kindergarten - high school AU

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ✰

Jerome / Buggs
1700 Words
♡

[A/N: If you like my writing, feel free to write a comment or give me a request! I'll do any ship in the game as long as it isn't adultxchild, twinxtwin, or any very explicit sexual content!]

"Oh god. I'm so sorry," Jerome mutters, head draped low as he sways slowly on the swing, an unsteady rhythm that made the old, rusty swing set creak loudly.

Jerome met Buggs on this same swingset nearly ten years ago. It was a week after the "Principal Incident" that the new kid and Lily couldn't shut up about. Within a couple of hours, kids who once were his friends, no, maybe they respected him, immediately began to associate him with monsters and kidnapping. Jerome tried not to let the gossip bother him, but he couldn't lie to himself about how lonely he felt. Gripping with the fact that his dad was gone and a supposed madman was another punch in the gut.

Even before this, Jerome was always one of those kids - the ones who were unknowingly introverted and aggressive, without even meaning to be. The gift of finding friends he once might had was gone with the wind, and it was all due to one incident he didn't even know about.

Buggs didn't have many friends himself, not because he couldn't make them, but rather because he had issues keeping them. Although being maybe six years old at the time, he never really considered his trivial selection unnatural for his age. If somebody didn't deserve his company, there was no point in keeping them around.

That day, Buggs saw him sitting alone on the red swing at recess. He didn't look bothered by the group of kids pointing at him and whispering, but he felt obliged to sit next to him anyways. As he started a conversation, the uncertainty and vulnerability in his voice didn't dishearten him. It might even have done the opposite. Despite Jerome's eyes being red and wet, the determination in them made Buggs think that, just maybe, he could be fun to keep around.

Like always, Buggs was right, and by the end of that week alone they were inseparable, and ten years later their relationship had stayed the same. Despite their meeting being influenced by such a grim event, the two always had fun together. It was the first time in a while that they've been hanging around and not laughing.

"I'm so aggressive all the fucking time," Jerome continues, his voice slurred and his grip on the swingset tightening; his other hand was digging deeply at his knee, something he always does when he's frustrated. He shakes his head, and grumbles "Nobody deserves to be around me. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me."

"Nah, wait. I'm not mad," Buggs calmly replies, hoping for Jerome to give him a reaction, continuing when he simply buries his hands in his face, "I don't know. You just surprised me, I didn't even know you was-"

Jerome shrugs, digging around aimlessly in the wood chips with his shoe. Buggs can obviously tell he's uncomfortable, and he knows that it's all his fault. He decides to try and reassure him.

"That's okay. I don't care," he whispers, softly yet casually, "That don't change anything." Jerome meets his eyes for the first time that night, and similarly to ten years ago, his eyes are laced with fear and confusion.

It reminds Buggs, more than before, that despite them both growing up together, despite all the things they shared, they're not at the same point in their lives. Buggs knows that he has himself figured out, but he knows that Jerome isn't quite there yet. He was a little more mature and collected than his vulnerable friend.

"Why didn't you say anything before then?" Jerome frowns. Tears return to his eyes, and he rests his head on the swing chain. "I think that Lily hoe heard us too. Can't wait for her and her boyfriend to find another reason to harass me." By now, his voice is completely slurred and cracking.