[FIN][Yael] Not Far From The Tree [Kaleth | Ko]

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

“…huh,” Kal said, and then shook his head. “Never.”

It wasn’t an especially odd exchange, he supposed, though he’d certainly never been privy to it in his own childhood. But perhaps that made sense. “I think I told you I don’t have any siblings,” he said, “and I didn’t exactly get along well with the other kids growing up, so…” He shrugged. “I didn’t really have any friends, either. You can kind of see people mostly avoid me. There wasn’t anyone to make promises with.”

After he had gotten a reputation for being a recluse with a temper he wouldn’t hesitate to act on, his peers left him alone for the most part—which had been what he wanted to an extent, though it did sentence him to a youth predominantly of seclusion. Kids assumed he was mean, and he hadn’t exactly done anything to prove otherwise. He didn’t really want their company.

It hadn’t been until his early teen years, when gaining muscle mass and a reputation for trouble appealed more to some, that he had begun to have more acquaintances—usually of the miscreant sort—which passed as ‘friends’ in a pinch. Still, he wouldn’t have considered any of them close.

He pushed his attention back to the present and Ko’s little finger hooked around his, then looked up to meet the boy’s gaze. “I promise I’ll work on my temper, Ko. And…I’m glad you were there. It could have been worse, without you…I’m lucky.” He frowned. “And those useless f—ks are, too.”  

[MissMisnomer]

Even as Kal said it, Ko still couldn't believe his ears, thrown for a loop that had his head doing flips. Kal…didn't have friends? But he was so darn cool, how could that be? Surely everyone else saw that too, right? How could he be the only one?

But the more he thought about it, the more he had a harder time recalling the last time he'd seen Kal hanging out with anyone but himself.

He had those guys from training he talked to once in a while!

But…whenever Ko joined them, Kal would walk away, like they didn't even matter.

Was he…Kal's only friend?

The realization smacked him in the face, evidence finally making everything clear. And with it came an unexpected feeling in his chest, the kind you get when someone gives you a gift you hadn't been expecting. His face flushed, suddenly giddy, tiny bubbles popping under his skin like champagne. This was such a huge honor, and important responsibility; there was no way he was going to let Kaleth down! He was going to be the best best friend ever!

So hyped up on his new discovery, Ko didn't even push the fact that Kal had cussed, happy that Kal trusted him enough to make promises in the first place. “You are very welcome!” he chirped, a huge smile on his face. “Let's be lucky together!”

And with that, he bobbed their linked hands up, down, once, twice, three times, leaned forward to bump his chest against Kal's shoulder, whistled into the air, popped his lips together, and drew away, releasing Kal's pinky with a shimmy of his fingers. The ritual was complete, with his own Ko flair to it: he'd found that promises tended to last longer when he did that. And this was one he really hoped would never be broken.

[16/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Ko was so…happy.

And it was oddly infectious to behold. Just watching him, he felt the hints of a smile tugging at his own lips, and he grunted, gaze tracking the full gamot of Ko’s display as he wiggled his fingers. Apparently, he had accomplished his first ever ‘pinky promise’ — and as silly as it sounded, there was undeniably a slightly larger kernel of warmth now in his chest than the one Ko had first planted as they’d left the scene of the crime.

It felt important to uphold this to the best of his ability.

Someone — distinctly not Ko, whose presence he had not noted until this moment — cleared their throat, and Kaleth jerked in place in his startlement to find himself staring into the eyes of a bemused nurse. How long had she been there?

“If you’re finished…” she said at length, sounding more gently amused than the sternness in her expression and posture seemed to be attempting to communicate, “…I have finished tending to Edrick…and the other two boys are being seen to. You are next.” Her tone did become more serious as she went on. “Their injuries were no laughing matter, and Mr. Deokka, if you are feeling well enough to be about, I think you would do well to return to class and leave Mr. Galhn to heal.”

So it was that the bright bubble that was Ko’s intermission came to its end, but Kaleth found that even after he left, he felt significantly better than when he’d arrived. He had a lot of explaining ahead of him, but with any luck, he would be allowed off with a warning and several days suspension, this being his first strike here, and after that—well, he meant what he’d promised. He couldn’t expect his issues to evaporate. Just thinking about the opening to the altercation that morning still made him prickle.

But he would work on it.

And, he thought, he really could do better. He was hopeful.