Coming Home // Sidemen AU (Minizerk)

Meeting Simon

It's funny how things work, isn't it?

JJ, Simon, Ethan, Vik, Josh and Tobi. Six boys who people said were born to be best friends. And yet if it wasn't for one of them, most of their paths would never have crossed.

Simon is five when he first meets Josh. Josh is five too. Simon's parents have recently moved to London, central London, the Whitechapel area. His dad has been offered a promotion and that means moving. Simon doesn't mind too much, he is still too young to have made any firm friends at school. London is a lot different from his previous home. It's loud. It's busy. It is constantly evolving and changing.

The house they move into is very cool. It's smaller than their old one, but then you have to downscale when you move to the capital. On their second week living their his parents take Simon and his brothers to a park near Southbank.

The park, like the city, is massive and there are a great many children running around and playing happily. Simon does this too for a bit. Swings, roundabout, slide. He likes to think he is the best at all of them.

Then he notices a boy out of the corner of his eye. The boy catches his attention straight away not because he is being particularly loud or annoying, but purely because instead of sliding down the fireman's pole, he is trying to climb up it. That's not what you were supposed to do and the act intrigued Simon. The blond boy walks over to the other child.

He is smaller than Simon, but then most kids are; he's a tall boy for his age. This boy's hair is a lot darker too, it almost looks black in certain lights, and is not spiked up like his. His eyes are strange as well. One moment they look green, the next they look brown.

Simon is a polite boy, raised well by his parents, so he decides to try and help the child out. "That's not how you're supposed to do it," he points out.

The boy takes one last leap up the pole, nearly reaching the top before his arms give out and he slides back down. He gives Simon a funny look.

"Says who?"

That question confuses Simon. Well...no one ever said, but that was just how things were done. He settles for, "Everybody does it the other way."

The boy just shrugs his small shoulders and smiles. "Maybe I'm not everybody."

Simon doesn't understand. This boy is strange. It's a bit unnerving and he looks around to check his parents are nearby and watching him. They are, just like always. He looks around for the parents of this boy but there are no adults close who look anything like him.

"Where are your parents?" Simon asks.

"I don't know," the boy replies, still focused on climbing.

"But...where are they?" Simon is too young to comprehend that this boy isn't with his parents. For him, every child is always with their parents.

"I don't know." The boy repeats and sighs, giving up on his challenge. "Wanna play tag?" he asks instead.

"Okay." Thoughts on missing parents are quickly replaced by this new competition.

The boy sniffs and wipes his nose on his sleeve. "What's your name?" he asks.

"Simon."

"Well then..." the boy smirks before tapping Simon on the shoulder. "Tag, you're it Simon!" He laughs, charging away as quickly as possible.

"Hey that's not fair!" Simon shouts after the running boy, he had cheated. What a sweat. Luckily Simon is faster than the other boy and is soon gaining ground. "What's your name?" he calls out.

"Josh."

Simon reaches out his hand and grasps at the other boy. "Tag, you're it Josh!"

The two boys play for at least another hour, until they are red in the face and out of breath. Eventually Simon's parents tell him it's time to go; they're going to McDonald's for lunch. Simon wants to ask his new friend to come as well, seeing as his parents weren't around to buy him lunch, but when he turns back the boy has disappeared.

Simon worries for the rest of the day that he will never see the boy again, however as it is so often with young minds, the next day the strange Josh is forgotten about, a distant memory. But a few weeks later Simon visits the same park again and Josh is there, this time sitting on top of the swing frame.

As soon as they spot each other Josh waves the other boy over and Simon, after a lot of difficulty, manages to clamber up too. Josh says he comes to the park most weekends, even though it's not the nearest park to his home. From then on Simon persuades his parents to bring him most weekends too.

Over the years the meet ups to play in the park turn into meet ups to play football on the grass. Simon's parents stopped turning up after a while, as he got older. Josh's parents never turned up at all. Sometimes Josh visits Simon at his house, sometimes he stays the night. Simon's parents like him; he is mature and always polite to them.

Sometimes Simon visits Josh in Peckham, but he only goes to his mum's house. Josh says his dad doesn't like him having friends around. Josh's dad doesn't like a lot of people. His mum is nice though, and she treats Simon like a second son. Josh is the only child from his mum and dad's marriage; they split up not long after Simon met him. Josh never complains and sometimes Simon thinks he's grateful for the divorce.

Simon and Josh are close. They come from two completely different worlds but look to each other as brothers. Often they don't need to talk to know what the other his thinking. They stay in touch throughout the years, through primary and secondary school. Josh doesn't go to a private school like Simon and lives in a much rougher neighbourhood, so introduces the other boy to people he would never normally meet.

It is through Josh that Simon meets Ethan.