- Chapter 123 - Kindergarten -
Warnings: Slight mentions of death and fear and sadness, mostly happy.
Modern AU
Third Person POV

A/N, this is for Gaby_Theater_Kid 's Weekly Writing Competition.

A boy with dark brown hair bounced up to him. "Hi!"

"Hi." Elmer smiled as he looked at Race, sticking his hand out for him to shake.

The blonde-haired boy merely stared back at him. He looked at his mom, his blue eyes wide with fear.

Race stared at him, trying to gage why he seemed so familiar.

His mom chuckled as she watched him.

Crutchie worriedly nudged his new foster brother.

The brown-haired boy just giggled. "I'm Elmer," he introduced himself. "You have pretty eyes."

Elmer leaned a bit closer to Race, concern flooding his eyes. "Hey, you okay?" he asked him.

Blush dusted over the little boy's cheeks. "I'm- I'm Antonio, but mia mamma e Papi call me Toni," he stammered out, his eyes still wide. "You have pretty eyes too."

Race snapped himself out of shock, taking an instinctive step back as his cheeks redden. "Hi. I'm okay."

Elmer giggled, his cheeks a bit red. "Thank you. I like my eyes. Mommy says they're pretty too," he explained with a bright grin. "Can I call you Toni?"

"Toni, you okay?" Jack asked, his voice soft. He stood on one side of Race, while Crutchie stood on the other.

Antonio nodded slowly. "Yeah," he mumbled, playing with his fingers. "Your mamma is right about your eyes..." he whispered, his voice slowly getting softer and softer as he stared at his feet.

Race breathed in a shaky breath, unable to take his eyes off of Elmer. His hands were shaking violently. "I think... I think I need to... to go to- to my... my room," he whispered, quickly retreating.

Blush spread across Elmer's cheeks. "Thank you!" he chirped.

Elmer watched with a frown as the blonde-haired boy quickly rushed up to his room.

Antonio bit back a smile, looking out of the corner of his eyes at Elmer.

"He was doing so well..." Crutchie whispered with a frown as he watched his foster brother leave. He looked over at Elmer. "Maybe he's just overwhelmed. This is a lot of people for one day," he pointed out.

Jack nodded in agreement.

"Wanna play on the swings with me?" Elmer asked, pointing to the swing set behind him.

Antonio beamed a bit. "I love the swings!"

Elmer grinned. "Really?! Me too!" he exclaimed. He grabbed Antonio's hand and dragged him over to the swing set, basically jumping on it when they got to them.

Antonio giggled and got onto a swing as well.

"Did you know the word for swing in Polish is "huśtawka"?" Elmer asked excitedly as he kicked off.

Antonio looked over at him, his eyes bright. "Is it? The word for swing in Italian is "altalena"," he informed Elmer.

Elmer grinned. "That's super cool!"

Elmer sat on the couch in Jack and Crutchie's house/what was technically Miss Medda's house. He was in deep thought.

Jack sat down next to Elmer, a bit concerned. "You alright, El?" he asked softly.

Elmer looked up at him.

"You've been a bit... lost since you met Race," Jack pointed out softly, concern flooding through his brown eyes. "Just sort of... not here mentally. Is something up?"

Elmer bit his lip. "You called him "Toni"..." he mumbled, thinking deeply. He looked up at Jack. "What's his real name?"

Jack seemed a bit confused - and debatably slightly skeptical - by this question. "Antonio..." he answered slowly, "why?"

Sudden realization hit Elmer.

"Toni!" Elmer grinned as he ran over to him.

"Ellie!" Antonio ran over to him.

The two boys grabbed each other in hugs, both of them tumbling to the ground together. They exploded into giggles and laughs.

Their mothers caught up to them, both of them chuckling.

"I shouldn't have tried to get him to wear nice clothes today," Mrs. Kasprzak commented with a knowing smile. "I should've realized they would be in the same class and would somehow end up on the ground," she said.

Mrs. Higgins chuckled. "My boy is almost always on the ground on way or another," she responded. "The kid trips over his own two feet."

Antonio sat up with a pout, Elmer's hat now somehow on his head and pushing his curls in front of his eyes. "Mamma!" he protested.

Mrs. Higgins chuckled as she bent down and fixed the hat, brushing his curls out of his face. "Sorry, sorry. I know you're sensitive about that." She patted his head.

Mrs. Kasprzak chuckled. "Why don't we head in and see your class, boys?" she suggested.

Elmer nodded, starting to get up.

Antonio was still sat on his butt on the ground, his head tilted to the side as he tried to figure out what "sensitive" meant.

Elmer looked up at Jack, his eyes wide. "Can I please go see him?" he asked quickly.

Jack was slightly startled by Elmer's suddenness, but nodded slowly. "Need me to show you to his room?" he asked as he watched Elmer get up.

Elmer shook his head, quickly starting to walk upstairs. "It's the room next to Charlie's, two down from yours, right?" he asked.

Jack nodded. He watched Elmer quickly jog up the stairs. He leaned back on the couch when Elmer disappeared from his sight, confused by the exchange.

He figured he'd find out later.

Elmer and Antonio walked hand in hand to their new classroom.

Mrs. Higgins led the way, while Mrs. Kasprzak stayed behind them.

They finally got to a door. It was rainbow and the vibrant colors caught the attention of both of the boys quickly, both of them immediately spotting their favorite colors.

Blu and żółty.

The two six-year-olds exchanged a look, taking a deep breath together and then knocking on the door in unison.

A knock on the door snapped Race out of his thoughts. He flinched violently in surprise, looking over at the door.

"Toni?" A soft voice came from the other side of the door.

Race stared at the door. He knew that voice.

"Toni?" Elmer's voice was soft and shy. "Will you sit with me?" he mumbled, gesturing to the table that had the crayons and coloring supplies.

Race swallowed hard. "H-hi," he tried to force his voice to be strong and normal, but it didn't work.

It hadn't since his mom died.

"Can I come in?"

Race swallowed again, cracking his knuckles nervously. "Yeah." His voice was meek. He didn't like it. His father would've scolded him for this.

The door opened and Elmer stood in the doorway.

Race could see the same six-year-old boy with dark brown hair and stunning chocolate-chip-colored in Elmer.

It was clear Elmer recognized Race too.

"I thought I lost you," Elmer whispered, staring at Race.

Race swallowed hard. "Me too," he whispered.

"You disappeared out of nowhere," Elmer pointed out, trying to speak up a bit, but he couldn't. "I was so worried."

Race felt tears sting his eyes. "My mom passed away... and my dad..." he breathed in a shaky breath, "there's a reason I'm a foster kid."

Elmer frowned.

Elmer gently wiped the tears off of Antonio's cheeks. "It's okay," he put on a weak grin, "I won't leave you. I'll hold your hand through the pain. You can squeeze it," he told him, "like you have me do when I'm hurt."

All of a sudden, Race felt arms wrapped around him. He quickly hugged him back.

Elmer gave the same comforting hugs as he did in kindergarten.

"Welcome to Kindergarten," the teacher said with a smile as she stepped out of the way so they could come in.

Race exhaled slowly. "Kindergarten, huh?" he mumbled. "It sure has been a while since we were that small..." he trailed off.

Elmer breathed out a laugh, pulling away. "Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "My mom still has all of my stuff and our pictures."

Race nodded slowly. He looked up, feeling himself get lost in a trance when he looked into Elmer's eyes. "Your eyes are still as pretty as they were back then," he mumbled.

Elmer blushes a bit. "Thanks," he whispered with a shy smile. "Yours too. I swear that ocean - but not really ocean, and more like the sky, but not even because there's nothing that can describe your eyes well enough - blue was in my dreams every night," he said.

Race's cheeks reddened. "You never forgot me?" he asked softly.

Elmer smiled a bit, looking at him. "I could never forget my kindergarten best friend," and crush, he thought to himself.

Race smiled, putting his pinky out. "Ti prometti?" he asked softly.

Elmer smiled in response, hooking his pinky with Race's. "Obiecuję," he responded.

Race smiled.

Six-year-old Antonio Higgins held out his pinky for his best friend. "Ti prometti?"

Six-year-old Elmer Kasprzak grinned in response and hooked their pinkies together. "Obiecuję!"

1556 Words
(Story length: 1482 Words)
I swear that this is less than 1500 words. The added words (that count towards the word count just above this) is from this message and the thing at the top that says the ship and era and stuff.
Hope everyone enjoyed it!