"Let me sit here, Ned." Flash asked aggressively.
"No! I hate you!" Ned responds.
"Come on, nobody wants to sit with me!" Flash responds.
"And whose fault is that?" Ned asks.
"It's not my fault! Nobody can't take a joke." He tells Ned.
"Can't you go make a Youtube video or something?" Ned asks, trying to give flash the cold shoulder.
"No, my followers are pissed at me." Flash looks away somewhat embarrassed. "Cancel culture is a bitch."
"Well you can't sit here! I don't want to deal with you either."
"Oh, come on! Everybody thinks I'm a sexist asshole... I'm getting death threats!"
That's because you ARE a sexist asshole!" Ned says with an angry glare.
"I'm not sexist!" Flash says loudly.
"But you are an asshole?" Ned makes direct eye contact with Flash when she asks this.
Flash thinks about the question for a moment before responding. "Well yeah, of course."
"This is why no one likes you." Ned says looking back down at her lunch.
"How about if I buy you something..." Flash offers. "A game?"
Ned looks up from her meal intrigued. "What game?"
"Any game!" Flash offers. "I'll use my credit card."
"You can sit with us, if you want to, Ned!" A girl at one of the other tables shouted toward them. Ned looks at the table of girls, and several of them wave at her. She thinks about it for a second then remembers a new Zelda game had come out recently.
"Fine!" Ned answers. "But don't say anything stupid." Ned moves her bag and books out of the way, so Flash can sit across from her.
"Thanks, numb nuts." Flash says as he sets his tray down. Ned looks up abruptly glaring angrily at Flash. "Sorry. Thanks, Ned... Force of habit."
Ned looks back down at his food and digs into his green beans with a fork, trying to ignore Flash.
"So where's Peter Porker?" Flash asks immediately.
Ned glares at him again before responding. "He has a decathlon meeting."
"Decathlon already! What a nerd!" Flash says.
Ned looks up at Flash with a confused look. "Aren't you in decathlon?"
"Yeah..." Flash responds. "Well I was, but I kinda got in trouble for knowing the administrators."
"You mean cheating?" Ned asks.
"They just tutored me very well." Flash tries making excuses. "It's not my fault it was on the exact same questions as the tests."
Ned continues to glare at Flash, contemplating if a new video game was really worth the strain. Fortunately the lunch bell rang and Ned decided to use it as an excuse to start packing up.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Flash asks in a panic,
"Lunch is over." Ned answers.
"No, it's not!" Flash protests. "You've still got ten more minutes, and I just sat down."
"You snooze, you lose." Ned tells him. "Don't forget my game."
"Oh come on!" Flash complains as Ned finishes packing up and leaves.
***After School***
Ned slams her locker after shuffling a few things. She zips up her bag with the books and materials with the things she will need for homework, and starts shuffling toward the front entrance.
"Hi, Ned!" A random girl says as she waves at her. Ned turns red, lowers her head, and tries to rush away. She does not make it very far before bumping into Flash.
"Why don't you talk to her, dork?" Flash asks. "She's totally into you!"
"She's not into me!" Ned protests. "She's just making fun of me."
"You don't know that." Flash states. "She could legitimately be into you."
"Why would someone like her be into me?" Ned asks, annoyed.
"I don't know." Flash tells her. "Not everyone's an asshole like me. Some girls are into guys... girls like you."
Ned gives Flash another angry glare before turning away and walking off.
"A word of advice, Ned." Flash says loudly. "Ignoring people, whether they're bullies or not, is just as rude as being a bully yourself... If not ruder."
Ned turns around and gives Flash a confused and annoyed glare. "In what, made up, world is that true?"
"In this world, Ned." Flash says. "Come on, you've gotta wonder why guys like me don't feel guilty about harassing you. Even Parker doesn't ignore people."
"I wish you would ignore me." Ned tells him. "Why are you bothering me, anyway?"
"I owe you a game. Remember?" Flash states.
Ned blinks in astonishment. "Honestly, I didn't think you were serious." Ned tells Flash. "You're kind of off the hook for that."
"No, it's cool." Flash protests. "I'm a man of my word."
Ned contemplates taking him up on his offer, but is still surprised that it's legit. "Well, I can't get it today. I still have to go home, drop off my stuff, do my homework..."
"We'll catch a cab, or I can have one of my dad's assistants drive us."
Ned looks at Flash, contemplating how she could get out of this. "How about we just order it off Amazon?" Ned asks. "We can have it delivered straight to my house."
"And wait for it?" Flash asks. "Who does that?"
Ned gives Flash a confused expression, wondering if he is legitimately being serious. It doesn't take her long to realize he is. "Does it have to be today?" Ned asks.
Flash just gives her a 'why not' gesture.
"Fine!" Ned relents. "If it'll get you out of my hair." They choose to walk to Ned's place."
***Shortly later outside Ned's apartment building***
"Stay out here!" Ned tells Flash. "I'll be right out."
"No way" Flash Protests. "What if I get raped?!"
"Nobody's gonna rape you!" Ned says loudly as she enters her apartment building.
"But it's Queens!" Flash shouts back, as if it was a legit argument.
Ned makes her way to her upstairs apartment and after fiddling with the keys for a bit gets the door open. "Grandma!" She shouts. "I'm gonna head to the store real quick, I'll be right back." After waiting for an answer that never comes, she rushes to her room.
Ned sets her bag down and takes off her hoodie. She looks to the closet and contemplates changing clothes.
"Nice place you got here. Where's the rest of it." Flash asks as she walks into the room.
"What are you doing here?" Ned asks in a voice higher than she'd like. "I told you to wait outside!"
"It smelled like hot dogs out there." Flash offers, as an excuse. "What are all these?" He asks, pointing at Ned's shelf.
"Those are my CDs." Ned tells him. "Don't touch anything."
"CDs?" Flash asks. "Do they still even make those? Can't you get them on your phone?"
"Yeah, they do." Ned tells Flash. "Call me old fashioned, but I like having something to see and hold. Just wait out there." Ned waves her hand for Flash to stay out.
Flash, not caring much for being told what to do, casually walks in and toward the shelf. He looks around the room as he enters. "You've got a lot of toys."
"They're figurines," Ned says in defense, "and most of them are collectible. So I repeat. Don't touch anything."
Flash looks back toward Ned, and sees the seriousness in her eyes. "Alright. I'm not interested in your GI Joes anyway."
"They're not GI Joes." Ned starts to protest, before Flash reaches into a shelf.
"Whoa! You like D12!" Flash says in legit surprise. He holds the case to his face like an excited child.
"Yes, I do!" Ned says angrily as she rushes back toward Flash, grabs the CD from his hands, and places it back on the shelf. "What do you know about D12?" She asks with a glare before turning back toward her closet.
Flash reaches for the CD again and has it in his hands before Ned is even a meter away. "I listen to D12. I'm not completely uncultured." He tells Ned.
Ned is reaching for her closet door when she turns and sees Flash holding the CD again, this time looking at the inside. "Be careful!" she rushes up to flash and tries to gently get the CD out of his hands. "That's signed by everyone, even Proof."
Flash lets it go in shock, as Ned closes it and gently slides it back on the shelf. "I'm sorry." He says sincerely. "Color me impressed."
"You know what?" Ned tells Flash. "Let's just go. There's a game store just down the way."
"Really?" Flash asks.
"Yeah, let's just go. It's like three blocks away. We can walk there." Ned just pushes Flash out of her room and leads him the entire way out of the apartment building, forgetting her hoodie.
Flash continues to talk Ned's ear off the entire way to the shop. About half a block away from the shop, they are interrupted by a girl and two boys sitting outside their own apartment building.
"What's up girl? You're not cold?" One of the boys asks them as they pass.
Ned stops and looks at them confused. She doesn't know if she should respond, so she just shakes her head.
"Are you sure?" The same boy asks. "Because you're looking a little nippy."
Ned is not sure what they're talking about, but as the others start to laugh, she becomes sure they're making fun of her. She chooses to ignore them and turns to walk away.
"Ha ha! Very funny." Flash says in a sarcastic tone. "And what about you?" Flash asks. "It looks like you could cut glass with those."
The boy looks down at his own chest then immediately covers himself. "Shut up! He says."
"Kinda shy for a boy, aren't you?" Ned asks suspiciously. The one girl in the group starts to laugh. "Let me guess. You didn't have a chest before the change either." Now both of the boy's friends started laughing loudly.
"Shut up!" The boy shouts. "Get out of here, you pervert!"
The others continue to laugh as Flash turns away.
"What was that all about?" Ned asks him, turning back.
Flash studies Ned's face, wondering if she really doesn't know. "They're making fun of your nipples, Ned." He says. "You can see 'em."
"What?!" Ned asks loudly as she crosses her arms over her breasts. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Because, I'm not a pervert." Flash tells Ned. "Besides, that was a girl too. She was just trying to be a bully."
"I have to go home." Ned says, getting emotional. "I can't stay out here."
"What?" Flash asks. "No! Come on. We're almost there."
"I don't want to go anymore." Ned protests. "I just want to go home."
"What about your game?"
"Forget the game! I don't want people staring at me!"
"Not everyone's gonna stare at you. They're just bullies."
"No! I can't do this." Ned says, crossing her arms tighter.
Flash stares at Ned for a few seconds, then peaks back toward the bullies, who are now snickering and watching intently.
"How about I give you my jacket?" Flash offers.
Ned looks up and studies Flash's jacket for a moment. "It's too small." She tries to argue."
"No, it's not." Flash tells her. "I always wear a size up." Before Ned can protest, flash is already removing his jacket. He hurriedly turns it around and wraps it around Ned.
"Awww... How cute." the girl bully says.
"Shut up, assholes!" Flash snaps at her, turning toward them then back to Ned.
"It is warm." Ned admits.
"Of course it is." Flash agrees. "It's a Baxter." He now looks Ned in the eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"
Ned thinks for another few seconds before nodding her head.
"Alright, come on. Let's go." They continue to head to the shop as the bullies snicker to themselves.
"Pinky's?" Flash asks as they approach the shop. The sign is littered with a slew of random video game and cartoon characters.
"Yeah." Ned answers. "It's a tribute to all the characters named Pinky in entertainment media over the years. Like Pacman, Doom, or..."
"Ha ha! The Pink Panther." Flash says pointing up in the corner.
Ned looks up at the Pink Panther and nods. "Yea, like that."
"There's a lot of cool stuff in here." Flash admits moments after walking in. "Is this where you get all your toys?"
"Yes. Here and online." Ned answers. "Hey, do you guys still have copies of the new Zelda?" Ned asks the cashier.
"Yes, there should be copies on the shelf over there." The cashier answers.
"Whoa! Is that a Gremlin?" Flash asks excitedly, pointing at a very large eight legged model for $3000.
"Yea, that's the spider version from Gremlins II."
"Yeah, that's the one where they get into all the chemicals and shit."
Ned looks up toward Flash, a little surprised. "Maybe you really aren't uncultured, afterall."
Flash chooses to take the compliment and responds with a thumbs up. "Cool!" He studies the figure for a few more seconds before offering. "You want this instead?"
"What?" Ned asks, legitimately surprised. "That's way too much."
"Why not?" Flash responds. "It's not like you get this chance every day."
Ned looks at the figure, bright eyed, for a good ten seconds before declining. "I can't. That thing would practically murder my grandmother the second she saw it. I'll just get the game."
"Okay." Flash responds. "Suit yourself." He continues to look around.
"Whoa!" Ned exclaims suddenly. "Tsum Tsum bin." She rushes to a bin full of oddly shaped Disney plush toys and practically dives in, looking through them.
Flash laughs as he watches her and notices his jacket slides up revealing some of Ned's hourglass like figure. She pops up giggling and holding a funny looking Pluto figure. She makes it dance as she shows it to Flash with a wide and happy grin.
"Very cute." Flash chuckles, wondering if he was talking about the plushy or Ned.