the sudden hold gets kyle to tense up, his arm unintentionally flexing on noah's touch. it gets to his head, sending his mind on a haywire from the unexpected progression of the night.

"w-w-wait!" kyle is unsure on how to follow through. he was unprepared, evident with the stammering. "i, uh, y-yeah! er, i mean, early bird catches the worm, or stuff like that. haha..."

he forces his legs to move, as they too freeze up. he almost jumps as well when noah rests his head on him. he is ill-prepared for advances such as these, having never really experience anything similar before. perhaps he viewed things in the perspective of just being friends, but noah has already made his intentions evident.

it would have been easier if their relationship had been like that, or if it was complicated enough for him to cast away. he tries his best not to get affected by his actions, although words were something he can't outright ignore.

he wants to say something, but instead, he grows hot with self-consciousness instead. kyle thinks of the words he wants to say in his head, carefully going through them multiple times to make sure the right ones comes out of his mouth. he wasn't as good as it when it comes to words, and the pressure of the situation makes him more conscious of them.

by the time he does, they were already in the spot. the panic of turning your work in too late settles. everything he worked in his head disappears and he utters the most bare bones of a response to noah.

"i-i'm happy too."

kyle turns to his houndour. while he did not do anything wrong, kyle feels it's only a matter of time before he does. whimpers and shameless display of puppy eyes already started. kyle looks at frey with disdain before recalling him back to his ball.

"you'll get yours later," he tells his pokemon.

as the houndour returns to its ball, kyle finally settles on the ground beside noah, subconsciously situating himself too close. his arms brush against noah's as he shifts around, taking his chopsticks out and opening his container. the smell was so strong that he gives himself a pat in the back for taking preemptive measures of keeping the dog in its ball while they eat.

"hey, if someone offers you free stuff, you take it," he jests, justifying it with a reasoning more believable than his actual one. he turns to noah, looking at him with an expression of contempt. "and how high of a pedestal did you put me in? i'll tell you right now that i'm going to disappoint you sooner or later if you keep this up."

he sinks in his chopsticks deep in the container of noodles, picking them up with it and blowing on them, cooling them off.

he enters a state of shock when he gets his noodles stolen. he stares at noah before composing himself, turning back to his takeout container and then wearing a triumphant smile.

he points his chopsticks at noah. "wrong move, faber. should've stolen the second bite i'll take for an indirect kiss." he goes back to his noodles afterwards, and repeats the process of grabbing them and cooling them down.

noah's concern about his image gets ignored for the most part, with kyle taking what he says at face value. he turns away from noah this time, his free hand protecting his noodles this time. he consumes it quickly, not letting him take any.

"well, you're good. you don't steal shit from my house, i think, so you're good."

he chews his food and swallows. "and go clean yourself." his hands dig into the pocket of his jeans and takes a handkerchief out, throwing it at noah's face. he'd do it himself, but part of him is worried that noah's going to break if he does.

"y-you can't do that!"

kyle gets hot and stuffy despite the cold new year's chill. the threat lingers, and noah has already proven that he is not afraid to pull the trigger. what makes it more potent is the fact that noah is right.

he pushes his face to just above his takeout container, hoping it hides the fluster showing in his expression. he concentrates on it, takes another mouthful, chewing and swallowing, before lifting his head back up to respond.

"n-no. i have my dogs there so i can even leave my front door unlocked. the dogs like you though, and that's dangerous."

he turns to noah, eyeing him conspicuously. "what're you gonna steal then?" knowing noah, any material object has the possibility of being taken. he knows he wouldn't actually do it, but just in case...

"i was gonna stop by my apartment later and invite you in, but you're making me have second thoughts about it."

his apartment was the real treasure trove despite being the easier target between it and his home. with a bunch of the things he considers important, whether expensive or not, the apartment unit he has on slateport was more of a home to kyle than his verdanturf one.

he finishes the last of his noodles, licking is lips as he savors the last of the tastes. the container is placed on top of noah's, silently hoping he'd throw it out to the trash for the both of them.

"quick. tell me. maybe you'll find it easier to steal me if i know."

as much as he doesn't pry in anyone's affairs, curiosity was a big part of kyle's character. to judge noah based on his choice wasn't really wrong in determining his person, but at this point, kyle guesses he probably wouldn't be surprised by any curve ball served towards him.

kyle stares at noah, watching him squirm about. his face contorts to a scowl, second guessing himself multiple times. every time he thinks noah's easy to read, he just acts in a direction that kyle doesn't expect him to go for.

this time, he's certain this wasn't something big and is just probably overreacting.

"what are you even embarrassed about? i can tell you, like, ten things you've done in the past few weeks that i'd kill myself for if i've done it."

he starts to do as he said, only to start blushing as he recalls enough events that makes his heart hasten. he dips his head, scratching the back of his head, as what he thought to be an encouraging thing backfired on him too fast.

"but, yeah, yeah. sure, sure." he stands up from his position, picking up the takeout containers they left on the ground, as well as the kyle plushie he won earlier. afterwards, he starts to count down.

"10... 9..."

"n-n-noah! what the fuck?" his voice was hushed, but it cannot deny the exasperated tone on it.

his face reddens up, getting flustered more than noah was. his head swishes from side to side, looking at people around them. they were sparse and a distance away, and busied with their own businesses. still, kyle is too flustered at the situation.

his hands were full. he doesn't have any other option besides throw away their food container, which was littering and bad practice for the environment. he considers his options, grumbling at being put in a corner.

he leans forward, whispering to noah's ears. "n-not in public. please."

as he pulls out, all kyle could show noah was a rattled expression, too nervous to do anything and too inexperienced to know how to handle the situation.