Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, they are owned byNINSHOO off of Gaia. Request fic.
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Atticus was out late this summer Saturday night, Alexzandra right on his tail, both looking to the ground, both really not paying attention to the other, and both really not caring what was on the other's mind.
It didn't matter any more, to them, with Alexzandra's parents gone at war, and Atticus and his problems – best friend dead and father... wherever he was.
They couldn't really describe the feeling of at least having the company of the other. They couldn't say it was warm and fuzzy, because Atticus had a problem with paying attention to anything other than trying to look for his father, and mourning over his best friend, and Alexzandra always had a dark aura around her that brought everyone down. Both were depressing to be around.
The warm night air swept past them, and Alexzandra looked up to the boy longingly; "I..." she muttered out, but she found it pointless to talk to the absentminded boy. They would eventually pass by her house if they kept heading the way they were going.
Atticus suddenly stopped; "Alex," he said quietly.
"Hm?"
"I'm going to get heading home," his eyes darted up to meet hers, the only eye contact that was made that night, and he let out a "G'bye" slip his lips with a hardly noticeable nod before he turned and started to head to the West of town, when they were heading North.
At least he said goodbye, Alexzandra thought, feeling a small bud of happiness bloom inside her stomach, a warmth coming in from inside her.
Her lips twitched into a little smirk, eyes glistening with something that a lot of people hadn't seen for a while, and she watched him for a minute before she started off North again.
–
Sunday, she woke up quite early, and went for a walk, watching the morning, light-orange tinged clouds, and feeling positively... What was the word...?
Elated.
That was it, elated.
She sat on a a bench, next to a businessman – slicked back brown-gray hair with premature wrinkles scattering his face – reading the newspaper, drinking his coffee and waiting for the bus, as she watched the trees and the birds and how the sun peeked over the tree-tops and houses from afar, but just enough to make her squint a little. She turned her head to the businessman, gently smiled at him, which he gave a smile back politely.
He didn't look too happy otherwise, turning back to his newspaper and reading it with a furrowed brow and a very u-turned mouth.
No, not happy at all, she thought bitterly.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
He looked up at her again, blinking stupidly at first, and then shaking his head; "Just looking at how the economy is doing. I forgot my glasses at home, so I can't read everything as well as I would like," he said simply, folding his paper in half and then tucking it into the brown leather bag next to him, his elbows meeting his knees as he leaned forward. "What about you? Why are you up so early on a Sunday?"
Alexzandra cleared her throat and said quietly, "I always wake up early, it's just I feel quite more uplifted to get up and do something today... you know that feeling?" she copied him, instead her knees tight together and her chin resting on her palms.
He seemed to drift out of it for a second before turning his head and looking at her, "From a very long time ago," he murmured sadly, "I miss it too, so keep in mind that you have to live out those moments to the fullest."
She nodded knowingly, licking her lips quietly, "Oh, I know."
He leaned back again, sighing and checking his watch. A minute later of silence, the bus came, and the businessman left with a nod of his head, straightening his tie and grabbing his bag, then going inside the doors of the bus and leaving her.
She gently nodded back as the bus was leaving, and just watched how a few other people were starting to get up, take walks, even get into their cars and go to work. It was near 8 AM in th morning, anyway.
Alexzandra found herself staring at a bird, pecking at a bunch of red berries across the street, twirling a strand of hair around her finger while kicking her feet back and forth. She stopped for a minute, and then got up, following the sidewalk back to her house, petting a dog on the way, a person happening to walk their dog in the morning.
When she got home, she made breakfast, only eating about half of it – putting the rest in the fridge – and then decided to listen to some music and do her homework that was due the next day that she was putting off the whole weekend because she was like any teenager, lazy and didn't want to do it.
–
It had been Monday night when she got the worst news: The war her parents were in was extended.
The day of school before the news, everyone was happy to see her... happier than normal. She didn't seem so down, and her aura, just being around her, was ecstatic. No one knew why; not even her.
Atticus found it harder to be around her at that time; she gave a smile to him, and only one, but it didn't last very long.
It was still a smile.
Atticus had the day to himself, pretty much, wondering if his father was ever going to return, mourning some more over Chiki...
Oh man, who had it worse than him? Alexzandra didn't have like him – he had to deal with the loss of his friend and parent, while hers were just gone for a while! She had nothing to complain about; his best friend – best friend – died, and he would never see him again. His hand gripped his hair in remembrance.
She can... she can suck it up, that's what she can do! He growled in his mind, She shouldn't complain, her parents are going to eventually return, while he's never going... ugh! I... How do you do that again...?
He shook his head, and then brought his pencil down to work on his test some more. Algebra, the most mind wrecking period of the whole day. He didn't like it, and the only people that did were the people who were advancing so well, they're in the advanced class.
He couldn't tell if he was envious or just angry at them for being better, or even worse, angry at himself for being worse.
Once he got done with the test – sure he got about half the answers wrong because he couldn't remember how to do something – he turned it in and started to zone out into his sobering thoughts. Dark corners of his mind that he tried to store away thoughts that really plagued him.
Once the bell rang, he gathered his things and headed out of the classroom, heading toward Gym, which he only had for a few more weeks until he was off of it for the rest of the two semesters.
–
That night, Atticus was laying on his bed, in between asleep and awake. It was around 11 PM at night, and the whole day at school tired him out to the point to when he got home, he collapsed on the couch, shoes and backpack still on, and slept, for an hour and a half until the phone rang, waking him up suddenly.
His eyes closed tight and his fingers folded together as he stretched his body along the bed, arching his back and curling his toes, popping some joints here and there, and then sat up completely, slouching over and rubbing his left eye with a fist.
Monday night, nothing to do... He got to his feet, wiggling his toes again on the cold floor, and then made his way to go down the stairs, being met by an asleep guardian on the couch, his dog curled up in its dog basket, also asleep.
He turned off the television, and then slipped into his shoes and light jacket. Another walk would be good, a clear night like this.
He opened the door to find Alexzandra about to knock; her knuckles actually hit his forehead once before she jumped back and muttered an "I'm sorry!", and then continued to accidentally slip down the stairs and land on her butt on the sidewalk.
Atticus blinked, and then helped her up, "You alright?"
She stared at him for a second, "Yeah, thanks for wondering..."
He nodded, "No problem... Why are you here, Alex?" he asked, brushing some hair out of his face, as she dusted herself off, walking down the step that she was pulled onto.
"Just... wondering if you wanted to go for a walk again."
"Again?"
"Like on Saturday."
"Oh," Atticus blinked before nodding, "I was just about to go for a walk, anyway."
The walked together down the sidewalk, and she fiddled with the end of her sweatshirt, sort of embarrassed at her entrance.
They walked down the sidewalk together, side by side, both thinking of something to say to conquer this buzzing silence of cicadas in the warm night air and tapping of their feet on the cement.
Soon enough, they made it to a near-by park, where Atticus told her that they should sit and swing on the swings; he didn't want to venture too far from the house.
Alexzandra nodded, and they walked over and took their seats on the sturdy plastic seats of the swings.
The metal bars above them creaked and moaned whenever they swung back and forth gently, or moved around too quickly and shifted their weight from off of it to on it again. It made Atticus' head ache after a while.
"So," he heard, making him face to Alexzandra, noticing that her eyes were absent of the slight-happiness that they held earlier; "The war got extended..." she said quietly.
His face contorted into a sneer; "That's too bad," he mumbled.
Alexzandra reached up and started to rub her eye from the tears that were welling up, "I-I really miss them, you know," she said shakily, "My parents?"
Atticus stood up abruptly, "And I miss Chiki and my dad! Suck it up, Alex, I don't want to hear it anymore! Stop being a baby! I'm older than you and I take what I lost better than you still have – they're just across seas, that's all! I'll never see Chiki again! I'll never talk to him, I'll never laugh with him! Don't you get it?!" he snapped, balling his fists and clenching his teeth hard.
Her eyes stared up at him, the tears streaming down her face like glass beads; "Y-you..." she dropped her head and fell to her knees on the wood chips and dirt, "I'm sorry! I mi – I miss them so much!" she sobbed into her palms, "I miss them, and there's a fifty-fifty chance that both of them won't come back alive, okay?! I'm sc-scared, and... and I don't have anyone to lean on!"
Atticus blinked. I-I made her cry...? He got down on his knees, putting his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him slowly, "I... I didn't know," he said slowly, "I'm sorry."
"You..." she sniffled gently, "You didn't do anything, Atticus... It's just..." she wiped away her tears with her sleeve, "It's just I feel really alone right now, a-and finding out that they're just going to stay longer pushed me over the edge... I freaked out..." she blinked at him, "I should be the one saying sorry."
Atticus shook his head, "No..." he murmured, "I'm sorry. We've been in the same situation for a while, and I should have realized that you have something, but can't have it, while I had something." He pulled her into a comforting embrace, noticing what he did wrong. He ignored the inevitable.
Alexzandra felt tears pricking at her eyes again, "N-no, Atticus..."
"Shh," he said, stroking down her back soothingly, "Calm down first, okay?" he purred, "I don't want to hear it."
She closed her eyes tight, the tears rolling down her cheeks again, as she muffled a sob into his shoulder, her arms snaking around his torso, gripping hard onto the fabric; "I'm – I'm sorry, I didn't mean...n to cry..." she choked, and then gripped harder, "I was g-going to be calm about this! I really was!"
She was being so childish; she was older than he was – he was right, she was being a baby, and she needed to grow up. This was going to happen one day, she had to make the most of the moments that she was happy, ecstatic, just feeling of not being so... alone.
In Atticus' arms, she was happy.
She couldn't really describe the feeling of at least having the company of the other. She could say it was warm and fuzzy, and Alexzandra could look into his eyes and find comfort. Absolute peace and comfort so that she could come to him when she felt like she was going to cry over the news, whatever it be. Good or bad, tears of laughter, she knew she could depend on him now – even if he was younger.
"I-I'm sorry you had to see me this way," she said, leaning away to wipe her eyes again. Before she could reach her hand up, Atticus swept her hand away by pushing it down by her wrist and wiping the wet spots away by himself with his sleeve.
"Sorry I had to yell at you," he said gently, "Cheer up, though... okay?"
She sniffled, and then nodded vigorously, "T-thanks, I will."
Atticus helped her up, and they sat on the swings again; Alexzandra reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling it down between them and then clasping their fingers together. He stared at her for a minute, and then smiled, which she gave a smile back, chuckling for a second.
"Promise me something, Alex," Atticus whispered, leaning over to her.
"Hm?"
"We'll go on walks more often," he ran the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand, and then kissed her softly; after a second, he pulled back and spoke. "And whatever it is, I want you to tell me what's wrong."
Alexzandra licked her lips, and then nodded again with a smirk, "Alright," she murmured.
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A/N: OKAYYYYYYY... Yeah. :3 I hope NINSHOO likes this! Working on everything else, too, so... YEAH xD'' It'll be updated soon.