Chapter Text
At age three, the world just has too many questions.
It wasn’t a common occurrence for people to meet their soulmates, if it ever existed. Edgar wanted to argue that maybe they were, but that it wasn’t really something he liked dwelling on. If they were real as Edgar believed, then it meant that he was one of the lucky few who met his even before the other was born.
Luckily for Edgar, they grew up together through their parents’ shared love for their businesses. Plenty were the times when they would be sent to the same babysitter while their parents had gatherings and meetings to attend to. And little Edgar really loved the attention and friendship the other would offer.
“Allie! Allie! Look!” His two-, nearly three-, year-old playmate found the most interesting things ever while they played together, and today, it was something wiggling and covered in dirt. Edgar, being a sheltered child, meant that he didn’t know much about the world. He wasn’t allowed to play around the mansion and be left unattended, his father fearing that he would ruin something somewhere. But Edgar knew better. He was a behaved kid, he was even going to be a big brother soon! He was good, his father just believed otherwise.
“It looks yucky, Luca,” Edgar whispered as Luca brought it closer to Edgar’s face. The two observed the little creature, Edgar even being brave enough to give it a little poke. “It feels dirty.”
“I got it from there.” Luca pointed at the dirt underneath the bushes in Edgar’s mother’s garden.
“Ew! You got it from there? But the gardeners always tell me not to touch there!” Edgar recoiled in disgust, keeping his distance from the other. “That’s a dirty thing!”
Luca laughed, walking closer to Edgar who stepped away. “Aw, Allie. It’s just a nice creature.”
“It’s dirty !” Edgar shouted as he noticed that Luca was starting to get closer again, “Stay away or I’ll tell you to the maids!”
“No, you won’t.”
And the high-pitched shouting ensued as Luca chased poor little Edgar around the garden, the other screaming for help while Luca laughed loudly. The maids eventually checked in on the two, saw that there was nothing amiss (this was Edgar’s first betrayal), and left the two alone.
That night, Edgar tattled to his mother, crying in her arms as he described how Luca teased him too much that day with the worm; he eventually learned what it was from his mother, and why he felt icky afterwards. His mother only chuckled as she promised that she would take extra care cleaning every inch of Edgar’s body that night during bath time.
It wasn’t long until they saw each other again, unfortunately for Edgar, but Luca brought a piece of apology chocolate. Their parents laughed as they watched a fuming Edgar tell Luca how sad he felt that day, all the while having remnants of chocolate covering his little lips and fingers. Despite the anger, Edgar couldn’t help but end up in tears, needing comfort from his mother’s arms. This, in turn, made Luca pat Edgar’s back in comfort until he started feeling the guilt and matched Edgar’s bawling.
Eventually, the two of them started going to school. Unfortunately for them, their homes were too far from each other, so they ended up enrolled in different schools. Edgar was the quiet and reserved kid at the back of the room. Despite him being shorter than most, he decided his best place was the corner where no one would approach, with an empty seat to his left.
“Why don’t we all get to know each other?” The teacher spoke cheerfully which resulted in an eruption of cheers from the rest of the class.
One by one, the children proudly and loudly spoke their names, each syllable being spoken with nearly perfect diction. Soon, the teacher took notice of the quiet kid at the back and called him over. Edgar’s hands felt clammy and cold as he approached the front. Too many eyes were focused on him, too many wanted to hear something from him.
“Go on, little one. Please introduce yourself to us,” the teacher encouraged.
And so he started, voice low and barely audible. He gulped, willing himself to say something. “Hi. I’m, I’m… Allaire Valden. I’m three.” He held up three fingers, two on his left and one on his right. “Everyone calls me ‘Allie’.”
“Hello, Allie!” The teacher repeated his preferred name and everyone in the class echoed her.
Allie. It was right, yet wrong for some reason. Maybe it was only fine if Luca and his family called him that. Maybe he didn’t like that the name was now shared with absolute strangers.
As it turns out, preschool wasn’t all too bad. Some time passed after the introduction and soon, he was given a paper with an animal printed on it. He couldn’t quite identify what animal it was just yet, but he was also handed crayons which he liked. His silence turned to a maximum where he would not speak, approach, or acknowledge anyone or anything. He was happy with his small bundle of colorful goodness and a piece of paper.
Unfortunately, this silence was broken too quickly when a group of preschoolers decided to join Edgar’s table in pursuit of a specific crayon color.
“Do you have, um,” one of the preschoolers started, looking at his own coloring sheet and the stack of crayons on Edgar’s table, “This blue.” The preschooler pointed at the yellow crayon, their fingertip pressing gently at the piece.
Edgar furrowed his brows in confusion. He, together with Luca, was taught early on about colors and which colors were which. Blue was one of the colors their maids had a hard time teaching them since they were only learning from the environment but he was reminded well of it.
“Blue is… is Allie’s eyes!” Luca had said cheerfully. Blue was the skies, blue was Edgar’s eyes. Edgar knew full well what blue was.
“That’s yellow,” Edgar replied as he raised the crayon up.
The child shook her head before pointing at the red one, “That is yellow.”
Edgar disagreed, “No. My nanny said that this one is yellow.”
“But, but.” Then and there, Edgar found himself somewhat of an outcast as he’d made someone cry on the first day.
Only a handful of people approached him after that. He didn’t mind, most of the tasks at school were done alone anyway, but playtime was quiet. The only playtime he knew of was one that was loud and full of conversation no matter how one-sided it was some days.
Being alone during playtime was just about the worst thing that could happen to Edgar’s life.
He’d soon realize that being alone during playtime was not the worst thing, but it was up there at the top.
“Teacher! What’s a crush?”
Preschoolers were interested in just about everything so their teacher was stuck with the weirdest and largest variety of questions on the daily. This was just one of the thousand questions their teacher had to navigate through.
Edgar was busy minding his own business, already on his third coloring book of the second month of school when this question was asked by a classmate. His head was down so he couldn’t see his teacher’s surprised reaction, but he could fully hear everything that was happening.
“Hm. What is a crush indeed?” Their patient teacher’s voice was full of curiosity as much as everyone else did, “Where did you hear that word, Ava?”
“I heard it from my bigger sister last night during dinner,” the little kid answered.
“Oh, does your bigger sister have a crush?”
“Mhm! She says it’s a boy from school!” Ava was ready to let out her sister’s every secret to everyone.
“Well, a crush is someone that you care for very deeply. They make you really happy and when you see them happy, you’re happy too. They’re not from your family, but you would like them to be,” their teacher explained, “It’s something you usually get when you’re older like Ava’s sister or like teacher.”
The preschoolers gasped.
“Teacher, do you have a crush?”
Their teacher laughed, “Well, I have a husband, so I guess I do?”
A barrage of questions came after, everything from who their teacher’s husband was to why they’ve never seen him before. Edgar had already muted everything beyond their teacher’s explanation.
If a crush was someone you care for deeply, a lot of people come to mind. His mother was of course the first one at that, then his sister, and there were also the maids who cared for him tirelessly, and of course there was Luca.
But since the teacher said that it’s not from family, then it could only mean one thing.
Edgar Valden has a crush on Luca Balsa.
“Allie!”
It was a voice that Edgar had anticipated to hear for so long. Luca and his family already lived so far away that they couldn’t travel in between school seeing as they were now busy Monday through Friday, they also just had to take a business trip.
They haven’t seen each other since the first day of preschool which felt like forever. It was now November, a whole three months. That was a time too long for Edgar.
He turned around, leaving his mother’s side to jump and wave at the boy running towards him through his mother’s garden. The boy had the same charm and wide smile as Edgar remembered, but something was quite different with him.
Edgar gasped as he noticed it. The boy was already close by, panting as his father trailed far behind him.
“Allie, Allie! You’ll never guess what I brought you from France!” Luca spoke quickly before shoving a small box towards Edgar’s small hands. “They’re chocolate truffles! Papa bought me some and I tasted them and they’re so good and I thought you’d like them so we bought some for you! Come on, try it, try it.”
Edgar could only stare at the boy’s mouth as he spoke on and on. He pointed at Luca’s mouth, a frown covering his face. “Your tooth.”
“Oh, that?” Luca gave a wide, toothy grin, pointing at the empty space at the front, “My tooth fell out while we were in the airplane.”
Edgar gasped again, now in deep worry, “The airplane made your tooth fall out?”
He heard his mother chuckle which made him turn to her, completely upset, “Mother! Do airplanes make teeth fall out?”
“No, sweetheart, it just so happened that Luca’s tooth fell out that time,” his mother explained, patting his head all the while to comfort him.
“I’m fine, Allie! It’s going to grow back soon,” Luca told him with a smile, “This just means that I’m growing up! And then I can bring you to France too! We’ll have tons of chocolate there!”
Edgar turned around to face his mother. “Mother, may I go with Luca to France?”
“When you’re older, darling, you may do so as you please.” This was not the response that Edgar wanted, but it was a definitive yes for future travels so that was good enough for now. It wasn’t long until the two of them were getting older anyway. They just had to wait a little bit more and then they were on their own.
“Oh!” The thought was gone from the child’s mind already. “Do you want to meet my sister Maple? She’s tiny.”
Luca nodded vigorously. It was his first time seeing a baby up close so he was excited. Edgar told him of the only two rules that he’d been told: do not make too much noise when near the baby and do not touch her with dirty hands.
Edgar led him to the gazebo where the baby’s crib was currently placed. The two tried to peer into the crib but it was far too high for them so Edgar’s mother opted to carry the sleeping baby in her arms as she sat down.
“She’s so tiny,” Luca whispered, in complete awe of the smaller Valden. “She’s smaller than you!”
He gasped as the baby tried to reach out to him. Luca offered his pointer finger which the baby grasped as tightly as she could.
“She’s holding me!” Luca wanted to shout in glee but that was rule one so he couldn’t. Instead, he opted for a wide smile, one that Edgar was really happy seeing on his face.
“My teacher said something to us the other day,” Edgar suddenly spoke, straight-faced, breaking the silence of the moment. “She told us that when we care for someone sooooo much and they’re not part of your family then that person is your crush. You’re my crush, Luca. Am I your crush too?”
Edgar’s mother and Luca’s father burst into laughter at the blunt tone and words that Edgar chose to say. The two children however, were completely serious about it. Edgar was only stating facts and who was Luca to refute them?
Luca pursed his lips as if in deep thought as he watched Edgar’s unblinking blue eyes. “I think you’re also my crush, Allie.”
“You know, your father also had a crush on me when we were younger,” Edgar’s mother decided to add on to the small pool of knowledge that the three-year-olds had. “I’m sure Mr. Balsa to his wife as well?”
“The greatest crush!” Luca’s father answered.
“People with crushes on each other tend to be boyfriend and girlfriend in the future,” Mrs. Valden added with a twinkle in her eyes, “Do you know what those are?”
The two shook their heads no.
“Well, if you have a crush on each other and you’re really happy with each other’s company, then you can be boyfriend and girlfriend. Of course you should also love each other. Do you two love each other?”
The two nodded their heads.
“Ah, they’re a bit too young, I suppose.” Luca’s father chuckled.
“Eventually, we’ll try again.” Mrs. Valden nodded in agreement.
With the new terms clouding Edgar’s brain, he only asked one thing. “Mother, may Luca and I play in my room?”
“Of course,” Mrs. Valden responded, helping Luca get out of Maple’s tough grasp.
The two ran across the field, having a race of who would reach Edgar’s room first, their maids trailing behind them.
The next Monday morning when Edgar was fetched by his mother, Mrs. Valden was pulled aside by the teacher. The teacher, equally confused and concerned, sat her down as they watched Edgar begin his fifth coloring book.
“Allie chose rather… interesting words today in class,” the teacher started, “So you see, one of her classmates asked what a crush is a few days ago, and I guess she had an idea on that. So today, she proudly announced to the class that she has a boyfriend. Luca, was it?”
Mrs. Valden couldn’t contain her laughter. “I really do apologize. Luca’s family and our family are business partners and Luca’s father and I teased the two that they may be boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Ah, I see,” the teacher replied, “Well, Allie’s really happy about it.”
“Oh she is?” Mrs. Valden asked, “She quickly changed the subject after we told them that so I thought she didn’t understand.”
“No, actually, she quite loved the attention she got when her classmates started asking about her boyfriend,” the teacher replied, “Well, that’s everything I have to share today.”