~SkepHalo Oneshots~

Family

Darryl skipped happily along the sidewalk, his hand clutching the bag containing the sandwich his mother had made him. It was a beautiful early spring day; the flowers just starting to bloom, and there was a pleasant breeze in the air.

Darryl stopped skipping as he approached a pothole on the path. He stepped around it and stuck his tongue out at the obstacle. He giggled slightly and was about to head on his way, but stopped at a sob from the alleyway next to him.

He peered in, trying to find the source of the noise. He gasped quietly. There was a small, black-haired boy huddled on the other side of the dumpster. Darryl carefully approached him. "Hello?" Darryl greeted.

The boy didn't respond; instead he shrank back, squeezing himself further into the corner between the alley wall and the dumpster.

"Are you okay?" Darryl asked, taking a step forward. The boy hid his tear-stained face in his sleeve, not looking at Darryl.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Darryl sat down on the ground. The boy peeked at him, eyeing the bag Darryl was holding.

Darryl followed his gaze and took the sandwich out. The boy's eyes filled with want. "Are you hungry?" Darryl asked, holding it out to him.

Tentatively, the boy reached out and took the sandwich. Within a few moments, it was gone.

Darryl smiled. "I'm Darryl. What's your name?"

Quietly, the boy answered, "Zak."

Darryl giggled. "That's a nice name!"

Zak smiled slightly at the larger boy, feeling more comfortable with the other's presence.

"Where are your parents?" Darryl asked, as the younger boy seemed to be alone.

Zak's eyes welled up with tears again. "...Gone."

Darryl frowned in sadness. "...Oh." He thought for a moment, trying to figure out some way to fix the situation. "Well... I can be your new family! How does that sound?"

Zak smiled; Darryl could tell he liked the idea.

The two boys talked for hours — well, Darryl did most of the talking, but Zak did speak a few times. Suddenly Darryl gasped. "I have to go home! Mama's gonna be so mad at me!" He stood up, then looked down at Zak. He held his hand out to the small boy. "Come with me," he invited. "You can stay at my house!"

Zak hesitated, then reached out and put his hand in Darryl's. With the older boy's help, he stood up, and the two walked back to Darryl's house.

——

"Darryl, sweetie, you can't just bring home a boy you found in an alleyway."

"But Mama, he was hungry and alone! Please please please can he stay with us?"

Darryl's mother sighed. "All right, he can stay for tonight. But I can't promise any more than that."

"Yes!" Darryl wrapped Zak in a hug. "Did you hear that, Zak? You can stay with us!"

"Now, you two need to go to bed. It's getting late," Darryl's father said.

"Let Zak borrow some of your pajamas for tonight. There's a fresh toothbrush in the bathroom drawer he can use."

"Okay!" Darryl took Zak's hand and led him up to his room.

The next day, Darryl's parents took Zak to the police station. They learned that Zak's parents had died in a house fire the day before Darryl found him, but the police had been unable to track down Zak.

Since Zak and Darryl had taken such a liking to each other so quickly, Darryl's parents agreed to foster Zak. After some time, Zak was officially adopted into the family.

——

"Come on, Darryl, we're almost at the top!"

"Zak, slow down, you muffin!" Darryl called out, holding on to a tree to catch his breath.

Zak looked back. "It's not my fault you're so slow!"

Darryl gave him a dirty look, then continued up the hill in pursuit.

Zak plopped down in his usual spot at the top, smiling innocently at the out-of-breath Darryl who appeared a moment later.

"You always do that!" Darryl scolded, sitting on the ground next to him.

"Yeah, you'd think you'd be used to it by now," Zak teased.

The two boys gazed at the sunset. They were adults by now and had moved out to pursue their YouTube careers. They had returned to their hometown to celebrate Darryl's mother's birthday.

This particular hill was their spot. It was the place of many childhood memories from over the years. Whenever they wanted some time alone together, they would come to this hill. Consequently, it was the place where each of them came out to the other.

"Zak, you know that I've never really considered you a brother, right?"

It was true. Even though Zak was legally part of the family, Zak wasn't Darryl's parents' son or Darryl's brother. The idea had seemed strange to both Darryl and Zak. Zak never called Darryl's parents his mother and father, and so they never called him their son.

"When I met you, I didn't think, 'I want to be his brother,' I thought, 'I want to be his friend."

Zak nodded, confused. Where was Darryl going with this?

"Well, recently, I've realized... I don't want to be your friend. Or your brother. I.. I want to be your boyfriend. I love you, Zak." Darryl nervously looked at Zak.

Zak's eyes were wide with shock. "I-I love you, too!" he stuttered out.

"You- really?!"

"Yeah!" Zak took Darryl's hand, holding it in the same way Darryl held his the day they met.

Darryl blushed and smiled at Zak. Zak smiled back. And sitting there, in their favorite spot, in front of the sunset, everything felt perfect.

——

Here's some fluff to make up for last chapter's bait-and-switch