The Annoying One ~|Bf x Pico|~

~| Chapter 4 |~

Oh, the mall. The communal hangout that was beloved by teens. They could shop, play games and get food. It was a great place to be on the weekends and especially during the summer.

Keith and Pico had just arrived at the front of the mall, with the shorter boy looking around for his girlfriend. The two of them talked more along the way, with Keith agreeing to tell Cherry how he felt this coming Tuesday. That gave him enough time to get himself together and gather his thoughts. Pico also reluctantly agreed to help him prepare so they exchanged numbers.

"I thought she'd be here by now." Keith said to himself, then glanced to the time. They had been waiting around five minutes for Cherry to show, still not seeing her. "I don't mind her not being here yet, though."

"Keith!"

Pico and Keith turned when they heard the name being called, seeing Cherry in her signature outfit. The only difference was that she had her hair pulled back and she was carrying a small drink carrier in her hand.

"Hey, boo!" She smiled, going to Keith and pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. That was when she noticed Keith and Pico holding hands. She assumed they were just close friends, but when the two boys realized that she saw, they both let go immediately.

"Hey, Cherry." Keith replied a slight bit awkwardly, giving a small smile. "What took you so long?"

"I went to get milkshakes for us!" She let out a gentle laugh, taking out a chocolate shake and straw to hand to Keith, then another to Pico. "I got you a chocolate one like you like, and I got strawberry for your friend!"

"Thank you, Cherry." He smiled taking a sip of the milkshake before glancing to Pico. "Right, by the way, this is Pico. We met him at the coffee shop remember? Then I battled him last night."

"Ohh, right! Wasn't he the guy that was upset about losing like a four year old?" She glanced to Pico, then snickered under her breath.

Pico stared at her, taking a big gulp of the milkshake to keep himself from saying anything vulgar.

"Cherry, that's rude." Keith told her, taking another sip of the drink before heading to the doors of the mall. "Where's that sale at again?"

----

Eventually after about two hours of shopping the trio decided to head home. Cherry went her own way and Pico and Keith were left walking home together.

"She was a bitch to me." Pico told him with a huff, walking with his hands in his pockets.

"I know. She was probably doing that to piss you off." He told him with a sigh. "She noticed us holding hands and I haven't told her that I'm over her yet. She could be picking up on it."

"She probably already has, dipshit."

"No need to be so mean." Keith rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean seriously." Pico told him. "She probably picked up on it before you realized how you felt. Am I gettin' through to you?"

"Yeah." Keith nodded, thinking as he fidgeted with the chain on his pants. "That would explain why she's trying so hard and why she made fun of you. She never usually does that. Then she noticed us holding hands and she knows I'm bi so—"

"You're what?"

"Bisexual?" Keith looked to him, slightly confused. "You know, when a person is to attracted to both genders?"

Pico just walked quietly for a moment, now deep in thought. He looked at Keith and nodded, watching as he spoke but his brain tuned it out. More questions than answers were surfacing as he got trapped in his mind.

He's bi? What if I am too?

I haven't felt attracted to any women in a long time.

Am I gay?

No, couldn't be.

...Pico?

"Pico!" Keith shouted.

In an instant, Pico snapped back to reality and realized that Keith was waving his hand in front of his face. He stared at him before looking away, seeing that they had already walked to his apartment. He quickly pulled out his keys and fumbled with them before putting them in the lock.

"Dude, are you okay?" Keith asked, looking at him worriedly. "You almost walked straight into the door!"

"I'm fine." Pico responded quickly, staring from inside his apartment. "Just—tired, is all."

Keith looked at him with a quirked brow, not really believing him but agreeing anyways. "If you say so. Make sure you get some rest tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to baby me around, Keith." The ginger rolled his eyes, closing the door and locking it. As he walked away he heard a faint "good night" from the other side.

——

The following morning, a little before noon to be exact, Keith had dialed Pico's number about three times but was scared to actually press the call button. He was internally panicking at the moment; Cherry was texting him and he knows that she's upset, but he has no idea what to say to her. He tried thinking about it himself, but it seemed like Pico was the best when it came to relationship advice oddly enough.  Once Keith took a deep breath, he managed to convince himself to press the button.

After a few seconds, a groggy Pico answered on one of the last rings. 

"Hello...?"

"Pico! Cherry is mad at me and I don't know what to do and she's gonna kill me if I don't respond soon but I don't know what to say and she's accusing me of things that didn't even happen and she's saying that I've been cheating on her with you and all these other things--"

"I'm on my way. Your address?"

"I'm in the apartment down the street from the venue, room five." He told him, now beginning to pace back and forth around his room. "Please be quick. I don't know what she'll do and maybe she'll come after me out of jealousy or--"

"Keith, shut up."

Then the phone hung up. 

Keith exhaled, taking another breath as he checked his phone to see the home screen bombarded with text notifications. Most of them were just "ANSWER ME", but they still scared him. He didn't even want to scroll down to see the other messages that ran off the screen. Quickly, he set the phone on the coffee table and began pacing around the room. 

"Oh my god, she's so mad at me. She's gonna kill me. What do I do? she knows where I live. What if she sees Pico and assumes I'm cheating? Maybe she assumed that I was cheating when I paid for Pico when we met at the café? I dunno, maybe I'm the one who's crazy. I wouldn't be surprised"

Then the doorbell rang, and there was a knock followed by the last ring.

"Open the door, dumbass."