Chapter Twelve: Snake

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Daniel's was tired of Laura's voice, as well as her face, following him throughout the school, so he made it a personal goal to make it to his locker without any contact from her.

Which he miraculously managed. The teen we talked to his locker and opened it to grab his books; history, English, science. Then he shut it to Joe's face; the teen leaning against the lockers and waiting for Daniel. He'd managed to avoid Laura just for another annoyance.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked, glancing at Joe while spinning the lock on his locker to clear the memory. Joe breathed in to talk but quickly lost interest in what he was going to say, furrowing his eyebrows and reaching out to the other teen.

"Dude, what happened?" he asked, touching Daniel's lightly swollen cheek, making the latter take in a hiss of pain and swat Joe's hand away.

"Nothing. ...My plan worked, is all," the brunette said in hidden satisfaction at the success of it all, watching Joe as the other teen scoffed and shook his head in disbelief.

"You... are really adamant."

Daniel shrugged and looked down at his books. "I don't tolerate disarray," he replied. Then he took in a breath and looked back at the noirette, tilting his head. "Am I forgetting something?" he asked, making Joe give him a confused look.

"...I don't know?"

"Ah," Daniel clicked his tongue and smiled, "I haven't paid you back for the cellphone." Joe immediately looked away, reaching a hand up to rub his neck awkwardly.

"...I mean.. you haven't contacted me for anything yet."

"You want me to call you?" Daniel laughed, eliciting a single shrug from Joe.

"Like, just a text... or something."

"You're such a puppy. Come, follow me," Daniel took his bag off to put the books inside, zipping it some before flinging it back over his shoulder. He then grabbed Joe's wrist to pull the teen down the hallway. Looking ahead, Joe could see that they were headed towards the bathroom. He immediately pulled back in Daniel's grip, making the other teen look back at him.

"What?" Daniel asked.

Joe cleared his throat. "H-here?"

"Well, why not? It's a bother when I don't finish my word quickly- I don't like having delays."

"Just... doing it another time is a delay? What about the shed at your house!"

"Joe, come into the bathroom." Daniel gave Joe a look of annoyance, but he ended up looking passed the noirette when he noticed Kaiden, the other teenager standing at his own locker with some friends; new, by the looks of their faces. He was looking at Daniel, with some sort of anger in his eyes like he knew what the foreigner was doing- and with his own friend. Daniel looked back at Joe.

"Let's go," he said. Joe looked hesitant, but it didn't last long: he followed Daniel into the restroom.

It was one thing to hate Kaiden. It was another to take his best friend away.

Pulling Joe to the farthest bathroom stall, Daniel opened the door and stepped inside, waiting for Joe to follow before shutting and locking it. He stepped close to Joe and reached out to pinch the teen's pants, pulling the button open and sliding the zipper down. Looking at Joe, the noirette was looking down, his cheeks flushed with warmth.

"Look at me," Daniel said. Joe breathed through his nose and looked at the brunette.

"Why?" he asked awkwardly, glancing away again when his eyes caught Daniel's. Daniel watched him, waiting.

"Because I like your eyes."

Joe looked back at Daniel with his blue eyes, pressing his lips together in nervousness.

Two months later

Arty watched his reflection in the bathroom mirror as he brushed his teeth, his blue eyes tired from a lack of sleep the night before. Since Jack was working his way up the corporate ladder, he was having to leave earlier. Working earlier, though, meant that he could get off earlier; on time for dinner and such. But...

He spat into the sink and sighed, leaning over the porcelain.

He was still lonely.

He rinsed his toothbrush before putting it up and cleaning the sink, and then he left the bathroom to Geil's room to wake the child up for school.

Entering the bedroom, he walked to the child's bed and sat on the edge of the mattress to look at Geil's sleeping form.

He was still small and having attention problems, but he had to be put on some medication last month that made him a little groggy in the mornings, which made the mornings more awkward, because Arty and Daniel would have to try and keep Geil awake to the point that he would be alright at his school.

"Geil," Arty spoke, reaching out to pat the boy's head and wake him up. The child opened his eyes and looked at Arty, drool crusted on his cheek. He gave a tired smile.

"Hi."

"Hi, Geil. Hop up so we can get ready for school." Arty got up from the bed and waited for Geil to sit up before leaving to the dresser to get his clothes. "How did you sleep?" he asked while sifting through Geil's shirt drawer. Geil yawned from his bed.

"I had a bad dream."

"Oh. Want to talk about it?" Arty glanced back at Geil, the boy getting out of bed. He shook his blonde head.

"No. It turned into a good dream."

Arty snorted. "Okay. Good." He tossed a shirt to Geil, the cloth landing onto the boy's shoulder. The child started taking off his other shirt to put the new one on, and Arty fished picking out the rest of the child's outfit to set on his bed. He put a hand on Geil's head and looked at him.

"I'm gonna go make breakfast, can you get dress on your own?"

Geil smiled and nodded. "Yeah." Arty smiled and pat his head.

"Thanks. Then, you'll take your medicine while you eat."

Turning away from Geil and leaving the room, Arty decided to make a detour to Daniel's to get him up. Walking down the hallway and turning to the teen's room, Arty opened the door to step inside, pausing when he saw some flesh. Daniel looked at the door from where he stood beside his desk, pulling his shirt off. He gave a light smile.

"Good morning, Arty," he said as he tossed the shirt into his hamper. Arty stepped back out of the room, shutting the door again. He'd honestly have to remember to knock.

"Sorry! I thought you'd be asleep," he said from outside of the room. Daniel quirked an eyebrow at the door that hid Arty and smiled to himself.

"It's alright," he chuckled. "Actually, I have something to show you. Come in, please." He waited a moment, for the door to open again to an apprehensive Arty, before walking to his bed where he had his backpack sitting, and opening it. Arty walked to his side so that he could look at whatever it was, awkward because... Daniel was growing. As in, he had had his birthday last month and started losing the thin frame that he had when he arrived into the household. Since he was playing basketball, he had gotten a lot more interested in working out to stay in shape, which gave him some sets of muscle that made him look older than his age, which was just sixteen now.

There is a time when you stop going into people's bedrooms, and Daniel had reached that point. Still, Arty took the light canvas from him when the teen held it out from his bag.

Looking at it, Arty raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, Daniel, this is really good. Like, really really good," Arty said, unable to hide his amazement.

It was an anatomical study of hands, oil painted for art class. Or rather, for Arty. The strokes were smooth, the blending so fine that it looked as though there was no work put into it; like it were natural. Hands with white paint dripping off of the fingers like they were trying to hold it, and forearms that dissolved to show the tendons of muscle underneath the skin that made the arm. Arty looked at Daniel.

"This is seriously good, Daniel- how long did it take to make this?"

Daniel smiled and stood straight, further accentuating the toned muscles of his bare flesh. "Not too long, since the canvas is so small. But if you..." the teen reached out to take Arty's hand, though Arty was hesitant himself. Daniel took the man's hand, looking at his slender fingers in brief admiration, before bringing his hand to the panting and running his fingers down it.

Paint that was still drying caught Arty's fingers, sticky in its half state. Arty gasped and looked at Daniel.

"You made me smudge it!" he cried in betrayal, which made Daniel laugh a nice laugh. He let Arty take his hand away.

"Oil paintings take a long time to dry; it's been drying for a week."

Arty rolled his eyes and wiped the paint on his pants. "Well, don't ruin it."

"It isn't ruined. I can paint over it. But, it's for you."

Looking at Daniel's smile, Arty huffed a small one in return pat Daniel's shoulder, immediately regretting it when he forgot that the teen was shirtless, the teen's flesh warm, despite the cold weather outside.

Daniel didn't mind the touch. He revelled in it, before Arty took his hand away again. The man pointed off to the door.

"I'm gonna go and make breakfast, so go ahead and get ready," he said, though an awkward embarrassment laced his voice at the scenario that he didn't know what to do with. Daniel just watched him, with a smile of interest.

"Arty," he said, "Turn to me." Arty ran a hand through his hair, moving the brown strands away from his face, in procrastination. He gave a breath in his misfortune and turned back to Daniel, crossing his arms.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm almost taller than you," Daniel said. Arty laughed at this and pointed at the teen.

"We'll see about that after school. Speaking of which," he pointed off to Daniel's closet. "Finish up."

Daniel smiled and brushed by Arty to his closet, where he started looking for a shirt. "Alright," he said, his shoulder blades shifting as he moved his arms. Arty spared him a glance before leaving the room with the painting, of which he carried to his own bedroom.

Going inside, he brought the smudged and drying canvas to a shelf, where he sat it against the wall until he could properly hang it up later. He paused to admire it; the straightness of the lines, the softness of the colors, the perfect anatomy. He smiled softly at the art before turning and leaving the bedroom, where he went downstairs to start breakfast.

He didn't bring it up yet, but Jack still hadn't taken the time to help him find his necklace. He didn't want to deal with the drama of it, so he decided that he was probably just an idiot who lost it, and that he was going to have to live with that.

At least the kids were getting along well at school.

"Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man..," Geil sang in the car after breakfast and slapped his hands together before patting them against Daniel's in the backseat. It was Daniel's idea, to keep Geil awake for the ride to school, and he picked up the game's pace when he noticed the boy's eyes staring to look heavy. Arty occasionally looked into the rear view mirror to watch the two play; though the game ended eventually and Daniel pat Geil's head when the blonde child yawned tiredly.

"Are you falling asleep on me, Geil?" he asked. The child nodded and wiped his teary eyes from the yawn.

"Not on purpurse."

"That's alright. Try and stay awake for daddy while I'm gone, hm?"

Geil nodded and rubbed his tired face with his small hand. "Yeah."

The car stopped at the high school and Daniel pat Geil's head before shipping outside. He shut the door and walked over to Arty on the driver's side. His adoptive father unrolled the window and looked at him.

"What's up?" he asked, voice soft from sleepiness because of the recent time change. The sky was still dark with stars, despite it being almost eight in the morning. Daniel leaned forward and braced an arm on the door to peek at Arty.

"Do you think this new medicine for Geil is necessary?" the teen asked.

Arty shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. If he doesn't take well to it, then they'll try something else," he replied. The doctor thought that Geil might have a form of autism, and he was giving medications to help the child focus, but it was well known that medicine didn't really help anything.

"Alright," Daniel said, looking into Arty's eyes- he was one to talk about medication, despite not taking his own, "You'll know best. I'll see you after school." Arty nodded in return and gave the teen a half smile.

"I'll see you. Have fun. Or, at least try," the man replied and reached out of the car's open window to pat Daniel's shoulder, something that made the teen smile in.

"I will."

Lunch time rolled around and Kaiden was on a mission; walking down the hallway from the cafeteria to the principle's office. The hall was fairly empty, with scattered students walking, or talking, or sitting in the halls to eat their lunches alone. He had seen Daniel sitting in the cafeteria with Joe and Laura. Joe, Kaiden's friend. With Daniel, some transfer student from France or something.

The unhygienic teen grit his teeth while walking and just missed walking into a short girl.

Yep, Daniel came here and everything went to shit. For Kaiden, anyway. He turned the corner and came to the office, the door open and empty. Empty, just for him.

He stepped into the office and shut the door behind him to hide his operations, and then advanced to the filing cabinets that stood against the far wall. Walking over to them, he grabbed a drawer's handle and pulled it open, the folders inside tilting at the motion of it.

A, B, C... E... H, I, J, K, L.... M. Mason. A single folder that read MASON, DANIEL. One that Kaiden pulled out with greed.

Opening it, his eyes found Daniel's transcripts and papers of health. Those weren't important, though, and Kaiden sifted through the papers for anything incriminating until he found something better- far better than what he had intended. Daniel's familial reports.

The redhead smiled to himself and took the papers from the folder to fold, and then he slipped them into his coat pocket. Putting the folder back and shutting the drawer, the teen made his way back out of the office, leaving the door ajar as he had found it.

"Aw, that's a cute dog," Laura said to Daniel as she knelt beside him, waiting for their rides home. Daniel shrugged while petting the dog.

"It looks alright."

Laura rolled her eyes and reached out to pet the dog, its fur puffy and matted, and brown. It was small and collarless, and it licked her hand as she reached for it. She smiled and looked around the parking lot while her hand was lapped. "Where's your dad?" she asked. Daniel looked at her before looking at the parked cars.

"Late, probably. The lass is having some problems. A bit sick."

"Oh. Sorry."

Daniel shrugged and looked back at the dog, with was looking at him with its tongue hanging from its mouth while it panted. Its eyes were a pale blue, which reminded Daniel of a myth of sorts from his home country. 'If an animal has blue eyes, it's deaf'. The teen offered the happy dog a smile.

"Well, I've got to get home," Laura said and stood up. "Do you want to wait at my house? Or something?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, I'm fine here."

"...Okay." Her gaze kept on Daniel for a moment, long enough to make him annoyed. He waited until he felt her eyes leave, and heard her leaving footsteps, before reaching out to scratch the dog behind its ears. "You're a little fat for being a stray," he murmured and let the dog crawl into his lap, plopping its big boned tummy into him. It made him smile. "I'll call you Chunky," he said and pet it some more, its tail flapping against his side happily.

l.l

"I'm fucking serious, today's not a good day," Arty said and tried slipping passed Henry, but the other man adamantly blocked his way by standing directly in the doorway. Arty glared at him. "I have to pick up the kids, go home," he said. Henry watched in amusement for a moment before bringing up his hands in defense.

"I was just wanting to know if I could stay here for a bit," he said and smiled, which really tugged Arty's annoyance. He had come just as soon as Arty was about to leave- a nuisance to his already long day.

"Why? You're never up to any good and you're making me late for the kids."

"Jack actually gave me permission to stay, already," Henry spoke up, earning a sideways glance from Arty.

"What?"

"Yeah, I called him earlier. I guess I actually just wanted to come by and let you know."

Arty rolled his eyes and looked passed his brother-in-law to his car outside, chewing his cheek while he waited for access to it. "Jack didn't say that," he said absently.

"He did," Henry said through a humorous smile, "Because I've just quit my job and need some mental relief."

"Ugh, you're such a snake Henry- how does your brother ever believe you? You're a shitty actor!" Arty looked back at the blonde and waved a hand. "Please move."

"Jeez Arty, be nice- I need love and support," Henry said and reached out to touch Arty, but the other man slapped his hand away before poking him hard in the chest.

"You're drinking, aren't you?" Arty shook his head again. "God, I hate you so much. I can not be late to pick up Geil, so let me through!" He pushed into Henry to move him, but the other man moved anyway at the same time, making Arty stumble and fall into the snow outside. He bellowed in annoyance and turned over from his stomach to sit on the snow.

Hearing Henry laughing at him made him want to beat him up, and seeing him laugh at him made him want to do more than that. But he had to get the kids, so he just retaliated by throwing snow at the man in bitter anger. After that, he clambered out of the snow and dusted himself while heading to his car, of which he quickly got in to start, because he was late for the second time now.

Henry offered a wave from the front porch.

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