A/N: While swinging on the swing set at my neighborhood park, I got the urge to draw the two of them on an old plank-and-rope swing. Then, while drawing, came the inspiration to write a fluffy child!VR story with the same idea. The picture can be found here:
poetic-kitsune(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Swing-Together-127347717
Mini-contest!! Whoever writes the most random review will get a PM from me saying that they win and shall get the prize of any oneshot they choose. You can look at my profile for all the fandoms I have written for thus far (lots of anime, though; sorry), and can choose one of those fandoms and a pairing/theme, and I'll write it. So be funny, be random! Get a oneshot of your choosing! :D
P.S. The school teacher name I use is my real first-grade teacher's name. I loved her. She had short strawberry blond hair, perfectly straight, and always wore a headband behind her bangs. She also has freckles all over her body, covering her arms and chest and neck and face. She was pretty, though. And so very sweet. Like I said, I loved having her as a teacher.
At age six, one's attention span is limited. All you want to do is move onto the next thing. And having been 'home schooled' by his mother for preschool and kindergarten, all little Virgil Hawkins wants to do is hurry summer up and go on to first grade in late August.
But it's July now, the second to be precise, and while others are getting ready for fireworks and cookouts on the fourth, Virgil's growing restless in anticipation. He can't wait to meet other children his age, and have a teacher besides his mommy, and jump off the swings at recess.
He's been practicing that last thing. He's been going to the park in the middle of the city with his mom and Sharon while his dad worked at the Center. Sharon would always run off to the slides and sandbox with some other girls, and Virgil would always venture out to the big oak tree above the small river that runs through the park. That tree has the best swing; it's nothing more than a giant old plank of wood chipped on the edges and with drilled holes for the withered rope to loop into and tie underneath of, but it goes higher than the plastic-and-chain-linked swings at the playground.
Plus, if you swing while facing the river, it feels like you're flying over the water like a bird. And if you jump off, you can land and roll down the hill or straight into the water, depending on which way you face. His mother, though, told him not to jump into the water if he wants to jump. She said that the undertow could drag his tiny chubby body away. So he opts to face the hill.
It's on one of these trips on July second that Virgil finds another boy in his swing. He frowns, because no one should be in his swing. It's not right.
He storms up the hill to the big tree and places his dark hands on his hips. "Hey, you!" he barks at the boy, "That's my swing!"
"Nuh-uh, it's everybody's swing," the other retorts as he stops pumping his legs in order to slow the swing down. "But if you want to swing with me, it'd be okay with me. Mom says that I should share if I got something someone else wants."
"You can't swing two people on one swing!" Virgil frowns further, his nose scrunching.
He stares at the other boy, who's not brown like he is. He has a light tan from the summer sun, but his skin is a pale peach. And his hair is bright blond, nearly yellow in the sun. And his eyes are hidden behind big square glasses, purple ones, like Chuckie Finster on the Rugrats. This boy is strange, but Virgil likes that the boy's t-shirt has Darth Vader on it. Virgil loves Star Wars; he watched it with his dad once, a whole marathon of all three movies, and loved it.
"Yes you can," the boy replies. He stops the swing and stands up, his hands gripping the rope high above his head. He makes his sneakers as far apart form each other as possible. "C'mere; all you gotta do is sit in the middle and swing normally while I hold on up here. It's how my cousin taught me how to share a swing," the blond boy explains.
Narrowing his eyes, Virgil decides that it can't be too bad to try that. So he hikes over to the swing and plops himself down. "Sure you won't fall off?"
"I'm sure," the other boy says. As Virgil starts to pump his legs to get the swing in motion, the boy asks, "What's your name?"
"Virgil," he answers. The boy's legs bump his elbows.
"Haha, Virgil is a funny name. Can I just call you V?" the blond giggles.
Virgil shrugs. "I guess." He pauses as the wind picks up around them. They're actually going higher because of the extra weight, Virgil realizes. He smiles. "What's your name?"
"Richard, but everybody calls me Richie. You can call me Richie, too," the boy says, his voice coming from above Virgil's head.
He glances upward to stare at the boy, and finds that the boy is looking back. He grins, wind blasting his dark abundance of curls back from his forehead. "Are you gonna go to Dakota Elementary next month?"
Richie nods. "Yep. My mom says that I've got a lady named Mrs. Harrison."
"Really? I have her, too!" Virgil says in a chipper tone.
"Yay! We should sit together in her class, and be best friends. That way we can talk the whole time and share craft stuff," Richie suggests as he helps Virgil swing. The summer air heats his face, and he sweats, but he likes it. It's more fun when you're swinging with someone else.
"Okay," Virgil agrees. This kid ain't so bad after all. "Maybe you can come over to my house before school starts and we can buy matching folders. I was gonna get Star Wars."
"I love Star Wars!"
Virgil laughs as his legs kick extra high. "I guessed that you did. You have Darth Vader on your shirt."
"Darth Vader's a bad guy, but I think he's awesome. I have a helmet just like his."
"I have a red lightsaber like his," Virgil replies excitedly. "And I have a blue one. We should fight with them sometime!"
"Yeah!"
Already Virgil can feel that he won't mind being best friends with this kid. He's already a lot like Virgil, and he likes that. And it's good, too, 'cause now he knows someone before school, which will make things easier during it.
They swing for another half hour before leaping off and tumbling down the grass together, finally stopping at the base of the hill. White dandelion seeds cling to their clothes, and there's a fallen leaf in Richie's hair. Without thinking about it, Virgil leans over to pluck it out of his hair as if it came naturally to keep Richie clean. He smiles, and the blond boy returns it.
"Thanks," Richie says. He takes the leaf and tears it up in his small hands. He blows it in Virgil's face. "But now it's all over your hair!"
Virgil laughs as he shakes his head like a wet dog. The green chunks fall soundlessly. "This means war," he states like Bugs Bunny. He rips grass from the ground and chucks it at Richie. "Grass fight!"
The keep this up for a while, too, until Richie's mom calls him. "Aw, I gotta go," Richie sighs glumly. "I'll see you later, V."
"Bye Richie," Virgil says. As the paler boy walks away, something pops into his head. "Wait!"
The two turn around, Richie's mom smiling (and yet her eyes looks tired, sad) and Richie blinking. "Yeah?"
"When's 'later'?" Virgil wonders. "Are you gonna see the fireworks on Thursday?"
Richie looks up at his mom. "Are we, Mommy?"
She nods. "Everyone is."
"Cool! We can sit together, then."
"How? There's gonna be a lot of people here to see them," Richie whines.
Virgil doesn't know the answer. But Richie's mom has an idea. "Why don't you two meet up at the oak tree swing? You both know where it is, and since it's on a hill, it gets a good view of the fireworks."
Virgil brightens. "Great idea! Thanks, Mrs.… uh…"
"Foley. Didn't Richie tell you his last name?"
Virgil shakes his head, and Richie dips his head down in embarrassment for forgetting to mention it. But Virgil hadn't said his last name, so Richie hadn't bothered to say his.
"Well, now you know. We have to go, but make sure to tell your parents, okay?" Richie's mom smiles. She's obviously happy that her son has a new playmate. "Say goodbye now, Richie."
"Bye 'gain, V. I'll see you on Thursday!"
"Bye-bye!" Virgil waves as the two walk away to where they parked their car. Grinning, he races to the playground to find his mommy and tell her all about his new friend and plans for the fourth, as well as for when school starts. She'll love to hear that.