Only One in Color

By: Rhuben

Summary- Riley figures out why she likes Kendall so much. Kendall/OC one-shot.

"There is no one like you. And in a world of black and white, you are the only one in color." –Trapt

Kendall Knight was a dork. Plan and simple. It was no wonder that Riley was attracted to him.

She never thought it would ever happen. When she first met him, hockey terms came flying out of his mouth left and right and his constant talking back and optimism about how he was going to make James's dream come true was enough to give anyone a cavity with how sweet his intentions were. Others thought it was cool of him, but it was annoying to her. At first. Everything about him at first was annoying. His speeches, his 'go team, go' attitude, and his infatuation with hockey.

Especially with how badly he wanted to be friends with her and her brothers and sister.

Now, a lot of people wouldn't think that would be a problem, someone wants to be friends with you. But, she didn't think she deserved to have friends, nor did she think she could be a good friend. Having gone for years constantly working, producing new music, and doing live shows and performances, she never had the chance to have a normal childhood or really know how to make friends.

And while his obsession of getting her to admit that they're friends drove her insane, it made her feel special. She was getting attention in a good way, attention the media couldn't give her. Normal, friendly attention. The attention that someone gives when they stop what they were doing and ask how they were that day and wait for an answer. The attention when they're waiting for you so they can tell you a story of what happened during their day. The attention that shows that someone cared about her. Something she had always wanted. She never thought it would happen.

But, here she was, getting a piggy back ride from her boyfriend, Kendall, wearing one of his famous beanies, through Palm Woods Park, letting out a combination of a shriek and a laugh as he occasionally and suddenly spun around in circles. And she was the happiest she had ever been in her life, and she never thought she would get to this point. But, that was their thing; piggy back rides, such as their competitive behavior, plan making when trying to get around Gustavo about something, and their love of sports (him hockey and her baseball) and their secret handshake. It defined them.

"Everything okay, Ruby?" Kendall asked, using his special name for her, partly because red was her favorite color and she wore at least one thing that was red (also as a way to get people tell her and her twin sister apart). And because he compared her beauty to that of a jewel. It was cheesy and pretty dorky, but it was him and she loved it. And she was a romantic at heart (not that she would ever admit that to anybody).

"Bonzer, why?" Riley replied in her thick Australian accent. Kendall hitched her farther up his back, craning his neck to look at her.

"You've gone quiet," Kendall commented as he set her down onto the ground.

"Is that weird?" Riley asked, as he reached up to adjust the beanie on her head. She smiled up at him and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Well, yeah, ever since we've become friends I don't think I've ever heard you stop talking," Kendall replied with a smirk, "or yelling at me, and James, Carlos, and Logan because we do something stupid, or calling me Eyebrows, or Kendoll, or Kendork, or—"

"Hockey-Head, shut up," Riley commented, rolling her eyes shaking her head. She stepped forward to give him a quick kiss before "I've just been thinking."

"About what?" Kendall asked, taking her hand, swinging it back and forth, giving her a boyish smile. She glanced briefly down at her feet before looking up at him.

"Why do you like me?" she asked, looking up at him.

"You know why," he replied, "I know you know why." He shrugged and said with a wistful sigh. "But, if you must make me say it: I love you because you're pretty." He quickly kissed her. "Because you're beautiful. You're clever. I love it when you laugh at my joke. Believe it or not, I love it when you laugh at me and make fun of me, because it means you're thinking about me. I love your smile and I love how you care for me. Sometimes you look like you don't care about me, which drives me crazy, which makes me want to get your attention even more.

He peered at her, his smile widened when he saw the blush that reached her cheeks. She hated that about him, too; that he could get her to blush so easily, but at the same time, she liked knowing that it was him that could do that to her. An evil glint came to his eye.

"You know, Ruby, it's because I can't live without you in my life," he said, taking on a dramatic turn. She rolled her eyes, scoffing, although she wanted to laugh at the same time. "I love your every touch."

Weirdo.

"You were made just for me."

Dork.

"Boofhead," Riley laughed, shaking her head.

"You don't think I'm being serious?" Kendall asked, laughing too.

"Do you think you're being serious?" Riley replied. That was what she always did with him.

Whenever he wanted advice, and asked for her opinion, she always answered his question with a question. It was her way of helping him. Instead of telling him what he should do, she helped him figure out what to do for himself. That drove him crazy as well, but he love her for it.

"Seriously, I love you for so many reasons," Kendall said, brushing her lock of red hair out of her eyes. "I want to make you feel like you're worth it, that're you're accepted, that people aren't wasting their time with you because that's what I want you to do for me."

Riley looked down at her feet, chewing on her bottom lip. He put his finger under her chin, tilting her head back to look at him. Cheese ball move.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked, her eyes flickering back up to look at him.

"What are you afraid of?" he shot back.

She tilted her head to the side, giving him an amused look. "I asked you first, boofhead," she replied, raising her eyebrows. She shrugged. Fuck it. "I'm scared of not knowing what's going to happen. What about you?"

His eyes never left hers as he simply replied, "losing you."

Kendall was a dork. But, he was her dork and a nice change to her normal, repetitive, day. He was her "Knight Light" (not that she would ever admit that); he was always there to save her from something. She wouldn't change a thing about him for if she did, he wouldn't be the person she fell in love with, her burst of color in her black and white world; hockey jersey and all.

The End

A/N: Personally, I actually see this song being used more for the Lolla pairing as I think it emphasizes an existing friendship that someone relies on, but I wanted to use it here. I haven't written a Kiley one-shot in a while and thought of this as I listened to the song. Hope you liked it.

And "Knight Light" came from Riley. It's what she calls the Kendall/Riley pairing.

Cheers,

-Rhuben