A Special Connection

The smell of cheap Neighpanese takeout fills the tiny living room of a two bedroom apartment. Sat on the couch of the small living room, with food laid out on the coffee table in front of them, Nar sits with his new friend, Aki. A plasma TV sitting atop an entertainment center displays scenes from some sort of shonen anime. After finishing his plate of curry, and rice, Nar leans back into the couch with a contented sigh. Aki doesn't seem to notice, as she's fully invested in the anime they're watching. Nar remains silent for a few moments before he shifts to sit up. "Oh yeah, I forgot." Aki turns her head to peer at him with one eye poking out from between her hair. She watches as Nar opens up his satchel, and gingerly removes two objects from within. On the bottom is a laminated sheet of stickers depicting characters from the exact anime the two are watching. On top is a folded set of long, fluffy socks. "I wanted to get you a gift to welcome you to the city, but I wasn't sure what you'd like.CI just went with the best suggestions some of my friends gave me." Nar offers a smile as Aki takes the gifts from him. "O-oh. Thanks." She smiles back as best she can, then reaches for the TV remote to pause the show. She opens up the sticker pack to flip through the pages before stopping on one page in particular. She seems to focus in on one particular sticker. Nar peers over to see which sticker she's looking at, but only catches a glimpse of it before she flips to another page. If she was looking at the one he thinks she was, it was of a character that kind of resembled him. Glancing up at Aki's face, Nar can see a light blush across her cheeks. Well, this is probably as good a chance as he'll get to shoot his shot. "Y'know, Aki, I've been wondering. Are you seeing anyone?" Aki looks over to Nar, not quite seeming to grasp the implications of what he just asked. "I mean... Other than my online friends? Just you." Play it cool, Nar. Play it cool. "I mean, as in, dating." Aki's face turns a bright red. Smooth, Nar. Real smooth, dummy. "N-no... I-." Aki pauses, suddenly seeming quite embarrassed. "I've never dated before." Hold on, maybe Nar hasn't fumbled this. Yet. "Well, how would you feel about us becoming a thing? I know we only really just met, but honestly? I really enjoy spending time with you. I usually like to take things really slow with people, but I feel like there's a connection here that I haven't had with anyone else in a long, long time." Nar's words hang in the air for some moments. Aki appears to mentally shut down. Nar opens his mouth to speak again, but is cut off as Aki finally responds. "You mean... Be your girlfriend?" Nar's response is a simple nod, and a soft. "Yeah." "I-... I'd like that... A lot." No other words are spoken. Nar simply slides over to wrap an arm around Aki's shoulder. In response, she nestles herself up as close to him as she can. There, the two remain cuddled up together as they watch anime well into the evening, reluctantly breaking the cuddle when the sun starts to set, and Nar needs to head home. For some reason, Nar thinks he hears the voices of his old friends from the Northern Adventure League cheering for him in his head.