Friends?

”Get lost, mutt!” A boy cried out, pushing Deimos into the wall. Deimos decided to just stay there, lowering his head as he looked down at the ground. He’d been here two years. Two long, very lonely years. The scout had made it seem like there’d be other hybrids at the school. And sure, there was two. One was kept at the school on permanent quarantine, considered too much a danger for the school to even let her go to an outside mental hospital. Here, she was taken care of properly, at least. Supposedly she was a generation above him though. The other one was another deaf hybrid, but he was nearly 18, meaning he’d be moving into the new dorms soon, and also thought a fourteen year old was practically a child. He got most of his information from him, since he knew British Sign Language and Deimos knew just enough to understand basics. It helped some of the signs overlapped, but ultimately they had nothing in common except birth status.

When he finally looked up again, a couple people were giving him judging or weary glances. He decided to skip his next class, he didn’t understand it anyway, it was all in English and the teacher did a horrible job of making sure he could follow along. His English reading comprehension was progressing alright, thanks to the ESL teacher taking extra time to make flashcards with Greek, but speaking was another story altogether. The words were funny and had too many letters or not enough letters and the pronunciation was constantly changing, it was confusing. He stayed near the wall until he got to an emptier hallway, looking behind him before heading towards the adult’s lounge. Typically at this time of the day, there wasn’t anyone in there. The staff would be doing their work, the teachers were teaching, the headmaster doing… headmaster-y things. And the bartender wasn’t working yet. He looked around again, keeping a careful eye out to make sure he hadn’t been followed, before going inside.

He went behind the bar, grabbing a smaller bottle of vodka and going to one of the booths, laying down on the bench. He wanted to go home. But his parents had been so happy to send him here. They sent letters or emails and he’d send them back, but a part of him wanted to ask if they even wanted him. If so, why did they give him up so willingly to a school so far away? How did anyone not get cabin fever here? He felt like he was going to go mad before he graduated. He had no one to hang out with, hell, people barely talked to him. He had nowhere to go. People in his dormitory avoided him or teased him. They often pulled pranks on him too, more than once he found his clothes soaking in the tub, or had to pick up his bedding from outside, or woken up covered in random items. The last thing had been what he could only hope was something mixed with vinegar. They had even tried overdosing him on garlic, but thankfully that was one of the common ailments that didn’t bother him (and he in fact, quite liked garlic, so their plan backfired). He got in a lot of trouble when retaliating by putting silver rings in the beds of the werewolf and weretiger he and his roommate were sharing a bathroom with, only being caught because of the minor burns on his own hands.

He was woken up by someone shaking his shoulder gently. He didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep, and he blinked wearily at the person that woke him. It took him a moment for his brain to register it was the headmaster’s wife. His eyes drifted to the empty bottle at the same time as the professor’s and he shot up, wanting to say it wasn’t his, that it was there when he came in, but the excuse fell flat with the very fact he was even in there. Plus, he didn’t even know how to say all that. “I didn’t…” He began in Greek, feeling at a loss.

She patted his shoulder, motioning to a small notebook she procured from her bag. You are not allowed to be in here. She wrote before showing him the notepad.
Deimos just nodded solemnly, his eyes following the notepad as she added, Do you care to explain? He just bit his lip, looking to her and shaking his head. He had no reason to trouble them with the fact he was getting teased. He always got teased. To admit it affected him now made him feel like he would be giving up something. His pride, probably. And that was the only thing he had left. Since he wouldn’t explain why he was in the staff lounge with an empty bottle of liquor nearby, she took him to the headmaster’s office.

When they got inside, the headmaster’s wife seemed to just now find out he was with another student. He was someone Deimos had never seen before. He had somewhat long hair, was kind of lanky, but overall he was very attractive. Deimos felt his cheeks flush as that thought manifested itself in his mind. Well, if he had any doubts about being bi, now he didn’t. Not like it mattered. He’d confessed to four people by this point and all of them turned him down on account of his being a hybrid. So when the headmaster seemed to dismiss that boy, he prickled as the boy tried to give him a friendly hello. “I’m deaf.” He told the boy, not even bothering with formalities, may as well start avoiding him now. The boy said something and it caused him to laugh, seeming embarrassed, before offering Deimos a hand. He snarled and smacked it away.

He later learned, while trying to focus on some extremely mundane reading piece for history, that the boy he had met was named Cailean, only finding this out after catching the girl in class next to him writing hers and his name in a heart over and over. Apparently Cailean had a very heavy accent, Scottish or something. They had a math class together, and being someone he was familiar with, Cailean, for whatever reason, decided to sit next to him. Halfway through class, after Deimos had given up trying to pay attention and Cailean had finished all the classwork, Deimos got a note from him.

I’m Cailean, from Scotland, 15, werewolf, how about you? The note said.

Deimos debated for a moment just crumpling up the paper and ignoring it, but instead he sighed and picked up his pencil. Why was this guy so interested to know him? Why was this attractive guy so interested to know him? Deimos. Greece, 15 next month, hybrid. Leave me alone. He practically tossed the piece of paper back to the other boy.

Cailean didn’t seem to get the memo that Deimos wanted to avoid him. Cool! We’re the same age! Was what the note said when it was handed back to Deimos. He stared at it, confused. That was what he noticed? That they were the same age? His heart did a little flip, trying to tell him maybe this time he’d be well-received if he confessed. His brain had a different idea, silencing his heart with a simple quip of Of course he wouldn’t. Ok… He wrote before handing the note back.

What’s it like being deaf? Cailean asked him, and his eyes held a sort of wonder Deimos wasn’t used to.

Deimos furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched up his nose, holding out a hand as if asking him, really. He scrawled on the paper quickly, his handwriting turning sloppy, What’s it like being hearing? He wrote before actually crumpling up the paper and tossing it at Cailean.

Okay, sorry, I deserved that. Do you speak? Besides saying “I’m deaf,” I mean. I had an aunt that was deaf, I mean I didn’t know her well, but apparently she never spoke in her life. He folded the paper nicely again and handed it to Deimos.

I’ve had speech therapy since I was a toddler, so I can. Not in English though. Deimos replied. He didn’t know if this conversation or trying to pay attention to the class would’ve been more boring. He stifled a yawn as he handed back the paper.
Oh, that’s cool! So only in Greek then, huh? He paused a moment before writing something else on the next line. Are you growing out your hair?

Deimos stared at the question as if it were moving on the page. This guy was weird. Why was he so adamant about talking to him? Stop getting my hopes up! His mind yelled at the other boy. Not intentionally… why? He handed the paper back seemingly in slow-motion.

I’ve just never met another guy my age with long hair. It’s kind of refreshing. Cailean seemed to scrawl it quickly, but his handwriting was still neat compared to Deimos’.

Deimos wasted time holding on to the note by searching up the word “refreshing” in an electronic dictionary his parents had sent him for his birthday. He mostly used it for the games, but sometimes it was useful for its intended purpose. Eventually he just handed back the paper with a simple, Will you leave me alone now?

Cailean let it go for now, but he lingered a bit longer as Deimos was summoned by the teacher at the end of class.

“Deimos, your grades are slipping again.” The teacher told him.

Deimos furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head slowly. He wasn’t understanding. He could assume it had something to do with his grades. He didn’t care. Eventually, without letting the teacher say anymore, he just held up an okay sign and walked away.

Cailean seemed to be furiously writing something, catching up to Deimos and showing him the paper.

I could help you study, if you’d like.

Deimos crumpled it up and tossed the paper in the next trash can he came across and then turned to Cailean. “Don’t you get it? I don’t like you. So leave me alone!” Deimos didn’t want the heartbreak. He’d do something wrong, and then his hopes of having a friend would be dashed. His need for companionship couldn’t outweigh his fear of making a friend and then losing them.

~~

Cailean was surprised by the words, and the fact that they were spoken. He noticed Deimos’ accent caused some giggles from the students around them, and he didn’t get the chance to say anything else before Deimos ran off. “That’s insensitive.” He said under his breath to a couple guys looking on from their spot against the wall. So that must be why Deimos didn’t like talking. People made fun of him. Cailean’s heart went out to the guy, he knew what it was like to be look down upon, teased, mocked. It sucked, to say the least. And for a lot of people, it would make them almost instinctively turn away any form of niceties. For a moment, he wondered what Deimos’ home life was like, if they were similar in other ways. He wanted to get to know him better.

So, he kept on. By the end of the week, he discovered they had three classes together, and then he also learned Deimos usually hid in an abandoned classroom. So, he started doing little things. First, he swept the classroom. The next time Deimos went in, he seemed confused, looking around for signs of someone else having decided to make this spot their hangout. Eventually it led to a note.

Deimos,

I’m sorry if I was too forward in class that first day… I’d really like us to be friends, It’s been lonely…

I know what it’s like to be teased for your accent, I have one myself. I’m on your side, I promise.

-Cailean

P.S. I really don’t care that you’re a hybrid. Don’t know if that’s something you were worried about, but you don’t have to be.

Deimos blushed furiously after reading the note. Cailean had to duck down in order to not be seen. That was a rather curious reaction. Did Deimos like him? That would be a bit of a dilemma.

The next day, he left another note.

Maybe I read your reaction wrong, but I just wanted to let you know I’m straight. I hope you still want to be friends? -Cailean

“Malaka.” Cailean heard the other boy mutter. He had no idea what the word was, he assumed something in Greek.

Cailean acted as if he was just walking past, “oh, Deimos. ‘Ello.” He said once he got the other boys attention.

“... you.” Deimos muttered, his head low, though he seemed to be trying to drill holes through Cailean with his eyes..

“Sorry I did’nae hear you.”

“I hate you.” Deimos growled. He crumpled up the note, tossing it at him before going for a punch.

However, Cailean was too fast for him, blocking the punch and giving Deimos a grin. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, eh pup?” He nodded, putting Deimos’s fist back at his side before letting go. The annoyance on Deimos’ face was almost cute. Maybe sometime later, they could become friends, but this would do for now.