Chapter Text
Kylar wore a white short-sleeved jabot shirt with navy blue shorts: stylish and well-groomed, he was the golden child and the pride of his family. Beside him, Sydney sat on the grass, his strawberry-blonde hair cascading down to his green sailor-collared shirt.
The dark-haired boy held an illustrated book in his hands, carefully flipping through it, while his friend watched curiously with his head resting on his shoulder, occasionally pointing at one figure or another. He could smell Sydney's lavender shampoo, and Kylar knew his heart beat a little faster every time the boy came to play at his house, which is why he hated when night fell, as Sirris and his wife took Sydney home, making Kylar think until he fell asleep about the next time they would see each other.
"Hey Kylar, look, this one looks like you!" --- the blond boy points to a baby owl in the small book. Kylar glances at him out of the corner of his eye, smiling.
"So you look like this one" --- he points, but this time to a little rabbit from the illustrated fable they were reading, or just pretending to read, too focused on the pictures.
All he could pay attention to next was Sydney's cheerful laughter, and how his hair flowed down Kylar's shoulders, making the little boy turn his head towards him with a slightly flushed face. Kylar loved the garden even more when the blond boy came to visit, it seemed like a world just for the two of them, a place where no one could separate them until nightfall. He loved summer days.
Tall rose bushes lined the stone paths as servants occasionally passed by carrying tea for Kylar's mother and Sydney's mother, or taking things into the mansion. Further in the background, the water from the large marble fountain, the heart of the garden, transmitted a tranquil sound mingling with Sydney's angelic laughter.
Kylar clears his throat before speaking:
"Syd, do you promise to be my best friend forever?"
"What do you mean? Of course we'll be best friends forever, I don't need to promise that."
Sydney distanced himself from his friend, sitting upright beside him, which made Kylar's gaze return to him. The late afternoon sun made Sydney's hair shine in the most beautiful golden shade Kylar had ever seen, and he got lost in his face every time.
"Kylar? Is everything alright? You're staring at me too much..."
"U-uh...it's nothing, hm...can you promise me you'll be my friend forever?"
He extended his pinky finger, hoping the blond boy would find it and interlock his own finger with his. Before they could swear an oath of eternal friendship, a voice called Sydney from the background.
"Little Syd! My boy, come on, we need to go to the dentist today!"
It was Sirris, walking alongside Kylar's father to where the boys were.
"But already? We haven't even finished playing, Mr. Sirris, please!"
Kylar's father laughed at his son's request.
"My little boy, Sydney will come to play with you soon, he has to go now, okay? Sirris, can you believe that the last time you came, Kylar started crying after Sydney left? I think they really are good friends."
"I-I didn't cry! Dad! Don't say that..." --- he gets up and goes to his father, giving light, defenseless taps on the older man's leg.
"Is that true, Kylar? You don't need to cry, I'll be back soon." --- Sydney also stands up, going to the black-haired boy and giving an embarrassed smile.
"Don't worry Kylar, I'll bring Syd back soon, you're still children, you have plenty of time to play together."
"You're my favorite friend, I'll always come back to you, so don't cry anymore, okay?" --- the blond boy pulls Kylar into a hug before taking his father's hand, heading to the front of the mansion, ready to leave with his mother who was talking to Kylar's mother beside the car.
Kylar and his father remained in the garden, watching Sydney's family leave for the city. That was one of the last happy memories Kylar had with Sydney, when they used to get together to run around the garden, or color in the mansion's large living room.
Back then, Sydney was much shorter than him, barely reaching his shoulder, and back then Kylar was still a child who was deeply cared for and loved by his parents, a time when wearing dirty clothes and living in an abandoned house would never have crossed his mind.
Kylar remembered everything Sydney used to tell him, all the secrets they shared and all the promises they made. Kylar still remembers when that blond boy made his heart race for the first time, Kylar still remembers the feeling when he realized Sydney was his first love, a crush that was born in Kylar's sweet childhood and lingered until the present day, but now Sydney was no longer part of his world and those days were now just fervent memories of an immature summer love.
~~
20/03/2003
Kylar was in the school cafeteria with a small, untouched sandwich hovering on the canteen table. He always carried his sketchbook with him, already somewhat worn and crumpled at the corners of the cover, but that didn't bother him, since what mattered was the content inside: another drawing being scribbled, one of someone everyone at school knew well, the puritanical boy from the library, whom everyone secretly gossiped about whether he was a virgin or not, whom Kylar discreetly observed every day during school hours and who eventually followed him home.
He knew and had noted down Sydney's entire routine, knew that on Fridays he helped his father with his work and that sometimes he stayed until after midnight at the city's temple. And there he was, alone with his books at a few tables away. Kylar was fascinated by him to this day, by the way he tied his hair in a high ponytail, how the cross on his chest perfectly matched his immaculate appearance, and how his clothes were always impeccable, unlike Kylar's. They had become polar opposites.
As usual, after finishing lunch, Sydney headed back to her post in the library, and Kylar couldn't help but lose sight of his beloved. Going stealthily, he managed to sneak into the library, strategically sitting at a table out of Syd's field of vision.
He hadn't changed that much, at least that's what Kylar liked to believe. He might have grown, grown more than Kylar imagined, while himself hadn't grown past 5′2″, but despite that, the blond remained the same kind person as always, still religious and with the features of an angel. Sydney was one of the only people who didn't bully him, and that warmed the boy's heart. Maybe it wasn't an act of love as he imagined; maybe Sydney was just nice to everyone, and Kylar wasn't an exception. But he didn't want to think about it.
Surely Sydney had chosen him in her heart too, and even though Kylar was far from religious, he prayed every night that God would give him that angel he once called his best friend.