The microphone was almost poking his nose. His grey eyes, in an effort to look at it, were squinting and making him look cross eyed.

“Um,” His voice wavered a bit, the woman holding the microphone smiled warmly at him. “Well, I had a crush on this girl-”

“Really?”

He frowned at the extra chirp her voice carried. “Yeah, and I um, I wrote a couple of lyrics about her that later became some of our biggest hits.”

The reporter was elated; she surely was going to make the cover with that. “And did you get the girl?”

His eyes darted to the camera, for a second he felt small, like when he was a little boy. He scratched his forehead with his left hand, using the motion to conceal his facial expression. Horror? Shame? Guilt? He was embarrassed, that was for sure. What drove him to speaking that much in the first place?

“Oi!” His head shot up, he recognized that voice. “It’s our little Ryan!”

Little Ryan blushed, his glare lost all intensity at the redness; he looked more like he was having a fever so high that didn’t let him open his eyes. The owner of the voice halted in front of him, patting his back as he wore an enormous grin that stole the camera’s focus from him. For once, Ryan felt glad about the constant teasing he had to suffer through life by the hand of that, that...

“Oh my! What do we have here!” The woman exclaimed. Why was she so animated about his appearance? Wasn’t she making a documental on all of them? “If it is none other than Scott-”

“You left me behind!”

“-And Daniel too!”

Ryan rolled his grey eyes ceiling-wards; he could hear Scott’s laughter and Daniel’s pants.

Did he get the girl?

Chapter 1

Life was waking up in a long street, it was a residential area, with green, well taken care of lawns that had the most endearing of decorations –dwarves, goblins, abandoned tricycles, smashed mailboxes and the occasional exhibition of an insulting bush statue from Mr. Frings-; the houses looked like copies of each other, only the smallest of touches differing them from one another. That, and the plate numbers.

The sky was royal blue, and in spite of the sun hadn’t fully risen it was already noticeable that it was a bright morning. Birds were singing from their nests to celebrate the lack of clouds; there certainly wouldn’t be any cold showers that day, unless the weatherman said something about that day being bright, in which case would probably rain. He wasn’t too accurate.

But, the pavement path in front of one particular house was feeling extremely cold to the touch, as though it had not been hit by the warm sunrays yet, still dwelling in the coldness that night provided. It wasn’t a wonder though, it was barely daytime.

“Why are we here again?” He squirmed a little, the hard pavement floor seemed to almost be burning his buttocks with the cold, spreading it to his intestines and legs; he ran a hand through his jet black hair, blowing out a sigh that couldn’t be said was neither dejected or annoyed. Just maybe a tad apathetic. His hand slid to rub his face awake and he stifled a yawn, the taste of sleepiness still lying behind that one of his mint toothpaste. He had to give them credits though, they did let him brush his teeth that time, he thought as he rubbed his arms, hoping to feel some heat with the friction. The thought of standing up –and perhaps walking back inside- crossed his mind, but his body was still heavy with drowsiness; he had to be dragged by them from the bathroom when he almost fell asleep on the sink. He frowned looking down at his dark purple t-shirt and running black pants. At least they should have let him grab a hoodie.

“Why are we here? Why are we here?” His blonde headed friend pretended to faint on his shoulder, cracking one honey coloured eye open to look at his another friend. “Tell him Dandy.”

Daniel smiled in that scarily saccharine way only he could muster, his green eyes showing dancing lights and his white teeth almost blinding his own grey pair with the intensity of their shine. Dandy’s freckles seemed to stand out even more against his reddish brown hair with such a grin, but he wondered if it was in reality the sun that was hitting directly that freckled fiend’s face.

“We, that as in Cooties and I, you know… Well no shit, otherwise I wouldn’t have to explain this to you,” His two friends gave him blank, if not annoyed stares. He cleared his throat and hurried up. “Uh, well, Cooties and I found out something interesting while we were at your place last Saturday, you know, when you were snoring in your bed. Cooties, tell him.”

“But I told you to tell him!” The blonde raised his eyebrows at his friend, giving him a light kick in the shin that ended up straight to his friend’s butt –or so it seemed at first-, and kneeing his other friend’s shin in the process. “Oh, sorry.”

Maybe they shouldn’t have huddled together against the entrance door.

“Dude! Cooties! You almost hit the bull’s eye!” Dandy exclaimed dramatically, lifting his hips up to massage the delicate sore spot. The other two boys followed the rubbing hand and winced when they placed the position.

“That’s gotta hurt.” He muttered, suddenly wanting to rub his own, it didn’t hurt but it was being frozen.

“Erm, sorry Daniel,” The blonde looked apologetic, then his expression turned pensive so quickly that the changed would have gone missed by a blinking eye. “Isn’t that part called the perineum or something?”

The other two stared at him, then looked at each other, then back at his waiting expression.

“I think so.” He answered, his tongue tucked against his cheek as his grey eyes made a happy trip from Scott’s face to the lush green of his mum’s front yard.

“You kicked my perineum, you bastard.” Dandy narrowed his eyes at Scott’s, his face clearly stating I’m going to get you, his left hand still massaging while his right held the weight of his slender body, hips still up.

“You know,” Cooties drawled lazily, folding his arms in front of his chest and nodding once in the general direction of Daniel’s body. “If someone passes by it will look as if you were pleasuring yourself in front of some respectable family’s home.”

Immediately, Dandy sat down, his eyes widened as much as to give his two friends a clear view of his dark green irises that held specks of yellow, surrounded by a halo of brown. His face went from dazed, to grumpy, to annoyed, and finally back to I’m going to get you, probably adding a few profanities before, after and in between.

Ryan sighed again, he wanted to know why he had so rudely been dragged out of bed –he told himself to never again wrap himself with the bed covers, one pull on it and he’d roll down the bed like a plastic pipe-, or at least be freed to go back to bed. But those two had an ability to go straight to the point as tangents.

Clearly, for them much beating around the bush was needed.

“Why are we… here?” He tried again, his voice cracked by a yawn he couldn’t help but liberate.

“Why are we here?” His two friends gasped in unison, looking at each other before chuckling. Sometimes the similarity of their personalities frightened him; maybe they were twins in another lifetime.

“Well, you tell him Cooties.” Ryan then, glanced from the grinning Daniel to find an also grinning Scott.

“No, I told you to tell him.” Were they teasing him at that ungodly time of the day? Of the night? For all he knew, he should be sleeping, not standing their blabbers; after at least twelve hours of sleep he had energy enough to ignore their teasing, not with roughly four. Damn them, didn’t they have homes to go to?

“No, you tell him.”

He groaned, hitting his head against the door, hearing the dull empty sound that he didn’t know if it came from his head or the wood. All he needed…

“But I told you to tell him.”

Was sleep…

“But you saw her first!”

And those two- Her?

He shot up, sitting straight and looking at their still grinning faces.

“Her? What do you mean her?” He frowned, his breathing picked up pace as much as to remind the rest of his body that that was how it felt when he was getting nervous.

No, not her, he hoped, he really didn’t want them to start planning another thing again. No, he was supposed to do it, and if he couldn’t because he was too shy then so be it; his doom anyways, and if he was the one to decide it he was fine with it. Yet, Scott Walker and Daniel Johnson had smiles on their faces that finished freezing the hell out of him, whatever was left warm of him after sitting on the pavement floor. He exhaled a huff, his eyes looking at his sides, absently scratching his nape, looking down at his bent legs, his bare feet. Now he knew why he was so cold.

The sound of a door being opened at a fair distance made them look up. Scott and Daniel instantly looked to the front door, while Ryan took a little longer to figure out the direction from where the sound came. Until he followed his mates’ stares.

A part of him was chanting in his head, praying for it not to be her, if it was indeed her he’d then have to suck up an unhealthy amount of mocking again, never mind having his heart thumping against his ribs while the rest of his body froze, to, afterwards, have to give himself, once again, a pep talk to lift his spirits again and convince himself that it was just a silly crush.

The other part laughed at the first, asking, a silly crush that lasts for years? That other part couldn’t wait to see her again and fantasize about-

“Ah! It is her!”

“Hush up Danders, or she’ll hear you.”

His limbs tensed, it really was her. She was walking out of the house, wearing an emerald green t-shirt that was a bit too loose, with matching pants that were a little too long for her. He noticed she was not wearing her glasses like usual, and her long chocolate wavy hair was free, the wind picked some strands to play with them as she walked to the front. They saw her give a massive yawn that had nothing to envy that of a bear’s before hibernating, promptly scratching her tummy ungracefully and bending down to pick a fallen item from the grass.

“She’s picking the newspaper.”

“No shit, Danders.”

“Shut up, loser.”

So that was what they were trying to tell him, the reason why they unrolled him off his bed covers. They wanted him to see her again and make him suffer for being so close, yet so far. He wetted his lips while his keen steely eyes followed her figure as she walked the steps back in her house. For the love of God, his hands were shaking, but he couldn’t get himself around to feeling any kind of resent to his mates for the torture; it was a pleasant one, after all. A little cruel, since they knew about his sudden icing state whenever she was close; but pleasant none the less.

He could feel them both staring at him, but his barely blinking eyes were still glued to the door she left closed after her disappearance. His nostrils flared as he sniffed, sucking his lower lip in to help himself from groaning.

“You’re welcome, Ryan.” Scott patted his back thrice, his torso moving forward with the force before setting itself back against the door. “Too much for you to handle? You’re kind of, um, what’s the word?”

“Shaken?” Daniel piped up, poking Ryan on his ribs; he knew his friend was ticklish. Still he only squirmed before staring down at his hands. Daniel exchanged a quick glance with Scott, who had a face that showed as much uncertainty as his. They both looked back at Ryan.

“You gotta do something, mate,” The blonde scratched a spot behind his right ear, looping his left arm on Ryan’s shoulder and passing over him a look to Daniel, who shrugged back and rested his right elbow on Ryan’s shoulder blade. “You need to stop pinning over a girl you’ve never talked to.”

“That, or actually do something about it,” As Ryan looked up, a word or two about to leave his lips, Daniel raised up his left hand, waving the possible comment dismissively in the air. “Ah, ah. Staring at her like a mindless drone doesn’t count.”

Ryan snorted and shook his head at him, disbelieving.

“Well, it’s not like I can go to her door and say, hi, my name is Ryan Adams. I’m your in front neighbour, and I just so happen to have this huge crush on you! Would you go out with me?”

His two friends rolled their eyes at him.

“Duh,” Scott started, his voice sounding as though he knew the answer to every riddle; as in, smartass mode. “Of course you’d need to knock on the door first! And you can say that only if she’s the one to open the door!”

Ryan would have choked on his saliva if it weren’t for his mouth being dry. He did smile though, when Daniel reached over him to whack the blonde’s head.

“Shut up, you,” Danders sat back, sighing exasperated and turned his attention back to Ryan, looking like the epitome of the nice teacher that was trying too hard to get a lesson across a bad boy’s head. “What I meant was that you need to approach her, learn how she is like and see if your crush shatters into a million pieces or actually stays strong and grows. You need to befriend her! Gain her trust, you know.” At the horrified look from Ryan, and a mildly curious one from Scott –it wasn’t good when Scott was curious, generally it didn’t lead to good things- he decided to elaborate. “I don’t mean it like that… You know, you’re just too nice a guy to harm your crush in any way.”

Daniel shook his head and waved his hands in an appalled way, it wasn’t as though he was saying Ryan should gain her trust to do something bad to her! He only thought that a certain level of trust was needed in the quest for her heart, right? With trust, Ryan could easily get closer to her.

Scott laughed and rested a hand on top of Ryan’s head, turning it to him forcefully before launching his hands to pinching his cheeks. “He’s so cute!” There he made baby noises. “Oh! You can show her your baby photo albums and I bet you my ass that she’ll swoon!”

Ryan fanned Scott’s hands off his face like they were annoying moths, rubbing his now sore face cheeks as he glared at them both. While Scott, being the eldest, used to be the head of their little group, and Daniel, being the youngest, used to be the childish one, and him, being stuck with the middle, was the shy and introverted guy, it still impressed him how easily the roles were switched depending on the situations; if it was about Ryan, Scott and Daniel would shift their characters until he felt dizzy; if it was about Scott, then he would be the wise one and Daniel the shoulder to cry on –not that Scott cried, or so he said-; and if it was about Daniel, then Scott would be the animated fella while he played the mother-hen.

But when it came to her… and hence to him, Daniel and Scott were left to do all the work. That included breathing, walking, talking, eating, and on occasion sleeping.

“He’s not cute!” Daniel exclaimed, horrified. “He was cute when he was a kiddo, always so timid and sweet, hell, if I were a girl I’d have fallen for him. But now he’s a stud!”

Scott laughed even harder. “Oh, yeah! I remember him; he was all scrawny and tiny, always smiling, the little lad. But when someone would talk to him he’d immediately run behind mummy’s legs with a blush on his cheeks!” He slapped his knees in laughter, and Ryan vaguely wondered if he was feeling colder because of the pavement or because the heat that had concentrated on his face was absorbing all his body warmth.

“Shut up.”

“Oh! I remember that too! He blushed when you asked him if he was a girl with a boy’s hair cut!” Ryan groaned, now Daniel had joined in and he still hadn’t had breakfast. His stomach was starting to protest but his brain still wanted to be turned off. He shrank, they better not-

“Hah, it was the sailor outfit that made him look girly!”

He groaned and hit his head against the door again. Did they seriously think their teasing would make him immune to humiliation? It was the thought that counted though, but in his case it just simply didn’t work. He couldn’t fight off his easily driven embarrassment, but he didn’t do an effort of defending himself against them either; in the end he’d have to hear their jokes and sniggers no matter what he did and his mind was usually too tired to deal with that –he tried once-.

He was just not… not so full of energy like them, or talkative. Usually they spoke enough for themselves and for him; he didn’t need to use his vocal cords when they were around, except for singing. He was withdrawn and tended to blend with the crowd; he wasn’t outstanding in any way, not even after the two devils got him to pierce an eyebrow. He wasn’t into showing what he thought or felt; he was in no ways an attention seeker, so, more often than not when the spotlight was focused on him during a conversation, he’d either go red in the face and excuse himself to leave, or pretend he wasn’t there and busied his mind with whatever was at hand. He didn’t dig talking to large crowds; and to everybody’s chagrin he avoided been taken pictures.

So after years of teasing, instead of hardening himself he softened up, and when the teenage era started, with it came the insecurity about himself and his body.

Suddenly finding himself paying attention to a girl was overwhelming for him, and soon he realized that an invisible wall would stop his movements whenever he tried to voluntarily come close to her. He’d see her being so joyful and open in school, so amiable to everybody. The contrast was too much for his mind. Yet he observed her every day he could, taking in her movements, listening to her voice and laughter, so candid and carefree.

But he was afraid of even glancing at her directly.

All he wanted to do right then, that morning, was make a sushi of himself in his bed.

AG’s Corner: Ahem, I want to make this shortish. I’m really excited about posting this story, my most precious Chronicle. How Gollum of me. I started writing this story a while back but the time is right to finally post it! I hope you guys really, really like it! Thank you all for reading, reviewing, and alerting Chasing the Babysitter (which is done and won’t have sequels or more chapters). As a little side note, the place where this story happens is a mystery, and so anything related to their school system and such is left to my imagination. Also this story came before Chasing The Babysitter; it was a coincidence they have the babysitting thing, but they're not related or alike at all.

Armith-Greenleaf