[FIN][Yael] Boys Will Be Boys [Kaleth | Ko]

[MissMisnomer]

Boys Will Be Boys

Arm looped loosely over his head, Ko slept with his cheek buried into his dense pillow, curled up into a ball under the heavy comforters. It wasn't an especially comfy bed, but it was warm, and his alone to claim. Which might not have mattered much, occupying only one small corner of the large bed. But he was used to sharing things with his siblings for most of his life, so this was an entirely new experience for him. He hogged the blankets all to himself, and no one was there to stop him. It made for a weird, but very comfortable sleeping experience.

But no amount of snugness could keep him in dream land indefinitely, especially not when he heard movement in their room. Midnight bathroom wake up calls were nothing new to him, but all the same, he woke up a fraction. And then a light was lit, illuminating the inside of his eye lids. This hit the nail into the coffin, rousing Ko enough to open his eyes and squint sleepily at the real world.

Kaleth was sitting on his own bed, pulling on clothes and stuffing things into his pockets. He had boots on. Ko lifted his cheek off the pillow, blinking numbly. There didn't seem to be any light filtering through the slats of the window. It didn't feel like wake up call would be coming soon.

He rubbed a wrist against his eye, sitting up more. “Lights out was hours ago Kal…what are you doing up?” A yawn made his chest shake, pink tongue curling sleepily.

TheOnlyBlackUke

 

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

It had been several weeks since the start of the semester at Lurin, and while Kaleth was not what most would dub as friendly, he had still managed to gather a loose group of acquaintances that could have been called ‘friends.’ Confined spaces and forced repeated involvement with others sometimes had that effect, and he hadn’t fought it. Other boys could be useful for things from time to time, and if nothing else, it gave the occasional excuse for a break from the monotony of endless classes and training to do something ‘fun.’

That these particular breeds of fun were usually against the rules was another matter entirely. In Kaleth’s mind, that was part of what made it worth doing.

At this school, he hadn’t had such opportunity yet, but recently, the invitation had dropped: Jakov, Wesell, and a handful of others were going to break curfew for a midnight get together on the roof of the old training building. Alcohol was promised — they just needed help smuggling it up — and “girls” might even be there. Kaleth was not as wooed by that particular factor as he was sure they hoped or expected, but he’d seen no reason to clarify, and let them be excited.

He personally just liked the idea of getting out under the stars and enjoying a little stolen booze. Maybe there’d even be a fight. So, he’d agreed to come along, and laid in bed for some time that night after the last call for lights out, waiting in the quiet. It had very briefly occurred to him to mention something to Ko—but in the same breath he had decided against it. Ko seemed like a good boy, and Kaleth didn’t really think it would be his scene. Besides, the thought of putting alcohol in his system was — while undeniably amusing — fairly ridiculous.

There was also the thought that he was all but positive his other acquaintances wouldn’t have appreciated Ko’s presence. Even though he was (apparently) old enough to be here, he had a sort of mentality that — set him apart. Not that Kaleth cared as much about that part. His ‘friends’ could be irritated with Ko as much as they liked and that wasn’t his problem. But in this instance at least, Kaleth thought it best to let the boy sleep.

He wasn’t, however, especially careful about how much noise he made, and as though bidden by fate, the smaller boy began stirring as soon as he lit a lantern.

And then there came his groggy question, and Kaleth’s eyes moved that way again, just in time to watch him yawn like a baby perzi. Kal grunted. He glanced to the door, and then back. Should he lie? Did it matter? Eventually, he shrugged. “Going out,” he said. “Jak and Wes have booze. Go back to sleep.” Then, as his eyes roamed over Ko’s small, groggy form, amusement pulled at the corner of a lip, and quite against his better judgement of prior, he added: “Unless you wanna go meet some girls, I guess.”  

[MissMisnomer]

“You're going out?” Ko phrased the question more as a statement, in the middle of trying to gain consciousness fully, still processing information. They weren't allowed to go out of the dorms at night. And they especially were not supposed to be drinking alcohol. That was one of the big rules, up there with ‘no using magic on each other unless a teacher tells you to’.

“Aren't you worried you'll get caught? You could get in trouble, Kal,” he said, concern working its way into his tone. He was not one to hog people for himself, grateful for any companionship at all, and was glad that Kaleth had made some friends, despite his staunch distaste for it he'd made apparent on their first day together.

But he'd seen the crowd Kal liked to hang out with whenever Ko wasn't around, and while they were strong, and adventurous, and just downright cool, he couldn't say one hundred percent that he really liked those boys. They came across as rather rude and ill tempered from time to time.

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” he asked, sitting up completely and pushing the comforters off of him.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

“Uh huh.” Kal stood from his bed, stretching and watching the other boy as it processed, Ko clearly still pulling from the fuzziness of recent sleep. At the latter questions, though, he hummed, shrugging carelessly and moving for the door. “Not too worried. I’ve gotten in trouble before, but…not usually over this kind of thing. Adults make up the rules to try to keep you in line, but really, most of em have done all this s**t before. And the ones who haven’t are pansies.”

As to if it was a good idea or not, however…

“I think it’ll be fun. Maybe it being a bad idea is half of what makes it worth it. It’s not like it hurts anyone.” He paused by the door frame, glancing back again. Really, it would be better for Kal to leave him here. While he was used to toeing the line of trouble and dealing with the consequences, he didn’t suspect Ko was or that he needed any extra problems in his life, and he certainly shouldn’t pressure the boy. On the other hand, though, he didn’t especially ‘like’ anyone he was going out to mingle with—and while he had thought Ko annoying at first, he could very privately admit that the boy was growing on him.

It would be funny to see him attempt consuming alcohol.

“It’d probably be safer for you if you stayed here,” he said at length. “But I’m going, regardless, and if you wanna follow I’m not gonna fight you.” With that, he opened the door, moving to leave, and listening. Waiting.

Three, two, one…  

[MissMisnomer]

Ko twisted the comforters between his fists, biting his lip as Kal finished up getting ready to leave. Sometimes, he'd break rules. Quite often, really.

But he usually didn't actively mean to. It just kind of happened, because he'd make mistakes, or forget, or get too caught up in a moment to realize he was going against direct orders. He liked to think he was a well behaved boy. Adults could trust him to at least try to do what they said.

But…

He didn't want to be a wimpy pansy. Ko was adventurous, he liked going to new places and trying new things. He liked having fun. And maybe this particular brand of fun might be a bit different than what he usually enjoyed, and maybe it might be against the rules.

But if he didn't go, would Kal think he was too boring to at least try?

“Wait!” he hissed, something halfway between a shout and a whisper. “Hold on, I'm coming!”

Rolling out of bed, he pulled his nightshirt off, scrambling around to find some outdoor clothes to wear. Was it cold outside? Would it rain? Maybe? He couldn't exactly check, so warmer clothes were the best choice at hand. Sticking his feet into some boots, he quickly scrubbed his fingers through his hair in a valiant attempt to get his springy bedhead under control.

“Should I bring something?” he asked, kneeling in front of his chest of knick knacks as he rummaged. “Snacks? Maybe one of my instruments to play? Do they like music? Do you think someone else is going to bring something too, and I'll look silly for bringing mine too?” His hands slapped to his cheeks, looking up at Kaleth with a gasp. “Or will I look silly for bringing it in the first place!?”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Wait!

Kal didn’t quite manage to stifle a smile. Perhaps he should have felt bad. Poor Ko, getting wrapped up in needless trouble over his head with a gaggle of boys wherein probably only himself would even be pleased by his company. But the guilt was faint, and practically non-existent as compared to his own amusement. Maybe it’d be good for him, he reasoned. Stretch his baby wings, grow a little backbone and get some life experience under his belt. Kaleth could keep him safe, and make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble. Just a little drink and mischief never hurt anyone.

When Ko didn’t almost immediately make it out, however, Kal peeked back in and—squinted. First, no one really needed a mop of curls that cute, and though he had grown quite accustomed now to seeing the boy wake up and deal with his sleepy head-

He turned his gaze to the far wall, huffing softly. What could you possibly need to bri-? Came to mind, but before he could voice it, Ko was rolling forward with suggestions. At ‘snacks,’ he looked back. Then, instruments? Kaleth sighed, feeling free to roll his eyes, as Ko’s back was turned. When Ko looked to him, Kal shook his head.

“No instruments,” Kaleth advised. “We don’t want to make a great racket and draw any more attention to ourselves than we need to, we’re just going to be hanging out. Don’t think we need to bring food either, though…” His stomach, with all the interest of a healthy teenage boy, growled as if in cue, and he eyed the chest. “What are you even keeping in-?”

But then, remembering that there were those waiting on him, he shook his head again.

“We really should probably just leave.” You could bring one of your shiny pet rocks to show off to everyone, did flit through his mind with no small dose of sarcasm—but by now, Kaleth knew better than to invite a thing he wasn’t fully ready for Ko to take full throttle with blind enthusiasm, no matter how ridiculous. He decided to spare himself the additional explanation.  

[MissMisnomer]

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense! I should have thought of that, we're supposed to be sneaky after all.” Nodding along, Ko set the lid closed to his chest, but not before grabbing his bag full of nuts. It was small, and not heavy in the slightest. Kal had said no, but his stomach had said otherwise. It wouldn't hurt to bring it.

He looked over at his embroidered bag, nuts in hand as he lingered. It was something he usually brought with him everywhere. All the time. In case he got bored, or injured, or lost, or needed to mend something. It had all his supplies in it. But as he glanced over at Kaleth in the doorway, he shoved the nuts into his pocket instead, pattering over to him.

Kal wasn't bringing a bag. Ko probably didn't need one either. He should be able to take care of himself like an adult.

Exiting, he slotted the key into the mechanism, locking their door shut as quietly as he could. The hallways were dimly lit by only a few lanterns, saving as much oil as the academy could get away with. It gave the place an eerily quiet atmosphere, which lent itself quite nicely to the conspiratorial mood Ko was feeling right now. Like they were a pair of spies, going behind enemy lines to steal precious secrets.

“So where were we going to meet them? Is it still on the campus? Do they have a secret hiding place that no one knows about, with its own secret key or code to get in? Did they give you the code? Is it long, are there hand signals?” He whispered, getting caught up in the theatricality of it all.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

In the quiet din of night, while — for just a moment — there was no sound but for the clack of the lock, Kaleth felt a sort of peace in the calm: stillness, before whatever might ensue as the night progressed. Of course, there was also a thread of curious anticipation—for all that he was fairly sure they wouldn’t be caught, there was always risk involved in forbidden activity. And that made it exciting-

If not perhaps quite as exciting as Ko seemed to think of it as.

Kaleth opened his mouth at the first question, but after, found himself shutting it again instead, squinting forward into the dark as the boy beside him went on. And on. He began to walk, sighing with a slight shake of his head as they went. Only when he seemed quite finished did Kaleth bother attempting to get a word in edgewise.

“The old training building,” Kaleth grunted. It was being redone and made into classrooms now, but the adjustments seemed to be temporarily on hold, which left it largely unattended — and of course entirely so at night. Combined with its handy location at the edge of campus, and the flat, sturdy roof reinforced specifically to be usable as additional, open-air practice space, it made for a convenient place to roost for young delinquents. “After, anyway. First, I’m meeting them at the edge of the forest on the city’s side. Wes got the drinks but had to hide ‘em and he wanted help getting them up.”

Why between the two of them, Jakov and Wessel, they couldn’t manage a couple of crates was beyond Kal—but no matter. If they wanted to fuss over a little lifting he didn’t mind being part of the prep team. Wessel’s father apparently either owned or worked for (Kaleth wasn’t entirely clear) a local business in the trade of selling and receiving such shipments in, such that he knew just the time and had opportunity to ‘misplace’ a few stray crates of incoming stock and tuck them off for later pick up. Fortunately, it wasn’t even far, and the mid-point he’d hid them at was barely off-campus.

“No secret code,” he said as they made it finally out of the long dorm hall and to the open air. “No hand signals. Just meeting and carrying.”

The moon was full.

Kaleth noted it with an obscure prickle of anticipation as the hairs on the back of his neck stood, and he stepped out into the night, a grin playing at his lips while his glowing eyes surveyed the territory. Reaching, he scuffed a hand through Ko’s hair, and then glanced down, remembering with a look of interest at Ko’s pocket. “Oi, so did you bring food? I’m f—king starving, I think I could eat a quristine.”  

[MissMisnomer]

Ko’s eyes got round as saucers when Kaleth elaborated, practically vibrating with how stoked he was now. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small bag, opening it up as he handed it to Kal. “That’s so cool! It’ll be like pirates, digging up buried treasure! I’ve only ever been out to the woods alone at night once or twice, usually the twins catch me and tell somebody before I make it very far. So now I don’t really get to do that.”

He huffed, crossing his arms. “I just think they don’t want me to catch a Wimblenak before they do. Trystaan said he’d give his Keldari skin to whoever could bring him one, and they haven’t been able to catch one yet either. But that’s probably because Ezu is too dang loud when he breathes, especially when he gets impatient, and I bet Uzi could totally get one with me, but OF COURSE he doesn’t want to do it if Ezu isn’t there.”

He looked up at Kal, rolling his eyes as he frowned. “So you see how that’s a problem, right? Now no one gets the skin, which is dumb, because it’s really friggin cool.”

“But!” he chirped, brightening up as he rubbed his fingers together. “This will be a great chance to scope out the place for any Wimble nests! Maybe I can make some marks and come back later when there’s nobody around. You could come too if you like!”

His look grew sceptical, giving Kal a once over. “But how good are you at breathing? Because we can’t risk scaring them away. I’m actually pretty good at it, I’ve been practicing for a while now, you can barely even hear me!” With a smug little smirk, he gestured at himself, quite proud of his own accomplishments. “Trystaan says I’m the best he’s ever seen, I’m totally ready to hunt one down. I can do it for so long, it’s like I’m invisible. Here, I’ll show you!”

With that he shut his mouth, suddenly cloaked in silence as the chatter stopped. Breathing shallowly through his nose, he walked lightly on the balls of his feet, not making a single sound, save for the quiet paff as his shoes touched the ground.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

“Mm.” Taking the offered bag of snacks, Kaleth pinched in, selecting a handful to toss in his mouth as he lead the way. Pirates. The more he heard this kid talk, the more he wondered about his family make up. Who had put all these ideas into his head? At least this one was slightly more traditional adventure talk of a concept, but others — like wimblenaks — left Kaleth musing as to imagination and purpose.

At first, he’d thought him simply insane with far too much creative energy. A child who liked to assign random fantastical names to his whimsy and blurt out whatever tale first came to mind. And perhaps it had begun that way, who knew. But now he was convinced that some of them must have been crafted by his relatives with a purpose, maybe even inspired by his initial babbling. Either a mother trying to keep food out of her son’s sock drawer, or, in this case, an older brother attempting to achieve—what? He must have wanted something out of his younger brothers, if he’d promised them a treasure in exchange for ‘hunting’ down this nonsensical beast.

Loud breathing…

“Very problematic,” Kaleth agreed, chewing contentedly at a second handful of nuts. His eyes narrowed the barest fraction at the tree line as Ko mentioned making marks to come back to later, and he was tempted to open his mouth and clarify that Ko should actually probably just say and do almost nothing as soon as they were within sight of the other boys. But, as Ko continued, like the glow of a candle finally lit, the light came on and put ‘Trystaan’s’ true goal into perspective:

You can barely even hear me!

And, as if to fully bring home the point, Ko volunteered and proceeded to demonstrate, and Kaleth watched with interest, and then impressed fascination at the results. Pure, blissful quiet. From Ko.

“…ah huh…” he said at length, suddenly feeling a newfound respect for this ‘Trystaan’ boy. “Yeah, that’s…wow, really nice,” he said. “How long can you manage that for? Y’know…I think if you really wanna catch ‘em, you should keep it secret a bit longer, particularly around Jak and Wes. You don’t need to go making any marks yet, or talking about them. But uh…later, maybe? And if you wanna be real quiet together, we can be on the lookout on the way, and you can tell me after what you saw. Alright?”

From there, Kal proceeded to do exactly as he’d said: keeping his own mouth shut and focusing on the interplay of moonlight on forest leaves. Wessel’s pale lavender curls were the first notable dot of color that didn’t quite fit, and almost immediately after, there was encouraging hissing.

“Oi, Kaleth! Over here! Is that-?”

“Who the f— is- Thought you said it was gonna just be him?”

The mumbling of argument between the boys became clearer as they closed in, and Kaleth scanned their faces. Wessel looked mildly confused, but otherwise only as anxious as he might have expected for a boy about to attempt something they oughtn’t be up to—ready, but shifting his weight occasionally with the telltale signs of light nerves. Jakov looked mostly irritated and miffed. It was Jak who gestured with a gruff scowl towards the smaller boy now in their midst, repeating his earlier comment, this time directly to him: “Kal, who the f—k is your friend? We don’t need any extra trouble…”

“Roommate,” Kaleth corrected. “He woke up.” He shrugged. “It’s fine.”

Jakov looked, for one moment, like he was going to argue, but upon meeting Kaleth’s gaze — hard, and daring him to push it — he eventually chose to grimace and roll his eyes. “Well he’s here now,” he muttered, “so it better be fine…”

Kaleth rolled his shoulders and opened his mouth. “If I say it is-”

“Oi, guys,” Wes blurted, clearing his throat. “So it’s right over here, the extra hand might not hurt anyway. Since I didn’t know next when I’d get a chance, I took three crates, figured we’d have extras for next time and we can stow it away up there somewhere out of the way. No one’ll be up there, and it’ll be ready…” He stepped, boots cracking underbrush as he moved to uncover the spoken of crates of pilfered spirits from beneath a pile of loose vines. Standing beside it, he then glanced to Ko. “Wessel,” he said, gesturing to himself, “…and Jakov…” His fingers indicated Jak before his eyes moved to Kaleth. “Don’t…think we’ve actually met proper.”  

[MissMisnomer]

“Oh, you're right, I hadn't thought even thought of that!” Ko breathed, scratching his chin. “It wouldn't do any good to be letting the other boys know about the Wimblenaks, they'd probably make a mess of it and stomp all over their tracks. Wimbles are very shy creatures, I'd hate to think they might get hurt by people that are too rough with them.”

He nodded, resolving himself to the choice. “I'll let you know if I see anything promising, and I'll try to remember as best I can, it helps that the moon is out tonight.” With a thumbs up, he finished talking once again, making the walk to meet the others in silence.

As the trees grew denser, the dark grew fuller, moonlight having to fight its way through the canopy to reach the ground. Ko had to focus half as much on searching for signs of nesting, as obstacles underfoot. Even he was aware of how clumsy he could be when he wasn't paying attention. They didn't need to be making any noise by him falling on his face.

Though as the sound of other voices filtered through the night, he found himself thinking less of fantastical shadow creatures and more about what he was going to do when they finally met the other boys. He wasn't really friends with them after all, would they mind him being there? He hadn't been invited in the first place.

Glancing up at Kaleth, he set his shoulders back further, imitating his walk and facial expression. Had to make a good impression. If they thought Kal was worth asking along to the party, then Ko should try to emulate some of that as well.

He scowled, putting his hands in his pockets. This felt right. Maybe? He glanced up again.

Yeah, he must look tougher already!

Ko remained silent as the two bickered, rolling his shoulders when Kal did. As they introduced themselves, he shrugged, hands still shoved in his pockets. “H―”

His voice squeaked, coughing in his throat as he started again in a deeper voice. “Hey. Nice to meet you―not that I care or anything, I'm not here to make friends.”

He extended a hand, before pulling it back, cooly scratching the back of his head instead. “My name's Ko. And trouble is my middle name. The―the good kind of trouble anyways, the kind that's fun, not the one that gets you caught, or grounded, you know, where we do stupid stuff and then laugh about it later, because we're too cool to care about consequences or rules or―”

He shut his mouth, snapping two finger guns with a wink. “Yeah.”

Nailed it.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Kaleth wasn’t looking for it — just hoping to the gods that Ko would stay quiet — so at first, he didn’t notice exactly what the other boy was doing or how ‘odd’ his behavior was given his established character. Kal was satisfied that he hadn’t piped up immediately with something embarrassing, allowing his focus to begin mostly on Jakov, and after, Wessel at least fortunately seemed content enough to ignore the unexpectedness of his arrival in favor of making a brief introduction before-

Ko squeaked, and Kaleth looked down. And in that moment, for the first time since entering the edge of the trees, he really noticed Ko: his posture, his voice intonation, everything he was trying to present about himself.

Oh gods.

At, I’m not here to make friends… Kaleth shut his eyes, feeling second-hand embarrassment bloom hot in his cheeks. Those were his words. He knew they were. It had been one of the first things he had unfortunately barked at Ko when they met. Now, however, on Ko’s tongue, they made him want to bury himself in a hole, or disappear behind a tree and forget he had even come. Except, of course, it could get worse, and did, and no matter what ran through his mind, there was no actual stopping it. So, on it went.

And on.

And-

Yeah…

Kaleth opened one eye in the dark just in time to witness Ko’s finger motion, and he felt a pregnant pause in the air of a variety that he was entirely unused to. What had he done, bringing this child here? Finally, laughter broke the silence, sharp and not especially friendly. Jakov’s luminescent eyes moved between the two of them.

“This isn’t a joke?” he asked. “They’re really having you live with this kid?” Jakov was a broad boy. Not quite so built as Kal and a good two or three inches shorter, but still sizeable, with a squared off face only slightly softened by a layer of fat — not enough to make him overweight, but still notable in a way that mostly only added to his size and hid the sharper definitions of his muscle “No wonder you’re ticked all the time.” He moved for Ko. Kaleth tensed. Jakov’s fist bunched in the front of Ko’s shirt, holding tight and lifting not quite enough to pull him off his feet, but still plenty to make his presence strongly noted. “Listen here, mm? Ko Trouble Pissface. No one invited you…”

Kaleth’s teeth touched together, the desire to butt in warring with—what? Pride? What was he ashamed of? He didn’t owe anything to either of these boys. But—perhaps he still reasoned Ko could handle it. He had decided to come out here. So long as Jakov didn’t make any stupid moves, Kaleth didn’t need to baby him every step of the way. And it wasn’t worth it. Yet.

“Your roomie may not have thought it worth it to tell you to piss your little ant a** off…but now that you’re here—” As sharply as he’d lifted him, Jak dropped his grip, grinning none-too-kindly. “We’re all stuck with you. So you can either scurry on home like a good little pixie, or-” He batted a hand at Ko’s back—like one might a friend except, rougher. “You can stay out of our way and keep along, but either way…” He pursed his lips. “You’re gonna have to shut up a bit more, huh?”

“Ey…” Wessel’s interjection startled both of them, and he huffed. “Can we just get this all moving? Everyone else is gonna be heading up that way, we shouldn’t be too late…” His gaze moved from Ko, to Kal. “If you could just get one of these, Kal, then Jak you can get that one, and uh…” He glanced back to their unanticipated member. “You can help me carry this one, just try to keep it quiet at first, ya?”  

[MissMisnomer]

Ko was feeling good. He thought he had done a passable job of imitating the attitude Kal was so known for. Things might have gotten a little shaky in the middle there, but he rallied together at the end.

At least, he thought he had been doing well.

The silence that came after was less than reassuring, leaving Ko with an ominous lump in his gut. Perhaps that was not the best approach after all. And the laugh that followed was clearly not meant to be jovial or friendly, the kind that usually came with a certain number of mocking words.

Crap.

As the bulkier of the two, Jakov, came towards him, Ko took a step back, hands coming up defensively with a wince to block any punches that might have come with his aggressive attitude. But that was not the direction he was taking it, pulling Ko up by the front of his shirt while he spat insults in his face. It was tempting to correct him ― as Ko had indeed been invited along by Kaleth ― but it hardly seemed worth it, not when the large boy was so clearly disgusted by his presence here.

And perhaps Ko should not have accepted the invitation, he had sensed from the start that his company may not be wanted by this particular brand of teenagers. It wasn’t like he was unfamiliar with being left out of things, or turned away by older siblings that did not want their baby brother cramping their style. Their mother usually did a good job of dissuading fighting or bullying between them, but she had twelve children after all, some negative harassment was bound to happen behind the scenes sometimes.

He knew he was small, and unimpressive, and irritating. It should not have surprised him that just because Kal put up with him, others might not be quite as forgiving.

When Jak slapped his back, he hunched over further, sucking air between his teeth as he inhaled sharply. He hadn’t been gentle. He wasn’t trying to be. Ko nodded his head, stature visibly shrinking as his shoulders moved up to touch his floppy ears.

“Yeah, I’ll be quiet,” he mumbled, averting his eyes. “Sorry. I’ll try to not ruin your night.”

He moved over to stand awkwardly next to Wes, hand gripping his opposite arm as he waited for more directions.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Kaleth couldn’t define all the feelings that passed through him as he watched Jakov’s display with Ko: more irritation than was meritted, a persistent defensive instinct that didn’t make sense under the circumstances, and frustration with himself that none of this was enough for him to do anything, until after it was over anyway. When Jakov released Ko, Kaleth let out a stiff breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding—but it did nothing to erase the prickling itch under his skin, an odd desire to just punch the boy once held back only by a rigged trip wire.

But it didn’t make sense. He had already assured himself he wouldn’t let anyone hurt Ko if he brought him out here, and he hadn’t. Yet, somehow as Ko visibly wilted in on himself, Kaleth’s gut twisted with something staunchly akin to guilt, and he felt he had failed despite the boy not being hit.

He frowned as he moved to drag out his crate. But what was he supposed to have done? Shove Jakov off? Explain that all they had to do was all be quiet because the ‘wimblenaks’ were about? At the thought, the spear of regret at not having done something only seemed to intensify. He shook himself before hefting his load, attempting to shed the feeling. Ko had handled it well enough, right?

I’ll try not to ruin your night…

The stone in Kaleth’s gut didn’t budge, but was rather made all the more stubborn by the mental reminder that he had invited Ko out here. Granted, not initially, and he had tried to talk himself out of it even after the younger boy had awoken — but at that point he couldn’t deny he had ended up goading Ko lightly into it: because he liked Ko’s company, and had wanted to let him stretch his wings a little.

He ought to have done a better job of seeing to it that Ko’s night was not ruined, not the other way around. Even he had to admit he cared more about whether Ko had a good time than whether or not Jakov did. As they moved, he tried not to too obviously linger as Jakov headed off the way back so as to overhear whatever it was Wessel was saying to Ko as they brought up the rear.

“…an’ don’t mind Jakov so much, oi? He’s got a s**t temper…” Something in there was indecipherable over the crack of leaves beneath their boots, but then: “…don’t mind the help besides. These are pretty heavy, don’t you think?” And unlike Jakov’s voice prior, Wessel’s was genuine, and almost encouraging. “…must not have any siblings. I have a baby brother, and a little sis…can’t say I’d have taken ‘em out to somethin’ like we’re up to though…”

Kaleth felt a frustrated flush come unbidden. Somehow, in his own failure, it was falling to him to- But, Kaleth supposed, he ought to just be relieved that at least both of them were not intent on giving Ko a hard time, which would make things simpler going forward.

As they made it back onto campus, all was quiet—until just as they closed in on the back steps leading up to the roof, when the distant murmur of chatter could be audible coming from above. Some of their company-to-be had evidently already arrived.  

[MissMisnomer]

Walking awkwardly with the heavy crate nestled onto his fingers, Ko hoisted it along with Wessel, tottering behind the other two boys. He kept his tongue glued down to the bottom of his mouth and his teeth clamped together, watching the path ahead to make sure he didn't trip and drop the cargo. If anything broke, that would just be one more reason for them to hate him.

But it would seem the whole trip would not be kept in an uncomfortable silence, Wes lifting the heavy shroud with some lighthearted conversation. Ko glanced over, unsure if this pseudo apology was an invitation for him to speak. He didn't want to make any assumptions.

“Yeah,” he mumbled hesitantly. “These are pretty heavy. Must be all the glass inside…”

When no attack came, he glanced forward to look at Kaleth’s broad backside, then Jak’s, before speaking once again, with a bit more vibrancy in his voice. “I've got 11 older siblings, so I wouldn't really know. But they've snuck out to have fun with their friends before. I'm used to staying behind.”

As they got to the steps, he looked up, listening to the voices coming from above. “When you've got so many people in one house, you get pretty good at keeping things to yourself.” His eyes swiveled over to Wes, whispering earnestly. “If you want me to go back after we haul this up there, I will. I'm sorry for causing a scene. I know I'm not the most interesting person to be around, it's okay. I won't tell anyone what you guys did tonight.”

His cheeks did color a tad, looking down at his shoes. “I haven't really ever done anything like this before, I tend to get over excited about new things. Which can be a bit much…” He shifted his shoulders. “But, honestly, I would like to stay, if that would be alright…”