• Berry Berry was Shima's favorite flavor of slushy at Marcus' Smoothies and Slush. And that was precisely the flavor Dillon dumped on his head that chilly October morning. The sticky purple mess fell over the back of Shima's head and spilt onto his pants and his book bag, forming a puddle on the ground and dribbling out of his hair in little rivers. It was a Berry Berry brain freeze.

    "I got you a costume for Halloween, f*****t."

    Shima looked up, his big blue eyes unblinking, and his heart sunk in his chest. The tempestuous emotion showed on his face for a fraction of a second, which brought uproarious laughter from Dillon and his gang. Their laughter was quelled by Shima's small, forgiving smile.

    "Berry Berry is my favorite flavor," he offered, which made Dillon's face contort into a mix of rage and annoyance.

    "Is it, f*****t?" Dillon yanked Shima by his hair and shoved his face down into the Styrofoam cup that once held the Berry Berry concoction. "What about this? Got something nice to say about this, do ya, f*****t?"

    "He probably does, but I don't, a*****e." There was a fleeting moment where Dillon's head shot up- he recognized the voice, and he recognized the fist that landed squarely on his nose. The boy standing there had messy, fair blonde hair and big, big, green eyes with such a smoldering look in them that it'd send a grown man flitting across to the opposite sidewalk. It was Micha, and he was not happy.

    Dillon scrambled to his feet, turning to give an order to his men before he'd realized they'd all fled when Micha had appeared. "Mind your own business, Micha." Dillon growled, though his body was leaning away, as if he were prepared to bolt in a moment.

    "Shima is my business," Micha said frankly, and Shima stood, placing a sticky hand on Micha's shoulder before removing it just as quickly. He'd accidentally got purple slush on Micha's T-shirt, but the blonde boy didn't mind at all.

    "Micha, It's fine. I like Berry Berry anyways," his face brightened and for a moment it was like there was a sun trapped inside Shima, and it was spilling over with light and love and positive thinking.

    Micha turned and eyed Shima up and down before turning back to Dillon and saying, "Here's the deal. I won't kick your a** this time because Shima here doesn't want me to. But you better realize how ******** lucky you are that this kid is a ******** saint, and if I ever see your ugly mug even talking to him again, I'll punch your ******** lights out, kay?"

    A flush came over Shima's face and he looked at the ground, Berry Berry drying in his hair and on his clothes. Dillon's face contorted and for a moment he debated staying or going, but better judgement one out and he spat at Micha's feet and made a b-line for the opposite sidewalk.

    Micha turned to Shima and just looked at him for a long minute. Shima already knew what he was going to say, even before he said it.

    "You're sure in a mess, aren't ya, Pal?"

    "I really do like Berry Berry, though. It's my favorite flavor." Shima smiled brightly with that huge genuine smile that he only got when Micha was around. The blonde boy returned the smile with one that might have been even bigger than Shima's and threw his arm around his sticky neck and sauntered towards home, swaggering with a Berry Berry Shima.

    "Ey, Shima. Come ta my house and make me a Jack-O-Lantern. You can shower there, too."

    Shima's face lit up again and Micha had to glance away because there seemed to be light just oozing out of him. Shima had once told him that he thought Micha was like the sun, but he always thought of Shima as the one who was like a sun. If he could shine with half as much optimism as the boy with the brown hair next to him, he might be happier than even the Buddha. Shima was like the very embodiment of happiness- ever since they were little; he'd never seen Shima cry, not even once. He had a million different smiles for every occasion. There were times when even Shima did not smile, though, and those were the times where Micha felt this overpowering need to make him smile, because if Shima's smiles were lost, then there would not be hope of another smile in the entire world.

    "I'll admit though. It kind of hurt when he pulled my hair, but I also noticed then that I really like the design of Marcus' cups, so it wasn't that bad." Shima gave him a small smile and a quick glance before returning his eyes ahead.

    Micha found himself involuntarily grinning from ear to ear, and Shima found himself doing the same.

    "You're sure in a Berry Berry mess, aren't ya, Pal?"

    Micha gave him a big, cheesy grin and said, “Happy Halloween, Shima,” and the brown haired boy grinned back and said, “You too, Partner.”