notes: this one is definitely an AU, but i like to think of the atmosphere being the same as goldkrone.
i own nothing.

Youth

"Duck, duck, duck, duck…"

The group of children sat cross-legged in their circle, many squirming around and unable to sit perfectly still as the light-haired boy trotted around the perimeter, fingers tapping along the heads of his peers.

"Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck…"

Fakir sat down between two of his classmates, knees tucked up under his chin as he stared ahead, uninterested in the game. Free time, a period normally anticipated by all children his age, was one that rather grated his nerves. The small boy would much rather keep to himself while the others ran around chasing each other, but the teachers constantly badgered him to interact with his peers. It was annoying. And most of the free periods were spent with him almost sulking, sitting near the other children just to get the adults to stop talking to him. He barely spoke with the others.

"Duck…duck…duck…"

His eyebrow twitched, almost tempted to just stand up and shove at the kid if he so much as heard one more stupid utterance of 'duck.' It was a stupid game. They were all stupid. Especially the girls who kept pushing at him for no reason he could find.

As the light-haired boy neared to the other side of the large circle, Fakir watched lazily, gaze trailing over the children skipped over. From one moment to the next, his eyes were caught by a small girl—rather exceptionally small, toying with the hem of her yellow dress and strands of red hair coming free of her messy braid. All of her attention was focused on the boy nearing her, and as he continued tapping over the other kids with a defiant 'duck,' Fakir watched as her eyes almost seemed to perk up, as if in anticipation for—

But the boy passed over her, giving almost too hard of a tap with a sneer and a mocking tone. "Duck," he said, moving right on to the other child before immediately shouting out "GOOSE!"

The scene automatically jumped to life, with children cheering and shouting as the kid next to the small girl jumped up on his feet and began sprinting behind the other, chasing and reaching out with laughter and determination.

As the two passed behind Fakir's back, he didn't even notice the ridiculous scene. Once he saw the girl directly across from him, he simply didn't look away, watching as her face fell. Her eyes dropped, hands going back to playing with the edge of her dress. Meanwhile in the background, the boy next to her managed to catch up with the light-haired one, and the game slowly resumed with the monotonous chanting of 'duck, duck, duck…'

Fakir raised his eyebrow. Did she actually want to be picked as the goose? She was so small. Fakir doubted that she could have caught up with the boy even if she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Besides, the game was just stupid.

Even so, he couldn't stop himself from carefully observing her for the rest of the game. Every time her head would perk up as a kid neared, that look of disappointment when he or she would pass her…she almost looked more engaged in the activity than the rest of the children, even though not once was she chosen as the goose.

She was weird. And he didn't know why he kept looking at her.

Eventually the bell sounded out in the distance, and everyone had to go back inside to resume their classes. Fakir didn't bother thinking any more about the strange girl, instead giving out irritated grunts when the girls of his class went back to playfully shoving him.

The day after that, Fakir had a flat look on his face when the other kids told him that once again, they were going to be playing Duck Duck Goose. He grumbled in irritation, curling his knees under his chin and wrapping his arms around his legs as once again he sat stubbornly within the circle, glaring at nothing in particular.

It was the same boring deal as the day before. Only this time, his attention was once again caught by the redheaded girl sitting across, just a little bit closer this time. He blinked, observing as she went through almost the exact same motions as yesterday. Perking up when the child drew nearer, expression falling almost comically as she was skipped over.

Did she really just want to run around like an idiot that badly?

The day after that, Fakir didn't even join in on the game. When they said they were repeating the exact same routine, he simply walked away with a childish stomp in his step, wandering over behind the activity shed to sit and sulk in the hopes that none of the bothersome teachers would find him and tell him to go out and socialize.

He didn't care. He didn't care about that stupid game or that stupid girl that wanted to be picked as a goose for some stupid reason when she'd probably just trip all over herself anyway.

Somehow, he'd managed not to get caught. And so for the day after, he repeated his actions and hid within his own thoughts during free period. It was peaceful, definitely much more desirable than listening to a bunch of screaming peers.

For the next week, he ignored his classmates during recess. No one ever talked to him anyway, seeing as how he never had much to say in the first place. The only ones who ever really paid attention to him were the girls, and they were more annoying than anything with all the pushing and shoving they did for no reason at all.

The back of the shed was his own spot, where he didn't have to succumb to stupid games and barking teachers.

At least, it was, for a while.

That all ended the day he strode up to his secret spot and was suddenly greeted with a little ball of a girl curled up at the edge of the wall.

Fakir took a step back, a scowl already settling on his face. Who was this person, and why were they intruding here? This was HIS space! "Hey."

Shifting, the girl lifted her head up, wiping stubbornly at the side of her face with a blue sleeve. She blinked, frowning that someone was interrupting her chosen activity for recess. "Whaaat…"

Making an annoyed noise at the back of his throat, Fakir only barely noticed that it was that same redheaded girl he watched several times while playing games with his classmates. And for a moment, he allowed himself to actually wonder what she could have possibly been doing here instead of sitting at the edge of a circle with the rest of the kids. But he quickly shoved that thought away, instead going back to being perturbed at her presence.

"This is my spot and no one else is allowed here."

Immediately the girl looked up at him with her eyebrows pursed. Her lips curled into a frown, and she gave her most defensive glare. "S-says who? And I was only sitting here for a little bit!"

Fakir scowled, crossing his arms and grounding his feet in determination. "That doesn't matter, 'cause it's still my spot and you can't stay here. So move."

Those words weren't taken well by her at all, and she pouted right back at him while wriggling her hips against the ground as if to glue herself to the very dirt. She crossed her arms in mockery and said in a very stern voice, "No."

Fakir's eyebrow twitched. Who the hell made it okay for her to just invade his secret spot like that? It was the only time of the day he had to himself! No annoying classmates and stupid games. Even the teachers didn't know where he went during recess. He wasn't about to have some girl come in and take over his only hour of peace.

So he uncrossed his arms, fists balling at his sides. And suddenly he shot forward, grabbing at the redhead's shoulders and tried to force her to stand up and get out.

But the girl only jerked back with a shout. "Hey! Let go of me!" Scampering on her knees and legs, she retaliated with an angry shove to his chest. But the most she elicited was a quiet grunt, so she shoved again. Fakir only pushed right back, until the duo were reduced to nothing more than two kids shoving blindly at one another with insults flown into the air.

At least, until Fakir finally had her pinned to the ground, hands gripping at her shoulders and teeth seething. The girl glared back up at him, strands of hair flying free from her braid and dirt smudging her cheeks. Her lower lip quivered through the fierce scowl she sent him, eyes rapidly blinking as if to hide away unshed tears.

Fakir honestly expected her to break out crying and run off to a teacher to rat him out. Never mind the fact that he had rather roughly shoved her into the ground in the first place, but really, she was the one who started it! But she did nothing of the sort. She only glared at him with daggers in her eyes.

"…Jerk," she spat. And quite literally, leaning her head up and giving an indignant pt-ooh! to the side of his face.

Fakir automatically flinched, drawing back and furiously wiping his cheek with a sleeve in disgust. "Eugh!" He grimaced, and was hesitant to admit that her maneuver caught him off guard. Girls didn't spit. They sat around wearing dresses, they giggled, and they pushed him.

Taking advantage of his lapse in defense, the girl automatically reached up to push his face away with a spread hand, pursing his cheek almost comically to the side. "All I wanted was to sit here!" she shouted, the collected tears streaking down her eyes.

Fakir got off of her, rubbing at the spot she spat at and subsequently shoved. "Why don't you go back to the stupid game? You're the only one who ever looked like you wanted to play it anyway!" …Okay, so that gave away the fact that he had actually been paying attention to her, but it slipped out on its own.

Which, thankfully, the redheaded girl didn't seem to notice. In fact, upon mention of the 'game' he referred, to, she only sat herself back up and began dusting the dirt of her skirt, her expression melting into one more somber and shy. She looked away while jutting her bottom lip out, the pout heard clearly in her voice. "…No. 'M always a duck."

Fakir gave her a flat look. "Stupid. Just keep sitting and someone will eventually let you run around like an idiot so you can trip all over yourself."

Making herself comfortable against the wall of the shed again and curling her knees against her chin, she gave him a huff. "I don't care about running; I'm just tired of being a duck! Duck, duck, always a duck, I'm just a duck!"

"How the hell does that even make sense?" Fakir blurted, uncaring of the fact that he used a 'bad-word' when talking to a peer. "It's just a stupid game."

"It's not just in the game, you meanie! Everyone always calls me a duck! They say I look like one and act like one. Sometimes they don't even call me Ahiru, they just call me Duck. And I HATE it!" she practically cried out the last part, baring her teeth as if to say that there was no way she was ever moving from that 'special spot' of his now.

The boy could only stand there, watching as she threw her head forward to bury itself against her knees.

"…Tired of always being a duck," she mumbled, the words muffled against her skirt. "…Just wanna be something else. Anything else." It seemed as though she had stopped talking directly to Fakir and simply reverted to musing to herself.

Fakir gave an exasperated sigh. For the moment, it seemed as though the girl really was refusing to leave, and he didn't want to get into any more scuffles or else they'd really get the teacher's attention and they'd both be in trouble.

So, defeated but stubborn enough not to show it, Fakir moved over and plopped himself down on the ground next to her, knocking his back against the shed's wall. "You're not a duck, you're a person, so stop being a stupid idiot." Really, it was ridiculous how she actually listened to people like that. Fakir always ignored whenever someone called his hair poofy.

They sat in silence for several long moments, and Fakir was convinced that either the girl didn't hear him or she wasn't taking any of his words into consideration. Whatever. As long as she was quiet.

Fakir refused to move, at any rate. This was still his special hide-out, after all. He wasn't about to let a girl just drive him out of it.

But once the bell chimed off in the distance and signaled every child to come back to their classes, the girl lifted her head up from her curled position, still wiping away the lingering dampness on her cheeks. "Y…you don't think I'm like a duck?"

"I think you're stupid because you wait around to be pat on the head and called a goose."

She shot him a flat look. "And I think you're a big jerk that shouldn't get so mad just 'cause I'm sitting here."

Fakir didn't respond. Really, why did she insist on talking to him? He stopped pushing her to the ground already. But then again, she was the type of girl that played Duck Duck Goose just to be called a goose, not even just to run around aimlessly.

The girl stood up from the ground before he did, hands wiping off on her dirtied skirt. She blinked down at him, and Fakir found it somewhere in himself to look back at her with an unreadable expression.

"I'm coming back here tomorrow, y'know," she said, her foot idly playing with the grass on the ground.

Was she expecting him to object or something? Fakir frankly didn't care. If she got on his nerves again and complained about being a duck some more, then he would just shove at her again.

He sighed. "You're not a duck, so stop believing you are just because others call you that. It's still stupid."

"Mm. I know." The little redhead dropped her gaze, before bringing it back up. Suddenly she had a soft smile on her face. "No one's told me that. So thanks."

Before Fakir could give any reply though, she had already begun scampering off to the other side of the field, meeting with her teachers. Fakir didn't watch her leave; instead choosing to continue to sit in his little spot for as long as possible before anyone came searching for him.

Kicking at a pebble on the ground, he leaned his head back against the wooden wall.

She said she was coming back tomorrow? Ugh. Annoying.

…

…Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

End