Hey, wow. It's not a lemon! o.o This is an idea I've had floating around in my head. It has a bit of ambiguity to it, though. I myself don't quite know how I feel about the air of this story. While my initial intention was for this to be a cute little friendship-y interaction between some adorable children, I now see there could be romantic foreshadowing going on here. So for those of you who wish to think of it as that, more power to you guys. And for the platonic people, awesome. They ARE just kids after all. Take it either way! Yay! Here we go!

xxxxx

"Hey, wait up!" a child yelled as the trio ran around, immersed in their own odd little version of tag. The twins, Cindy and Lauren,
were outside playing with the only other kid in Zephyr Town, a spunky little fellow by the name of Kevin. As per usual, they hopped around on the stair-like ledges near the entrance of Anita's farm, laughing and chattering as they were wont to do.

Lauren, the younger of the twins, held a timid smile as she hesitantly bounded around on the grass with the other two, who were both far braver and more outgoing than she. Carefully, she watched the ground below her as she jumped up and down on the ledges, for she had a terrible fear of heights.

All of a sudden, Cindy turned to Lauren and Kevin behind her, a mischievous glint in her lavender eyes and a smirk on her small mouth.

"I think we should see who can run to the horse track the fastest... Let's have a race!" she declared, her tiny finger pointed to the sky.

The young boy of the three cheered loudly in agreement with the suggestion. Cindy's twin, however, hesitantly stared at her feet before giving a shaky and unsure nod. With that settled, the children lined up at the top of the stair ledges at the ready.

"Now, on three!" said Cindy.

The others nodded, staring ahead with determined expressions on their faces.

"...THREE!" she suddenly squealed out with a giggle.

And with that, she bolted, not bothering at the moment to look back at the astonished and rather dumbfounded looks she got. Once she landed on the ground at the end of the stair ledges with a muffled THUMP, she stopped to turn and grin impishly up at them.

"At this rate I won't even have to TRY to win, ya slowpokes! I dare you to try to catch up with me now!"

Then she turned back around and proceeded to dart across the bridge over the river as fast as her little legs would carry her, cackling with mirth.

"HEY, YOU NEVER COUNTED TO THREE, YOU CHEATER!" Kevin yelled, quickly stumbling down the ledges after her.

Not wanting to be left alone, Lauren ran too, forgetting to watch her footing as she headed down. Then she put her foot down on nothing but air and proceed to tumble down the first two steps with a loud shriek. Now flat on the ground with dirt on her dress and her hair mussed, her eyes filled with tears. As she sat up, she began to cry.

Hearing her behind him, Kevin stopped and turned his head to see what was the matter. Then he glanced ahead of him to see the last flash of Cindy's pink hair disappear around the bend that lead to Zephyr Town's horse track. He was torn... He really wanted to win the race, but he felt like he should turn around and help his timid friend out. His eyebrows knitted together as he momentarily mulled over the situation. Finally, he shook his head and whirled around. Cindy cheated anyway, so her victory wouldn't count this time, right?

Now he ran toward the steps again and hopped effortlessly up each one until he reached the fallen girl. He knelt down in front of her with a slight look of concern. In her disheveled state, she had also begun to hiccup pitifully.

"H-hey," he said in attempt to get her attention, "are you okay?"

No answer.

"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked.

She simply shook her head, her gaze focused on her lap. She wasn't hurt at all actually. The fall had simply shocked and alarmed her. Nevertheless, her tears continued to fall, causing the boy's face to take on a panicked expression.

"H-hey! Are you sure? Don't cry anymore..."

He placed an uncertain hand on her shoulder. The girl sniffed and looked at him as she wiped at her eyes.

"We should go catch up to Cindy now. We can't let her get away with what she did, right?" he said in an attempt to cheer her up.

Instead, her face contorted with panic and she burst into tears once more. Oh no! What did he do? Suddenly, she sprang up and threw her arms around his neck and began to weep into his shoulder. He staggered a little, his eyes wide and his face flushed a bright red. He quickly pulled himself back together and tried to look disgusted and slightly annoyed at her action. Then she squeaked something against his clothing so muffled he couldn't even try to understand what it was.

"Huh?"

"I don't wanna fall again!" she exclaimed with a brief lift of her head.

He pried himself away from her as gently as possible and looked away.

"Do you...want me to hold your hand?"

"What?"

"I can make sure you won't fall again that way," he stated, staring awkwardly up at the sky, still trying to look burdened.

"O-...Okay," she said finally.

Together, they lifted themselves up, and the little boy held out his hand to her, still carefully avoiding looking at her. Lauren wiped the rest of her tears from her face and dusted off what she could of her skirt. Then, timidly, she reached out and grasped his hand.

Hand in hand, they slowly and carefully stepped down each ledge, Kevin keeping a careful eye on her feet just as he said he would. Once they reached the bottom, they turned to look at one another, and he grinned at the girl, forgetting his tough boy act for now. Slowly, a smile crept over her own face, and with their hands still linked together, they ran to the horse track.

xxxxx

I dunno, I kinda like a softer side on a kid like Kevin. He comes off to me as a boy who generally thinks girls are icky and would probably not enjoy being hugged by one or holding one's hand. However, I believe he could overcome it in a case where he thinks one of his female friends might be in a serious situation, which is what made me think of this situation. Hope you enjoyed. I take criticism. Thank you, goodnight! :D