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Noah had been in elementary school for about a day when the other kids noticed that he didn’t have a father. They talked and they pointed and they made him feel sad all day, so he avoided them and chose to play by himself. Who needed those stupid kids? He didn’t like his father, he was scary, and he was better off without him. Why couldn’t they understand that?
It was about a month in the school year when he saw some really pretty shoes before him. He thought maybe a girl had come to talk to him, but girls smelled weird and he’d rather be alone than have cooties.
But it was a boy.
He said his name was Kurt, and that he thought that living with just one parent must be horrible; he couldn’t even imagine how sad he’d be if something happened to one of his, so he wasn’t going to laugh. It was stupid to laugh at someone else’s pain and he wasn’t stupid.
Noah soon learnt that Kurt was a cool guy, a bit girly, but cool. They had races on their bikes, sometimes Noah could agree to play one of those tea party games that Kurt liked, and sometimes Kurt would play Super Mario with him.
It was one night on their second year when they made the promise; they had a pajama party and stayed up all night watching Jurassic Park and eating cookies. It was a somewhat old movie, but Kurt had it and he had a nice TV set, so they watched it under blankets, time and time again, until they were too sleepy to really pay attention.
“You look like a T-Rex when you are angry, you know” Kurt said, just a few seconds from falling asleep.
“Maybe I’m part T-Rex. Maybe my father was one and he left before he ate us” he answered, shrugging.
“Are you part dinosaur then? But you are cuter than those in the movies” Kurt said, yawning.
“I’m a special kind of dinosaur then, maybe I am unique. Like… a Noahsaurus”
“But Noah is your name, not your species… you are a Puckerman, though, and your father was the dinosaur then you must be a Puckerm… no, a Puckasaurus!” Kurt said, laughing.
“Oh yeah, Puckasaurus-Rex. That sounds right! I like it!” Noah said, laughing with him. “And what kind of dino are you?”
“I’m not a dinosaur, I’m a princess” Kurt said, shrugging. “They have really pretty dresses, and parties, and they always find a nice prince at the end of the movie”
“But there aren’t movies about dinos and princesses, Kurt” Noah said with a pout.
“We can play together anyway. Maybe in the future there will be a movie about us” Kurt said with a smile.
“Yeah, that’d be nice” Noah said, yawning. “Promise me there will be a time when you will be a princess and I’ll be the dino, and we’ll be together”
“I promise” Kurt said, joining his pinkie with Noah.
They slept on the couch that day, under the blankets, dreaming about a world were Princesses and Dinosaurs could be friends. Maybe the dinosaur would be an enchanted prince and all he needed to turn human was the kiss from a princess in love or maybe the dinosaur would chase the pretty girl around a castle until the girl realized that the dinosaur didn’t want to eat her but to be petted.
Next year things changed too fast for them.
Kurt’s mom got sick and he missed school for a long time. Noah visited sometimes, but Kurt was always sad and angry. A few months later Kurt’s mom died and Noah didn’t know what to do to help his friend. He still remembered Kurt saying that living with just one parent must be horrible, and he didn’t want him to feel as alone as he had felt when his father left. He tried visiting him, but he was never at home and stopped attending to school for a while.
They fell apart.
Noah was always trying to get Kurt’s attention and Kurt was always trying to deal with stuff alone, because his dad had trouble enough already and he didn’t want to be a burden. Besides… he missed his mommy and he knew she wasn’t going to come back. He felt alone, and he’d rather be alone too if he was going to be feeling like that, besides... Noah had new friends by then, he didn’t need him. At least… that’s what it looked like.
They fell apart but they still remembered their friendship.
A bit before High School Puck started calling himself a Puckasaurus and Kurt a princess. It was meant as a taunt, but Kurt just couldn’t find it in himself to be angry about it. Sure, the word had other implications now, but the basic feeling behind the words was the same. Even if they were almost enemies by then, they were friends once. And, in their hearts, they still wanted to fulfill their promise.