(Norman x Emma) I think I know you (TPN)

9

"How?? Oh my god I must show you!"

With that, Emma raced back up to the top where Norman was. She appeared right behind him before he could notice.

"Okay. I'm assuming you have enough upper body strength for this, but you have to trust yourself."

Thanks, Norman thought to himself, for he does not have much trust in himself.

Of course he wasn't about to say that, and decided to fake confidence, which he is very good at doing.

So he nodded at Emma. She smiled, and crawled to the opening of the monkey bars. She was sitting right next to Norman, and he was curious as to what her method of teaching was.

"Okay, so you saw what I did, I just put my hands on there, and I swung myself to be able to reach the next handle. You just have to trust that you have enough grip to stay on as long as you gotta. Here, give me your hand."

He has never actually given her his hand, its always been her taking it. Why does this feel more..awkward?

Emma could probably tell he is hesitating to do so, but she's taking it as him being nervous to do the monkey bars.

Maybe it doesn't help that he is looking into her eyes while he does it, but gradually he gave her his hand.

She felt his hand, "Are you nervous? Your hands are sweaty." She giggled.

Hey, he is great at hiding his nervousness, but that doesn't change the fact that he is still nervous.

"That could probably pose an issue, you could lose your grip and fall..But hey! The fall isn't so bad, its not that high." She assured him. If he were scared of heights, then she would probably have made things way worse.

She took his hand and told him to get on his knees, which he complied. She did the same, and reached up to the first bar, still holding his hand, she pressed his hand to it.

"Its real simple from this point forward, just put your other hand up and swing yourself forward."

After that, Emma took her hand off of his, and he felt the warmth that held his hand had gone. He looked at her once more, and nodded, as if he was determined to do this. He is determined actually, he doesn't want to look weak.

He looked ahead, and with his left hand still on the bar, he placed his right hand as well, took a deep breath, and threw himself forward and off the edge. Emma felt very proud as she watched.

Soon Norman was in the air, hanging onto the bar.

"Now push yourself forward, and grab the next one!"

He knew what he was supposed to do, he envisioned the next step in his mind, he saw what was supposed to happen. But it didn't happen, instead he got distracted by her voice, and as he went to grab the next bar, he missed.

The sudden adrenaline rush of fear surged through him, and he tried to tighten his grip on the hand still on the first bar, but it had the opposite effect, it began to slip, and within two seconds he plummeted to the ground, into the dirt.

"Norman!" Emma yelled, before jumping down onto the grass to the side, and then running to the injured boy on the dirt. "Are you okay??"

He fell face first, but his arm was able to take most of the impact. He used his free hand to push himself up off of the floor, and looked up at the figure directly above him. His arm throbbed in pain, but it was manageable.

He nodded, dirt falling off of his head as he did so. His white hair was stained brown with dirt and a bit of mud. He smiled, trying to play off the pain.

Emma helped him get up, and let him lean on her lap.

"What happened to 'the fall isn't so bad'?" Norman teased.

"What did you want me to say? 'The fall will hurt a lot?' That would have scared you!" She laughed.

"It would have at least been honest!"

They laughed, and slowly the throbbing in his right arm began to cease. Suddenly, Norman became very aware of how close he is to Emma. He is literally on her lap!

"Well, does it still hurt?" She asked him, looking at his arm, which she saw took the most impact.

"My arm?" He looked, " Well, kind of. It isn't that bad though, trust me."

"Oh yeah? How do I know you aren't just saying that to appear tough?" She teased him.

He laughed, "Why would I do that?"

Emma shrugged, and looked back down at him, "It did look like a bad fall. Did you forget what to do or something?"

Well, he couldn't exactly tell her that he was being distracted by her voice, that would seem weird.

"I don't know honestly, I guess I just slipped." He played it off.

"Next time we should dry your hands before you go." She concluded.

Norman only nodded.

"I'm surprised honestly, from the way you fell, and how hard it looked, I thought you'd break your arm!" Emma exclaimed, further examining the injury as if she didn't believe him.

"Well, I've never broken a bone so I wouldn't know how it feels, but I bet it hurts a lot worse than this." He explained to her.

She looked surprised, "You mean to tell me that throughout your whole childhood, you have never broken a bone? How?" She seemed genuinely confused.

It probably does seem odd to someone whom looks like they were able to have a fairly active and norman childhood.

"I don't know, I was never too active when I was younger. I was always the kid that hung out by himself, reading and such."

"Oh my god you sound just like Ray when I met him." Emma said, "He was such a loner. That was before middle school though. I guess it makes sense for you to be like that since you grew up the way you did."

"I guess so." Norman gave somewhat of a sad smile while reminiscing.

"Did you not have too many friends? Sorry if that sounds weird." She asked hesitantly.

He shrugged, "Its all good. I never did have too many friends, I was moved around so much. And, when I finally did make friends, I was moved away. So I guess books were my best friends growing up."

Emma noticed how the topic made him sad, and without thinking, she moved out from under him, and as he got up she hugged him. Norman didn't expect a hug right now, but with her face buried into his shoulder, he didn't do a lot of second guessing at all.

"I'm sorry you didn't get a good childhood." She apologized, as if she had control over it, "But you are here now! Lets make the most out of it!"

This gave Norman a really warm feeling. He has always felt like these were finally the people he belonged with, but now he has confirmation that these truly are.

How else could he describe it, it just felt like home. He hasn't felt home in so long, but here, laying on the dirt, underneath an abandoned and eroded park, he has finally found home.

And it came in the form of a girl with bright orange hair, and a personality that was even brighter than that.

~

The whole "abandoned park on a golf course" came from real life. An old best friend of mine lived on a golf course, and we would always sneak away to a park that was hidden, and looked to be abandoned. I thought it would be a good addition :)