Leo had gotten permission to run next door and invite Kit to the park that afternoon. His baby sister, Gemma, had been put down for a nap, and so he closed the door as quietly as he could when he left.
His blue rainboots squeaked as he walked down the sidewalk, and he watched his feet, liking the sound they made. He reached the Fonatanas' door, and reached on his tiptoes to use the door knocker. As he waited for the door to be answered, he squeaked his boots more, giggling.
No one was coming to the door, even after he'd knocked, and he frowned. Where was Kit? Or her parents? Maybe they weren't home. He steeped over the plants in the front yard to peek around in the garage. Sure enough, the minivan usually parked there was gone.
Oh well- that was okay. He could just go play at the park by himself!
When he'd made it to the park across the street, he was sweating in his boots and his curls were pressed to his forehead, but he was undeterred.
There was no one at the park, which meant that he got first turn on everything!
He ran to the swings and jumped into the seat, pumping until the breeze blew through his hair. He started imagining that he was a circus performer on a trapese, twirling through the air.
Mother and Father had said never to go in their room, but Zephyrus never really listened to either one of them. So when they were out doing whatever adults did in their free time - also known as not watching the son that lived with them - he slipped into their bedroom and did some digging. He already knew about Aquarius and Project Gemini, even though he was just eight years old. But he didn't really understand, and he hoped his top secret investigation could uncover a top secret secret.
But the moment he stepped into the room, he found himself whisked to a place that looked completely unfamiliar.
He was standing on the very edge of a strange place, littered with metal contraptions and structures. He took a hesitant step out from where he was standing, and immediately froze when he heard his feet hitting the little brown squares underneath him.
The air got a little cooler, and frost began to coat some of the chips. When he finally tore his gaze away from the weird brown squares, he found himself looking at a boy in the distance, doing something on a structure made of metal pipes and chains and a strangely colored seat.
He had been told to worry about strangers, like any good kid knew, but the boy on the structure didn't look scary. He had to be the same age as Rius when Rius didn't have his mask on - and the same age as him, but he was always more comforted by comparing people to his brother than to himself.
Leo opened his eyes as he leaned his head back, just in time to see... Someone with a mask running right for him.
His heart squeezed in fear, and he immediately let out a shrill scream, loosing his grip on the swing. Next thing he knew, he was tumbling from the seat and onto the wood chips below.
The wind was knocked out of him, and he whimpered as he quickly tried to stand.
The masked person was still there, coming for him- he scooted back on the ground, eyes wide and scared.
And then he happened to look down at his knee, which was stinging. It was scraped, and blood was just starting to slowly well.
That was what finally pushed him over the edge, and he burst into tears.
"Don't cry," he said as he came to a stop, using the same soothing voice that he used around Rius. He sat down on the ground next to the other boy and looked him over, seeing the blood welling up from the injury. He made a little piece of ice appear in his hand and clenched it hard. "It'll be alright. I promise!"
A second later, and the ice was melted into water. He let the cool water wash the cut, then dealt with the continued blood in the way he knew best - he made some more ice appear, this time over the boy's injury.
"There you go!" he said, grinning behind his mask. "All better. Now it can't bleed anymore!"
Leo sniffed and wiped at his eyes, much calmer now that he was reassured. And the boy in the mask didn't turn out to be scary at all! He seemed like he was around his age.
He rubbed his knee, feeling the ice. A little smile pulled at his mouth.
"It's really cold." He appraised. "Thank you, for helping. How did you do that? That was amazing!"
He beamed behind his mask. He never got praise like! Rius didn't know he could use ice because he didn't want him to realize that he wasn't imaginary, but Mother and Father didn't really seem to care about his powers.
He proudly put a hand on his chest.
"I'm the god of ice!" he exclaimed. "If I just think about it, I can make ice appear."
He held out his other hand with his palm up towards the sky, and a steady stream of ice burst of from it. It didn't go that high, but it didn't need too - it definitely proved his point!
Leo's eyes widened even further, and he stood up, completely forgetting his knee. He watched the ice for a moment, and then burst into applause, an excited smile on his face.
"Whoa.." he whispered softly, awestruck. "I've never met a god before. Actually, I've never met anyone who wasn't just a normal person like me!"
Suddenly, something occured to him, and he hopped forward, sticking out a hand like he'd been taught.
"What's your name? My name is Leo." He smiled again, revealing a missing tooth.
Leo simply laughed at Zephyrus' reaction to his attempted handshake, thinking that he was making some sort of joke. He put his hand back down again.
"Oh, that's a really cool name," he commented. "And you have a twin? Hailey and Jenna- they go to my school- they're twins! And everyone always mixes them up, except me."
He puffed his chest out in pride, before thinking for a minute and changing the subject.
"I wish I had a brother. I only have a baby sister, and she's really cute, but she can't play a lot of the stuff I want to. Mom says she's too little." He looked at Zephyrus again, smiling. "What's you brother like?"
Leo's eyes widened, and he leaned forward to whisper, "You mean you've never heard of school before?"
He paused, and rephrased it, not wanting to make Zephyrus feel dumb.
"Maybe it's different for gods, but here where I live, everyone five and older goes to school. It's like.. hmm- it's where everyone learns! There's reading, and math, and science, and recess, and lunch! It's a lot of fun! You go with other kids in a classroom with a teacher- oh, and there are levels, too! You start at kindergarten and go up by numbers. I'm in the third grade now, and the math is a lot harder. Math is okay, but I loveee art the best. It's really fun to draw things you see- like things outside, animals- people are the funnest! Oh, and making up things in your head to draw is really fun, too. We only have art times once a week though, which is sad."
He paused for air, and randomly changed the subject, his eyes bright.
"What kind of things do you do, Zephyrus? Are there games you like playing with your brother? Pretend-games, I mean?"
He nodded the entire time that Leo was talking, trying his very best to understand what he was talking about. School sounded kind of weird, but also kind of familiar - the tis had taught him how to read and write while Mother and Father were at work. Then the conversation switched, and suddenly he didn't feel half as confused as before.
"Yeah!" he confirmed. "We pretend to go on epic adventures, and reenact scenes from his favorite books! And I guess we're playing pretend the entire time, because I'm pretending that I'm his imaginary friend and he's accidentally pretending that I'm his imaginary friend, too."
Leo's eyes widened briefly in excitement, and he bounced a little on his toes. He loved books, too! It would be so fun to have someone to play book-stories with him! Something else caught his focus, though, and he frowned a little in thought.
"I've had imaginary friends before, too, but... if you had a real friend, why would you pretend they were imaginary? Is it fun that way?" he turned his wide gaze on Zephyrus.
"...It's not really fun," he quietly admitted, his gaze dropping down to the ground. "But I'm not supposed to know about Rius, and if he told on me..."
He shuddered at the thought - he didn't even want to think about it!
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