𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖕𝖊 𝕹𝖔𝖈𝖙𝖚𝖒 - ʀᴏʙʙʏ ᴋᴇᴇɴᴇ

𝟚

Julian rolled his shoulders back, groaning as the bones cracked. Yeah, he was definitely going to be sore tomorrow. After they had meditated, Sensei Lawrusso had instructed them on the ever-so-exciting art of waxing cars and painting walls. After he had deemed them done and gone through the blocks that used the hand movements from the chores, they had joined in on the sparring (without gear!) alongside the rest of the students.

He was exhausted and ready to go home as he tried peeling his shirt away from his body to circulate air as he and Lexi walked home. At least he had made a few new friends, even had got their numbers so that when he got his school schedule, they could see what classes they had together.

As the twins arrived at the front door, out of the corner of his eye, Julian could see the door of the apartment flat across from their's opening, out walking a teenage boy with short, brown, pushed-back hair. Tucked under his left arm was a skateboard and in his right hand was a Gatorade.

They made eye contact, and Julian paused as Lexi walked past him, oblivious, through the door as she called first dibs at the shower.

"Hey! Are you the new neighbors?" The boy shouted as he closed the door to his own home.

"Oh, yeah," Julian shouted back, seeing the boy walk closer.

"Welcome to the neighborhood; I'm Robby Keene." He stuck out a hand to shake as the darker-haired boy internally hoped his hands weren't as sweaty as they felt.

"I'm Julian Fresco. Uh, nice to meet you," Before the boy could turn to leave, he spoke up. "Do you go to the West Valley Highschool? I was just wondering 'cuz my sister and I are starting there next week."

"Oh, no, I used to. I, uh, transferred."

"Oh, okay, that's cool."

After an awkward silence, he cleared his throat. "Well, nice to meet you. See you around."

Robby nodded, smiling as he put his skateboard down and pushed off, skillfully riding out of sight - but not before he did a small trick, causing Julian to playfully applaud as the skateboarder bowed, almost running into a lamppost as he did so.

Finally, he entered the house, snapping out of the trance as his mother yelled for him to close the door so it wouldn't let the bugs in.

The Robby kid was cool, he decided.t

***

Pulling his curtains apart to reveal the stars and the light of the moon, Julian yawned. He had picked the bedroom at the front of the house specifically for the window view, even though most of the scenery was obstructed by the apartment flat across from his own.

The thought led to him staring at the building. He almost jumped in surprise as the light in the room that was located almost directly across from him flicked on, and a shadow appeared.

Julian was about to turn off his light so Robby wouldn't accidentally catch him staring but stopped as the boy turned to him. Although the window was too far away, and it was too dark to see any expression on his face, from the ragged movements when the light had first turned on and the hand threading through his hair as he had walked into the room, the dark-haired boy could see he was upset.

He weakly waved, hoping he hadn't accidentally totally creeped the boy out on accident, but the boy returned the gesture almost immediately. Robby eventually sat down on his bed as Julian turned his attention back to the stars, picking out different constellations subconsciously he had memorized throughout the years.

Both had turned their lights out by that point, making it so that they were just the faintest silhouette to each other's eyes. Julian eventually decided that the reasonable thing to do would be going to sleep, so he briefly turned on his recently unpacked lamp and waved - not knowing if the other boy was asleep or awake.