Little Wonder (Phan)

Ninety.

Emiko = Smiling Child

Etsuko = Joy and Pleased

"You're room is a lot different than Emiko's room, she's an exchange student from Japan who might be staying longer than intended. I call her Em, it's easier for me to remember, remind me to introduce you two the next time we're at school, okay? She has a twin brother named -- oh, I always forget how to say it. Etsuko? I call him Suko, it's easier for everyone usually. It's really quite cool. Her name means Smiling Child, and his name means. .. um, Joy and Pleased. They kind of side by side, don't you think?" He hadn't stopped talking since we'd gotten back home to the flat, but it's not like I was complaining. He didn't try to make boring conversation like how the weather was or what we were doing in school, it always had a kind of Miles twist to it. With a gentle smile I placed my hand over his mouth to signal that he should be quieter now. We'd come to that kind of agreement awhile ago. But I liked hearing him talk, it got a bit creepy if he went silent sometimes. "So -- What do you want to do? I know that's boring, I'm just -- well. .."

I nodded with agreement, I hadn't actually thought of anything to do when actually inviting him over. Strumming my fingers against my leg I looked up into his eyes. Miles was an interesting character, especially to look at. He wasn't a bad looking person as most of the girls in the year had a crush on him, but he wasn't like most others around this part of Europe. He had pale green eyes and wispy black hair, though I'm sure if he stopped combing his fingers through it every five seconds it would form curls that would fall right in front of his eyes. I was 8 years old, but that didn't mean I couldn't admire someone. He was also oddly pale, but that wasn't very much different from my set of parents. No, the one thing that caught my eyes was that he had very visible freckles on his face, you didn't see that much from a person of his coloration. It was usually from a brunette sometimes, or mostly a redhead, or if you've been in the sun too long.

"See something you like?" He gave me that lopsided grin of his and I just huffed and looked away quickly. I didn't want to be accused of having a crush on him or something. "Okay since you obviously have no idea what we're going to do, horrible hosting by the way you need to get better at that for when you have your own home and guests one day, I say that we go play some video games. You have video games, right?" I knew that we did, Papa and Daddy played them often for their channel they had together, the one that they used the most. (DanandPhilGames you guys should really go give it a try, shameless plug.) After nodding he looked relieved and placed his hand on my shoulder, "I was beginning to wonder if this friendship was going to work out or not." He was teasing but there was an almost serious expression on his face. Getting up from his position on my floor he held his hand out to me and I took it without much doubt.

Without letting his hand go I guided him to my parents work space, they never said I wasn't allowed to be in here, just that I had to be very careful. "We can get some gaming console and then bring it down to the TV so we have a bigger screen." He seemed to understand but he also seemed a bit more preoccupied. "See something you like?" I was teasing him but he didn't seem to be in the teasing mood. With a tiny scoff I pulled my hand out of his and got one of the game consoles. "Come on now, Miles, you're the big strong man, come help me with this stuff." It was not that heavy, but anything to keep him out of that quiet mindset he was in right now. "You there, Miles?" Waving a hand in front of his face I was relieved when he gave me another grin and nodded, taking the console from me. "You know I was joking, right? I might be a girl but I wouldn't have had any trouble carrying this." I had picked up a bit of my sass from Papa. Mhm.

"Oh yeah, but what kind of man would I be for you then --" We both stopped short when I saw Papa standing in the middle of the living room, I heard Daddy somewhere in the kitchen. "Oh, I Mr Lester. Win said we could set up shop here, but I guess we could go back to the other room." I knew that Miles got nervous around Papa due to how he acted towards him last time, but since that night that he'd asked for me to forgive him he'd made it clear that he'd give Miles a chance. I looked up at him with a smile and he gave me one back, saying that it was fine and that he and Daddy would just go watch a movie in their room. He was trying to be polite but I knew that it was a strain for him. Still, it was nice to see him making an effort. Taking Miles by the hand once more I beamed at him and scampered to it. "Well, he seemed to take that surprisingly well."

"I noticed." I smiled at him as I set the console up again. "I know this may sound a bit dumb, when I was raised by gamers and all, but I have no idea how to play." We were Mario Kart, an apparent must between friends, he said that it proved loyalty and commitment, to see if a friendship was really meant to work out. If you defeated Mario Kart together, especially Rainbow Road without chucking the controllers at one another, you were destined to be friends for life. "I have a feeling we'll already be friends for life, Miles. You're special." Now shooting him one of my genuine beams of sunshine, that's what Daddy called them, I sat down with the mindset that we were going to play and he was going to leave me on my own. But I was not thinking the same thing that he was, because he sat right behind me so that I was technically sitting in lap, and his hands overlapped mine on the controllers. "Personal bubble popped."

He snickered, "Don't pretend you don't like it." He hissed a bit, but I knew that was from his own accord. "Alright, I'll admit. That sentence was a bit creepy. I'll just help you get the basic controls and then I promise I'm going to give you all the personal space you want." There was a childish tone to his voice so I responded by elbowing him in the ribs, which he took with a laugh. "Obviously you don't have a very good sense of humor." But he did as he promised, teaching me all the basics and some of the cheats for harder levels like Rainbow Road, and then he got up and suddenly my comfort and warmth was gone. Comfort and warmth? No. The annoying twat that decided it was okay to set up shop right behind me. Okay I was 8 and that sounded bad. I had to admit, this wasn't to bad, he wasn't to bad. I had a feeling we'd really become best friends.

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HOW DID WE GET TO NINETY CHAPTERS??????????????? I ONLY EXPECTED TO MAKE ABOUT 80 OVER THEM. FOR MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, THANK YOU SO MUCH.