"Dick, you seriously can't be considering this—"

"I already have and I have already made my choice, Gar."

"I can't believe your girlfriend actually said yes."

"Fiancé."

"Right, fiancé."

"This isn't the first time I needed her permission to bring someone into the house." Dick mused. "But I think she'll like you much better than the last guy we had."

"And who was that?"

"A hobo."

Gar snickered. "You're a real softie, Dick."

"Shut up." Dick said with a grin playing on his lips. "I'm anything but a softie."

"You brought a hobo into you and your fiancé's house." Gar reasoned. "I think that qualifies as you being a softie."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dick muttered, and couldn't help but crack a smile. He loved having the boy around, although sometimes he'd be too much of a talker.

Upon seeing the size of Dick's second-story house, Gar's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Dude." He said aloud, not taking his eyes off it. "That's where you live? That's the biggest house I've ever seen in my entire life."

"Yup. It's pretty big, isn't it?" Dick said with a small smile. Gar didn't say anything in reply. With a short laugh, he nudged the kid in the arm with his elbow, nodding towards the door. "C'mon."

Gar immediately followed, barely seeming to keep himself from sprinting into the fairly-big house.

A young, dark-skinned woman who seemed to be in her late twenties, with flaming pink-red hair stood by the doorway, looking at her fingernails. When she heard footsteps nearing, she looked up and found Dick with her eyes. A smile grew onto her face.

"Hey." She greeted him, and walked up, giving Dick a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Took you a while to get here."

"We stopped for pancakes on the way." Dick shrugged, returning the favor by giving her a peck on her temple. Glancing behind his shoulder, he nodded towards the boy who seemed to be busy looking at a squirrel running up a leafless oak tree. "That's our guest."

Kory peeked behind Dick's shoulder and a wide grin appeared on her face. She faced her fiancé again. "You didn't tell me he was a little boy—" She said.

"A teenager, actually. He's fifteen."

"Still—boys will always be boys."

"I still don't think he'd like being called a little boy."

"So, how long is he staying?"

"I was thinking about a month or two. Maybe two's better."

"You kept that nomad in our house for five months, Dick."

Dick raised his hands next to his head in mock surrender. "Hey, he's gone now, isn't he?"

Kory glanced towards Gar, who was now trying to beckon the squirrel to come down. "Is he nice?"

"Nice, really sweet, very talkative." Dick replied with a shrug. "So far his demeanor has only been screaming the word 'good' at me for two days."

"I wanna say hi." Kory demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Dick nodded, and looked back to see Gar craning his neck to look at the top of the oak tree. "Gar!" He called out. "C'mere!"

"Just a sec!"

"Gar, that squirrel isn't gonna climb down with you waiting for it like that."

Reluctantly, Gar stepped away from the tree and zigzagged across the lawn to the front porch. He suddenly looked nervous as he took his place beside Dick, placing his hands behind his back.

"Gar, this is Kory." Dick said out loud, looking towards Kory with a smile. "Kory, Gar."

"Hi there, Gar." With a wide, white-teeth-smile, Kory reached out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Dick's girlfriend, Kory Anders."

"Girlfriend?" Gar narrowed his eyebrows and looked at Dick after shaking Kory's outstretched hand. "I thought you said she was your fiancé."

"She likes to stick with the word 'girlfriend'." Dick replied. "Kory thinks fiancé sounds cheesy."

"I do not." Kory retorted, glaring at Dick before turning back to the boy with the friendliest smile. "Well, come in, hurry up—it's cold out here." She then began pushing the two through the door and into the house.

Upon entering—no, being shoved into—the house, Gar gaped and his eyes widened in an instant. "Dick, you're so rich—" He called out, and his voice seemed to bounce along the walls of the house.

"It's just an average two-story house." Kory laughed. "But yeah, I took extra care to make it fancy."

"She did." Dick said with a small smile, chuckling at the sight of Gar. "I think we spend half of my salary on household objects."

"Shut up, Dick." Kory teased, poking him in the chest with his finger. "So, Gar, can I get you anything? Snacks or a glass of water, maybe?"

"No, mam, I'm fine, thank you." Gar replied with a polite smile.

"Don't call me that—makes me feel old already." Kory chuckled, closing the door behind her and clicking the lock. "Just Kory will be fine, Gar. Have a look around, will you? Dick'll help."

Dick nodded, gave Kory a glance, before walking up next to Gar. "C'mon." He nodded towards the flight of stairs. "Let me show you around."

Gar grinned widely and turned to Dick. He took this short moment to study the kid's eyes.

His eyes were the color of deep sienna, with a mischievous glint that seemed to reflect the corners of his mouth, which were stretched from ear to ear. They were every shade of brown you could imagine, a raw umber and caramel mix, dotted with bits of dark chocolate. They glowed with humor and playfulness that almost gave him shivers and wrapped him in a warm embrace at the same time.

"Brown eyes." He commented, grinning a little. "Your mom's or dad's?"

"Mix of both." Gar replied with a simple shrug. "My dad was Japanese, and my mom was American. I lean towards my mom's looks, though." Dick was relieved that Gar didn't seem to be bothered from the mention of his parents, as he had feared it would be a touchy subject.

Dick led him up the stairs and down a hallway. Gar followed close behind. "So, Gar."

"Yeah?"

"Tell me; do you feel... isolated at times?"

The small grin fell of Gar's face, replaced with a rather serious look of consideration and thought. "I had a few friends back in elementary school." He said. "But that was before my hair started turning green, so you can probably imagine what high school's like."

"You're a freshman, it can happen." Dick said in the most comforting voice possible. "In a year, you'll have so many friends that you won't even be able to count them all—you'll see."

Gar said nothing for a while. "... I don't think so."

"Oh?" He frowned. "Why not?"

"You know, kids eavesdrop on teachers, rumors begin, they tell the others, blah blah blah..." He muttered, shaking his head. "They all know about the hair. I dunno how, but they just do." Gar dropped his gaze to the floor. "Maybe uncle Larry told the school staff."

"You're normal, Gar. You're not a freak in any way. You're just a kid with cool hair." Dick stopped in his tracks, and Gar stopped with him.

"You know, nobody realizes that some people spend tremendous energy merely to be normal." Gar said aloud, staring up at Dick. "Because in their subconsciousness, deep down, they know those people can't be normal."

"They can and they already are." Dick said a little bit more firmly. "You need to notice that you're no different to other people around you. And if others don't see that, it's their fault, not yours. Understood?"

Gar swallowed, eyes fixed on Dick's. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, and eventually settled making a tight fist, fingernails digging into skin. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak.

"I understand."

"Good." Dick nodded. "Don't ever think it's your fault, because it never is." He then started off the hall, not wanting to see the kid's sad face anymore, because it tore his heart apart and made his chest hurt. "I'll show you to the guest room—and I'll have Kory bring you a sandwich."