This is a One-Shot ********* Back to Story Index |
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He was staring at me again. Why, I wasn’t very sure, but it was starting to make me feel a bit self-conscious. I looked back down at my almost completed coloring assignment and set down my blue crayon, it was then that I realized someone was standing near me. I raised my eyes up and there he was, gazing down at me with his overly large and intensely violet eyes. I lifted an eyebrow in a silent question, as he grinned. “Can I borrow that?”
I looked at where he was pointing, it was my blue crayon. “Pleeeease ...” He almost did a dance as he begged, I couldn’t say no to that. “Here.” I dropped it into his open palm and was thanked with a bright smile. I watched him skip back to his seat, where he only placed a knee up to lean on as he too finished coloring. I looked back down at my work and tried to concentrate on coloring in the last little bit, but my eyes kept floating back to the braided boy. There was something about him, something that felt like I was being pulled to him, of course at the time I didn’t realize what it was, but it was very hard for me to ignore. As the day dragged on, I could feel him casting glances in my direction. Funny how just knowing his big violet eyes where on me, turned me into a big klutz. Not that the next day was much better. I found myself wishing that he would move back to wherever he had come from. He’d only been in my class for a grand total of three days, and I found myself becoming more and more distracted by him as the days passed. It was after he had been there for two weeks, without returning my crayon I might add, that he approached me on the playground. “Hey!” I grunted. I was building a sand castle underneath the jungle gym and didn’t really wish to be disturbed. Especially by him. He squatted down with a curious look upon his face, and I found myself staring blankly at him. “Whatchya buildin’?” “Nothing.” His thin brows pinched together as he turned his gaze to me. “Well it dutten’t look like nothin’.” “It’s a sand castle ... with a moat.” “Aaaaaah,” he said as if he understood the universe. “So -- need help?” “No.” I saw his bottom lip jut out a bit from the corner of my eye. “Alright. You can build the neighboring castle.” I pointed to a nearby spot, far enough away from me to please my need for space, but close enough so he wouldn’t pout anymore. “Over there is good.” “Woo!” I watched as he threw himself into his work. It was like watching a mini hurricane whip together what vaguely resembled a castle. “Done! How’s yours?” He turned around and I saw a twinkle come into his eyes as he stared at my nearly completed building. “Wow. That’s amazing!” He began to walk around it, inspecting every last inch. “Yup. Very nice, Heero.” “Thanks.” I felt my cheeks grow hot at the compliment. It wasn’t like the other kids to care what I was doing. Most of them stayed as far away from me as possible, apparently I wasn’t much fun to play with. “Say, Heero --” He plopped down next to me; he was so close that our knees were touching and I had an overwhelming urge to pull away from him. Although, I didn’t know then that it wasn’t because of the normal ‘personal bubble’ reasons. “I like you.” “Huh?” I was genuinely surprised by his statement, since as I said, the other kids didn’t like me much. “Yup. I do.” His smile warmed my heart and caused my eyes to grow a bit moist. I forced the tears away and tried to smile. He wrapped his arms around me and we both fell backwards into the sand. “Heero,” “Yeah -- Duo?” “Can I stay with you forever?” There was a sadness in his voice that made me curious as to its cause, but I didn’t ask about it. I just wrapped my arms around him, happy to finally have someone that seemed to care about me as much as my family did. “Only if you can put up with me.” “Well -- I’m a bit difficult too ... according to my older sister.” He chuckled as he spoke. “So is it a promise?” I looked into his eyes, and smiled back at him. “Yes.” We walked back to class, hand in hand, and he even asked the teacher if it was okay for him to move over to the empty seat beside me. She gave him permission, only if the two of us could keep quiet, which never happened. It was several days later that I came into class and found a box of crayons setting on my desk. I opened the lid and inside was a solitary crayon, my blue one. A hand reached around me and dropped in another crayon, it was violet. “There. Now they won’t be lonely.” Duo had a bright smile on his face and he gazed at me. I closed the box and clutched it to my chest, happy to finally have a true friend. ------------- The End |