Hey...

Disclaimer:I do not own Toys R Us, but everything else is all me, yo. Any resemblence to real persons and/or places is unintentional. The characters and locations are ficitional. Thank you for your time. Have a nice day. READ ON HOMIE!

At First Glance

"But Siero, you don't even kno-"

"You're right, I don't know him. That's exactly why I'm saying no!"

"But-but..!"

"No buts, Kujin. Mom put me in charge and I say you can't go swimming at that boy's house!"

Kujin pouted his cute, little nine-year-old self all the way into his room. Slamming the door for emphasis. Siero of course wasn't effected by this at all. Well, not until he heard loud crashes coming from Kujin's room.

He sprinted down the hall and opened his little brother's door. "Kujin! What did you do? You didn't break anything did you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I meant in your room. Look at this place! It was only a minute! And you wonder why you're still here. Tch!"

"Brother, pleeeease let me go to Tommy's party! I promise I'll clean up my room now, yours, and the kitchen for a whole week when we get back! You can come with me if you don't trust him! His parent's aren't gonna be there, but he's got a older sister an' his cousin is there! He's fourteen too, I think. That's what Tommy told me. So PLEEAASE, can we?"

The fourteen-year-old boy thought this over. It sounded a great deal to him. Besides, he'd at least have kids his own age there. He was also eager to see the girl Kujin claimed to be Tommy's older sister. "You know little brother, Mom's not comin' home till 9. I think we should pick up a birthday present for your friend on the way there."

Kujin smiled and quickly set to cleaning his room.

'I'm too good to him,' Siero thought as he smiled at his little brother frantically stuffing previously scattered papers into random drawers. It was then that he heard the front door open. His mother wasn't due home until-oh...it was Everette. She was their seventeen-year-old-dyed-blonde-haired-fake-boobed-older slut of a sister. She was good for transportation. He guessed he could stomach her long enough to get a ride to the store and to Tommy's house. Eh...

--First-person POV--

I can't believe this. My sister is actually sober. It's not like she's a bad driver when she isn't, but the fact that we've made it to the store and are currently on our way to 1340 Weston Street in less than ten minutes of departure from Toys R Us is frightening. Usually, she stops over friend's houses on the way and picks up some more drinks or smokes. She's still not old enough to buy them on her own, you see. But this time, she hasn't even said a word as Kujin bounced around in the backseat busily scrawling his name on a birthday card.

Speaking of Kujin, he was currently pulling out a piece of my dark brown hair. It almost looked black, but if you held it in the sun just ri-

"Siero!"

"What..."

"Tell me how it looks! I did good, huh? You know I did, look!" He then proceeded to shove a card into my shoulder. I grabbed it and read it once more. It had a picture of a dog on it blowing out candles. I opened it. 'Dog gone it! Another year older! Well, happy birthday anyway. Kiss your youth goodbye!' That's what it said. Corny and silly. No point at all. Kujin liked the dog.

I continued reading the card and noticed a ten dollar bill was tucked into a fold. Tommy was turning ten and Kujin had written in his childish penmanship, 'Happy Birthday Tommy! Here's 10! I hope you like it! From Kujin and Siero'.

"It's real nice, kid. Here." I handed the card to him as he beamed and put it into a gift bag with Tommy's Hulk action figure.

Everette still hadn't said a word.

--

About seven minutes later, Eve had us hunting for the numbers 1340 on sidewalks and houses while we cruised down Weston Street.

"There it is! The one with the balloons on the railing!"

Indeed there were red balloons on the black railing of a house with the address 1340. Everette clarified this and parked along the curb.

"Hey kiddo, don't break the toy now. Have fun." Everette told Kujin as he waved and bounced away. I too turned to walk up the driveway until she stopped me.

"Siero. You got bus fare?"

I nodded.

"Good. There's a bus that runs up here on Feriss at 8:15. It'll go straight to Yarley, so yeah. Bye." With that she drove away. Seeing as it was 1:52, I hoisted the bag that contained towels and swim things for Kujin and I and set out for the door.

It was open, so I pushed it a little further and peeked in. I saw no one, but I heard voices. I walked in and shut the door behind me making sure to lock it. I didn't know where I was going, so I tucked my shoulder length hair behind my ear and straightened my shirt as I followed the voices. It led me to a room where a little blonde boy with blue eyes was showing all his video games to Kujin. He turned to me with wide eyes and said, "He has all the Tekken games! LOOK!" He held up three games and pointed to the many others.

"Hey, that's pretty cool." Tommy smiled at me and turned around as if shy when I smiled back. He then grabbed Kujin's arm gently and eagerly manuvered him around the bed whilst blushing and saying, "Let's swim while it's hot, and we can come back in later and play." Kujin slid his hand down Tommy's arm and grabbed his hand and said, "You're smart!" Tommy blushed even more.

I tried desperately not to laugh at the cuteness and threw Kujin his swim trunks as he walked out of the room. The two boys went out back, and with nowhere else to go, I followed.

Tommy opened the sliding glass door of the dim lit house and led us out to the pool where the sun was reflecting blindingly against the water. He led us to the changing rooms in the pool house. It was really just an outdoor room with a bathroom connected to it. I went into the bathroom and locked it while the two boys changed in the room together.

When I was finally done primping in the mirror, I opened the door to see that the room was empty. I heard splashing and female giggling outside. I stood in the empty room for a moment forcing myself into the anticipation of things to come. That sounded wrong. Things to come. I smiled at my stupidity and realized that it was summertime and hot. The pool sounded perfect, so I slipped my slides on and opened the door. I turned the corner that the pool house was hidden behind.

Slightly anxious, I glanced into the pool at the boys playing, and at the three girls giggling and sitting in lawn chairs. I walked over to them and put my bag down in a chair. The girls turned around and noticed me walking up behind them. The blonde in an orange bikini stood up quickly.

"I'm sorry! I didn't even know you were here! Siero, yeah? I'm Katie. These are my friends Brittany and Alesha."

I shook the hand she offered me and looked at her two friends. Brittany had blonde hair and was tiny in a purple one-piece. Alesha was black and had her hair in braids and was wearing a blue bikini much like Katie's. I waved at them. They smiled and waved back. Alesha pointed to a blue ice chest on the ground next to her and said, "There's some sodas in here. Do you want one?" She pulled her lips into her mouth and nodded towards the chest as if beckoning me.

"Oops, I'm sorry. I'm not even paying attention. Okay, there's pizza on its way and a cake in the 'fridge. There are some chips right here if you're hungry now." After Katie finished, she looked back up at me questioningly.

"Uh, thank you both, but I'll just have a soda and wait for pizza." I smiled, they smiled, it was all good.

I moved my bag out of the chair next to Katie and sat in it. She smiled. "So how old are you?" she asked. This had the other girl's attention.

"I turned fourteen on April 6. You guys?"

Brittay spoke now,"I'm turning fourteen tomorrow, so after Tommy's party, us girls are going to my house for a sleepover."

"I'm turning fifteen in December and Katie's gonna be fifteen in February," added Alesha with a swig of her coke. I opened my own minute maid lemonade can after wiping it off.

Me being the astrologist I am, I calculated their signs quickly. Katie's an Aquarius, Tommy and Brittany are both Gemini's, Alesha is most likely a Saggitarius, and I'm an Aries. Kujin's birthday is on October 4, so he's a Libra. I don't know why I've taken such an interest in astrology, but I love it. Keeps me connected to people, I guess.

"What school you going to for next year?" asked Alesha.

"I think Maverick High, but we're not sure yet. We moved to a new house and we're not sure which district we live in. If not, then I'm going to go to Divel."

"Why be a Divel Devil when you can be a Maverick Monkey?" Katie asked. I smiled to stop a laugh while the other girls laughed at her.

"I'm serious...monkeys are way cool. They have tails and eat bananas. Tch, besides, we'll be going to Maverick next year...or month actually. We might get classes together."

I smiled again, "That'd be cool. You guys are pretty fun."

Alesha 'pshed' and turned to look at me with an eyebrow raised. "Pretty fun? Mhmm, watch, when you need a ride after I get my car I'ma remember that. Yo ass gon' be walkin and I'ma be incredibly fun the next time."

We all laughed and then I looked over to the boys. They were having breath-holding contests. I wanted to join them, but I wanted to talk to the girls a little while longer, too. Then, all of a sudden, something happened. The pizza was standing at the sliding glass door gaping at me. Well not the pizza itself, but the boy holding it. I had almost forgotten about their cousin. I guess this was him. He had the same blonde hair, but it was longer than Katie's, reaching the middle of his back. About three inches of the tips were red and it curled about halfway.

Seeing as I had to turn around backwards to look at him, and the position was uncomfortable, I stood up to help him.

"Here, let me help you with that. I'm Siero, Kujin's brother. Hi." I took two of the three pizza boxes from him and placed them on the round table behind the girl's chairs. He followed me and put the other box and the plates and napkins that were on top of it next to them.

I turned to him and he stared at me again. I was confused and slightly rejected because I didn't get the 'hi' or the first time 'hey, nice to meet you' thing.

"That's Justin, our cousin. He's mute." Katie filled me in. "He's gonna stay with us for the time being."

"Hey Jus, you fag, want a soda?" asked Alesha.

I was surprised to say the least. Not just for what Alesha said, but because Justin was mute and had about five piercings. Three silver hoops in his left ear, and a stud at the top of both. I want one.

He blushed a little and smiled while walking over to Alesha as if he were about to beat her up.

"What white boy, you wanna step? I take you out right here, right now." Of course they were playing around, but it was weird because I still wasn't sure if the 'fag' statement was true or just an innocent nick-name. Okay maybe not innocent, but yeah, anyway.

She pushed him back a little bit and he pushed her back a little harder. Her eyes widened and she put her hand to her chest as if shocked. "You BITCH!" She then tried to push him backwards into the pool, but instead he shifted the weight by grabbing her arms and swinging her around so she fell into the pool instead. I laughed at that, and so did the girls. I noticed Justin bit his lip as if trying not to laugh. The boys were squealing and splashing water at Alesha as she pretended to be a shark. Justin turned around accomplished and grabbed a soda. He sat in Alesha's chair.

I whispered in Katie's ear a question that had been on my mind a little while. Brittany was chattering away to Justin's attentive face and amused smile. "Has he always been mute?"

Katie looked at me with her mouth pressed shut tightly. "Come with me," she whispered. "Hey ya'll, we're gonna go get some sun block, anybody need some." An echo on "no's" and a head shake from Justin indicated that we could take our time.

I followed Katie into the pool house. She reached in the cupboard and pulled out sunblock and started putting it on. She stopped and looked at me with sad eyes.

"Justin is our favorite cousin. My parent's favorite nephew, too. We're very happy he's gonna live with us from now on."

"I thought you said it was just for the time being?"

"Can I finish my story? Calm down...as a matter of fact sit down. Alright. Justin's birthday is on October 8." Libra."The day he turned nine, he lost his parents." Oh my God."They said they forgot to get his cake, but really they were going to pick up the puppy they got him from our house. They picked us and the puppy up. Then, Tommy was only five, so only remembers them as the puppy aunt and uncle. What happened was, after the party, they were cleaning up and the puppy got out. Justin went to chase him. I told Aunty Kim, and she told me to stay with Tommy. She and Uncle Luke went after Justin and the puppy. Kim grabbed Justin. I was watching from the door. I saw Luke go after the puppy."Oh God, this is it."I had turned around because Tommy kept asking me for more cake. Then I heard it." Oh God, Oh God."There was a drive-by. The puppy got hit and Justin's parents were shot. He watched the whole thing. He hasn't said a word since."

I gasped. I felt the tears pricking at my eyes. I can't believe he watched his parent's AND his puppy die on his BIRTHDAY! Oh my God, I wouldn't be able to go to a birthday party after that ever again."We-well where has he been all this time?"

Katie frowned in disaproval. "At my Uncle Hector's house. He was my mom's brother. Practically outcasted from the family, but he was the only one without a little baby or any kids, so he ended up taking care of him. I hated him from the start. What happened after that only made things worse." Katie continued with a sigh.

"I'm pretty sure Justin was abused throughout those years. Hector was...a fucking slut. Everytime we spent the night with Justin he would bring home two or three girl's at a time. We made a habit of having sleepovers here after the fifth sleepless one. It was disgusting. I'm sure it made Justin sick to live in a filthy shit hole like that. You'll have to excuse my anger and language." She looked at me with an apologetic smile.

"It's alright, I don't mind. So, so what happened after?"

"Well, three years had passed and Justin and I were twelve and starting Junior high together. He used to come to school with bruises. He'd run to me and hug me. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do.I told my mom, but she didn't believe her brother would sink so low. It turns out she was right. He wouldn't, but his drunk friends didn't give a fuck. I'm still not sure if they raped him or not."

At this I'm sure I paled as I covered my mouth with my hand trying desperately not to cry.

"At thirteen, Justin came to me and gave me his journal. I was confused at first, but I read it anyway. From the time his counselor gave it to him after his parent's death until that morning, he had written in it everyday. I-I found out that he had been beaten and starved because they found out he was gay. I don't know why all this drama had to happen to US!" Her voice faltered as she began to cry from the memories. "Yeah, well, I showed my mom the journal and she cried for days. Her and dad filed a claim and after about three months, uncle Hector had been put in jail for multiple violations. Possesion of illegal drugs, child abuse, child deprivation, picking up hookers, and other shit I can't even remember. God, all those years Justin had to put up with that. Look I'm sure you probably didn't want to hear the whole story, but there it is. I think we'll tell them we couldn't find the sun block. I'll get us some tissue."

I couldn't believe it. I had just met these people, and I was just shoved into their lives. Justin's life at least. I felt so bad. I wanted to hug him or something and tell him that it would be ok, but I didn't want to reveal that I knew.

After we blew our noses and wiped our eyes, we straightened up and decided that we should jump in the pool in order do hide our puffy eyes. Or give them false beliefs at least.

"Alright," I said,"Let's go." She smiled and we opened the door and ran out. After seeing that everyone else was enjoying the pizza, we jumped in the pool at the same time. I stayed under just a bit, thinking. When I came up, Katie was already wading over to the stairs. I quickly dove under and swam beneath her. I grabbed her leg and pulled her under. I pushed her farther away from the stairs and went up them myself. Everyone, with the exception of Justin was laughing. I got out and shook my hair and body like a dog and walked over to the pizza trying to smile. Justin was wide-eyed and blushing.

I felt a wave of uncomfort as i put my hands up over my naked and wet chest as if cold because I'm sure that's why he was blushing. I wasn't sure how I felt about homosexuals because I hadn't met one of those yet, either. Or at least, not that I know of.

I went and got my towel out of my bag and wrapped it around my shoulders. I grabbed two pieces of cheese pizza and my forgotten lemonade and sat my towel on the ground with me following after it. The kids were eating on the ground, so I thought I'd distract myself with them.

"So Tommy, how's it feel to be ten?"

"I don't know, I-I feel like I did yesterday."

"Is that good?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I was with Jinny yesterday." He looked at Kujin with a blush. Kujin was stuffing a peperoni in his mouth and smiling. He wiped his mouth and fingers off on his paper towel and hugged Tommy. For a moment I couldn't breath because he pulled away and held him. It looked like they were going to kiss, and everything got silent. They didn't know what they were doing, did they? They were both blushing and smiling crazily. Then Kujin let go and started eating like nothing happened.

In the background I could here Brittany say,"Uh...that was...different."

"KAWAII!!" Alesha screamed.

"Alesha," Katie now,"Why do you know that word?"

--

About five hours later, it was 7:47 and we had to get ready to go.

I had a lot of fun with the girls, and Justin was incredibly funny even if he didn't say a word or make a sound the entire time. He had just walked back into the living room and he had an ice cream cone in his hand. The cake was delicious and Tommy made Kujin play with all his new toys, even though he didn't even have to because Kujin would have anyway. Katie and I were having a staring contest. Her eyes were brown. The rest of the girls had brown eyes, too. Mine were grey. Kujin's were hazel.

"My what pretty eyes you have, Siero."

"All the better to see you with, Katie."

"Damn it, I was hoping that would throw you off."

I tried not to laugh and my eyes squinted almost near shutting. I was pro at this, I wasn't losing, I...glanced at Justin as he took his first lick of butter pecan ice cream. Not good. I noticed that I was wrong earlier and that he had six piercings, not five. I'm sure Katie blinked many times when I turned away because I couldn't take my eyes off Justin. He still had his swim trunks on, now dry, and he was sprawled on his back on the couch with pillows supporting him. I'm ashamed to tell you what happened next, but I will.

I got hard. In front of everyone. You have no idea how erotic his pierced pink tongue and peach lips looked licking the ice cream. Of course he looked at me. I think all the blood in my body rushed to my face and my...um...that...because I felt like I was dying of embarassment.

I looked up, and each of the girls were looking at me with knowing smiles. Dear God, I'm not gay...

"I have to...get Kujin. We're gonna be late for the bus...uh..." I got up.

"Wait," Brittany stopped me as I frantically wrapped my towel around my...erection. Oh God.

"My mom can give you and your brother a ride, she's on her way right now actually."

Well that's much better than the bus...too many sickos ride at night.

"Oh, a-alright. Thank you very much. I-I'm, I'm gonna go change then."

I needed an excuse to leave the teasing licking. Oh my God, that word sent shivers up my spine. I can't believe this! Maybe I'm just horny.

I removed the bag from in front of me and unwrapped the towel. I pulled down my trunks and stepped out of them. I was completely nude now. I didn't want to touch myself because that seemed rude and a little nasty in someone else's home. I decided to take a cold shower. It worked. I said I was going to change anyway.

I came out of the bathroom and to avoid any other embarrasement, I went straight upstairs to Tommy's room. I was really confused about this whole situation. I walked into his room and he was laying his head on Kujin's shoulder, and Kujin had his head on Tommy's. Bad image, dear God self, they're children! Anyway, they were playing Tekken and didn't seem to notice me. I sat on the bed and noticed Kujin's swim trunks on the floor. He had already changed. I didn't want to interupt anything, but, "Kujin, we have to leave soon."

Yeah. Smooth. He paused the game and looked up at me."But Siero, I'm winning!"

Tommy looked like a little kitten with the way his blue eyes were looking at me. Aww...cute. But mom doesn't even know we're out. "I'm sorry, kid. Brittany's mom is on her way; she's giving us a ride. We should go wait for them."

Kujin pouted and turned around to face Tommy. He gave him a big hug and Tommy blushed. Again. I think he has a crush on Kujin. This is all too weird. Tommy hugged Kujin lovingly and said, "Thank you for coming over Jinny. I really appreciate you playing with me. You can come over any time you like."

"Uh, come on Kujin. I think I hear the car outside." It was sad to break up the moment, but you should've seen the look of ecstasy on the little kid's face! Like Kujin was heavenly chocolate or something!

"Bye, Tommy."

"Bye, Kujin."

They made it seem like they weren't gonna see each other again. I almost wanted to hug them. "Bye Tommy. Happy birthday, man."

He smiled smally at me and politely said, "Thank you."

--

It was about 8:49 when we got home. Thankfully, mom hadn't decided to come home early. I gave Katie my cell phone number before I got out of the car, and Kujin decided he would go inside and watch TV.

I said goodbye to the girls and thanked Mrs. Stockton for the ride.

I walked inside feeling somewhat elated. It was a great day and I made four new friends. Six if you count Brittany's mom and Tommy. When I opened the door, I saw Everette passed out on the couch and Kujin watching TV on the floor with the volume low. I sighed and told him to go take a shower before mom got back.

I went up to my room and emptied the bag of its contents, hiding it to make sure Mom didn't find out we used it. I put on some boxers and a clean white shirt and laid on my bed. I couldn't stop thinking about Justin. He was so interesting. I'd never met anyone like him. I didn't just mean gay or mute either. Plus, he was nice and friendly. You'd thinkthat that someone who went through what he did would be hardened and antisocial. It's all so confusing.

All I know for sure right now is that he has the most beautiful amethyst eyes I have ever seen.