Stars In Her I's

ten

Chris let out a sigh. Oh boy, time to say hello to his favourite asshole on the block.

Knocking for a few minutes yielded no fruits, so he turned around to go and find Lumos on his own. There weren't that many places for him to hide out in, right?

Well, looks like that question was not destined to be answered. The door swung open just as his foot landed on the second step. The woman he had seen once, Lumos's mother, had answered the door. Getting such a close look at her showed just how much Lumos took after his momma. She had the exact same wiry, dark red hair and deep ocean blue eyes. She had considerably less freckles, though.

"You're Christopher." Well, then. Lumos's soft and quiet voice came from his mom as well. Such strange family genes. At least Lumos wouldn't have to worry about people recognizing his father in him, since the only thing he seemed to take from him was his sharp facial features.

"Yeah... um, you're Mrs-" He was about to continue when he realized that he hasn't a clue what Lumos's last name was. It had never come up in conversation.

Well, Lumos also seemed to take after his mom in the way that he always saved Chris from awkward situations. "Mrs. Bourton. My husband is Mr. Rosewood. Lumos took my name. He's out back in the clearing, if you're looking for him."

This poor lady, still so gentle and warm despite her jackass partner. "Thank you, Ms. Bourton." She smiled, happy that someone didn't think she was her husband's and nothing else. Enough people had called her Mrs. Rosewood, at least her son's friend wasn't.

Off we go.

He hopped down the steps, rounding the house. You could tell that whoever cared for the back lawn didn't like much colour. Dead grass, no flowers, not so much as a dandelion.

What did she mean by clearing? This could be considered a clearing. He looked at the wooded area bordering the lawn, thinking. Well, it couldn't hurt to check. Without giving himself a chance to doubt he stepped into the trees, walking in a straight line away from the house. He kept telling himself that he wanted answers and that was the reason he wanted to find him. Deep down, though, it was that he knew how bad Lumos had it and he was afraid for his friend. He had never had to worry after someone like this, and it was scaring the hell out of him. He was going for maybe ten minutes when he heard it.

Faint music. Well, music as in vocals. It was strange, though, because even thought it sounded like a Freddie Mercury recording, the voice used was too slow and too soft to be a recording. He chuckled to himself for a moment, thinking about the possibility that a shapeshifter had taken the form of Freddie Mercury and was hiding out in the woods. God, he had to stop watching that show.

He walked towards it, catching a glimpse of red hair. The sky was starting to turn that pinkish orange it does when the sun sets- salmon, it's called salmon. Like the bow tie Lumos was wearing earlier.

As he approached, he realized that the singing was coming from Lumos. Wait, that's impossible. How did he sound exactly like him when Lumos was the one singing?

Whatever. As he peaked around a big tree with gnarled roots, he saw him. The bow tie was laying undone at his shoulders with the top five buttons undone. His coat lie beside him on one of the roots, keeping it off the ground. Suspenders and little sleeve-ring-thingies were still on, though.

His posture was... sad. He couldn't see his face, as he was against the side of the tree Lumos had his back to, but he knew it just the same. He had begun to learn how to read Lumos, since he never truly expressed what was wrong. Something was underneath the sadness, though. Something more desperate.

He couldn't take it any longer. The ghostly voice was starting to creep up on him, and something inside him pushed him forward.

"A Queen fan too, eh?" Unlike every other damn time, Lumos didn't flinch away at the sudden appearance of another person. Perhaps he already knew he was there.