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“It’s so cool, isn’t it?”
A boy’s voice breaks Levi’s gaze from fixating on the emptied cocoon that was just housing a larvae a second ago. He looks up, soft gray eyes meet ocean blues of another boy.
He has a head of blond hair neatly gelled. He wears a white long sleeve with a blue vest over the top. His khaki pants are neat, wrinkle-less and clean. He is sporting a pair of white shoes, free of dirt stains.
Levi has seen this boy before, many times across the wired fence that defines the boundaries between the tall, new modern condominium opposite of his four-decade-old, moss-filled apartment. The luxurious condominium has a huge playground, with sandbox and large, well maintained equipment. There is also a full swimming pool and a gym with all sorts of workout equipment. The apartment area has more empty parking lots than cars. Lifts are non-existent, and wall repaints are long overdue. There’s a small grass area with a set of swings, with one or both broken most of the time.
Five-year-old Levi doesn’t care about the differences between the lifestyle of his own and the kids who stay in the luxurious, bug-free complex. He doesn't care about the big expensive cars of brands adults enjoy talking about. He doesn't care about any families going in and out of the condominium entrance into their vehicles to attend violin or gymnastic classes. He doesn't care about how clean and well dressed other kids are.
Except for a slightly older boy, who Levi had seen multiple times as he sat by the wired fence, underneath an old tree. He remembers seeing him for the first time, across the fence, standing on the marble tiles by the sliding door entrance of the building. At that time, he was looking up at a much taller and bigger man, chatting and smiling at him.
Levi remembers the excitement and happiness on his face. It was a similar smile Levi wears whenever his mama Kuchel brings home his favorite burger instead of men. Or whenever his uncle Kenny takes him out to the candy store.
The blond boy wears that smile each and every time Levi spots him. His sunshine smile draws the five-year-old's attention, it captures his curiosity every time. It makes him feel cuddly, it makes him want to push the older boy on the swing, it makes him want to share his hot chocolate drink with him.
However, little Levi never got the chance to talk to him. The blond boy never seemed to notice him, he was always in and out of the complex and his family car like he had many places to be. Besides, Levi was never sure of how to gain his attention and start a conversation. He doesn't have a lot of social experience to learn from. Kuchel never asked for the men's names whenever they came over, Levi was asked to stay in his room or go outside to play while the adults silently went about their business.
So now, when said blond crouches in front of him, Levi only stares into his big blue eyes, not knowing what to say other than "huh?"
The blond straightens, his smile remains bright on his face, "the butterfly! It was in the cocoon before, as a larva. It releases some sort of enzyme to dissolve most of itself, and after it disintegrates most of its tissue, its disc uses some of the ‘juice’ to quickly grow its butterfly parts, and then it breaks out of the cocoon and flies around."
Levi blinks a few times, glancing back and forth between the direction of where the butterfly flew off to and the blond boy on the other side of the fence. His eyes then look behind the boy, and find that the big man that was always by his side is speaking to someone on the phone. He slowly stands up, brushes the dirt off his pants and keeps his gaze at the older boy. He opens his mouth to speak, but finds himself a little lost for words, "u-uh… larva?"
"Yeah, they started off as caterpillars." The boy hunches over to look for a green worm.
"Hmm," Levi softly hums, he too, searches for a caterpillar amongst the leafy greens that have stems intertwining the wires of the fence. His eyes land on one and points at it, he softly says, "I- I know caterpillars."
He gently pokes the innocent thing with his little finger, and it immediately squirms away. He looks up at the blond boy again, slightly surprised to see the unexpected grimace on his face.
"Argh! You're not afraid of it?"
Levi shakes his head, unsure of why a bigger, taller boy would be afraid of something so small.
"Ahh, I suppose so." The blond puts a finger on his chin, "you get to learn about insects at school, right?"
Just then, Levi swallows hard. His gaze lowers to the ground as he presses a foot into the dirt.
"I- I'm not in school," his reply is barely audible. "B-but, my Ma said I'm joining one in August."
"Oh!" The boy replies with a big smile on his face, like he himself is attending a new school. Levi is sure he's currently enrolled into one, given how smart he sounds. "You'll like it!"
"I will?"
"Well, do you like books?"
Levi shrugs, he has some storybooks at home. Most of them are hand-me-downs collected from an unwanted books collection stand just down the street. The torn pages are put together with tapes, the hard covers are loose from their contents but they are still precious to him.
"Hmm, I'm sure you will come to love them. I love books! …Ah! Wait here please."
Without waiting for a reply, the older boy turns around and takes off, jogs his way to the man on his phone. Levi watches him over the fence, observes the way his cheery demeanor turns a little more gentle and careful once he reaches the man's side and taps on his arm. The man temporarily removes the phone away from his ear, and the two share a short conversation. Levi can see the same warm smile on the man's face, the father-son duo emits the same energy.
When the blond returns, he stands straight, legs together with squared shoulders, almost like he is doing a salute. He sucks in a deep breath, brings his arm forward to offer a handshake. Two of his fingers slip through the hole in the wired fence.
"I'm Erwin Smith, I'm eight and I'm starting third grade soon. I like reading about world history, and… uh, I also like robotics!" He proudly announces, "What's your name?"
Levi blinks once, twice, thrice. He slowly brings his hand up, captivated by the bright grin on Erwin's face. It looks like his teeth are shining under the bright sun, blinking like cartoon characters he had seen on display TVs in stores. Although Erwin's missing a tooth, it is still perfect for the smaller boy.
"Levi." He answers, his little fingers hook around Erwin's - the gaps in the wired fence too small for their hands to fully slot into one another's for a proper handshake. "I- I'm five."
"What do you like, Levi?"
What does Levi like? Levi doesn't like a vast variety of things, but he fully appreciates the things and people he loves. He likes it when Kuchel tickles him, he likes it when his uncle Kenny visits them (though, he would act like he dislikes his uncle), he likes his pink bunny stuffed toy, he likes jumping from the worn out leather couch to the squeaky bed nearby, pretending the floor is lava.
"Uhh, I like my bunny. It's a stuffed toy."
"Cool! Well, you can bring it over if you want, next week, I'd like to invite you to my place."
Several emotions flood through his system at once, Levi doesn't know how to react. He wants to jump with glee and shout 'yay', but at the same time he feels a churn in his stomach. His body freezes while his mouth moves, "okay!"
Erwin's father calls from behind, signaling that they have to go.
"Coming, dad!" Erwin shouts back. He turns back to Levi, "that's great! I have to go now, I'll see you next week? Friday? Here or something?"
Levi nods furiously, he's partially in a daze, still overwhelmed by the wave of emotions he felt all at once. He's elated. He doesn't have a lot of friends, and so the idea of befriending the boy he's taken interest in feels amazing to him. Like when he ate chocolate cake for the first time.
"Bye, Levi!" Erwin waves, his big grin immediately breaks as the butterfly from earlier flies close to his face. He flinches and lets out a high pitch yelp before smiling awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
Levi waves back, his agape mouth turns into a soft smile as he watches his new friend, Erwin, disappear into the building with his father.
-
"Honey, you sure you don’t want to bring him?” Kuchel holds a pink stuffed bunny up in the air by its arm.
“Ma, I’m a big boy. I don’t need Mr. Bunny.” Levi huffs, hands on his hips as he stands tall and proud by their apartment door. “Let’s go!”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Calm down, speedy.”
As the Ackerman pair descends the stairs, Levi’s movement gradually loses confidence. Half a flight later, he stops and looks up at Kuchel.
“What, don’t tell me you miss Mr. Bunny already.” She hides a chuckle.
“I think he’s a little lonely at home.”
“I’ll stay with Mr. Bunny, he won’t be lonely.”
“But what if he misses me?”
“Oh no, what if?” Kuchel pretends to be surprised.
“We need to get him!” Levi starts pulling Kuchel by her hand, heading back up the stairs. Kuchel can only shake her head as she laughs.
After saving Mr. Bunny from being abandoned at home - now safely tucked into Levi’s backpack - the pair walk around the fence to the condominium building next to their apartment. Levi asks Kuchel a few times if he looks “cool and handsome”, and she reassures him that he is.
When Levi informed Kuchel about Erwin’s invitation a few days ago, she had been a little skeptical at first. But she hasn’t seen Levi talk so enthusiastically about another kid before, and she wants him to have a friend outside of kindergarten which he is about to attend soon. And so, she agreed to let him go over, and promised to help Levi pick out his best outfit and iron them neatly for the visit.
Now as they approach the entrance of the building, Levi grows a little nervous. He grips Kuchel’s hand a little tighter. Erwin and his father are waiting, both looking neat and formal as always.
“Hi, Levi!” Erwin pipes up, waving at them.
“Hi, Erwin.” He said shyly, but tries his best to sound as confident as his new friend.
Erwin’s father exchanges handshakes with Kuchel, and the Smiths learn that ‘Ackerman’ is their last name. The kids also greet the other’s parents, and after a short ice breaking chat, Erwin’s father has to leave for work. Levi gives Kuchel a big hug, not as long as usual, because Levi had told her that morning that he wants to “look like a big boy in front of Erwin.”
Levi follows Erwin back to his unit. He feels a little nervous, and grips the straps of his backpack tighter as he walks along. He’s fascinated by the decorations in the lobby. It’s his first time taking an elevator, and learns that the Smith’s unit is on the 20th floor.
“Is your mom at home?”
“She’s out of town, but it’s okay, we usually have a babysitter over. She’s nice, and we’re very close.”
“Oh.” Levi replies. His little feet try to keep up with Erwin’s longer limbs.
He is again awed, when Erwin doesn’t fish out a set of house keys at the door. There’s a keypad on the wall, and Erwin presses a few numbers on it before it emits a beep sound. The door clicks and Erwin opens the big door, letting Levi in first. “Go on in.”
Levi steps into the Smith home, eyes wide scanning the interior. Erwin’s house is big, spacious and clean. The color of the tile floor and wall are shades of off-white. There are picture frames on the wall, some glass decorations on a shelf in the living room and a huge wooden shelf houses a whole collection of thick books. Everything is spotless and dust-free.
Miss Beth, Erwin’s babysitter, comes out of one of the rooms and greets them. Erwin reassures her that he can take care of their guest and she bolts back into the room, saying something about treating Erwin to an ice cream if she manages to finish her school assignment on time.
“I’ll grab some water for you. Follow me.”
Levi trails behind Erwin into the kitchen. He jolts a little when the double door refrigerator makes a noise as Erwin presses a lever in the door with a glass cup. Small chunks of ice drop into the cup, then Erwin moves to fill it with water.
“That’s really cool. Can it make shaped ice? Like Mickey Mouse or Hello Kitty ice?”
Erwin’s eyes widen in interest as he hands the glass of iced water to Levi. “Hello Kitty ice?”
“My Ma and I make some with this Hello Kitty ice holder thing. We pour water in it and then put it in the fridge.”
Erwin laughs, and Levi nearly chokes on his water. He feels his face go red and warm. “No, our fridge can’t make them. It’ll be nice tho, I love hello kitty.”
“You do?”
Erwin makes a noise like he’s been caught for saying something wrong, and that makes Levi tilt his head.
“U-uh, yeah. Yeah I do.” He chuckles awkwardly, like he’s embarrassed by the fact that he really does like Hello Kitty. “Um, I have some Hello Kitty stuffed toys in my room if you’d like to see them.”
Levi smiles as he places the glass of water on the kitchen island. He takes off his backpack and unzips the main compartment, reaching in to fetch his pink bunny. He finds Mr. Bunny, grabs his leg and pulls him out of his backpack. Levi holds him up high and his floppy ears hang in the air.
“Mr. Bunny. He would like to see them.”
When a smile forms on Erwin’s face, Levi feels a comforting warmth around himself. Erwin takes his backpack from him, then takes his hand to lead him to his room.
Erwin’s room is, to Levi, humongous. He has his own bathroom, and a simple study setup. On the desk are some books, a PC, some robotic builds and some superhero figurines. The built-in bookshelf is difficult to miss, and hundreds of books have their place in it. He has a big bed with NASA sheets. It oddly contradicts the stuffed toys and pillows on top. Hello kitty stuffed toys and pillows. Pink and blue.
“Welcome to my room.”
Levi walks in and crosses the space between the bedroom door and Erwin’s bed. He picks up one of the Hello Kitty stuffed toys and inspects it. Then, he sets it down with Mr. Bunny, side by side. “There. They’re friends now.”
…
“We’re friends too.” Levi turns to Erwin. He holds an anticipating gaze.
“Of course!” Erwin pads over, “we are."
Levi blinks his gaze away, Kuchel says he does that often whenever he's shy, but Levi won't admit it. ”Uh, what should we do?”
"Hmm. Wanna build a pillow fort? We can get comfy, and I can tell you about my books, or show you my robotics stuff if you're interested."
"Okay." Levi says, staying as cool and calm as he can. He secretly cheers. He likes pillow forts. Both him and Kuchel often built their very own in their humble little living room. When skies were dark and rain poured, they put together whatever they had. A chair from the dining table, a wobbly vase stand, a thin blanket, some flattened cardboard and two comfy pillows were all they needed. It was always exciting, hiding under their safe little shelter, cuddling close to his mama's comforting embrace. Just the two of them.
Now Levi has a chance to do so with his new favorite friend, and he is thrilled.
"I'll grab the chairs, you can put the blankets wherever." Erwin runs into his dresser room and retrieves some thin blankets, dropping them on his bed in a pile of mess.
Together, they move and build their little fort. Erwin's room is spacious enough, so they line up a few chairs in two lines to form walls, one end in the middle of the room and the other end by the bedside. They drape blankets over them. The last blanket over the chairs by the bed.
Erwin climbs onto his bed and pulls the edge of the blanket over the sheets, then places some of his books on top to hold it in place.
Levi scoops the stuffed toys into his arm and pads to the entrance of the fort. He drops all of them onto the floor, then crawls inside. He's excited by how big their fort is, having space to crawl around. His and Kuchel's were always small, but still as cozy. He tosses the stuffed toys deeper into the fort, where they hit the bedside before landing on the blanket-covered floor. He then settles himself comfortably on the blankets, waiting for Erwin to join him.
Erwin crawls in a few seconds later, he brings a book and two of his robotic builds with him. He makes himself comfortable by Levi's side, placing one of his Hello Kitty pillows on his lap. Levi hugs his own bunny, bites his bottom lip to stifle his excitement. He watches Erwin flip through the pages of his book, and wonders what story he will read or what amazing things he'll tell him that are stated in the book.
He listens with his full attention as Erwin talks on and on about world history. Levi isn't fascinated by the content per se, but he is intrigued at the way Erwin tries to explain historical events in a simpler way so the five-year-old can comprehend better. He is captured by the enthusiasm in his tone, the way his blue eyes light up as he points at illustrations and huge chunks of words in the pages of the book. Erwin switches his gaze between the book and Levi, and each time he does the latter, Levi blinks back to the book, pretending he hasn’t been looking at Erwin at all.
He wonders if all eight-year-olds are like him. Then again, Levi thinks Erwin is his special friend. Maybe other kids his age aren't like Erwin, because Erwin is cool. He's cool and special.
He wants to be Levi’s friend, and Levi wants to be his. The fence between the buildings they live in bounded nothing.
Erwin moves onto his robotic stuff, showing him how they work. Levi watches with awe, and he scoots closer to the blond boy. He lets him play around with it, and Levi presses a few buttons or turns a few switches to watch the handle or parts move. Meanwhile, Erwin tells him a bunch of stories about his robotic classes and all his silly accidents he caused when he was just starting out. For his construction machinery project, his roller machine could only go backwards. For his dancing robot project, different parts of his robot kept falling off. Though, Erwin proudly tells him that he had built a claw that works better at grabbing stuffed toys than those claw machines in arcades.
Levi puts his 'big boys act cool' demeanor aside, and he giggles at Erwin's stories.
Just then, someone knocks on the door. Miss Beth walks to their little pillow fort and kneels down, presenting two mugs of hot chocolate to the boys. "Kids, I made some goodies."
"Thanks, Beth!" Erwin scoots towards the entrance of the fort and takes the two mugs from her.
"Added some marshmallows for some more sweetness." She winks, before leaving the two of them alone again. Both boys thank her once more.
Levi carefully places the robot in his hands aside to take the warm mug of hot chocolate. The two of them inhale deeply, taking in the sweet scent of cocoa before they take a sip of their drinks. Levi tries marshmallows for the first time, marvels at the soft fluffy sugar bursting in his mouth. He blushes when Erwin tells him he has a cute chubby cheek. He pretends to be grumpy about it, retorts with "you have a brown mustache" to get him back.
Of course, the blond boy only laughs.
When Levi finishes his drink, he sets the mug aside and lays down flat on his back. His limbs spread out wide and a satisfied smile plastered on his face. The older boy joins him after finishing his own drink. The two boys lay in a comforting silence for a while, until Erwin breaks it.
"I like you, Levi."
Levi is momentarily stunned, a bit lost for words. His hand searches for his bunny. Once he finds it, he brings it over his face, hiding behind the safety of his stuffed toy.
He remembers the words Kuchel always repeated to him.
"Let's be happy together, for a long, long time." He mumbles.