Chapter 76 - 76

The two of them ended up ordering cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. It was strange for Kaiden to be eating these again especially when he usually ate meals that seemed to have come from a 5-star restaurant. It was like a refresh of his childhood memories. Although the cheese on the burger tastes a little bit funky, it somehow works?

Noticing the complex expression on Kaiden's face, Gideon coughed to catch his attention. It seemed to have worked since Kaiden looked up at him and asked him if he was alright.

"Rather than me... You look like you ate something terrible. I mean back then we used to eat this but your taste changed over time did it not?" Gideon felt a little bit guilty since it was he who wanted to eat here. It was one of the foods he's comfortable with since he won't feel that guilty to eat as much as he wants to.

A chuckle could be heard and when Gideon looked back at Kaiden, the prince had been laughing.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I ate these but I don't find them disgusting. I just remembered it tasting differently in the past" Kaiden explains as he takes another bite to look like he was proving a point that he did not find the meal unappetizing.

"O-oh! Yeah, I think it's the cheese" Gideon wiped off his mouth with a piece of tissue to hide his embarrassment of assuming things once again.

"I knew I wasn't imagining it" Kaiden mumbles as he moves the cheese away and takes a bite into the burger. But after doing so, it seems like he regretted doing that and tore off the cheese and still ate it.

"What the hell... It tasted better with the weird cheese" Kaiden frowned and Gideon laughed a little because he looked like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum over something so little.

"What's so funny?"

"You" Gideon honestly answers and Kaiden was surprised by this. Well, it wasn't all that bad. If he gets to see Gideon smile and laugh freely, then he'd be willing to be a fool for him.

"As punishment for laughing at me, I'll steal your chicken nuggets" Kaiden grabbed the box of nuggets and the sauce. Gideon helplessly watched and whined a little about it.

"Give it back"

"No, you seem to be enjoying this more than my company" Kaiden stubbornly says as he takes one and dips it into the sauce that Gideon had been using.

"Careful that's-" Gideon tried to warn Kaiden but the prince had already taken a bite. In an instant, he pursed his lips and scrunched up his nose a little. "Spicy..." Gideon sighed and pushed Kaiden's cola. urging him to drink.

The prince downed that cup and let out a heavy breath.

"H-How could you eat something like that?"

"I can handle my spices. I never knew that the guy in front of me couldn't" Perhaps it was thanks to Gideon's past life as well that he still had an attachment to spicy meals. It's one of the many things he bonded over with his sibling.

"I can handle my spices, I just accidentally got a chili in the sauce"

Gideon nodded along and stole his nuggets back to eat. Seems like he just traumatized the prince with his chicken nuggets sauce choices.

.

.

The two of them left the joint and Kaiden no longer wanted to go through with the plan he came up with Azazel. He just walked with Gideon up until they got to an Arcade. All things considered, he was still a young man at heart who had to grow up fast. Gideon had been the same but he was now given a chance to cherish his youth once more.

"Want to go in?" Gideon asks Kaiden and Kaiden looks away. It seems like he was embarrassed that he got caught looking in an Arcade where kids and teens would play.

"It's for children..."

"Who said that? If you want to go there, then let's go" Gideon now took the initiative to grab his wrist and pull him into the Arcade's direction.

This was Gideon's chance to make it back to Kaiden by showing him a good time. He didn't even let the guy pull out his wallet and already paid for a pack of tokens. He split the tokens between the both of them.

"Gideon, I think this is embarrassing" Kaiden says with a light tint on his cheeks since he didn't expect Gideon to be like this.

"What's so embarrassing about having fun? Tell me which one you want to try out? I haven't played in these places since high school" Gideon looked around with a glint of excitement in his eyes. For Kaiden, he couldn't tell which one of them was the excited one.

They went to try playing hoops to earn tickets and Kaiden won more tickets due to his height advantage. He could have sworn he heard Gideon mutter "I swear, I'll cut down your damn legs you walking tree". Next, they played this shooting game, and once again, Kaiden outperformed him. He would have been able to go to the next level if he did not throw the game upon realizing that Gideon had long died.

Kaiden explains that he had training and he didn't mean to make Gideon feel upset in any way. But Gideon wasn't going to give up, he had to show that he's not mediocre. The next thing he dragged Kaiden into was a Karaoke booth. If anything, he knew that he sang decently according to his batchmates back when they would do karaoke.

"uh..." Kaiden scratched his head.

He didn't expect Gideon to have a competitive side. He was amused but right now he was faced with a difficult situation. Kaiden didn't know how to sing. He knew the tones and would hum along but he never sang in front of anyone. You can say that this is his weakness.

"You can pick any song" He already had some songs in mind and was prepared to go all out.

"Can you go first?" Kaiden asks him and Gideon shakes his head.

"No, I want you to go first. I haven't heard you since and I'm curious" Gideon hands Kaiden the list of songs and its codes for the machine.

Kaiden knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of this. And thus he went with this one song he heard a few times.

"A winter's story?" Gideon was surprised by the song choice and Kaiden breathed in and began to sing. It wasn't terrible, you could actually say that he was a decent singer. His voice was a little shaky in some parts but it was still good.

Kaiden wouldn't do this just for anyone. He specifically chose this song because it conveyed how he felt towards Gideon. Maybe that's why he was able to sing. When the song ended, the two of them stared for a while until the machine suddenly made a cheering noise and showed the number 87 on the screen.

"Oh wow... You did great Kaiden" Gideon congratulated him while clapping his hands. Kaiden handed him the mic.

"Thanks, now you sing"

Gideon inputted his song. It was a song called Seasonal Road. He breathed in and started to sing. What Kaiden did not expect was that the moment Gideon started to sing, he would be pulled into his song. He could vividly imagine the scenery of the lyrics and could even feel the emotions that Gideon was conveying.

It was a song of loss and longing to return somewhere or someone. Kaiden couldn't help but be moved. He wanted to hug Gideon and ask him why he would sing such a sad song. But you can't even tell it was a sad song with how he was singing. When the song ended, silence fell in the booth until the machine gave Gideon a score of 95.

"wow..." Kaiden could only muster those words and Gideon placed down the microphone.

"What did you think?"

"Why were you singing such a sad song?"

"Ah... was it really sad?" Gideon wondered, he knew that some parts of it were sad but it wasn't entirely sad. The singer longed to reach something or someone and Gideon felt something similar when he thought about his life. All he wants is that those people around him would be happy and that way he would be happy as well.

"But it was beautiful. I felt as if I was listening to a story rather than a song. I honestly think that the machine is broken because you should have scored higher"

Gideon laughed and excited the booth first without looking back. Kaiden followed after him and he noticed that Gideon was blushing.

"Do you like getting complimented?"

"W-what?!" Gideon looked back and the moment he did he was surprised that Kaiden's face was so close that he backed up immediately.

"I asked if you like getting complimented" Kaiden repeated his question.

"I mean... anyone would like to hear nice words from time to time" Gideon fixed his composure and checked how many tokens he had left.

"I still have a few more tokens. Do you want to spend it on the claw machine?" Gideon decided to change the topic and Kaiden agreed.

The first few attempts were terrible to the point they were now using Kaiden's remaining tokens as well. But on his last attempt, suddenly by a miraculous stroke of luck, Gideon managed to get the Shiba Inu plushie. He beamed in excitement and coughed when he realized he was acting immaturely. The day ended with Kaiden taking him home and taking a certain secret to his grave.. That secret being, it was Kaiden's doing that Gideon won the plushie.