1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

"you remembered to book the reservation, right?" called a short,

unette teen that went by the name tyson kidd. he poked his head through the door with a wide grin on his face as he spoke. this moment was a moment he'd been waiting for for months and he couldn't hide his excitement.

"yes, of course i did," called cesaro, a tall, short haired swiss boy that was commonly known as tyson's best friend. "how could i forget after the three calls, the facebook message, the whole dm on twitter and the dozens of times you've asked me today?" cesaro gave tyson a loving half smile through the mirror as he adjusted his tie. he always admired how dedicated his friend was with simple outings so never complained at his persistence for everything to be perfect.

as cesaro redirected his focus on continuing to iron his outfit, tyson walked in to proudly show off his. the small man walked in front of his friend as he examined his flashy yellow shirt that left only the two top buttons undone, his faded grey jeans that were neatly fitted with a single crease down the side, and his subtle yet sleek black shoes that made him feel more sophisticated just by putting them on. the smug boy looked up at his friend, waiting to hear his amazement.

"…so, whatcha' think?" tyson's smile was so wide that cesaro felt it without taking his eyes away from his ironing. as the teen turned his focus, the outfit his friend was wearing made his half smile quickly transform into a full, toothy grin. tyson looked absolutely awful but he didn't have the heart to tell him.

"is this your first time doing something like this?" cesaro kept smiling at tyson, hoping not to hurt his feelings.

"what? what makes you say that?"

"i - i just..." though cesaro prided himself on being an honest person, the look of hidden disappointment in tyson made him hold back his comments. instead, he kindly replied with "you look superb! you mustn't be new to this. surely?!" he couldn't even convince himself, but somehow those last lines convinced his friend.

tyson's immediate response was a quiet but proud cackle, followed by a pat on his buddy's shoulder. "well, if you ever need tips, you know who to call. i'll be in the other room." as tyson walked away with his head held high, cesaro looked over at him, shaking his head in quiet awe.

a short while later cesaro walked into the living room and witnessed tyson with his feet crossed, aggressively playing a shooting game on his playstation. cesaro leaned on the side of the doorway with his arms crossed, waiting for his friend to notice he'd entered the room. it didn't work out so well. cesaro remained in the same position for a few minutes before he grew tired and playfully threw a cushion at tyson's head.

"hey! what the hell!?" the younger boy waved his hand in cesaro's direction whilst his eyes remained focused on the screen in front of him. "i'm trying to play here, man!"

"oh, really? well, if you don't want to go any more that's fine by me..." cesaro slowly walked away before being stopped by tyson's sudden voice.

"wait! i'm just trying to defeat this noob and then i'll be right over!"

"fine," the swiss boy sighed. "defeat the noob and let's go." as cesaro made his way to the sofa, he took a quiet yet deep sigh as he smiled at an unresponsive tyson. he knew how much this day meant to him, yet he couldn't help but laugh at his passion for gaming and how nothing could ever get between it.

cesaro shifted his head to the screen and his attention was swiftly moved to the sounds of his friend yelling "yes! die! die! die!" every few seconds. he then sat back and waited patiently for the scenario to change. thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long.

"okay!" the short boy proclaimed after a few minutes. "i whooped his ass so bad he logged off before i could really beat him." tyson stood up and beamed at cesaro with his grin so wide you could probably see all of his teeth. "now, let's go!" tyson quickly hurried to the front door with a head-shaking and somewhat bewildered cesaro not far behind as the duo headed to the train station.

as the pair sat down on the fairly empty train, tyson scurried his eyes around the carriage to

ing up any topic he could think of. but before he could think of something his trail of thought was joined by cesaro's husky voice.

"hey, look over there," his

awny finger pointed towards a poster ahead of them that advertised a professional wrestling event. "wwe? you ever heard of that?"

"of course i have! used to watch it all the time with my parents. you?" tyson turned his head to look directly at his friend's side

"eh. i've heard of it, just never really cared for it. do you still watch it?"

"nah, i wouldn't be caught dead associating with something like that." tyson then turned his head as the two boys tutted and scoffed before glaring at the poster ahead. "i just don't understand why anyone above the age of ten would pay to watch something so silly."

"beats me. but to be fair, you can't really talk about being silly when you just screamed 'die! die! die!' at a computer screen for five minutes -"

"there's a difference! that's a video game and that dumbass on the other line was pissing me off! he deserved to be shot - three dimensionalised, of course."

"'three dimensionalised?' really, tyson? is that even a word?"

"um, well, it is now! and you know what i mean even if it isn't!"

cesaro rolled his eyes playfully before standing up as the train came to a stop. "come on, kidd, let's go!"

"did you just call me 'kid?' you do realise i'm older than you, right?"

"yes, by a week. and i called you by your last name, idiot." tyson gritted his teeth awkwardly before walking out of the train with his friend.

"whatever, i'm still older and if anyone is the 'kid' - with one 'd' - it's you, buddy!" tyson ended his statement with a patronizing pat on cesaro's back before playfully running a few steps forward. tyson then turned around to wait for his friend to catch up, but was greeted with a smug grin in return. "what's so funny?"

"slow your roll, kidd. the restaurant's this way!" cesaro quickly dashed to the left as tyson was forced to catch up to him. as the boys finally met they then began to walk under the well-lit street towards the restaurant as they playfully nudged one another along the way. whilst they made their way to the fancy building, tyson imagined how posh the experience would be. he envisioned the well-dressed staff taking their coats whilst calling them "sir," offering them free beverages before gently placing napkins under their chins. he then pictured being delivered a carriage of meals and delicately eating the rich meats and tender vegetables whilst sipping on the carbonated water, even though he'd hated that beverage.

upon arrival however, they were greeted in the complete opposite fashion.

after a scrawny waiter asked them for their names, a formidable security guard dressed in all black quickly stood in front of them without saying a word.

"uh... is there a problem... sir?" tyson looked up, trying to conceal his apparent fear.

a voice from the side of the bodyguard answered the teen's query. "uh, yes, sorry, there is," came the voice. it was from the scrawny waiter with glasses that were so low down that they looked as though they were about to fall off of his nose. "firstly, not only did you book your table for an hour ago, you're both ever so clearly - though i could be mistaken... underage." the man's sarcasm and overly minty

eath was difficult to ignore, and left the pair quiet for a short while. "we may have been able to let you in as an exception, but your unfortunate timing has given us no other choice either."

"maybe there's a mistake… sir. we booked this restaurant a very long time ago, and we received confirmation about it too, through an email and the telephone."

"yes, well, clearly there's been a mistake," the scrawny and evidently frustrated man responded. "let's not waste anymore of each other's time now…"

"but we booked this ourselves! we have the confirmation right here on our phones and -"

before tyson could continue his gradually increasing anger, cesaro placed his shoulder on his friend's arm and continued his speech.

"it's fine, we'll go," he began. "but maybe next time you should do your job right and actually inform us of some sort of age restriction for eating food before we book something."

tyson responded to cesaro's through an exaggeratedly pointed up chin. "have a good evening, though, sir," tyson mimicked before turning on his heels and walking off.

"assholes!" tyson yelled when he was out of earshot. "there was no age limit on that site! they just didn't wanna let us in because we'd be ruining their 'fine five star establishment' with our sweaty boy germs! screw them!" tyson wiped his

ow as his face became apparently cross. he'd waited so long for a day like this to occur and the moment it did, everything fell apart.

tyson continued walking to the station but didn't wait for cesaro to catch up. he could feel tears of disappointment building up and didn't want to be caught with them. cesaro however, slowly walked a few meters behind him as he tried to think of ways to calm down his evidently upset friend.

"hey, tyson, stop! what's up? come on, man. stop for a sec!" tyson's fast paced walking slowly came to a cease, but no words exited the frustrated youth's mouth.

with tyson's head firmly facing the ground, cesaro gently placed his hand on his shoulder to request for him to turn around. though tyson remained facing away, cesaro still spoke.

"listen, i know that this was something you were really looking forward to, i get it. and i know that it didn't turn out exactly how you planned but hey, there are plenty of other places, man. we've got so many other options for places to go we can -"

"i know," tyson interrupted. "i know, i get it. but you don't understand."

"what do you mean?" cesaro's

ow furrowed as he tried to decipher what was going on. "what don't i get?"

tyson closed his eyes. he took a deep

eath and shook his head. no response.

"come on, man. is everything ok?"

"yes, it is. of course it is," tyson spoke as he shook his head quickly. "nothing's wrong," he added. "i just don't feel like hanging out anymore." as the

unette turned to face his friend, he looked up at him with a weak smile, before nodding his head to indicate the direction to walk.

as the pair headed back home in a semi awkward silence, tyson couldn't help but feel angry at himself. had he turned off the video game earlier he could have caught an earlier train and arrived on time. had he read the website properly, he would have realised the age restriction and changed his plans beforehand. had he not gotten his hopes up to hang out with cesaro like this, he wouldn't feel so bad after something so small. and the latter is what frustrated him the most. it was so small. the two were simply not going to eat at a restaurant, yet he felt like he'd just lost his chance at his dream career and wouldn't get it back. but he was walking right by the guy he'd desired to be around for so long as he thought this anyway, yet he couldn't shake the huge feeling of disappointment.

"you know," cesaro calmly inserted into tyson's trail of thought. "that game you were playing earlier, what was it?" tyson, with a sudden change in reaction, looked up at cesaro with clear disgust.

"are you serious?"

"yeah, what was it?" cesaro's charming smile appeared as he said this.