Sign language.
It's how you communicate. You were born deaf and always wondered what things sounded like. You remember when you were little. Your parents put you in a normal school, but it didn't last long. You got bullied and were forced to leave the school. You don't understand why you got bullied, you were nice to him and even tried to be his friend. His name was Yuri. Yuri Plisetsky.
Although you can't hear, you can somewhat talk but people bullied you for trying to speak. You transferred to a new school for people like you. All your friends and teachers spoke in sign language. Which made you feel better about yourself. You recollect all these memories as you skip stones in a lake. I wondered what happened to Yuri. Sure he bullied you and made you feel horrible but for some reason you couldn't get mad at him.
You continue to skip stones watching it go. 1 skip, 2 skips, 3 skips, 4 skips, and it goes into the water. You finish skipping stones and walk into town. People selling different things on the streets. You look around seeing things. You walk to a stand where they sell jackets. One in particular caught your attention. It was silk jacket with kittens all over it. You thought it was cute and decided to get it. As you go to pay for it someone taps your shoulder. They were saying something. You turn around and see a blonde boy who looks upset. You stare at him and realize that he's your bully.
He looks at you and remember who you are. His mood immediately changes and he starts to stare back. Not knowing what to do you put the jacket back and run away. You run to the spot where you threw the stones and stare at the water. You start to throw rocks again until you see someone else's distorted reflection appear in the lake. You look to see Yuri. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just thought the jacket was nice and I wanted it. When I saw someone buying it I was ready to fight for it. I know you can't hear me right now but accept my apology. I learned some sign language since then."
He points at me, then points at himself, then joins his hands together and holds it close to his heart. You get flashbacks as that's what you did when you first tried to become friends. You look at him and wonder if it's the right thing to do. He treated you with no respect and made you feel worthless. Now he wants to become friends. You take your hand and put your hand to your forehead and bring it away from your meaning "I don't know." He seems to understand and puts his hand on his chest and moves it clockwise meaning "please."
Maybe he deserves a second chance. You touch your chest with your thumb saying "fine." He gets happy and points at himself then down the road. He wants me to follow him. We start to walk and we end up at our old school.
You start to recall the places he bullied you. You look at the playground remembering him pushing you off the swings. He walks over to them and pats his hand on the seat. You walk over and sit down nervously. He starts pushing you and you start going up. He continues until you go higher and higher. You feel so free, like all your worries are gone and you want keep swinging forever. You manage to turn back and look at him. He shoots you a smile as you go up again. Eventually, the fun stops and you drag your feet against the ground to stop yourself.
You get off then he points over to a sidewalk. You both walk over there and sit down. "I don't know enough sign language to talk to you so I'll just write everything out." He finds some chalk nearby and starts to write. You close your eyes wanting to see what he wrote when he is done. A couple minutes pass by and he taps your shoulder. You open them to reveal quite a lot written on there. "I'm sorry for all I have done to you. I was a real jerk and the only reason why I bullied you is that I thought you were pretty but I didn't know how to express myself to you since you're deaf. I was just angry at myself that I could never gather up the courage to confess but I hope you accept my apology and maybe my love."
Your eyes widen after reading it and you turn to him. You grab the chalk and start to draw and you watch him close his eyes. You draw you and him holding hands surrounded by a heart. With words underneath saying "I love you too Yuri." You tap him and he looks at your drawing and pulls you in for a hug. All the bad memories of the times when he bullied you mean nothing anymore and you start to laugh. He then looks at you with a shocked look on his face. "I never heard your laugh before. It's adorable." He grabs the chalk and writes "you have a cute laugh."
You two end up for hours writing to one another and almost taking up all of the space on the sidewalk. Since then you two would always write love letters to each other and go back to playground a lot. You always thought you needed a voice to be happy but words can do just as much and even more.
Sorry, I this is so late. I promised I would update and here it is. This was a request made by @xXAlice_TrancyXx. I decided to not make the reader a skater and changed things up a bit. This was inspired by the movie Koe No Katachi and as of now it's my favorite movie. Also thanks you all for reading and I hope you have a great day!
~エコー