Chapter Text
"Firey, I think if I were you, I would've already pulled Leafy," Coiny said.
"Wha- HEY!" The ends of Firey's flames flickered blue with his response. "That's rich coming from you, bozo! You can't say you'd be able to pull Leafy when you haven't even confessed to Pin yet!"
Coiny's hands raised up in a defensive position. "I'll get to it eventually! I just gotta find the right time. You, though-" The ends of his mouth curled up in a sort of smug smirk. "You're never gonna man up and tell her your feelings! You're too much of a chicken."
"Y-Y'know what!?" Firey sputtered, "Prove it! Prove that you would be better for Leafy than me! Take her out on a date!"
Coiny scoffed. "Piece of cake. I bet, though, that you'd do way worse with Pin."
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Then- Then I'll do the same! I'll take Pin out on a date, you're taking Leafy out on a date. Whoever's date goes better gets to tell the loser to do whatever they say!" Firey said.
Coiny's eyes widened a bit at the second part of the bet, then his brows furrowed in contemplation. He looked up at the flame, who possessed almost too confident of a grin.
"Deal. You're going down."
And that was how Firey ended up on a dinner date with Pin. He had booked a reservation for two at the fanciest and most romantic restaurant he knew, but he didn't realize at the time how he would…interfere with the restaurant's dimly lit atmosphere. Looking around at the various other couples staring at his light in annoyance made him too self-conscious, so he turned back to Pin, but that didn't really help much either. Pin stared at him with squinted eyes, as if she was struggling to look at him.
"Uh…Pin?" He cautiously started, "Are you okay?"
"You're too bright. Why did you choose this place?" Pin stated in a deadpan tone.
That was a good question.
"Well, y-y'know! I…I just wanted to come up with something nice, but…" Firey trailed off, feeling Pin's glare burn hotter than himself. She simply rolled her eyes in response.
An awkward silence hung in the air before it was broken by the waiter coming to their table. "May I take your order?"
"Oh, yes!" Firey sat up and looked at the menu. "I'll have the…grilled duck breast, and she'll have-"
"DO NOT ORDER FOR ME," Pin snapped. Firey slinked deep into his chair out of fear. "I will take paprika."
"…Ma'am, we don't serve paprika on its own."
"Why not?"
Before the waiter could respond, Firey quickly interjected. "O-Okay! Pin, you should figure out something else to order…! Something that's, on the menu, maybe!"
"…Fine. Let's see…" Pin flipped through the menu a bit. "Gimme the steak tartare. And some water."
As the waiter nodded and took their menus, Firey couldn't help but wonder what a "steak tartare" was. Was it steak with tartar sauce? He didn't want to make himself seem stupid in front of Pin again by asking.
Speaking of Pin, she had an uninterested expression on her face, looking elsewhere. Firey knew he had to say something to make the date more enjoyable, but instead, he kept staring at her. He hadn't really noticed it before, but the shine of her plastic gave her almost a subtle glow. The little wrinkle in her brow from her slight annoyance was honestly a little adorable…
…What was he thinking? This was just to prove something to Coiny. He couldn't get distracted.
"So, Pin…!" He said, "Do ya, like, have any hobbies?"
Pin startled a bit by him talking. "Huh? Uh, baking, I guess."
"Cool…cool." He already didn't know what to follow up with. He was never much of a words guy in the first place.
"Is- Is that it?" She asked, a bit incredulous. "You're not saying anything else?"
"Ah- Uhm! Right! Uun…" It should not be this hard for him to keep up a conversation. Except, every time he glanced back up at the thumbtack across from him, any and all words in his mind vanished in a puff of smoke. He suddenly felt a bit envious of Coiny's ability to say the perfect thing at all times.
"…Okay. Fine, I'll pick up the slack. What about you? Anything you're interested in?"
Firey averted his eyes and waved a hand dismissively. "Gah, my hobbies're lame! I shouldn't talk about them."
"Uh…Uh huh. Whatever." Pin's staccato speech seemed to punctuate the uncomfortable conversation with a full stop. Firey wished the food would just come already.
But it didn't.
Firey and Pin sat there in silence once more for several minutes, the former attempting to speak up but backing down multiple times while the latter sipped on the water she was given, clearly not much for conversation. All the while, Firey's physical presence still ruined the atmosphere of the restaurant. He kinda wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Why did he think this bet was a good idea? Him and Pin were probably acquaintances at best. Now her only impression of him would be this awful "date" forever.
Thinking about that actually really sucked. He finally got to take a close look at Pin and it was in a situation like this! Who could blame him, though? Her assertiveness left him breathless.
…Where did that come from?
"Dinner is served." The waiter came back carrying a tray holding two plates. The grilled duck breast placed in front of him looked incredible, having a perfectly charred skin and some delectable juices pooled under it. He couldn't take in the amazing food for long, cause he saw Pin's plate, and-
"Pin. What is that."
"…Steak tartare? My food?"
Was he seeing things? "That's raw beef." It was practically mooing! "We need to call over the waiter. We need to sue-!"
"No, Firey, the-"
Nothing Pin could say would possibly convince him that being served raw beef was normal. She didn't want to call over the waiter for this? Fine! He'd fix it himself.
Firey reached over and quickly grabbed Pin's plate and plunged it into himself to cook it. Cooking was no hobby of his, but he had gotten pretty good at it via this method. After a bit of smoking, he confidently presented the perfectly cooked beef to…
Pin's…horror? Did he do something wrong?
"What." Was all she said, her mouth slightly agape and eyes practically bulging open. It was one word, but Firey felt it drip with venom he didn't even know was possible. Pin, almost as though Firey's brightness didn't bother her at all anymore, kept glowering at the flame while slowly raising her hand up to call the waiter over.
"What is it, ma'am?" The waiter came over to her.
"I think. I would like. The check." She enunciated her words clearly, still not looking away. "Split it."
Firey, who had been paralyzed in fear until now, quickly jolted up in his seat. "No! Just one check! I'll pay for it!" He yelled at a volume much too loud for the restaurant. The waiter quirked an eyebrow before shaking their head and leaving, Firey staring at them for as long as he could see them to delay having to face Pin again. Eventually, though, the waiter was completely out of sight, giving Firey no choice but to turn back.
She was still glaring at him. Her scowl gave off an intense burning rage that rivaled his own flames.
"P-Pin, I…Uh…Well-!"
Pin tutted, immediately shutting him up. "I'm leaving after the check is paid."
"N-No, don't…" Firey trailed off, realizing he couldn't say anything to remedy this, especially when he still didn't really understand how he upset her. What was he to do…?
"The check." The waiter handed the check…holder…thing…were names really the most important thing right now? Point is, he got the check. He opened it up to pay…
Oh my oxygen. Why was it that much? He knew he chose one of the highest end restaurants he could think of, but the bill being practically a week's worth of income (Could he even say it was income…? It was mostly money gained from gambling.) was insane!
Ah, what the hell. He could splurge just this one time. He normally tipped around 20%, but because of how much of an inconvenience he'd probably been, he could do well with upping that amount. 50% was taking another good chunk out of his wealth, and it was probably a bit excessive, but he always thought it was better to overcompensate rather than…under…compensate anyways.
He slammed the thingy shut and waved the waiter back over. Pin was already up and pushing her chair back in. It took everything in his power to not slam himself into the table out of frustration. This was not how things were supposed to go at all! How did he mess up this badly?! He wouldn't blame her if she never wanted to talk to him again after this. She was definitely going to tell Coiny about this too, and- Ugh! He's totally gonna laugh in his face! He could already see the condescending smirk he'd have.
"Uh…hey.." Firey started as the waiter collected the check. "S-Should I, um, stack these plates up? To make your job easier?" Honestly, he wanted to run out of there as quick as he could, but he didn't want to seem rude.
"No, that's not necessary," they said.
"But, really! I know I kinda messed up the whole mood of this place…if there's anything I can do to help, I can-"
"Just leave, I insist. I have my own system for stacking the plates."
"If- If you're sure…!" Didn't need to tell him twice. Wait, they did tell him twice. Er, didn't need to tell him thrice.
Firey dashed out of the restaurant, quickly noticing Pin closer than he thought she'd be considering when she left. Maybe he could still redeem things here! It definitely seemed like a lofty goal, but there was no way he'd let Coiny have the win like this!
"Pin! Wait up!" It seemed like Pin stiffened and began to quicken her pace. He ran to catch up to her, grabbing her hand. She swiped her hand away in an instant, turning with a stare that might as well have turned him to stone as he froze in place. Once more, the words he was thinking of vanished. What was with him today? He really didn't know why he was so much more of a mess than normal.
"I…uh…" He stammered. "Pin, I…"
"Go. Away." She tried to walk away.
"No- Hold on! Just…Can I explain myself first?!"
Pin stopped, not facing Firey. "Fine."
"Ah…er…uuun…." Come on, just think! Yeah, he wasn't as good with words as Coiny, so he had to think of something else to get Pin to like him again. He could try, uhh…
"I'm…I'm really, really sorry about tonight!" He said, "I wanted to make this the perfect dinner, so I booked that fancy restaurant, and tried to be all, uh, formal and cool and stuff! I didn't want to talk too much about myself cause…cause…!" Blue blush rose up in his face. "I didn't want to disappoint you about how lame I am, cause you're like the opposite of me! You're actually cool, you're honest about people, you're confident, and every time I looked at you today, I couldn't get myself to speak, because you're-!" Firey stopped himself. There was no way he could admit what he just thought.
Pin turned to the side, glancing at Firey bashfully. "I'm…?"
Firey stood there, thinking it over. Ugh…he didn't have much to lose.
"You're…so…pretty." He breathed out, steam leaving his body.
She looked away, blushing a lime green. "That's…That's nice to hear. But you still messed up."
"I know! Please, can I try to make it up to you?"
Pin faced Firey with a small smile. "I guess I could give you a second chance. You better not blow it again."
"Oh, thank oxygen! Uh…how about we go on a walk in the park? Maybe there'll be food trucks, since we didn't really get to eat."
"This late at night? Yeah, I wish. You should've brought to-go boxes with you."
"It was kind of a different atmosphere then! You can't blame me for forgetting to take the food!"
Pin chuckled a bit. "It was a joke! I'm not even that hungry anyways."
"Oh yeah, speaking of the food," Firey said, "What the heck is steak tartare? You got served raw beef!"
She stared at him blankly for a moment. Then, she began to laugh madly.
"What? What did I say???"
"THAT'S why you cooked the beef! Pff, it's supposed to be raw, Firey! Why would a place as fancy as that do something so dumb as to serve food raw on accident?"
He flushed with embarrassment. "Sh-Shut it! Is it so wrong for me to be worried about raw beef? That can't be safe!"
"Yeah, well, it is. You should try it."
"Nooo way! You go be an animal that eats meat raw on your own, thanks."
"I bet it'd cook if you ate it, though. So it's not like you're risking anything."
"Not how it works."
Pin whistled. "I dunno…!" She said in a sing-songy voice, "Have you ever tried it to make sure?"
"N-No…but…rghh….I'M NOT EATING RAW MEAT!" He shouted, "End of discussion."
Pin rolled her eyes playfully. "If you're sure."
Soon enough, the two of them were in the park. The trees obscured a lot of the little light there was, leaving shadows that were practically like voids. Firey was pretty much the only reliable source of light, leading Pin to stick closer to his side. He blushed a bit.
"Ghh, uh.." He stumbled over his words, distracted by how close she was. "SO! You like baking, right? What kinda- What things do you bake??"
"Just simple things, really," she said, "I've done brownies, pies, donuts, cakes…oh, when we were in Yoyle City, I managed to pick a few Yoyleberries and make a pretty good Yoylecake, if I do say so myself. I wanted to try giving some to everyone, but Bubble had…a lot. She asked, obviously, and normally, I would only let someone have seconds at most, but she looked so earnest I kept letting her have more until there were only two slices left! I ended up just giving them to Coiny and Fries."
"That explains why Bubble was metal for a good few months. Thought she took some Yoyleberries to protect against being popped." Firey sighed, "Yoylecake sounds so good right now! Why did I ask you about baking? Now I'm starving!"
"Ohhh." She smirked. He could definitely tell she interacted with Coiny a lot. "You wanted a food truck for your sake, got it."
"Not true! I mean…Well, we were supposed to have dinner at that place! I didn't eat anything today so I'd have room in my stomach for whatever we ordered."
Pin's face shifted to one of concern. "Really? I have some leftover cookies, I could bring you to my place so you could have some of them."
The thought of being in Pin's house made Firey turn almost completely blue. "Nononono you don't need to do that!" He rushed out, hands waving in front of him. "I'll just find something on my own later!"
"Hm..fine. Let's stop talking about food, though. What do you like to do? You never answered that."
"Uhh…" He scratched the back of his, er, body (How did object anatomy exactly work? He still didn't know how to refer to parts of himself.).
"Hey." She took on a stern tone. "I'm already well aware you're not cool. You're not gonna disappoint me with a lame hobby."
"Ow, you didn't have to say it like that…! Okaaay, I'll talk…
It's kind of childish, but," Firey started, "I'm big on board games and all that. I've got a few decks of cards and games at home, but I never get any opportunity to play them! Everyone's pretty busy or they don't like board games, so I usually just watch videos of the games I wanna play. I bet my collection's pretty dusty by now…"
"Oh," she said, "I could try playing some of them with you some time. I don't really play those games often, but I mean, you sound kinda miserable about not playing anything."
"Ha, uh, ya don't gotta do all that! It's fine, really."
"No. I'm going to play games with you at some point. We'll schedule a day."
"Gah, uh, okay!" He almost said "Yes ma'am" in response to her decisiveness. He would not have been able to live that down.
Pin giggled. "Y'know that's not that lame, right? You had me thinking you played with toys or something!"
"Uh…"
"…Not that…that's lame either…!"
"maybeweshouldmoveontoanothertopicOH HEY WE'RE AT THE LAKE!"
Indeed, the trees led to a clearing with a huge lake. The water reflected the starry night sky, making the scenery almost like they actually were in space. Pin gasped a bit at the view.
"This place looks completely different at night…" she said.
"It really does." It was almost enough for Firey to ignore his fear of water. He stepped closer to take a better look.
"Hey, don't do anything stupid. I won't recover you till the morning."
"Do you have that little faith in me??"
Firey huffed a bit, opting to sit at the shore of the lake. Pin soon walked up to sit next to him. They sat there in silence, really taking in the view. In the silence, Firey heard the chirping of the crickets, and the hoot of an owl nearby. His hands rested on the rocky shore, feeling the rough texture under his fingers. He smelled the characteristic earthyness of the lake, one that's usually unpleasant to him, but he found himself not minding it this time.
He glanced over at Pin. She looked relaxed, a hint of blush on her face. He couldn't help but think she was so beautiful.
Er, this was all for that bet. He couldn't let himself get absorbed in her like this.
But maybe it was fine for a while.