callsignkeegs

[callsignkeegs]

securitywaiter orange peel theory but neither of them can actually peel oranges, and one day ness just holds out an orange to mike and mike does his best but like… it’s not happening. there’s juice all over his hands and shirt, he’s sticky, the orange is now deformed, and he’s thrown the orange at the wall out of pure frustration. ness is laughing but also comforting mike like “it’s okay, i can’t do it either” and mike is all pouty with his arms folded slumped against the couch.

and then abby comes up, peels an orange perfectly, hands half to mike and half to ness, and then just walks away without a word and the two are like??? how????

[callsignkeegs]

ness usually prefers animals over people because while growing up he was always alone. he never had any friends that lasted, and the other kids would often ignore him and would only (reluctantly) let him play with them if they were literally forced to by a teacher.

whenever he was alone he would search for little bugs to play with. he would sometimes watch ants at anthills or play with ladybugs that he found, which the other kids found weird so they started avoiding him more than they did before. there was a cat on his street that he would sit and pet after school while other kids were hanging out with friends or going to the park.

as he got older his parents would ask about him going out with friends. at first he would say that his friends were too busy to come out and play along with other excuses, but as he grew more he realised that he couldn’t make excuses forever. he started lying, saying that he had plans with friends and was going to hang out with them later, and would leave the house in the afternoon for a few hours as if he was hanging out with friends.

in reality, he was going to pet stores to look at the animals and visiting dog kennels where you was allowed to take the dogs up for adoption on little walks around the property. it always made him feel less lonely, and it stopped his beloved parents from worrying about him. this went on for years, all the way up to present day where he is working at sparky’s.

he has always preferred animals since they never judged him, but will instantly latch onto anyone who wants to be his friend. there had been a few times where someone asked to be friends and then ditched him when they found out he was “weird” (autistic) leading to him being alone all over again.

that changed when he met mike, though. mike came to the diner one day with abby, and ness was their waiter. abby had brought a notebook to draw in but she had already used it too much and didn’t have enough space left. ness tore out a few pages of his notepad that he uses to take orders. abby was so happy and gave him a big smile, and mike gave him a small nod of thanks. ness took their orders and then walked off to give it to the kitchen and take other orders.

when their food was ready he took it to them, and abby was happily scribbling away on the paper that ness had given her. he was happy to see it. kids had always been easier to interact with. they weren’t as judgemental as other adults.

when abby and mike finished their food and had paid, they were just about to walk through the door before abby suddenly yelled “wait!” and spun on her heel. she ran over to ness with paper in hand, tugging on his sleeve. ness turned to look at her with a confused smile and watched as abby grabbed his hand and put some paper on it before turning and running back to mike.

ness watched her run away before looking down at the paper. he almost burst into tears on the spot. it was a little drawing of him, with a heart next to it and ‘thank you!’ written next to the heart.

mike and abby became frequent customers after that, and each time abby would give ness a little doodle before leaving. he thought it was adorable and kept them in a folder at home. eventually mike and ness became friends, and ness invited mike and abby over for dinner. mike found the folder of abby’s drawings. there was *so many.*

mike instantly fell in love.