Chapter Text
1.
Darren is going to need a break soon. Every single day, he has to keep tending to the same cases, over and over, and he is tired of it.
That’s what he thought this morning, not even half a cup of coffee in, and John Doe with a broken arm walks through the door.
He could never understand the boy, ever since Darren first met him, that time when his face was bloodied and his left eye purpled. One look at his school resume tells the nurse that John shouldn’t supposed to be here, mildly sulking at the blue curtains on his bed. People like him had already won, and should have walked through the already paved road of life easily. With that kind of power, anyone could.
Darren’s not saying it should be so, but that’s a fact of life in this school.
With his paperwork halfway done, the blue-haired nurse glanced at John’s bed again. It’s weirdly quiet, because Seraphina, the other troublemaker, would be walking down, and they would play their stupid games together or whatever.
It’s quiet. He could even hear the boy breathing, one breath to another.
His face was obscured from Darren’s view. And his hand, the non-broken one, kept clutching the bed sheet like there’s no tomorrow. The man had only just noticed it till now.
Darren stood up from his chair, a beat after. He walked towards the bed, the frown on his face could only make the eye bags more visible, and clear out the curtains.
Only to see a sleepy, almost-woken-up John Doe. His hand relaxes immediately upon the bed sheet.
The black-haired boy only turned to look at him, with wide eyes, and sharply turned his head to the surroundings; the motion seemed natural to him, practiced even. Afterward, he sank back to his bed again.
“Hey kid,” - The nurse spoke, his voice kept as even as possible. – “Are you alright?”
The boy seems a hundred miles away. That is the only emotion Darren could discern from his face.
“…I’m alright. I think I’m alright, sir.” – John only spoke, with a tiredness that almost took the nurse by surprise. He didn’t look at Darren directly, only to the nearest hospital bed.
…‘Sir’, huh? That was new… Teenagers are so strange these days.
“OK, then.” – He replied, nodded his head, and returned to his desk.
10 minutes later, a rumble from the second floor echoed down to his, and Darren almost wanted to throw his paperwork away as he walked to the door. He only stole a glance at the teen in his anger, and watched it dissipate somewhat as he saw John slowly fiddling through his phone, acting like it was no different than a lump of metal and glass.
The nurse spared it no more thoughts as he walked out. By the time he got back, Seraphina was there already, right beside John’s bed. She was somewhat confused as John tried to strike up a conversation, perhaps a bit too awkward and a bit too stiff. But with time, they fall into their habits, and all seemed normal again as Darren mentally prepared himself for what is his 17th scolding session of the week for the battered boys before him.
2.
John feels a bit different.
Sera rolls her pen idly on the table; the memories she holds are still fresh in her mind. She was, quite frankly, bored, and her report on a 200-year-old book did little to shake that notion away. Naturally, her mind went to the much more important task, it reasoned.
She remembered, she remembered that, on a nice sunny day, John no longer made his hair into… that. He let his hair ruffle for a bit, and when she had asked why, with a light jab about how he finally came back to his senses, John only looked away for a moment, and then responded that it just felt weird to him. He never said that it was ugly, or that he didn’t like it. They only left it at that.
They had a trip to the boba tea shop, after that day. Not that it was a rare occurrence, but John always, always went starry-eyed every time Sera tried to order something for him. They knew his favorite flavor, of course, jasmine tea, but he would always go for something more… exotic, let’s say. Some days it was pineapple, others mango cream, and a slice of cake every time. He always tried it and said it was too sweet for his liking, but that didn’t stop him from trying to finish all of them, with perhaps some instances where the cake was just too much for him. Sometimes the cake was left untouched.
At that point, he would try to share it with her, with this stupid smile on his face that was supposed to mean something more. Sera appreciated the gesture, but she declined it every time, leaving John to begrudgingly pack the thing up in a plastic bag and bring it back to the dorms. One time, Sera just said to leave the piece of cake there, and John looked at her as if she had grown a second head, and then tried to devour the poor pastry in one bite, leaving him almost choking. Sera laughed and proceeded to choke on her spit instead.
And back in class, John had also become increasingly more, she would say, confused. Especially in math. Of course, she knew of her prowess in studying well enough, and noticed where John had stood as well. However, at the rate of these questions, she will soon become his private tutor instead, having to explain numerous concepts of trigonometry and algebra back to him. He would almost smile sheepishly every time, and said that he would never bother her again with each question that he asked. Sera doubted it.
He would only be good in Geography, however. Sera doesn’t have the slightest clue as to why.
She opened up her laptop, and looked through the entire catalogue of games that filled her screen. She might not finish the report today after all. Eh, not like it mattered.
They played games together, of course. Half of the time, it was for fun, but when they were dueling for bragging rights or who got to pay for the boba tea, he would always lose. And every time she looked at his face, Sera had this weird inclination that perhaps John was simply overwhelmed. His brows scrunched up, and he bit his lips a few times. Try as he might, he would still lose.
Back then, they went back and forth. But he never got angry, just like before, he would never sulk, or his mood never really went down. He would smile that bright smile that made Sera feel a bit warmer, and he tried to get her to go again. Sometimes he would ask her for tips, but whether he could implement them or not was a different story.
John seems more, nicer? That, Sera doesn’t think she minds.
But there was something strange about him. He was undoubtedly happy at times, Sera was sure, but the smiles looked a little sad, sometimes. And sometimes, he seemed like a world apart from her, zoning out more frequently.
Sera wanted him to at least laugh once in a while.
She closed her laptop in a flash, suddenly losing all motivation to play. Sera recounts all of these moments again, plopping down on her bed. The air felt cool to her touch.
She counts the days until she can go to school again.