Chapter Text
“Yo!”
A voice without a source. Cutting through what peace Obi could find.
“So are the rumors true? Are you really cursed?”
Suddenly there was the source. Perched over a concrete wall was a cheeky man with green goggles. His junior by only a few years tops.
“You are trespassing. Please leave.” Picking himself up from his small garden, a place made his own. Hidden away from the sea of eyes that stare at him. Keeping behind tinted shades.
“Aww you’re no fun.”
“If you were expecting a freak show, I hear there are clowns that give free shows in sewers.”
“Que! Really?! Where?” Ecstatic at such potential only invited the boy to climb up and over the wall just missing the bed of his flowers. Not the results Obi wanted.
“Uh...I was only joking.” The boy suddenly went from the happiest in the world to all the color drained from him. Also not what Obi wanted to do and yet it all happened so fast.
Soft but not unnoticed, a chuckle broke through the air. That guilt and disappointment suddenly disappeared from both of them. “Hehe, I get it. From that one movie. Is it any good?”
“It’s...not bad. Lots of suspense and the clown is really creepy.”
“Ooh nice.” A peace offering, coming in the form of a handshake. “ Me llamo, Navi.” A greeting Obi hasn’t really experienced before. Not like how the others treat him.
“You are lying, that’s not your real name.” A sudden reminder of why he’s here. Alone in this garden hidden away. This curse he’s been labeled with, forever to tie and bind him.
He can not control it. It just comes to him. Without restraint, without mercy. His ‘gifted’ curse, to see past the curtains and feel what truly moves the world around him. To almost peer into their very mind; see the very fears that control them, and bring it out to the light. How unfairly so that it is him they fear for their vulnerability.
An end to his life before it even began, and here it comes again.
“Whoa! How did you know?”
“...w-what?”
“Are you some kind of human lie detector?”
“No...Well...Maybe.” Definitely a strange one.
“I don’t know.”
“This the cursed thing? Can you really pull meteors out of the sky? Or make pianos fall on the sidewalks? I bet you have an army of black cats that you totally control!”
This much excitement can not be healthy for one person. What's more fascinating is the sense that fear doesn't rule him as strongly as something else.
“You are mistaking me for a bad luck charm.”
“Aren’t they like the same?”
“Hardly. For one I am only human, even if they do call me cursed. I cannot just control animals or make the sky fall.”
“Dang.” This guy, Navi, has taken to strolling around the garden. It’s not very big but it's enough to stretch one's legs. Shelves of pots that hold the small budding flowers, while the floor bed is home to vegetables. Finished off with a few creeping vines that just provide some shade along the canopies.
“And also a curse isn't something you can control. Otherwise it would just be called a talent.”
This new information has really gotten Navi’s head scratching. It’s kinda endearing and a little blissful. He’s not speaking to Obi from yards away but instead right beside them. Moments he only ever thought comes with his parents.
“What about your eyes?” Obi takes caution, reaffirming that his blackened shades still remained. What motives could still be lurking. “You can kinda control when you use them right?”
“...”
“That’s why you’re wearing those shades.” A shield is not a substitute for real mastery; surely this Navi must know that.
He’s not wrong though. The idea is to lessen their effect if it meant no one had to witness them. Without a chance to react Navi has closed the space between them, now both sharing the same exchanged breath.
“Can I see them, por favor?” Softly whispered like a secret made for two.
“No.” A shove breaks their shared space. “I don’t want to.”
“Wh-! Come on, I bet they’re so cool.”
“No they’re not. I’m done being made the freak today.” A huff and a turn has Obi burying himself in the soil of weeping orchids. Even Navi can take the hint that it's time to leave.
“Yea, whatever. They’re probably not even that great. Totally just contacts you can get at a costume store.”
Obi sees what they are doing, even when their back is against them. Maybe there is talent.
“Guess it was all just BS rumors an-- AY DIOS MIO! That cat is shitting on your plants!!”
“What! NO!!--” Obi ready with a spray bottle gets something much unexpected.
Getting the air knocked out of him with a crash to the tiled floor. To make things worse is Navi pushing him down with the nerve to attack his sides with tickles. Pleas fall deaf over the unauthorized laughter but a goal was made clear.
Forced to surrender his defenses to an impulsive brat, Navi grabs hold of his last form of protection. Exposing him just to bring one's personal destruction, by Obi’s hands.
If pain and suffering is what this man seeks, then who is Obi to deny them.
“Dude.” Staring at the one now pinning him down. A connection forced upon him. Obi starts to really take in their features. Broken or missing teeth. Smile lines that draw the eyes, and goofy green tinted goggles as obstructive as black shades.
But even that was cast aside. Their goggles pushed up past their burnt brown hair. Showcasing all of themself to him as well. A kind of I’ll show you mine if you show me yours situation.
“Your eyes. Eres muy guapo!” A surprise. Without even needing a translation, blush danced across his face. While a playful smile filled the other.
“Get off!” Another harsher shove gains him freedom and a storm of feelings; anger, shame, embarrassment, disgust. All yelling over each other. He can hear his own heart pounding at his ears. Louder than ever heard before from anyone submitted to his gaze.
“That was uncalled for.”
“You right, you right. Lo siento.” A backwards roll brings Navi to their feet again. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“Stop. You don’t need to do that.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be my treat, but the sun is setting so...how about mañana” A kick-start run quickly gets him climbing back over the very wall he came from.
“Wait. I didn’t agree to this.”
“I promise it'll be really fun. You’ll be here tomorrow right?” This frustration is taking over. Unlike the other times of stress and yet Obi can’t find himself calming down.
“Again you are not listening. St-...”
“Hasta luego!”
“Stay out of my garden!”
After several minutes of reflection on what just occurred. Obi recalls they never did give their real name. This ‘Navi’ is definitely different, but perhaps some change could be good for the soul.