#kidcast

Lalna looked exactly how he had before. Well, how he had looked before when he was six, twenty-or-so years ago. Big for his age with frizzy, unbrushed blonde hair and excited eyes. He chattered incessantly.

“It’s okay! This is Honeydew, he’s my friend. He’s weird, but he’s nice,” Lalna said as he crouched by the desk. A dim blue glow poured through the crevice.

“Xephos!” Honeydew realized in relief. Xephos looked up at him from his spot under the desk. He narrowed his eyes in shock and suspicion at being recognized.

Lalna scrunched his nose. “Ze-ffos? That’s a funny name.”

“Don’t be rude, Lalna,” Honeydew chastised instinctively in the same way he would when Lalna was younger. And still oftentimes now, if he was honest.

“Sorry, Honeydew,” Lalna chimed back. He looked back under the desk. “C’mon! It’s okay,” he said. Slowly the smaller figure crept out from under the desk.

Honeydew blinked. Unlike Lalna, he hadn’t known Xephos as a child, but this was unmistakably Xephos. Twig-like limbs and tan skin splashed with glowing freckles. His downy dark hair stuck up without any product in it. He eyed Honeydew in the same cautious manner he had all those years ago when he’d first crashed on Minecraftia.

Lalna put his pudgy hand in Xephos’ and tugged him forward. “See? He’s nice.”

Xephos looked at Lalna and said something in his native language that Honeydew didn’t recognize.

Lalna sighed impatiently. “I told you, I don’t know what that means.” He looked at Honeydew. “I don’t think he’s Minecraftian. He doesn’t speak Common, that’s for sure.”

~

'Tag! You're it!' Sips gently pushed the brunette in the back before dodging away, charging around the playground equipment as he stayed away from the taller boy's stubby hands.

'Sips, no fair!' The taller boy giggled, his eyes shining bright in the after noon sun as he toddled clumsily after his dark haired friend. He leapt over the roundabout and swung past the climbing frame in his pursuit of his friend, one end of his blanket still dragging along the tarmac. Bright colours whirled past him as he closed in. He pushed his little legs faster, if he could just reach out a bit further he could catch Sips. 

Sips swung round to face is friend, only for his brow to scrunch up in confusion when he couldn't see his friend. 

'Sjin?' He called, clambering over the brightly painted tire swings, heading over towards the wooden bridge. As he scrambled over wooden stepping stumps sticking out of the ground, he caught sight of his friend on the ground. Sjin was crumpled up, tears welling up in his large blue eyes, tiny hands gripping his blanket tightly. Sips fell to the ground beside his friend, hands wiping the tears falling hotly on his friends cheeks. 

'Sjin, you okay?'

The taller boy pointed to his knee. It looked pretty cut up, all red from scratches from the wood. Sips hung his arms around Sjin's skinny frame, holding the thin boy while he cried, before jumping up, hauling Sjin with him.