They were wandering through Mudbloom. Well, wandering wasn't exactly the right word
more like trying not to look like shifty fucks but it was Mudbloom and he was sure there was some expression about 'When In Mudbloom.’ Probably. Definitely. It wasn't like it was the first time they had been, and it definitely wasn't like they were the only shifty-looking people walking the streets. Or maybe it was the dim light of twilight that was making everyone look shifty
or maybe I should just stop thinking things look shifty, that word's not a word any more. He and Ethan had ditched the second half of the school day to escape into the city proper, just to get a bit of a break from the same walls and hallways and corridors and...
He glanced back and caught Ethan in one of those weird gazes that he seemed to lapse into at the most random moments. Usually when Tallis was in the middle of saying something.
"Hey, Ethan, are you actually listening?" He threw over his shoulder, looking away before he could analyze the look too much.
He couldn't even really put a name or focus to the expression that was on Ethan's face when he caught him staring. He wasn't quite looking Tallis in the eye, but he wasn't looking through him either, and the usual scowl or frown was missing
if I hadn't seen it I'd think his face was stuck like that. It was quick to disappear, usually nanoseconds after he realised Tallis was looking at him, but not quite fast enough for it to go unnoticed.
"Yeah, obviously," Ethan retorted and Tallis rolled his eyes at how obvious the lie was.
"You're so full of shit."
"Bite me."
"Whatever, like I was saying, if we cut back via the beach and head up that hill, we'll miss the cameras," Tallis forged ahead, turning his attention back at the street they were walking down. Independent coffee shops and thrift stores that weren't quite as picked over as the ones on the main roads. He glanced in the window of one, looking at a leather jacket with a blue trim
would that go with the white shorts? Nah, maybe some black jeans but he moved on before he could have any serious thoughts about buying it. If he was meant to have it, it'd still be there the next time he passed by. Probably in a couple days. That was about as long as his attention span could focus on school. "Then we only have to worry about Creep's pervy snakes, and Mel said she'd give us a spell to hide us from them."
Ethan hummed in agreement, still a few steps ahead and Tallis chanced another glance back. He was looking in the same window
he better not be looking at my jacket and his expression was another one that Tallis wasn't used to seeing often. Thoughtful, almost. He got that look sometimes, usually when figuring out the exact blast-to-debris ratio of the nearest explosion he could cause, which filled Tallis with equal parts of excitement and nervousness
he better not be planning on blowing up my jacket.
"Yeah, that's..." Ethan tapered off, glancing in another shop window. "Heads up, keep looking forward. I think we're being followed."
"What? C'mon, that's not funny."
"Not trying to be funny. Tall dude, could lose some weight and..." He paused for just a second. "Yeah, cop badge hidden on his belt under his shirt. Might be a gun, too. I can't tell."
"Day-wear cops? What did we do to deserve this?" Tallis complained, only slightly embarassed by the hint of a whine that snuck into his voice.
"I'm not exactly popular around here, Tal, I'm surprised my face isn't plastered in all these windows with a big-ass warning underneath. 'Do not let this teenager enter, he keeps robbing us blind'," Ethan replied and Tallis glanced ahead for a quick getaway. Could there be a getaway? Ethan wasn't wearing his usual biker jacket and studded jeans
the weather's too warm for that much leather so maybe...
There.
Perfect."Look, I know this is a whole
thing for you, but we're desparate here," Tallis said, grabbing Ethan's arm and pulling him into an alley they were about to pass.
He gently pushed Ethan up against a wall and wrapped his arms around the taller boy's waist, covering his face in the nook of Ethan's shoulder and trying to will his heartbeat into slowing down
if he can feel that, I'm literally going to die. He could feel Ethan's muscles under his hands, his body broader than expected, all sturdy and solid under the plain t-shirt he was wearing, the skin he was pressing his face against softer than Tallis would have thought. It took a second of the taller boy standing almost comically still, but he felt Ethan pull him a bit closer into the hold, strong arms curling around his shoulders and the other boy's cheek pressing against his hair, face turned away from the entrance of the alley
no gel today, he can't mess up the style and Tallis almost laughed that he was focused on that of all things. They stood like that and Tallis could smell the hint of Ethan's bike on his skin, oil and grease and metal only barely hidden underneath whatever store-brand deodorant he was buying right now.
It was ridiculous, considering they were trying to hide from a cop, but Tallis couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sensation of safety.
"Are we clear?" He half-mumbled into Ethan's neck, just quiet enough for Ethan to hear.
There was a pause and he felt Ethan's head shift slightly.
"Yeah, he's gone." And there was a gruffness in Ethan's voice that wasn't there minutes ago. "We're good."
Ethan pulled away and Tallis adamantly refused to acknowledge the sudden rush of cold that filled the air around him, shoving his hands into his pockets and pulling his arms in close. He glanced up but didn't quite meet Ethan's eye, not wanting to see whatever expression the taller boy might be wearing.
"Thanks," he said, quietly, just in case Ethan didn't want to hear it.
"Claire would kill me if I let you get arrested," Ethan replied. Tallis looked up to see a grin plastered across Ethan's face, and couldn't hold back a sudden burst of laughter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He was sat on top of the gym, legs dangling over the edge of the roof and half-empty bottle of beer loosely gripped in his hand.
Getting up here had been easy. For the past few weeks, he'd been sneaking into the gym past curfew, sometimes with Claire or Ethan or Mel but mostly alone, and using the panels on the wall to figure out what the floor was made from. It was almost brilliant in both its complexity and simplicity
an adaptable nanoweave made out of trillions of individual pieces, this is some hardcore technology and well above whatever budget he might have guessed for the school. Turning the floor frictionless during his demo had been easy enough, but the more he poked around the system, the more he could do. It was self-replicating in case of damage, and siphoning off small sections of the floor to detach entirely didn't disconnect it from whatever it was keeping it on the network. Just dropping something made from the nanoweave would make it instantly assimilate back into the floor.
So before he let any of the others in on just what this could do, he made a bunch of hand-holds and climbed up to the roof, a crate of beer in a bag slung over his back.
The sun was dipping low on the horizon now, throwing orange lines over the sky and broken light glittering across the gentle waves. It was almost picturesque
goddamn Hallmark card material right here, take a fuckin' sip babes and his arms ached from the effort of carrying himself and just under four litres of booze up the deceptively high side of the building, but it was a good kind of ache. Muscle building, and sure, he might not ever be as bulky as Ethan or even Alistair, but he could be something other than the scrawny boy who ran from fights all that time ago. He lifted the bottle to his lips again, hesitating for just a second before drinking another big mouthful
ugh, bitter.
"You know, most people don't usually pull a face when drinking beer," Ethan's lazy drawl came, and Tallis jumped at the sound. There he was, climbing over the edge of the roof with more grace than Tallis thought he was capable of
sure, make it look easy, leather jacket absent but his ribbed vest flaunting every single muscle on his torso. If Tallis' gaze lingered for a second too long, well, booze did weird things to people.
"Most people probably don't sit on their school gym roof drinking warm beer," Tallis retorted before finishing the bottle and letting it drop behind him with a clang that felt disproportionately loud. "How'd you know I was up here?"
"Apart from the bright red t-shirt you're wearing?" Ethan answered with a hint of a grin. "Claire saw you sneaking out of the dorm when I was in detention, asked me to come find out what you were doing. Where'd you get the booze?"
"Mel magicked up a fake ID. I mean- the ID is real, even if the info on it isn't." Tallis pulled another bottle from his bag, then looked up at Ethan. "Want one?"
"Sure." He tossed the bottle to the taller boy, ignoring the fact that Ethan could somehow open the bottle without a bottle-opener
did super strength come with invulnerability or what?, and grabbed himself another one. The air fizzed as he uncapped it. "Tastes like shit. What, did you forget about the mini-fridge in our dorm?"
"Asshole," Tallis retorted with no heat whatsoever. He drank another mouthful of his own beer, and looked back at the ocean.
Obviously four beers wasn't enough to get him wasted, but he'd be lying if he said he a heavyweight. Hell, before coming to Termier, he could count on one hand the number of alcoholic drinks he'd drank. He wasn't saying Ethan was a bad influence, especially not when it was usually Claire that he ended up staying late, passing a bottle of vodka or wine back and forth, watching shitty shows on the TV provided in Claire's room or flicking through the latest fashion magazines they managed to pick up in the city. It was just, sometimes his friends, and Ethan more than the others, would give him this
look that he couldn't analyze and understand, didn't really know if he wanted to understand, and it was easier just to sink into intoxicated obliviousness. He was turning into a goddamn poet.
But then there were moments like this, where he could see Ethan without his guard up. No scowl, his shoulders relaxed, no trace of the guard that he usually put up in public. His dark hair was messy and his brown eyes almost black in the fading sunlight, looking at the same ocean that Tallis had climbed up to see, the orange hue casting shadows over his face.
It struck Tallis that Ethan looked beautiful in moments like this.
"So is there any reason why you're up here instead of getting tanked in some bar in the city?" Ethan asked, not hostile, necessarily. He was rolling the bottle in between his hands. "You've got a fake ID, and I'm pretty sure Miss Russel is gonna be pissed if she finds all the empties up here."
Tallis was quiet for a moment.
"Do you ever think it's weird?" He said finally, choosing his words carefully. "We're in this school for Powers and we're just... learning maths and science and shit, and it's
normal, it's school, it's whatever, but it's
not."
"Science and maths and shit are pretty normal, Tal."
"No, I mean, how many of the kids here could break the world? Or the teachers?" He was twisting his hands around the neck of the bottle, torn between finishing it and throwing it over the side. "Like, we're doing normal school things but nothing about this is normal. The last time so many Powers gathered, an entire city was wrecked, and someone signed off on us all just living here like it's no big deal."
There was another pause. Ethan drank another mouthful of beer, so Tallis followed suit, more for something to do with his hands than anything else.
"Look at this way," the taller boy said after a moment, sitting on the edge of the roof next to Tallis. "No one gets mad at me when I get pissed and punch a hole through a desk. No one asks Claire where she got a back-lit mirror. Alistair goes howling at the moon or whatever the fuck he's doing, and no one questions it. There's no manhunt or big conspiracy about the
safety of normal kids. You got a free period instead of sitting through computer class, right?"
"Yeah, but it's really boring without you guys around," Tallis complained, quietly and well aware of how whiny he sounded.
"Have a nap. Point is, sure, it's weird, but no one's having a go because we're not like
normal people," Ethan continued, finishing his bottle. "I've been kicked out of five different schools because I kept breaking stuff and couldn't explain it, so I'm on board with not getting expelled."
Tallis finished his own bottle, letting that one fall from the roof and on to the grassy verge below, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Ethan was right. It didn't do much to kill his underlying fear that one of the other students was going to snap some day and try killing them all, but it made him feel a bit better that at least they might actually be prepared for when it happened. Or the teachers would. If nothing else, he felt like he could fall back on his friends if things started getting too much again.
Without thinking, he let himself slump sideways, right into Ethan, and dropped his head so it was resting on the other boy's shoulder. It took a second, but then he felt Ethan shift and suddenly his arm was wrapped around Tallis' shoulders, strong muscles curled around him with more strength that he would have expected
almost protective.
"Thanks Ethan," Tallis said, his voice only just above a whisper.
Ethan hummed in response.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
See, now, this was exactly the danger that he was actively trying to avoid
for fuck's sake Ethan is there anyone in this city you haven't pissed off?"What did you do to these guys, Ethan?" Tallis demanded, ducking under the wildly swinging arm of one of their aggressors.
It
should have been another quick trip into Mudbloom on their free period to grab that jacket Tallis had been looking at a few weeks ago. Actually buy it, as well, not whatever bullshit snatch-and-grab Ethan had been planning. Instead, they'd rounded a corner and were met nearly face-to-face with four thugs in varying degrees of leather and denim, questionable haircuts at best, and Tallis was pretty sure he could see the glint of metal hanging on their waists
knives or studded belts, you decide. There had been a bit of back and forth between Ethan and the gang, but Tallis had mostly been trying not to wet himself so he missed the entire exchange.
"Messed up their bikes," Ethan grunted in response, taking a punch to the stomach but responding by pounding his fists on the guy's collarbones, sending him to the floor. "I needed parts for mine and they left theirs just standing around like idiots."
"You didn't think to just buy some? That thought never occurred to you? Not once?"
"Nah."
"Right, that's... whatever, are Mel and Claire coming?" Tallis asked, trying not to roll his eyes in the middle of a fist-fight. He leaned back again, moving his head
just out of range of the fist that came flying towards him, stepped in and grabbed the back of the guy's wrist. Ethan was stronger, so he didn't need to focus on anything fancy, but Tallis was still faster. He pulled the guy's arm over his shoulder and, using his hips and shoulder, flipped the guy over on to his back. Without waiting to see if he was getting back up or not, he turned back to the second guy who had now started circling him
people actually circle around in a fight, who knew?"Dunno, I pressed Mel's emergency get-me-the-fuck-out-of-here button, did she ever tell you what it was supposed to do?"
"I was hoping it'd get-us-the-fuck-out-of-here," Tallis deadpanned, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. "Oh great, and there's more of them."
Two more thugs in leather had rounded the corner, this time holding weapons
a knife and a pipe, that's just great, probably back up drawn by the sounds of the struggle. They were both rounding on Ethan, and Tallis was torn between relief that they weren't heading for him and horror that they were aiming for his friend. He almost didn't notice the third guy approach from behind, they managed to kick a bottle to announce their presence like an idiot
how many people are in this gang? Seriously? and he wasn't quite surrounded but there was nothing like a one-thirty degree angle with no means of escape.
The next couple of minutes were a bit of a blur as Tallis' two assailants decided to make the first move. He wasn't an expert at fighting, far from it, he preferred to run in the opposite direction when things looked like they were going south. He tucked his arms in where he could and threw punches from the shoulder like Coach had shown him, keeping his feet as firmly planted against the ground as he could as he tried to weave around the incoming strikes. A few grazed his face, throwing his balance for seconds at a time, and this would go nowhere fast if he couldn't hit something other then leather. He dodged back against a straight punch, saw the opening and threw as much strength as he could into a jab aimed at one guy's throat; it landed and the dude went down, gasping. He glanced between the other guy, and at Ethan just up the alley, debating ditching this fight for the other.
Before he could make a decision on whether to back Ethan up or not, he had to throw his arm up to parry a blow that sunk past his arm and knocked him sideways into a wall. He banged the side of his head against the brick and lights exploded in his vision, head suddenly fuzzy. He tried shaking it to clear his vision, and it worked just far enough to see the thug pull a dagger from his belt
not studded belts then and if Tallis had been scared before, he was fucking terrified now.
Brain scrambled and desperate, he launched himself from the wall in the hopes of catching the thug off-guard, only to be met with a harsh shove to the chest that threw him back. His shoulder hit the wall first, followed by the back of his head, knocking the oxygen from his lungs and setting off a fresh set of stars in his vision. He just about managed to register a smirk flash across the thug's face before he turned his head to try to see Ethan.
The expression on Ethan's face left him
gutted.
It was a mixture of concern and fury, something he could see even as his head was struggling to clear, and he could see the muslces under Ethan's shirt bulge. The taller boy produced a knife
where was he hiding that? and threw it at one of his own attackers. Even at such a close distance, it buried itself deep in the guy's arm as he turned, and he caught another with a right hook that knocked him sideways into a wall, and then to the ground. Somewhere along the line, probably while Tallis was trying to recover from his first blow to the head, one of the newcomers, the one with the knife, had ended up unconscious. The last of Ethan's gang swung the pipe at his head, but Ethan caught it in one hand, yanked it from his grip and smashed it into the guy's ribs
that sounded like it hurt with a sharp, vivid
crack.
Ethan turned, took a second to aim, and threw the pipe with more force than Tallis had seen before, flying like a bullet and hitting the guy second away from knifing him in the side of the head. He crumpled to the side, skidding a few feet, and Tallis looked at him long enough to make sure that he was still breathing
Jesus Christ, Ethan. Before he could really acknowledge what was happening, Ethan was already in his space and pulling him in close, arms wrapping around his shoulders tightly.
"Ethan, m'alright," Tallis mumbled into Ethan's shoulder, muffled, but he wrapped his own arms around the taller boy's waist anyway. It was a thing now, he guessed, this whole hugging thing that Ethan wanted to do. It wasn't often, and it was usually packed with more intensity than Tallis wanted to analyze, but he wasn't even remotely opposed to it. Ethan was sturdy, comforting in its own away, like being anchored or secured in place for a few seconds. He could feel his breathing settling, even if adrenaline was still sending odd spasms over his body, as Ethan rubbed circles on his back with his cheek pressed against the top of Tallis' head.
After a couple minutes of just breathing, Ethan pulled away but caught Tallis' face in his hand. He turned his head one way, then the other, eyes surprisingly critical.
"You're gonna have one hell of a black eye," he stated, very matter-of-fact. "Nothing broken? Didn't stab you, did they?"
"M'alright," Tallis repeated, feeling the sudden cold from Ethan stepping away. "My shoulder's sore as hell and my head hurts, but nothing else."
"Right," Ethan said, nodding once. "We should get back before the girls start worrying too much."
"Yeah," Tallis agreed, ready to be anywhere but in an alley full of unconscious people
cops'd have a field day if they knew what happened. The taller boy turned and started walking away, his arms held loosely by his sides, and he was struck by an urge to just reach out and take Ethan's hand, to feel that closeness and security that was coming with Ethan's contact. He didn't, not wanting to break the tentative status quo that they'd established, and definitely not wanting to do something that would spook Ethan into running away. He followed instead, a couple of steps behind.
"Hey, thanks for not letting them... y'know, brain me or whatever."
Ethan snorted. "I told you, Claire would kill me if I let anything happen to you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There were days that were worse than others.
It wasn't that often. Most of the time, everything was completely fine, in fact. It was business as usual. School. Class. Free time. Throwing his pencils at the back of Ethan's head while Mel rolled her eyes and Claire tried to stop herself from grinning. Sitting with Claire in the auditorium and debating whether Ty's shirt was clashing with his socks. Mel trying out new outfits for Claire and Tallis while Ethan pointedly looked away, and Claire constantly finding something wrong. The hemline. The neckline. The fit around the hips. The shoulders were too loose, the sleeves too baggy. Tallis sitting up late that night to sew them into something more flattering.
They didn't share a bed, even though they shared a room. At night, Tallis would lie in his own bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the quiet breaths coming from the other side of the room, matching his own to that soft rhythm. It was soothing, in its own way, calming down his thoughts and relaxing his body, more often than not lulling him into his own sleep.
A part of him wondered. What would happen if they shared a bed? Since moving to Terminer, since he had his own bed and not a worn-out old mattress on the floor, springs jabbing at him if he rolled the wrong way, he had gotten used to suddenly having space and covers and a pillow. Would Ethan disrupt that? Would he steal the duvet or take up so much space that Tallis was nearly falling out? Or would it be the other way round? Would he be able to settle with someone else occupying a space that he was so used to having to himself? Not that it really mattered at the moment, since Ethan only hugged him when something was going on.
He was letting his imagination run away again. For all he knew, it could just be here, in this school, that Ethan felt comfortable enough to be physically affectionate.
"It's only you, you know," Claire said, one night when she was sat with him trying to carve a turtleneck into something less shapeless.
"What's only me?" He had asked, puzzled, as he threaded the needle on the sewing machine again.
"Ethan. He isn't hugging me or Mel," Claire replied, brushing some hair from her face. "Mel asked him about it, and he brushed her off by throwing his dessert at the back of Garth's head."
Tallis remembered that part. Ice cream, in a little cardboard up, and it had stuck to the back of the dweeb's head for a few seconds before Alistair had oh-so-gallantly removed it. He grinned at the memory, switching to a pair of scissors to try to pull the shape of the fabric back in again.
"Tallis," Claire said, a bit more stern than Tallis thought was completely necessary.
"What?"
"I'm just saying, he isn't being this affectionate around anyone else," she stated, flipping open her mirror, a gaudy little thing covered in fake gemstones. She hated that mirror's design, from the bright pink stones to the awkward smile it was trying to emulate. "Ethan's not really a touchy-feely guy. This puppy-dog thing you're doing, all this pining, isn't really the most attractive quality in you."
"I'm not pining," Tallis retorted indignantly, huffing out a breath. He pressed the pedal on the sewing machine down just that little bit too hard, sending the material shooting off to God-knows-where and essentially giving him a solid five minutes of having to fix it. "Shit."
Claire laughed.
But then there were some days, that stretched into nights, into the following day, that he couldn't shake the feeling of
wrongness that was oozing into him.
They happened like this: he wouldn't drag himself out of bed in the morning for registration. He'd lie in bed, eyes open and staring at the ceiling but unfocused, not really seeing what was in front of him. If he was lucky, it wouldn't last for that long, but he had never been a particularly lucky person. He heard Ethan sit up, stretch, bones cracking, the soft thud of his feet hitting the floor as he padded over to their bathroom. They were sounds, distant in his ear but echoing around his head, getting louder and louder until he pulled his pillow over his head, trying to block out the
noise noise noise and the light and the entire world.
Some days, he might get out of bed. Some days, he didn't, just lay there, staring up as the school bell rang out. The days that he did, it was never to do anything. He'd stare out the window, stare at the small TV in the room, sit in front of the sewing machine and stare at that, feeling like he was supposed to be
doing something but not able to muster the energy to actually
do it. He didn't leave their dorm, and escaped into the bathroom if anyone stopped by to see him. Sometimes they did, Claire or Mel, sometimes Alistair, doing what they could to hide the concern on their faces because he hated it,
hated it, but couldn't do anything to stop it. They never lingered for long, ten minutes at most, leaving when it was clear that he wasn't coming back out. He would wait a few more minutes, just in case, then take a deep breath before stepping back into the room.
He would always be back in bed before Ethan got back, back to the door and lights on dim, as if that would actually trick the other boy into thinking he was asleep. Ethan might say hi, and Tallis would grunt back just to confirm that he hadn't died, but more often than not, it was just the sounds of him shuffling about, pen scratching paper as he mangled his homework, or the sounds of the games console firing up and whatever game he had chosen to play that night. Sometimes Tallis would roll over to watch, to try to anchor himself back into reality, but it never worked and he didn't keep watching for long. The images would flash in his brain, objectively he could see what they were, but it was taking too long to process what was happening. It was like someone had submerged his brain in ice, numbing and slowing and
cold.
There was always a bad nights sleep. Despite the lack of energy and how blank his mind had been alway, it came awake as soon as the lights went out. It wouldn't settle,
he couldn't settle, tossing in his bed as images flashed in his head for seconds at a time. He did what he could to suppress them, to ignore them, to try to take himself somewhere else, a safer place, but every time he tried, something else would flash and he would roll over to try to dispel it. Hours would pass, and he could feel the energy draining out his body like he had sprung a leak, no longer able to physically try to fight his brain and having to lie there.
If he did sleep, and he usually did, it was never for long. Every time his brain finally exhausted itself, his dreams would be warped and twisted
teeth and blood and bruises and worse than any reality he had faced
the cane striking his back and sending him to the floor, hitting his legs, his ribs, his face and he would jerk awake, panting, some small part of him grateful that he wasn't screaming. Every time, he would try to calm his breathing, to listen out and make sure that Ethan hadn't woken up. There was no other sound, apart from the gentle inhale and exhale of the other boy. He would shake his head and lie down again, ready to repeat the last few hours, tossing and turning until he drifted off again, only to be woken up again
his stomach is growling but there's only dog food, something stabbing his side and piercing through his ribs, a face contorted and twisted with fangs and black eyes and wild white hair.
He jerked awake again, but this time his body was locked in place and panic flooded his system. He could already feel his breathing speeding up, not enough air in the room, his lungs desperately trying to take in what they could, until something shifted behind him and arms tightened around his chest. Out of instinct, his hands snapped to the arms and gripped tight, feeling muscle under the skin. Suddenly there was a vacant space behind him, a soft
thud of feet hitting the ground, and he sat bolt upright, squinting in the dark to see who it was.
"Hey," Ethan's voice came softly, much softer than Tallis was used to, and he focused on the other boy's face as his eyes adjusted to the dark. Ethan's eyes were half-closed in the way that could only come about from being suddenly pulled from sleep. "You kept moving around. I couldn't wake you."
"Sorry. Had a nightmare," Tallis replied, looking away, even though there was no way Ethan would be able to see his embarassment.
"I figured. You calmed down a bit when I sat on your bed," Ethan continued, stretching his arms. "I guess I fell asleep. Sorry about that."
"No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it."
They sat in silence for a moment, Tallis staring at the end of his bed and trying not to shrink under Ethan's gaze. It wasn't the usual look, scowling or frowning or otherwise trying to give himself as many premature wrinkles as possible. It was almost blank, expect for the dregs of sleep still visible. Quiet, patient even. He wanted to squirm under the look, wanted Ethan to look somewhere else, hated the reminder that his friends looked at him like a small, fragile boy that needed to handled with kid's gloves.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ethan offered.
No, he didn't, really. He wanted to crawl back under his covers, pull them over his head and block out the world and pretend that his nightmares were just that, nightmares that had no basis in reality, that they were someone else's life, that they didn't send him into a panic and make his chest tight and hard to breathe. It was selfish, he knew, to wish that the abuse he had suffered had happened to someone else, but he couldn't help it.
Even so, he scooted himself a bit further across the bed to make room. Ethan sat down, tentatively, right on the edge. He was still looking at Tallis with that same expression, but he didn't say anything.
Tallis took a deep breath.
"My mother," he started, but stopped straight away, not sure how to put his thoughts into words. He tried again. "She wasn't... mother of the year."
And it was like the floodgates had been opened, he told Ethan everything. About how she used to beat him with her cane when he'd done something wrong, like burned dinner or missed something that needed washing, or because he was breathing too loud. Told him about how he slept on a beat-up old mattress that had springs poking out that would jab at him, and then eventually on a nest of old jackets and coats that his mother had gotten bored of. Told him about the dog, nearly as big as he was, how it would pin him to the ground for fun, about the time it had nearly killed him and the real reason he had so many scars on his body, around his neck. About how he had taken himself to the emergency room, and someone had finally asked him, "Who did this to you?" and he had said, crying and barely able to make sounds, finally admitting out loud, that it had been his mother.
He spoke about how he spent time in the foster system, passed from family to family, people who didn't want some teenage kid who flinched when someone entered the room, about how he ducked out of one home and made his way to the streets instead. Stealing for food, trying to wash in puddles, sleeping in unlocked cars, but at least no one was looking at him with pity, how he hated the way people looked at him like he would break at the smallest provocation. He could feel his voice cracking, but refused to stop talking, not now that he had started, could feel the tears in the corners of his eyes and did nothing to stop him. Somewhere during his monologue, Ethan had shifted to wrap an arm around his shoulders, strong and sturdy like he always was, and Tallis knew he was leaning into him but didn't try to stop himself. When he finally finished, Ethan pulled him closer to his chest and wrapped both arms around him, holding tight. He broke, tears flowing and shoulders shaking, and Ethan didn't say anything, just held him close and gently rubbed his back.
He wasn't sure how long they sat like that. All he knew was that he felt like he had cried every tear he had in his body, drained himself of all that emotion that he knew had been building for years, and he didn't feel any better for it. He'd stopped shaking, but Ethan was still holding him, his cheek pressed to the top of Tallis' head.
"Hey," Ethan said quietly, lifting his head. "We don't think you're fragile."
He was about to argue, but Ethan disengaged the hug to hold up a hand.
"Listen, I mean it. We knew there was something going on before you came here, but it's your business and we weren't gonna ask until you were ready to bring it up yourself," he continued. "Your mom was shitty, and you had a shitty upbringing because of that bitch, but it doesn't make you any less. You're still here, with us. That's what matters."
Tallis felt his whole body sag again, some bizarre mixture of relief and exhaustion, and Ethan pulled him back into the hug. Ethan might not have been great with using his words, but somehow he had managed to say exactly the right thing. He could feel a fresh wave of tears threatening to burst, but he scrunched his eyes shut, refusing to let them spill. He had already shed enough tears over his past and, in this moment, he wasn't ready or willing to cry any more. Not over her, not over what had happened.
"So, this might be a bad time to bring this up," Ethan started, but there was a definite element of hesitation in his voice. He was speaking slowly, either trying to choose his words or not wanting to rush them out or... "But Claire won't leave me alone about it.
'If you don't tell him, then I'll have to, and it will be awkward and embarassing for everyone'."
Tallis laughed at the not-at-all accurate impersonation. It was a shaky laugh, but it felt better than anything had in days.
"Basically... I like you, Tal," Ethan continued, and even though it was a cliche, Tallis felt his heart skip a bit. "And yes, I mean in
that way, not some bullshit friend speech. And I get this is probably a bad time but Claire literally
would not leave me alone about it, so-"
With more effort than he cared to admit, Tallis squirmed out of the taller boy's arms, but not away from him, and levelled his gaze so he was looking in Ethan's eyes. In what was becoming a trend, he was looking at an expression that he had never seen before. Nervous. Apprehensive. Hell, a little scared. He place his hand on the side of Ethan's neck, and leant forward to press his lips against the other boy's.
See, Tallis liked kissing. He wasn't about to say he was an expert or anything, but he liked it, liked the way it made him feel and set his nerves on edge. He felt Ethan's sharp intake of breath from how close their bodies are to each other, and some distant part of his brain was telling him that this should be gross, both barely awake and definitely with morning breath
middle-of-the-night-breath? but Ethan's lips were soft and warm against his and he could feel himself melting into it.
When they broke apart, Ethan was looking at him through half-closed eyes but a goofy smile on his face. He didn't doubt for a second that he was wearing a matching expression, his heart thumping in his chest hard enough that he was surprised the other boy didn't comment on it. He wrapped himself back around Ethan, burying his face in the crook of his neck, just taking the moment to hold him, to be held, and feel safe.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The club was loud, and dark, strobe lights flashing through the area for seconds at a time and illuminating the fog that was being pumped through the dance floor. Dance music pulsed through the air, making the floor vibrate and walls pound, glow-sticks flashing in his vision as the crowd moved along to the rhythm with varying degrees of success
who taught these people how to dance, seriously?. The actual floor was surprisingly clean, despite the less-than-sober inhabitants, but the bins at regular intervals were rapidly approaching overflowing with empty bottles and plastic cups and cans.
Tallis nudged Claire's shoulder and pointed towards the middle of the crowd, where a girl in a horrendous combination of patterns was 'dancing' to a song no one else could hear. She leaned in to be heard over the music.
"Spots and stripes, a classic combination, truly," she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm, and he laughed in response. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ethan glance in his direction before taking a big swig of the red-and-white can in his hand.
Really, he wasn't entirely sure how they had ended up in this situation. Well, no, that was a lie, he knew exactly how they were here. Ignoring the obvious, they had taken a taxi to the club, he thumbed the edge of the fake ID in his pocket that supposedly aged him up by four years
as if anyone would actually believe I look twenty-one.
Coach had pulled a bunch of them, not just Tallis and his friends, to one side a couple of months ago and handed the IDs out, levelling them with as stern a gaze as he could manage and telling them all
school is hard, I get that, so you can use these to blow off some steam, but you do not under any circumstance go anywhere without another student and without a member of faculty present.
It was like he didn't know that Mel had already magicked up some fake IDs for them all.
The party scene in Mudbloom wasn't exactly the most inventive, not compared to the likes of Shoheki-cho, but it sure as hell beat videogames until two in the morning on a Friday night. So far, Coach had been the only teacher to accompany any of them into the city, and Tallis was fairly certain that was one of the main reasons that none of them had been refused entry. A small, vague part of him wondered how he had managed to get convincing fake IDs, better than Mel's even, but another, much more rational part told him that magic could do all sorts of bullshit that he didn't understand.
So, once again, they were in The Studio
this place looks nothing like a studio, Claire and Mel already making moves towards the dance floor, Coach supervising from the bar, and Alistair, Ethan and himself sort of stood off to the side, debating what to do with themselves this early in the night. He was tempted to go buy shots, but every time he had tried in the past, Coach had shot him this stern, sort-of-disapproving look and he would chicken out and get a beer instead. Even though he didn't really like beer. And he'd been drinking alcopops all night. Even the bartender would look at him weird, and he'd spout off some half-cocked reason of wanting to cut his sugar intake before retreating to a safe distance.
Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. He glanced off in Coach's direction and saw him taking to some dude who clearly liked blue too much
blue hair, blue shirt, blue sneakers, what's this guy so sad about? and slipped into an open space at the bar, making a point of not glancing down the line to see if Coach had noticed him. The transaction was thankfully short and he returned to Alistair and Ethan, trying to juggle the three shots between two hands. Alistair gave him a weird look on his return, one eyebrow raised, but Tallis just shrugged him off and handed him his drink.
"What did you get?" Ethan asked.
"Sambuca," Tallis replied prompting Ethan pulled a face. "What? You know I hate vodka."
The three of them downed their shots anyway. It burned his throat and left a sickly-sweet aftertaste in his mouth
still better than vodka. Out of nowhere, Claire appeared and grabbed Alistair's hand, dragging him with her to the dance floor and leaving Ethan and Tallis stood there. He wasn't entirely sure when Alistair had started joining them on their Friday night excursions, especially when he had his own group of nerds to hang out with, but he wasn't offending anyone and no one had died yet so it wasn't like it was a huge issue. Just another thing add to his
how did my life turn out this weird list.
He considered Ethan for a minute, glancing sideways at the taller boy, wearing his usual leather jacket and dark jeans even though it was way too warm for that kind of heavy clothing.
They'd fallen into a routine of sorts. Privacy wasn't really an issue for them, since they shared a dorm room and there was a lock on the door. In fact, a lot of the time, it was business as usual. They were in a lot of the same classes. Not every class, but enough that their school days mostly finished at the same time. They'd grab lunch with Mel and Claire, then head back to the dorm. Sometimes they did homework, but more often than not they'd just boot up whatever game they'd been playing last and have a couple of hours on that. Claire might come over with a new design she needed help with, or Mel would come round to bitch out whoever had annoyed her that day. Even Alistair had taken to dropping in from time to time, though he didn't usually linger for long.
Sometimes, though, they'd race back to the dorm and both of them would fall into the same bed, Tallis curled up against Ethan's side and Ethan's arm wrapped around him, tracing shapes into his back. They'd talk about their days, or plans for the weekend, Tallis might bitch about what Ty had chosen to wear or Ethan would complain about another crazy-long essay they had to write, and always end in a comfortable silence, Tallis just listening to the slow, even breaths, the rise and fall of Ethan's chest as they teetered too-close to sleep, even though neither of them had locked the door. They might kiss lazily, but he knew that they weren't ready to take it further yet.
It wasn't that they were keeping the thing between them a secret. Not really. It was just that it was
their thing, and they weren't ready for the rest of the world to get involved in it yet.
And then Ethan elbowed him in the ribs.
"Dude, stop spacing out," he said over the pounding of the music.
"Sorry, a lot on my mind," Tallis replied, rolling his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, watching the crowd on the dance floor and catches glimpses of their friends, Mel's purple hair or Evelyn's blue top, just for seconds at a time
surprised they haven't come over to drag us in yet. Tallis didn't hate dancing, it was a good way to lose himself for a bit, but Ethan didn't look nearly as into it most of the time.
Not that he was- Ethan was hot, and it was distracting sometimes.
Another nudge to his side, less forceful this time, and Tallis looked at the taller boy. Ethan was inclining his head towards a staff-only exit that they both knew was there, behind the crowd, and a quick way to get into the neighbouring alleyway. He nodded in response, and following Ethan through the crowd, once again feeling grateful that Ethan's bulk made it easy both to part the crowd and to follow him through it
if the school thing doesn't pan out, he could part-time as a battering ram. It wasn't even alarmed, just the standard fire-escape-style bar that made it impossible to get back through, but Tallis slipped a small wedge of wood in the corner so it didn't shut completely.
The alley was narrow, not even wide enough to fit a dumpster
guess they throw the trash out back, mostly used for when an employee needed a quick cigarette and one of the better places for a bit of privacy. As soon as the door swung closed, the wooden wedge splintering a bit under the weight, Ethan pressed Tallis up against the wall, hands on his hips, ducking down to kiss him.
It wasn't the first time they had snuck off from their friends, but Tallis was still surprised every time. They had as much privacy as they needed in the dorm room, but there were times when they were out and surrounded by people and he was caught up in this sudden urge just to be close to Ethan, not even necessarily doing what they were doing now, but just physically closer. Normally he might just step a bit closer so their arms would barely touch, or maybe sprawl across a couch so his legs were on top of Ethan's, something he knew could be ignored. It went both ways, he knew, from when Ethan would sling an arm over his shoulders briefly or lean closer to pretend to be reading something in the same book.
This was different, though, from the way Ethan's kisses were insistent, tongue slipping through parted lips and the way his fingers were pressing into the bones of Tallis' hips. His hands worked their way under Tallis' shirt, still staying above the waist but burning where they touched. Maybe it was the alcohol in their systems that was making them so reckless, but Tallis snaked his arms around Ethan's neck and pulled him closer so that their chests were nearly pressed together. The taller boy moved his head lower, kissing Tallis' neck in a way that he was
sure would leave a mark behind, and a smaller part of his brain was telling him to stop Ethan, but his body was arching up and his head dropping to the side to allow easier access. He was already half-hard, something that might have embarassed him if what Ethan wasn't doing didn't feel so good.
Then Ethan suddenly stiffened in his arms and made to move away, just seconds before the door swung open
Jesus Christ how did he hear that and Tallis quickly judged the space between them. Probably just enough space that no one would get suspicious, provided they weren't looking too closely at his untucked shirt. Alistair's head popped around the edge of the door, brown hair dampened by sweat but otherwise looking happy. His expression changed to a frown as soon as he saw the pair.
"Yo, you guys alright out here?" He asked, the frown disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. He stepped out to join them properly, and Tallis quickly glanced at the wedge to make sure they weren't locked out.
"Yeah, just needed some fresh air, lotta people in there," Ethan replied smoothly, which was good because Tallis didn't think he could trust his voice just yet. "Tal, you want another drink?"
He nodded, not quite looking up to meet anyone's gaze, but he saw Ethan nod back out of the corner of his eye and disappear back inside. Then he waited for Alistair to say something.
When it was clear Alistair had no intention of starting the conversation, he groaned out, "Don't say it."
"Dude, I didn't need to say anything," Alistair replied, and Tallis looked up to see a shit-eating grin. "You're lucky it was me who came out to find you, Claire would lose her shit if she found out you were keeping this from her."
Alistair was the only one who knew about this thing between him and Ethan. It was sort-of random, both how he found out and how their friendship had developed. Half a year ago, he would have
and did, actually pegged Alistair as a do-gooder who had made it his personal mission to befriend all the weird, socially-awkward, loser kids of the school, and he wasn't exactly doing a lot to disprove that theory given the way he'd successfully managed to win over Garth, Almudena and Ty on their first day. He was showing all the classic signs of the 'Jock With A Heart Of Gold'
is that the term? Whatever and Tallis and his friends didn't really care much either way about the rest of the students.
He'd been in the library one afternoon - he had an English assignment that he'd been putting off, Mel and Claire were off doing God-knows-what, and Ethan had landed himself in detention for the third time that week, leaving Tallis on his own with two books he hadn't even skim-read and a mostly blank sheet of paper in front of him. Sure, he probably could have just used a laptop to make his essay write itself, but the last time he'd done that he'd gotten distracted and instead of an essay about the rise of the Nazi regime, he submitted twenty pages of meaningless code
meaningless on a laptop at any rate and had to re-do the entire thing.
Alistair had walked into the library somewhere between him re-writing the title for the millionth time and trying to figure out if he'd started too many sentences with the same word. They'd nodded to each other, courtesy more than anything else since apart from them, Ty was the only other one there, then Alistair had set himself up a few tables away and pulled out his own way-too-big textbooks.
He must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing he knew, he was being woken up to the smell of too-strong coffee. He sat up and stretched, feeling an all-too-familiar crick in his neck from sleeping at an awkward angle, and rubbed some sleep from his eyes. Across his table was Alistair, looking amused, and between them was a cup of coffee.
"Last minute assignment?" He'd asked. Tallis glanced around; Alistair had moved his books over to the table too.
"Yeah," he replied, glancing down at his paper to figure out how much he'd written. Not nearly enough to hand in.
"Same. You know that physics essay Coach Ginnungap set in preparation for that guest speaker coming up?" Alistair said, gesturing to the textbook next to him. It had a stock image of a guy in a lab coat on the front, looking way too excited considering the entire subject was complicated calculations. "I hate physics."
It hadn't necessarily snowballed from there, exactly, but they'd exchanged numbers so they could compare notes on essays, which had lead to texting, which lead to Alistair periodically showing up at his dorm to kick his ass at videogames. It wasn't quite the same friendship he had with the others, there was less sarcasm and a lot less bitching, but the silences were comfortable. When Tallis had told Alistair about his not-relationship with Ethan, it had been in a nearly-empty canteen and he'd blurted it out without meaning to.
"I mean- it's not like we've spoken about- we're just keeping it quiet-" Tallis kept stumbling over half-sentences, trying to get about a thousand points across as quickly as possible to a completely bemused Alistair. He reset himself, and tried again. "Please don't tell anyone, it's not like it's a huge secret, we're just still figuring it out."
Alistair had nodded, just once, then switched topics so quickly that Tallis felt emotional whiplash. As soon as he'd got back to the dorm, he told Ethan about the whole conversation, preparing himself for the worst. Ethan was quiet for a minute, before he smiled one of his rare, genuine smiles.
"It's okay. Alistair's a good dude," Ethan had said, and the surge of relief Tallis felt had him launching himself into Ethan's arms.
"So I'm guessing the others still don't know, since you've snuck off to the least-secret private spot in the club?" Alistair asked, leaning against the wall. He was looking particularly smug tonight, which should have annoyed Tallis, but he was still too mortified about nearly being caught to comment on it.
"No, it's just- it's not the right time. Not yet," he replied, determinedly staring at the opposite wall. He thrust his hands into his pockets, just so no one could see how much he was fidgeting with his fingers. "We'll tell them eventually, but right now it's just..."
"I get it, don't worry. There's no right way to do a relationship. When you do tell the others, I'm sure they'll get it," Alistair said, and his words were more reassuring than he might have realised. "Now come on, before Claire realises how long we've been gone."
He followed Alistair back into the club, where the other boy was immeidately lost back in the crowd on the dance floor. Ethan was waiting for him back at the bar, and he immediately pressed a cold bottle of beer into his hand. Tallis sipped it, glad to finally have something to do with his hands that wasn't fidgeting
Claire's gonna kill me if she sees I've bitten my nails down again and he almost laughed out loud at the thought.
"Everything good?" Ethan asked, a phantom of concern flickering across his face for an instant. Tallis just smiled back.
"Yeah, everything's good."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't get why we're not getting any updates," Tallis complained, rolling the basketball on the floor in between his hands.
It was a Thursday afternoon and he was skipping his usual English class, instead sitting in the gym. The sky outside was grey and overcast, threatening anywhere between a drizzle and a storm, and if that didn't match his mood then nothing did. The girls were sat somewhere behind him on the bleachers, and a glance back told him that they were talking to each other quietly. It was one of those rare free periods that most of the school shared, and the majority of them had piled into the auditorium-stroke-gym
funded by a millionaire alien and they can't even afford separate buildings, right.
Ethan had been missing for three days now, and the only communication they'd had with him had been a static-ridden, cut-off message he'd left on Tallis' phone. He'd barely been able to make out what his boyfriend was saying, something about fangs and shadows, and then the message cut off abruptly, leaving Tallis' blood cold in his veins but his heart beating faster than he had ever felt. In a display of amazing self-control and dignity
with a lot of sobbing, and then Claire literally dragging me by hand, he had taken his phone to the one teacher he felt he could trust - Coach Ginnungap. He hadn't told Coach about his relationship beyond them being friends, but he was fairly certain Claire was putting two and two together as he spoke. Coach had quietly listened to the message, then pulled out his own phone and spent the next few minutes on the phone.
"Yeah, I need a favour," he'd said, his voice losing the casual edge it usually had. "Yeah, I know, I'll owe you. One of my students has gone missing."
It was quiet for a second while Coach listened.
"No, his Power doesn't work that way," he replied. "Yeah, I'll send you a voicemail. If you can get his location, that's where we'll start."
Another moment of quiet.
"Yeah, anyone you can bring in. I'll see if I can get Yoshimitsu on board. Phoenix and Illiana would be good, if they can spare themselves. Alright. Thanks, Phones."
He hung up and turned back to Tallis and Claire.
"We'll find him. I have some friends that are good at this kind of thing. Don't worry, we'll bring him back," Coach had said, his voice reassuring but not quite enough to put Tallis at ease.
Alistair knelt down to take the basketball from where Tallis had been hitting it from side to side.
"I don't get it either, to be honest, but Coach says he can find him," he said, standing up again. Tallis got to his feet, too, full of restless energy that he couldn't shake. He started pacing in front of the bleachers, drawing a curious glance from the girls before they realised what he was doing and went back to their conversation.
He'd replayed the message more times than he could count, hoping that he might hear something in the background, or something different in Ethan's tone, or maybe he'd misheard what Ethan had been saying and it wasn't anything to be worried about, but there was nothing. The static was concealing anything that might have been going on around him, and it was still that same panicked tone that he had never heard Ethan use before. It was definitely Ethan, too. Tallis would recognise his voice anywhere at this point. It was almost like his worst nightmare come true, not involving teeth and fur
didn't think my nightmares could get much worse but losing Ethan, Ethan who had come to mean more to him than he had realised.
"You're thinking too much," Alistair said, throwing him the ball. He caught it out of reflex, but didn't make any move to do anything else. "Let's shoot some hoops, it'll get your mind off things."
Yeah, right.Obediantly, he dribbled the ball over to the three-point line. His first shot was a complete disaster - he put way too little strength into it, and it fell short by a mile. Alistair ran forward to catch the ball and throw it back. The second shot was a bit better, bouncing off the backboard and back on to the court. The third was worse again, hitting the wall with way too much force and rebounding halfway back into the room. This was- he'd been getting better, but every time he went to throw the ball, flashes of the voicemail flickered through his head and threw him off. He couldn't help it, despite Alistair's best intentions, and at this point he'd drawn Claire's and Mel's attention, both of them looking him with subtle-but-there concerned expressions. He flipped them off without thinking about it, caught the ball and threw it again. This time, it was a perfect shot that sunk into the basket. The scoreboard flickered into life, flashing a neon red 1-0 against an imaginary team. There was some polite applause from a couple of people and Alistair was cheering but it still didn't do much to raise Tallis' mood.
A wind gripped the room
bitch the doors are close picking up bits of dust and sheets of paper, whirling them around, Claire's hair
not tied up was whipping around her face and Tallis could feel it ruffling his loose clothes. Looking around, he could see that it was spiralling to a central point, right in the middle of the room, made visible by the debris it had picked up, the area starting to glow and ethereal shapes starting to form. He couldn't tell how many, not at first, but as seconds rushed by he could start to make out features.
Later, he would think on who had been there. He would remember a woman with long, green hair, a guy with headphones almost too big for his head, a blonde guy who was carrying a serrated sword
what's up with that and the familiar features of Coach Ginnungap. But in that moment, as the group teleported in, his eyes were immediately locked on to the person in the middle.
Ethan. He looked bruised and battered, one eye was swollen nearly shut and his clothes had so many rips that they could barely be considered clothes any more, but indisputably
there.
Without thinking, he launched himself forward and into Ethan's arms, Ethan who, despite looking like he had been to hell and back, raised his arms as soon as he saw Tallis and folded them around him, holding him tight. He could feel the tears building up but didn't do anything to stop them. It was relief, an overwhelming surge of relief flooding through his system
Ethan's okay, Ethan's here, he's safe. Ethan was pressing small kisses to the top of his head, whispering reassuring words to him that he barely even registered, too consumed by the reality of Ethan being there, back in his arms, sturdy and strong around him.
"I thought I'd lost you," he mumbled into Ethan's chest. Ethan raised a hand to cup his cheek, making him look up into the taller boy's eyes.
"Hey, you'll never lose me," Ethan replied, his voice reassuring and confident, even with the mess that his face had become. His words brought on a fresh wave of tears, and Tallis dug his fingertips into Ethan's shoulders just to make sure he was real, he was there, and Ethan leaned in to kiss him and
he's here, he's safe.
Someone nearby cleared their throat uncomfortably, and they broke apart, aware again of their audience. They separated, but Ethan grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. The blonde one, the one with the weird sword, he was the one who had coughed and suddenly Tallis was acutely aware of just how many people were in the room, how many people had just been witness to his little meltdown and their emotional declaration. He looked for his friends on the bleachers, Alistair with them now, and the quiet in the room let him hear everything.
"You knew about this, didn't you?" Claire accused, jabbing a finger in Alistair's chest. Alistair, to his credit, looked smug as anything.
"Of course I knew, I know everything," he replied.
"Alright, let's get back on track, people," Coach interrupted, stepping forward to assess Ethan's injuries for himself. "Illiana can patch you back up, then you get a few days off just to make sure you're back to a hundred per cent."
Ethan nodded, and the green haired woman started to lead him out of the room, but he refused to let go of Tallis' hand, dragging him along. They were ushered into an empty classroom, where Ethan hopped up on to a desk and the green-haired woman
Illiana set about trying to mend all of the injuries on Ethan's body. Her fingertips glowed white, and Tallis saw cuts knit themselves back together, bruises change from purple to mottled yellow before fading completely, his swollen eye reduced back to its normal size.
"You couldn't do my clothes too, could you?" Ethan asked with a smirk. Coach laughed, but Illiana pursed her lips a bit disapprovingly before announcing that she was done with what she could do.
"I've healed as much damage as I could, and you're lucky that there wasn't any internal bleeding, but you're going to feel sore for the next few days," she said, business-like and very matter-of-factly. "You need bed rest now. That means no major physical exertion, no sports, no running. The heaviest thing you're allowed to lift is a knife and fork."
"Yes ma'am," Ethan replied, nodding.
Seemingly satisfied with Ethan's response, she turned back to Coach.
"This could have been a lot worse, Kilik," she said, but there was no edge to her voice. "You're lucky your kids keep calm under pressure."
"You should see them when exam season rolls round," he replied with a grin. She punched his arm in response. "Tal, Ethan, you heard Illiana. Bed rest for the next few days, and then we'll get you a check-up to make sure everything's healed up. I'll speak to Superintendent Russell to clear you for a few days, too, Tal. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."
"I'll pin him to the bed if I have to," Tallis replied without thinking, then felt the blush spread over his face as he realised what he said. Illiana looked away to hide a grin, Coach laughed out loud and Ethan smirked at him from the corner of his eye.
Illiana left not long after that, then Coach escorted them back to their dorm room. A couple of the other students were hanging out in the hallway, already there with questions, but Coach waved them down in no unclear terms
thank God. Mel, Claire and Alistair were waiting by the door to their room, expressions of mixed concern and relief prominent on all of their faces, and they lingered for a couple of minutes so they had a chance to assess the damage for themselves. Seemingly satisfied and with some thinly-veiled threats about what would happen if Ethan vanished again, they departed back to wherever
can't even bring myself to care where and Tallis locked the door behind them.
"So what happened?" Tallis asked as Ethan got himself settled on his bed.
"Vampires, weirdly enough," Ethan replied, wincing only slightly as he sunk into his pillows. There were a couple of extra ones that hadn't been there this morning. Had Coach got someone else to drop them off? "There was this group that had wicked bikes, so I wanted a couple of parts for mine."
"You didn't get the memo from the last time you tried that?" Tallis crossed his arms and leant on the door frame. "Remember? Near-death, lots of bruises, we only just got away?"
"Yeah, I know. These bikes were sweet, though," Ethan said defensively, adjusting himself slightly. The hem
I'm surprised there's even a hem left of his tank rode up, and despite his concern, Tallis had to swallow, his mouth suddenly dry.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, Tallis only feeling slightly like a creeper as he watched Ethan's breathing slow down and even out, his expression turning from frowning to something much more peaceful. He counted the seconds in breaths, in the rise and fall of Ethan's chest, just taking the moment to let it sink in
he's okay, he's here, he's safe and reassure himself that he wasn't just hallucinating the whole thing. Just as he thought Ethan had fallen asleep, the taller boy spoke.
"Come here."
He slowly extended one arm out, an invitation if Tallis had ever seen one. Tallis flipped the light switch before approaching the bed, toeing his shoes off his feet before he sat next to his friend. He sank down next to him, careful not to put any of his weight on to Ethan's chest, curling himself up and getting as close as he dared. Ethan wrapped his arm around Tallis' shoulders, pulling his face into his neck.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, and even that seemed too loud in the quiet of the dark room. "I didn't wanna worry you. They jumped me and dragged me off to some dive warehouse. I couldn't even tell how many there were."
"I was so scared," Tallis whispered back.
"I know. I kept on trying to get free, to get back to you," Ethan continued. "I managed it a couple of times. Coach only turned up after I'd gotten myself out of the building. They barricaded the entrance, so the vamps came out of the windows instead. I think they realised they were outta their depth when that dude with the sword started throwing laser beams or some shit around. Just straight up burnt them alive, it was intense."
Tallis was tracing shapes into Ethan's chest with his finger, listening to what he was saying but only sort-of taking it in. He might have been interested, even excited to hear it if it had been coming from someone else, if Ethan's absence hadn't nearly driven him insane with worry. He placed his palm flat against Ethan's stomach, just to reassure himself that this was real, that Ethan was back, as the taller boy was trailing his hand up and down Tallis' arm.
"Hey," Ethan whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Tallis' head. "I'll always come back to you."
And his words felt like a burn in the pit of Tallis' stomach, warmth spreading through his body that felt so intense he almost wanted to cry.
"I know," Tallis replied, pulling himself in closer. "I know you will."