Early Morning Epiphany

A Codename: Kids Next Door Fan Fiction

By

~CallMeButLove~

KND © Mr. Warburton

Stumbling, the boy of seventeen plus years on this earth groaned and mumbled grumpily. Hair in all directions except downwards, he padded with heavy sleep-laden limbs forward a few more steps. He fumbled with his bureau drawers and made his way without his eyes. He was much too tired to open them. This was absolutely cruel, utterly inhumane torture. His mother insisted on waking him for a family-togetherness type breakfast at who knows what hour of the morning and she further insisted that he shower before showing himself at her table. Somehow, the smell of stale smoke, and old sweat did not seem to gel with her idea of a pleasant morning meal. She knew he'd been out late – she'd fumed when his father had agreed to it, so why was she doing this to him? Oh. Payback. Punishment. Yep. His head was pounding, his arms felt like lead, and his leg muscles screamed in protest at holding him off the floor. It'd been so long since he'd danced all night like that, and he wouldn't have had it not been for a certain person begging him to come with them to that club...

Blearily blinking as the bathroom light stabbed shards of awareness into his brain by unyielding, irrefutable force. The boy removed his pajama bottoms and the softly worn out t-shirt that he favored for sleeping and turned on the water with a cavernous yawn. The heat of the steam began to caress his fatigued form and he gloomily stepped into the shower as the last of his night clothes hit the floor. The precious, kindness of the hot droplets massaged away the stiffness and aches from his limbs and the boy gradually began to recognize himself once more as a youthful teen. The tired 'old man' that had arisen from the bed a short while ago was being slowly rinsed down the drain with the soap and shampoo suds. As the feeling of refreshment continued to spread throughout his body, the boys thoughts began to wander toward memories of the night before. Music and light pounding, people laughing and smiling, moving together in synchronization, some talking and simply enjoying each others company. Then the image of a girl floated across his mind's eye. One girl who could outshine the sun. If she ever truly realized her own power, there would be no one living who could ever withhold anything she desired from her grasp.

This girl was the one who talked him into going with them last night. She danced, and spiraled across the floor, her radiant smile revealing the pure joy that music brought to her. Her hands reached out to him and suddenly there was no strength or resolve left in him. There was no resisting a creature like this, whose every move is grace personified, whose every word leaves the listener hungry for more of the honeyed sound of her voice. This siren whose every glance could ignite a flame in any man who happened to be within it's light. There was something overwhelmingly powerful about the idea that she would reach out for him over any other potential dance partner in the room. The eyes of those who had been overlooked traced the progress of their victorious rival with venom and copious amounts of jealousy. A sly grin crept onto the boys features as he remembered the feeling of satisfaction, even possessiveness that he felt as he moved with this girl in his arms. Mine! The water rained down for several minutes more, as his memory replayed the rest of the night and completely obliterated any regret he might have still harbored over the fatigue and aching he had felt upon awakening this morning. She was worth it. Being with her and seeing her so happy was more that worth anything he ever had to go through. Her perfectly elegant body, her shimmering hair, her bright eyes brimming up at him, sparkling when she regarded him. It even seemed that they lost the sparkle whenever she looked elsewhere. Happy? Yes. But when she turned to meet his gaze there was an amazing light in them beyond just happiness and that was the sparkle that only he was granted. Her gift to him alone.

Suddenly all the heat had been in the water dissipated and icy rivers flowed down his scalp and over his skin. However that was the last thing on the teen's mind as shock etched his face and widened his eyes to saucer-like diameter. The weight of realization came crashing down on his shoulders like the proverbial ton of bricks and the boy actually stumbled just slightly. The risk of slipping in the now frigid water and landing unceremoniously on the porcelain tub's floor sobered him just enough to allow him to get out and turn the knobs to stop the downpour. Frozen in place as though the cold water had turned his very blood to ice, he stood stock still unable to move, barely breathing as his heart obstructed his airway being lodged in his throat. He dripped on the terrycloth mat as he stood, his body shivered in response the air on his unprotected and soaked skin. He didn't notice at all. The ice he'd become cracked and a smile that filled the mirror before his appeared on his young face. Suddenly he couldn't wait to get the day started, suddenly his mother's homemade pancakes seemed the most fabulous meal anyone could offer. Suddenly there was a bright sun in his sky, and a beautiful summer day was beckoning him to join it and nothing could tether his spirits to the earth ever again. Suddenly he was soaring!

With movements almost to rapid for the eye to catch, he finished drying, dressing and even re-hung the towels on the bar. His hair he combed on his way down the stairs and as he landed at the bottom with a spring he whooped, startling the other members of his family. He grinned at them and sprinted to his mother, kissed her cheek and promising to be back before she could serve his plate asked if he could bring someone back with him for breakfast. Once she had knowingly acquiesced the mother's son bounded out the door with a bang and she smiled as she followed him with her eyes until he turned the corner toward the only house in Cleveland that he could be headed for. Her house. This boy's mother was no fool, she knew exactly where he was in such a hurry to go. She had been there when that special girl had plied him into going dancing. She saw the truth behind her son's eyes that even he couldn't see. Apparently he couldn't until now, anyway.

As the young man's feet ran the familiar path he finally allowed himself to admit what he had for so long been refusing to see. I love her! I really, really love her! This was not some crush, not some fleeting, purely physical attraction that would fade as soon as someone new and appealing entered his sight. These feelings were deep, they were real, and he meant to make sure she knew it starting today. Starting today, everything would change. Starting today everything would be new. He stopped abruptly in the middle of the quiet street and yelled it to the skies! He was fairly certain as only a man in love can be that the girl he longed for shared his feelings. The sparkle in her eyes - his sparkle, told him that much. He reached the door and knocked with gusto and when it opened to reveal his love, the sight nearly knocked him flat. Once more her hand reached out to him and this time he took it with not a trace of hesitation or resistance. She smiled up at him softly as they walked back to his house, a single tear slipping from her eye as his arm wrapped around her and silently pulled her close. No words of explanation were needed or exchanged. They simply knew. As they stepped up to the door of his house he leaned down and placed the most tenderly soft kiss on her lips that he could muster and looking down at her now, he couldn't help but be amazed at his luck. Who knew that his mother's ridiculous Saturday tradition would lead to this? Who knew that getting up early for pancakes would bring him to this joyful moment? Never in his life had he ever been more grateful, for this silly breakfast had brought him the most exquisite early morning epiphany.