In another life, I would have really liked just eating cheerios with you

One Shot

Per our deal, here's your shojin fic full of wholesomeness, Sabrina.:D Enjoy, sistren!:)

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Being one of the two only kids of color in elementary school had forced him to make a choice between either: 1) ignore the risk of microaggressions and simply go along with befriending the many white children filling up his class or 2) create communion with the one other kid of color who makes his heart beat a little faster whenever he looks at her. The day his first major dilemma in life had come to an end had been during recess on the playground, Shotaro having watched from the swings as two white boys discreetly placed honey nut cheerios in Yujin's hair. It had only been when he'd punished his classmates for their racism by kicking sand into their eyes did Yujin look over her shoulder at him. His heart had gone into a frenzy the moment their eyes met, something in Shotaro—like an autopilot response, perhaps—having forced him to look away and instead, give picking the honey nut cheerios out of her hair his focus. To this day, he didn't know if impulsively eating the cheerios when he made eye contact with Yujin again was to be blamed on the fact that he was naturally a bit of a weird kid in elementary school or rather, to be blamed on him having been a kid who hadn't learned to properly cope with the overwhelming feeling of having a crush on someone.

"I like honey nut cheerios, too," had been Yujin's innocent response to his odder than odd action.

He'd felt like the biggest glutton in that moment, having been abound with a willingness to regurgitate even a single cheerio if it meant he could have something she likes to offer her. "Well, if you come to my house, I'll feed you all the honey nut cheerios you want."

"Really?" Yujin said excitedly as she got up on her feet.

When Yujin smiled at him, he realized for the first time that he'd been duped, that the books that had only depicted angels as fair-skinned and blue-eyed had been deceiving him. Yes, he'd been deceived, there could be no other explanation because then, why else would the pretty girl with the pretty brown skin and pretty brown eyes far supersede the fair-skinned, blue-eyed angels in the books in angelicalness?

"Let's be friends!" Yujin exclaimed. She held her hand out toward him. "I'm Yujin."

He took her hand. "I'm Shotaro." He counted down how long his hand stayed in her hands, five seconds having been far too short. He'd been able to get himself to be okay with it at the time, though, so certain that now that he'd become Yujin's friend, they could hold hands however often they wanted.

They stopped holding hands when they'd turned eleven. The next time she would let him hold her hand again would be during the day of what he hadn't known would be her final beauty pageant. He hadn't known how to get her to stop crying as they sat in the dark, quiet living room of her house so he'd done the first thing that crossed his mind, which was to take hold of her small, delicate hand.

"I really want some honey nut cheerios right now," she'd said, having clearly been joking but Shotaro supposed him being in love with her was why he'd guided her by the hand to her car to take a trip up to the store.