A few things:
Alfred and Kiku are the last living things on Earth (they don't know this for certain, but I do). Some event took place in the recent past that killed all life on Earth, aside from Alfred and Kiku. Whether this happened days or weeks ago is still kind of foggy in my mind. Rating may change later.
The ground is dusty and brown, void of all life that it once held. Kiku's sneakers look odd against it, blue and white—albeit covered in dirt—, remnants of life in the ruins of death. Any trees that once were are wrecked trunks of dead wood rising up from the ground, dead and useless things. Brown is the color of the ground. Brown is the color of the dead trees. Brown is the color of Kiku's eyes. Brown is the color of Kiku's despair. There should be grass, Kiku thinks in what should be a desolate manner, but is nothing but numb because that's what Kiku is. Numb.
"Holy shit! Are you alive?" The voice makes Kiku's eyes widen. A little sliver of emotion almost makes itself apparent, but it doesn't quite make it. Kiku turns around.
What he sees is a man with blond hair and blue eyes. He looks fairly tall, but many people are in comparison to Kiku. He looks happy to see another thing that still holds life. Happiness… Kiku thinks. When was the last time he felt such an emotion? When was the last time he felt any emotion?
"Yes, I am…alive."
"I haven't seen…I haven't seen anyone alive since…" The man's voice falls away, and he frowns. Kiku cringes. More traces of emotions; what about this man makes him…feel?
The man walks over and hugs Kiku. Human contact feels…reassuring, for lack of a better term. Now that he is so close, Kiku can smell dust and sweat on him, which is refreshing after smelling nothing but the smell of the destroyed world, even though that too smells of dust.
"What's your name?" The man whispers, still hugging Kiku. It's like he thinks this situation is fragile. If he speaks too loud, it'll crack. He'll wake up. It's a dream.
But, it's not a dream, because Kiku can feel the man's breath on his neck and feel himself sweating under the hot sun of what was once California.
"Kiku," Kiku answers, also whispering. Though, why he's doing this, he doesn't know.
"I'm Alfred." The two of them don't move for a long time. Finally, Kiku speaks.
"You're not going to break anything. The world is broken enough already." Reluctantly, Alfred breaks away from Kiku, giving him a chance to truly observe him for the first time.
Alfred's eyes are the first things that Kiku focuses on. They're a brilliant shade of blue, and they look especially gorgeous after seeing a world of nothing but brown and the faded colors of the occasional store. In them Kiku can see youth and hope, but he can also see something darker—something brought to Alfred from this dead world. A twinge of emotion comes over Kiku again, and all that he is certain of is that he wants to take the darkness away from Alfred.
There are bags under Alfred's eyes. It adds to the gloominess that seems to dust over Alfred's features. It's like a disease, a virus, a plague. Kiku knows that the same gloominess is on him as well—he's seen it in his reflection—, but it suits him better than it suits Alfred. Kiku looks numb. Alfred looks sad.
Then, there's Alfred's hair. Golden like the sun, even with the spatters of dirt and dust in it. It's so different compared to Kiku's own hair, black like the soundless, lonely nights that have become customary to him. Kiku feels like there's something significant about his and Alfred's contrasting colors, but he doesn't know what, exactly.
"How old are you?" Kiku asks because Alfred looks so young.
"Nineteen."
"I'm twenty-three." Kiku doesn't know why he says this. Alfred never asked him for his age.
"Can I come with you?"
"Where?" Kiku asks, though he knows the answer.
"Everywhere. I don't…I don't want to be alone." The prospect of going places with Alfred is strange. Kiku has been alone since the world died. But, that had been when Kiku had thought he was the last person alive. Now that he knows that Alfred is alive too….
"Yes," Kiku says, "you can come with me."
"Thank you!" Alfred says, and Kiku thinks that he can see the fleeting image of what Alfred used to be for just the smallest amount of time in those startlingly blue eyes of his.
They walk together in silence for a while. Alfred hovers extremely close to Kiku, which would bother him in normal circumstances, but in the current circumstance doesn't in the least. It's a reminder that he's alive. Though, whether or not Kiku still wants to be alive is questionable. Such thoughts about mortality and life are all floating around in Kiku's head like spider webs caught in the wind. What matters anymore?
"There should be grass," Alfred says, kicking at the ground. Kiku thinks that he and Alfred share a thought process.
"There should be," Kiku says, as if confirming some sort of spiritual question. He and Alfred will get along well.