Pulse

What do you want from me

Before they could say anything else, the doorbell rang. Harry waited for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 seconds before opening his door and picking up the package. He looked to his right and saw the delivery guy making small talk with his neighbour, a pang of sadness hit his chest. He quickly shut the door, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

"Here you go", he said as he placed the food on the table.

"Once again, thank you so much".

"It's no problem", Harry smiled.

"No, no, I mean it", sunshine said, "I promise I'll leave as soon as I figure out how".

The sadness in Harry kept building up, he didn't want sunshine to leave, ever. He knew it was selfish, he shouldn't be keeping the boy in this miserable town, shouldn't even be keeping himself around. But he had found a reason to live, and he wasn't going to give that up this soon.

"Awe Harry", sunshine cooed, "how'd you know I love strawberries?"

"Wild guess", he shrugged.

"Good guess".

The boys hung around his house for the remainder of the day. Harry dimmed the lights as the evening crept upon them. He lit up some candles and stared in awe as the flame shadowed shapes on Sunshine's face.

He heard his doorbell ring and confusion overtook him, that never happened. He walked outside but saw no one, that's when he noticed the paper on the door. "Freak", it read, the back told him it would be better if he just left, that the whole town was talking about it and he should just make it easier for himself.

A tear escaped his eye, this didn't happen a lot, but it also wasn't the first time. He sniffled as he crumpled up the paper, that's when sunshine joined him.

"Hey", his face softened as he saw the tears running down Harry's cheeks, "are you alright?".

Harry wiped his eyes, "fine", he mumbled, "Don't worry about it".

"What's that in your hand?" He asked.

"Nothing", Harry tried to say, but sunshine had already ripped the paper out of his hand.

His face fell even more as he read what they had written about sweet Harry, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Harry, you need to go to the police, this is harassment".

"No", Harry whispered, "no, you don't get it, they're right".

You don't believe this crap, do you?"

Harry pulled them towards the couch before taking a deep breath, "I'll uhm, I'll explain".

Sunshine took his hands in his, rubbing soft circles with his thumbs. While Harry explained everything that had been happening since his birth.

"You still don't deserve to get treated like that", sunshine told him, "you're a good person".

That's what pushed Harry over the edge, he started bawling his eyes out. No one had ever been this kind to him.

"Sorry", he hiccuped as sunshine pulled his head in his lap.

"That's okay", he reassured, running his fingers through Harry's soft curls, "you're okay".

Harry couldn't believe someone this pure had been sent to him.

"You know it's okay to cry, right Harry? Just shows your human, and that you have emotions like all of us. I know all of this is tough, and you're so strong for pulling through it on your own, I can't imagine how hard that must be for you. But please, just remember that after every good cry, you should smile an even brighter smile".

"I can't smile", Harry said softly, "it makes bad things happen".

"I've seen you smile multiple times today, and nothing happened to me".

Harry looked up at him, was it true?

"Go ahead, give me a smile".

"I really can't".

"If you're not gonna give me one, I'm gonna have to force you".

"How will y-" he got cut off by sunshine tickling him, his giggles filled up the otherwise quiet living room.

"There you go", sunshine smiled at him, Harry grinned back, before realising what he was doing.

But nothing happened to sunshine, he was still just smiling at him, nothing caught on fire, no one was hurt. Harry was in complete and utter shock. Who was this boy?

"You've got a gorgeous smile", he told him, "shouldn't have to hide it".

Harry felt way too hot all of a sudden, his stomach felt funny and he had trouble focussing as he stared up into sunshine's eyes. "I uhm", he gulped, before pushing himself off of the couch and running to the bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face, staring at his reflection and wondering what was going on with him. He was being careless, but it felt so good. He couldn't be selfish though, this was not what was intended for him, he was gonna look up how to get sunshine back home, it's the least he could do.