Jigsaw Puzzle (Maddie)

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"Whassup, four eyes?" you say, chewing on some bread while sitting in his seat.
"Get out of my seat, thunder thighs." He drops his bag onto the desk.
"I'm only keeping it warn for you." Clearly feigning innocence, you stare up at him while you blink your eyes.
"That innocent crap doesn't work on me, she-demon."
"Jolly green giant."
"Whale."
"Know-it-all."
"Chub."
'Wannabe Einstein."
"Glutton."
"Saltysaurous."
He tch's. "Just move."
"Make me."
He walks behind you, then literally dumps you out of the chair. "As you wish, Princess."
"Aw, Kei, is this your way of saying you wanna be my Prince Charming?"
"You wish, you Satan reincarnate."
"Y'know, someday, you're gonna fall for my inevitable charm. And when you do, you're gonna be on your hands and knees begging."
Standing up. you dust yourself off, then poke him in the chest. "And I wouldn't accept your scrawny behind for all the jewels and gold in all the world."
He glares at you. "Stupid fatty. The only one who's gonna be begging on their hands and knees is you, fatty."
"Ha! You wish!"
He leans in close to your face, and for a moment, he swears your eyes got a little wide. "Why, I didn't know you were a mind reader."
"Aw, c'mon Salty Boi. We both know you can't resist moi." You twirl your hair between your fingers innocently, acting like you're cuter than you actually are. Not that you're cute at all.
"Yeah, it's really hard resisting not choking you out."
"You have a dirtier mind than expected."
"Not like that, idiot." He sits in his seat, feeling a bit of heat rush to the tips of his ears.
You sit in the chair right beside his. As it turns out your seat has been next to his all year.
"Should I tell your mom about your twisted fantasies about me?"
"They'd have to exist first." He tilts his head back, letting his eyelids fall shut.
"Oh, I dunno if your parents told you yet, but we're coming over for dinner tonight."
"They did not."
"Yeah, it's to welcome back Akiteru. I'm so excited to see him. If only you took after him, Kei."
"'I hate you, you know that?"
"I'm fully aware!" you chirp, and when he turns his head with open eyes, he sees the saddest expression to ever exist on your face.
Once you notice, you seem to catch yourself and fix it into a devilish grin."I couldn't have my lousy neighbor thinking any differently about me, could I?"
Your eyes are so fake. He knows you don't mean that, but he doesn't exactly know what you do mean, either. You've always been like a jigsaw puzzle for him to figure out, but he's never been able to. The two of you have known each other since you were born. He's only a couple months older than you, and had, apparently, met you while you were still in the hospital after being successfully delivered.
Your parents were always close with his, so it's only natural the two of you grew up together. And, granted, you two used to play together, talking about dinosaurs and bragging about the new dino toys or figurines each other got for Christmas or a birthday. But those days are well past you now. It was all screwed up the day you'd announced your crush on some boy in your class. Kei didn't know him. The two of you, unfortunately, did not go to the same school due to differences in financial situations, But he clearly remembers you saying that you were "in love" with this boy and felt that he shouldn't cling onto you so much. Yes, you were eleven. Yes, you were a stupid kid. No, he does not forgive you. Strangely, he didn't like the idea of you liking another boy. And, even more strangely, he did not like the idea of losing you.
While you may have been close, he was convinced he could do without you. Until he was without you. And then he realized the greatest epiphany of his life: he needed you. Whether he liked it or not, he was desperately in necessity of you. Perhaps it was a crush. Maybe he was just attached. But, whatever it is, it's dead.
Going along with your lie, he merely replies, "Guess not, lousy neighbor."
"I'm the best neighbor ever. I bake cookies."
"You mean the cookies you bake and write in frosting, KEI TSUKISHIMA DO NOT TOUCH?"
"Yeah! Those!"
"If you're the best neighbor this world has to offer, then I really don't wanna see what this world has come to."
So maybe he's still a little salty over what happened when you were kids. In his defense, when you decided you were over that other boy, you came crawling back like nothing happened. Like you didn't rip his heart out of his chest and tear it to shreds with your teeth. You apologized, sure. But an apology was not going to fix anything. So he did the normal thing to do. Rejected it and said to leave him alone. And you did, for the most part. You hardly even talked to him when the families were hanging out. But, when you started going to the same high school, it's like you decided then was the best time to be all buddy-buddy again. He hates you.
"Saltysaurous!!" And he hates when you call him "Saltysaurous."
As mentioned before, you both loved dinosaurs (he still does, though he would never willingly admit it aloud). And, according to everyone around him, he's "salty." So, like the brat you are, you concocted the nickname when you two were about six. You hadn't called him that in years until you ran each into other on the walk to school the first day.
"Hey! Saltysuarous!" you shouted, wearing the biggest and possibly most beautiful (don't tell a soul) smile he ever saw. "I see we're both going to Karasuno." You gestured to your uniforms. "Don't call me that. And yeah. Seems so."
"You joining the volleyball club?"
He shrugged. "Probably."
"That was something you signed up for in advance, Saltysaurous."
"Okay, so maybe I did. Why do you care?"
With your unbelievably annoying voice, you chirped, "Just being a friendly and nosy neighbor!" "Well stick your nose someplace else."
You leaned up, sticking your nose right in his chest, seeing as the highest you could go. "Like here?"
"Heck no." Shoving you away, he kept walking.
"Aw, you flustered?"
"You wish."
"Don't be like that."

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