Sunny-Side Down

Laine tries to make friends. And fails.

"Oh, look at me! I'm emo. Black is the color of my soul and my nails. Death is life! Ahhh!" Logan mocked. Laine ignored him, staring into space. Logan hit his arm, getting his friends attention. "Hmm?" Laine hummed, finally looking up at Logan. "Did you hear any part of my joke?" He asked, miffed. "Yeah. I did." Laine mumbled, looking away again. "Hey, fuckface, tell me it was funny." Logan snapped. Still not looking at him, Laine nodded his head. Logan followed his gaze to see the boy he was just making fun of. "What? Are you a fag or something? Why're you staring at that freak?" He growled. Laine grabbed his notebook and stood up, smiling. "I'm going to go talk to him." He announced, cheerily. He grabbed the pencil from behind his ear and started twirling it between his fingers, walking away from Logan. "Fag!" Logan yelled at him.
The kid who was made fun of was on his phone, not paying attention to anything. He had normal IPhone earphones in, but the music was turned up so loud Laine could hear it. It was Paradise, by Coldplay. Laine tapped on his shoulder, causing him to jerk back and glare at him. Laine made the motion of taking an earbud out, hinting at the boy that he wanted to talk to him. The boy took his earbud out, "What?" He snapped. Laine pressed his lips together and twirled his pencil faster, trying not to flinch.
He sat down and smiled at the boy. "I like Coldplay too." He greeted. The boy gave him a deadpan stare. "Is that all?" He asked, a bite in his voice. Laine bit his lip and looked down, slowing down his fingers so he wouldn't accidentally throw the pencil. Again. "Uh- no?" He answered. The boy quietly groaned and took the other earbud out, obviously annoyed. He pushed back his lunch, a cheeseburger and fries, and leaned back in his chair. "So. What's your name?" Laine asked. "Nico." The boy- Nico- answered. Laine nodded and and looked down again. "Will you stop?" Nico complained. Laine looked up at Nico. "W-what?" He asked. Nico gestured to Laines fiddling. "Oh." He said in realization and stopped the pencil. "S-sorry. I was just try-trying to control my stutter a little bit." Laine laughed nervously. Nico raised an eyebrow, not looking amused.
The bell signifying the end of lunch sounded, and Nico immediately grabbed his hamburger container and phone, standing up. "It's been... whatever. See you later."
Nico turned away and left, leaving a confused Laine. He noticed that Nico left his fries and grabbed them, resisting the temptation of the most greasy, amazing side food ever. "Wait!" Laine called. He jogged up to Nico and look him in the eye. "Okay, I don't know what has ever happened to you, but you're interesting. I want to know you." Laine confessed. Nico gave him an uninterested look. "I don't care." Nico replied. Laine felt hurt, but decided that he would just stalk Nico or something. He thrust the container of fries at Nico and looked down. "You left these. I'm sorry that you're not interested in being friends. Have a good day." He waited for Nico to take them. After a while, Laine looked up to see air where Nico was previously standing.
Laine felt tears prick his eyes. He didn't understand how people wouldn't want friends, or what he did wrong. Laine pulled his arm back to his chest and looked down at the fries. He smiled a little bit.

At least he got fries.

~*Timeskip*~ 'whoosh sound'

Soccer was Laines favorite time of the day. Except for when the heartbreakingly mean emo was standing under a tree, watching him. Laine bounced a ball around on his knees, stealing a glance at Nico every now and then. Eventually, the coach called for a scrimmage, Varsity vs Junior Varsity. As a freshman, even if he was better than most Varsity players, he was shoved onto the Junior Varsity team.
The Varsity players snickered and taunted Laines team. Then, something weird happened. The captain of the JV team went over to the Captain of the Varsity team, whispering and making gestures every now and then. The Varsity Captain smirked, then looked towards Laine. But he wasn't looking at Laine, he was looking past him.
Laine pressed his lips together and got in position as the coach blew his whistle. After a couple of goals, the Varsity team started started kicking the ball the other way, towards their own goal. I ran next to the ball, confused. Until the Varsity Captain changed directions, towards the tree Nico was leaning against. I realized what was going to happen and started sprinting, in front of the ball. The Varsity Captain kicked the ball as hard as he could. Laine sprinted towards Nico, who looked up at the last moment confused.
Laine grabbed Nicos arm and pulled him to the side. He turned around to yell at the teams but was cut off by the ball being launched into his stomach, and being thrown against the tree. He let out a "poooohf" before falling to his knees. He hugged his stomach and coughed, trying to regain his breath. Nico stood there for a minute, frozen with confusion and shock. Eventually, he cleared his throat and walked over to Laine. "Uh- are you okay?" He asked. Laine coughed one more time before look up at Nico, a forced smile plastered on his face. "Fine." He said through clenched teeth. He didn't make any move to get up, still clutching his stomach.
Nico looked at the two teams, all of which were staring at them. The coach cleared his throat and tipped his head towards the school. "Go ahead and take him to the nurse. Paust, you're excused from the rest of practice. The coach turned to the Varsity Captain, "Thanks to Ace over here, everyone else gets to run." Both teams groaned, some glaring at Ace, others glaring at Nico. Nico rolled his eyes in response and looked back at Laine. "Can you stand up." He asked. Laine didn't answer, but he did try. And failed.
Laine tried to stand up again but it felt as if he took a sledge hammer to his stomach. His knees buckled and he fell back to the ground. "Yeah, no. That's a no." Laine groaned. Nico rolled his eyes again and sighed. He picked up Laine, bridal style, and started carrying him towards the school. Laine coughed again, "Sorry. You don't have to take me. I'll be fine." He smiled reassuringly at Nico. "You can't stand." Nico pointed out, skipping the crap. Laines smile fell, and he looked away. "You didn't have t-to pick me up at least-t. I'm sure I-I'm heavy." He grumbled nervously. Nico almost found that funny. "You're a lot lighter than a lot of things I've had to pick up." He muttered. Laine wanted to ask questions, but he had a feeling Nico was already annoyed at him. The reason, Laine didn't know.
"Are you going t-to prom?" Laine asked quietly, hating the one sidedness of their conversations. "No." Nico answered shortly. Laine couldn't suppress his curiosity. "Why? Prom is o-only a two year thing." Nico stared at the school doors, not knowing how he was going to get in. "I won't be here long enough to go." Nico muttered. "What? You just got here, you're going?" Laine asked, a little deflated. "Yeah." Nico decides to just kick the door open. He lifted his leg to push the crash bar, but hit Laines back with his knee, knocking himself off balance.
Nico yelped as they fell, while Laine tried to catch himself. Laine closed his eyes and cringed at the new pain in his back and the throbbing in his stomach. He opened his eyes and blushed, seeing Nico right under him. Laines arms were the only thing lifting himself off of Nico. "Ha. Th-this is awkward." Laine laughed nervously. Nico scowled at him. "Well, it wouldn't be awkward if we weren't in this position. You knocked me off balance." Nico growled. Laine felt shocked, then angry. "Excuse me? You're the one who picked me up even though I told you not to!" Laine snapped. "I wouldn't have to pick you up if you didn't get nailed in the stomach by a stupid ball." Nico yelled. "I was trying to keep the ball from hurting you, idiot!" Laine yelled back. Nico narrowed his eyes. "Why? You don't even know me." He questioned. "Because I want to be your stupid friend one of these days, idiot. But you keep pushing me away." Laine growled.
He and Nico stared at each other for a minute before Laine pushed himself up. He sat on his heels and leaned against the door, fuming. Nico say up and sat cross-legged. They stayed silent for a while before Nico broke the silence. "You lost your stutter." He pointed out. Laines eyes flickered from the music note ring on his finger to Nico, then back. "I only stutter when I'm nervous." He muttered.
Nico felt guilty for blaming Laine, putting him in a bad mood. He studied Laine, memorizing his face. His chestnut colored hair flopped over his left eyebrow, messed up from practice, getting thrown into a tree, and getting dropped. He had faint freckles sprayed across his fair skin, decorating his nose and cheekbones. His lips were pressed together in annoyance, his eyebrows were pressed together. His eyes were a pretty green, not like Percy Jacksons, but an emerald green. It looked like someone just plucked up the gem and stuck in his irises.
Laine looked up, catching Nicos stare. "May I help you?" He questioned. Nico scowled, then shook his head. Laine stood up and took a deep breath, the pain in his stomach coming back. He gripped the sides of his stomach and started limping away, towards his car, mumbling a goodbye.