kiddies blacksand sharing an umbrella!
Sandy has been looking forward to the field trip for weeks, so naturally it rains the day of. The unlucky few without umbrellas are given the option of partnering up or staying in the classroom for a free day, and as much as Sandy wants to go, almost everyone -including his friends- have partnered up already. Being mute is sometimes quite a pain all on its own, but in this case Sandy can’t even call out to see if anyone is still free to share! He slumps a little bit, silent in a way only he can be, and prepares to settle in for the long haul of a boring day in the classroom.
Perhaps that’s why it comes as such a surprise when solitary, dire-looking Pitch Black taps him on the shoulder and firmly asks if Sandy wants to share his umbrella. Sandy has never talked to Pitch Black before, caught up in his own hovering solar system of friends, but decides that it can’t hurt. After all, Pitch has never given him the impression of being a bad person. He’s very quiet and can disappear into the background as easily as Sandy does, but sometimes Sandy can spot bruises on his knuckles and peaking out of the collars of his sweaters. Sandy thinks about it briefly, and concludes that it probably took Pitch a lot of courage to come up and ask to be partners!
Sandy puts on his best grin and nods, and Pitch loses some of the tension that always seems to hunch his shoulders. He even manages a small, tired-looking smile that Sandy does his best to encourage, despite how quickly it vanishes. A short ways off the teacher calls for everyone to get ready and line up, and the pop of umbrella’s unfurling sounds all around them. Sandy, with nothing better to do, turns to watch as Pitch begins to unstrap and unwind his own.
With a quiet click the umbrella opens wide like a bat’s wings, black canopy stretched wide over wire and taut around its large frame. It comes as such a shock Sandy’s heart skips a beat and he doesn’t notice it at first, but when he finally manages to focus his heart is sent pounding for an entirely different reason. Underneath the dull polyester fabric of the umbrella, there’s yellow. Well not yellow, precisely, but mustard and gold and yellow-green don’t glow like this color does. Pitch holds it up over their heads, and there’s just enough blue-grey light in the air to push through the canopy and wash them in that color.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it? I love rainy days,” Pitch mutters quietly, happily, but Sandy is barely listening. Under the umbrella’s low-light, Pitch is shining. His olive skin, normally pale-ish and faded, is picking up glittering highlights and color. He looks healthy and vibrant; his hazel eyes turning a shimmery gold color and his black hair shot through like the rays of the sun. Even the dark fabric of his sweater is affected, little lights glittering and jumping around on tiny loose threads. The sharpness of Pitch’s cheekbones softens and the mottled bruises beneath his eyes don’t seem quite as harsh; all his shadows turn a hazy violet and everything seems warmer. Intimate.
Sandy clears his throat and turns away, hoping the cold air will help the burning of his cheeks. It’s relief is minimal. When he manages to swallow down the pounding in his chest and turn around, Pitch is looking at him strangely. Sandy simply shrugs and grins and is for the first time thankful of his muteness, because it enables him to grab the umbrella by the handle (half overlapping Pitch’s hand) and use it to steer the other boy over to where their classmates are lining up. Pitch doesn’t say a word, but neither does he protest when Sandy never quite lets go of the handle once they’re in place. His hand is very warm beneath Sandy’s, despite the chill, and he is kind enough to pretend not to notice when the shorter boy takes peeks at him.
By the end of the day Sandy’s cheeks are sore from all his smiling and he is contemplating how to go about adding a new planet to his solar system.
