A Crush
Acepilot

AN - A show-age fic, just to prove I can. Well, that and I really liked the idea for the fic, so I just kind of wrote it in a gap between classes. Hope you enjoy it.

Dedication - to Jonathan, because his Pretend Dates is the best and most inspirational piece of show-age fiction ever written.

Disclaimer - the characers in this fic are property of KlaskyCsupo.

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Phil DeVille was not inclined often toward sitting around thinking about the idea of soulmates.

This in itself wasn't at all surprising. As an 11-year-old male, it was broadly not expected of him to be contemplating true love and perfect matches and the like. He was far more interested in things like soccre, baskeyball, goofing around, practical jokes, and other, more stereotypically "guy" kind of things.

But, every so often, he found himself intrigued by the notion that he might have a perfect girl out there for him somewhere. And he didn't think it was a coincidence that the thought of soulmates always arose when she was around.

Like that time when and Tommy had been playing some basketball, and she had promptly invited herself to join in, before kicking both their respectives behinds in a surprisingly athletic display.

He threw a scrunched up ball of paper at the back of her head, causing her to turn and throw him a quick, irritated, "what?" look. He shrugged and grinned in what he vaguely hoped was a 'cool' kind of way. She looked puzzled, but at least managed to smile in...amusment? Bemusement? Something, before she turned back to face the front of the class.

Or that time when they'd been waiting in line for lunch, trying to get to the end of the line where they were keeping the really good food, and he'd started juggling dinner rolls to pass the time. She'd waited until he was in his final spectacular flourishes before tackling him rather unexpectedly, sending him crashing to the floor with rolls raining down on his head. She'd just laughed, and he'd felt himself glow red.

He watched the back of her head as she scribbled something in her book, probably something to do with whatever their class was about. He knew that he really should be paying attention, but he really couldn't be bothered right at the moment.

Or that time when they'd gotten seperated from the rest of the gang while racing around the mall and the car-park, and had to keep away from the homicidal security guards. When they'd collapsed against the wall trembling and struggling not to laugh from the overload of adrenaline, terror and fun. She'd rested her head on his shoulder for just a second and it had been the wierdest sensation he'd ever had.

He was jerked out of his reminisence quite rudely by a small, scrunched up ball of paper hitting him in the head. It bounced off and landed on his desk, where he stared at it blankly for a few seconds. After careful deliberation, he unfolded it slowly, to read several shapes that he was fairly certain were Japanese script, and underneath them, a short note -

You're getting stranger by the year, you know?

He grinned.

Or that time when they were camping and they'd both managed to wake up before everyone else and they sat watching the sunrise. Normally, he didn't get anything out of sunrises, but this one felt...special. And he was fairly certain he knew why.

And then they'd woken everyone else up by tearing around the campsite singing, very badly, at the top of their lungs, "Oh What A Beautiful Morning", to which they couldn't remember the lyrics.

He wrote a return note and sent the ball of paper sailing back to her, finding himself unable to wipe the smile off his face even as the teacher announced their new homework assignment. He was thinking about her. What did homework matter?

Or that time when they went around all the expensive shops on Main Street and trying to convince people they were seriously interested in buying stuff, only to annoy them by making it blatantly clear they had no idea what they were talking about.

He watched her read the note, and watched from the side of her face as a puzzled, then amused look overcame her. She turned around and raised an eyebrow at him, at which he just shrugged and kicked up his feet on the table.

Yeah, he didn't often sit around thinking about the idea of soulmates or anything. But for her, he'd make an exception.

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really short, i know, but i had some fun writing it.