Chapter Text
I
"Mama! I wanna go on that slide!"
The little mauve-head jumped around like a little hyper child around his mother, who only nodded in silent approval as she watched her son make a beeline for the shining red slide.
She was so proud of him— he was extremely young, and yet he had already learned how to form sentences on his own.
So, seeing her great son bump straight into another boy that looked even younger than him, was a sight she was not expecting to see.
From her perspective, she was standing a few feet away from the two boys – she saw the younger one's face turn extremely red and right when he was about to raise his hand against Mao, she reached beside them.
"What's happening here?" She made sure to make her voice sound more stern than usual in an attempt to scare the attacking boy, but if anything, he just seemed to be more egged on. "What are you two doing?"
"Mama, he wanted to use the slide too! So I said he could go first, and then he got angwry!"
The younger boy couldn't hold back a snicker at Mao's slight voice crack, and Isara's mother felt her blood boil.
Wait, huh?
"Why.. would you get angry at that, dear?" Mrs. Isara couldn't help her voice softening, she was that bewildered at what her son had just told him.
She was coming here expecting some sort of dispute — and that rarely happened because Mao was such an angel, and usually kids warmed up to him instantly. But to hear that the cause of the problem was Mao being nice himself?
In response to her questions, the younger boy just huffed and looked away, his tiny hands making some sort of attempt to cross themselves.
"I'm sowwy." Mrs. Isara heard her son say, taking a few steps towards the tiny boy. "How can I mwake it up to you?"
Mao's perfect pronunciation wavered with every step, and his mother didn't know whether to feel amazed or proud.
The younger boy seemed to steal a small glance at Mao through the side of his eyes, widening when he noticed their proximity.
Mao's mother noticed her son's hand shaking by his side, before he offered it to the other boy. "Friends?"
...
Silence filled the air for a while, the sound of other children playing the park drowned out as Mao and his mother eagerly waited for the younger one's response, who was now actively staring at the boy in front of him's hand.
His eyes shut tightly, and the arms dropped from his chest rather stiffly.
"..'ends," He muttered, accepting Mao's hand by gently touching it, about to take it back when the purple-haired boy tangled their fingers together.
"Wanna use the slide togewher?"
"..mhm." The boy nodded vigorously.
And Mrs. Isara continued staring holes into the two boys who were now headed straight to the slide's stairs, now together, hand-in-hand, wondering what she just witnessed.
A flush of pride met her chest, watching the younger looking one be supported by Mao onto the slide, intently listening to what Mrs. Isara assumed were Mao's instructions of using the slide. The boy looked kind of like a potato sack, Mrs. Isara mused, with how big his clothes looked on him along with how wide the slide was to prevent falls.
She started walking back to the benches, a smile still on her face at the slightly comical interaction between the two small boys when she heard a huge thud come from behind.
The younger boy with the huge coat was now at the end of the slide, and Mao's mother realized the impact of the noise was because her son had hit straight into the other.
She contemplated whether she should go and check up on him, but by the way Mao's ears flared up and the younger boy laughed heartily, she decided otherwise. They could sort it out on their own.
With a wider smile, she continued back to the benches.
"How dawe you pwull me with ywou?!"
Mao yelled, waving his arms around haphazardly to make the other boy feel guilty for what he had done, similar to what his mother had tried to do earlier.
And similar to what the other boy's reaction was earlier, all Mao got was a brighter laugh, making Mao stop his actions to observe the boy's face.
It was a stark contrast to when he yelled at him before - the prettiest smile settled on his lips after he finished laughing at him, and Mao found himself smiling too, his anger dissipating away like dust.
Mao didn't even notice before, but the sunlight hit the boy right at that moment, and his eyes were colored a blood red.
The younger boy seemed to notice the fact that Mao was looking at his eyes, and the smile instantly disappeared from his face, him getting up from the slide.
Dusting the coat that seemed way too big for him, he reached his hand out to Mao as he had done previously for him.
Accepting it, Mao searched for the boy's eyes again. But the light had moved away, and the boy squinted now, as if an attempt to hide his eyes.
"..very pwetty." Mao said before he could think to stop it, and the boy's eyes widened for just one more second.
"What?"
"..your eyes." Mao continued, wanting to get another look at them— and if being honest was the way to make him get one more glimpse, then so be it.
He felt the other's breath shiver in place, eyes closed, before he opened them. This time, big and wide– no squinting, and Mao found his lips perking up at the sight.
A small pink dusted the boy's cheekbones soon after, along with a smile; as if he had realized that Mao genuinely liked his eyes for the color they were.
"I wove you," The boy mumbled, Mao's face burning as soon as he processed what he just heard. "What?!"
"..what? I've hweard people say it to express something they lwike." The boy suddenly looked defensive again, crossing his tiny arms and Mao immediately went into fight or flight mode. Or how much fight a child of six years could have, anyway.
"It is! Bwut just not in the way you mwean, prolly.."
"I meant what I saiwd." The boy 'hmph'ed, before turning his face away, and Mao's immediate response was to hug him.
A breath escaped his mouth in surprise, before reciprocating the hug with a tighter grasp as he smiled into the other boy's neck.
"Thwen I guess I wove you too?" a laugh rang out from Mao's side, and the black-haired boy found his coat felt warmer.