Xirysa Says: For Kitten Kisses, since she's awesome and deserves something awesome for her birthday. Unfortunately, I am not capable of such awesomeness, so… I hope this is good enough.

Of Yellow Monsters and Chocolate Chip Cookies

-x-x-x-

It was big. It was scary. It was loud and smelly and looked like it would eat him up if given the chance.

It was also Kent's ride to school.

The six-year-old gulped and tightened his grip on his backpack before turning to his mother, who stood a few feet away from the bus stop with some of the other parents in the neighborhood. Kent still couldn't understand why he had to take the bus to school even though his parents were perfectly capable of dropping him off instead. But when Kent had asked about it, his father had muttered something about how ridiculous gas prices were.

Grown-ups, Kent had decided, thought about silly things.

But there really wasn't anything that Kent could do at that point—the stinky yellow death trap was pulling up to the curb, and all of the parents were hugging their children goodbye. Kent turned to his own mother, who smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"Be a good boy," she told him, "and have fun." Then, she walked away.

Kent stared after her. Here he was, about to be eaten by a loud yellow monster, and his mother had told him to have fun?

Grown-ups didn't make much sense, either.

Beside him, a girl who seemed to be about his age was speaking very quickly to a stern-looking man in a language Kent had never heard before. It almost sounded like a song. The only words he managed o catch over the sound of the bus as it screeched to a stop were "I love you" before the man hugged the girl and walked away.

As they stood in line in front of the bus (which Kent kept thinking would gobble them up at any minute) the girl looked at him.

"Hello," she said, "my name is Lyn."

He blinked at her. "I'm Kent," he said slowly as he took a step towards the bus.

Lyn followed. "Hi, Kent." She frowned. "What's wrong?"

Step. "My parents said to never talk to strangers."

Step. "But I'm not a stranger—I live three houses down from you!" Step. "I see you and your dad walking your dog all the time."

"But I don't know who you are," Kent said. Step.

They were climbing up the steps of the bus, now. "Yes, you do!" Lyn exclaimed. "We just met, you see?"

Now, they were walking down the aisle of the bus. "So?" Kent asked as he sat in an empty seat near the front.

Lyn sat next to him. "That means we're friends, now!" She opened her backpack and pulled out a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. "Want one?"

Kent eyed the cookie and licked his lips. He barely noticed as the bus lurched forward. "Why?"

"Because, silly," she said, "you're my friend!" She held the cookie out to him.

Kent shrugged and took it. "Alright," he said. "We're friends."

And as Lyn chattered on and on beside him as he munched on his cookie and stared out the window, Kent realized that the bus wasn't so terribly scary after all.

-x-x-x-

Xirysa Says: And, well, there you go. When I asked her what kind of 'fic she wanted, Manna told me that I should do a "cutesey AU". Um, I rather fail at writing "cutesey," so… Yeah. I also, once again, kind of gave up on the title. My capacity for laziness can be rather overwhelming, I'm afraid... Feedback, though, would be great!