oops! ➸ one-shots

between the blades of grass

He had been doing it for months, now. With an extremely low income, he didn't really have any other choice. It's not like he could buy them; that would be much too expensive and he just could not afford it.

Dan didn't look at himself as a thief. After all, if the person he was taking from never noticed or if they weren't bothered by it, what was so bad? Even though his levels of anxiety went through the roof each time he snatched, he couldn't think of an alternative. Plus, he only took one each time, and that couldn't do much harm, could it?

Either way, Dan found himself making his weekly walk past the pretty pastel green house with the huge garden. A red tulip leaned over and peeked through a hole in the fence, so Dan glanced around the neighborhood to make sure no one was out and watching before he slipped his hand through the hole in the fence and pinched the tulip at it's base. Just as he pulled the flower out of the dirt, something grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Holy f-" Dan yipped, dropping the flower and trying to tear his wrist away and make a run for it.

The grasper, however, kept hold, and then shuffled along the ground to peek out the hole in the fence. A single blue eye appeared through the fence, causing Dan to slide his hand out, as the other person had let go.

"Aha!" the blue eyed person cheered, disappearing behind the fence before popping up and looking at Dan over the top of it. His black hair had fallen into his eyes, so he swiped it to the side before smiling a kind of "gotcha" smile.

Swallowing thickly, Dan prepared himself to word-vomit out the excuse of a lifetime, but the other started talking first.

"So you're the one who's been doing it," he raised his eyebrows at the brunet boy on the other side of the fence. "Now, I assume you have a reason to be stealing my plants every week..."

"I-"

"But, I don't want to hear it. I figure it's for a girl – or a boy, I don't know you – and I would like to meet them. I need to make sure they're worthy of my flowers that you're stealing," he explained, tilting his head slightly at Dan.

"It's not-"

"I insist. I mean, if they are nice enough to warrant flower theft, I may just be up for providing."

Dan wished the man would just let him speak; the flowers weren't for anyone. Well, not for anyone he could meet.

Nonetheless, he had insisted on coming along. So, he walked around the fence to the gate and met Dan on the other side.

"I'm called Phil, by the way. Not short for Philgon, if you were wondering," he stated, laughing.

Naturally, Dan wasn't in a laughing mood. He didn't want to be rude, however, so he forced a small smile. "I'm sorry for taking your flowers," Dan apologized, pursing his lips and not daring to look Phil in the eyes.

"Do you see how big my garden is?" Phil began, noticing that Dan felt bad. "Huge. Don't worry about it. I'm not worried about it."

"I mean, that still doesn't make it okay..." Dan didn't know why he was digging himself deeper, but he couldn't help it. Maybe if he made Phil mad he wouldn't continue walking with Dan to the "receiver" of the flowers.

"Yeah, it does. Seriously, I'm not mad. I just want to meet them. What's their name?" Phil questioned, peering at the boy beside him even if he wouldn't look back.

Dan frowned, but answered, "Her name's Adalyn." Phil didn't have to know the contraction stood for "name was".

"That's pretty. Is she pretty?" Phil asked, but stopped Dan from replying. "Of course she is. Everyone's pretty."