Private Finished Misery Loves Company

The Volupsa.

Kaz had no idea what the words meant, but he liked the way Luke's mouth moved when he said them. Volupsa. Kaz forced himself not to say the word back. Luke remarked that it was calming, and Kaz wondered whether the stories were calming or the inspiration for song that they produced were calming.

"What is the volupsa about?" Kaz asked.

The curiosity leaked into his voice as easily as the sunshine streamed in through the window next to them. Kaz brushed a strand of his hair away from his own face and looked at Luke, unable to hide the way his eyebrows lifted in interest.

Then, Luke blushed, and fidgeted, and Kaz wondered again what the hell had happened to his heart.

"Oh, um.." Kaz considered. "Mysteries, I guess, and I uh..."

Now Kaz felt his face blushing. He wasn't sure why he should be embarrassed by this. But he was.

"Detective novels," Kaz explained. "I like when there's a twist, and everything goes wrong, but they still find the bad guy anyway."


Of course, Kaz hoped that this would never happen to him. He was the bad guy in these stories, after all.

Luke's answer was cryptic which, as far as it went with Kaz, was exactly the right thing to say. Kaz was drawn in completely. He'd lowered his sandwich and hunched forward on the table a little bit more.

Kaz spoke English well enough that he knew that cycle meant something circular. It could be a bicycle, it could be a literal circle, or it could be a pattern like the seasons. This was what Kaz assumed Luke meant; the end of one season and the starting of another, although seasons did not have to equate with weather.

He ran his index finger along his thumb and thought.

His thoughts were instantly derailed by the blood on Luke's lip and the casual way he brushed his thumb across it.

Imagine what it would be like to brush your own lips against his the same way, Kaz thought, and then he wondered, where the hell did that just come from?

Probably reading, he decided. He'd been in the library. He'd browsed the Young Adult section, looking at the faerie stories, and many of them featured fae in romantic relationships with the protagonist. It didn't matter that he hadn't read them. That was clearly why it was on his mind.

Nothing deeper than that.

But Kaz found himself smiling at the ghost of the shadow on Luke's face, drawn forward from it.

"Yeah, that's exactly it," Kaz explained. "Some books are so predictable, and that doesn't make it less interesting, but I like it more when I don't know what's going to happen."

Kind of like right now, he wanted to think, but Kaz already knew how this ended. In misery, as always.

Luke spoke in Norwegian again and Kaz tilted his head, awaiting the English translation, which the other boy supplied a moment later. He considered this, and then gave a slow smile, as if a little bit embarrassed by the question.

"Yellow," he said, and then Kaz added, "And you cannot laugh, but I will tell you why."

He blew out a low breath, lifting the hairs at the top of his own head.

"Sunflowers. When I was younger, one of the first things I can remember is how much taller the sunflowers were than me. And something about the yellow, and the smell of the September air, it was just very pleasant, like....like being in a painting," Kaz said, and then he laughed. "I know that sounds stupid, but it is the truth. What about you?"

Kaz tilted his head to the side and tried to watch Luke's eyes and not his mouth when the other boy answered.


ooc: oh gosh thank you so much for your patience!

Kaz was quiet while he considered Luke's answer. Snow could be beautiful, especially when it first fell and coated all the branches of the trees. But there was something else that seemed relevent.

"I think that's interesting," Kaz said. "Because doesn't white light contain all the colors? That makes it as equally warm as it is cold."

Kaz didn't think it was boring. He took the last bite of his sandwich, took a sip of his drink, and then said, "Thank you for telling me that."

Kaz couldn't shake the image from his mind. Nor could he take his eyes off the other boy's lips. Get out of the library, Kaz told his brain, but it just wouldn't listen. Jeeze. Between that, his heart, and the rush of heat that kept coming to his face, he really did wonder if he was coming down with something. He was feeling strange.

And he was also feeling a little sad because his whole excuse for hanging out with Luke was coming to an end.

"Hey, would you want to do something together sometime?" Kaz asked him.

Internally, he was screaming. What the hell kind of question was that?

"I promise I won't physically run into you first, but it'd be nice if we could run into each other again. Only not literally. You know?"

Oh god this was verbal vomit. What happened to his words??

"Because this was fun, and I'm really glad I got to meet you," Kaz said.

Oh jeeze.

While Kaz was unaware of Luke's inner thoughts, he himself was experiencing something very similar. Now that their lunch had gone to an end, he wasn't sure what to do.

Well, actually, wait. He did know what to do. Kaz picked up their trays and emptied the trash, then returned to the table. He reached inside his jacket and produced a pen, though he didn't seem to have any scraps of paper. After another moment of deliberation, he grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and wrote his cell phone number and his name in big loopy letters.

"Here," Kaz said, sliding Luke the napkin. His heart did that little flip-flop thing again when he looked up at Luke's face. Infirmary, he told himself. He was going to the infirmary next. He smiled and said, "Text me sometime when you're bored. I'd like to see you again, Luke."

He didn't really know how to end this. A handshake seemed too formal. A hug too intimate.

So, instead, Kaz just lifted his hand in a little wave (what the hell was that???) and started to head out. "I'll see you around!"



ooc: this seemed like a good place to end! I'll shoot you a message as soon as I'm not dying about plots!