boy? And what took you so long? I was getting worried.”
“Tok! (Y/N)! You both couldn’t believe it, but I was chasing an alien just now! Because he stole this cocoa! Then, when I tried to get it back, there was this huge giant alien robot chasing me!” Boboiboy said in a hurry, making motions as he described what had happened to him.
Or what you believed had happened to him.
“Um…” you glanced up at Tok Aba, and glanced down at you. Looking into the cocoa can and noticed half the cocoa was missing. Both of you thought the same thing at the moment.
‘Boboiboy got high on cocoa.’
“That’s enough cocoa for you today,” Tok Aba said, as he turned to arrange the ingredients.
“Uh, Tok Aba, were you even listening to what I said?!” Boboiboy exclaimed.
“Sure I did. Come on, let's go home. I think that's enough for today.”
Boboiboy pouted and turned to face you instead. “You believe me, right, (Y/N)?”
“Um,” you avoided eye-contact with him, “I think I’ll go home ahead, Boboiboy, Tok Aba… BYE!”
You ran away from the scene, avoiding the question.
You were really worried for the boy, but after hearing his… adventure while chasing a shoplifter. Your worries diminished.
There was no such thing as an alien shoplifter, after all!