21 days of writing: day 01

[moonfleur]

I've been wanting to start working on my ongoing fics but I feel like I'm gotten a bit rusty when it comes to writing? No idea but it is where my mind it at right now so I figured I'd do a little challenge to get myself back into the groove, so to speak.

From now, until the end of June, I will be doing a tiny little drabble every day just to stretch my writing muscles again. Hopefully, this helps me with all the writing-related overthinking that's been plaguing me.

Anyway, here's Day 01.

Prompt: “What are you listening to?”

“What are you listening to?”

The voice startles him out of his near slumber and he chances a glance by opening an eye but he sees nothing but the swirl of stars and clouds overhead. The edges of the rock he’s lying on dig into his back and he knows that he’s going to find sand and gravel in places they should never be in when he gets back home but he cannot be bothered to move.

He turns towards the voice anyway as he slides one side of his headphones off his ear. The boy that greets him is seated on the rock, legs crossed as he stares down at him in fascination, like he’s never seen another boy in his life. It’s an odd look to see on someone.

He reaches into this pocket and pulls out the other end of the headphones’ wire. “Nothing,” he says.

The boy cocks his head, sandy coloured hair falling over his eyes as his brow furrows. He plucks the wire from his hands and holds it in front of his face, inspecting it. “Then why do you have them on?”

“Because, sometimes, if you pretend you’re listening to something, people will leave you alone.”

The boy’s frown only deepens and he hands the wire back to him gently. “Do you want to be left alone?”

He sighs, taking the wire back from him and shoving it back in his pocket. He pushes himself into a sitting position and pulls the headphones off his ears completely. The heat from the day has become a cool summer breeze in the absence of the sun and it buffets around the booth, ruffling his shirt and the boy’s hair.

“I don’t know what I want.” He turns so that he is facing the boy properly, legs crossed in a mirror image of his position. Sitting up he realises he’s actually quite a bit bigger than this boy. whose frame is slight and delicate, much like his features. “You’re not from around here are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

The boy smiles, lips curving slightly. “No, you haven’t. Although I won’t say that I am new here. Not exactly.”

Something brushes against the edges of his consciousness, a stirring of a memory long since lost to the depths of his mind. It slips away like soft sand through his fingers, leaving him feeling oddly empty. He frowns as he tries to get a better look at the boy but the light of the stars can only show so much.

“I’m sorry if I should know you,” he says eventually but the boy stops him with a hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry. You don’t know me. Not yet anyway.” The boy pulls out what looks like a small mp3 player from his pocket. “But you could if you want? What do you say? You up for actually listening to something other than the wind and sea.” The grass rustles around them and the wind blows harder. Below them, the sea crashes against the cliff face but the boy doesn’t waver, holds out the mp3 playing like an offering.

He looks between the player and the strange boy who seems all too familiar and yet completely unknown, at the twinkle in his eye that looks like a challenge, and decides he has nothing left to lose anyway.

- END -