NovaHD ~ [AU OneShots]

Shine [1/2]

Loosely based off this prompt: Imagine your OTP meeting as kids and Person B decides to woo Person A by giving them pretty rocks that they find.

~

Everybody wanted to be friends with James Wilson.

He was the popular kid, the class clown that made school fun for the other children. The teachers adored him, the other kids looked up to him – including Aleks Marchant, who wished that James was his best friend.

But he'd never talked to him, even though they were in the same class. James was always surrounded by his special friendship group, always busy at recess and lunchtime, and Aleks was too shy to go up to him. James's group was called "the cool club", and only seven-year-olds were allowed to join.

Aleks was one of the youngest in the class, still only six years old, and he hated it; hated that he couldn't be James's friend because of his stupid age.

So he played alone, but that was okay. He was too busy being an explorer to be friends with the other children. He spent his play-times collecting special stones and rocks, pretending that they were famous jewels. One day, he was going to give them to James as a present.

That day came sooner than expected.

During recess, a couple of months before Aleks's seventh birthday, he was tapped on the shoulder by one of the other kids when he was kneeling in the corner of the school field.

He looked up with a scowl, annoyed that his mission had been interrupted, but froze when he saw James Wilson towering over him. His friends weren't with him which was odd, but the smile on his face was even stranger.

"Hi Aleks." James said cheerfully, crouching down beside him. "Can I play with you?"

Aleks could hardly believe that this was happening. "Um...sure." He replied, wiping his muddy hands on his school trousers.

"Can I look at your stones?"

The question was innocent enough, but Aleks felt his face redden. "How do you know about them?" He hissed. His rock collection was one of his best-kept secrets – if the teachers found out that he had one, they would take it away. That's what had happened in his old school.

"I watch you sometimes." James said, shrugging his shoulders. "I want to play explorers too."

This was the best day of Aleks's life. Not only did the cool kid know his name, he also knew about his favourite game – and wanted to play it with him. "Okay, you can see my rocks. But you can't tell Mrs Browne, okay?"

James held up his hand, little finger outstretched. "Pinky promise."

Aleks mirrored him and entwined their fingers together, a solemn vow of friendship and trust. He reached into his pocket, eyes scanning the field in case a teacher was watching, but no adults were looking in their direction. Quickly, he pulled out his leather pouch and emptied the contents onto the grass so that James could look at the rocks he'd found.

"These are so cool!" James said happily, face shining with excitement as he picked up each stone, examining them closely.

Aleks beamed with pride, delighted that he'd impressed James with his rock collection.

Before he could ask his new friend if he wanted to keep one, James scooped up Aleks's favourite stone. "I like this rock." He declared, holding it up so that it glimmered in the sunlight. "It's pretty, like your eyes."

Aleks's mom had said the same thing, and that's why Aleks liked it so much.

But he liked James more. "You can keep it, if you want." He said shyly, blushing when James suddenly yanked him into a hug.