On Earth, beneath a sky heavy with stars, two children met by chance - Tim, a 10-year-old boy with striking white hair and an easy smile, and Rei, a 7-year-old girl with jet-black hair styled in a way that drew unwanted attention.
Tim was a beacon of light - cheerful, loud, and quick to laugh. Rei, in contrast, was a shadow - quiet, withdrawn, and used to the cruel whispers that followed her at the orphanage. Her hair, not its color but the way it twisted into unnatural spirals, made her a target of ridicule. She was strange, different - and therefore, an outcast.
Their meeting was brief. Tim had stumbled across Rei sitting alone behind the orphanage, drawing spirals in the dirt.
"Why do you make your hair like that?" Tim asked, not unkindly, but with genuine curiosity.
Rei didn't answer at first. People always asked - with mockery, with disgust - but never with curiosity.
"I don't," she finally muttered. "It just... grows like this."
Tim blinked. "That's cool. Looks like the wind's always playing with it."
Rei was shocked by his response. She didn't know how to respond. No one had ever called it cool before. Her reaction was awkward, uncertain - a flicker of surprise and something else she couldn't name.
After that, she went back to avoiding him. Solitude was safer for her.
But wherever she went, Tim wasn't far behind.
After sometime, as she sat at the park bench, she noticed him again - watching her.
"Why are you following me?" she muttered, not looking at him.
Tim looked genuinely surprised. "I don't know. I guess I just...kind of... want to know about you."
"That's called stalking," she said flatly. "It's creepy."
Tim blinked. "Stalking? I've never heard that word before. I was just... curious."
Rei gave him a sidelong glance. "It is still called stalking. You must be a fool if you don't know that."
There was a sudden pause.
"And besides," she added, almost to herself, "I'm not the kind of person anyone stalks. That's just... unbelievable."
Tim tilted his head, his white hair catching the fading sunlight.
"If that's stalking, then... I'm the worst stalker ever. I just wanted to be near you," he said with a shrug. "I don't know why, but... I like being around you."
Rei froze, her face going flat with disbelief. "What?"
She stood up and swung at him, more annoyed than angry but Tim, startled, stepped back and slipped on a loose stone.
With a surprised yelp, he fell flat onto the grass.
Rei lowered her hand and stared at him on the ground. "Idiot," she muttered.
Tim groaned, then grinned from where he lay. "Well, that was unexpected."
Rei crossed her arms. "You'll be in serious trouble if you keep this habit up. People don't like being followed."
Tim sat up slowly, brushing dirt off his shirt. "I never needed to follow anyone before," he said honestly. "I just talk to people, laugh and Play. It's easy."
He looked at her then, something more serious flickering in his usual cheerful eyes.
"But you're different. You don't talk. You don't laugh. And you're always...always...so...alone. I guess... I had to stalk you, because you are not laughing, playing and talking with anyone."
Rei turned away, her voice cold. "That's none of your business."
She sat down hard on the park bench again, arms still crossed, eyes fixed on the sky turning shades of violet.
"I'm better alone."
Tim stayed quiet for a moment, then got to his feet and walked over, standing beside the bench but not sitting.
"Maybe you are," he said softly. "But even the moon... looks lonely sometimes. Doesn't mean it wants to be."
Rei didn't reply.
But after a while, she didn't tell him to leave either.
Tim plopped down on the bench beside her with all the grace of a falling log, letting out a satisfied sigh like he'd just claimed a victory.
Rei stiffened immediately, scooting a few inches away, her cheeks heating up despite herself.
"Why are you sitting beside me?" she muttered, not quite looking at him.
Tim blinked at her, confused. "Why not? It's a public bench. We're allowed to sit anywhere, right?"
Rei gritted her teeth. "Go away," she hissed, glancing around nervously. "People will misunderstand."
Tim tilted his head, puzzled. "Misunderstand what?"
Rei's eyes narrowed. "Boys and girls sitting together like this. They'll say weird things."
Tim shrugged, utterly unfazed. "I just wanted to talk instead of stalk. Isn't that better?"
Rei stared at him, then looked away, her expression unreadable. Tim wasn't trying to be difficult - he just didn't get it.
He didn't carry the same fear of judgment she'd learned to live with. There was a strange purity in his cluelessness that made her feel both frustrated and... oddly safe.
Tim leaned back, swinging his legs beneath the bench. "You know, you're hard to figure out."
Rei scoffed. "Good. I like it that way."
He smiled. "You're like a puzzle no one's solved yet. That's kind of cool."
She glanced sideways at him, unsure how to respond. No one had ever called her anything close to cool twice in a row. Most people treated her like she was something strange or cursed. Not him.
Neither of them spoke for a long moment. The sounds of the park - distant laughter, rustling leaves, the occasional bark of a dog - filled the silence between them.
But something else filled that silence, too. Something unspoken.
Tim didn't have the words for it. Rei didn't want to admit it. But there was something - a thread between them, quiet and thin, but real. Something like... understanding. Recognition.
_ _ _
He glanced at her. "Do you come here a lot?"
"Sometimes," Rei said, softer now.
"Why?"
"To think," she answered.
"What do you think about?"
She hesitated, then murmured, "Stuff."
"What stuff?"
Rei gave him a dry look. "You wouldn't get it."
Tim grinned. "Try me."
She didn't, yet she didn't tell him to leave either.
They sat like that - in stubborn silence and fragile company - under the sky.
They sat like that - in stubborn silence and fragile company - under the sky.