Synopsis: Pareo and Chu2 are running late to a meeting, and of course run into another problem of their lath being extremely crowded, something Pareo was bad at handling
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"Ah, we're gonna be late if we don't hurry."
"Sorry..."
Chu2 and Pareo were running behind schedule. They were set to meet up with the other three at a restaurant in a little under half-an-hour. They were going to be late if they didn't hurry up. However, it appeared everyone was outside today too. The streets were very crowded.
"Chu2-sama?" Pareo froze in her step as she saw the mass of people.
"Yes?"
Pareo didn't reply. She was staring at the crowd, her eyes wide and filled with panic. She instinctively reached up and covered her ears with her hands. All the talking was already starting to get to her. It was all too much. She was already starting to shut down.
The talking as all blending together. She couldn't distinguish anything. She felt sick and dizzy as she tried hard to process anything. She was breathing heavily, on the verge of a panic attack.
"Hey, deep breaths. Follow me." Chu2 placed a hand on Pareo's back and led her down an alley.
The sounds of the crowd lessened. Pareo hesitantly removed her hands from her ears. She looked down the alley back at where the people were at. She let out a sigh of relief. They were far away now. That was good. No one was closeby them.
"We'll take the backway today, okay?" Chu2 stated, "I should let them know we'll definitely be late today then."
Chu2 pulled out her phone and started texting the others. Pareo watched her silently for a while. She felt a little bad about making the plans change without much warning.
"You don't mind that we'll be late? I... could've survived the crowd if I had to." Pareo said.
Chu2 frowned at that statement, "Don't say that. I never want you to be pushed out of your comfort zone."
"But isn't it bothersome to always have to change things for me?"
"No. It will never be a bother to me." Chu2 stated, "Shall we get going?"
Pareo nodded, "Alright."
They started walking down the alleys in the town. It felt weird doing so, like they were going creepy or doing something illegal. However, no one really noticed them throughout the entire walk. Most people were too far away to even see them. Or they were caught up in their conversations and didn't pay them any mind at all.
The noise stayed low, allowing Pareo to relax. She hated how loud it could get when so many people were talking at once. Trying to process all the sounds and focus on what she needed to was nearly impossible sometimes because of that. Normally she would being headphones and listen to music to drown out the noise, but she had forgotten to take them with her today. She had no outlet to the noise.
"You really aren't bothered by me?" Pareo asked suddenly. It was still gnawing on her that she caused this change so suddenly. She hated when she made things differ from how they had planned. It always made her feel really guilty.
Chu2 shook her head, "No. Nothing you've ever made me do to help you has been bothersome. I'm always happy to help."
Pareo smiled, "I'm really happy I have you as my friend."
"Yeah. I don't ever want to know what life would've been like without you here." Chu2 nodded, offering Pareo a soft smile.
"Do you think the others feel the same way?" Pareo lowered her voice. She had some doubts that the answer to that question was yes.
"Yes. They're always looking out for you too. You've noticed some stuff they've done, right?"
"Um..."
"Like that time Layer gave you some headphones during that concert. She noticed you were getting overwhelmed by the noise. Or like when Lock picked up on you not liking a certain perfume she used and so she stopped putting it on." Chu2 explained, "And when Masking made you that special dish at that party because you couldn't stand the other ones brought in. They all do a lot to help you out too."
"I... never realized that was why." Pareo mumbled. She wasn't very good at putting the pieces together as to why people did certain things for her. She often didn't try anymore as a result of that struggling.
"That's okay. It's not like they really wanted recognition for doing it for you."
"You all are such great friend to me. Always doing your best to make me feel welcome and comfortable with you." Pareo smiled.
"That's what friends are for, are they not?" Chu2 replied, "We're almost there. Only ten minutes behind schedule. Not too bad, right?"
"Yeah... not too bad."
"I told them we'd be late, so they won't be wondering about us. And they won't be mad either."
Pareo often overthinked a lot of stuff. Even stuff like this. She was late, so would that mean she was going to be looked down upon? Would they be mad? Would they have left without them?
All those thoughts and more played in her head. Chu2's words only eased them up a bit. She was still very worried.
They came out of the alleys and walked up to the restaurant. Masuki was waiting for them.
"Hey, you made it. Rei and Lock aren't here yet. Traffic held them back too." Masuki said.
"Really?" Pareo asked, "So we haven't missed anything?"
"Nope. Not a thing."
A few minutes later, the two of them showed up together. Now that they were all here, they went into the restaurant and got a table. Pareo was relieved by the fact she wasn't the latest person to the meet up. That helped her feel better a lot.
What she didn't know what that it had been planned to be that way. It was actually Rokka's idea. They all knew Pareo had issues with stuff like that and wanted to help her feel better about it. It had worked just as planned. They were all very happy about that.
Now they could enjoy a nice peaceful dinner together like they had planned to.
