(Child! Keith X Child! Rival! Reader)
[Modern AU]
《Fluff》
Keith's P.O.V
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__________... the name I grew to absolutely hate with a fiery passion. I never knew how evil a human being could be since I had first met her, that's if, she's even considered a human being. How could someone be so greedy? So absolutely infuriating? I didn't even know it was possible to hate someone so much. This girl was an actual villian! I had my reasons to hate her and here I'll tell you why.
It all started when I was six years old, I had gone with my dad to go run some errands in town. It was pretty boring the whole time, considering that all I had to do was follow my dad and watch him buy a whole bunch of stuff like food or supplies, that is, until we came across one of the most amazing places on planet Earth, the toy store.
The most wondrous place where kids could spend their parents' money to buy some of the coolest toys and collectables. Speaking of collectables, I had been collecting all the Voltron toy lions and I only needed the red lion to complete it. Unfortunately the red lion was the hardest to get, but fortunately they had it sitting behind the window along with all the other lions. I gasped and pulled on my dad's sleeve, dragging him over to the window. I pointed at the figure through the glass and looked up at him with pleading eyes.
"Dad can I pleeeease get the red lion? It's the last one I need and it's the special edition!" He looked over at the price and his eyes filled with concern.
"Sorry kiddo, I don't have enough money on me for that. Maybe we could get it some other time?" He ruffled my hair and my heart dropped. He grasped my hand and began to walk away, I trailed quietly behind him, my eyes cast down.
"Mommy look! It's the red lion!"
I stopped and let my hand drop from my dad's, I whipped my head around and saw a little girl around my age with messy {H/C} hair and bright {E/C} eyes, tugging at her mother's dress while she talked on the phone.
I narrowed my eyes felt jealousy begin to linger and stir within me.
"Yes, that's nice _________. Maybe you can sell some of your girl scout cookies to get enough money to buy it." Her mother pulled her along whilst keeping the phone to her ear.
The girl, __________, smiled and skipped to keep up with her mom.
Looks like I have some competition to get that lion.
•••
I set up a table out on the front lawn by the sidewalk, I had a jar of sugar, a lemon squeezer, an ice chest full of ice, and a box full of precut lemons. Yep, I made a lemonade stand. I needed to make money fast in order to get that lion before that girl did. This was my only shot and I wasn't throwing it away.
I got my homemade lemonade sign (which took me a long time to put together because I needed to write neat enough so it was eligible.) Which was written in red crayon and had alot of stickers plastered on it. I leaned it against the table and sat on my chair, waiting patiently for some customers.
I looked across the street and saw the same girl, but she had a stand too, for girl scout cookies! Hatred seeped as I noticed her wearing a forest green and brown scout uniform with alot of patches sewed onto it. A little brown {hat/bow} was on her head to match the uniform. The sign she had was decorated in glitter and little drawings of cookies, even the handwriting looked nice. I looked down at myself, I wore some overalls that were stained with dirt and grass, a striped red and white shirt, and my dirty burgundy converse. I needed to up my game if I wanted to get that special edition lion before her.
I dashed inside the house and went to go change.
•••
So far I have had eight customers, and I made sixteen dollars (plus a fifty cent tip, whatever that means). I was a thriving businessman, boy, whatever. I think making myself more presentable really did the trick. I put on some clean clothes, borrowed (stole) my dad's clip on tie, and even slicked my hair back. Also to make my business run smoother, I used my manners by saying 'please, thankyou, and have a nice day!'. I even got a few compliments from two middle aged ladies for that, they had called me a 'lady's man'.
I was in the middle of squeezing a lemon into the squeezer for another customer when I heard some shouting from across the street.
"Come get your girl scout cookies! Buy one box and get another half the price!"
___________ was attracting a crowd from the bus stop a little ways away. I furrowed my brows and worked faster.
So she's gonna play that way?
•••
I had remembered that I had a bull horn somewhere, it wasn't one of those battery powered ones that could make that alarm sound or make your voice sound robotic, no. I had one that the cheerleaders are often seen with, and it was actually one from the highschool about a mile away. I had gotten it from a group of cheerleaders from the last football game, they had fallen for my charm and let me have it when I had asked for it politely.
I had to find it in the garage since that was the place my dad hid it, he got over it when I kept making loud farting noises with it.
After scuffling around, I had found the all glorious bull horn, perched on top of the cabinet. I could see the 'Hudson Hippos' icon from where I was.
I jumped for it once, then twice, but I was unable to reach it.
After pondering for a while, I ran out to the backyard and came back with my red station wagon. I set it by the cabinet and stood on top of it, it wobbled and rolled slightly.
I jumped down and had to roll it back into place. I looked around and saw little wooden blocks a few feet away from me. I grabbed the blocks and set two on each side of every tire, that way it wouldn't roll. I stood on the wagon and it was sturdy, gazing up I saw the horn standing in its glory. I reached up for it, standing on my toes, my fingertips were only centimeters away, even when I jumped. I was still too short.
I looked around the garage for a Plan B until a lightbulb lit up over my head.
"Daaaaaad!"
•••
After getting help from my dad on getting the horn, I had a lunch break (which consisted of a yummy peanut butter sandwich and a juice box), then I returned back to work.
I was so close to my goal, only one more customer and the lion would be mine. However, the sun was going down, so I needed my last two dollars. I looked across the street and _________ was exchanging two boxes of cookies for money. Then I gazed at the sidewalk on my side and saw a couple walking towards my direction. I adjusted my tie and pushed my hair back before grabbing the horn.
"Fresh and Homemade Lemonade for two dollars! Come get this tasty drink to satisfy your needs!" I attracted the attention of the couple, this was it, I was gonna get the red lion.
I rushed back to sit on my chair and waited for the couple to come to the stand.
"Hello how can I help you toda-"
They had walked past me without even looking at me.
The sun was already set and the lampposts flickered on. My eyes casted down to my hands and then to the jar full of one dollar bills and quarters. I sighed and took off the clip on tie.
I guess I wasn't gonna get the red lion collectable.
I heard someone clear their throat from across the table, I quickly glanced up at them and what I saw was completely out of the blue.
It was __________, except she was holding out two one dollar bills.
"Are you still selling lemonade?" Her soft voice resonated and I blinked before nodding my head slowly.
"I would like one lemonade please, two scoops of sugar."
She delicately set the money in the jar and I sat there, perplexed.
I finally snapped out of my daze and grabbed two precut lemons.
"U-uh, coming right up."
Why was she buying my lemonade? Didn't she want the red lion too?
I made her lemonade quickly and quietly, once I was done stirring the sugar in with the beverage and putting ice cubes, I handed the cup to her and she flashed a toothy grin.
"Thanks!" She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip, her face lit up and she let out a little hum.
"This is really good, better than girl scout cookies. What's your name?" She asked and I nervously fiddled with the hem of my shirt.
"...Keith..."I quietly muttered. She let out a short giggle.
"Cool name, I'm _________." She took another sip of the homemade beverage and licked her lips.
We heard a voice call for her from her house, I assumed it was her mom.
"__________!"
"Coming mom!"
She looked back at me, another graceful smile on her lips.
"Well I gotta go, it was nice meeting you, Keith." She dug into her pocket and pulled out a quarter, setting it on the table.
"Here's a tip, I don't know what it means but I think it means that you did a good job with serving people. Bye Keith!" She waved and began to walk back to her house. I stood there, watching her as she left. My face cooling down after it had felt like it was on fire.
Maybe ________ wasn't what I thought she was...
I smiled softly and picked up the quarter she had left, examining it before putting it in my pocket.