“I’m not gonna lie,” Chester hummed as we walked down the street. “My motive wasn’t just ‘cause I wanted to cook food for you,” I knew it! He's gonna hurt me-! “It was to get to know you,” he flashed me a smile. “I mean, don’t friends usually know each other’s names?” 

“Yours is Mr. Chester.” I stated. 

“Drop the ‘Mr.’, how old do you think I am!?” he huffed.  

“Eh... early 30s?” I shrugged. 

“You’re way off! Why would a 30-year-old want to be friends with a kid!?” he exclaimed. “And if you thought I was 30, why did you accept in the first place!?” 

“You’re likely mid 20s at most.” I corrected myself. “I said 30s to get at you.” 

“Ah.” he sighed gently. “If I had to guess, I'd say you’re maybe 18. Maybe. You look so young, and sound it too. Your voice is so girly-” he scoffed; I kicked the back of his heel harshly. 

“Say another word about my appearance or how I act or sound, and I will forbid you from interacting with me, Chester.” I snapped sharply. “You have no clue-!” I cut myself off. 

“...Tell me.” his hand brushed against mine; I pulled away quickly. “I said I wanted to get to know you.” 

“Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” we walked into the supermart. “I’ll judge you.” 

“Ok...” he smiled, taking a basket. “Want me to start from the beginning? You want all my trauma?” he scoffed. 

“...I want to leave.” I froze in the middle of the entrance. 

The supermart wasn’t usually too busy at night, but it was in the early evenings, when people were on their way home from work. I hated crowds, the noise and bustle were too much for me to handle; not to mention the sheer about of people, close quarters, kids, older folks, I hated it all. 

“Huh?” Chester stood beside me. “We just got here?”  

“Hm...” I put my hands over my ears, trying to drown out the loud voices and beeping from scanners. Ugh! I knew this was a bad idea! How foolish I must be-!  

“Hey,” Chester was in front of me, draping his jacket over me, pulling the hood over my head. “Dose this help to limit the amount of stimuli?” he trailed his hands to mine. “Stick close to me. We can always go back to an aisle if it’s too crowded, kid.” he smiled, gently pulling my hands away. “Do you want to try?” 

“...Hm.” I nodded slightly. No- no ones ever done this for me before... “I-” ...Thank you, Chester... this means more to me than you know.  

“Come on, let’s start in the front and work our way back.” he smiled, sticking at my side as we walked.