Work Text:
SMACK
thud
Neils blood ran cold, his back was faced towards the sound, he was frozen in place. Shit, he just hit someone, or something.
“Jesus christ! Shaun are you alright?”
He heard a female voice exclaim, nope, definitely a person, definitely a person named Shaun. He mumbled a shit under his breath before whipping around, his football was there, laying on the ground, a boy with short brown hair holding his hands over his nose right next to it, and a girl with curly hair kneeling down next to him. He stared for a moment, glancing between the two of them, his mind was going a thousand miles per hour, should he just say sorry and go on with his day or help them? It would be rude to just completely ignore that he just hurt someone, so he went with the latter. Neil jogged over to the pair, dropping onto his knees to get down to their level.
The boy, who he now knew was Shaun, had moved his hands from his face, there was blood dripping from his left nostril. He looked scared out of his mind, he felt bad, he looked so helpless, from right then and there, Neil had the strong urge to take care of him.
”You wanna come inside so i can take care of that?” He asked, giving him a warm smile.
”Dr. Gl-Glassman says that-“
”Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” The other girl butted in before Shaun could finish his sentence, he looked displeased with her for a few seconds.
Neil just nodded, standing up and offering his hand to Shaun, he stared for a moment, maybe a moment to long before reluctantly taking it, pulling himself up as quick as he could before pulling his hand away, Neil could feel his ears get warm, just the warm weather, yeah, definitely (or maybe it was the way that they’re hands fit perfectly together). He led them both straight inside, into the kitchen, where he immediately started getting the stuff he needed.
”Shaun, you can sit on the counter, other girl, you can do whatever,” Neil said with a small chuckle, more focused on finding what he needed instead of asking for the girls name.
”It’s Claire, thanks for asking,” He could hear a tinge of playful annoyance in her voice, he just smiled.
Neil had grabbed a paper towel, which he got wet using the sink. He turned around, glancing at Shaun, who had gotten onto the counter like he asked, very compliant. He ambled over, standing straight in front of Shaun, who was now about at eye level to him, giving him a perfect and easy path to his nose. It felt strange being so close to him, was his heart always beating this fast? He shook it off and started to wipe away the dried and fresh blood.
”Don’t worry, I have to deal with this stuff all the time, playing sports and stuff,” he said, tittering, before pulling the bloody paper towel away.
”Your nose is still bleeding, but I know how to get it to stop, you mind?” Neil said, cocking his eyebrow at Shaun, who had paused for a moment or two before nodding, despite looking a bit nervous. He also gave a small nod, pinching his fingers under the bony part of his nose.
”Just breathe out of your mouth, i’ll do this for about… ten minutes and then we’ll check to see if you’re still bleeding,” He said, just staring at shaun for a moment before quickly looking down, his cheeks getting hot from embarrassment. He sighed, this was already awkward, he should probably start conversation, right? But about what? It was hard meeting new people, and even worse now that they’ve gotten off to a bad start.
”So… um… i’m Neil, sorry I hit you in the face with my football,”
”It’s okay,”
That was easy.
“So, what were you guys doing walking around here?”
”I was showing Shaun around the neighborhood, he just moved in, that is, until you smacked him with that football of yours,”
”Ah,” Awkward. Very very awkward. He needed to change the subject, like, now!
”Shaun, you don’t talk a lot, do you? I think you’ve said maybe, one and half sentences by now,” He said with a chuckle, looking at the other boy.
”I do not feel the need to do so, I will talk if you start conversation with me,”
”Well, i’m sorry we got off onto a bad start, I wish your first impression on me wasn’t me hitting you with a football,”
”Me too,”
”Huh?”
”You seem nice, I wish we had met before you hit me in the face with your football,” Shaun said, completely serious, yet he felt the need to laugh, Claire as well, who started giggling after a moment of processing what he just said. Neil felt happy around Shaun, he felt warm and fuzzy, and he swear he could feel his heart gushing as he said that, it was pretty gross now that he thought about it.
”Well then, let’s say that I was the nice jock who decided to patch you up after you accidentally bumping into a pole, that’s a better story than me hitting you in the face, right?” Neil said with a laugh, glancing at Claire before looking back towards Shaun.
”That’s a great story, but the real one is much funnier, don’t you think so Shaun?”
”Whats so funny about him giving me a nose bleed? I prefer the fake story, though i’m not good at lying” Shaun said, and then he smiled, and Neil swore his heart exploded inside his chest, his cheeks turning pink.
He was thankful he accidentally hit Shaun with a football.