Anderperry Oneshots Collection

K.I.T.

Todd tore open his letter, smiling to himself.

"Who's that from?" Neil said, absent-mindedly. It was normal for boys at Welton to receive letters from any number of places. Most commonly, friends and family. 

Not to sound mean, but Neil was aware of Todd's social status outside of school, and couldn't think of anyone he was close enough to exchange letters with. Except for maybe Jeffrey, but he always called.

"Just Charlotte," Todd said, still scanning the folded loose-leaf.

Neil couldn't pin the name. "Who's Charlotte?"

"Oh, I forgot you don't know her. She's my ex."

Neil paused, blinking. Todd read on, not a care in the world.

"You...exchange letters with your ex?"

Todd shrugged. "Every now and then. Only when something big happens, I guess. But I still get Christmas cards from her mother."

Todd put down the letter, folding it neatly back into the envelope. "You look surprised," he noted.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Neil said. "Do you have a picture?"

"I might," Todd thought. "Let me see..."

Todd reached down beneath his bed and pulled out a box. He opened it with a flourish, and Neil was surprised to find that it contained at least thirty letters from this Charlotte. Strike one.

Todd riffled through the box, examining the letters a little at a time. "Aha," he said finally, and handed Neil a polaroid. 

It was a girl sitting in front of a cake with sixteen lit candles. She had long, dark hair and narrow eyes. Neil released with a pang of envy that she was pretty. She was really pretty. Strike two.

Neil smiled unconvincingly, muttered some compliment, and handed the polaroid back to Todd. "Would you like to read the letter I just got?" Todd asked.

He handed it to Neil, who skimmed it. Certain phrases jumped out at him: Dear Toddy, (Neil winced at that one) miss you, got together with Fran! keep in touch, Lottie. 

There was more than that, but Neil didn't feel like wallowing in the object of his jealousy. Oh, that ugly yet inescapable feeling. 

"I think I'm implying the wrong thing," Todd offered kindly. Neil felt terrible for feeling this resentful when Todd had done everything right. 

"How so?" Neil asked, doing a bad job of covering up his feelings.

"Charlotte and I dated in middle school. She said she liked me and I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I went along with it. After about a week, she called it off. It was a whole thing, but we put that behind us, and now we're just penpals. Honest."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, I believe you," Neil said quickly. He did believe him. 

"Good, because you're the only one for me," Todd said, and gave Neil a peck on the lips.

Neil laughed. But the feeling was still there.

Todd had invited Neil to the study group several times, but no, Neil had a headache, he'll just go to bed early tonight. Todd had dropped the subject. 

Neil, truthfully, did not have a headache. But he had been watching Todd craft his response letter, the letter that Neil knew for a fact was in his desk drawer, and wanted nothing more than to read it.

When he was sure Todd was gone, he opened the drawer and stole it, brought the folded letter to his bed and sat down.

With a deep breath, he unfolded it carefully, and to his shock, a polaroid fluttered out of it, landing face-down on the floor.

Neil rolled his eyes, prepared for a photo of Todd looking especially handsome, or maybe something simpler. A photo of the dorm. A photo of the dock.

What Neil did not expect was to see his own face smiling back at him.

He remembered the occasion perfectly. The boys were fooling around in the common room, Charlie vaulting pinecones as unsuspecting students, and Todd had said something so funny that Neil fell out of his chair laughing. 

He landed on the floor, and in the fits of laughter that ensued, Todd had snapped a photo. 

It was a handsome photo. Neil wore his favourite green sweater, was having an exceptionally good hair day, and was beaming up at the camera with a smile that he could seldom recreate.

Neil, puzzled, looked down at the letter and began to read.

Dear Lottie,

I'm so happy for you! Wishing you and Francis the best.
I also have some exciting news. Enclosed I've included a photo of Neil Perry. And, well...he's everything to me.

You'd love him, Lottie. He's so brave and kind. I've had to re-write this letter four times because every time I try to describe him I feel like I fall short. He's helped me so much since...

Neil put down the letter, already ashamed of having invaded Todd's privacy. He re-folded the whole thing and put it away. 

For a minute or so, he sat there on the edge of his bed, dumbstruck. He'd found him. He'd found the boy that he could trust, the perfect boy that wouldn't hurt him.

Todd Anderson.

As if on cue, Todd opened the door.

"Hey! You're back early," Neil greeted him.

"...No?"

Neil checked the time, and realized it was actually ten minutes after curfew. Had he been sitting there for an hour?

"Nevermind, I must've...I don't know actually." Neil shrugged, and Todd giggled. 

The boys got ready for bed, and just as Todd turned out the lights, Neil spoke up.

"Hey Todd?"

"Yeah?" Todd whispered back.

"Thank you."

"What for?"

Neil thought for a second. "For being Todd. You're perfect."

Todd smiled. "You're welcome."