listening to: lemon boy - cavetown
Lukas knew he had issues. It was almost the first thing he realised about the boy with oddly coloured eyes as they stared at each other in the warm summer sun, the mayflies of that afternoon dancing around them. The sky was blue and the air was alive with warmth and vibrancy, the sweet scent of the damp grasses and the collective relief of students as the holidays began. But the look on the boys face was cold and untrusting. He was sat on the grass, little imprints of the patterns it made littered on his skin along with the odd scrape and bruise. A shadow seemed to pass over the one spot he took up, and Lukas got the feeling that it was far too small in that corner of the world. Too small to fit one person, let alone him as well. Where Lukas stood, he was half blocking the sun, which silhouetted his features and only seemed to emphasise the shadows under those beautiful eyes.
"You're supposed to make fun of me now." The boy suddenly broke the silence with a sneer and Lukas was taken aback at the bitterness in his tone. Immediately he shook his head, holding up his hands disarmingly. He had a twinkle in his stormy grey eyes.
"Oh, sure if you want. I was just going to ask if you wanted to go and play Crash Bandicoot over at mine but..."
There was a lengthy pause and it seemed to Lukas like he was trying to figure out if it was a trap or not. There was something wild behind his gaze, like a fox who was trapped and ready to snap at any moment. But children have a remarkable way of being perceptive, and Lukas could feel his gentler sadness and longing. He was both the fox that snapped and the rabbit who had been bitten.
So they went to Lukas' house and played on the PlayStation until his mother told them it was late, and the boy should go home. He didn't seem to like that idea, and Lukas watched him pretend to phone his parents so he could stay over for the night. He didn't understand why he hadn't actually called them...
...but since nobody ever came looking for the odd boy he immediately forgot it and started introducing his new friend to tomb raider. This went on for some time until they were seeing each other almost every day. They began to talk about school, about how much the bitter boy hated it and how cool it might be to run away. The odd feeling that the world was too small never faded away.
But at least the boy knew how to smile a little now.
