Day 3: Age Difference / Childhood Crush

Friendship

Richard wasn't the one to babysit. It wasn't that he didn't like kids, he loved kids, but it was the fact that he was missing a video game tournament with Gar and Vic. Richard sighed loudly before closing his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He looked over the edge of the sofa at the six year old little girl. She was holding a black cat plushie as she stood in a too big t-shirt that was no doubt her mother's. Raven was the daughter of Arella, one of Bruce's good friends. He didn't know who her father was, but according to Arella they had divorced a few months before Raven was born.

"Yeah…" He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. "I just had to drop out a tournament with Gar and Vic."

"They're your friends?" She sat down on the black sofa and looked at him.

"Yeah, we've been friends since kindergarten." He smiled.

"Must be nice." Richard looked over at her and raised an eyebrow at her comment. It wasn't much light in the living room but he could see her. Her eyes, they were showing of slight sadness.

"Are you okay?" Raven nodded, before hugging her toy. She was silent for a few minutes before she left the living room. Richard glanced at the clock, it was almost eight. One more hour to Raven's bedtime, and two more hours until Arella came home.

Arella had apologized so many times before, she was a single mom and sometimes had to job late to make sure Raven was okay. The usual babysitter, Azar, had been out of town this night. So she asked Bruce if Richard could babysit a few hours. Of course, Bruce hadn't given him a choice. It was mostly just to bug him, but he also thought it would be nice for Richard to not stay home and play video games for one night.

When Raven left the living room, he followed. Usually she didn't do that. According to Arella, which he talked to before the night, had informed him that Raven was a quiet child and rarely made any mess. But if sadness would show in her eyes, then it needed to be talked about. She explained that Raven had a hard time talking about feelings, so she kept everything inside.

Richard followed the six year old up the stairs without her notice. When she walked into her room, she didn't close the door all the way. Richard peeked inside.

Raven was definitely not like other kids. Her room was purple with black paintings all around, Arella had gone to artist school and had probably painted Raven's room to look like a fairy tail scene. There was everything from a castle, unicorns, dragons, knights, forests, birds. It was really amazing. There wasn't much else in the room, a small bed, a bookcase full of books, and a dresser. Richard shook his head. She had an artwork for walls but barely anything inside?

Raven crawled up into the bed and simply sat there. She stared at the plush cat for a long while. Richard was about to turn away when he heard her whisper. He didn't hear what she whispered, but he heard her whisper something.

"Raven?" He stood up and opened the door. She turned towards him, small tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?" She shook her head and turned away. Richard placed his hand on her shoulder, she shook her head again.

"Don't want to talk." She mumbled. Richard shook his head and headed to the bed, he sat down next to her. The six year old looked at him from the corner of her eye before turning back to the plush in front of her.

Richard thought for a second. "Talk about what?"

"That!"

"That what?" He smiled, she had almost taken the bait.

"Just that…" She didn't bite, he cursed to himself. Other kids would have taken that bait.

"Raven…"

"NO!" Raven threw herself into the purple sheets. "No, go away!"

"No, Raven I'm sorry, but if you're crying, I want to know what's wrong."

"You have friends…" She whispered, almost too low for him to hear. "... You have friends…"

Richard thought for awhile. What? What did she mean by that? Of course he had friends, most people did, didn't they?

"You don't have friends?" He asked, she shook her head.

"Only Midnight." She held up the stuffed black cat. "He's my friend."

Richard sighed sadly. She only had a stuffed animal as a friend? "What about school? Does nobody play with you?"

Raven placed Midnight in her lap and looked down. "No, they call me creepy." She was about to wipe a tear away, but Richard beat her to it. Gently wiping her tear away with his thumb, he smiled.

"Well, I'll be happy to be your friend."

xXx

This was so hard to do, omg. It was cuter in my head, I promise.