Two boys were standing in the middle of a street, hugging each other with tears running down their faces. The oldest boy's father bent down and whispered something making both boys cry even harder.
"Don't go! I'll be lonely without you," said the boy with wild blond hair and vivid green eyes.
"We won't be separated forever. One day we'll meet again," said the older boy with long golden hair and sapphire eyes.
The younger looked up with tears in his eyes. "How will we recognize each other? People look different when they get older!"
The older boy took of his necklace around his neck and held it out on his fist. The younger boy stared at it. It was an exact copy of his necklace except the gem was blue, while his own was green. "We will never take off these necklaces so we can recognize each other!"
They younger stared at the silver necklace when an idea came in his head. "Why don't we swap necklaces? So we can have something to remember each other by."
They younger boy took off his necklace and held it out to the other. The necklaces were swapped and put on their new owners necks. "Venez Francis! Nous allons être en retard!" the older boy's mother called.
Francis started to walk towards the waiting car before he turned around and said, "Remember to always to wear the necklace! We'll meet again one day! I promise you, Arthur. Au revoir!"
Arthur replied, "I will! Bye Francis!" Francis got into the car and turned around so his face could be seen outside the window. Arthur stayed there on the road, waving until the car could no longer be seen.
After the last traces of the car were gone, Arthur turned around to follow his parents back to his house. He clutched the necklace the entire way back, repeating Francis' words in his head the entire time.
Later that day, his parents tried to get Arthur to take off the necklace to take a bath. He had a fit and hit his parents every time they tried to take the necklace off him. Eventually, his parents gave up, and let him keep it on.
When he curled up to sleep that night he stared at the jewel in the sword's hilt. His last thought before drifting off to sleep was how the jewel was the same color as Francis' eyes.
A loud beeping sound went throughout the room. Arthur grumbled under his breath before he turned it off. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying to wake up. His hand reflexively went for the necklace around his neck.
He lifted the sword above his head so he could look at it. The little light in the room glinted off the jewel. Arthur allowed his mind to wander as he looked at the jewel, thinking about the boy that the jewel reminded him of.
Arthur thought of Francis frequently what with the necklace around his neck always reminding him of Francis' eyes. True to his word back then, Arthur hadn't taken off the necklace once. Even when his lovers asked him to when they had sex, he would refuse saying it was too important to take off even once.
Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his short, sandy blond hair. It had been fifteen years since he last saw Francis. You would think that eventually he would get tired of waiting for him and take off the necklace despite his promise.
However, he couldn't. Every time he thought it was silly to keep the necklace on, something in his head said it was too special to remove it. True enough people did ask questions about his necklace and their reactions always varied when he told them the story behind it. Some people laughed and said he should just forget about him while others said it was sweet.
He actually got in a fight once in elementary school when someone said Francis was a weirdo for wanting to meet him again. They continued to say he had probably already forgotten about him and moved on. Of course that thought had actually crept upon him over the years.
Arthur shook the nostalgic thoughts out of his head and rolled out of bed. He went towards his kitchen and didn't bother to cook himself anything. Instead, he started making toast and started boiling water for his tea.
While he waited for the water to boil, he turned on the news to see if anything interesting happened. He mindlessly watched stories about fire and car accidents till he heard the kettle whistling.
He poured his tea and slowly drank it while looking outside his window. He would have stayed there longer, but after he saw the time he decided it was time to get ready.
A few minutes later Arthur was walking outside his house to get inside his car. He turned the ignition and backed out his driveway to go to work.
While stuck in London traffic, Arthur turned on the radio to entertain himself. Recognizing the song, Arthur started tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.
It wasn't much longer when he pulled in the parking lot in front of the company that he inherited from his father. He walked inside and nodded to the secretary before he headed towards his office.
When he got to the elevator he noticed that he wasn't the only one in there. "Hello Ivan. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you for a couple days."
Ivan turned towards Arthur and smiled what seemed, if Arthur didn't know better, an innocent smile "Not much."
Arthur raised an eyebrow, curious to what Ivan had been up to. "If you must know Toris' ex was trying to get him to come back to him. So I had to let him know that Toris was mine."
Arthur chuckled. "That would have only taken one day. What happened the second day?" Arthur asked even though he guessed the reason.
"I spent the second day reminding Toris why I'm better than Feliks in certain areas."
"So I imagine Toris won't be at work today on account of not being able to sit?"
Russia nodded. "He would have been out for two days but our date lasted a little longer than expected. Also, don't expect Feliks to show for a while either. I imagine he's both pissed off and scared."
Arthur smiled at Ivan as he walked out of the elevator. "You think Feliks would drop it. After all he didn't complain much when Toris left him."
"Maybe he just realized what he lost," Ivan replied before the elevator door closed.
Arthur waited until the elevator reached his floor, and then walked out towards his office.
Arthur started working on some paperwork when there was a knock on the door. "Enter." His secretary opened the door and informed him that the newest employee was coming up to see him. Arthur nodded and turned back to his papers as the door closed.
He made a habit of meeting all the new employees that he hired. He thought it was good policy to get acquainted with his new employees to make the business friendlier.
A few minutes later there was a timid knock on the door, notifying him of the new employee's presence. Not looking up from his paper, he said, "Come in."
When the door opened Arthur heart a gasp causing him to look up from his paper to see a sight that he wasn't expecting.
It was luck that Francis found the article in the newspaper. He usually didn't read the newspaper but something told him to look at it that day. He skimmed the titles of the newspaper when he read 'Kirkland Enterprise passed down to President's son'.
It was the name of the company that made him pause. He didn't want to get too hopeful, so he pegged the name as a coincidence. But he continued to read anyway. The world felt like it froze when he read the name of the person that the company was passing down to.
He read the name over and over to make sure he didn't imagine reading it the first time. He caressed the charm on his necklace as he read the article again.
With the passing of the Rob Kirkland, people have been wondering what would happen to his business. It has been recently announced that his company is being passed down to his eldest son, Arthur Kirkland.
There have been questions if someone this young can handle the pressure of running a huge business, but employees have informed us that Arthur had been a part of the running the company for a long time.
A press conference has been scheduled to answer any questions that people might have for Arthur.
Francis began researching the company and found some pictures of Rob Kirkland. When he looked at the pictures a smile appeared on his face. Other than a few more gray hairs, he hadn't changed since when he met him when they were kids.
It took a bit more effort, but Francis was able to find a picture of Arthur. It was a snapshot of him talking to his father. Francis immediately recognized him as the friend of his youth. He recognized his messy hair that hadn't seemed to change, his huge eyebrows, and his bright green eyes.
Since Arthur was turned to the side he couldn't see his front. Francis was relieved and disappointed at the same time. He had wanted to know if Arthur had kept one their childhood promises and kept the necklace on. However, there was a small part in his mind that was scared to find out if he kept it or not.
It was a few months before Francis thought about trying to meet Arthur face to face. He went to Kirkland Enterprise because that was the only way he knew how to meet Arthur.
He was nervous as he walked inside the company building, his feet clacking as he walked up to the reception office.
"Welcome to Kirkland Enterprise. How may I help you?" asked the receptionist with a smile on her face. Francis panicked and didn't know what to say. He felt foolish to think that he could simply ask to see the head of a company with the only reason them being childhood friends.
That's when he noticed the sign that said they were now hiring. An idea popped in his head and he started to speak. "I came to apply for the job opening." The receptionist nodded as she pulled out a form.
"Fill this form out and turn it in. When you come back with the completed form we will set up an interview date for you." Francis took the form and thanked the receptionist. As he was walking back to his car, his mind was thinking of ways to make this work.
He was positive that there would be competition for the job, as the company was very popular. His resume was mediocre at best, so he would have to nail the interview. Francis smiled as he got back in his car. Social skills came very easy to him, so he could easily charm his interviewer to give him the job.
Francis went drinking with Antonio and Gilbert before he got the nerve to start to fill the form out. He stalled bringing back the form until two days passed. This time he walked inside confident, knowing exactly what he was going to do.
After turning in the form he picked an interview date, and walked out of the company building once more.
Francis tried his very best at the interview, but he still didn't know if he did good enough to get the job. It wasn't until he got a call a couple of days later did he know that he did spectacular and got the job.
The call also informed him that his first day of work was going to be a week from now. Francis spent the week in a mixture of happiness and dread. Just the thought of meeting his childhood friend was enough to make him ecstatic. Then the evil thoughts would sink in.
He constantly worried that Arthur might have forgotten about him. Or that he remembered him, but decided he didn't like him. In his hours of worrying, he eventually came to a conclusion.
If Arthur was still wearing the necklace, he would rekindle their past friendship. If he wasn't wearing the necklace he would try and become friends with him anyways. After all, friends like him didn't show up often.
When he walked in the company doors again he was so nervous that he was fidgeting. It also didn't help when the secretary told him that Arthur Kirkland wanted to see him.
It was a few minutes later when he was outside Arthur's office. He carefully reached up and knocked on the door. "Come in." With his hand shaking, Francis turned the door knob.
Francis looked inside and saw Arthur hunched over his desk looking at a piece of paper. He involuntarily gasped when he saw the necklace around his neck.
Arthur looked and up and his eyes widened. Standing in right of front of him was a man that looked very close to Francis. What had him still in shock wasn't the resemblance but the necklace around his neck.
"Francis," Arthur asked in a hoarse whisper. Francis didn't have time to respond before he was pulled in a hug. Francis was shocked for a second before he returned the hug.
They just stood there before Francis broke the silence. "You remember me."
"Of course I do. How could I forget you?" Francis smiled in response. For the first time in days Francis felt happiness without dread.
Arthur was happy to see Francis again, but a little thought popped in his head ruining the moment. Did Francis remember all of the promises that they made when they were kids?
A/N: "Venez Francis! Nous allons être en retard!" Means: "Come Francis! We'll be late! Please review!