Work Text:
You first meet not long into 6th grade.
He’s standing at the front of the room, held in place by the teachers hand on his shoulder. She’s trying to introduce him as he surveys the room. His body is taunt, like he’s caught in a trap, but his eyes are roving across every face in front of him. What is it this boy is trying to find, you wonder?
His eyes meet yours and you nearly gasp at the emotion behind them, your gift screaming for you to look deeper than the surface, to find the pain, the source of this boys inner turmoil, to fix it. You look away and when you look back, so has he. But the feeling still lingers.
Your teacher ends her introduction and asks him if he’d like to say anything about himself. The boy looks around the room, still searching for something, and then his eyes land on the Evans twins. You can tell there’s something going on there, just from how wallflower Max is suddenly looking as though he wants nothing more than to jump from his seat, or from how the effortlessly cool Isobel looks shaken to her core. The boy finally relaxes, takes a breath, and keeps his eyes the pair as he opens his mouth and says, “My name is Michael. Michael Guerin,” as if in that moment those words carry the weight of the world.
He’s sent to sit in the desk next to you, and as he walks closer, the more your gift wants you to connect. There’s something blocking you and your still untrained mind from going any further than the surface, but even that is enough. Michael is like a bruise, all turmoil and pain caught under skin that hasn’t broken, but shows evidence of an injury all the same.
You decide then and there. This boy needs someone, to lean on, to care about him. You and Mom have more than enough love to go around at that point.
You turn to the boy next to you and start the friendship that will change you forever.
“Hiya Michael, my name’s Maria. Maria Deluca.”