There’s hardly anything childish about being excited. Just because he’s supposed to seem professional and adult-ish doesn’t mean he’s going to, not if he doesn’t have to. It’s boring being an adult and having responsibilities, and sometimes tigers just make everything nice for a change. Tigers don’t actively try to kill him, or beat him.
Tigers are nicer than that. He thinks. Shinya’s also been staring at this picture of a white tiger for a little too long, a little too excited about the big cats. “Hmm? Yeah, I’ve got a few,” he says, shaking his head once to clear it. It’d be better to show Mika than to just admire the pictures, though, so with a slightly heavy heart he hands the boy his phone.
He’s pretty sure any pictures of things Mika shouldn’t see aren’t on his personal phone. Pretty sure. If anything, maybe the blond saw pictures of Mito and Guren, or any of his other classmates. Perhaps even a few of Shinoa showing off for attention. With a little time, Shinya’s bound to shove pictures of all his dear ones in Mika’s face, unfortunately, so he’d just have to wait for a proper explanation.
As soon as he hands the phone off, Shinya’s pulling his body up to sit cross-legged, tilting his head at his own drawing. Kureto’s eyebrows aren’t big enough, and he’s obligated to pay proper homage to his older brother with thick, dark strokes. “There are other pictures in there, other than tigers,” he hums. “Not that it’s the most exciting thing in the world, but we can look through those too, if you’d like.”
☆彡 It seemed like such a strange thing, to know and be close to so many people. The only person Mika had that he could even come close to calling a friend was Shinya, and they had only known each other for an hour or two at most. Still, it would be fun to look at the pictures. The boy was tempted to start scrolling through them right then.
But he had a mission: draw a tiger for Shinya. He settled down so he was lying on his stomach, propped up by an elbow, and set the phone down next to a clean sheet of paper before reaching for a black crayon to begin the outline.
He half listened to the elder, but most of his attention was focused on the picture. Tigers sure were pretty – he could see why Shinya liked them so much. Hopefully, it’d would turn out well. He’d spent enough time practicing the skill that he could draw decently, at the very least.
After a minute, he glanced back over at the elder’s paper, watching as the eyebrows grew more detail. “What are the other pictures of?” The question would have been better phrased as who, maybe. Either way, Mika was curious about the people that his babysitter spent time with.
