Chapter Text
Tuesday morning Ein woke up feeling like utter shit. His bones felt heavy and bumpy beneath his flesh, his eyes felt like they’d sink into his brain if he tilted his head back even a little, his ears and tail were completely limp. He whined painfully and turned onto his back, looking up at the ceiling through heavy lidded eyes, everything looked too close but so far away from him at the same time. He could see shapes and dull blobs and static fading in and out of his vision. His stomach was churning miserably and he could taste remnants of bile and sick on his teeth as he slammed his hand on top of his phone and brought it to his face to check his notifications, the light of his screens assaulting his already pounding pupils.
“Hi my mom will still be coming over at 12 with soup”
“Hope you feel better”
He stared at the texts from Pierce before setting his phone back down without sending a response. He carefully got up out of bed and stumbled his way into the bathroom, he brushed his teeth with force that made his bristles stain red and his spit come out swirling with more crimson than white toothpaste. He breathed slowly through his mouth as he stared in the mirror, his face contorted in his view. He felt like he’d fall through the floor any minute and, his chest feeling the tiniest bit lighter at the fact that someone had cared. his veins felt too present underneath the layers of his skin though, so the thought was quickly pushed out of the way.
The light outside hurt his eyes as he made his way down the stairs to the livingroom, hand gripping the wooden hand rail tightly as he continuously blinked his eyes open fully. ‘Eat…drink…rest…’ Ein thought back to Pierce’s texts from yesterday as he got himself a glass of water and made himself some toast with strawberries. He rummaged through the medicine cabinet and pulled out some Aspirin, it was all they really had that could help him out. He swallowed a pill with a gulp of water and went back upstairs with his drink and his breakfast in his stiff hands.
‘Maybe I’ll play that new game I got…’ He thought as he set his drink and food down on his nightstand next to the empty milkshake he’d finished last night. Waiting for his headache to go away was like watching a sloth eat, he lay there in bed staring at the wall for what felt like forever, wondering what pierce was doing at school today, he was probably having fun with his friends, having fun with Aphmau and Aaron and their stupid friend group.
‘...Aphmau is a weird ass name…’ He thought randomly.
Meanwhile.
That break time everyone went outside, the weather was warm and the sun was out yet again. Pierce sat outside during morning break with Katelyn and talked about their preferred foods and diets they’ve tried, “it’s all about portions, I always make an effort to leave a fourth of my food on my plate so I’m not over eating,” Pierce said, “really? I should start trying that, I always have a problem with scarfing down my food, especially if it’s something I really like,” Katelyn sighed. “Yeah I used to struggle with that too, I save the last little bit of my meal for later if I can, it actually helped me out a lot.”
“Jeez, you two have way more self control than I could ever have,” Aphmau said, leaning against Aaron’s side, “well it helps to grow up with parents that are all ‘healthy healthy healthy’ people, you know?” Pierce shrugs, Katelyn chuckles and nods, “I know what you mean, my dad is part of a workout group and he’s a total workout nut among other things, that’s where I get it from.” Aaron looked around the school grounds for a moment before humming, “hm, seems like Ein isn’t in today, maybe he finally got expelled.” “No he’s just sick.” Pierce shook his head, “how do you know?” Aaron raised an eyebrow, “oh uh…he just didn’t look too well yesterday and I was just assuming he was ill…” he lied with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Oh…right,” Aaron nodded, noticing Kawaii~Chan standing close by with a folded piece of paper in hand and staring at Pierce blankly, “looks like your favourite artist is here,” Aaron nodded at Pierce. The pink Maifwa approached Pierce and held the paper out in front of him insistantly, “...take it…” she mumbled. Pierce extended his hand with a weary look in his eyes, Kawaii~Chan handed him the paper and bolted off into the school building without another word, leaving Pierce there holding the folded piece of paper with who knows what drawn on it.
“You gonna open it?” Aaron asked, Pierce shook his head and placed it in his school bag, “uh…later…” he mumbled, unsettled by the Maifwa who seemed to be pinning him with Ein so much, ‘does she just see us together sometimes and think we’re together?’ He thought as he checked his phone, a few texts from Ein and a notification from one of the games on his phone.
Snake VS Block: "Brand new levels to complete!"
“I threw up”
“Omg this sucks”
“Wait I think I have tonsil stones totaly unrelatted though”
“How is school”
“I just noticed one o my teeth s cracked i haventy been to the dentist in like years now that i thinking abit it”
Pierce smiled as he read the texts before putting his phone away, realising that the bell was about to ring, he had a double magics class with Lucinda next and then it was lunch time. ‘Mom will be over at Ein’s…wonder how that’ll go…’ He and the others went inside as the bell rang and everyone else started heading to their classes.
He arrived at his class and took his seat next to Lucinda, giving her a small smile and a nod in greeting, as soon as everyone had sat down the teacher started talking. “Alright! Today we will watch an exciting documentary about the scrolls of Irene and how they gave us insight to the sorcery and potion making of the time, I will allow you to have a snack if you have anything with you,” she said as she got the documentary up on her computer and displayed it on the brand new board she got that was still glitchy and didn’t really respond if you pressed anything on it.
Everyone let out a small cheer as they got out snacks and water bottles, they usually weren’t allowed food or drinks in the magic labs for obvious reasons, the school really didn’t want a kid’s water to get any potions in it. Apparently it happened years ago and a kid was turned into a Sugar Glider for a whole week. Mainly because the potion wasn’t made how it was supposed to be made but also because of the cross contamination obviously.
The lights in the classroom were turned off and the documentary started playing, the presenter talked about how scrolls were found in a temple that was previously hidden underground and how they were translated and revealed certain spells and recipes for potions that were said to grant eternal life or total mind control over someone forever. “So see what we have here is an illustrated depiction of the goddess Irene and how she was seen as the mother to those who followed her, we can see here these people are praying up to her and she’s up in the clouds surrounded by a golden glow from these faded paintings.” The presenter stood next to covered scrolls and pointed to different parts of them with a barrier of protective glass separating them from the air of the museum they’d been displayed in. The audio was a bit scraggy because of the board’s speakers but Pierce could hear most of it. The documentary had half assed reenactments of the scenes in some of the scrolls, other segments were spent figuring out the spells and potions in other scrolls.
As the documentary played Pierce took out the drawing Kawaii~Chan had given him earlier. He unfolded it to see a well done drawing of him and Ein by the sea, Pierce carrying Ein on his back and both of them laughing together on the sunny shore. ‘...I’m definitely being stalked or something.’ He thought as he folded it back up, planning to put it in the drawer with the other drawings he had received.
The bell rang as the documentary finished and everyone stood up, the lights weren't turned on as everyone filed out of their double period of doing nothing to go have their lunch out in the sun. Everyone lined up for their lunch or went outside with their own food from home. As Pierce walked through the halls he saw a group of girls, maybe in the year below him, giggling and looking over at him, looking him up and down and whispering to each other. ‘...weirdos…’ He thought before ignoring them and walking outside. Pierce found the others sitting by the volleyball court eating, Katelyn was once again teaching first years how to play, sometimes with gentle reminders but other times with harsh shouting depending on the mistake and the person who made it. Pierce sat next to Aaron with his food and checked his phone.
“Just heading over to your friend’s house with soup now xx”
“Thanks mom”
Meanwhile.
Ein sat in his bed with the curtains drawn and a controller in his hand as he played the shooter game he got at the mall, even playing on harmless mode he turned out to be absolutely shit at it, getting at most a B rank on all of the levels and finding none of the secrets. Still, it was fun, he liked the look of the game and the music was good, the enemies were pretty hard to aim at because he hadn’t figured out there was an auto aim in the settings and the level layouts took a little while to figure out.
The knock on the front door downstairs drew him out of his gaming daze, he paused his game and made his way down the stairs, head still a little funky and stomach still feeling like it had pencil shavings in it. He opened the door and a human woman stood there holding a covered pot, a friendly smile on her soft face and curly dark hair that was tied back, “you must be Ein right? I’m Pierce’s mother,” she said. Ein nodded and stood back to let her in, “uh yeah, nice to meet you ma’am…” he nodded shyly. The woman walked in and looked around before walking into the open kitchen. “So how come you’re sick sweetie? Pierce said you were feeling terrible.” She asked as she put the pot on the stove. Ein closed the door and shrugged, “just uh…food poisoning,” he conjured up on the spot.
She frowned sympathetically, “ow that must be awful sweetie, I hope you like chicken and veggie soup, it’ll sort that out right away I promise.” She moved around the kitchen like it was her own, humming to herself as she heated the pot up on the stove. Ein sat down at the counter and watched her work quietly, “so how did you and my son meet? He told me you’re in the year below him,” she asked as she stood at the stove, “oh…just school, we happened to start talking,” he shrugged, Pierce’s mom nodded slowly. “Okay, now I don’t mean to be the nosy mom but…how is he at school? Does he behave?” Ein let out a small breath of amusement and nodded, “he’s a model student, pretty much perfect at everything he does as far as I know.” She clapped her hands together and sighed, “oh wonderful! I just wanted to make sure he was being good, you never know with kids his age after all.”
A bowl of hot soup was placed in front of Ein, the rich scent easing Ein’s earlier nausea, “thank you ma’am…” he nodded, “oh just call me Fiona dear, no need for morality,” she smiled and sat down across from Ein at the counter, her soft looking hands folded in front of her, her nails painted a deep velvet and gold wedding ring shining on her finger. Ein ate slowly, the soup tasted absolutely amazing, the chicken was a nice texture, the vegetables were soft and the broth was vibrant in flavour. “Mm…this is really good, you really didn’t have to…” he mumbled, “oh nonsense, anything to help one of my son’s friends.”
That word, ‘friend’ stuck in the back of Ein’s mind. ‘We’re friends.’
“So, uh…” Ein spoke up a little, “Pierce never mentioned where you guys were from, you don’t see people with horns here…at all…I mean, you’re human but I just noticed that Pierce is a little…different looking.” Pierce’s mother nodded, “he has his father’s mindset and his beautiful horns, doesn’t like sharing family stuff, we’re from Kenai, it’s in Alaska.” Ein looked up, “Alaska? That’s…actually more normal than I thought. I just figured you’d be from some…far off fantasy land or something,” Fiona laughs, the sound was happy and warm, “I can understand that, believe it or not I’m actually from around here, I moved to Alaska where I met Pierce’s father and we stayed there until he decided to leave the army, he wanted to properly settle here with the kids because of all the nice stories I had told him.” Ein nodded as he listened, this woman was so nice, not overly weird like his therapist was, she was talking to him and discussing family like she cherished it more than anything. Like a real mother.
“So where are your parents sweetie? Didn’t they stay home to take care of you?” Ein looked down and into his bowl and shrugged, “they both have to work…gotta pay for the food somehow.” Pierce’s mother nodded and asked nothing else of it. The woman talked for a long time after Ein finished his bowl of soup, she talked about how when Pierce was a child he was scared to death of frogs because he thought they could strangle people with their tongues and how he thought trees were the tails of animals that got stuck in the ground a long time ago. “Pierce was an awkward little guy, used to feel bad for the fish his dad caught and cried about a flower that died in our garden, he was so cute though.”
Imagining Pierce as a small child, hair tied up in a tiny tuft on his head and pink chubby cheeks crying over a flower in their garden was funny. "Sounds like he was a good kid…” Ein said, comparing Pierce as a child to when he himself was one, when he’d bite people and beat up his smaller classmates and dig up his preschool garden to bury his food because he didn’t like it. “He really was, he was so good when his brother was born too, so caring,” Ein thought about how he was an only child, how he didn’t have anyone who would even give him a little sibling.
Pierce’s mother stayed for a while, talking on and on about family things and asking Ein about what he liked doing and what school subjects he liked the most. By the time she had stopped the clock had gone forward to 3 PM “Oh I’d better get going dear, the kids will be home from school,” Fiona said as she finished cleaning dishes, drying her hands with a cloth and folding it up neatly. “Oh, yeah…” Ein nodded, “thank you for uh, coming over…you didn’t have to…” She smiled brightly and rubbed a hand on his shoulder, “it’s not a problem sweetie, I’m just down the street if you ever need anything, anything at all.” When she left he stood there by the window and watched her walk back to her own house down the street, a warm feeling settled in his chest, he didn’t know if it was from the soup or her kindness, maybe it was both.
Ein’s phone buzzed in his pocket, it was a text from Zach.
“Therapist coming at 4. Moved to today because she has a free spot.”
“oh ok”
Ein huffed and put his phone back in his pocket. There wasn’t enough time to start a video game but there was too much time to just sit there and wait. ‘Why did she have to come a day early…’ he grumbled in his head and sat down on the couch, he may as well scroll until she arrived. He didn’t like the thought of being alone in the house with her.
Meanwhile.
Pierce stood at the entrance of the school waiting for Katelyn, they had discussed going back to her house to check out her workout equipment and hang out. She walked out with Aphmau and Teony, talking about how much she hated her history teacher and how she was so bored with learning about World War Two, “I mean I get that it’s important but I’ve learnt about it like a billion times already, couldn’t they do something a little more interesting instead of just war??” She complained.
“You got a point, glad I never got stuck with History,” Teony shrugged, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she waved and walked away, Aphmau following shortly after when she saw her mother pull into the pickup spot, leaving Pierce and Katelyn to walk back to her place. Pierce took out his phone and called his mother, “hi sweetie, you coming home now?” She asked from the other side of the phone, “I’m actually headed over to Katelyn’s house, she’s just a block over,” “oh alright, will you be staying for dinner?” He glanced over at Katelyn who nodded, “yeh, I’ll text you when I’m on the way home,” “alright sweetie, love you.” “Love you too,” he hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. Katelyn snickered, “aww, that’s so cute,” Pierce rolled his eyes, “I’m sure your mom isn’t any different.” Katelyn shrugged, “I don’t have a mom, dad said she died…It’s not like I have any good memories of her so don’t feel bad or anything.” Pierce nodded, “oh…right, well we can share mine, she’s got plenty of love to spare, might take some of the load off of me.” They both laughed as they walked up to Katelyn’s door.
“Just a heads up by the way, my dad can be a little intense, luckily my other two brothers are out of town for university but my younger brother Kacey is probably gonna ask you a bunch of questions when he gets home from his after school club.” Pierce nodded, “alright, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Katelyn opened the door and they both walked inside, they took their shoes off at the front door and put their bags down next to the coat rack, “sugarpea is that you?” Came a heavy Southern accent from the garden, “yeah, I brought a friend over for dinner if that’s alright,” she responded. “Oh is it Sylvanna’s kid?” “No it’s Pierce, I told you about Pierce.” Katelyn’s dad grunted and walked in through the back door, he looked Pierce up and down with furrowed brows. “Hmh,” he greeted, “your brother is at his club right?” He turned to Katelyn, who nodded, “yeah, he’ll be home in an hour…I was gonna show Pierce our workout stuff,” Eric glanced at Pierce, “he work out tew?” He asked. “Yes sir, I have my own equipment at home…” Katelyn’s dad nodded, “I see…well, I suppose it's good that ma daughter has another friend that has ouwr interests, that Travis kid was no gewd.” 'His accent is funny as fuck,' Pierce thought to himself.
“Okay well me and Pierce are gonna go to the garage now,” Katelyn cleared her throat and pulled Pierce towards the garage. Their car was parked inside and behind it was a setup of workout equipment set on a large cork matt. “We don’t exactly have a big enough room for this stuff in the house,” she said as they walked in, “I get it, we have our equipment in the garage as well,” Pierce said as he looked at the equipment. Katelyn’s dad stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, eyeing Pierce sternly. “So, Pierce. What do your parents do?” He asked with an authoritative voice. “My mom works at the gardening place near the allotments in town and my dad is an ex military man,” that got Katelyn’s dad to perk up a little, “ex military yu say? Sounds like a tough man.” “Yeah, he’s real tough, he’s still got his uniform and his medals.”
Katelyn’s dad nodded in what seemed like respect, “impressive…I’d like to meet him some time.” He stayed quiet for a moment before adding, “so…you datin’ ma daughter?” Pierce laughed nervously and shook his head, “no sir, just friends…” Katelyn’s dad nodded slowly, “...you one of them queers then?”
Katelyn spun around, “DAD!!”
Pierce stayed there for dinner. Katelyn’s dad, who had told Pierce to call him Eric, had warmed up to him rather quickly, so did Kacey once he had gotten home. “So are you like, my sister’s new boyfriend?” Kacey asked as they all sat around the dinner table eating Eric’s homemade roast pork. “Oh no, me and your sister are just friends,” Pierce smiled, “this is delicious by the way,” he nodded towards Eric. Katelyn’s dad smiled, “you gotta marinate it in honey the night before you make it, that’s the trick.” There was a comfortable silence for a few seconds. “How come you have horns?” Kacey asked with a mouth full of food, “well it’s just a species thing, Daemos are just a lot rarer than werewolves and maifwas and stuff,” Pierce responded. They sat around the dinner table talking, talking about why Pierce moved here, how come he came to Phoenix Drop High if there was no JROTC.
Meanwhile.
Ein stood in the shower.
The shower was cold.
It felt like it was burning him though.
‘I hate her.’
‘I hate all of them.’
‘They’re all like that aren’t they.’
‘They all hurt me.’
‘She hurt me.’
‘They hurt me.’
‘She hurt me.’
‘Every single one of them.’
He hugged his arms tightly around himself and lowered his head, tail and ears not daring to perk up. He felt wrong. Used. Discarded. Lied to.
‘She’s a monster. They’re all monsters.’
He got out of the shower slowly, eyes down. His room was dark, curtains drawn, lipstick staining the edge of his pillow case.
“She’s not coming over again”
“Why?”
“I’ll kil her”
“Ein don’t be dramatic”
“I don’t want her over ag ain”
“But why?”
“She hurt me”
“What did she do?”
“i just dont want to see her again.”
“Fine. Will be home on Friday.”
Ein’s phone was set down on the nightstand slowly. He didn't bother to make himself any dinner. He put on some clean clothes, a pair of shorts and a bleach stained green shirt. Once again just like the night before he curled up and pulled his covers around himself tightly, feeling the need to protect himself.