The children sat in a circle on the playground's wood-chips. The wood-chips were uncomfortable, sticking to the children's pants or poking their legs depending on what they were wearing. The small slivers of what was a tree at some point didn't bother the kids enough to force them to move. They were busy looking at each other's ankles, causing them to completely ignore the uncomfortable sensation sitting on the playground ground gave them. A child in the circle, a boy at the age of six, had his leg stretched as far as he could into the center of the ring.
He adored the mark on his ankle. It was a black circle with blue waves swirling inside of it. The shade of blue was hard to describe. It reminded him of the actual sea, color constantly shifting between various shades of green and blue. He found the indefinite color to be extremely fascinating and showed it off as often as he could.
The boy was quite a fan of the attention he received from showing off the small marking as well. He enjoyed hearing the chorus of his classmates squeal over the soothing swirl of colors. The occasional jealous comment pleased him too.
There were always a couple of kids that groaned or rolled their eyes whenever he mentioned the lovely symbol on his leg. He always ignored them, too proud of his marking to ever think negatively of it.
However, that boy experienced a different reaction that day. Another boy, one with a face he had never seen before, was attempting to look at the boy's marking from the nearby play-set. The wonder that was visible in his large sparkling eyes quickly shifted to embarrassment the moment his eyes met those of the other boy.
After his turn ended, the boy stood up. He wandered over to the other boy as fast as his legs would take him. Grabbing onto the railing with a tiny hand, he pulled himself up to the platform the other boy was sitting on. The young male shifted away from the bright-eyed stranger, a nervous blush appearing on his chubby cheeks.
"Were you looking at my mark?" The boy asked, resting his hands on the ground behind him as he leaned backward.
The other child was taken aback by how quickly his fellow classmate relaxed.
"I was." He mumbled after a moment of silent processing.
The gentle rosy shade of pink on his face darkened.
"Lance." The boy with the waves on his ankle responded.
He giggled upon seeing the confusion on his classmate's face. It was a pure, joyful sound that resulted in a small smile tugging at the other's lips.
"That's my name, silly." Lance grinned, smile missing a few teeth.
The other boy allowed himself to relax a little, causing a soft smile to overtake his round features, "I'm Hunk."