Finishing that walk

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

It was a sunny, warm day for once, and Kyle decided the time was right to finish the walk he started that day he met Rose. He had meant to finish exploring the rose bushes, but she had seemed pretty hostile, so he decided to leave it for another day. And that day was now. This time he was prepared for the prickles, in the thickest (and only) shoes he owned, a black t-shirt, and thick jeans. He walked along the lakefront, whistling along with the birds, feeling better than he had in ages. Thanks to the talk with Jessy, he had finally figured out why he had been feeling so stupid lately, and he was kind of starting to deal with it.

Walking along, Kyle kicked a few leaves that had fallen on the ground. The roses were in full spring bloom, and looked amazing, bringing a wide smile to his face when he saw them. This was definitely worth walking all the way along the lakefront for... absolutely beautiful! He smiled, picking one of the roses, thinking he'd give it to Jessy as a thank-you-for-helping-me-realise-what-an-idiot-I-am present next time he saw her.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit stretched his arms up into the air and smiled to himself as he walked along the lakefront. It was warm and sunny, and he was enjoying being able to wear shorts again after so long in full-length trousers. Kit loved exploring, especially places like Hogwarts; the grounds were so... Huge. He'd be sure to get lost if he hadn't promised himself to always keep within sight of things he knew like the castle and the lake.
After a little while, Kit came to a patch of ground covered in roses. He grinned and inhaled the scent deeply, closing his eyes. It reminded him of home.
He heard a rustling noise, and his eyes flicked open again in surprise. looking around for the source of the noise, Kit spotted a boy with his back turned. Kit walked cautiously forward a couple of paces, frowning. The boy looked familiar, with that curly hair... Having taken a step to the left, half of the boy's face came into Kit's line of vision. His stomach lurched and he felt his face go hot. He stumbled slightly. "Kyle!"

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle was lost in thought, so he didn't notice the footsteps until someone called his name. Turning around, he saw exactly the person he did and didn't want to see right now. "Kit!" He replied with a smile, turning around to face the boy, rose still in hand. Uninvitedly, his cheeks turned pink, and for the thousandth time, Kyle wished his mother hadn't given him blushing genes. He ignored it though, smiling warmly, perhaps a little more warmly than he had meant to. "I haven't seen you for ages... how are things?" He asked, wishing he had something, anything better to talk about; something less lame than 'how are things.' For the first time; Kyle realised he barely knew anything about Kit.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit smiled shyly at Kyle, his teeth tugging at his lower lip. "Hi... Things are pretty good," Kit said, looking away nervously. Kyle's face with its huge smile was too adorable. As was his hair and his eyes and his t-shirt and... The rich scent of the roses was overpowering, and had distracted Kit for a moment. He noticed that Kyle held one of the flowers in his hand. "Um, how about you?" Kit blurted with a shake of his head to clear his thoughts. He loooked for Eli, Kyle's rat, but he was nowhere to be seen on Kyle's person.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle realised how creepily wide his smile was getting and reigned it in, attempting to reply to Kit normally, like he didn't feel like all his organs were about to jump out of his mouth. "Pretty good too." He said, wondering why, now that he knew why he felt like this it was MORE intense, rather than less. He noticed Kit looking for Eli, and explained. "I had to leave Eli in his cage to rest... he's getting on in years, I can't take him out much anymore." He said, wishing he could make his stupid cheeks stop blushing.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit caught himself staring at Kyle again. He realised that it'd been a few seconds since Kyle had spoken, and he'd just been standing there looking stupid. He blushed heavily. "Oh, uh, that's a shame. He's so cute and... cuddly," Kit said with a wide smile. He could feel that his face was still hotter than usual.
Kit moved to walk forward, but his foot caught on something and he stumbled. He reached out on instinct and grabbed Kyle's arm to stop himself falling.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle's creepy huge smile slowly faded to the normal sort of smile you'd expect if you hadn't seen someone for awhile. He nodded, trying to think of something to say. "Yeah... I love rats." He smiled. "So... did you join any clubs yet?" He asked, wishing hard that he had something, anything else to say. He was relieved from the awkwardness of failing to make conversation though, by Kit falling over. He squeaked when he saw the smaller boy going down, and reached out to steady him when Kit grabbed his arm. The confusion made Kyle lose his balance, and he slipped, losing his own balance and falling over too, sending both boys to the ground in a tangle of limbs, narrowly avoiding the nearest rosebush. "Ow..." Kyle grumbled.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit winced and pushed himself up using his hands. He flicked a thorn off his palm with a sheepish look. "Sorry... Are you okay?" His face was a deep crimson, all the blood in his body having rushed straight to it. 'I wish I could control my damn body,' he thought annoyedly to himself. Kyle probably thought he was some annoying kid following hims around, and just wouldn't leave him alone.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle was too busy being in pain first to realise how close he was to Kit. He didn't notice at all until the younger boy spoke. "Uuuuh... non... I mean... yeah... I mean... I'm fine." Kyle said, voice getting quieter and quieter as he babbled, eventually just clamping his mouth shut, determined not to speak. His face was bright traffic-light red, but for once he was too embarrassed and caught up in the moment to mentally hate on himself for blushing. "Are you ok?"

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit giggled slightly at Kyle's babbling; it was so cute. He gingerly pulled his legs in towards him and sat cross-legged with his hands in his lap, so as not to cause any more trouble than he already had. "Yeah, I'm alright," he said with a shy smile. His head cocked to the side slightly. "Say, are you Italian or French or something? I thought I heard an accent in there."

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle pulled himself up to sit too, glad Kit hadn't just run screaming. He smiled even wider when Kit noticed his accent. "Oui, je suis français. I moved to NZ when I was five." He explained, with a hesitant grin. No matter how much of an idiot Kyle felt like, the fact that he was french; a frenchman through and through always made him feel better. "Bonjour, Je m'appelle Kyle. Je vous trouve très beau. Vous ne me comprenez pas. Hahaha!" He said, smiling cheekily. It occurred to him that he could say whatever he wanted to Kit in French. Unless Kit spoke French too. This thought didn't hit him until after he had spoken, and though the smile was still affixed to his face; it died from his eyes. "You don't speak French, do you?" He asked, trying (and somewhat succeeding) not to sound worried.

((I apologise for google translate French ))

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit listened with wide eyes to Kyle as he spoke in French. He sounded absolutely amazing, even though Kit had stopped understanding after 'je m'appelle Kyle'. He smiled and clapped. "No... I wish I did though, it sounds so cool!" Kit tried to stop smiling so widely. He'd often asked his mother to let him take a language class, but when it'd come down to a choice between French and art, he had of course chosen art. Better something he knew he liked than something he hadn't done before; that had been his rationale. "Have you been back since you moved here?"

((Bahahah, it's surprisingly good, actually XD))

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle resisted the urge to sigh in relief when Kit confirmed that he didn't speak French. His smile brightened, and he acted like it was nothing, continuing to speak in French, and quite frankly; show off a bit. "C'est très bien, parce que je ne voudrais pas que vous sachiez à quel beau je pense que vous êtes. Dieu merci." He said fluently, and then had The Best Idea Ever. "Would you like me to teach you? It's a pretty easy language, and it's great for being fancy and showing off." He smiled, not mentioning that that was exactly what he was doing.
"I haven't been back." Kyle shook his head. "I really want to though. I miss France. I'm trying to convince my parents that we should go back in the holidays this year. My brother's never even seen France."

((Really? Lol I was expecting it to be terrible XD I need to hurry up and just learn French... I've been saying I'm going to for years haha.))

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit was entranced. He could quite easily listen to Kyle speak French all day; the accent was just gorgeous. He sighed and a small smile crept across his face. He then snapped to attention when Kyle asked him a question. "Wow, really? That'd be absolutely amazing! Then I could understand just what you're saying," he laughed. Kit really was eager; not only would it be awesome to speak French, he'd get to spend more time with Kyle. He couldn't help smiling slightly wider.
"Oh, that's a shame! From what I've heard it's a really nice place to go... You have siblings, then?"

((Heh, that one took me a few secs to work out, but it gets the message across XD And yes, you do!))

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle grinned when Kit agreed to the lessons, his smile reaching near-creepy levels again. "Awesome!" He said. "Then I'll have someone to speak French with at school. I miss being able to talk to my family en français." He smiled, French accent stronger in his English speech after speaking in his native tongue. "Yeah, France is absolutely beautiful. I miss it lots. So much art and culture, and everybody's friendly."
Kyle nodded. "I've got an older sister and a younger brother. They're fourteen and five. I miss them lots... Alex is just learning to read, he wrote me a letter last week. It was so sweet." He smiled sadly, thinking of his siblings, who had grown up so much while he was away.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit thought with relish about being able to speak a different language with Kyle... It'd be almost like a secret code, only with other people being able to understand it. They could say whatever they wanted to... He shook his head to clear it. The damn roses were making his concentration terrible.
Kit listened with slight envy as Kyle described his siblings. "Oh, wow! That sounds cute. I'm an only child... I always wanted a little sister though." He saw the sad smile on Kyle's face and frowned, wanting to make it better. He then blushed, grateful Kyle couldn't read his mind.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle smiled. "So... wanna meet up sometime so I can give you your first French lesson?" He asked, trying not to sound too shy, or too eager, and wound up sounding a sleazy sort of awkward... to himself at least. He wished he was smoother. "Library, maybe?"
Kyle grinned. He wanted his siblings back... he could absolutely understand Kit wanting a little sister. "Yeah... I love my siblings, I really miss them. You should meet them - you'd absolutely love Alex, he's the sweetest thing ever." He gushed, thinking of his brother, who coloured outside the lines and spoke in a mixed babble of French and English.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit nodded eagerly. "Yeah, definitely! That sounds perfect. Nice and quiet. And away from too many people so I don't make a complete fool of myself," he chuckled, mentally resolving to try his hardest at speaking the words aloud.
"I love little kids... They're so cute! I have a few cousins on my Mum's side, but I've only met them a few times and they're all older than me." Kit smiled at Kyle's obvious affection for his younger brother.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle smiled, glad Kit hadn't noticed his stupid, pathetic voice. "You won't make a fool of yourself. French isn't too hard once you've got a hang of the pronunciation and the different gramattical forms. It's mostly a matter of vocabulary." He said, recalling his own trouble learning English. His parents hadn't taught him English until he was three, and it was definitely a lot harder than speaking French.
"Aww... cool." Kyle smiled. "I've only got one cousin, and he's an adult... I've only met him once." He said, toes curling absently.

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit smiled gratefully at Kyle. "Okay, that's good... As long as you don't laugh at me!" His face flushed a tiny bit just at the thought of Kyle laughing at him. His head would most likely fall off from the embarrassment. Which might be slightly detrimental to his learning of French.
"Oh, really? Don't you have much extended family?" Kit stretched his arms up into the air, arching his back.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle laughed. "It's alright, I won't laugh. I would have died if people laughed at my first attempts at English when I moved here. I was so bad at English, it was terrible." He smiled, remembering those first, confused, tear-filled months. "My first day of primary school I couldn't remember the word for bathroom, so I asked the teacher how to find the poop room. The school rang up my parents, they had to explain my English wasn't brilliant yet." He laughed, blushing slightly at telling such a personal story. It had been pretty funny though.
"Not really." Kyle shook his head, trying to ignore the tiniest line of Kit's stomach that was temporarily exposed by his stretch. "My mum has a sister, who has one son, and that's it. I've never met my grandparents either."

 

[Kit Hartley]

Kit clapped a hand over his mouth in a vain attempt to stifle his laughter. He couldn't control it, however, and squeezed his eyes shut as his body shook. After a few seconds he looked at Kyle, before dissolving into giggles again. Eventually he calmed himself enough to speak. "I- I'm sorry!" he chuckled. "That's just absolutely adorable!" Kit bit down hard on his lip to stop himself laughing.
With a deep breath, he smiled normally. Well, more so than a few seconds prior. "Aww, really? I only know my Mum's grandparents. I really know nothing about my Dad's side of the family at all." He paused, and then set himself off into another laughing fit. "Poop room!"

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle was bright red, embarrassed, wondering why he had told such a stupid story, until he heard Kit's giggles. He looked up, watching the younger boy attempt to speak, and eventually gave in to the giggles himself, clutching his sides, face now bright red from laughter, not embarrassment. "It was pretty funny." He agreed, glad Kit hadn't been disgusted.
Kyle blinked. "That must suck." He said. "Why not?" He asked, wondering if Kit even saw his dad. He couldn't imagine life without his dad; it would be pretty terrible. But then Kit started to laugh again, and he smiled, glad to make the younger boy happy.

 

[Kit Hartley]

As his last fit of giggles died down, Kit glanced up at the sky. He smiled slightly, thinking to himself that this would be a good place to come with his sketchbook; the roses would be a good challenge, as he usually found their shape difficult to render properly. "I can't actually remember my father..." Kit loooked at the ground, plucking at the grass absently. "He left when I was three. I've tried thinking back to when he was around, but I was too young," he sighed, then smiled up at Kyle to let him know that he was okay.

 

[Kyle Alcott-Ward]

Kyle nodded sympathetically. "That sucks." He couldn't begin to imagine a life without his dad. It was just too horrible. He loved his mum and stuff, but dad was dad. Nothing could compare. "So you live with your mum?" He asked, trying to steer the conversation away from missing family members. Kyle wasn't keen to talk about something he couldn't even imagine.