꧁꧂
God, I couldn't remember the last time I was that nervous.
Why was I that nervous, you ask? Well, it was the day of our bimonthly family reunion. We'd invite over our aunts and uncles, our cousins and our grandparents for a big cookout in the backyard. Dad and his dad would cook and grill all day while mom, me, my brothers and my aunts, -well, the two reliable ones, anyway- would all help put the decorations out. String up lanterns, set the bench tables in the huge deck out back, and pick out the music. Aunt Jill would just be sitting around making a pb&j.
Unfortunately, on impulse, I'd asked my mom if my new friends -meaning Ezra, Sabine, Zeb and Kanan- could come to the cookout as well. Before I could take back what I said, she agreed. 'The more the merrier!' She replied. I was pretty worried about this for multiple reasons.
First and foremost, Zeb. I'd told my family he was an eccentric cosplayer named Phil that didn't take his costume off. Ever. Who knows if he'd blow his cover? I mean, I'm pretty sure everybody would steer clear of a fairly pungent giant 'dressed up' like an alien, but I was still gonna keep a close eye on him.
Secondly, Brent and Daniel were coming to this thing, too. They always did. And I'm not stupid, I felt the tension between Ezra and the other two. While I wasn't too sure why they seemed to dislike each other, I knew I needed to keep them as far away from each other as possible. The last thing we needed was those three getting into it and causing a scene.
And lastly, my dad. I love him, don't get me wrong, he's probably one of my best friends, but he absolutely does not take kindly to new friends I make and it drives me crazy. Namely, new guy friends. He doesn't like or trust Ezra very much. He doesn't know him well enough, and he doesn't think he has good intentions with me.
He genuinely thinks Ezra like likes me, but we'd only known each other for about two weeks. Crazy, right?
I sighed as I set plates out on one of the four bench tables, looking out over our deck and spacious backyard. Mom and her brothers and sisters -minus Jill- were all busying about, hanging fairy lights along the edges of the awning. I wasn't sure where aunt Jill was. Probably on our phone, talking to her new boyfriend for two hours, running up our phone bill. I watched as my little sister, Aidan, chased the baby of our family, Sadie, around the yard. Sadie had Aidan's Nintendo switch in her hands and a mischievous grin on her face, while Aidan look ticked. I chuckled to myself, she must've stolen it again.
I hadn't spotted my older brothers, though. I grimaced at the thought of those knuckleheads being alone somewhere, possibly setting something on fire. I didn't have the time to keep an eye on them, but I would assume the fire alarm would tell me if they were doing dumb stuff or not.
Though my suspicions were quelled when I saw Liam and David sitting at a table on either side of Ezra, sandwiching him in. He looked pretty scared, so that probably meant they were doing their little 'protective big bro' act, and I made a mental note to kill those two losers later. Ezra had David's phone in his hand, and they appeared to be watching something on it.
I set the last place setting on the table quickly, then jogged over to the three boys to see what they were watching. "Hey losers, what're you-" My words got stuck in my throat as I saw what was on the screen, eyes widening. I immediately slapped both my brothers in the head before snatching the phone out of Ezra's hands. "Why are you idiots showing him this?"
Liam and David burst into laughter, Ezra just sat confused in the middle of them, and steam was practically coming out of my ears. I knew my face had to be completely red.
The video was an old musical.ly of mine, from when i was probably ten or eleven. I'd begun this phase.. a cosplaying phase. A part of my life I wish I could forget. I was dressed as a poorly done Bakugo, and I was lip syncing to a popular song with overly exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. Y'know, musical.ly cosplayer stuff.
Those videos had to be some of the most embarrassing things I did as a kid, and when I was maybe twelve I smartened up and deleted the musical.ly app. I never looked back. I never wanted to.
David was the first to stop obnoxiously cackling, wiping tears from his eyes. "What's wrong, kiddo? We were just showing him who you truly are. He deserves the truth, darklordthecosplayer27." The twerp had the audacity to mock my old username, the sound of it making me cringe.
"YOU BURNT HOT POCKETS-" I fumed, pulling them by the shirt collar off the bench seats and they went tumbling to the ground, letting out pained grunts. "Stop corrupting the blueberry!" I motioned to the boy just sitting on the bench seat, chin in his palm, watching us fight in amusement as he ate some of my mom's homemade fries he stole from the kitchen.
Liam gave a quick knowing glance to David beside him, then glanced at me. "He's not corrupted. We haven't even shown him the Todoroki cosplay yet."
I let out a groan in frustration as I lunged at the two, and we ended up fighting on the ground while Ezra laughed at us, Brent arrived and filmed it on his phone, until my dad came and broke us up. He lifted me off Liam by the back of my shirt collar, adrenaline still pumping and legs still kicking in hopes I could kick his kneecaps in. "Lemme go! I can take em, dad!"
"Now what on God's green earth are you three knuckleheads doing?" Dad completely ignored my angry shouting as he set me on the other side of the bench, ordering me with just an icy stare to stay put. I begrudgingly listened and plopped down on the bench seat across from Ezra, stealing a fry from his basket.
"Jamie started it! We were just trying to make our good new friend Elijah feel comfortable." David stood up, using his best innocent voice and pout as he lied to our father. He rested a hand on Ezra's shoulder, and the blueberry just gave him a deadpan look.
"Liar! You idiots just wanted to embarrass me. And his name is Ezra! Get it right, goons."
"Yeah!" Ezra added in support, and I raised my hand to fist bump him. He stared at my fist quizzically for a moment, then up at me with an arched brow. I rolled my eyes and picked his hand up, balled it into a fist and connected our knuckles. He finally seemed to understand, and we both chuckled to ourselves.
Dad pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. After dealing with me, Liam and David constantly at each other's throats for years, the man was understandably tired of it. "Look, I don't care who started it, I'm ending it. Break it up. Liam, David, go help your mother in the kitchen. James, Ezra, go watch the news with gramps."
I whined under my breath as I face planted the table. "But dad, all gramps does is talk about how hot the weather girl is and get smacked in the arm by grams." I pouted up at him. He shook his head.
"Doesn't matter. Maybe if you spend some time with them, you'll fall asleep and you won't punch each other for a while."
I huffed indignantly. "But dad-"
"No more buts, peanut, off you go." Dad raised a brow, sternly glancing between me and Ezra as he snapped his fingers and pointed at the house. I heaved out a sigh, grabbing Ezra's wrist and pulling him with me into the house.
"Is it really that bad hanging with your grandpa?" Ezra questioned, lips pursed. I shrugged as I slid open the back door for him, letting him walk in first as I followed.
"Well, I mean, I love gramps, don't get me wrong. It's just.." I scratched the back of my neck. "We're pretty different, y'know? He loves basketball, I love soccer. He loves sitting around eating my mom's cooking all day, I love going outside and exploring and fishing. We don't agree on much." I gave a noncommittal shrug, before an idea popped into my head. A small smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. "Hey.. y'know what? I know a place we can sneak off to."
Ezra shared the same look in his eyes, a smirk on his face as well. "Yeah? Where?"
"Cmon, I'll show you." I grabbed his hand, dragging him with me as we snuck around the house to a beaten up screen door on the side of it. Silently creeping out and shutting it behind us, me and Ezra broke into a sprint, the blunette trailing after me.
We made our way through a little wooded area, only a little gravel path guiding us. It was dimmer there, since it was thick with trees, although little bursts of sunlight beamed through gaps in the branches and leaves.
Finally, we reached our destination. A little white, wooden, worn gazebo in the middle of nowhere. Fairy lights were strung over the archways and wound around the posts holding up the roof. It looked like a tiny castle's turret, with intricate designs hand carved into the sides and poorly painted drawings all over the walls. Ezra's eyes were wide as we approached.
"Wow." Was all he could get out. I gave a small chuckle, nudging his shoulder. "I've never seen anything like that."
"I know, right? It's pretty dope."
"..'dope'..?" Ezra echoed in confusion. I sighed.
"Don't worry about it. Cmon," I pulled him up the two steps into the little gazebo. Pillows and cushions were strewn about, a few fuzzy blankets covering them. "My grandpa built this for my grandma about sixty years ago. It's gotten a little beaten up with time, but.. it's still standing."
Ezra's eyes seemed to glitter as he listened to me, and I found myself counting the little stars in his blue irises. "Your grandpa made this?" He questioned in amazement, admiring the intricate carvings and designs on the pillars, tracing them with his fingertips. I nodded proudly.
"He built the house too. With the help of grandma's older sisters, though." I giggled, remembering the ridiculously tall women. "He built that, and this gazebo for grandma. He even proposed to her here."
"Wow," Ezra's voice had a solemn undertone to it, and I cocked my head as he continued. "I wish I had stories like that about my family. My dad would've loved this, he always loved to build and create stuff."
I frowned, watching how his eyes glimmered with the few memories he had of his parents. I could never understand how he felt, all I could do was be there for him. Listen when he needed to talk. Losing your parents at such a young age had to be one of the hardest things in life to get through. Devastating and heart-crushing.
Yet, here he was. Strong as ever, and still standing.
Because of that, I had a lot of respect for him. He was clearly a strong boy, you could see that in how he deals with hardship. How he treats others. He knows real pain and heartache, yet he doesn't close himself off. Sure, he had some trouble trusting me at first, but I saw how quickly that changed. In only a few weeks, we went from being at each other's throats, to being friends. I was happy to get to know him.
That was why I felt like crying just at the sight of him right then. I wanted to make everything better for him, but I couldn't. So instead, I opted for the only thing I knew how to do.
"Blueberry?"
He looked up, gaze locking with mine. "Yeah?"
I debated it for a moment, before shaking it off and opening my arms for him. "Need a hug?" He blinked, looking at my outstretched arms with confused puppy eyes then back up at me. He burst into adorable laughter when he realized what I meant.
Still giggling at my kiddish gesture, he gave a soft nod, walking over to envelope me in his arms. I immediately held him back, squeezing his slim frame slightly. I noticed just how gentle he was when he hugged me, like he was holding a porcelain doll and was afraid that if he held on too tight, he'd break me. I felt cozy and safe, softly and quietly protected by this weird blue boy that fell from the sky into my life.
I hoped he felt just as safe with me. That's what I wanted, for him to know that from now on, he has a friend. I'm in his corner, and I'll have his back for as long as he stays here with me. We had a rough start, but I knew we'd become good friends, as I already felt a connection to him.
We stayed like this for few more moments, before we were forced apart by a resounding boom in the woods right beside us. It sounded close, way too close for comfort. Startled with wide eyes, we looked off in the direction of the sound. A few yards away, laid a hunk of smoking metal. I squinted to get a better look, and upon further inspection, it looked to be another, smaller, space ship, with two hexagonal plates on either side. It looked like a kind of giant candy ball in a wrapper.
I groaned in frustration. I knew for a fact I wouldn't be able to house any more alien visitors, so this wasn't going to go well if these ones needed a place to stay. I turned to Ezra, lips pursed. "Friends of yours?"
Just as the words left my mouth, I noticed his fearful expression. He was pale with wide eyes. Poor guy looked like he'd just seen a ghost.
"No," He replied, voice hoarse as he stared at the ship. "Not exactly."
꧁꧂
{A/N: ayeee ive been dead for like four months. i have no excuses, i've just been struggling with writers block i guess- but anyways, thanks for reading (: hope you enjoyed <3}
All Rights Reserved 2021 © by Tomatoangrytomato
Thanks For Reading! ^-^
New Update coming soon!