there's a lot that i don't know, there's a lot
that i'm still learning, but i think i'm letting go *
High-pitched mirth tinkled the citrus-scented air around them, the giggles spilling from Kuki's lips. "No, no, no, silly!" she reprimanded laughingly, finding the bespectacled boy's errors comical. "You're doing it all wrong!"
"Numbuh Three, I'm doing it fine!" Hoagie insisted, waving the recklessly folded paper in the air indignantly.
Kuki rolled her eyes in blatant disagreement. "Sure, if you're making or-ick!-ami!"
He groaned, and crumpled up his unsatisfactory paper crane, tossing it halfheartedly across the room. It made contact with one of the large stuffed animals in Kuki's room before pathetically falling to the wooden floor. "What's the point of teaching me origami, anyways? I'm never gonna need it."
Kuki wrinkled her nose at Hoagie's statement in mild annoyance, shooting him a disparaging look. She tugged on the nose and tail of the dozenth paper crane she had created in the short period of time the close friends had spent together, making the wings of her creation flap quickly. The nurse then gingerly placed it in front of her on the duvet she lay on before returning her attention to Hoagie.
"You never know!" Kuki singsonged jovially.
The pilot raised an auburn eyebrow above his yellow-tinted goggles with doubt. Sitting Indian-style on the floor, he rested his elbow on his knee, propping his chin in his palm as he waited for a more useful answer.
"Make some 2x4 tech with it or something," Kuki suggested, shrugging. "Besides, you made me learn long division and algebra, and who needs that bologne?"
"You'll need long division and algebra, even after school," Hoagie promised. He picked up a dark blue square sheet of paper between his index and middle finger, examining the familiar shade and thinking of a certain someone. Hoagie didn't want to mess origami up on that particular paper, so he put it down and picked up a gray sheet. "But we only fold paper in Art, which we won't need after middle school. And I'm getting a C+ in Art."
Chewing on her bottom lip, Kuki exhaled sharply as she started roughly folding a swan out of orange paper. She succeeded in ignoring him for a few moments, but it wasn't long before she gave up.
Marked by distinct exasperation, she blew a few choppy locks of obsidian out of her eyes. "Still!" Kuki exclaimed, leaping into a sitting position on her knees. "Y'know, you're always teaching me stuff. Like in Math, and in Science, and about being a detective, and sometimes with the 2x4 stuff. But I never get to teach you anything, Numbuh Two!"
Hoagie looked up to meet her glassy, hopeful gaze, and of course, her signature persuasive pout. The one that Numbuh Four surrendered to quite easily, and the one that Bradley had inherited. Not even the assertive, the legendary Numbuh One could deny it without changing his mind moments later. How could he say no?
"All right," Hoagie gave in, Kuki beaming and squealing and clapping in response. "Just try to tell me what to do a little slower, okay?"
Okay, it's official, I can't write Hoagie for my life. But I tried. Truth is, I just suddenly felt the urge to write something for KND. Last night. And then somehow I lost the document and I had to rewrite it, and when I'm writing something for the second time from scratch it ends up even worse than before. So we have this rambley thing! Yay! Regardless, review please, I appreciate it so much. :)
&& lyrics from 'The Resolution' by Jack's Mannequin.