Ultimate Wingwoman
whipskoii
Currently, in a camp named Camp Campbell, there was a camper named Neil who was suffering from, yet blessed with an obsession-level crush. Not only that, but it was a crush on his best friend, Max, whose not so much as girly as society is used to. That's why Neil had a wingwoman who understood that struggle. Except Nikki was indefinitely untrained for the title, not to mention unfit.
--
There Max was, looking for illegal firework deals on the black market. Even if he had no money, he had some outside links, or as the kid themself calls ‘em, an agent of chaos. This agent was a friend of Max named Nikki, a tween on the shorter side with unnatural turquoise green hair. Of course, Neil was also involved in this business with them. He was in charge of calculations, profit, translation, you name it- the kid’s an academic genius.
But, even if he was Max’s best friend, there was some things he didn't know about his crush; that his feeling was mutual, and that Nikki wasn't just his wingwoman, but Max’s as well.
--
“This weirdo wants six dead squirrels for 65 sticks of fiérre quorks, ya think you could kill that many, Nik?” Max asks into his earpiece, directed towards Nikki.
“Only six? Please, Max. I can kill at least 10 in the next fifteen minutes.”
“Could you tell me how much more Neil says we can buy with that,” the boy says. He gets a quick “Hold on” from her as she goes offline.
Max sighs-- It's been a few years since he's met Neil, and, yet, it had just become so awkward between them. Because Max loses his smooth self around his crushes after a while, and this one has never seemed to go away. He knew Neil would shun him if his feelings ever exploded and the crush was revealed. What was even the use of a wingwoman if there was no way you could score in the first place?
--
Nikki was fed up as she went get her step-brother from the other side of camp. She could get him online using the earpiece, but she wanted to solve the awkwardness between him and her future brother-in-law right away. Usually she pretends to get distracted to avoid the awkward silences, but she knew how both of them felt, so she figured she might finally live up to her status as wingwoman, and solve this case of the oblivious boys once and for all.
She really has changed in the past years; as she’s matured, she’s gotten more aware of her surroundings, and she also gotten a bit more serious, and, honestly, Neil was a bit afraid of that. So when Nikki went to get him, he surrendered, even as his outspoken self. Truly an easy defeat, it’s gonna be harder to get him to pronounce his feelings.
Neil was honestly curious as to where he was being taken, until he stepped back, looking at his self-coded computer, which Max was using. His eyes widened as he realized what Nikki was trying to accomplish.
--
Max was waiting impatiently for Nik to get back on the line. He figured that she actually did go killing squirrels when he didn't ask, again. Hah. But this time, there was doubt in him that this wasn't the case. The last time she was gone for this long was half a month ago, and she had developed more sense since then. He was just scrolling the offers page of the site he was using on his onion browser until the thought came to him that maybe she was trying to find Neil. If she did, then man, Max was fucked. Their friendship would be ruined forever, or at least Max thought so. He really didn't want to ruin his relationship with Neil, even if he did fantasize about him sometimes. He always thought it was another puppy-love type crush, but it sure didn't seem like it. Oh man, he was shoulder-deep in this crush thing, and he might just explode.
That was when he heard footsteps in the grass. He looked up from the screen and, indeed saw his wingwoman and her target.
“Why did you bring me here, Nikki,” was a whispered question from Neil, who was utterly confused and just wanted an answer. He wasn't particularly good at picking up emotions or scenarios very well. He just sort of wished he could understand, and he really damn wished that he wouldn't have to talk to Max, but he knew he had to be involved.
After Nikki indeed told him that he had to tell him the squirrel math, he kept complaining to her about how his feelings would get in the way. After a while though, the complaints crescendoed from piandissimo to mezzo forte, as Neil would describe. The musical standpoint was way loud enough for Max to hear some of the conversation. And Max, like Max does, picked up very quickly what it meant. So, when Nikki told him he was practically screaming in her ear, he realized and turned to gace Max. What was on Neil's face was an embodiment of “oh shit”.
However, Max’s open mouth quickly turned into a smirk, as he told Neil, “I'm glad you said it first.”
Neil sighed in relief. Next thing he knew, he started randomly laughing and giggling, after he picked up what that meant. Max cackled along, with not even having to force himself to. Neither of the boys knew how to express their bottled emotions well, and when time came to explode in feelings, only laughter came out.
Once it ran off and they could barely breathe, the boys faced each other, both still with very wide smiles and red faces, whether from blushing or sweating (from struggling to breath).
“So, you like me, huh?” Max said with a grin. Neil nodded, not being able to talk. “Well, I've liked you too, for a while, I guess. Nikki always called me her future brother-in-law,” he chuckled a bit.
Neil was calmed a bit, so he answered with,”wait, she was your wingwoman, too?” He gasped right after. This was followed by Max spouting a sarcastic “no way”. Nikki was still next to the boys, and quite enjoyed watching them finally figure out their feelings. She was also happy. She had finally learned the acts of a true wingwoman. But, the act wasn't complete yet. They have yet to say “thank you”.
The boys next to her embraced in a quick hug. Once they separated, Max pulled back in with a kiss. Neil did not refrain from it. He’d waited a long time for it, as did his best friend. Or boyfriend? They hadn't figured it out yet. Once they broke free, each had a deep breath and faced Nikki.
Holding hands, they said in unison, “Thank you, Nik.”
