Looking around and seeing happy couples or just birds spending a good time together makes Red… infuriated. His stomach twists thinking about how he could've been like the others and how that's what he was hoping would happen, but it just didn't. That aside, he's mad at himself for actually thinking that it would. Disappointment and sudden self-loathing taking full effect, he places his arms on the table and rests his head— feeling defeated. He considers just staying at the restaurant until they kick him out.
He raises his head upon hearing footsteps. His once hopeful expression turned into a frown upon seeing the yellow figure in front of him.
"Hi, Red!"
Normally, Red would be annoyed at Chuck for following him, and mad at him for doing that on such an occasion. He's too upset to even work up his usual emotions. He looks down at the table, not wanting to make eye contact with him. "What are you doing here?" He just barely muttered, followed by a sigh.
Chuck's posture stiffened and he looked around the room nervously, not that Red noticed. In a split second, he ran towards the window and signaled Bomb, who was spying through it, to leave. He came back with an excuse. "Uh, I was in the neighborhood…" It wasn't a very good excuse.
Chuck had convinced Bomb to join him to keep an eye on Red on his blind date. "…Just to see who the bird is, of course! No other reason or anything…" was his excuse. Bomb already knew that it was a lie, but went along with it anyway.
They both knew that Red had never done anything like this before and they could tell how nervous he was. It seemed out of the blue, too. Neither of them could put their finger on why someone like Red would agree to date a random bird, but gave him props for branching out.
They had waited there for ten minutes. They had waited there for thirty minutes. They had waited there for an hour and no one besides the waiter even got near Red's table.
Red being all alone like that broke Chuck's heart. He aimed to fix this. Bomb didn't even try to stop him.
"Anyway… How are you?" Chuck asked, immediately regretting that. He already knew how Red was at the moment.
Red exhaled. "I got stood up."
Trying to not make things any worse, Chuck decided to skip right to his idea. He took a seat next to Red and loudly called the waiter to take their order.
Red's look of confusion turned into an angry one as he quickly jumped in his seat and grabbed Chuck's beak to prevent him from drawing even more attention to them. He got close to his face and whispered as sternly as he could. "Could you be any louder? What the pluck do you think you're doing?!"
The waiter arrived and raised an eyebrow at them. Red realized that this pose was probably what was making things awkward. He let go of Chuck's beak and went back to his seat.
Chuck ordered for both of them and the waiter left. Red would've argued over how he couldn't even get a word in, but that wasn't his biggest concern right now.
Chuck turned to him and grinned. "I'll be your date!"
Red blinked and scooted further away from his friend. "Uh. No, you're not…? I'm just gonna… go now…"
Chuck grabbed Red's arm to stop him from leaving. The worried look on Red's face made Chuck reassure him that he doesn't want to make this seem like he's not giving Red a choice here, he just wants a chance to explain. Red rolled his eyes and sat back down.
This was something he believed that they needed to do. He thought that it was time to finally address something— their kiss from a while ago. They've hung out since then, sure. But there was tension between them.
Red swears up and down that it was just impulse. Chuck begs to differ. Red hates that Chuck is right, not that he'd admit that out loud.
It was no secret that Chuck likes Red. He's always liked him. Anyone could see that from miles away. A much lesser known fact was that the feeling is mutual. The kiss had brought Red to his senses about that, no matter how hard he tried to deny it.
It's what made him end up in such a bad night in the first place. He thought that maybe he was feeling like this because Chuck is the first bird to ever like him. Like, like him-like him. Maybe he just felt like he had to return the feelings because no one else would ever like him back? Maybe going out with another bird will help him understand this!
…That last thing, of course, could not be put to the test. Not that it would've actually worked.
He groans. "Fine. Let's give this a try." He said while crossing his arms. Chuck smiles so hard, his face hurts. He would be squealing, but he remembered that Red doesn't want attention drawn to them.
Red turns his head momentarily to not let Chuck see the smile trying to appear on his face. He masks it and continues with his fake redundant tone. "I'm just warning you that this is gonna be awful. I don't know anything about dating, man. We hang out all the time, so dating really isn't gonna feel any dif-"
He didn't notice that at some point during this, Chuck had held his wing with both of his own. What made him notice was the kiss he suddenly felt on it.
Red tried to remain his unamused demeanor. Keyword being "tried". It was such a… cheesy gesture, but his eyes did go the slightest bit wider. A blush started forming on his face, luckily covered up by his red feathers. He draws his free wing to his face, thinking about what he's gotten himself into and how he's growing more and more fine with that.
Chuck finished kissing his wing, but still held it in his own yellow wings. He smiled awaiting a response from Red.
"Wow… Smooth." Red had to admit— eventually cracking a smile, in spite of all of this.