Toxic

Hi! Ummmm, I'm really sorry for the long wait, I am SO busy right now, and I know this isn't as long as my other chapter, but I figured I would get at least somethin up, >///<

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Kindu had to smile. What luck, that the only person to be kind to him so far was also to sit next to him in Lab. That’d be a good ending, possibly, right? At least, he hoped so. He had to stop himself from running back to his seat, and walked at a carefully controlled pace and slid as gracefully as he could into the chair, and smiled widely at Kemian. Friends?

He frowned, flipping his hair over his shoulder, wondering why Kemian didn’t return his smile. Had he done something wrong? Had he said something to offend him? Oh no… His face flushed in anger at himself, for whatever he’d done, and he blinked back tears of frustration, then blinked and glanced down at the hastily scrawled note, trying to comprehend what it said.

'Aren’t you going to take notes?'

He flushed redder, if it were possible, because he hadn’t even thought about it. He already knew the stuff that the teacher was going over, from his last school, plus he had no paper. He didn’t want to sound too brag-y so he hesitantly wrote back: 'I didn’t buy all of my supplies yet, until I know what all I need.'

Kemian didn’t reply, but opened his folder and took out a small stack of papers, the top of which was slightly rumpled, and Kindu smiled gratefully at him as he handed it over, and quickly scrawled a few scattered notes on the subject before getting bored and glancing sideways at Kemian, who seemed lost in thought, but certainly not about science, as he barely took legible notes, and Kindu nearly snickered as he read over them nonchalantly. What did swimming team or scrambled eggs have to do with Cell Theory? Swimming Team? Kindu mentally noted that one. He hadn’t known the school had a Swim Team. He would join, of course. He loved water. It was so weightless, when he was in the water, almost like flying.

He pulled out the second sheet of his new stack of paper, and grinned, writing: 'Some notes you have there. Distracted?'

Kemian turned slightly pinker, he could swear. It made him smile. At least he didn’t turn beet red like Kindu sometimes did. Leaning his head on his fist, Kindu watched Kemian as he wrote, noticing the way his medium-length black hair fell over mysteriously golden eyes. They were not brown, oh no. They were gold, like amber or pyrite even. These entrancing eyes glanced around suspiciously, like some sort of undercover agent, before passing the note back to Kindu. Then they winced as his chair was kicked.

“Hey Kemian, hitting on the new pretty-boy already? Haven’t you been warned kid? This freak here and his friend are fags. You know how that is, right?” A hiss from behind them, making Kemian grit his teeth and Kindu’s blood burn hot with a momentary rage. But, he was used to it. He doubted it was even true, though, about Kemian. He was friends with Dante, and Kindu had seen Dante before, approaching a guy all flushed and nervous, so Guilty by Association? It was a disappointing thought.

A satisfying thump from Dante’s foot hitting the back of the ill-meaning boy cooled Kindu’s head, making him turn to give Dante an appreciative glance. Thanks.

Not that Kindu would have minded, no. He’d never much liked girls, with their moods and hormones and makeup… They could snap at you for no reason and then start crying and you’d never know what to do to stop all the noise, and he imagined all that makeup made them kind of slimy-like, and he shuddered at the thought. No, that’s okay. I’d rather not take you to prom. I’m busy Saturday. He’s prettier than you. NOT THAT he actually said that last one out loud, that’s just in his head. So he wouldn’t mind if this kind stranger JUST HAPPENED to take a liking to guys. He flushed at the thought, and was started out of his day-dreaming by a nudge from an impatient Kemian, wondering why he hadn’t looked at the returned note yet.

'Oh, I just have a lot on my mind. Don’t worry about it.'

Kindu let his hand fall back to the table softly, the dull thump muffled by his over-sized sweater, and then slowly wrote back: 'Oh, okay…' He was dying to ask what was going on, but after barely a few hours of knowing this stranger, wouldn’t that be a bit too forward? Or just nosy. Kemian seemed to think this was plenty the end of their conversation and the rest of the class was occupied only by the teacher’s voice and the scribbling of the people’s pencils on paper, but Kindu was already far away, pondering what on earth could trouble this gold-eyed boy. Surely nothing good.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted with the ringing of the school bell, informing him obnoxiously that it was time to go home. That was one heck of a walk. Sigh. He purposely moved slowly, waiting for most of the class to filter out, before standing up and moving up to question the teacher about what he would need for this class. Just a folder, paper, pens. Simple, the teacher wasn’t too picky. Kindu nodded, and turned to see Kemian, the kind stranger, rushing out of the room.

“Wait!” Kindu ran after him, catching up and smiling at him, not so eager to let his (hopefully) new friend escape already. Kemian looked exasperated, and Kindu frowned inwardly.

“Oh, hey,” Kemian said, not unkindly. He smiled at Kindu, despite his apparent internal struggle. Kindu again found himself wondering what could be wrong, but he didn’t express his concern. Instead, he moved on to pondering the long walk that awaited him. “How’re you getting home?” It was like he’d read his mind.

“Ummm… Walking!” Kindu laughed nervously.

“Really, so you live close to the school?” Uh-oh.

“Umm, yeah! Only five miles away!” Kindu smiled in his cheerful way.

“What? Only?” He felt, rather than heard Kemian hesitate to open the door for him, leading out into the too-bright sun. “Do you need a ride?”

Kindu felt his face heat up, but chose to ignore it, and sighed, “If you don’t mind, I would love a ride.” He saw Kemian nod out of the corner of his eye, and stared at the ground, suddenly feeling unsure. Maybe Kemian didn’t WANT his company. Maybe he was just being ANNOYING. Sigh.

He was just walking, contemplating where he’d gone wrong, when suddenly Kemian’s seemingly iron grip on his arm had him jolt backwards, and he gasped in surprise, about to protest, “Wait!”

Kindu followed Kemian’s gaze to the ground, and it took him only a few seconds to spot the pale blue egg, nestled in the grass, right where he’d been about to step. He stumbled back, blinking. “Oh!”

“A robin egg,” Kemian smiled, kneeling down in the grass by the egg, prompting Kindu to do the same. Kindu stared down in wonder at the little object. He hadn’t seen one, ever, so he was in awe that now, with this kind almost-stranger, he would see something so slight, so delicate. And equally, he was frightened when Kemian carefully scooped up the egg and set it into Kindu’s hands. “Careful.” He could barely notice Kemian looking around, and up, at the shady tree above them.

“What are you doing?” Kemian had stood up and began to climb the tree, and Kindu looked back into his hands, eyes suddenly wide, and the little egg moved just slightly in his palms. “Oh!”

“What is it?” Kemian was looking at him then.

“It.. moved…” He replied softly.

“Here, I found his nest, so… pass him up, okay?” Kemian held his hands, cupped, down towards Kindu, who reaches up and as carefully as he can muster places it there. Kemian laid the egg into a nest as Kindu climbed up beside him, and they watched in wonder as the little baby bird inside the egg began to push his way out.

Kindu was drawn from his fascination by Kemian’s hand pulling out from under his own, and he flushed because he hadn’t even realized it had been there. Oops. What could Kemian think, now? “We should move before the momma comes back,” Kemian says softly, and his voice is far away to Kindu, who is mentally kicking himself for his mindlessness.

Kindu silently climbed back down the tree, and blinked as Kemian said cheerfully, “We should name him! What do you think he should be named?”

Smile. His own, because Kemian, the kind stranger, was still kind and just a little less strange. He felt a welling of affection then, for the one who never gave him a rude wolf-whistle or cat call, with dark-dark hair over bright golden eyes. Affection like a infectious disease, but warmer and more pleasant, and he knew what the little baby bird would be named.

“Miracle.”


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so, that's that. Not much to say, but..

Reviews make me happy <3 Thank you to my kind reviewers from before! I want to marry you all, but Cody won't let me =D