Have a Gay Day

Pulled Apart

"So, see anything?" Isaac asks Lyn, and Lyn looks around. There are new buildings all over that he doesn't recognize, despite living here his whole life. A lot had changed in the past couple of years...
"How about... The mall..?" he says hesitantly, and Isaac chuckles.
"You really are some angsty kid, aren't you?"
"Come on, it can be fun..! Plus I actually have some money so it's not like we have to just window shop..."
"All right, but I'm out of there if I'm mistaken for your dad."
"Isaac, you're not that much older than me, well, at least you don't look it. How old are you anyway?"
"Twenty five."
"See, that's not all that much of a difference..! Plus my birthday's coming up, so that's even closer!" Lyn tries to boost his self esteem, but all he does is chuckle in response.
"That doesn't really change the fact that the army took ten years out of my life, and now I look more like a thirty-somethin year old now, and you still look seventeen."
"Not true."
"It is."
"Nope." Isaac pulls into a parking space.
"Yep."
"Nope." Lyn gets out of the car, closely followed by Isaac.
"Yep."
"No, it's not!"
"It really is."
"No, it isn't, you just look tired."
"Is that really any better?"
"It is, because then you just need some sleep and rest. I mean, you did just get out of the Army, it takes time to adjust." Lyn smiles, and Isaac looks towards Lyn. He looks like he's never left home before, nor experienced any sort of stress or worry in his life.
"Easy for you to say..." he says, and they finally make it inside, the air conditioning chilling them even more than the outside was. They both shiver for a moment, but quickly adjust to the unnessecary temprature change.
"How can people walk around here in shorts and tank tops and shit?" Isaac asks, and Lyn shrugs, spotting a map of the mall.
"Where do you wanna go?" he asks, trotting towards the map. Isaac shrugs, walking towards it as Lyn scans the color coded boxes.
   "You wanna grab food, or catch a movie, or-"
   "Follow me~" Lyn snatches Isaac's wrist, pulling him down the large halls.
   "I'm comin, I'm comin..." Isaac says, not able to hide the smile on his face as Lyn drags him off to who knows where.
   Eventually, though, he's set free, and they walk normally, starting up conversation.
   "It was a good thing you invited me here, it got me out of job hunting for today. I mean, I love my mom, but she can be kinda pushy about some things, some jobs being one of those things," Isaac says, and Lyn chuckles.
   "I wouldn't be able to tell, your mom seems chill, at least compared to mine..." he says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
   "Do you still live with your parents?" Isaac wonders, "I mean, your house seemed pretty small, but I wouldn't know..."
   "Well, no, I don't, it's more like they binge off of me. Then bug me over getting a job. It's really silly, sometimes I just wish they'd- wait, there!!" Lyn stops in the middle of his statement, to rush into some clothes store Isaac's never been to. Lyn, happy to change the subject, hops inside, looking through the tank tops.
   "What're you looking for?"
   "Clothes."
   "For..?"
   "For you~!"
   "Wha-" Lyn shoves a couple shirts into his hands, and heads over to the jeans. Isaac follows, worried about what he's throwing together, but doesn't bother doing anything to stop him.
   "Here, go try these on," Lyn picks out a couple materials, and Isaac walks into the  tight changing room. Lyn waits patiently, scanning the shirts for anything else
interesting.
   After a few minutes, Isaac steps out in a tank top under a thin black cardigan, along with red jeans and mis-matched grey and black socks.
   "Man, that looks good on you!! Here, to tie it all together," Lyn places his beanie on his head, Isaac having to lean down a bit so he can reach properly, and handing him a pair of circular sun glasses.
   "I feel silly," Isaac pouts, looking to Lyn. He furrows his eyebrows, smiling slightly.
   "You shouldn't, it looks good on you! Come on, I mean it! Here, if you really don't like it, try this," he hands Isaac another stack of clothes, shooing him back into the changing room, and he sighs.
   "He doesn't even realize how... Fuck..." Lyn looks around, trying to change his brain's thought patterns. His eyes light up once he spots the display across the room, and he dashes over.
   When Isaac steps out, he looks around, confused.
   "Lyn..?"
   "Ta-Da~!!" Lyn hops over, a floofy white flower crown placed on his head. Isaac blinks, his face blank.
   'Cute...'
   "Here, I got one for you, too!" he places the pale green flower crown on his head, which matches the plaid shirt he's wearing, along with the black skinny jeans.
   "Now I feel really silly."
   "Shut up, it's cute," Lyn giggles. Isaac smiles, but in a 'are you serious..?' kind of way.
   "Well, you should probably go get changed back into your normal clo-"
   "LYN GONZALES WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING HERE WHEN YOU SHOULD BE AT HOME LOOKING FOR A JOB OR SOMETHING?!" Lyn's whole body tenses, and the entire store's attention is set on an older woman who's storming through the store, straight at Lyn as if he just hit her cat with a car.
   "M-Mom..! I-I-I-"
   "GET BACK HOME THIS INSTANT YOUNG MAN OR YOU WON'T BE HAVING DINNER FOR A WEEK!!" she shouts, dragging Lyn out of the store by his ear, despite his many protests regarding his adulthood and the pain he's in.
   "Lyn..!" he shouts after him, and rushes into the changing room again to grab his clothes and his wallet, then runs straight out of the store, regardless of the language used by the cashier as he ran out and the blaring of the alarms behind him.
   "Wait!! Lyn?!" he quickly spots Lyn arguing with his mother on their way out, and he quickly runs over, accidentally shoving a few people over in the process.
   "Wait!! It's not his fault, I invuted him, a-"
   "Who's this?!" his mother turns to Lyn, and his cheeks are brushed with pink.
   "H-He's a friend of mine, I met him on the train back home yesterday..." he says, looking towards the floor.
   "Yeah, and I had asked if-"
   "Yeah, sure, he's just a friend of yours and not another one of your stupid boyfriends who you sneaked away with again! You know how I feel about this stupid phase of yours, so why won't you just grow out of it already?!"
   "MOM, IT'S NOT-" Lyn's face is bright red now, and a simple glare from his mother is enough to make him stop dead in his tracks. He keeps his head down, and his hands tucked in his back pockets.
   "And if you," she points to Isaac, "influence my child to... Actually fall for some... Guy... I swear I'll-"
   "I'm sorry, Miss, but we actually aren't-"
   "THERE!!" a voice shouts, and Isaac's pulled backwards by a couple security guards, and Lyn watches Isaac get pulled away before getting pulled in another direction by his own mother.
   "Shit..." is all they both could think.