The young man stood outside of the little antique shop with his hands in his jacket's pockets. He pulled one hand out and glanced down at his watch. Letting out a quiet breath through his nose, he glanced over his shoulder through the shop window.
A boy, not much younger than himself, with brown tousled hair was leaning over the front counter casually chatting with the woman behind it. He suddenly laughed good-naturedly as the woman gave him an unamused scowl.
The young man turned his head back around to gaze out across the main street, a quiet sigh escaping his lips. He glanced back down at his watch one last time before stuffing his hand back in his pocket and turning to leave.
"Hi," a voice suddenly spoke from in front of the young man.
He tensed for a brief second in surprise and glanced down, quickly relaxing when he recognized the brown haired young boy that had appeared on his doorstep just the other day. The boy's smile was just as energetic as then and he wore that same pale green backpack.
The blonde didn't reply as he merely stood there with a slight frown of annoyance.
The boy suddenly frowned as well as he peered around the older male to look into the shop window.
"Are you waiting for someone?" He asked curiously.
"No," the blonde muttered simply, stepping past the boy and heading down the sidewalk.
The boy's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly ran to catch up to the older male's long strides.
"Oh! Well, where are you going?" He asked, smiling back up at the blonde as he tried to keep pace.
The older male considered ignoring the kid but he knew that would only bring about more incessant questioning.
"My house," he snipped quietly.
"Oh, cool! That's on the way back to my house! I'll just walk with you," the boy responded, quite pleased with this turn of events.
The young man suddenly stopped, letting out a quiet breath. He turned to the boy who had stopped as well with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Look, boy, I don't-"
"I'm sorry about what happened the other day," the young boy suddenly interrupted glancing away with a shrug. "I just thought that if you saw the book, maybe you'd remember who you are. That must have seemed kinda weird though." The boy gave him an embarrassed smile.
There was a long silence as the blonde just surveyed the kid.
"Oh, yeah," the boy suddenly spoke, holding his hand out to the other male. "My name's Henry!"
The young man merely stood there, unmoving. The kid's persistence coupled with his soft face and wide, hazel eyes was rather... adorable, for lack of a better word. The blonde figured he could at least humor the kid.
"James," he finally responded quietly, taking the boy's hand.
Henry smiled warmly up at the blonde before stuffing his hand back in his coat pocket. The boy rocked back on his heels a couple of times as an awkward silence fell upon them.
"So... Are you living with anyone?" He asked with another innocent smile.
James cocked an eyebrow ever so slightly. This kid really was persistent.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" He asked with a tiny amused smirk.
Henry frowned for a moment but then smiled innocently once more.
"Uh... No?" He offered.
An old, yellow car suddenly sped past on the main road but then screeched to a halt. It slowly began creeping back towards them. James watched the car out of the corner of his eyes and felt himself instinctually lean a little towards the boy protectively. His cold stare remained locked on the car as it stopped beside them until he suddenly noticed the blonde woman behind the wheel.
She gave Henry an unamused look as she shifted the car into park and pushed open the driver's side door.
"Emma!" Henry greeted in surprise, smiling and waving.
James immediately felt his shoulders relax but he frowned slightly, wondering why he would feel protective of a kid he had just met.
Emma heaved a sigh as she walked over to the two.
"Henry, what are you doing out here?" She asked, stopping beside him. "Mary-Margaret called your mom and said you didn't show up at school. Of course your mom called me worried sick."
Henry frowned.
"Sorry. I was just working on... uh..." He shot a glance over at James before whispering up to Emma, "Operation Fairy Dust."
Emma's brows furrowed in confusion as she glanced over at the young man.
"Why don't you go wait in the car," she finally said, patting Henry on the head.
Henry nodded and then waved to the young man before walking over to the car and climbing into the passenger's seat.
Emma looked back over at the blonde standing in front of her and cocked an eyebrow as she surveyed him. She didn't particularly like the idea of Henry hanging around an older teenage boy. Older teenagers were generally bad news and this kid looked like he was full of nothing but. The two crossed scars stretching across the side of his face certainly didn't help either.
'He's probably involved in a gang,' Emma thought to herself with a frown.
"What's your name?" She finally asked in her sheriff voice.
"James," the young man responded simply.
Emma narrowed her eyes a bit as she studied him. For some reason, that just didn't sound right.
"What are you doing hanging around my kid?" She pressed with suspicion.
A tiny smirk rose to James' lips as he looked Emma right in the eyes.
"Your kid came up to my doorstep the other day wanting to show me a book of his. And then he came up to me again today asking me questions."
Emma rolled her eyes and let out a sigh as she glanced through the passenger side window at Henry. She angled herself so that her back was slightly to the young boy as she lowered her voice.
"I'm so sorry," she began with an embarrassed smile. "I promise, he does that to everyone. He thinks this town is full of fairy tale characters from his book. I'm just kind of going along with it so he doesn't lose his... imagination or... something."
James suddenly caught a glimpse of a door opening over Emma's shoulder. He tilted his head ever so slightly to watch as the brown haired boy he had seen talking to that woman earlier stepped out of the antique shop. He shut the door behind him before stuffing his hands in his coat's pockets and heading off down the sidewalk away from the two.
Emma suddenly noticed the young man's gaze, glancing over her shoulder at the other boy. She turned back to James with a quizzical expression and motioned with her thumb.
"Is that a friend of yours?" She asked.
James looked back over at Emma once the boy had disappeared.
"No," he replied simply, his expression cold.
Emma watched the boy as he suddenly gave her a very tiny smirk.
"If that's all, Sheriff, I'll be taking my leave."
The young man turned away from the woman and took one step before suddenly stopping.
"Oh, one last thing," he drawled, his smirk widening slightly as he angled himself back towards Emma. "You should keep a closer eye on Henry. You never know what kind of... psychopaths live out here."
Emma's expression darkened as James turned back around and continued on, calling over his shoulder one last amused remark.
"See you around, Sheriff."