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Eret proposing an idea to go shopping wasn’t exactly something Charlie had expected, nor had Charlie expected to be invited.
Except here Charlie was, tattered and half-untied converses tapping against the concrete of a parking lot.
The click of the pins on his jacket was semi-drowned out by the current conversation, about some dress Eret had been talking about looking for.
“I’m just saying, the see-through portions would- bees, bees, bees! - fit perfectly with a pair of tights and my platforms.” Eret’s heels click against the concrete, heels that Charlie- for the life of slimeself- couldn’t imagine having the talent to walk at Eret’s speed in.
Wilbur moves aes phone to show Eret something, a smile on aes face. Eret hums, nodding. “Absolutely."
Karl and Quackity are having their own conversation towards the back of the group, Karl continuously talking about plants and herbs and- peppers? Charlie tries to focus in on their conversation.
“They’re too hot! Sure, the sauce is cool, but unless it’s not much I literally can’t- It’s French! - have it on anything.” Karl wrings out his hands, humming the tune to a song Charlie doesn’t know.
“You’re- meow - just white.” Quackity nods.
Charlie tunes back into Wil and Eret’s conversation after that.
The mall is large and loud, Charlie finds out the hard way.
They’d never been to a mall before, only watched the outside of it and thought about what they might hold.
None of his guesses were even close .
They walk into a two-story building, escalators in the middle where the room opens up to a massive section where the ceilings are high and made of glass.
Definitely not that.
“Oh shit ,” is instead the phrase slime near-whispers out, baffled by the bright interior and absolute party of noise.
Wilbur laughs that laugh that’s very distinctly aes, a wide grin with sharp teeth, the near-cackle noise.
It welcomes Charlie, in a nerve-wracking environment.
Something about people doesn’t seem as scary.
Charlie absently sips from the Sprite bottle, hanging on to Wil’s sweater sleeve. Everyone had grown slow and tired; Eret was slouched against a wall with their husky, Terra, laying over their lap, Quackity and Karl were huddled in the far-edges of the corner where they all had stopped, Charlie and Wilbur leaning against the outside-glass of an empty store.
There’s a song playing through Wil’s earbuds, just loud enough for Charlie to hear it. It’s one of Wilbur’s own songs.
Your New Boyfriend .
Charlie had heard the lyrics a few times before, when slime had been passing by the studio and popped in for a few seconds. Charlie thinks ae is absolutely amazing at writing songs, at playing them, at singing them.
Slime looks away, trying not to choke over a prior thought. Except Charlie’s brain, though scarred and having learned its lesson one too many times, persists.
You look up to aer .
And Charlie, who had been broken by so many people, hadn’t learned their own lesson.
Charlie guesses slime does look up to the energetic siren.
They had just gotten up and started walking, pointing at stores and talking about things they might get.
Eret finds a store they want to go into, so of course everyone follows behind.
There's aggressively glamorous outfits and fancy attire, and maybe a few pairs of pants that Charlie wouldn't be caught dead in but it's overall a nice shop.
Eret picks out something that doesn't look as expensive as most of the shop, holds it up to their torso and turns to the group, smiling. Terra sits against their legs, watching the surrounding people move and bustle about.
Charlie is quietly listening in on the conversation, still hanging against Wilbur, nervous about being in such a populated and expensive store. Wil hands Charlie a cap, grinning at the slime.
"Oh?"
"Thought you might like it."
Charlie stutters, eyes flicking from Wilbur to the cap. "I do, but- blacklung! - I don't have any money on me."
And Wilbur, the sly siren, in a sing-song voice says, "I'll be paying," leaving Charlie completely baffled- until ae places the cap on Charlie's head and Charlie almost cries.
They're about to leave the shop; Wilbur and Eret having paid for what they got, and Quackity surprising Karl with a golden bracelet that had a small, metal Saturn on it, having bought it on a fake trip to the bathroom.
Charlie is having fun, joking and talking and barely paying mind to their tics.
Except this specific one is loud, a tic where he shouts "Pheromones!" Their hands snap over their mouth, a natural instinct. None of the others in the group mind, but one specific random-lady turns to look at Charlie, and Charlie cowers under her glare.
Her voice is poisonous, laced with venom and leaving Charlie half-focused and afraid.
" Don't you know it's impolite to yell in a public place? This is a store , boy, not a circus . "
She leaves after spitting a few slurs and swears, but Charlie is halfway down the hall of the mall and intent on heading for the bathroom.
He's been hiding for the better portion of five minutes, carefully perched on the lid of a toilet, head in his arms.
Charlie is loud, and annoying, and childish.
Words Charlie has been told over and over again, how they're just left of humanity, how they're a circus-act gone wrong, and Charlie would be a liar as well if they tried to say they didn't believe those who told them that.
But overall, Charlie misses Wilbur.
The door to the bathroom makes a horrid noise as it opens, rattling slimes headache and making slime whine.
"Charlie?"
Wilbur .
Except Charlie's body hates them, and Charlie chokes out a sob right as the footsteps draw near.
There's a quiet knock on the stall door, and Charlie, albeit anxiously, unlocks and opens the door, letting Wilbur move into the stall with him.
Wilbur looks awkward in the squished space, too tall for the stall and bending over in a fairly uncomfy way when the door is shut again.
"Fancy seeing you here," Charlie tries.
Wilbur shoots slime a look, opting to crouch and just look up at the slime-hybrid.
"So."
"So?"
Charlie thinks Wilbur still looks awkward, but decides to focus on the fact that the air is cold and Charlie, for once, is warm.
And then Wilbur is swearing quietly, looking at the floor and cursing aes ankles directly.
So Charlie pats the toilet lid, inviting Wilbur up, "Come sit here."
Wilbur's eyebrows furrow, knitting together. "You're there, I can't sit inside of you."
Charlie, ever the brightest, stands, looking from Wilbur to the toilet and back again. "Sit."
And sit Wilbur does, cautiously perching on the lid with aes legs crossed. Leaving aes lap open.
Charlie carefully drops into Wilbur's lap, slightly startling the siren but instead focusing on adjusting comfortably- right against Wilbur, leaning their head on Wil's shoulder.
Wilbur moves to wrap aes arms around the slime, and Charlie snuggles in, sniffling from crying earlier.
After a little longer than Charlie would care to admit, they're back with the group and walking through the aisles of a plant-based store. There's some classical music playing in the background that sounds like it belongs in Hamilton: The Musical, and the shop smells vaguely cold.
Karl is absolutely ecstatic .
Quackity had noticed the shop, dragging them along just to see the smile on his boyfriend's face.
Charlie doesn't know much about plants, admittedly. Sure, he knows his way around what you can and can't eat, but plants had never been a thing Charlie spent long learning about.
Until now, of course.
"Did you know there's actually multiple different colors of violets? Why would you name a flower after a color when the flower has multiple colors that aren't violet ?"
They're all walking through the store with Karl in the lead, smiling and listening to seer ramble. Wilbur squeezes Charlie's hand.
Ae is there with slime, it'll be okay.
Karl stops before a selection of plants, flapping honks hands and grinning. He tics a clicking noise that sounds like the noise the Predator makes.
Charlie vaguely recognizes the flowers as carnations.
Karl is humming as seer looks over every flower, smiling and rocking from side to side.
"Red for passion, white for innocence, pink for a mother's love, yellow for disappointment or rejection, purple for capricious or unreliability, striped for refusal, solid color for yes, green for," Karl flicks their gaze to Wilbur, "secret love between two men."
Karl hums, nodding. "Techno and Dream were the definition of a green carnation, except they were bad at hiding it."
Wilbur chokes, laughing.
The crew leave the store about half an hour later, Karl carefully holding an orange tulip in a pot.
They're walking through an Arts and Crafts store, a tinier version of Hobby Lobby that has the more art focused members of the group absolutely, positively overjoyed .
Including Charlie, who had been quiet besides ticcing and responding to questions.
The slime hybrid had practically dragged Wilbur to find the section for wax sealing, laughing with the siren and stimming happily.
The wax beads were in neat little containers, organized on the shelves and allowing Charlie to see each color, metallic or pastel, neon or normal. Wilbur stood patiently and watched, humming the tune to the song playing in aes earbuds.
After Charlie picks the colors they want out, the duo that consists of Wil and slime head back to the others, who had gone with Eret to the calligraphy-based section.
Upon arrival, the rest of the group are talking with Eret, who happily picks out a glass dip pen with the bisexual flag and turns to go to the start of the aisle, grinning at Charlie and Wilbur while Terra stays close at their side.
Per Wilbur's wish, they all head to the map section, and eventually check-out with Wilbur holding a bag of rolled-up maps, Charlie with the bag of wax beads, and Eret with their dip pen and some ink they had snagged in a small paper bag.
They've reached a crowded section of the mall, and Charlie can see that Wilbur is ticcing anxiously, squeezing the slimes hand and staying hunched over despite aes height.
Charlie wants to ask if Wil is okay, but there's about half a million people in one room and Charlie feels choked, compelled to stay silent and act normal .
Wilbur hunches over more, pulling aes arms and legs closer in on aerself. Aes breathing is definitely quicker, and Charlie begins to worry more.
Something releases the tight hold on slimes mouth, letting slime speak. "Wil, are you okay?"
And Wilbur, beginning to shake, almost coughing from how disorderly aes breathing was, whispers out a small "Can we go sit?"
Charlie has never moved quicker.
The Food Court is less busy, lunch having already come and gone an hour ago. Only the occasional person would move, save for the workers in the stores that sell the food.
Eret had come along with Charlie, but was sent off to get something for the trio to eat and drink, after sending a text to the crew telling them to go shop and they'll join with them soon.
Wilbur is coming down slowly, laying on lined up chairs and resting aes head in Charlie's lap. There's music blasting in aes headphones, a song by Crywank that Wilbur had favored.
Eret carefully places the drinks and bagged-and-wrapped sandwiches on the table, sitting across from Charlie and Wil. Terra sits under the table, still by Eret's side, connected by her leash being attached to Eret's belt.
Charlie stops carding his fingers through Wil's hair for a few seconds to unwrap his sandwich, then switching to eating with one hand and using the other for Wilbur's hair.
Once Wilbur is calmer and has eaten with the rest of the trio, they set out to find the other members of the group, though avoiding large numbers of people.
The group acts as if nothing had happened, but they do end up asking Wilbur if ae is okay in-between conversations.
Later, Wilbur asks Charlie why slime sat there with aer, why Charlie was patient and kind and didn't laugh or brush it off.
"You're my sibling, I'd do anything for you."
Wilbur looks away and blinks rapidly to stop from crying.
The group had stopped for the third time, choosing to get some treats whilst near the food court again.
Quackity had ordered for himself and Karl, parfaits in fancy cups.
Wilbur ordered for aerself and Charlie, grinning when slime happily received slimes order.
Eret, as expected, ordered for Eret. And snuck something for Wilbur.
Once they had all gotten relatively close to finishing their treats, Eret was called back up, smiling.
And when back, Eret placed a seashell-shaped cookie in front of Wilbur.
Wilbur laughed happily, wiping aes eyes from under aes glasses. "Everyone is trying to make me cry today, what is this?"
They had been walking for another five minutes when Karl ran away from the group, messaging the chat that honk would be back in a few minutes.
Upon seers arrival, Karl seemed to stick to Quackity like glue, a smile that seemed far too close to mischievous on seers face.
They get to a spot where it's more open, slowing to take a breather.
And Karl whips out a porcelain duck from one of his bags, handing it to Quackity while bouncing. "I saw it and wanted to- tick tock - get it for you. I- no hablo español - hope you like it."
Quackity claps, moving to sit on his legs to carefully take the duck and put it in his bags. "I love it."
There's a play area.
Repeat, there's a play area.
Charlie is absolutely ecstatic .
It has more movement based games, like random parkour and a laser-tag arena, but Charlie is still hyped.
So of course Charlie drags the entire group along.
Quackity is trying to play air-hockey against Wilbur and Charlie's pretty sure Karl is laying face-down on the floor in the tiny town area and Eret is watching Charlie climb in the parkour section while video-taping and it's absolute chaos.
Charlie almost slips, becoming sticky for a second to stay on before climbing again.
Wilbur accidentally clocks Quackity in the head with the little circle thing for air-hockey and Eret gets it all on camera.
Karl was, indeed, face-down in the tiny town area.
Phil raised hooligans.
By the time the sun is setting the entire group is tired, and Eret complains about having to drive home while they all make their way to the car.
"Well, how'd you- bananas - feel about the trip?" Wilbur asks Charlie.
Charlie grins, tipping the hat on his head up to look at his pseudo-sibling.
"I think it turned out alright."