Best (Boy)Friends

Prologue

The little boy with the big green eyes was sitting in the park, all alone, watching the kids around him play with their various friends and siblings. His blue jacket was pulled tightly around him, a bit too tight if you asked him, but nobody ever did.

He watched and waited, sitting on the cold metal bench that smelled like juice boxes and dog poop. He didn't mind though, as long as he had a book to occupy himself with, he could stand a bit of the chilliness that came with late autumn.

The only thing he couldn't stand was the other group of children, they were all sitting on the monkey bars-- which were too high for him to climb in the first place-- and laughing about a joke.

Not just any joke. This joke had pretty green eyes and shaggy, dark hair. This particular joke had glasses from reading in the dark too often. This particular joke was shy and sweet, but nobody knew that because nobody bothered to get to know him. This joke was the boy on the bench.

Sighing, the little boy decided to stop observing the rowdy bunch and let them be, as long as they let him be.

Alas, he was not so lucky. The group of slightly older and taller boys approached him, not bothering to care that they were interrupting his precious reading time.

They never cared.

The tallest one, who went by the name TJ, jeered at him.

"Look, it's the freak." The attention this called to him made him wince. The younger kids on the playground looked in their direction, but none of them dared to stand up to the bully. TJ paid no mind to it, and continued with his teasing.

"Where's daddy today? Did he forget that you exist again?" TJ wasn't aware of the fact that the subject of his mockery was quite used to the name-calling and insults, and continued, "Although I'd probably try to forget that you existed too; if I was a father to a faggot like you."

The other children behind him laughed, sort of like those people on talk shows that applaud when the blinking red sign goes off.

Faggot. That was new, the little boy thought. Unsure of what it meant, the younger boy looked at him passively. His father had often told him to ignore anything TJ told him. After all, it was just because he was sad about his own life.

He probably doesn't have as many books as I do, he reasoned.

Refusing to be ignored, TJ broke the boy's thoughts. He struck the smaller boy's hands, effectively knocking the thick book out of them. He was about to take another step forward when he heard his mother calling from the other side of the park, completely oblivious to what her son was doing as she gossiped away with the other ladies.

Slightly paling as the other kids quickly scattered away, the bully gave his victim one last shove.

     "Your jacket is as lame as you are." He whispered, before putting on a pleasant smile and running to his mother, who placed a sweet kiss on his forehead and lead him to her expensive car.

The victim, who was sitting on the ground, frantically got up as he remembered that his book might've been ruined. It was a library book and he wouldn't dare to damage it as other kids would have.

Not bothering to dust himself off, he quickly crawled over to where his book lay in a damp pile of leaves. He picked it up and tried to get as much of the dirt off as he could, hoping he could save it. He almost cried when he realized that he had spread the dirt on the cover.

"Do you need any help? Are you okay?"

     In his panicked state, he didn't realize the little boy with brown eyes and the same blue jacket was silently walking towards him.