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Nathaniel was found plucking various flowers from the fresh soil from the playground, as he usually did. He always liked the various colours he had and drew them out on his sketchpad when he got home.
If only he had someone to share them with.
He tends to keep his art book far away from the playground, out of fear of it being stolen, or even worse, lost.
The mini garden circling the playground had several flowers and colours. But what intrigued Nathaniel the most was the plethora of roses.
There were red, orange, green, pink, purple, white... as if there was a colour assigned to every rose. The red ones has always been a primary interest to him since they're most common for romance stories. Typically, the prince gives the rose to the princess as a sign of deep love and devotion.
Nathaniel is aware that boys don't receive flowers, so maybe he'll be the person to give one.
As the Spring warmth cascaded the play area, he spotted a new figure playing in the sandpit. Nathaniel wasn't in school earlier because of his occasional fever, so maybe he must've missed out on the new kid.
Nathaniel was holding a bouquet of flowers (he was holding a lot of flowers to the point it seemed like a bouquet) while staring idlly at the unique figure. From far away, he could see her messy noirette hair sticking out from all places, like a porcupine, or someone whos been electrocted (but in a good way). They wore a loose fitting red shirt with ash blue jean shorts. It was basic, but so complimenting.
He stood there in anticipation, not knowing what to do. Should he go talk to her?? What if she finds him weird? Or creepy? Or-
Mrs Bustier saw Nathaniel's nervous demeanour and patted him on the shoulder to break his train of thought.
"Those are some pretty flowers, Nathaniel! Are those for me?" The teacher joked.
The redhead laughed bashfully before shaking his head. Mrs Bustier was like a mom to him. More of a mom than his real one, at least.
"Is it for that new kid over there?"
He nodded with a shy smile.
"Aw, that's so sweet of you! Why don't you go give it to them?"
Nathaniel looked down at his flowers nervously. He wasn't even sure if his playground crush likes flowers. Mrs Bustier gave him a gesture of encouragement, which gave Nathaniel all the strength he needed.
He strolled over to the noirette, clumsily dropping a trail of flowers behind him. When he eventually reached the sandpit, he is only had a handful of roses left.
His feet stopped only a couple metres away from her. The green-eyed human turned to the freckled male curiously. Then he realized. He was a boy.
Oh.
Nathaniel stood motionlessness, processing the revelation he just learnt. Still, he should be polite. It was the right thing to do, after all.
"H-hi."
"Hello!" The noiret grinned. His demeanor was shy but welcoming.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to build a sandcastle, but it keeps falling." A frown riddled the boy's face.
Nathaniel cocked his head to the side to observe the boy's (failed) creation. The previous sandcastles around the tanned kid were slumped and crumbling.
He had an idea.
The auburn-haired boy dropped the flowers in the sand and sprinted to the classroom for his bag. By the time he came back, he was out of breath, holding a water bottle.
"Here." Nathaniel panted.
"...but I'm not thirsty." The noiret tilted his head at the odd gift.
"It's not for you, it's for your sandcastles."
The green-eyed individual did not follow.
The redhead sighed to catch his breath an extra time, before explaining.
"If you mix sand and water, it's more likely to stick. Therefore, your castles won't fall."
His emerald eyes widened at the idea. Why didn't he think of that? The noiret was grateful that this random kid came to his rescue. He couldn't help but smile.
Nathaniel kneeled down in the sandbox and started configuring their mini kingdom together using water and sand. It was a messy affair, it ended with sand stuck to their hands and finger nails. But it was a perfect first day for the new kid. He already felt at home.
"Thank you so much, uh..." The noiret paused, realising he doesn't know his saviour's name.
"Nathaniel." He held out his hand.
"Marc." the boy replied, accepting his hand.
Marc only just noticed the flowers abandoned in the corner of the pit. Were those for him? He silently stood up, paced over to them, and walked back to Nathaniel.
"Here, for you helping me." The noiret gave the handful of flowers to him, leaving one cyan rose to place in the freckled boy's hair.
"But...these were for you."
"Oh! Really?"
"Mhm."
"Well in that case.."
Marc placed the rest of the flowers in the sand, and constructed a vibrant flower crown. He then placed it on his own head with a grin.
"Thank you for the gift, Nath!" Marc leaned over and lightly kissed him on the cheek.
The redhead's face stirred into the same scarlet shade as his hair.
Seems like boys do receive flowers, after all.