Stick in hand, head inclined, and tongue out in concentration Jongin dug into the earth with great zeal. He twisted the stick in circles making a rugged circle in the playground sand. He wiped his forehead with hand, then dropped his fingers to his eyes, rubbing in circles. Something had gotten into his eye because it was watering and looked as if he were crying. He groaned when the pain increased and his fingers became rougher.

“Are you okay?” A soft voice came from a young boy who was now standing in front of him, his hands in front of his body. The latter looked away shyly and Jongin raised an eyebrow.

“I’m fine.” Jongin responded still rubbing viciously at his eye. The boy dropped to his knees and took Jongin’s hand away from his eye. Immediately,  Jongin struggled against the boy’s grasp.

“Relax.” The boy crooned and surprisingly Jongin felt himself relax. “My name is Sehun.” He leaned closer, his lips slightly parted as he observed the current state of Jongin’s eye. He shuffled his knees closer to the other boy. “I think I see the problem.” Jongin could feel Sehun’s hot breath against his cheek and he blushed. “You okay? You look hot.” Sehun pulled back frowning. Jongin shook his head in response, gulping as Sehun leaned in again. The latter pulled Jongin’s eyelids open and instinctively he struggled against the odd feeling of having his eyeball exposed. Suddenly, a burst of hot air was blown into his eye and Jongin flew backwards landing on his back.

“What was that for?” he growled. Sehun frowned at Jongin’s angry eyes.

“Does your eye feel better?” Sehun mumbled. Jongin fluttered his eyelids and smiled.

“Yeah, it does. Thanks!” Sehun smiled, his face lighting up at the other’s gratitude. “Hey, you wunna dig with me, Sehun?” Sehun nodded quickly and plopped down onto his bottom picking up a twig. “Well, you can try and dig with that but I don’t think you’ll get anywhere.” Jongin laughed. Sehun frowned and looked around for another stick. “Hey, how about I show you how to dig with my stick and then we can share the stick?” Jongin asked cleverly.

“Really?” Sehun grinned and Jongin nodded vigorously. “Okay.” The smaller boy got closer as Jongin stuck his stick into the already made hole. “So you just stab it there?”

“Yeah.” Jongin looked up hoping to make eye contact with the younger boy, but every time he made an attempt the younger would look away. Jongin frowned. “Oh and my name is Jongin.” Sehun smiled.

“Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Jongin spun the stick in circles and Sehun’s eyes widen as he watched him make the circle wider. “Smart, huh?” Jongin gloated, making Sehun giggle and give a small nod. “Here you try.” Sehun reached his hand making a small noise of surprise when Jongin wrapped his hands around the younger’s, guiding his hands in circles.

"Even though we just met," Sehun pulled his hands away from the stick to put them in his lap shyly. "Can I ask you a question, Jongin-ssi?" Jongin's eyebrows knitted together in confusion at Sehun's sudden formalities.

"Yes, but don't be so formal. I'm really not the much older than you." Sehun nodded fidgeting under Jongin's soft gaze. Sehun felt compelled to scoot closer to the other boy, however, timidly, Sehun kept his spot.

Sehun cleared his throat, his mouth suddenly dry. "I-I was just w-wondering if maybe you know what...love is?" Sehun looked away a pink tinge spreading across his cheeks.

"Um, well..." Jongin stumbled to find the right answer and he could see Sehun biting his bottom lip nervously. "I guess, it's when..." Jongin trailed off still unsure of how to phrase the definition of love.

"Jongin-ah!" The called whipped his head around at the sound of his mother's voice. His mom stood with her hands on her hips and her feet shoulder-length apart.

"I've got to go, Sehun. Will you be back tomorrow?" Jongin asked, hoping that his new friend would be coming back the following day. Sehun frowned at the sudden loss of his friend.

"I don't know." Now, it was Jongin's turn to frown.

"Well, please come." He said sadness and dropped hope filling his voice. Sehun nodded and Jongin stood up and ran to his mom. Skidding to a stop Jongin turned around to face a Sehun who was now dusting himself off. "And, hey, Sehun-ah!" He called out to the younger and immediately he turned to face him. "Keep the stick!" Sehun smiled and picked it up off the ground.

"Thanks!" Sehun smiled, mimicking what the older had said to him before. Jongin was now out of sight and Sehun felt lonely. Approaching his mom he sighed and hid the stick behind his back knowing mom would never let him keep it. "Umma," Sehun came to a stop in front of his mom who was talking to the other moms loudly. Laughter filled the air and Sehun called her again. "Umma." His mom looked down smiling sweetly.

"What is it, hunnie?" His mom inquired moving her head down lower so she could hear Sehun's soft voice.

"I'm ready to go home." He mumbled sadly. His mom sat back in her seat and frowned.

"What happened to your friend, baby?"

"He went home, ma." She frowned and patted the spot on the bench next to her.

"Come here, sit with umma. We'll leave in five minutes, okay? And hunnie you can’t take that stick home with you, it’ll dirty up the house."

“What if I keep it on the back porch?” His mom seemed to take this under consideration before answering.

“Your friend gave it to you?” Sehun nodded quickly. “Okay, but you can’t bring it in the house, it has to stay on the back porch at all times, understand?” Sehun smiled, he was never so happy to be wrong about his mom. “If it comes in the house it goes in the trash, okay?” She asked firmly.

“Yes, umma!” Sehun shouted happily and his mom turned her attention back to her friends. The five minutes seemed to drag on slowly, like time had warped itself to last longer, not that Sehun would even begin to understand what "time warping" meant at the age of four. But sure enough, the five minutes were up and taking his mom's hand she waved to her friends, bowing to each other, followed by a Sehun who was little late on the uptake.

"Will we be coming back tomorrow, ma?" Sehun asked cutely, tilting his head up so he could see his mom's face.

"Maybe." Sehun frowned; 'maybe' almost always meant ‘no.’

A/N: Um, not too sure how well this turned out to be, but here it is. I'm a little stuck on the second chapter, I've started writing it, but it probably won't be up until the end of this coming week, or so.