Tide enjoyed the happy butterflies in his stomach as they approached the hair care stall on the second floor of the mall. Forest was walking quite close to him and from time to time there was the faintest sensation of their sides bumping into each other.

“Hi there!” a very shiny woman announced as they drew up to the stall. Forest had been right, this stuff totally looked like the kind of products Annie would eat right up. Even the packaging was expensive looking, minimalist crisp white with a geometric, holographic logo.

“Hello,” Tide nodded, before explaining what they were looking for. One hundred and fifty dollars later he had acquired two bottles of indeterminable substances that the lady promised would leave Annie’s hair softer and shinier than one would have thought humanly possible.

The woman eyed Tide’s jet black premium membership credit card before handing it back to him with a wide smile. “You know we also do a full skin care range!”

“That’s okay,” Tide chuckled, “I might think about it for Christmas if she likes the hair stuff.”

“Oh, I meant we have a specific range to deal with problem skin and all natural exfoliaters for persistent acne,” the woman elaborated.

“Um,” Tide frowned, tucking his card back into his wallet, “My stepmom doesn’t really…” he trailed off as he looked up and noticed that her eyes had shifted pointedly towards Forest. Tide jerked his head round to see that the other boy had gone red and was staring down at his shuffling feet.

“I mean no one wants bad skin do they?” The woman laughed brightly and obliviously. “Doesn’t exactly make you popular with the ladies. How about I show you some samples and –“

“No,” Tide snapped, interrupting her and causing the woman’s eyes to widen in offended surprise. “No, we don’t need anything else. Thank you for your time.”

Tide felt his own skin heat up in irritation as he snatched the bag off of her and tugged on Forest’s sleeve to manoeuvre them quickly away from the stall. Tide paused as he saw Forest flick his eyes momentarily back at the products.

“I’m sorry,” Tide mumbled, “did you want to look at that stuff?”

“No,” Forest shook his head sadly. “I already have loads of products, they don’t make much difference.”

“You know she was just trying to sell us shit right?” Tide sighed. Forest still wasn’t meeting his eyes. “Your skin isn’t even that bad. People in that industry just hone in on the tiniest shit that they perceive as imperfections. I should know, I’ve been dragged with Annie to enough beautician appointments.”

“Yeah?” Forest asked quietly, finally looking up at Tide with a small, sad smile.

“Oh yeah. Shit, one time this guy even convinced me my face was uneven and that waxing my eyebrows would fix it,” Tide said, beginning walking again and steering them towards the relief of the arcade.

“You didn’t?” Forest exclaimed with a gasp.

“I did,” Tide nodded solemnly. “I had bright red burns for a week, Ryan teased me relentlessly.”

Forest laughed so loudly that Tide felt his heart catch. The other boy looked so delighted, all the embarrassment of a few moments ago seemingly forgotten.

“The worst part was it was only half done, I wimped out from the pain and so I had one eyebrow that was pencil thin and halfway up my forehead and the other looked like a drunk caterpillar,” Tide continued, encouraged by Forest’s reaction.

“S-stop,” Forest wheezed whilst laughing, “I’ll need my inhaler!”

Tide chuckled, feeling immensely pleased with himself. They drew up to the ‘cash to tokens’ machine as Tide pulled out his wallet again.

“No, please, let me,” Forest said, pushing his hand against Tide’s. “You already paid for dinner.”

After collecting their pot of tokens, Tide guided Forest through a crowd of milling youths and kids to the hoops game. Forest looked at him in surprise after picking up one of the balls.

“Oh, they’re so light!” Forest exclaimed.

“Yeah, it’s a pain,” Tide nodded, picking one up himself and spinning it effortlessly on his finger, “makes them way harder to shoot.”

“Look, Mommy!” A nearby little girl had stopped her family to watch Tide spinning the ball.

“You’ve got an audience,” Forest laughed as Tide grinned. Tide winked at the family before picking up another ball and spinning both of them on separate hands.

“Now you’re just showing off!” Forest giggled. He moved to throw his ball at the hoop but it fell about a foot short and dropped lamely into the recess at the back of the machine. Forest sighed and shrugged bashfully back at Tide, “Told you I suck.”

Tide abandoned his own balls and walked over to Forest. “It’s okay, you’ve just never been taught how to shoot properly.”

“So it’s all my previous games teachers’ faults that I’m not captain like you?” Forest asked with a questioning smile.

“Pretty much,” Tide laughed, picking up a ball and passing it to Forest before standing close behind him. “Okay now, just adjust your stance like this.”

Tide wondered if he had imagined the small gasp Forest let out as Tide carefully placed his large hands over Forest’s slim hips. “Sorry, I should have asked, is it okay for me to touch you?”

“Y-yeah,” Forest nodded. Tide couldn’t see the other boy’s face but wondered if he was blushing again?

“Okay, now try to relax,” Tide lowered his voice, blocking out all the other arcade patrons and noise and just focussing on the familiar peppermint scent of Forest’s black hair. The tanned skin on the back of his neck, three small freckles near his left shoulder.

“That’s it,” Tide smiled, “shooting foot slightly in front.”

“H-how do I know which is my shooting foot?” Forest asked, sounding confused.

“Which foot would you kick a ball with?” Tide asked.

“I don’t think you understand how much I avoid sport,” Forest replied as Tide let out an understanding chuckle. “Okay, when you reach stairs, which foot do you lift first?”

“My right, I think?” Forest said, although it sounded like a question.

“Okay then,” Tide replied, “move your right foot fractionally in front of your left, keep your feet spaced out though, shoulder width.”

“The timer’s nearly out,” Forest whispered in warning.

“Ignore it,” Tide shook his head. “Okay, now grip the ball tightly.”

“It’s too big,” Forest complained as Tide felt himself flush and his throat go dry. He really shouldn’t be having any kind of dirty thoughts when he was this close to Forest, almost pressed up against him.

“Y-you’ll manage,” Tide replied, hoping Forest hadn’t noticed him fluff up the words. “Right, now fix your eyes on the hoop; you need to show your body where you’re aiming. Bend your knees slightly. Don’t grip so hard with your left hand okay? That’s just your balance hand, the power’s coming from your right hand.”

“But I’ll drop it!” Forest said.

“No, you got this,” Tide stated firmly, “just spread out the fingers on your right hand as wide as possible yeah?”

“Okay,” Forest replied, sounding determined.

Tide bent down to speak into the shell of Forest’s ear, “Now shoot.”

Forest did, the ball arched beautifully through the air and landed right in the middle of the metal hoop. Forest began to let out a whoop of delight when the ball spun uncomfortably and tipped over the edge without going through.

“What?” Forest exclaimed in outrage as Tide chuckled.

“It’s okay,” Tide explained, “that was absolutely perfect Forest, if this had been a real net it would have totally gone in.”

“Then why?” Forest turned to Tide with an adorable pout.

“Come,” Tide laughed, “I’ll show you.” He wrapped his fingers around Forest’s small wrist, tugging him over to look at the game from the side.

“The hoops aren’t circular!” Forest shouted furiously. “It’s cheating, the game is cheating!”

“Feeling competitive huh?” Tide smirked. “Knew I’d make a sportsman out of you yet.”

“Stupid game,” Forest humphed, crossing his arms as the timer buzzed to signal the end of their session. “It’s stacked against you.”

“Yeah I know,” Tide grinned, reluctantly letting go of Forest’s wrist and ruffling his hair affectionately.

“Why do you even play it?” Forest frowned quizzically at the other boy.

“Because,” Tide grinned, fishing another token from his pocket and feeding the machine until the lights and music started up again. “It makes it so much more satisfying when you beat it.”

Tide took a deep breath before picking up a ball and, without taking his sparkling eyes off of Forest, shot it quickly towards a hoop. The ball teetered on the edge for a moment before plopping satisfyingly through the rigged, cheating ellipsis of rusted metal.

“Holy shit!” Forest yelped, excitedly running back towards Tide. “That was so cool!”

Tide laughed. Beating this game was something he and Ryan had been practising for the past eleven years. All the wasted money, hours and expletives of frustration suddenly seemed so incredibly worth it.

“Can you teach me?” Forest asked, picking up another ball and splaying out his fingers, a frown of concentration and effort on his face as he attempted to balance it.

“Sure,” Tide beamed with a pleased flush, trying to conceal the tremble in his own fingers as he adjusted Forest’s stance again.