Disco Bear found it really difficult to listen to his music and keep an eye on the storefront with Flaky sitting next to him. Now don't him wrong, he liked having her around as she was completely silent, but that girl couldn't keep still if her life depended on it. She twitched in her chair, either running her hands across her pant legs to smooth them or pick on her sweater sleeve like that single loose string was driving her crazy. Finally, after nearly a whole hour of the silent fidgeting, the ginger man had enough and snapped his fingers to get the redhead's attention before speaking.
"Hey, little lady. You seem like you're having a bit o' trouble sitting there."
Flaky blushed slightly, embarrassed that her movement was bothering the store owner, "S-Sorry, I just can't sit still very w-well."
"I can see that. Why don't you go around to the front of the store and clean the windows or something to get yourself moving? The cleaning stuff's in the back room."
Flaky nodded, "Okay, guess I-I can do that," and then got up from her chair.
Wandering towards the back of the store, she quickly found a rag and a bottle of window cleaner in a room. Making her way back towards the front of the store, only stopping in her tracks when she saw a room with the door, open slightly ajar and something gleaming inside. Her curiosity got the better of her, pushing open the door and entering the darkened room. She felt around the walls and found a light switch and flicked it on, now able to see the room bathed in light. She looked around and saw there were dozens upon dozens of what looked like weight charts, like for a diet or exercise plan, pinned to the walls. Some of these papers appeared to date back months, even years ago.
Flaky also saw what looked like a journal, sitting on a desk in the corner of the small room. Despite her mind screaming for her to leave before something went wrong, she found herself walking towards the desk and picking up the book. Flipping through it, curiosity burning in her red eyes, she saw that it was a journal of Disco Bear's weight loss since last year. It didn't look too good. He started out just last month going up in weight, then back down, then up again even higher soon after. She also saw several scribblings of Disco Bear berating himself, saying no one's gonna love a fat slob like him, no one's gonna like him if he keeps putting on weight. She was just about to put the book back down and leave when she heard someone's footsteps coming down the hall. Panicking, she threw the book down and tried to leave the room without being spotted, thinking she was in clear before she bumped into something solid as she backed out of the room. She turned around slowly and came face to face with a very unhappy Disco Bear.
"What are you doing back here still, girl? It's been almost ten minutes since you left. What are . ."
Disco Bear stopped short as his eyes landed on the room behind the girl, it's light still on and glowing brightly from the door's crack. The man's face went through several emotions at once as first he turned pale and looked like he was going to be sick before he turned bright red. Flaky tensed up, waiting for him to start to yell at her for invading his privacy and sneaking around. But the screaming didn't come, instead Disco Bear's anger faltered and he frowned, letting out a weary sigh.
"You went in that room, didn't ya?"
Flaky nodded.
"And you saw what was in there?"
"All the p-papers. A-And I found your journal too," Flaky mumbled, eyes cast down to the floor, "I-I'm really sorry."
Disco Bear let out another sigh before turning around and walking back towards the front counter, waving his hand behind him to signal Flaky to follow him which she did. The two didn't say a word until the ginger sat down back in his chair and Flaky stood in front of the counter, waiting for him to say something. Disco Bear stared at the countertop and ran his fingers across the counter, picking up some papers that were lying there in an effort to not look at the redhead before him. Finally, he knew he couldn't just play the quiet game all day and decided to speak, looking back up at the girl with an expression she couldn't quite figure out.
"I guess I owe you an explanation to what you saw back there, huh?"
Flaky didn't answer, instead choosing to stay quiet and let him speak. Seeing this, Disco Bear continued talking,
"Now I bet you think I'm this suave and well put-together man," Disco Bear grinned slightly, before it vanished and he frowned, "But even the best of us got things that haunt us."
Before she could stop herself, Flaky blurted out, "Like your w-weight?"
The ginger man cringed slightly, but nodded, "Y-Yea. Like my weight, little lady. It's been hard these past few years since good ol' disco went outta style, know what I'm sayin'?"
Flaky nodded, though she didn't quite understand or know that much about the "good ol' disco."
"Now I don't know about you, but I'd like it if no one else knew about this. The last thing I need is for the whole town to know about my little-," Disco Bear stopped, smiling slightly as he gave his stomach a pat, ". . .well my big problem."
"Of course. I won't s-say a word."
Disco Bear smiled and stood up, walking around the counter towards the girl. He pulled her into a hug and she squeaked softly in surprise before relaxing and embracing the taller man back.
"Thanks, Red. You're not so bad, you know?"
"T-Thanks," Flaky blushed, but smiled softly, "And if it m-makes you feel better, I don't think your w-weight is that bad. You're like a big bear."
Disco Bear smiled and without warning, he gave the girl a peck on the cheek and that turned her light pink blush into full-blown red-face embarrassment as she felt his lips on her cheek. The man saw this and let out a chuckle.
"Not bad at all, little lady."
