The car ride to the store was silent; Niall was lost in his thoughts, still thinking about the incident with his mother.

Gma, Niall's grandmother from his fathers side, was just as quiet, being too stubborn to start a conversation with her only grandchild.

Only the soft hum of the engine filled their ears, and the occasional snap of a twig they drive over.

Niall took one hand off the wheel to push his bangs back to get a better view of the road, but subconsciously let his hand fall onto his lap.

This didn't go unnoticed by gma, who was always quick to correct Niall. Being in a single parent home, she thought she should step in as another parental figure to help Niall develop.

She wanted Niall to be like her son whom she adored. Her son was perfect as a boy, a perfect husband and perfect at his job.  So, she took every opportunity to correct Niall in hopes he could turn out 'better' and successful.

"Both hands on the wheel." She said, her voice shaky from age.

Niall suppressed an eye roll, knowing that if she saw he'd be lectured. "Okay, gma." He responded, feeling as if she always criticized him.

Niall thought that she must hate him, nit picking every single thing he did. Couldn't anything he do be good enough? He cant even move his hair without being reprimanded.

He put his hand back on the wheel, and turned into a small convenient store.

The fluorescent blue and yellow lights were flickering, casting spurts of light on the ground.

Niall pulled into a parking space, took the key out of ignition, and unlocked the doors.

"Take as much time as you need." He mumbled, leaning his head against the window to his left to take a small nap.

He was bummed, the fact that he made his mother upset and that he was spending time with his gma really put a damper on his mood.

Gma frowned, "Come in with me, please."

'Doesn't he know that a proper man walks ladies inside? Opens the door for her? Niall had a lot of things to learn. ' Gma thought.

Niall clenched his eyes shut for a second and then opened them, deciding he couldn't fight with Gma.

"Okay." He sighed, unbuckling himself and slowly opening the door.

His body slinked out slowly then all at once, as if he were slime.

After he waited a couple seconds to hear if gma opened the door and heard nothing, he got the hint that he had to open it for her.

'Cant she do anything for herself? Why am I always having to care for her, this isn't my job! Gma needed to be locked in a home.' Niall maliciously thought.

Gma got out of the car, carefully as if not to break her hip for the fourth time, and began to walk in the store. She decided not to reward Niall with a 'thank you' since he was supposed to already know that he has to get the door for her.

Niall took this personally, thinking she was being ungrateful.

He followed her inside, but lagged to create some distance.

When he got to the entrance, the doors automatically parted for him and revealed their local, worn down, convenient store.

He spotted a thin, ashy bun and short figure with a scarf wrapped around her shoulders and decided it was gma. She was hunched over, squinting at the lables in attempt to read them.

'If she didn't even want to say thank you, I doubt she'll want my company now.' Decided Niall as he walked past her and lazily wandered through the isles.

Most of the isles were filled with snackes and brightly colored bags. His mouth watered as he read over the various candy and chip names.

'If only there were gummy sharks, then i'd have a problem' He thought, looking into the rainbow gummy candy section.

The next isle was liquid, carbonated sugar, as Liam liked to call it.

Liam was a bit of a health nut, but Niall understood since Liam was allergic to seafood and treenuts. With allergies like those, Liam had to be cautious.

He spotted a bubblegum favored soda and instatnly got a sick taste in his mouth. He thought it would probably taste like that gross goop the dentist put in his mouth as a kid.

Niall is glad he hasnt visited the dentist for a couple years as he'd do without the bubblegum. Although, he was supposed to be scheduled for braces, which his mother was keen on.

Niall had crooked, sharp teeth. They werent perfect by any means. One of his other deformities was a small, splotchy patch of darker melanin on his arm.

As long as he could hide the skin with a sleeve and his teeth with his lips, he had no problem.

While wondering the isles, he came across a video game isle.

'Jackpot' he thought, scanning over the titles of the games.

The joy he had was short lived, and his face fell after he learned the games were just for a game cube.

He shrugged to himself, deciding to look over the games anyways. It was better than just mindlessly wandering.

Niall found a knock off Mario, lightly chuckling as he read over 'Nario and Juigi'.

'Seems legit' He thought, turning the small case in his hand so he could read the description.

"You interested in buying?"

"Huh?" Niall gasped, jumping a little as the voice scared him.

He shoved the game back on the shelf, and looked up at the worker with a slightly shocked expression.

"The game, you interested in buying?" The worker repeated, pointing to the game on the shelf. The thick, brown mustache on his upper lip wiggled as he spoke. Niall recognized him as a classmate from his history class who got held back a couple years: Jay.

"No, Jay. I was just looking." Niall shook his head quickly, feeling as if he'd been caught stealing, even if he hadn't been.

'Looking for a game? At a convenient store? He must think I'm crazy!' Niall thought, repeatedly smacking his head in his mind.

"If you see anything you like just bring it up to the register." The worker told, pointing back to a small check out area filled with magazines.

'Never would I waste my money on this bootleg, virus infested junk!'

"But," Jay hesitated and slightly leaned in, "If you really want a good game, you shouldn't get them here."

'huh? Now you're talking! But why is he giving up his own profit?'

"What do you mean?" Niall was suspicious, but hid the fact with curiousity.

"I mean you shouldn't get a game here. I'm just trying to look out for customers, and this store. We got a lawsuit the other month for a game like that causing a computer to crash." He explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Niall nodded and reassured Jay, "Thanks, I wasn't intending to buy anything, from here at least. Where do you suggest I go?"

"Game Sign, its not far from here. I heard they even have Operation Doomsday in stock. I think they're next block down." He thought, nodding at himself when he said the direction right.

"What's Operation Doomsday?" Niall questioned, feeling quite dumb since the workers eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You haven't heard of it?" He asked, "No wonder you were looking at these types of games."

"No, I haven't. Just tell me what it is, and besides, you're supposed to be helping that customer check out." Niall bit back, annoyed at this employees underestimate in his video game knowledge.

"Its the most technologically advanced game yet, the pixels are said to be that of a high digital camera! The game follows a solider that was in war, expect all the soldiers are against him." The man cheers, his brown eyes lighting up as he spoke of the game.

Jay's enthusiasm surely rubbed off on Niall, making him want to purchase the game right away, and that's what he planned on doing.

"Game sign, huh? Just the next block down?" Niall asked, wanting to confirm the details of his mission.

The worker nodded, and opened his mouth to speak again but a customer caught his attention.

"Hello, sir. I'm terribly sorry, but my son just had an accident on isle 3." The small, Asian woman spoke, cowering with shame.

Niall bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing at his new friend, and quickly made an exit.

'I'm sure gma can wait a couple seconds, she probably still has to check out. Plus, this place is only a block away.' Niall reasoned with himself, quickly speed walking out the automatic doors.

He used the streetlights and colorful signs to lit his path and search for the store. Sure enough, only a block away was a store called 'Game Sign'.

Niall smiled to himself, deciding to just go in there and 'take a look' maybe not buy the game just yet.

'I hope Liam will like it, I know he loves war games.' He thought, rushing down the sidewalks.

The cool, summer air felt good against his excited skin and further heightened his good mood.

He placed his arms in his jacket and pulled away from his body, creating wings with the insides of the fabric.

He could see the game already, in his hands. He could smell the game, the scent of the fresh, factory plastic. He could feel the game, the slick, 'unsnackified' cover. He could even taste the game, hard and bland yet so full of flavor.

Niall was ready, the smile he had couldn't grow any larger, and he was practically floating.

That was, until he read the 'closed' sign on the window.

His shoulders drooped, and so did he smile, but he still took time to window shop. He could see other games in the window, shiny and new, waiting for him to play them.

'Maybe tomorrow, gma Is probably waiting for me' Niall pessimistically thought, turning around and making an exit back to the store.

His head was hung low, casting his view to the ground. He walked a couple steps until he noticed a broken CD cover.

Niall tried to ignore it, but he couldn't rip his eyes away from following the white, plastic trail.

The Game Sign dumpster.

'Why didn't I think of this sooner? They probably don't have games, but maybe some coupons or something in here' Niall thought as he walked towards the dumpster.

He spent a couple minutes gazing with his eyes, trying his best to not inhale or touch the unhygienic garbage.

The only thing he allowed himself to touch was a face down, black cover with no writing.

If he was lucky, there might be a game in it.

"What're you doing, kid?" A hobo hissed, making Niall retract his hand.

The voice came from behind the dumpster, so Niall couldn't see.

'Am I famous? Liam better not have leaked those embarrassing pictures of me!' Niall thought as the second person today spoke to him.

"Um, I thought could get some coupons or hopefully a game." Niall responded, getting a little creeped out.

"You want a game, yea?" The hobo mocked, and then threw a small, game cover out to him.

"Play this." He heckled, coughing violently as he spoke.

Niall was scared and skeptical of the man. "No, I'm good. I better get going."

"You wanted a game, didn't you?" He yelled, the voice echoing off the dumpsters.

Niall shook in fear, sheepishly asking, "What game is it?"

"Operation Deception."

'Nice!' Niall thought, grinning while picking up the cover and tossing a couple dollars to the man. 'Just the game Jay was talking about! Liam is going to be so jealous!'

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ig my teachers think its super cool to throw a bunch of hw on me in one night lol plz stop