Food and Fun and Fair and Food... (Nao)

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Soooo... Xun's reunion with Nao had been more than a little surprising, to say the least.  The younger boy had apparently decided to grow two feet (more like several inches) during the months they'd been apart, leaving the older boy a little speechless.  Because... Well, his... Face had changed too.  He looked older.  More defined.  And, if Xun was going to be honest with himself, more... Aesthetically pleasing to look at.

He'd felt like an idiot with all the stammering and staring he'd done when they met up again.

Now they were on their way to the community field day event, which Xun was quite excited for.  Mostly for the food.   This was the only time of the year he could eat all of the greasy and unhealthy food he wanted, both because this was the only time the fair was in town, and also he didn't have any competitions coming up for months.  When the bus reached their stop, Xun hopped off and took in a deep whiff of the air, breathing in the scents of corn dogs and elephant ears and cotton candy...

"Are you hungry?  I'm hungry," he told Nao, already looking around to locate the food area.  "Also, if they have a haunted house ride or something... Tell me so I can stay as far away from it as possible."  Xun shuddered internally at the thought.  He didn't understand how people could think those were fun.  He looked over at his friend, still amazed by how much he'd changed.  "Want to share an elephant ear?"  Or two?  

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Yes, Nao decided to have his body suddenly shoot up over the course of two months and leave him utterly self-conscious and uncoordinated. Because Nao enjoyed being clumsy and tripping over his own feet every other step.

Apparently the summer had also given him an ornery sense of humor.

Naozumi sighed as he once again managed to kick his foot into the dirt and hop a couple steps forward in an attempt to keep himself from planing face-first in the grass they traveled across. He straightened himself and continued walking at a reasonable pace beside his good friend, whom was no longer towering over him by several inches. No, it was only a couple inches now.

“Food sounds good,” he said with a slight smile. Nao was more hungry than ever nowadays too. Direct cause and effect much? He was tempted to look into it. At the moment, though, Nao could stand to eat pretty much anything this community field day event could throw at them. “Okay. I’ll be staying away from those too.” Naozumi didn’t like ghosts and things either. “Just stay with me and you’ll be fine,” he assured Xun, widening his smile a bit.

Nao tilted his head in confusion. “An elephant ear? Why would you want to eat an elephant’s ear?” Nao couldn’t picture how that would even work. Did they really deprive poor elephants of their ears and then serve them to people? Were they deep fried? He imagined they’d be terribly difficult to chew.

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Xun, quite honestly, thought that Nao's stumbling and tripping around was very endearing, but he didn't tell his friend as such, because that didn't seem like a good... Friend thing to do. However, he did, for the hundredth time, reach out to help keep Nao from faceplanting as he tripped yet again, grasping onto the boy's shoulders as he stumbled. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough," he reassured Nao, his cheeks faintly flushed at the close contact. "I didn't grow quite as fast as you did, but I had a period of clumsiness as well." Especially given his ability.

Of course food sounded good. Between the two of them, Xun was fairly certain they could eat enough food to feed a small town for a week in one setting. "Quest to find the food, then~!" he announced too loudly, and felt embarrassed afterwards. His blush deepened. But ahh right, Nao was frightened of supernatural things too, wasn't he? "That sounds good to me," Xun replied, pretty relieved. If he could, the poor superstitious boy would have someone spend the night all the time so he didn't wake up every time something in his room made a noise, but alas, he didn't know how to ask someone...

He blinked as Nao announced his confusion, and before Xun could stop himself he burst out laughing at the questions. "N... No, they're not really an ear from an elephant..." he giggled, holding his stomach to try to contain his mirth. "Th-they're just, ah, deep-fried dough... With sugar and stuff on top..." He giggled a little longer before he managed to control himself. "If you have never had one, you will have to try one," he declared, finally catching sight of the food booths. Without a word, Xun snagged Nao's hand and tugged him hurriedly in that direction, as though he hadn't eaten in days (it had really only been a few hours).

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“Thank you,” Nao said for perhaps the hundredth time today. And possibly the millionth time this week. He really didn’t like this, though now he supposed he could sympathize with Ray and Xun, and the clumsiness they experienced because of their height.

Oh, well. “I guess you’re right,” he sighed. There were more important things to think about right now anyway.

Like food.

A smile appeared at Xun’s enthusiastic declaration, followed by a shy giggle. “I don’t think finding food at the fair qualifies as a full-on quest.” When Nao thought of quests, he thought of dragons and princesses and knights in shining armor. But maybe that was just because those were the kind of stories he’d read to his little sisters before putting them to bed.

Nao stared at Xun, wondering what was so incredibly funny to the older boy…but when he explained, almost immediately Nao’s face turned a burning red. “Oh…” he uttered, lowering his head in embarrassment. “I guess that makes more sense, doesn’t it?” Geeze, Nao really was slow sometimes! This was just like the time when he mistook Ray’s “eat it” for him wanting to dive in and eat his ice-cream as he tripped, not for when he would ultimately land face first on the ground. And now it was Xun laughing at him.

He waited for the Chinese boy to calm down. “Okay,” he said with a nod, but didn’t get another word in before he was practically dragged off towards the concessions. Pretty soon, it was no longer necessary for Xun to drag him along, as Nao was moving just as quickly towards the wonderful smell. “Mmm….I want a snow cone! And a giant corn dog!” And, of course, the elephant ear.

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"It is as much of a quest as we make it," Xun declared, still being melodramatic for nothing really in particular. He was just hungry, okay? And he got weird when he was hungry. Especially for food he did't get very often. And he didn't read or get out and explore as much as he should.

Xun felt sort of bad for laughing but... He just couldn't help it, the adorable look on Nao's face was just too much. "It does, but I don't know why they call them that," he replied, trying to make up for his giggling. "I mean... I guess they kind of look like an ear," he mused. He was thinking about this too much. "But it is alright, I'm sure I would have thought the same thing if I didn't know." Xun reached over and noogied the younger boy's hair affectionately.

He laughed some more as they ran towards the good together, feeling giddy and happy and excited to try everything out. "We can get both of those things," Xun breathed as they reached the line for one of the vendors. Fortunately it wasn't too crowded. "Healthy food first, maybe?" Xun suggested, as though anything was mildly not-unhealthy. Nevertheless, his first course was a corn dog and a big pile of onion rings that they could share. The Chinese boy was practically drooling. "<Nao, let's go sit over here,>" he suggested in Mandarin, nodding to a spot in the shade where they could see people playing around on the water and the rides. "<We can go get seconds when these are done. Bet I can finish my food first!>" Without warning, Xun began speeding through his meal, enjoying every quick bite.

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“Oh…okay,” he replied with simple acceptance. If Xun wanted to call it a quest, then he supposed they would just call it a quest. Unlike Xun, Nao didn’t get “weird” when he was hungry…he was just hungry! And that just made him want to eat anything he could get his hands on. Here at the fair, there were plants of things for him to feed on. Nao was excited about that at least, a smile present on his lips more often that usual.

Nao took a breath, trying to shrug off his embarrassment, but ultimately failing. And so his cheeks remained a full-speckled red that would likely stay there until…well, until he finally got his mind off of his little blunder. With any luck, Xun wouldn’t remember this mistake long enough to tell anyone else about it…hopefully. “Do they? I guess we could pretend they’re real elephant ears then.” The thought of that somehow made them more interesting…and appetizing. “Hey!” Nao protested meekly, his head dipping down below his shoulders as Xun rubbed his knuckles over his scalp, effectively mussing up his hair. Nao would have spent the next few seconds resetting his messy hair, only that was when Xun had started dragging him across the path towards the food booths.

And so the two boys ran, hand-in-hand, laughing and one with his hair a bit disheveled. Oh, if only Nao had the spite to seek vengeance on the older boy. But no, he had already forgotten about the trespass, and was thinking about which foods he was going to consume first. “Okay!” he said with a bright smile. Meat sounded good. Sugar sounded good. Put them together, and it was all good. Nao ended up with the corn dog, a basket of randomly deep-fried items, and a large cherry slushie. “<Right!>” he said, nodding sharply and following behind his friend like a little duckling. He started to settle himself at the table Xun picked out for them. “<Hey! I haven’t even sat down yet!>” But soon enough, Nao too was chomping down on his loot, quickly, though maybe not as quickly as Xun. “<If you choke, I’m not going to help you,>” he lied.