Smile
By neka lopez aka klutzykay
The boy smiles a lot. And for some reason it irks Dan.
He isn't quite sure why, but he thinks the boy does it far too often.
Half of the time he seems to do it for absolutely no reason. He does it as his wide eyes meet another's and lock there, somehow making Dan wonder exactly what he sees with those searing blue orbs when he looks at people, and when he bends down to help someone with their fallen groceries. Hell, he even does it when the rude sales clerk at the record store looks like he's snubbed him...
...Yes, Dan decides as he watches the boy give a passerby a nod and a slight smile, he smiles far too often.
And yet each time the boy does it he can still feel his heart breaking all the same.
The boy smiles a lot. Dan notices it from afar in the unlikeliest of places, at the most inconvenient of times.
Because every time he does he finds himself stopping whatever it is he's doing to watch.
He likes to pretend he doesn't, but he does.
He's not sure why, but there's something captivating about smiling when he does it. It's somehow familiar to him, like a spark of light in the darkest of blacks, and what else is he to do but follow it for as long as he can?
Of course, that light always disappears far too soon for his liking as the boy slinks off to one place or another, and though Dan will never admit it, every time he does it feels like a part of him has died.
They have the same smile, he notices one day as they walk down the ramp at the docks, their eyes shining brightly with a mirth he can't understand and their faces alight with a love of life he will never know, their laughter soaring through the cool winter air to meet his unwilling ears.
He doesn't know why, but suddenly he's sent over the edge by a need to be there, too, laughing and smiling with them. He just wants to drop everything and walk over, to ride off into the sunset without a second thought to his obligations or the expectations of others.
But luckily he snaps out of it quickly, blinking into the harsh sunlight and looking away before anyone can notice that on his face there's a foolish look a lovesick puppy would wear.
And all he can think about in that last moment, watching them disappear from sight, is how they affect him so.
A part of him thinks it's because of the smile they share. The rest doesn't know quite what to think.
But there's one thing he knows for sure ... They have the same smile, and Dan simply can't stand it.
End.