Nerd Alert! [Narcel]

17.

MARCEL.

"Um, Niall. I don't think this is my kind of place," Marcel said timidly, tugging at the sleeves of his pressed button-down shirt as he glanced up at the faded board boasting the sign "Benny's Bar And Arcade." He followed Niall to the entrance of the arcade which he'd acquired free coupons of. Instead of arcade, a shady bar was the more appropriate term to describe this dump.

Niall turned around, and rolled his eyes at Marcel, who was fiddling with his fingers. "Don't be such a pansy. This place is awesome. You'll be fine." And with no further warning, Niall spun on his heel and pushed open the wooden door, disappearing inside the darkened bar as Marcel scrambled behind him.

The place smelled of cheap liquor and cigarettes, the building had poor lighting with a muddy, threadbare carpet covering the worn wodden floor, and all around, Marcel could see drunk and beefy, tattoed guys chugging down beers, cussing wildly and arm wrestling; he gulped, loosening the collar of his button down shirt and sticking closer to Niall.

Marcel glanced at Niall, who looked completely at ease in this place, nodding towards a few guys who called out his name, and who then gave Marcel either a wink or a stink eye.

"Okay, this is it," Niall finally said after leading Marcel through the claustrophobic dodgy bar. They took a turn into a dimly lit hallway. As soon as they made a left turn, the sound of beeping machines and video games reached Marcel's ears; the arcade.

"Let's play," Niall grinned, waving the coupons in Marcel's face, and then strode towards the third machine, slotting the coupons in.

Niall looked up, giving Marcel a sideways smirk, who was awkwardly standing there, having close to no idea how these things worked and what to do next.

"You think you can beat my highscore, nerd?" Niall taunted humorously, and Marcel snorted.

"I don't know how to play," he muttered, looking away. And then seconds later, he heard Niall's booming laugh, echoing in the nearly empty room.

"What?!" Marcel asked, cheeks red.

"Why are you lookin' like you want to just disappear? This isn't such a big deal ya know," Niall said, amusement laced in his tone. "C'mon, I'll teach ya," he added softly, making Marcel look up from his Converse clad feet in surprise. Why am I acting so shy today? This is not a date! Marcel scolded himself.

But still, even if Niall had brought Marcel to this stingy place, he brought him as a friend and that made Marcel happy.

"Er, okay," he blushed, stepping up to the arcade machine next to Niall's. The blonde sighed, exasperated.

"Why are you acting all coy now?" Niall tutted, pulling Marcel to his own machine so that they were standing pressed together, their arms brushing.

"You aren't a girl and this isn't a date," Niall said firmly albiet humorously, and Marcel blushed redder, slapping Niall's chest.

"Shut up and teach me how to work this thing."

"Gladly, princess."

~*~

"Okay, you're a lost cause," Niall tutted, and cue to his words, Marcel's screen flashed GAME OVER for the umpteenth time.

"This is stupid!" Marcel huffed, stepping down from the machine, Niall following after him.

"Nah, don't take your frustration out on this baby," Niall jerked his thumb towards the arcade machine. "You're just stupid," he grinned lopsidedly.

Marcel huffed, but didn't reply. When they exited the crappy bar, Marcel was shocked to see it was completely dark out, when they had arrived here just after 5 PM. Were they really attempting to play arcade games inside for that long? Wow.

Niall had offered to take Marcel on his bike before, who had firmly refused because he valued his life, and so, the boys were now walking towards the bus stop, to catch the bus back home, the way they had came here.

The streets were unusually quiet in this part of town, and Marcel realised with a shiver that they were on the other side of Manhattan right now. But frankly, he wasn't scared because Niall was by his side. Nonchalant, cool, composed Niall, who was looking at Marcel with his pierced eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Er, nothing. This part of the city is kinda scary," Marcel said timidly, and Niall snorted.

"If anyone tried to mug us, they'll go after you 'cos ya look all prissy and rich with that stiff shirt, just sayin'," Niall said casually, and Marcel once again rolled his eyes, an action he seemed to do a lot when Niall was around.

"Gee, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

After a long stretch of silence with the only sound the crunching of the gravelly road under their shoes and the distant honking of cars; Niall spoke up. "I was having panic attacks."

"Huh?"

"When I'd skipped classes," Niall said softly, looking at their shoes, "I was having panic attacks. I always had them ever since I was little, learned to live with them. But lately, they've been getting worse so, yeah," Niall shrugged, and Marcel had no idea how to repsond to this.

He was glad that Niall was trusting him, opening up to him, but he couldn't say awesome here, now can can he?

"Er, wow. So, um. Are you alright now?" he asked slowly.

Niall smiled. "Yeah, I'm cool."

"Cool." Marcel scratched his neck awkwardly. "Well, I had fun today," he said, and Niall groaned. They had now reached the bus stop.

"Please don't say it like that. It sounds like we're parting ways after a date."

"And you seem to know a lot about what people say when parting ways after a date," Marcel teased, making Niall speechless. The blonde just snorted and leaned against the sitting booth, rolling the sleeves of his black tee up, exposing his tattoos.

Marcel's eyes focused on the intricate tattoos littered on Niall's forearms, and instinctively, he reached for his arm. Niall flinched, but then relaxed at Marcel's touch, blinking.

"What are you doing?" Niall's voice strained as he felt shivers up his arms, where Marcel's gentle fingers brushed over his inked skin.

"Oh, um, sorry," Marcel sheepishly pulled his hands back. "Er, I never really liked tattoos. My brother loves them, and gets two new ones every month," he snorted. "But they look really really good on you," he said shyly, making Niall smirk as he rolled his sleeves further up, exposing his biceps, making Marcel gulp.

"I guess that was a compliment so thanks," Niall grinned devilishly as their bus pulled up. "Oh, and by the way, I really hate glasses, but on you they look strangely adorable," Niall winked, making Marcel blush crimson as he retreated to a seat in the back, Niall following after with a soft chuckle.

Marcel was seeing a completely different side of Niall today, the cheeky, fun-loving side, and he was glad he was friends-- if not more-- with this Niall now.

~*~

NARCEL FEELS!

I leave you with this feels-y chapter because I won't be able to update for a week because I'm leaving for a trip for my vacations. I'll update if I get wifi somewhere but other than that, yeah!

See you soon! :)

~zarrycupcake xx