[anne of green gables] left unsaid (arco iris, 5/?)
Title: Left Unsaid
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables
Characters: Shirley
Rating: G
Notes: My neglected bb Shirley. <3
Left Unsaid
Shirley first kisses a girl at the age of thirteen. Or, more accurately, she kisses him. They're loitering in the classroom - he had spilled the contents of his pencil box and was consequently gathering the varied school supplies and bits of paper (why had he never cleaned it out) and she is - he's not sure why she's still here, but it's not any of his business, so he doesn't ask.
"Shirley," she says.
He looks up and she's standing over him. She kneels to help him clean up. They stand at the same time and Shirley opens his mouth to croak out "Thank you" in a voice rusty from disuse when she leans in and pecks him on the mouth.
(Months later, he realizes that she had stayed behind and helped him clean just to kiss him and he consequently decides that he will never understand girls.)
He goes home feeling rather confused - what on earth is he going to say to her tomorrow? - and also as though he's passed over some threshold. He has been kissed. This is important, isn't it? He should tell Jem or Walter about this momentous occasion in his life, but somehow the idea lacks any sort of appeal. Then he thinks that he could ask Nan or Di what on earth the meaning of this is, but that too falls flat. Shirley doesn't doubt the wisdom or experience of his older siblings, nor does he doubt their earnestness - if they do tease, it will be good-natured and he can take it. But still, he cannot bring himself to broach the topic.
So he doesn't tell anyone, lets the milestone pass unobserved. It never occurs to him that he is keeping a secret. This is only one of many things he never tells anyone. Not for desire to be duplicitous, but simply because he has never had that sort of relationship with his family and it feels strange to start now.
~
The Russian Knight is the first four-engine plane to take flight and Shirley is fascinated. It can carry more weight than any other plane and passengers can even stand up during flight. He finds himself daydreaming - something he rarely does - throughout breakfast, lost in thoughts of flight.
The only one who notices is Rilla, because she has to knock his elbow to get him to pass her the butter.
Later, after Jem flicks the paper into the rubbish, Shirley retrieves it and clips the article out. Soon it's joined by photos of the Sopwith Tabloid and the Wright brothers' schematics. If anybody notices his new hobby, they don't mention it and he doesn't feel the need to bring it up. He sends off for books about aviation and tucks flight school brochures into the space between his bed and the wall.
(He'll finish Queen's and go to Redmond, of course. Likely he'll never see the inside of a plane. But it's a possibility.)
One alarming day, Jem stops in the doorway - from where Shirley's desk and plane-covered walls can be seen - and says, "You're interested in planes now, Shirl?"
For a moment Shirley considers telling Jem everything, his dreams and his plans, having one of those confidential conversations his siblings always seem to be having with each other. But somehow that feels like starting in the middle of a story, one where the beginning is so far back that catching up would take far longer than it's worth. (Ever practical, Shirley is.)
"A bit," he says.
"Hm," Jem says. He nods at one of the pictures. "Bit small, isn't it?"
Then he goes off whistling down the hall, and is gone before Shirley can begin to spill his soul, or even tell him that the plane can carry up to seven people.
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables
Characters: Shirley
Rating: G
Notes: My neglected bb Shirley. <3
Left Unsaid
Shirley first kisses a girl at the age of thirteen. Or, more accurately, she kisses him. They're loitering in the classroom - he had spilled the contents of his pencil box and was consequently gathering the varied school supplies and bits of paper (why had he never cleaned it out) and she is - he's not sure why she's still here, but it's not any of his business, so he doesn't ask.
"Shirley," she says.
He looks up and she's standing over him. She kneels to help him clean up. They stand at the same time and Shirley opens his mouth to croak out "Thank you" in a voice rusty from disuse when she leans in and pecks him on the mouth.
(Months later, he realizes that she had stayed behind and helped him clean just to kiss him and he consequently decides that he will never understand girls.)
He goes home feeling rather confused - what on earth is he going to say to her tomorrow? - and also as though he's passed over some threshold. He has been kissed. This is important, isn't it? He should tell Jem or Walter about this momentous occasion in his life, but somehow the idea lacks any sort of appeal. Then he thinks that he could ask Nan or Di what on earth the meaning of this is, but that too falls flat. Shirley doesn't doubt the wisdom or experience of his older siblings, nor does he doubt their earnestness - if they do tease, it will be good-natured and he can take it. But still, he cannot bring himself to broach the topic.
So he doesn't tell anyone, lets the milestone pass unobserved. It never occurs to him that he is keeping a secret. This is only one of many things he never tells anyone. Not for desire to be duplicitous, but simply because he has never had that sort of relationship with his family and it feels strange to start now.
~
The Russian Knight is the first four-engine plane to take flight and Shirley is fascinated. It can carry more weight than any other plane and passengers can even stand up during flight. He finds himself daydreaming - something he rarely does - throughout breakfast, lost in thoughts of flight.
The only one who notices is Rilla, because she has to knock his elbow to get him to pass her the butter.
Later, after Jem flicks the paper into the rubbish, Shirley retrieves it and clips the article out. Soon it's joined by photos of the Sopwith Tabloid and the Wright brothers' schematics. If anybody notices his new hobby, they don't mention it and he doesn't feel the need to bring it up. He sends off for books about aviation and tucks flight school brochures into the space between his bed and the wall.
(He'll finish Queen's and go to Redmond, of course. Likely he'll never see the inside of a plane. But it's a possibility.)
One alarming day, Jem stops in the doorway - from where Shirley's desk and plane-covered walls can be seen - and says, "You're interested in planes now, Shirl?"
For a moment Shirley considers telling Jem everything, his dreams and his plans, having one of those confidential conversations his siblings always seem to be having with each other. But somehow that feels like starting in the middle of a story, one where the beginning is so far back that catching up would take far longer than it's worth. (Ever practical, Shirley is.)
"A bit," he says.
"Hm," Jem says. He nods at one of the pictures. "Bit small, isn't it?"
Then he goes off whistling down the hall, and is gone before Shirley can begin to spill his soul, or even tell him that the plane can carry up to seven people.