Three Scoops of Heart-Wrenching Sorrow(Ray)

[Deleted]

Nao rarely went down into Pilot Ridge by himself. Even though it was a small town, he was still a small boy and one who was incredibly directionally challenged. He'd been at Hammel for about three months now and still found himself getting lost in the large institute. Expanding it to the entirety of Pilot Ridge only got the 15-year-old even more confused.

Yes, 15-years-old. Nao's birthday had come and went with barely an incident, neither good or bad. He got a small amount of money from home and a care package of his mother's cookies, but for the most part, it had been very uneventful. That was what happened when one started off in a new school and barely knew anyone. But...Nao was a pretty easygoing guy and hardly let something like that bother him.

He was also more than capable of going down to the ice-cream shop in town and get himself a cone of chocolate, strawberry, and mint-chocolate chip. Three scoops. It seemed a bit much for the boy for the boy of only 5 feet and 2 inches tall and less than 100 pounds. There's been many a surprised exclamation at the number of sweets this small boy could consume and yet still maintain his low body mass. No matter, Nao ignored their protests about getting sick and diabetes. He was still young and healthy, surely he didn't have to worry about that yet.

Nao strolled down the street in the direction he hoped was back to the school at a pace that was as slow as slow could be, with his focus primarily on the mountain of ice-cream delight held in his hands, lapping it up with tiny little licks. It was no wonder he didn't see the person coming towards him before he ran smartly into them. Or did they run into Nao? Either way, Naozumi lost his balance quickly and took a step forward, trying to regain it and keep himself from falling flat on his face like he'd done so many times before. Unfortunately, his frozen paradise wasn't so lucky and the top two scoops - the mint-chocolate chip and strawberry - had fallen cleanly off the tower and onto the sidewalk, lost forever. The last one, chocolate, he managed to catch in his right hand before it suffered the same fate.

He didn't say anything...but merely stood there, fuming and staring in silent devastation at the rest of his lost treat.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

It was a beautiful day, it seemed like spring was finally in the air and Raylaigh was going stir crazy from having to be indoors so much. He just wanted to be out and in the sky, but unfortunately the higher up the colder it was and when it was freezing at the ground it was worse up above. Raylaigh also hadn’t walked around downtown recently and he was excited for the chance. He escaped the confines of Hammel and was out on the streets. He was comfortable in his low sneaker and his little wings folded nicely up against his ankles and caves. He was in a zipped up jacket and the (for once) pleasantly chilled air woke him and had him smiling from ear to ear. He’d had a big breakfast just a half hour ago and even now he was starting to feel the urge to snack.

He was tall and he had rocketed toward, but not quite beyond six feet now. All incredibly fast and as a consequence his metabolism and desire to eat everything had increased exponentially. It had his doctors scolding him for not getting enough calcium to help his bones strengthen, when they were already weak because of his power. Raylaigh looked like he weighed very little but he could probably be easily thrown into the air by someone half his size. Like his little sister who seemed to enjoy that fact of life more than anyone else Ray knew. Ray took a careful look before he jaywalked across the street and ended up having to jog the last few feet to the curb. When he went to jump up the curb his toe caught the edge, because it seemed those had grown too and were longer than he was used to.

He lunged forward trying to catch himself, his hands reaching and flailing as he pitched forward and slammed into someone, bouncing off slightly and struggling to keep his feet. Luckily it stopped his forward momentum but the person wasn’t big enough to give him then backward momentum. Raylaigh looked back at the person, “Oh my god! Are you okay? I’m so sorry!” Raylaigh started then paused for a moment and followed the other boy’s eyes down and Raylaigh let out a noise of dismay. What a sad waste of food! He had a feeling he recognized the kid from somewhere but he couldn’t quite place him. Either way Raylaigh, once again, had taken someone out with him. He flushed crimson with embarrassment. He covered his mouth with his hands and shook his head. “I’m so so so so sorry! I’m such a klutz!”

Ray felt terrible, there had to be some way he could make it up to him. “I’m so sorry, I’ll buy you a new one,” he said unsure of what else to do to keep this guy from hating him. His wings fluttered a little in his agitation making it only more dangerous for him to walk as he tried to move around to face the other boy. He forced himself to plant his feet instead of dancing nervously on his toes until he settled his wings again against his ankles. Raylaigh rang his hands as he waited for the other kid to say something. Anything!

[Deleted]

Nao heard the collider cry out his heartfelt apology, but the poor catatonic boy was stuck staring at his fallen food, disgruntled, distraught, and looking like he might actually cry. He wasn't though, Nao didn't cry and hadn't for a long time. But the look on his face was definitely one facing the end of the world, all doom and gloom and sorrow.

When the other person exclaimed his apologies again, Nao finally looked up at him with a slightly vacant stare. Though his eyes widened ever so slightly as he drank in the image of the tall glass of water standing before him. That was four so far. Why did Hammel have such good looking older boys? Was there something in the genetics of being a meta that also made them all beautiful? It was faint, but a touch of pink tinted his cheeks, though that could have easily been explained away by either the cold or the embarrassment of having collided with someone else because he wasn't quite paying attention. He stared for a moment before it registered in his brain that this boy was willing to buy him another one.

Immediately, Nao's mood did a complete 180 and along with it, his frown turned upside down into a dimpled grin and round little cheeks. Well, now that the tall boy had offered, the only way Nao could hate him was if he took it back. Nao nodded his head, keeping up his smile and responded with. "Ok. Thank you!"

In his excitement, he had forgotten about the scoop of ice cream he still held in his bare hand and let it too fall to the floor. That did, however catch his attention, and Nao held up his hand at a brief loss of what to do with this hand now completely covered in melted ice cream.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh felt like a horrible person. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d tried to take someone out with him due to his clumsiness, but this guy looked utterly devastated. It made Ray want to hug him and do whatever he could to make him feel better. He looked down at the shorter boy giving his best puppy-dog-forgive-me-please eyes. Maybe if Ray had just a little better control over his limbs he wouldn’t be such a hazard but what was done was done and all he could do was try to make up for it. What was perhaps the most embarrassing was the fact that this wasn’t the first time he’d smacked into someone while he was either avoiding falling or actually falling. He hated that this kid just looked so sad, like Ray had killed his puppy or something. He’d buy him all of the ice cream he wanted to make him feel better, but then again Raylaigh wasn’t rich and he didn’t work so his funds were rather limited in nature.

Ray smiled in return relief flooding through him that he wasn’t about to get punched in the face for the ice cream spilling. When the small Asian smiled it was easy to see that he was indeed very adorable. And the dimples! Raylaigh loved dimples and it only made this kid that much more adorable. Ray was extremely glad that he was no longer quite so sad and Raylaigh smiled brightly in return his eyes turning into half moons as his smile grew. “Yay!” He declared and laughed a little bit as the last scoop fell and the other hand was covered in what must be sticky ice cream. Ray was at least grateful that none of the ice cream had gotten on him or this other kid. “Where’d you get it at?” He asked hoping he had enough cash, he should he’d gotten a monthly monetary gift from his father, the man’s seemingly only acknowledgement that he had children.

“Hopefully they have napkins.” He added with a grin. “I’m Raylaigh, by the way, I’m really sorry about your ice cream. I tend to be a walking disaster,” he laughed a little and scratched the back of his head his face showing a blush, partially in embarrassment and partially because the victim of his klutziness happened to be very cute. “You look really familiar too, do you go to Hammel?” He asked, the face looked familiar but he was having a problem placing the name. Ray was pretty sure that any sort of ice cream place would have napkins and hopefully it wasn’t too far off, it didn’t seem to be quite started by the time Ray’s feet had carried him and tripped him into this kid.

[Deleted]

When Naozumi expressed his emotions in more than just subtle twitches in his face, he was actually quite expressive, his sad sad face being so completely different from his brighter than the stars smile. It was just rare to bring them out. Most of the time, his features were fairly stoic, which had gotten him the compliment of being "cute" often enough, though the few bursts of full range expression were typically met with similar reactions to what Rayleigh had. Not that that was what Nao was going for, he wasn't clever enough for it and was far too in his own head to even consider his perception by others.

Nao blinked as the ice-cream fell then looked back up to the taller boy. Very tall, wow. "Over there," he said simple, pointing with his other hand. His face had relaxed again, but there was still the bubble of giddiness of getting his ice-cream replaced and it showed via a slight sparkle in his eye. The ice-cream shop where he'd obtained the scoops wasn't very far, just around the corner. He'd only just gotten the ice-cream…and now Nao wondered if the shopkeepers would think him strange or a glutton(even though he was) for coming back in so soon after his last visit. Though those worried were quickly expunged at the though that he wouldn't have to pay for his own replacement either. Nao himself didn't have much money either, commissions from his online projects didn't actually pay that much and most of it went into savings.

"They do. I should have gotten one," Nao admitted as he started leading the boy in the direction of the shop. He offered a gentle smile at the Ray's enthusiastic introduction. "I'm Nao. It's short for Naozumi. Don't worry about it," he assured the, he assumed, older boy. "I don't watch where I'm going often, so it happens." As graceful as the small boy could be in the dojo, he was still somewhat clumsy out in the real world, especially as he tried to get used to his speed power and use it more casually. It didn't really explain this situation, though. Nao gave a short and shallow nod. "Yes. I just started a few months ago." It was a big change, but Nao was glad it happened before he got too used to his last high school.

As they rounded the corner, Nao pointed up to indicate the sign of the ice-cream shop.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray was very glad the crestfallen expression the smaller boy had quickly dissipated. He assumed himself older, but by how much he couldn’t tell. Hell, six months ago he’d been this kid’s height and now he was growing like a weed, as his mother put it. It felt like every night he woke up and he was an inch taller than he was the day before. Of course it wasn’t quite that drastic but when he’d gone home for summer break he was just about this kid’s height and now he was threatening the trees. It shouldn’t be surprising, both of his older brothers had hit their growth spurts around fifteen. Van was still the tallest but Raylaigh had surpassed Kyle, which make the second oldest very annoyed. Especially since Raylaigh was still growing so rapidly. His mother speculated he’d surpass Van soon enough.

Ray nodded, the smile never left his face as he looked around to where the other boy was pointing. Looking at the ice cream on the ground and the size of the kid before him, before maybe Raylaigh would have judged him for the amount, but now that Raylaigh was eating Hammel out of all of its supplies he really had no room to judge. Raylaigh would have said the shop owner would probably assume something had happened, since no one could possibly eat that much ice cream in that short a period of time. Not to mention he had a very guilty looking Raylaigh keeping him company. The only thing Ray was worried about was that once inside his own sweet tooth would kick in and his belly would demand all of the ice cream. Following the other boy Ray let out a laugh and nodded in agreement. Especially with ice cream, one should always a napkin or twelve.

His lips pursed a little at the unfamiliar name. “Nao?” He pronounced it a little like ‘now’. He only hoped he didn’t screw it up so badly. Raylaigh shook his head, “Dude, not your fault at all.” He said with a smile. Ray wasn’t graceful anywhere. He could be graceful in the air, until he tried to turn or land or stop or… basically if one could call straight lines graceful Raylaigh was a pro. The fact that Ray was right brightened the flyers day. Raylaigh flew into a conversation his speech moving a mile a minute. “What’s your power? Where’re you from? Do you like it so far?” Poor Nao probably didn’t think he was going to have to play twenty questions with the talkative Raylaigh when they initially bumped into each other. It was almost possible to think Raylaigh had face planted into someone for the sole purpose of having a captive audience to talk to.

Raylaigh took a few long steps forward and opened the door, holding it open for Nao after he’d walked through. The smell was overwhelming and Ray’s mouth started to water. “Oh, it smells good in here,” Raylaigh said his eyes bright and he found himself licking his lips. Raylaigh had a very bad filter, it was like his tongue was directly linked to his brain and there was nothing stopping whatever he thought from coming out. Now Ray knew why Nao had been so disappointed, if it tasted anything like it smelled it was literally a crime against ice cream that it be left to rest on the sidewalk. Ray’s wings fluttered a little in excitement and in that split second he decided he was going to get himself something as well. There was no way any sane person could say no. “Dammit, Nao, now I’m going to have to get something too,” he giggled because he pronounced Nao again (probably wrongly) as ‘now’ making it sound like he said ‘now, now’. Raylaigh just cracked himself up.

[Deleted]

Nao himself had barely grown over the past few years. He'd always been small, so the prospect of being any taller than his mother(who was only 5'4" anyway) was starting to look slim. The only evidence that there might be something to look forward to were the boy's chronic eating habits, though he'd always been a glutton and his power only made his cravings for food, especially sweets, even worse. However, it was definitely Naozumi's dream to grow at least a little taller. If he could just get to halfway of Ray's height, then Nao thought he could be happy.

The small boy nodded at Ray's pronunciation. It was good enough and what most people called him. Nao was used to the puns and the seemingly repetitive utterances of "now now", so he paid it no mind. Still, the young asian boy smiled calmly and re-pronounced it in a very Japanese way. "Nah-oh," he said, separating the syllables. "But how you said it is fine too." Nao wasn't picky about semantics. Nao tilted his head slightly, rolling his eyes up as he considered. "Then it was both our faults?" he suggested. After all, if Nao had been paying attention, then he would've been able to dodge Ray's ambush with ease.

Nao, however, was not expecting the sudden bombardment of questions and his eyes widened, startled. "Super speed. I'm from San Jose. Yes, I like it very much." He answered the question just about as quickly as they came, though he was flustered, trying to keep his brain thinking at that pace. Nao may have physical speed for a power, but his brain was about as slow as a turtle. Though overall, Naozumi didn't mind the talkative type. Many of his friends so far were very talkative. Just because he wasn't didn't mean they had to be. And Nao didn't mind listening. If asked a direct question, he would answer, like just now. Though just as much, Nao was okay with quiet too. And he too had friends who preferred that. Nao wasn't picky about that either.

Nao slowed, mesmerized at seeing how quickly Ray could move with those long legs of his. And with so little effort. Nao could do it too, but he would have to take several extra steps. The fact that Ray held open the door for Nao also made his stomach do a little flip. That was so sweet! Ray was so nice! He stepped through, keeping his face it's normal stoic-ness, but a little strained as he was actually trying to hold back a blush.

It really did smell good in there, though. Nao concentrated on that instead. And on getting the melted sticky ice-cream off his hand.  Nao immediately grabbed a bundle of napkins from a nearby table and started working on it.  He should probably wash it too....but he didn't want to keep Ray waiting by himself, so he just did the best he could and deposited the clumped mess into the wastebasket, then rejoined his companion.

Ray quickly had Nao smiling again with his announcement to get some for himself. Nao could understand completely.  Ice-cream was pretty irresistible.  He brought a hand up to cover his mouth, his shoulders shaking from glee. "Then…you really should, Ray," he encouraged the older boy with a few of his own giggles escaping him. Nao turned to the counter and eyeballed the flavors on display, his fingers curled slightly over the edge. "….what's your favorite?" he asked.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Maybe Nao just hadn’t reached his growth spurt. Raylaigh was still getting used to his new body, it wasn’t fair. He’d just gotten good at flying then when he grew everything was off balance and worst of all his wings also grew and the longer feathers were such a pain. Sure, he could hide them completely, but that made his ankles sore and they hurt so badly coming back, it just wasn’t worth it. So, he was learning to live with it, more or less. He frequented the infirmary more than a normal person should, but along with the sudden growth his bones were already fragile and it wasn’t helping that he seemed to be unable to walk across an empty floor without falling on his face. Maybe if Nao knew that, he wouldn’t be so jealous of Ray’s height.

Raylaigh ducked his head and tried again, “Nao?” He still added a little bit of an ‘ow’ on the end of his name but he got the ‘Nah’ part. Ray smiled pleasantly at Nao, at least he wasn’t going to get offended. Well, from one person with a complicated name to another Ray knew that it was useless to get upset every time someone said their name wrong. Honestly if Raylaigh got upset every time some teacher called his ‘Raleigh’ he’s have a rather sad life indeed. Ray shrugged as he considered it and nodded. “Fair enough, though I’m gonna be honest with ya, Nao, I’m glad you weren’t paying attention or I’d probably have eaten it.” Among other things, he thought with a smile. Like getting to meet someone new. A rather adorable someone new. Who also went to Hammel, which meant they could possibly hang out some more.

Super speed? That was awesome! Ray wondered what that was like. Ray could cheat when running and making himself go fast, but he couldn’t catch someone with super speed, besides he wasn’t technically touching the ground when he went as fast as he could, which made it flying, not running. “Good!” Raylaigh smiled brightly, “San Jose?! That’s really far. What’s it like, I’ve never been to the west.” He was curious and though Ray liked to do a lot of talking he also liked to do a lot of learning. Raylaigh was immediately jealous, he imaged the beach and the permanently sunny skies that California was assumed to have. Raylaigh was smiling already at the thought of snuggling himself into some warm sand and taking a nap. San Jose was certainly a lot more interesting than North Carolina.

Raylaigh was glad that Nao was liking his time at Hammel, Ray certainly was, now at least. Things were so much better now that his older brother had graduated. Holding the door open wasn’t something that Ray would have thought was unusually nice, it was just the right thing to do. Raylaigh was too distracted by the smells and the sights to notice the small blush on the smaller boy’s face, he probably would have attributed it to the slight chill in the air. He smiled back at Nao as he wiped his hands. They should really have some wet napkins or something ready for the customers who were clumsy. Ray found himself watching as Nao worked at his hand and taking advantage of the moment of distraction to take in Nao’s soft and stoic features. He was as sweet as the ice cream! Ray waited patiently and stuck his hands in his pockets for lack of anything better to do.

Ray puffed out his cheeks before letting out a sigh that seemed to make his mind. “Fine,” he replied. Pointing an accusing finger at Nao, Raylaigh gave a flirty wink. “But only ‘cause you twisted my arm.” Ray’s face brightened at the sound of Nao’s giggled. Everything about Nao was adorable and Raylaigh just wanted to smother him with hugs. He wasn’t quite sure that Nao would appreciate that though. At the question Raylaigh turned his attention back to the ice cream and his eyes grew wide at the vast variety the store held. Was it possible to get a scoop of everything? “Mint chocolate,” he said initially pointing then, “No, cookie dough… wait is that sherbert?!” He looked at Nao with a look of mock alarm. “How have I not known this place was here?!” What a tragedy!

“What did you have before?” Raylaigh asked looking back at the ice cream. Man was he glad he’d taken out someone with ice cream! He was getting something out of it too, and finding a new ice cream place! Not to mention a new friend because, like it or not Nao, Raylaigh was going to be his friend. And a cute friend at that. Bonus! Ray smiled at his thoughts and was very glad that Nao did not have telepathy or Ray might be getting himself into trouble.

[Deleted]

Ray's second attempt at pronouncing Nao's name got another smile from the pint-sized boy. It was close enough. People who didn't grow up around the language that his name was derived from often had trouble saying his first name. They had even more trouble with his last name. Though Nao himself wasn't sure he could get Rayleigh's name correct on the first try either. He hadn't tried yet, he realized, as they were concentrating on Nao's. "And your name is Ray…lay?" He posed the end as a question, unsure if he himself was getting it right.

Ray's next statement had Nao visibly confused and he tilted his head inquisitively. "Eaten it?" Did he mean that…he would have dove right in and eaten Nao's ice-cream right from his hand? No, that was ridiculous, Nao must've misheard him. Though the thought of someone stealing Nao's food right out of his hands had the boy scowl just a little. "Why would you eat my ice-cream?" he demanded.

Sometimes Naozumi was a little slow. No, he was often more than a little slow.

But Ray's excitement from hearing Nao's answers provided some infectious smiles from the quite boy and he was pleased to elaborate a bit more when asked. "San Jose is really nice! We get a lot of rain though. Not much snow, so it was nice to spend the holidays in Vermont." His family hadn't the funds to send him all the way back across the country for the break, so Nao had stayed here and worked on his translating side-job. "Where are you from?" he asked simply. Nao wasn't one to shoot off questions one after the other like Ray had, but he hoped that Ray would offer up the same information he just asked of Nao. But another question entered his mind that he wanted to ask his new…friend. "How old are you?" First glances told Nao that Ray was a senior but he could be wrong. After all, people often thought Nao was still in middle school.

Nao was startled by the sudden finger being pointed at him, not sure exactly what was happening and being somewhat flustered by it. Then the wink came and once again Nao had to suppress a blush. That did it, Nao really liked this guy and hoped that they could continue to be friendly like this. After that flurry of giggles, Nao settled his composure and panned over the different flavors as Ray spoke the names out loud. "We can always come back another time and try more," he said mindlessly, narrowing in on the dark chocolate and rocky road.

Before, what did he have? The boy looked up at the other one with a seemingly blank stare, though was one composed of furious thought(at least it was for Nao). Now that he thought about it Nao realized..he'd completely forgotten! Most of his selections were made on impulse. With this realization, Nao decided silently that he was just going to create a new combination. He looked back to the selection case. "….Rocky road, dark chocolate, and bubblegum." That was probably wrong, but it was good enough for him. Nao wasn't a picky eater either.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh preened like a peacock when Nao smiled and didn’t correct him. This bird brained boy grinned and his wings beat briefly against his legs as they resettled themselves. Ray nodded his head and beamed. “Yep, just right.” That was the easiest thing, really, what was his mother thinking. “You can just call me Ray though,” he added, that was what he told most people, it was easier for all parties involved. Ray’s mood was through the clouds right now and he was having a hard time keeping his feet on the ground. He let his wings twitch a few more times before settling them. There were too many ways to get injured taking off in the middle of the town. There were cars and buildings and poles and pedestrians. Well, not that Raylaigh was much better on his feet.

Nodding, Ray didn’t think there was a misunderstanding and he looked at Nao with a shocked expression. He was able to keep a straight face for a whole of twelve seconds before he collapsed into giggle at the image of him falling face first at Nao and just opening his mouth and swallowing all of the ice cream in a single gulp. He shook his head and held onto his sides as he tried to recover. “No, no,” he got out between laughs, “I mean… I mean faceplant, like,” he held his hands up and waved one saying, “Face,” he put the other hand parallel to the road, “Concrete.” He slapped the hand that was his ‘face’ onto the hand that was ‘concrete’ and laughed again. Raylaigh should probably feel bad about laughing but he couldn’t help it. Nao was so incredibly serious about his ice cream. Remind him never to get between Nao and ice cream ever again.

“Really?!” Ray asked in surprise, he’d always thought the entirety of California was dry as the desert, which was entirely not true. Ray’s face fell a little bit, he was glad that his family was able to get together on the holidays, his dad usually helped with travel whether or not he was planning on showing up for holidays. Honestly, Ray liked his dad’s girlfriend but it would be nice if he paid a little more attention to his children. “Alexandria, it’s about twenty minutes to an hour out of DC, depending on traffic.” He laughed a little bit, logically it should only take about fifteen but with DC traffic it could easily become a much longer commute. His mother was a novelist, at least so she told people, but with her divorce she’d decided her books weren’t making enough money and so she started writing speeches for politicians and interest groups.

“Sixteen,” Ray answered without hesitation and held his fingers up putting his thumb and his forefinger close together, “I’m this close to getting my license.” He said proudly. “How about you?” He returned the question and silently prayed he wasn’t flirting with someone who was twelve. That would be embarrassing. Raylaigh was working on getting his license but he was still trying to see if he could get into the driver’s ed class Hammel had. A feat that seemed to keep eluding him. He was half inclined to ask if someone was doing it on purpose. Raylaigh’s older brothers were constantly teasing him about his driving. ‘God, Ray,’ they would say, ‘I hope you don’t drive like you walk.’ He was pretty sure someone at Hammel must have the same fear, but it was hardly the same thing. He couldn’t trip a car over a crack in the road.

Raylaigh smiled and nodded his head in agreement. “Done!” He said to verify. Poor Nao was not prepared for the amount of times Raylaigh was going to make Nao come get ice cream with him. Raylaigh might be sixteen and look a little older than that due to his height but he still had a child’s heart and found pleasure in the simple things in life. He wouldn’t say he had childlike innocence, but he certainly was idealistic and he knew it and didn’t really care. Everyone had to have good in them right? No one was all bad. Even his ex-boyfriend had some good in him somewhere. There was a reason Ray had started dating him in the first place, but the fact of the matter was that Raylaigh wasn’t just glad Jack was gone, he was relieved. His ex was a scary person and he hadn’t realized that until it was too late. “Alright,” Ray said and looked up at the woman waiting to take their order with a smile, “Okay, rocky road, dark chocolate, and bubblegum for Nao. I’ll take the mint chocolate and cookie dough.” He smiled brightly and turned to Nao, “That’s an interesting combination.”

[Deleted]

"Ray," he confirmed with a tiny smile. Nao liked it. It was a good name. He wouldn't say it, but Rayleigh sounded like it should belong to a girl and while he knew that was unfair to Ray, because he obviously wasn't a girl, he would have felt bad thinking it every time he said his full name. Though it was nice in it's own right.

From the corner of his eye, Nao saw some movement and looked down to it. "Are those wings?" he asked, studying the little things that were twitching and flapping down at Ray's ankles. He looked up to meet Ray's eyes, cranking his neck back as if he were looking up at a tall building. "Can you fly?" That would be so neat!

Sometimes Nao could be a little childish.

Such as in his misunderstanding about something so simple. Nao continued to stare blankly as Ray explained what he really meant and for about three second he was speechless….until what Raylaigh was saying finally caught up with the slow processes of Nao's brain and he realized how incredibly stupid he'd been. "It's…It's not that funny!" he protested, completely mortified at his mistake, with a face redder than a strawberry. "Anyone could have made that mistake!" Anyone being Nao, because surely there were few others who would take such a statement so literally. He puffed out his cheeks with a completely vexed pout.

Nao would have much to tell Ray about the state of California and how it definitely was not a complete desert. Actually only about 10% of the state was a desert, the part surrounding the space between the Los Angeles area and the borders to Nevada and Arizona; the rest was a myriad of plains, mountains, and forests. It did span up over half the height of the country, after all. It had to have several different weather environments. "Oh. You're from the east coast." He smiled, reminiscing. "This is the first time I've been so far east." Then he remembered. "In the US," he corrected. Because technically Japan was east when you considered the dateline.

That must've been exciting, getting your driver's license. Nao couldn't even imagine driving a car, not with how spacey he got sometimes. But with his meta-power, he probably wouldn't have to anyway. And besides, he was used to walking everywhere, it's what he always did back home. "I just turned fifteen…" Nao spaced again as he silently counted on his fingers. "Six days ago." He didn't feel any older, though.

Nao's smile brightened again when Ray agreed to join him back for an ice-cream escapade. Then he realized that they would indeed be going together. He kept his smile steady to hide the flip of excitement his stomach had teased him with. Though seriously, there were few things better than ice-cream so Nao was happy about that alone. "They all taste good," was his explanation for the unusual combination of flavors. "But yours looks good too," he commented, practically drooling over the idea. He'd have a little of everything if he could, but then he'd just want a lot of everything once he got started. Nao was always being told he needed to regulate his sweet tooth better, but how was he supposed to do that when there were so many flavors out there to try?

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh looked down as if he were not aware of the fact that he had wings on his feet and held up a foot and spread them for a moment. “Yep,” he grinned and settled them back as he nearly lost balance on the one foot. He momentarily tripped over himself and had to hop a little to keep his feet under himself as he pitched forward. He laughed a little bit and shook his head, he was about as graceful as a newborn colt. Raylaigh nodded again, “Yeah, it’s kinda awesome.” Raylaigh was honestly very sad that flight wasn’t something that everyone could experience. Sure, they could go fly in a plane but it wasn’t the same as feeling the wind rush through his hair and feathers and fill his lungs with life. “I probably can’t fly as fast as you can run though,” Ray added with a smile, if he hovered above the ground he could ‘run’ pretty fast but Nao would probably leave him in the dust.

The only thing that Nao’s declaring it being not funny was to make Ray laugh harder. “I’m sorry,” Ray apologized but was unable to keep himself from guffawing. Nao’s face was adorable and when he blushed Raylaigh just wanted to pinch his cheeks and snuggle him, he was too adorable! “Awe,” Raylaigh uttered halfway recovering from his laughter as Nao pouted. His eyes glittered with mirth and turned into little half moons as he smiled widely. “Right, right,” he joked and resisted the desire to pat the cute boy on the head as he pretended to agree. Raylaigh didn’t know anyone who would have missed that statement and it made him giggle newly. God he hadn’t laughed like this in a long time.

Ray would someday wish to visit California and all of those western states. Honestly, he could fly there was nothing stopping him, well save the fact that he was sixteen and someone would probably start panicking if he just went off on his own. He could also not fly that quickly. He had a great deal of flight endurance and could probably make up a lot of distance, but it would probably still take him a few days to fly across country, and that was at full speed and not leaving times for breaks or eating or sleeping. In reality it would probably take him a week or so, as flying at full speed was something he could do for roughly a half hour before he got too tired, and even that was pushing it. And besides he would definitely need to sleep and eat.

Raylaigh was busy calculating in his head how fast long it would take him, he’d never officially clocked his cruise speed but it was significantly faster than he could run. Be blinked himself out of his thoughts when he realized Nao was still speaking and he caught the tail end. “You’ve been outside the US?” Ray asked in wonder and great deal of jealousy. Admittedly, Ray may have once or twice wandered into Canadian air space but he hardly thought that counted.
A bright smile lit his face and he exclaimed, “Oh! Happy birthday!” He was actually very relieved and a little excited that Nao and he were so close in age, for one that meant flirting was okay and for another it meant that they would have a lot more in common. Ray felt older, more mature now that he was sixteen but pretty much anyone else would have disagreed and said he was still a kid. He felt he gained more respect because he finally looked older, but usually that only lasted so long as he kept his mouth shut. There were some dates that had special significance, at thirteen you were officially a teen, at sixteen you could get a driver’s license, at eighteen there was voting and everyone knew why twenty-one was exciting. But it was kind of unfair to those birthdays in-between.

“Mhmm,” Ray agreed and handed over a few bills to the cashier before retrieving his ice cream and giving it a good lick. “Mmm,” he mused and smiled at Nao, “I’m glad I bumped into you,” he joked, though he was completely serious. His cheeks turned a bit pink as he spoke. It was all over a good day and Ray was glad he had decided to venture outside. It was a perfect day for flying but at the same time he hadn’t walk a lot of and it had paid off because he never would have run into Nao. “So, do you wanna eat here or risk the outdoors with your ice cream again.” He chuckled a little at his own joke as he reached for a few napkins, pocketing some and wrapping the others around his cone. He did not like the sticky sensation of melted ice cream so he would do his best to avoid it. He was working on the wrapping when his elbow hit the little container of spoons they had by the register. “Oh! I’m sorry!” He cried as the woman caught them before it went all the way down. She smiled in a ‘get out of here’ kind of way.

[Deleted]

Wow, they really were wings! That was quite possibly the neatest thing Naozumi had ever come across in this school so far. Sure there were people with wings, but how many people had wings on their feet? It was like that myth or something, what was it called? Hermes? Something like that, Nao was going to have to look it up later. "…we could race and find out," he suggested, looking back up at Ray. Naozumi wasn't a competitive person. The only one he ever competed against was himself in martial arts, but against others, races and competitions were merely a way of assessing the facts and skill levels, not to prove or inflate an ego that wasn't even there.

The apology wasn't helping much, especially when Ray was still laughing at Nao's little blunder. Nao just closed his eyes and tried to force the red to leave his face. Really, how much longer was this guy going to laugh at him? Though….as he started to calm down and picture exactly the same thing that Ray did when Nao uttered his misunderstanding, he had to admit…it was an amusing image. And Ray's laughs were really just too infectious. Pretty soon, that little scowl of his was starting to twist into a wrinkled smile and a laugh finally exploded from his lips, followed up by more giggling. Good lord that was just…so embarrassing!

Nao nodded when Ray inquired about his international travels. "Yes. My grandparents live in Okinawa, Japan. We go visit them every summer." Which was half the reason why they were always so careful with their spending and splurging. Sending eight people to the summer home was expensive, so they had to spend much of the year saving up for it, though their extended family did help out with that a lot.

"Thank you," he said with a smile of honest gratitude. He hadn't done anything to celebrate his birthday this year because he still hadn't many friends to celebrate it with and those he did have were usually busy with school. Unlike Ray, though, Nao didn't feel especially older or much different than he did at fourteen. Maybe it was a gradual thing?

Nao released a short giggle. "Yes. I'm glad too." He hadn't expected it, but it had given him a chance to meet someone so completely nice and awesome! Someone he wouldn't mind hanging out with more often. Nao scanned the establishment debating if they should play it safe and eat there, or if they should take the risk of going out and possibly stumbling over their own feet again to lose their cones. Because it was indeed a risk with these two, Nao realized. He stared, trying not to explode into more giggles, as Ray knocked over the cup of spoons. "……somehow I think it might be safer to leave." With Ray jumping around like that, it was probably a better idea to give him enough room to do it in.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray bounced a little on his feet making a skipping motion as they walked so he could give Nao a determined look. “You’re on Speedy.” Raylaigh had a feeling that he was going to get left in the dust if he challenged Nao but what was life without a little friendly competition. Ray was very competitive. There was a reason he was on the track team and still swam competitively. He would do both if Hammel let him but since both were year round he found himself alternating and sneaking into the same practices. Ray loved nothing more than a good race, because it did assess skill level and it gave him a reason to keep trying. That didn’t mean Ray was unsportsmanlike, he always congratulated his competition whether he beat them or not. No one who swam or ran competitively gave anything but their all to every race and it was something that should always be rewarded with at least a handshake.

Raylaigh almost got himself under control when Nao started laughing as well and that only renewed his giggling. His sides were starting to get sore and his cheeks ached a little from the beaming smile he was wearing. Raylaigh didn’t necessarily think he was laughing at Nao, more so that it was just funny. He was glad that Nao was now laughing with him. If one couldn’t laugh at themselves life would be a rather boring adventure. Ray doubled over and patted the small Asian’s shoulder as he tried to regain his composure. He had to fan his face as he was growing hot from laughter and he tried to regain normal breathing habits. Taking a few deep breaths Ray got himself together again and let out a few residual laughs before shaking his head at the whole thing.

“No way!” Ray exclaimed in surprise, “Are you fluent? Were you born there?” He was so curious and this was the first person he’d met who made regular trips out of the US. He was rather jealous that he really had no idea where his family came from. When he asked his mom and dad they each rattled off a few dozen countries in Europe. Basically that was the best Ray could do. If he had any relatives in any other country they were so far detached he wouldn’t know them from any other stranger on the street. Really even if Nao wasn’t born in Japan if he could speak Japanese that would be the coolest thing ever. Raylaigh himself was taking French to get his language credit and he wasn’t bad but he also wasn’t particularly good.

Smiling brightly at Nao, Ray just nodded. Fifteen hadn’t made him feel much older either, it was really the growing that made him feel older. Now that he was more on eye level with his teachers and the older students he felt on a more level playing field, well, as level as one could be with someone several years their senior. He was glad he was at least no longer looked at like a child, but then again some things he did were now considered ‘immature’ because he looked older. Honestly, growing older sucked. Well, besides the driving and voting and drinking thing. Ray would much rather avoid adulthood so he could just play around and not have to worry about anything.

Nao’s laugh was cute and Ray grinned at the sound. It was a lose-lose situation, they could risk staying here and pissing off the workers or risk walking and tripping over their own feet. Raylaigh smiled embarrassed at his clumsiness, it was really hard getting used to longer limbs. “You’re probably right,” he agreed scratching his head sheepishly. He stepped carefully toward the door, watching his feet as he stepped making sure his wings weren’t getting in the way. He really should look where he was going before he ran into someone again. “Did you grab a napkin?” He asked jokingly as he paced toward the door, spinning slightly as he asked his question and turned back to the door. It was at least a nice day for a stroll. It was always amazing how when warmer weather arrived people suddenly were everywhere, as though they had come out of hibernation. There always seemed to be vastly more people around in the summer than winter.

[Deleted]

Speedy. That was a new one. Actually it was. Nao had been given nicknames before, but they were usually based off of his name. Others he wasn't sure if they were nicknames or not because he rarely ever heard people call him them to his face…..Nao really wondered what that was about anyway. Either way, Nao was looking forward to running with Ray later. As said before, it was mostly for factual knowledge rather than bragging rights as Nao barely even knew how to brag.

Apparently these two were destined to continue laughing until doomsday the way they were starting and stopping and then starting all over again. If Nao remembered later, he was going to write down this whole encounter later and send it to his sister. She would probably never let him forget it, but Nao thought she'd enjoy it nonetheless. A few more moments of giggling, and a slight tickle within from the friendly shoulder pat Raylaigh gave him, the two boys were finally able to move on.

Though once again, Ray's excitement over something that Nao never really considered before had him taken aback slightly and unsure of how to exactly respond. "Yeah," he said, which was basically an answer to all those questions. Though it took him a second to realize that he might need to clarify more. "My family moved here when I was six, so I grew up knowing both languages." Nao vaguely wondered if Ray really hadn't met anyone who'd been out of the US before. Or who had another language other than English as their first. "Do you speak any?" If he did then that would be fortunate, because then Nao might have a regular conversation partner for learning that language.

Of course, Nao forgot to tell Ray that in addition to Japanese, he was also in the middle of learning about 5 other languages as well. They were a passion of his along with his martial arts.

As they were starting out the door, Nao stopped at Ray's question. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed and the short boy skittered back to the counter and grabbed a few or a dozen napkins for himself. He offered the chunk of tissue to Ray in case he needed one. Though now that they were settled and had everything they needed, Nao was able to finally start enjoying his ginormous serving of ice-cream. He followed Ray out the door and started lapping at the column with his tongue. "Mmmm….this is good," he commented. Nao looked up to Ray and smiled. "Thank you, Ray!" This really was turning out to be the best day. He returned to focus on licking up his cold treat.